Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

Jaksot

• 
  EP 249: Mothering the Mother – Granny Midwifery, the Lying-In, and Diasporic Memory with Shafia Monroe 13.09.2026 45min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Shafia Monroe, the renowned midwife, doula trainer, cultural historian, and author of Mothering the Mother: African American Postpartum Traditions, Recipes, and Healing, with a foreword by Erykah Badu. Shafia begins with the inheritance she was raised on: a second-generation Boston Catholic mother who told her to burn the bra and not to stay anywhere she was unhappy, and a rural foot-washing Alabama father who turned an empty Boston lot into collard greens and turnips before anyone called it a community garden. From there the conversation follows the diasporic threads she has spent four decades tracing, from her father eating with his right hand to the Senegalese village where she watched women shape a newborn's head exactly as her mother had shaped her niece's. They talk about what enslavement broke in African-American postpartum culture and what was rebuilt after it: the lying-in, the warm soup, the darkened room, and a community that knew what to do without needing a book. Shafia lays out the history of the granny midwives, including the origin of the word granny itself. She and Kimberly work through the real difference between a doula and a midwife, why she trains in full circle rather than full spectrum, and why women are flock people whom Western birth deliberately separated. Shafia describes raising seven children inside the work rather than around it, and why the family that hired you has to come first. The conversation closes on money, policy, and fear: what makes birth work financially viable, what this country refuses to fund, and why she tells every woman and man she meets to stop fearing birth, to refuse the label of patient, and to trust a body that has been doing this since the beginning. Bio Shafia Monroe, MPH, is a renowned midwife, master doula trainer, cultural historian, author, and motivational speaker whose work has shaped birth and postpartum care for more than four decades. A leading subject matter expert on African American birth and postpartum traditions, she has researched the lives of twentieth century Black midwives and traveled to interview and observe them, learning traditional practices firsthand. In 1991 she founded the International Center for Traditional Childbearing, the first national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the number of midwives and doulas of color and to promoting home birth in Black communities. In 2002 she created the SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training, a dual certification program built on the legacy of the twentieth century African American midwife, which has since trained thousands of birth workers worldwide. She is president of Shafia Monroe Consulting and Birthing CHANGE, which helps health care providers deliver culturally competent care. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors, including four lifetime achievement awards, and she was named by Scientific American in 2022 among those working to make health care more fair. Her book, Mothering the Mother: African American Postpartum Traditions, Recipes, and Healing, with a foreword by Erykah Badu, was published by Hachette Go. She draws on her Southern roots in rural Alabama, where her grandmother taught her that food is medicine. She is a mother of seven, a grandmother of nine, and a great-grandmother of two, and she lives in Portland, Oregon. What She Shares -  The two worlds she was raised between: a Boston Catholic mother and a rural foot-washing Alabama father -  Her father turning an empty Boston lot into a garden in the 1970s, before there was a name for it -  Her mother on burning the bra, on equality at home, and on never staying where you are unhappy -  Why her mother told her that what people do not want you to know is kept in a book -  Diasporic recognitions: eating with the right hand, banku and cornbread, rainwater, and infant massage -  Watching women in a Senegalese village do exactly what she had watched her mother do fifty years earlier -  Belly wrapping as something her community always practiced without a name for it -  What enslavement broke in African American postpartum care, and what was rebuilt after emancipation -  The lying-in, the warm soup, the quilts, and why the elders kept the room dark -  African Americans as the country's dominant providers of postpartum care, and the credit never given -  The granny midwives, where the word granny came from, and what it was meant to do -  Why wisdom mattered more than whether a midwife had borne children of her own -  The real difference between a doula and a midwife, and why she wants both -  Full circle rather than full spectrum, and why the circle is the right shape -  Herbs for period pain instead of putting a thirteen year old on the pill -  Raising seven children inside the calling, and why the family that hired you comes first -  What makes birth work financially viable, and what this country refuses to pay for -  Why she tells everyone to stop fearing birth, and to stop calling themselves a patient What You'll Hear -  Why she is claiming the title of doctor, at her son's instruction -  That midwives once held higher standing in a community than the pastor -  Seven children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren -  Kimberly on her husband's Candomble practice and the recognitions it triggers in African American visitors -  How a birth world that borrows freely from Mexico, Sweden, Japan, and Bali has erased Black postpartum culture -  Why the elders kept the room dark, and the physiology that proved them right -  Date night ten days postpartum, and what the old culture expected instead -  A twelfth pregnancy answered with a blessing rather than an interrogation -  Who was actually captured and brought here: rice growers, healers, readers of Arabic, dyers, midwives -  Being twenty years old at a forty year old woman's birth, with the skill but not yet the life -  The granny midwives walking through the dark past the Klan, and serving Black and white families alike -  Kimberly on the inversion that files the most human skills under unskilled labor -  Flock people, and what Western birth broke by separating women from each other -  The song her trainings close with every day -  A nine year old carrying the oxygen tank to the car -  Byllye Avery on the midwife having a star in her crown -  Kimberly on why the self-care framing in doula training only makes sense without spiritual care -  Why nobody left a home birth exhausted, and what a hospital does differently -  Eight hundred dollars a birth, and the second and third incomes that made it work -  Paid leave, daycare, the Momnibus, and the comparison to Norway and Denmark -  Why fear of birth keeps people from questioning their care -  Refusing the labels: high risk, geriatric, obese -  Her objection to the genocidal framing of Black maternal mortality -  Why a doula cannot save your life, and what she can actually do Resources Shafia Monroe Main website  https://shafiamonroe.com/ SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion Training  https://smcdoulas.com/ Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/shafiamonroe/ Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/shafiamonroeconsulting/ Mothering the Mother, publisher page  https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/shafia-monroe/mothering-the-mother/9780306835438/
• 
  EP 248: Rewrite the Mother Code – Losing Yourself, Self-Mothering, and the Courage to Rock the Boat with Dr. Gertrude Lyons 07.09.2026 51min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Dr. Gertrude Lyons, a master coach, podcast host, and the author of Rewrite the Mother Code: From Sacrifice to Stardust, about what it takes to notice you have gone missing from your own life. Dr. Gertrude describes the moment on a pilgrimage in Nepal, with her children in high school and college, when she burst into tears in front of a shaman and understood that despite years of coaching, study, and conscious parenting, she had lost herself somewhere inside motherhood. That recognition sent her back to school for a doctorate in education and eventually produced the framework the book is built on. Kimberly and Dr. Gertrude trace how the messages get in: the primal, unconscious conviction that rocking the boat will make everything fall apart, the ordering of children and spouse and career ahead of self, and the false pretense that there is a right way to do any of it. The conversation turns to the hero myth and what it has done to mother culture, the pressure to be exceptional rather than to be on a journey, and whether twenty years of increased awareness has actually shifted anything underneath. She then tells the story of her 2025 TEDx talk, which TED would not post until she removed the birth data: the maternal mortality figures, the history of midwives being pushed out by active marketing campaigns, and the observation that not all hospital birth practice is evidence based. Kimberly picks this up and runs with it, on how the people the system appears to serve are the least likely to see it clearly, on birth as an irreducibly bodily experience that has been siloed off from the rest of a woman's life, and on what it costs to be defanged from your own animal instinct.  Bio Dr. Gertrude Lyons is a master coach, podcast host, and thought leader helping women rewrite outdated narratives around motherhood, identity, and self-worth. She is the author of Rewrite the Mother Code: From Sacrifice to Stardust, A Cosmic Approach to Motherhood (Rise Books, 2025), which grew out of her doctoral research into the transformational opportunity inside motherhood and has since become the foundation of a broader body of work with women at every stage of that question. She holds an Ed.D. and an M.A. in Transformational Leadership and Coaching from Wright Graduate University, an M.A. in Psychology from Antioch University McGregor, and a BBA in Finance and Accounting from Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana. She is a Whole Brain Living certified coach and holds a Level 3 breathwork certification through the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance. She hosts the Rewrite the Mother Code podcast, delivered a 2025 TEDx talk titled Redefining Self-Mothering: The Courage to Mother Ourselves First, and has spoken at the Glastonbury Goddess Conference. Over more than twenty years she has worked with individuals, couples, parents, and families, and she now leads retreats in Mexico and Ireland, with a first retreat in Malta planned. Her home base is Chicago. She has two daughters. What Dr. Gertrude Shares The pilgrimage in Nepal, the shaman, and the moment she understood she had lost herself inside motherhood Why two master's degrees were not enough, and what sent her back for a doctorate The difference between her first daughter and her second, and the fear she could only see in retrospect What rocking the boat looked like, and how couples coaching quietly became parenting coaching Leaving the dogma of a Roman Catholic upbringing while keeping the mystery, and finding the divine feminine The letter she wrote in 1989 asking her fiancé for premarital counseling, and why she could not say it out loud The hero myth as exceptionalism, and the journey as the whole point rather than the prize at the end What has and has not changed for mothers in thirty years, and why more information has meant more overwhelm Her home birth, being called selfish by her family, and the boss whose two suggestions changed her life The 2025 TEDx talk, the birth data she was asked to remove, and the reason she was never given Why she believes all women mother, and the one downside she has found to saying so What You'll Hear Whether the people around you can see that you have gone missing, or whether only you can The primal, unconscious calculation that if I rock the boat, everything will fall apart Joseph Campbell taught to eighth graders, and whether we want children to be heroes of their own lives Emergence rather than a declared end game, and myth held without making it all about you Mom rage arriving in the culture, and what it took to put the word on a book cover ten years ago Maternal mortality, midwives pushed out by marketing campaigns, and what counts as evidence based Why the people a system appears to serve are often the least able to see it clearly The infamous request for a home birth in a hospital, and what a good hospital birth actually requires Birth as an irreducibly bodily experience, and the cost of siloing it off from the rest of a life The oppositional gaze, being defanged from animal instinct, and belonging conditional on conformity A frank exchange about what gets lost when mothering becomes a metaphor Maiden to mother, mother to virgin, virgin to crone, and how that maturation happens without a birth Resources Dr. Gertrude Lyons Website https://www.drgertrudelyons.com/ Book, Rewrite the Mother Code: From Sacrifice to Stardust, A Cosmic Approach to Motherhood (Rise Books, 2025) https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Rewrite-the-Mother-Code/Gertrude-Lyons/9781959524120 Rewrite the Mother Code podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rewrite-the-mother-code-with-dr-gertrude-lyons/id1534581166 TEDx talk, Redefining Self-Mothering: The Courage to Mother Ourselves First https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ9ZF8JKIDY Substack https://gertrudelyons.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drgertrudelyons/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gertrudelyons/ Retreats, 2027 https://www.drgertrudelyons.com/retreats2027
• 
  EP 247: The Opposite of Hypervigilance – Boundaries, Healthy Aggression, and Reclaiming Fight with Jaye Marolla 30.08.2026 1t 10min

  In this episode, Kimberly is rejoined by Jaye Marolla, somatic educator, martial artist, and bodyworker, founder of The Body Innate, YINDOJO, and YinWarriorship in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Nine months and several co-taught weekends after their first conversation, and ahead of Jaye joining Jaguar Fight Club in September, they dive deep into their work with the word fight. Jaye explains why she has never used the frame of self-defense, reflecting on how it seats a woman inside a preconceived victim's stance and quietly assigns the whole burden of a culture's violence to the people most likely to be harmed by it. From there they make the distinction between readiness and hypervigilance, between the body that knows where the exits are and the body running a fear script it has mistaken for awareness. They look at what happens when a boundary comes from contraction rather than wholeness, at Kimberly's work restoring reflexive gestures in bodies that were anesthetized or held still, and at the longing for real physical contact that both of them keep meeting in rooms, and that many somatic training treats as inappropriate. The second half turns to the trauma frame itself, and what it costs in agency, artistry, and appetite when a culture organizes everything it knows about the body around what went wrong. They talk about animist inquiry and bone knowing, about somatic transmission versus the somatic exercise, about the long arc from trying out a practice to living one, and about the blueprint each person carries and what it takes to fight for it in a culture built to bury it. The conversation closes on the great work that may look like nothing you could post and on the power of a deeply quiet life. Bio Jaye Marolla is a somatic educator, martial artist, and bodyworker based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the founder of The Body Innate, YINDOJO, and YinWarriorship. A former Division I basketball player at American University, she has spent decades training across martial and healing traditions, shaped by years of living and studying in Ghana, China, Thailand, Central Asia, and England, where she became fascinated by lineage-based practice and the knowledge that travels tacitly, through transmission and embodied nuance. In China and Thailand she studied martial arts and healing practices alongside one another, and came to understand the two branches as growing from a single root. In Santa Fe she spent three years studying with her former teacher Zhenevere Sophia Dao in the practices of Post-Daoism and Mythopoetic Qigong. She weaves applied Daoism and conscious Eros through vitality-based teaching within a framework of experiential collaborative leadership and somatic activism, offering classes and intensives in Santa Fe, across the United States, and internationally, and working privately with individuals, groups, and organizations. She is a member of Soma Collective in Santa Fe, and has collaborated with practitioners including Stephen Jenkinson on retreats exploring death, embodiment, and communal practice. She joins Kimberly for Jaguar Fight Club in September.   What Jaye Shares Why she has never gone near self-defense training, and why she considers the frame harmful rather than merely imprecise The difference between self-defense and self-awareness, and what changes when every body is trained rather than only the ones expected to be harmed Hypervigilance as a fear script running outside present time, and readiness as its opposite How a martial artist uses the imaginal capacity: not forecasting harm, but rehearsing the move she is going to make Boundary from the knitted sense of self versus boundary from contraction, and why the second one invites more antagonism The longing for real contact, why bodies are still recovering from the distance of the COVID years, and what animals know about grappling Ma-ai, the spatial and temporal distance between two bodies, and how we track it constantly without naming it The animist frame and bone knowing as a starting point rather than an advanced technique Why the trauma orientation functions as a distraction from self-agency, social activism, and collective inquiry Her objection to the phrase somatic exercise, and what somatic transmission is instead The long arc from visiting a practice to being inhabited by one, and why that arc cannot be shortcut Fight as grit, teeth, and animal, and why the people who grapple regularly argue less The blueprint, the seed, and full commitment without attachment as an antidote to despair What You'll Hear The nine months between this conversation and the last one, and what changes when two teachers become training partners Kimberly's own six-week self-defense course, what it kicked up, and why she is not sure she was ready for it Why so many women in the Maine workshop reacted viscerally to being told to notice the exits Presence and readiness mistaken for paranoia, and where the shame around that comes from The record scratch, and why the same thing keeps happening at the same time of year, in the same place, with the same kind of person Why setting a boundary feels exhausting rather than energizing, and what frame that comes from Restoring reflexive gestures: pushing, grabbing, squeezing, and what happens to them under anesthesia or in stirrups The polarity trap of being protected, and what birth and postpartum actually ask of women now The "on top" practice, and why it beats a weighted blanket What becomes possible in an artistic frame that a therapeutic frame will not allow Whether we can trust the body, and what happens when comportment comes from the outside in Not demonizing the mind, and where the soul actually lives Kendra Cunov, Tassajara, and whether a twenty-three year old can carry this The machete zone, the muse knocking, and choosing the thing that is yours to do The great work, which might be a book, or your children, or ease in your bones Resources The Body Innate: https://www.thebodyinnate.com/ Second site (classes, about): https://www.jayemarolla.com/ Instagram: @thebodyinnate  https://www.instagram.com/thebodyinnate/ Soma Collective, Santa Fe: https://www.somacollectivesf.com/   Sign up for Jaguar Fight Club here: https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/jaguar-fight-club-fb/   https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/ Instagram: @kimberly.ann.johnson Erotic Seasons (2026) pre-order here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1649633742?tag=macmillan-20 Previous appearance: EP 238, The Body Innate. Yin Warriorship, Communal Eros, and Leading Atmospheres with Jaye Marolla
• 
  EP 246: Whose Desire Is This? – Rematriation, Erotic Self Sourcing, and the Art of Touching Women with Casia Sobolewski 23.08.2026 1t 16min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Casia Sobolewski, somatic sex educator, sexological bodyworker, and co-founder of the Himeros Project. Casia opens with the grief of a recent realization: that patriarchal structures had shaped even her most tender and private erotic world, and that some of the desires moving through her may never have been hers to begin with. From there she traces twenty years of exploring dominance and submission, the pull of the daddy dom dynamic in her twenties, and the question she is only asking now about why she had to imagine herself young to feel turned on. They talk about the "taking quadrant" of the wheel of consent and why so many exhausted women reach for passivity when what their systems actually want is mobilization. She describes the men's retreats she runs with her husband Cosmo Meens: what men bring to a room where their erotic lives are finally speakable, why starting with sexuality is both the hardest and the most important entry point in men's work, and what happens in a man's system when a woman says no. She unpacks matriarchy as mothers at the beginning rather than rule by women, drawing on Heide Göttner-Abendroth and the Mosuo, and names how the nuclear family loads one man with labor that once belonged to grandmothers, aunties, uncles and brothers. The conversation moves through early motherhood and the erotic tether Casia kept through it, the axial age and the cost of men teaching women how to care, aging and the erasure of the grandmother, and closes on the work she and Cosmo are renaming the art and responsibility of touching women. Bio Casia Sobolewski is a somatic sex educator, sexological bodyworker, and erotic practitioner who has been teaching sexuality since 2009. She is a certified Somatic Sex Educator and Sexological Bodyworker, a certified Holistic Sex Educator, and a trained intern surrogate partner with the International Professional Surrogates Association. She completed Dr. Betty Martin's Like A Pro Wheel of Consent training and has served on the boards of the Association of Certified Sexological Bodyworkers and the Somatic Sex Educators Association. In Toronto she founded Spit.Exposed, a queer and feminist porn project she ran from 2014 to 2019. From 2018 to 2025 she was a practitioner and teacher with Back to the Body: Sensual Retreats for Women. She is co-founder and ongoing practitioner of the Himeros Project, immersive retreats for men, which she leads alongside her husband Cosmo Meens, and together they teach The Art and Responsibility of Touching Women. She works in immersion experiences only, supporting people who are out of touch with their pleasure, who have experienced sexual trauma, or who want a space to meet the erotic aspect of themselves with integrity. She identifies as queer, non-disabled, introverted, non-monogamous, kink positive, married, cis, femme, a mother to one, a stepmother to three, and a devoted sister, daughter, friend and partner. She lives in British Columbia and her personal site is Honey and Water. What Casia Shares The grief opening three or four months ago when she realized patriarchal structures had reached into her most private erotic world Twenty years of exploring dominance and submission, and the question she is only now asking about why she had to imagine herself young to feel turned on Why so many women arrive wanting to be dominated, and why exhaustion and choice fatigue are part of the picture The taking quadrant of the wheel of consent, and the night she first took, tired, at 11pm What her men's retreats actually look like, including the numbers: nine to twelve men, three male staff, four female practitioners, ages twenty-eight to seventy-five Why she and Cosmo added mutual touch to the container, and how negotiation of desire is taught in micro steps What happens in a man's system when she says no, and why receiving a no is the skill that transfers to the rest of his life Matriarchy as mothers at the beginning, drawn from Heide Göttner-Abendroth, and the Mosuo clan structure where there are no words for husband or father How the nuclear family hands one stepfather the labor of grandmothers, aunties, uncles and brothers, and why he feels like he is failing Early motherhood, the erotic structures that stopped computing, the nerve issues, and pleasure as the tether back to herself The axial age, care labor, and what it costs when the people already doing the caring are taught by men to care more Erotic self sourcing, and asking her charismatic partner to decenter himself from women's lives Circumcision of infant boys as a first initiation, and men in their seventies finally being held Aging, the elephant metaphor, and the erasure of the grandmother The renaming of their offering to the art and responsibility of touching women, and why the responsibility matters What You'll Hear What rematriation means when it is applied to a marriage, a household, a business and a body all at once Whether a desire can be genuinely yours if it was placed there, and whether that even matters The difference between rest and mobilization for an exhausted nervous system, and why more passivity is often the wrong prescription Kim on the bodyworker who discovered she needed to take, not receive, after a full day of giving Why starting with sexuality is the hardest and most important entry point in men's work What men sound like singing together at the end of a retreat, without drugs or alcohol Whether men and women have the same obstacles to pleasure, and where patriarchy shows up on both sides of the same coin Matriarchy versus matrifocal, and why Casia uses the word that starts an argument The community that holds her and Cosmo accountable, and what personal power looks like when it is checked Renegotiating the parenting load as a seven year old claims her independence Kim on Perdita Finn, Stephen Jenkinson, lineage, and why elderhood makes gender matter less A long, honest passage from Kim on double binds, young men, her daughter's friends in Scotland, and raising a son you would not want to date The coming of age ceremony for a thirteen year old girl, and what is missing for boys Affiliate groups versus mixed groups, and whether single gender work is a stepping stone or a destination Mothers as the creators of culture, and the mother son bond in matriarchal anthropology Kim's friend in Palau, and what it feels like to leave a living matriarchy and land in an airport The hysteria clinic, and why the modern orgasm imperative is the same move in a different costume Why men mostly cannot see the work, and what "you look good for your age" actually costs Porn as training in extraction, and what men need instead Resources Casia Sobolewski Personal website, Honey and Water https://www.honeyandwater.ca/ The Himeros Project https://www.himerosproject.com/ The Art of Touching Women https://www.himerosproject.com/the-art-of-touching-women Instagram https://www.instagram.com/casia.sobolewski/ Linktree https://linktr.ee/casia.xx   Kimberly Ann Johnson Pre-Order Erotic Seasons: Tuning into the Rhythms of Women's Sexuality and Spirituality (Sounds True, 2026): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1649633742 Support This episode includes discussion of sexual assault and sexual trauma. RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline (US): 1-800-656-4673, rainn.org. Confirm current before publication.  
• 
  EP 245: The Contrast Is the Gold - Death Nesting, the Vortex, and Why Deathcare Belongs to the Village with Anne-Marie Keppel 16.08.2026 1t 9min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Anne-Marie Keppel, death doula educator, founder of the nonprofit Village Deathcare, and author of Death Nesting: The Heart-Centered Practices of a Death Doula, about what has and has not shifted in the culture since she wrote the book. Anne-Marie traces the origin of Death Nesting back to her years as a licensed nurse assistant in residential care, a hospice volunteer, a Meals on Wheels director, and to the elderly homeless man she looked after through Vermont winters; work she did because she wanted to. They look at the 1920s as the demarcation point when care left the home, when antibiotics became a god and the hospital became the authority realm, and at what has been lost in the handoff from family to funeral home. Anne-Marie makes the case that death curiosity is healthy, that it is okay to want to see and touch a dead body, and that fewer than half of the 500 students she has taught ever have. She describes the vortex that opens when someone is leaving their body, why timing matters more than ceremony, and why she considers the celebration of life a travesty when it replaces mourning rather than following it. The conversation goes into difficult territory: what care workers have reported feeling after a medically assisted death, the sense of severing and whiplash, and Kimberly's parallel that you can die and death does not happen. They talk honestly about suicide, about normalizing the thought rather than exiling it, about the scammers now working the death doula platforms, and about why people who long for death often do not know what dead actually is. The episode closes on professionalization: why she calls the business plan death doula training a lost opportunity, why she teaches citizens rather than experts, why the hairdresser who talks about dying with people in her chair is doing death doula work, and why the point is to give all the knowledge and wisdom, everything you've got, away. If any of this landed close to home, you don't have to sit with it alone. In the US, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text, day or night.   BIO Anne-Marie Keppel is an international speaker, award-winning author of Death Nesting: The Heart-Centered Practices of a Death Doula, and founder of Village Deathcare 501c3, whose inspiration and purpose is incorporating deathcare into community. Of Irish Celtic and Finnish Sámi (indigenous Finno-Ugric) roots, she draws from her work as a death doula, nurse assistant, life-long meditator, Reiki Master Teacher and mother of three. She leads retreats and talks in Vermont, across the US, in Ireland, England, Costa Rica and Mexico on death, dying, healing and intuition. She lives in Vermont where she practices meditation, magic, community deathcare, trains her Siberian Husky (nonstop) and delights in her family's love.   WHAT ANNE-MARIE SHARES Why she wrote Death Nesting from a place of genuine care and not a business plan, and how she only later realized she had accidentally built a business model The basic physical skills nobody is taught anymore: how to transfer someone from bed to chair, how to protect your own back, how to hold a body that cannot hold itself Her years as a licensed nurse assistant in residential care, a hospice volunteer, and director of Meals on Wheels in Montpelier, Vermont Caring for an 89 year old homeless veteran through Vermont winters, and what it taught her about doing the work when nobody is filming The 1920s as the demarcation point: hospitalization, antibiotics as the new god, and the hospital as a god realm where we send our loved ones away Why death curiosity is healthy, and why it is okay to want to see, touch, and smell a dead body That fewer than half of the 500 plus students she has taught have ever seen a dead body, at every age including into their sixties The vortex that opens when a person is leaving their body, why others feel it whether or not they know it, and why it stays open afterward Why the celebration of life is a travesty when it replaces the funeral, and why timing is the thing that matters What people have told her after being present at a medically assisted death: the severing, the whiplash, and the gap between what their eyes saw and what their body felt The scammers currently working death doula platforms with fake terminal diagnoses, and the empathy they exploit Why she normalizes suicidal thoughts immediately, and what happens in a room when she asks how many people have thought about ending their life Why people who long for death often do not know what dead is, and her prescription: volunteer for hospice, work in a funeral home, dig a grave Why coupling a death doula training with a business plan destroys the training, and why she teaches citizens instead of experts The hairdresser and the barista as models of community deathcare, and how to be a death doula without quitting your job Why she teaches her students to empower the family, stay in the background, and then walk away The student who finished her training and realized he actually is afraid to die, and why she called that a hallelujah WHAT YOU'LL HEAR What has and has not shifted in the culture since Death Nesting was first written The parallels and the gap between birth doula care and death doula care, and what weekend trainings do to a threshold Why 88 is very old, and what the denial of that reveals about the culture Embodied knowing versus instruction: holding a baby, holding a fractured heel, holding a leg someone cannot feel Why proximity beats curriculum, and why no training substitutes for a long embodiment practice How the handoff from family to hospital to funeral home created a generation with nowhere to put its grief The vortex, the gateway, and why people need to step outside for coffee during a death A candid, careful exchange about medical aid in dying, individualism, sovereignty, and what Canada has shown since legalization Stephen Jenkinson's line that you can die and death does not happen, and its birth equivalent Suicide, ideation, and the difference between exiling the subject and washing away the taboo Disconnection from the physical earth, zero vulnerability tolerance, and why medical professionals arrive at death doula training carrying decades of unprocessed exposure Kimberly on mothering the bones as a lay practice, and on what teaching does to your ability to receive The professionalization problem, the learning rate, and permission to be new at something Why awkwardness is the skill worth practicing before the business card Details on Anne-Marie's upcoming autumn death doula training RESOURCES Main Website: https://stardustmeadow.com Anne-Marie Keppel: https://www.annemariekeppel.com Death Doula Training (Village Deathcare Citizen Course): https://stardustmeadow.com/death-doula-training Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/villagedeathcare/ Medium: https://annemariekeppel.medium.com Death Nesting: The Heart-Centered Practices of a Death Doula: https://www.innertraditions.com/books/death-nesting   Referenced in conversation: Stephen Jenkinson, Orphan Wisdom: https://orphanwisdom.com Tom Myers, Anatomy Trains: https://www.anatomytrains.com Tami Lynn Kent, Wild Feminine: https://www.wildfeminine.com/   If you or a loved one are dealing with suicide or suicidal thoughts you can call or text 988 in anywhere in the US to find someone to talk to.  
• 
  EP 244: Consistency, Not Perfection - Nutrition for Menopause and Beyond with Karen Newby 10.08.2026 59min

  Kimberly wanted to speak with someone who was neither hormones-or-nothing nor going to offer complicated longevity protocol. Karen Newby is a UK nutritionist with a BSc in Nutritional Medicine and fifteen years of clinical practice, and she speaks with clear-eyed candor about how to support women's nutrition through midlife and beyond. What follows is a genuinely practical conversation. Karen explains why menopause is now classified as an inflammatory transitional event, what that has to do with joint pain, foggy head, eczema, and autoimmune flares, and how the shift in estrogen changes insulin sensitivity and where the body stores weight. Underneath the nutrition is a broader argument about what got lost for women in the hormone gold rush. There is useful myth-busting on creatine, on electrolytes as a marketing category newly aimed at midlife women, on the protein wars, and on why the ultra-processed conversation should be about refined carbohydrates and breakfast cereal rather than about whether protein powder counts. Karen's bottom line: the body wants to be well, consistency beats perfection, and confusion is the thing most likely to stop a woman from starting at all. Bio Karen Newby / Nutritionist BSc Nutritional Med, mBANT, CNHC Karen is a nutritionist, speaker, food activist, author and regular media contributor. She holds a BSc in Nutritional Medicine and has over 15 years of clinical experience. She works extensively with women navigating menopause and post-menopause, translating complex nutritional science into practical, sustainable strategies that support long-term vitality. She is author of three books focused on the menopause and post menopause: The Natural Menopause Method — a nutritional guide to perimenopause and beyond, The Natural Menopause Method Cookbook, and The Post Menopause Method — a nutritional guide to ageing well (out October 2026). Through her writing, she combines clinical expertise with practical recipes, lifestyle guidance and an emphasis on preventative health. Having lived for many years in China and Vietnam, she has witnessed first-hand how traditional food cultures place nourishment front and centre of everyday life versus the UK's ultra processed food culture. Karen is on a mission to help women reclaim agency over their health at menopause, through what they eat and how they live, and how we can learn from ancient food wisdom from wise women across the world. Living without a fear of ageing so our post menopausal lives can be vibrant, purposeful and fulfilling. What Karen Shares Why she isn't interested in telling anyone what to do and why the real obstacle is that women carry so much they can't get themselves onto their own to-do list Menopause as an inflammatory transitional event, and the through-line to aches, foggy head, eczema, psoriasis, and autoimmune conditions How changing estrogen affects insulin sensitivity, why weight moves to the middle, and the difference between metabolic change and cortisol-driven "worry waist" The protein-rich, fiber-rich breakfast as the single highest-leverage change and why caffeine belongs with breakfast rather than before it Her 1% / 2% / 3% framework: fifteen minutes for breakfast, half an hour for lunch, forty-five minutes for the evening meal A 14-hour overnight fast as the realistic version of intermittent fasting during perimenopause, and why long fasts during hormonal flux tend to backfire What she actually means by ultra-processed: refined carbohydrates, white bread, breakfast cereal versus the protein powders and jarred goods most people worry about Creatine: well researched, safe, cheap as monohydrate, not on her essential list, and the brain-health claims not yet supported by robust studies Why she's skeptical of electrolyte supplements for midlife women, and the Vietnamese soda chanh she drank through monsoon season instead The protein wars: why Blue Zones populations eat less protein than the West, and why she still thinks it matters at menopause Fat phobia inherited from a generation of calorie-counting mothers, and what nuts, seeds, and omega-3s do for cognition, cardiovascular health, dry eyes, dry skin, and morning stiffness Ground linseed and phytoestrogens, including for teenage daughters moving through their own hormonal flux How to read an ingredients list and why the brands making the biggest health claims are usually spending on marketing rather than product Good housekeeping as a lost skill: bone stock from rib bones, veggie stock from peelings, leftovers for lunch, and why real food is cheaper than processed Giving birth in Beijing, being shouted at by elders for taking her newborn outside, and what traditional confinement cultures understood that the West forgot Why the suffragettes were early proponents of vegetarian cookery and why she isn't vegan or vegetarian but thinks most of us could eat more like it   What You'll Hear Why "hormones or no hormones" is the wrong first question, and what gets left out when it's the only one being asked Kimberly on being floored by menopause despite writing a book on postpartum nourishment and on dismantling her business, cutting sugar entirely, and spending a stretch in ketosis The generational break: what happens when your grandmothers had hysterectomies and there is no menopause to inherit Irritability and rage in perimenopause partly blood glucose, partly finding your voice, and Karen's caveat that some people genuinely are annoying The cortisol awakening response, that fluttery-hearted start to the day, and what to drink before coffee Why confusion is the real enemy the listeners writing in with "a PhD in menopause" who still feel worse, not better Kimberly on being a redhead with less margin for error, and when a more extreme approach is warranted Acupuncture, going twice, and why some interventions need a real course rather than a trial Learning to cook in midlife assembling versus cooking, the power of ribs as a great attractor, and what a full fridge does for the nervous system Food as community: daughters who cook, parents who start showing up for dinner, and the traveling tinned fish situation Hunger from the chest versus hunger from the gut, and how to tell a stress response from actual appetite The 3pm slump, the sad sandwich, and the reactive eating that follows both   Resources Website — https://www.karennewby.com Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/karen.newby.nutritionist Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/karennewbynutritionist Pre-order The Post Menopause Method: A Nutritional Guide to Ageing Well (out October 2026) — https://www.amazon.com/Post-Menopause-Method-nutritional-guide-ageing-ebook/dp/B0GXFWS5XJ Pre-order Erotic Seasons: Tuning into the Rhythms of Women's Sexuality and Spirituality (out November 2026) — https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781649633743/eroticseasons/
• 
  EP 243: Eating the Shadow – Mythopoetic Men's Work, the Lover Archetype, and Repair in a Villageless World with Ian MacKenzie 08.06.2026 56min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Ian MacKenzie, filmmaker, writer, mythosomatic guide, and host of The Mythic Masculine, about what men's work looks like in 2026. A fellow Orphan Wisdom scholar, Ian traces the mythopoetic lineage back through Robert Bly's Iron John, Carl Jung, and Marie-Louise von Franz, and describes how discovering Bly's book in his late grandfather's study set him on this path alongside his film work on feminine archetypes (Amplify Her). They talk candidly about the cultural moment — the "Rape Academy," the Pelicot case, the question of where the men are, and why the issues that feel omnipresent in some circles remain invisible in others curated by algorithm. Ian unpacks the medicine of mythopoetic men's spaces: how men can "put down the masculine pole" when others hold the container, why porn functions as a "toxic mimic" of intimacy, and how the shadow we exile grows hostile and acts out. They explore the lover archetype and erotic rites of passage rooted in his time at the Tamera community in Portugal, the "road of ashes" and why real men's spaces are composed of "failed heroes," and how to tend rites of passage for our own children by building real relationships with other men long before adolescence. The conversation closes on accountability and repair in a "villageless" culture, erotic leadership, and the inaugural Cascadia Men's Conference.   Bio Ian MacKenzie is a filmmaker, mythosomatic guide, and the founder of The Mythic Masculine - a platform devoted to stewarding the soul work of men. For two decades, Ian has tracked the emergence of imaginal culture - from the fires of Burning Man to the streets of Occupy Wall St - amplifying the voices of visionaries, artists, and wisdom keepers working toward a more regenerative world. A 15-year scholar of the Orphan Wisdom School, and a four-time pilgrim to the Tamera peace research community in Portugal, he has dedicated himself to expanding the terrain of what men's inner work can be: weaving ritual, ancestral story, and somatic reclamation into a living path toward sovereign purpose. He is the co-founder of The Deep Masculine Journey, a 12-week initiatory program for men, and the host of The Mythic Masculine podcast. His films include Sacred Economics, Occupy Love, Amplify Her, and The Village of Lovers. He lives on Vancouver Island with his partner and son.   What He Shares The mythopoetic lineage of Bly's Iron John, Jung, von Franz and finding the book in his grandfather's study in his mid-30s How exploring feminine archetypes through Amplify Her opened the question of masculinity for him Why the "where are the men" moment is so confusing for men who want to speak but fear getting it wrong The "hungry ghost" pattern: what happens when men locate all their Eros and vitality in women Porn as a "toxic mimic" (Caroline Casey's phrase) of real intimacy and reciprocity "Putting down the masculine pole" how men can finally fall apart when others hold the container "Eating the shadow" creating space for men to reveal trespass and explore real repair Erotic rites of passage and the lover archetype, drawn from his time at Tamera The "road of ashes," failed heroes, and the difference between olders and elders Tending rites of passage for our kids and why a parent is "disqualified" from leading their own child's Accountability and repair in a villageless culture, and the vision behind the Cascadia Men's Conference   What You'll Hear What "the mythic masculine" means and where the mythopoetic tradition comes from Whether the erotic is "feminine"  anima, animus, and locating aliveness inside vs. outside How algorithmic bubbles make the same cultural crisis omnipresent for some and invisible for others The critique of men's work as apolitical self-improvement  and the Mankind Project's stance Dyads, Forum, and psychodrama as practices for meeting the shadow The "dogs in the basement" story. Shadow, ancestors, and what we exile What an erotic rite of passage weekend actually looks like, and the core wound it surfaces A hard, honest exchange about campus assault and what real accountability could look like Erotic leadership, deep attunement, and meeting a partner stepping into her own fullness Details on the Cascadia Men's Conference "Courting the Divine Spark" Resources: Main Website: http://themythicmasculine.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ianalexanderm/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ian.mackenz/
• 
  EP 242: Arbitrary Intelligence - Tools, Limits, and the Willies of What's Coming with Stephen Jenkinson 25.05.2026 1t 7min

  In this episode, Kimberly is re-joined by Stephen Jenkinson, author of Trembling Still: The Awful Clarity of a Mind in Eclipse, about the moment we find ourselves in with artificial intelligence and what it asks of us. They unpack the claim that AI is merely a tool; a real tool elaborates the capacities of the human hand just enough to reveal its God-given limits. Jenkinson suggests renaming AI "arbitrary intelligence," and traces how the rollout was designed to anticipate and absorb resistance before it could even form. Kimberly shares her own encounters with AI's creep into branding, self-driving cars, dream interpretation, therapy, dating, and her daughter's experience competing against Adderall and AI-assisted classmates. Together they explore whether willful underachievement might be the truest form of resistance and why the loss of kinship with the world is the precondition for welcoming a machine as your therapist. Jenkinson describes an MIT technologist's pitch to make him immortal through AI, and his fully human reply. The conversation closes with Jenkinson's own physical limitation, that unlike any Zoom AI companion, he can't sit any longer; a poetic, human ending to the kind of overflowing conversations that we've come to expect from these two. Bio Stephen Jenkinson, MTS, MSW, is a teacher, author, culture worker, farmer, and founder of the Orphan Wisdom School. He is the author of Die Wise, Come of Age, A Generations Worth, Reckoning (with Kimberly Ann Johnson) and most recently Trembling Still: The Awful Clarity of a Mind in Eclipse. His work explores grief, elderhood, dying, and the deep obligations of being alive in a time of unprecedented consequence. He has a master's degree in theology from Harvard and a master's in social work from the University of Toronto, and spent years as a program director in a major Canadian hospital, where his work focused on the care of the dying. He lives on a farm in the Ottawa Valley with his wife Nathalie Roy. What He Shares: – Why AI should be called "arbitrary intelligence" and why the words artificial and intelligence don't belong together – The MIT technologist's pitch to make him immortal through AI and why he said no – The shift from Lascaux to Turkey: how humans went from small stick figures to the biggest thing that ever happened – Willful underachievement as the truest form of resistance – Why he's glad he won't see the future and the two-generation rule for language loss – The rollout: how AI anticipated resistance and folded it into the code before anyone could articulate their concern – His own physical limitation as the conversation's closing teaching What You'll Hear: – Kimberly's encounters with AI creep: branding, self-driving cars, Zoom companions, Microsoft Word prompts – Is AI a tool? Why a tool elaborates the hand and complies with God-given limits – Arbitrary intelligence: renaming the thing for what it is – The rollout: how resistance was anticipated, folded into the code, and served back as good soup – The allegation that this has happened before and why he doesn't buy it – The microwave precedent: how fast something goes from luxury to you're-a-buffoon-without-it – Slow food, fast food, and what you can't recover from losing – Kimberly's daughter competing unassisted against Adderall and AI and reinforcing the slower pace – Willful underachievement and failing to qualify as resistance – Leonard Cohen: none of us deserving the cruelty or the grace – The MIT pitch: wouldn't your grandchildren want access to you after you die? – Love must obey the limits of time and the human frame – The want machine: why wanting something for someone doesn't make it good for them – Lascaux to Turkey: from humans as tiny stick figures to humans as the biggest thing – The loss of kinship with the made world as the precondition for AI – AI as therapy, dream interpreter, dating coach, prescription writer and the abject loneliness underneath – Being hurt aloud about what we're willing to submit to – AI as you riffing on you being true to yourself as the thing that's being sold – Kimberly on the inescapable attack in nervous system language and whether talking about it helps or feeds it – SJ's body calling time: people learning from the part of you that you wish wasn't happening Resources Website: orphanwisdom.com Upcoming Book: Trembling Still: The Awful Clarity of a Mind in Eclipse
• 
  EP 241: Furious or Curious - Safety and Security, Frog Farmers, and What Men Actually Need to Hear with Alison Armstrong 17.05.2026 1t 7min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Alison Armstrong, author of The Queen's Code, about her complex work around understanding men and women. Alison has been studying the dynamics between men and women since 1991, when she discovered she was what's called a "frog farmer:"a woman who unknowingly turns princes into frogs through culturally inherited patterns of emasculation, criticism, and control. They explore how what was once a subterranean pattern of diminishing men has become amplified in our current moment, and why nobody is fundamentally broken. Alison explains how testosterone creates single focus, why men dodge ownership of anything that will be used against them, and why the words that most motivate men to act are the same words women most avoid using. They discuss the difference between being furious and being curious, why anger is "static on the radio" that prevents the song from being heard, and how to provide actionable information without condemnation, including in sexuality. The conversation moves into breadwinning (or breadlosing) dynamics, the concept of 8,000 days, planning for finitude, and the regret of missing what matters most in the sprint of a mission-driven life. Bio Alison Armstrong is the author of The Queen's Code and the creator of widely acclaimed transformational online programs, including LUX: Liberation. Understanding. Xtraordinary Relationships, and Understanding Men, Understanding Women, Understanding Sex & Intimacy, Understanding Love & Commitment, plus Being Extraordinary as a Man/Woman. Alison asks the question: "What if no one is misbehaving—including you?" She explores the good reasons behind the behavior of men and women, such as fundamental differences in the ways we think, act, and communicate. She offers simple, partnership-based solutions to improve communication and intimacy by honoring ourselves then others. Alison is known for her insight, sense of humor, and ability to articulate the human experience and predicament of gender. She seeks practical, energy- and emotion-efficient approaches to conflict, healing, and building skills and capacities applicable to human interactions in all contexts. One of Alison's great pleasures is supporting the men and women who choose to be her students. She spends up to 30 hours per month clarifying and helping others to implement her teachings.   What She Shares: – How she discovered she was a frog farmer in 1991 and what that set in motion – The shift from subterranean emasculation to loud, amplified pain on both sides – Why men dodge ownership of anything that could be used against them – The words that most motivate men are the words women most avoid using – Furious or curious: why anger is static that prevents the song from being heard – Her husband's death, grieving without notice, and the concept of 8,000 days – Her recent hysterectomy and the mystery of women's bodies to men and to ourselves – The regret of missing her children's lives in the sprint of her mission What You'll Hear: – Kimberly's personal history with Alison's work across generations – Frog farmers versus prince farmers: how women unknowingly turn princes into frogs – What Alison learned watching her mother's three and a half husbands – The 1970s addition: get a husband, keep a husband, but never need one – How testosterone creates single focus and why interrupting men derails depth – Men's instinct to provide and why they plan decades into the future without telling their partners – Why men and women both decide what the other needs without asking—and then resent not being appreciated – The word "help" as an action command and why women avoid it – How to ask without interrogating: own your desire and wait for it – Giving men three chances without shaming—and the difference between asking and condemning – Actionable information in sexuality: show me, not shame me – An hour of oral sex: what a panel of men actually said about "too long" – Honor as doing the right thing no matter how you feel—and why love can't override it – Why men leave: "It's dishonorable for me to stay when I can't make her happy" – The incel generation: Kimberly's daughter on how all the boys are influenced – Kimberly on learning to be around men after years of only working with women – Emotional labor, the victim stance, and why "I shouldn't have to" keeps us stuck – Predator, prey, herd, and pack: the animal instincts beneath human relating – Status, quantity versus quality, and why two-income zero-parenting families form – Die with Zero and 8,000 days: choosing what to spend a finite life on – Resting as a valid activity: without rest, nothing else works – Breadwinning and bread losing: honoring the provider regardless of who earns – The regret of watching home videos of moments she missed—and her children's astonishing forgiveness – Kimberly's reflection: mothering our children is also mothering the world Resources Website: allisonarmstrong.com IG: @thealisonarmstrong   Celebrating Partnership https://www.alisonarmstrong.com/products/celebratingpartnership.html  
• 
  EP 240: Hunting and Making God – Motherhood, Creativity, and Building a Church of Her Own with Ranier Amiel 16.03.2026 1t 3min

  In this episode, the third in the Santa Fe trilogy, Kimberly speaks with Ranier Amiel, an artist, bodyworker, and single mother who is restoring a century-old church in Truchas, New Mexico, and turning it into a home, studio, and eventually a space of community and sacred inquiry. Recorded inside the church itself, their conversation moves between the balance of motherhood and creativity, the grounding power of physical labor, and what it means to hunt for and make God after losing faith in the spiritual community you were raised in. Ranier shares her vulva portraiture work, including its two-year run inside an immersive theater project in Amsterdam, and the stark contrast she witnessed between American and Dutch women's relationships to their bodies. They discuss the trauma orientation as a cultural overcorrection that can become avoidant of self-expression, the obsession with self-definition versus actually embodying who you are, and the need for hierarchy, tradition, and compression alongside the essential self. The conversation closes with reflections on the layers between: body and soul, survival and art, the seen and the unseen. Bio Ranier Amiel is an artist, bodyworker, movement teacher, and painter based in Truchas, New Mexico, where she is restoring a century-old church into a home, studio, and community space. Born in Santa Fe and raised deeply inside a spiritual community, she has spent the last two decades on what she calls a path of hunting and making God—seeking the sacred through the body, art, and radical vulnerability. She is known for her vulva portraiture and witnessing work, which she has practiced for over twelve years, including a two-year collaboration with an immersive theater company in Amsterdam. A single mother to her son Ollie, Ranier's life and work sit at the intersection of art, motherhood, bodywork, and the creation of sacred space. She envisions the church as a place of deeper meaning, community inquiry, and a different perspective on spiritual truth—guided by a board of priestesses. What She Shares: – The wrestle of motherhood and creativity as a single parent – Restoring a century-old church in Truchas as her biggest art project – How physical labor, trenching, building, moving rock, became the most grounding thing she's ever done – Hunting and making God after spiritual disillusionment at 19 – Her vulva portraiture work and what it reveals beyond trauma – The night-and-day contrast between American and Dutch women's body relationships – A vision for the church as sacred community space led by a board of priestesses What You'll Hear: – Motherhood and creativity: the wrestle of being a full-time single mom and a wild artist – Defining for herself what a good mom looks like and what she's willing to let go of – The history of the church in Truchas and how she found it on Zillow – Desperation and audacity: taking on a property with no plumbing and no heat – How building her own home with her hands healed her nervous system – Being a white woman in a historically Hispano community and being welcomed – The church's journey from services to gallery to bedroom to future sacred space – Growing up in a spiritual community that fell apart and watching people cling harder to beliefs – What church means to her: hunting and making God, creating sacred space – Removing the patriarchy from people's bodies through bodywork, movement, and painting – The vulva witnessing work: reclamation paintings, celebration paintings, and touching the place beyond the trauma – Two years of live witnessing inside an immersive theater project in Amsterdam – American versus Dutch women: puritanical repression versus healthy embodiment – Kimberly's reflections on writing Erotic Seasons and holding both wounding and alchemical power – The trauma orientation as avoidance of self-expression and a block to maturation – Watching her teenage son self-diagnose and the cultural swing from denial to over-identification – The geranium and the jungle plant: helping people find the conditions they need to thrive – Uniqueness tangled with individualism and the obsession with self-definition – The loss of hierarchy, tradition, and roles—and why compression helps us find essence – The body as the physical form of the soul, not a separate sack of flesh – The layers between as that which actually makes everything separate and not – Kimberly on occupying a between space in the culture and cultivating trustworthiness over customer satisfaction Resources Location: Truchas, New Mexico Website: https://ranieramiel.com/ IG: @ranieramiel  
• 
  EP 239: The Image of the Wound – Emergent Teaching, Art as Alchemy, and Living Between Languages with Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez 08.03.2026 55min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez, an artist, educator, and depth psychologist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the designer of the cover of Kimberly's upcoming book Erotic Seasons. Part of Kimberly's Santa Fe trilogy, this conversation explores what it means to teach and live emergently: responding to what's present rather than what's planned. Chanti shares her doctoral work on the wound of homelandlessness as a Cuban American, and how she developed a practice of creating and living with the image of one's wound as a daily, evolving relationship rather than something to fix or overcome. They discuss the difference between revisiting and rumination, the ancient link between art and therapy, and why images hold meaning differently than words; allowing wounds to keep shifting rather than becoming rigid stories. The conversation also touches on the Cuban concept of resolver, what it takes to be a student of one's own creative impulse, and how imperfection and planned spontaneity become doorways to aliveness.   Bio Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez is a Cuban-American artist-author, ritualist, and non-clinical depth psychologist. She believes that images speak a profound language; her life's work is a translator of the unseen and an advocate for the imaginal. She holds two master's degrees in Engaged Humanities and Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. In 2023 she completed her doctoral dissertation Navegando Liminal: Rituals to Translate the Image of the Wound. Her work and teaching follows and welcomes, imagination, creativity, dreaming, and deep rest.  She teaches workshops, and collaborative training focused on creativity, yantra painting, dreaming, intuitive movement, myth, restorative yoga, and yoga nidra. Her passion and aim are to inspire all to rediscover their creative self by weaving the blessings with the wounds while honoring the land and ancestors. Dr. Chanti also works individually with clients using a transdisciplinary approach through creative therapeutics. Learn more.   What She Shares: – Chanti's doctoral work on the wound of homelandlessness – The practice of creating and living with the image of one's wound – How emergence is like an emergency—the urgency of being present – The toolbox of an emergent teacher: listening, trust, and tolerance for tension – Why images hold meaning differently than words – The Cuban concept of resolver—figuring things out with what you have – How she navigated a PhD program as an image-based thinker – The link between art and therapy as the oldest form of alchemy   What You'll Hear: – What emergent teaching actually requires: listening, trust, and a good ear for the pulse of the space – The tension of being the leader who says "I don't know" – Chanti's wound of homelandlessness: ni de aquí, ni de allá – Growing up being told "you belong over there"—and arriving in Cuba as a foreigner – Creating the image of the wound and living with it as an altar – The word estúpida on the image—and reclaiming what was once shame – Pursuing a PhD in Jungian Archetypal Studies as an image-based thinker – The project-based dissertation: two books, one of words and one of images – Wound and blessing: the etymology of bless as bleed in French and Old English – The difference between revisiting a wound and ruminating on it – How fixed meaning stops a wound from continuing to grow and change – Choiceless choice: when creative impulses announce themselves – The incubation period—how long to sit with a bubbling before it overflows – Art as something that overflows from you and becomes something else – Kimberly's experience writing her book with a co-editor through word games and play – Exhaustion, rest culture, and the shadow side of Yin – Creativity as living in the third space between social and sympathetic nervous systems – Working with dreams through images and movement – Mutual seed planting: how flamenco and imagery crossed between them – Imperfection as doorway: planned spontaneity, blindfolds, dice, and letting things fall – The layers between words and images, cultures, and belonging   Resources Website: https://www.yantrawisdom.com/ Kimberly's Next Course: https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/STANDUP/
• 
  EP 238: The Body Innate – Yin Warriorship, Communal Eros, and Leading Atmospheres with Jaye Marolla 02.03.2026 1t 29min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Jaye Marolla, a bodyworker, martial artist, Qigong teacher, and founder of The Body Innate and the Yin Dojo in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They explore the integration of martial arts, bodywork, and Qigong as a path of healing and sovereignty, and what Jaye calls "yin warriorship:" a reclamation of the warrior archetype rooted in surrender, Eros, and facing one's own mortality rather than competition or heroism. They discuss how Jaye came to open her home as a dojo, the ancient tradition of merging practice space with living space, and the energetic responsibility that requires. The conversation moves through the role of Eros and sexuality in training spaces, the difference between safety and emergence, the trauma frame versus a vitality frame, and what it means to lead atmospheres rather than follow scripts. They also explore queerness as a state of questioning, the tension between sovereignty and individualism, and the concept of couples dojos as somatic spaces for partnership.   Bio Jaye Marolla is a bodyworker, martial artist, and Qigong practitioner based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she runs the Yin Dojo. She is the founder of The Body Innate and has trained extensively in multiple martial arts traditions including Aikido and Jiu Jitsu, as well as Thai bodywork, which she studied for three years with a master teacher in Thailand. A former Division 1 basketball player, Jaye integrates decades of physical training with Taoist philosophy, somatic practice, and community-based teaching. Her work sits at the intersection of yin warriorship, Eros, and embodied leadership, and she teaches martial arts, Qigong, bodywork, and leadership through emergent, atmosphere-based practice. She also leads couples dojos and collaborates with practitioners including Stephen Jackson on retreats exploring death, embodiment, and communal practice.   What She Shares: – How the Yin Dojo came to be in her home in Santa Fe – The ancient tradition of integrating bodywork and martial arts under one roof – Yin warriorship as a response to cultural chaos and the call of the body – Vitality and animism versus the pathological medicine frame – The role of Eros, eroticism, and sexuality in training spaces – Her journey from D1 basketball to Thai bodywork to martial arts teaching – Couples dojos as somatic, embodied spaces for partnership – Queerness as a state of questioning and healthy boundary transgression   What You'll Hear: – Kimberly's introduction to Jaye's work and their collaboration at Ghost Ranch – Creating a home-based dojo and the energetic configuration of practice, treatment, and living space – The interplay of healing and combat knowledge across traditions – Why body workers need to train their own bodies – Sovereignty versus taking on others' energy in bodywork – Transitioning from an all-women's dojo to an all-gender space – The "toxic masculinity" conversation and the abandonment of the masculine – Leadership as emergent, atmosphere-based, and rooted in physical training – The creation of atmospheres: moving away from comparative gaze toward cooperative gaze – Warriorship as a dying art rooted in death awareness, not competition – Frames beyond trauma: warriorship, vitality, eroticism – Training for three years in Thailand and the gray space of becoming a practitioner – The necessity of being in the flesh in a technological age – Eros in training spaces: the puritanical bind of encouraging then discouraging the body's response – Self-modulation and erotic sovereignty as a resource – Sovereignty versus individualism: belonging and exile – The trauma orientation as a cultural and capitalist hindrance – Simple ceremony and self-reverent practice – Yin and Yang: growing capacity in both simultaneously – Emergent teaching versus deterministic scripts in group spaces – Safety as a placation of wildness versus supportive disorientation – Queerness as living off the main path and transgressing boundaries healthily – What "the layers between" means: space, Yin, and limitless possibility – Couples dojos: somatic conversations beyond the sexual context   Resources Business: The Body Innate Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico Website: https://www.thebodyinnate.com/ IG: @thebodyinnate  
• 
  EP 237: "Sage-escence" – The Natural Menopause Movement, Shamanic Midwifery, and Birthing the Wise Woman with Jane Hardwicke Collings 25.01.2026 1t 15min

  In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Jane Hardwicke Collings, a post-menopausal grandmother, former midwife, and founder of the School of Shamanic Womancraft. They explore how the lessons learned from the natural childbirth movement must now be applied to menopause, discussing what Jane calls "sage-escence," the becoming of the wise woman. Jane shares her journey from hospital nurse to home birth midwife, how her midwifery awakened her to the patriarchy's medicalization of women's bodies, and why she sees a natural menopause movement emerging. They dive deep into the connections between all rites of passage, from menstruation to birth to menopause, and examine how unresolved trauma surfaces during these transitions. The conversation also explores sexuality and the erotic through life's seasons, the impact of childhood trauma on menopausal symptoms, body shame, aging, and the cultural pressure toward hormone therapy versus embracing natural processes. Bio Jane Hardwicke Collings is a post-menopausal grandmother, mother of a blended family with four adult children and four grandchildren. A former Registered Nurse who worked in Paediatric Intensive Care Units and Women's Operating Theatres, she became a midwife at 26 and left the hospital system so as not to be complicit with institutionalized acts of abuse and violence on women and babies masquerading as safety. She was a homebirth midwife for 30 years in city and rural areas of Australia. Jane carries the lineage of Shamanic Midwifery from her teacher Jeannine Parvati Baker and created the School of Shamanic Womancraft in 2009, an international Women's Mystery School. She travels internationally giving workshops on the wisdom of cycles, the spiritual practice of menstruation, sacred dimensions of pregnancy, birth, and menopause, and reclaiming women's rites of passage. She also offers teacher training, books, and e-courses. Jane is a co-creator of Hygieia Health, a not-for-profit with a mission to create freestanding birth centers and fund homebirth. She lives in the bush on the edge of a forest in New South Wales, Australia, committed to walking her talk and treading lightly on the earth. She sees herself as an Agent of the Goddess, a Priestess at the altars of transformation.   What She Shares: –Journey from hospital nurse to home birth midwife –Applying lessons from natural childbirth to menopause –Sage-escence: the becoming of the wise woman –How childhood trauma affects menopausal symptoms –Salutogenic vs pathogenic perspectives on women's health –Personal healing journey around sexuality at menopause –Crowning the Crones ceremony –Preparing for the transition to elderhood at 70   What You'll Hear: –Jane's awakening to the patriarchy through midwifery training –Why she left hospital to become a home birth midwife –Bringing midwife eyes and heart to all rites of passage –The state of birth in Australia and globally –Free birth, doulas, and current threats to birth workers –How home birth advocates are embracing medicalized menopause –HRT keeping women in a static hormonal state –The natural menopause movement emerging –Anti-aging culture and the privilege of aging –Body shame rooted in menstrual shame –Kimberly's reflections on cosmetic procedures and nervous system impact –How orgasm and sexuality change across a woman's lifetime –Healing sexual inheritance from mothers and grandmothers –Unresolved trauma surfacing at menopause as healing opportunity –First sexual experience as imprint that unfolds through life –Libido changes through life stages –Finding new reasons for sexuality post-reproduction –The spiral of life: what unfolds at each new season –Honoring crones and receiving their wisdom   Resources Website: https://janehardwickecollings.com/ IG: @janehardwickecollings Kimberly's Mobilize Freeze Course: https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/freeze/  
• 
  EP 236: The Art of Receiving and Giving - The Wheel of Consent with Dr. Betty Martin 12.10.2025 1t 6min

  Kimberly is joined by luminary thinker Dr. Betty Martin as they discuss the evolution and impact of the Wheel of Consent, a vanguard model for enthusiastic consent, asking for what you want, and living out embodied intimacy. Dr. Martin, who developed the model, shares her journey from creating the wheel through her hands-on workshops to writing a book so the wheel may reach an even larger audience, with Kimberly noting just how deep of an impact Betty's work has had on Kimberly's teaching and offerings. They explore the challenges of enthusiastic consent, the importance of feeling with one's hands, and the universal nature, as well as the cultural nuances, of touch and sex. Betty emphasizes the need for accurate teaching and the development of the wheel of consent in various fields, including therapy, businesses and social justice. The conversation highlights the significance of embodiment and the incomparable emotional impact of present and thoughtful touch.   Bio Dr. Betty Martin spent her childhood in a large family and her youth in experimental communities, learning about people in more groups than she can count. Founding a co-housing community with countless hours of meetings taught her the value of excellent facilitation. Now she enjoys helping others learn the skills she picked up along the way.  She graduated Chiropractic College in 1976 and practiced for almost 30 years, including several body-mind integration modalities. She has taught Peer Counseling for teens and adults, Educational Kinesiology and other bodywork for professionals, sexuality workshops for women, gender liberation, and boundary and communication workshops of many flavors, including Cuddle Party. After retiring from her Chiropractic practice on Vashon Island, she moved into Seattle and opened a private practice as a relationship and intimacy coach, where she guided people through somatic experiences, sometimes erotic and sometimes not, so they could learn how to be comfortable in their own skin and experience pleasure in ways that supported their development.  It was during those years of working with hundreds of people that she noticed and developed the Wheel of Consent, a practice and a model of taking apart receiving and giving. She started sharing her experience with other practitioners and developed the 5-day training, Like a Pro, focusing on the Wheel, communication and professional standards.  In 2018 she co-founded the School of Consent, where she has trained numerous facilitators of Wheel of Consent workshops, and a handful of faculty to teach Like a Pro. She is happily handing over teaching to those she has trained, and these days contributes to other organizations' trainings and presents to various professional groups. She also enjoys offering supervision and mentoring to practitioners. She once again lives in community and is the proud mom of 3 and grandma of 2. What You'll Hear Dr. Martin's background in chiropractic, body-mind integration modalities, and her development of the wheel of consent Betty's 13 year writing process and how her clients led her to constantly evolve her concepts for the book The development of the Three-Minute Game the value of taking turns and asking for what you want Why receiving can often be harder than giving. The importance of touch and attention to intimacy Why training new teachers is so important to Dr. Martin They discuss cultural differences as it relates to touch and sex The emergence of the term enthusiastic consent The reach of The Wheel of Consent from relationships to communities to businesses to social movements The exercise of waking up the hands to improve ability to feel with them   Resources Website: https://www.wheelofconsent.org/ Ig: @drbettymartin Book: https://www.wheelofconsent.org/thebook Activate Your Inner Jaguar: Sexuality and the Nervous System sign up link is here
• 
  EP 235: "Hold Nothing" - Radical Forgiveness, Daily Stillness, and Finding Stability with Elena Brower 08.10.2025 1t 2min

  In this episode, Kimberly and Elena discuss and reflect on their life experiences through nearly two decades of knowing one another. They discuss radical forgiveness for our families of origin, the importance of stillness and meditation, children leaving the home, and menopause. They also discuss what led Elena to write her upcoming book "Hold Nothing," which offers stories and prompts as an artful contemplative guide towards personal, daily practice for self-discovery and self-wisdom. Kimberly reads powerful excerpts aloud, and you can preorder the book in the link below.   Bio Elena Brower is a mother, mentor, poet, artist, volunteer, bestselling author, and podcast host. She is a celebrated international yoga and meditation teacher on Glo, guiding transformative practices since 1999. Her books include the "Art of Attention: A Yoga Practice Workbook for Movement as Meditation," bestselling journal "Practice You and Being You" her collection of poetry entitled "Softening Time," along with her courses, classes, and talks, explore stages of studentship, practice, life, and listening. Her latest book "Hold Nothing" investigates what it means to let go of narratives and return to the spacious emptiness within. She also has a column on Substack and podcast Practice You. She offers weekly classes and is a candidate in Upaya's Chaplaincy Training. She volunteers in hospice and penitentiary settings, bringing yoga, meditation, and compassionate presence to her local and broader communities.   What She Shares: –Forgiveness, repair and acceptance –Practice of daily stillness and stability –Powerful excerpts from new book –Excerpts read from new book "Hold Nothing"   What You'll Hear: –What sticks with Kimberly from Elena's teachings –Elena forgiving mother –Mercy and forgiveness for family of origen –Holding onto grudges instead of real repair –Impacting our actual spheres –Incentivizing holding grudges long-term in culture –Having direct contact with the present –In contact with body as medicine –Everyone doing their best at all times –Making our consciousness transparent to ourselves –Why Elena wanted to write a new book –Meditations and personal writings –Universal permission slip to be tender with ourselves –How stories, prompts, and artwork came about –Impact of writing in present tense –Getting reader in scene that unfolds as if happening presently –Reading excerpt from book on uncertainty –Daily sitting in stillness to allow thoughts to emerge –Importance of humility in work –Addressing accusations, controversies, and publicness –Importance of relationships, close inner-circle, close proximity –Bringing down women taking initiatives to serve –Evolving definition of family –Staying present and listening during hard conversations –Children leaving home for college –Mothering young adults –Conflicting emotions with children leaving home –Advice for mothers in new paradigm shifts –Kimberly's fresh experience taking Cece to college –Opening to stability –Stabilizing principle at center of every circumstance –Turning chaos to stability –Working in a vacuum to focus on own work –Addressing issues of AI as writers and teachers –Focus, devotion, returning to what matters –Menopausal transitions with weights, HRT, supplements, sleep, friends –Regulating nervous system through menopause –Elena's Matter of Menopause podcast for menopause education –Kimberly's underworld experience of menopause –Hormones are gods –Preorder upcoming book "Hold Nothing"   Resources Website: https://elenabrower.com/ and https://elenabrower.com/menopause/ IG:  @elenabrower Jaguar Sex Edition Sign Up Here  
• 
  EP 235: Becoming Bilingual in Intuition and Science, Learning to Phrase New Questions, and the Socialization of Birth with Michel Odent [ENCORE] 01.09.2025 1t 5min

  Bio Michel Odent, MD, is a French obstetrician trained as a general surgeon known for his tireless research on how environmental factors present during pregnancy and birth affect babies, children, and our communities. He is the founder of the  Primal Health Research Centre and authored the first articles on the initiation of lactation and the use of birthing pools. He has authored 15 books and passed on August 19, 2025. What He Shares: Why birth is an important subject not only for birth workers, but for all people interested in the future of our species. Why the period of birth is a critical period in a person's life The inability to study the long-term, non-specific affect of modern pregnancy and birth practices Exploring the changes in Homo sapiens resulting from birthing practices What You'll Hear: How birthing hormones affect our biological programing Understanding the needs of a laboring person Why the microbiome of a newborn baby affects a their lifelong health How the future of our species is being modified based on birth environments Discovering the correlation between birth choices and children's behavior Developing appropriate questions around new pregnancy and birth practices Improving research ability to answer unknowns The difficulty of understanding the long term risk factors of birthing choices Prioritizing the development of new research questions Why pregnancy is not the best time to educate yourself on these issues Expanding our view beyond the individual choices to the medical establishment Becoming bilingual in the languages of intuitive knowledge and scientific research Exploring how making birth a social event altered the fetal ejection reflex How technological advancements have altered birth Links Youtube of the Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPKd9TmyMB0  
• 
  EP 234: Building Intentional Community, Navigating Conflicts, and Finding Belonging with Sarah Wildeman 17.08.2025 1t 3min

  In this episode, Kimberly and Sarah Wildeman dive into the importance of community and relational support and the experiences that led each of them to prioritize community building so centrally in each of their lives. Sarah shares her journey from a communal Christian upbringing to building her own "space of welcome" as an adult. Both Kimberly and Sarah emphasize the need for practical community-building practices, balancing personal needs with community support, and the challenges of maintaining a village in today's world. Sarah's "Our Common Life" program offers a four-month course to help individuals build meaningful community experiences, addressing topics like belonging, conflict resolution, and relational practices as mothers.    About Sarah My 'work' in the world is to be a guide and companion, a seer and seeker of beauty, a soul reviver, activator, and community builder. At my core I am driven by deep and meaningful relationships and find my greatest joy in building intentional relational containers to facilitate learning and growth. I am known for my ability to get beyond what presents on the surface to the underlying beliefs or patterns that keep you stuck. I speak honestly and directly with gentleness and clarity. Whether in a group, or one-on-one, my ability to truly see people allows me to call them to their highest potential.My experience working and coaching in complex organizational dynamics has equipped me to work with people to navigate nuanced relationships with authenticity and courage, empowering individuals and teams to get creative and create lasting change. I have a unique inclination to both emotional intuition and strategic thinking, which allows me to create spaciousness while still helping you to 'get stuff done'.    With nearly a decade's worth of intentional community living, I am particularly drawn to building rich gathering spaces. I have been a long-time space holder for leaders and community builders as they carry the responsibility of serving others. I have not pursued a status-quo approach to life, and feel uniquely suited to support visionaries in living into their callings.I am also 'Mom' to two strong, beautiful, passionate, creative daughters. Mothering them has been the greatest course there ever was in leadership and personal growth. Family is one of the ways I deeply experience and tend community in my life. My business operates out of Coldstream, BC, which we humbly acknowledge is in the unceded territory of the Syilx tmix , Secwepemcúl'ecw, and Okanagan First Nations. What they discuss: Sarah's upbringing and relationship to ceremony/rites of passage as a child in a non-demonitional Christian church What's an open door policy for a family home? How to find community if it's not through a formal religion? How to find a space of belonging that aligns with us as as adults How do we navigate the loss of community and loss of village? Living in an intentional community Christian community with a focus on environmental stewardship   What role do faith and community play in our sense of belonging? How to navigate differences with a spouse in what you are seeking when it comes to communal living? How do you balance family and communal needs? The power of a web of support for families? How communities are insurance policies for care and support. How mothering and child care bring community practices to the fore. Challenges of building community, including the exhaustion and overwhelm that can come from new practices and habits. The importance of compassion and self-awareness in the process of building community, recognizing that it may start small and gradually grow. Strategies for building community, such as starting with small, manageable actions and gradually expanding to larger projects. Introduces her re-villaging program, "Our Common Life" a four-month journey that provides resources and support for building community. Resources Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/our__common/ and @sarahwildeman Website: https://www.our-common.com/ Program: https://www.our-common.com/our-common-life  
• 
  EP 233: A Creative and Curious Life after Childhood Trauma with Jamie Mustard, author of Child X 24.07.2025 1t 29min

  On this episode, Kimberly and, author, artist, and researcher, Jamie Mustard dive deep into Jamie's childhood in Scientology and his healing and research quest to understand his complex childhood PTSI (Post-Traumatic Stress Injury). This conversation moves between Mustard's autobiographical story, which features heavily in his upcoming novel Child X and graphic novel Hybred, in addition to his previous research into trauma that stemmed from a transformative experience with Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) treatment. After benefitting so deeply from the treatment, Jamie spent years researching The Invisible Machine, the book he co-wrote with Dr. Eugen Lipov, the doctor who developed the treatment, and which features input from many leaders across the trauma field. Jamie emphasizes the importance of addressing trauma as a biological injury rather than a disorder. He goes into detail about his work across victims of trauma from soldiers to sexual assault survivors to former gang members who all benefited from SGB treatment that resets the sympathetic nervous system, significantly reducing trauma symptoms. Jamie also discusses the role of brain health in trauma recovery and the potential of alternative therapies like ketamine and psilocybin. In the second half of the conversation, Jamie details his harrowing experiences as a baby in Scientology's notorious Sea Org's, and the effects of severe neglect, medical issues, and emotional abuse on his adulthood. Jamie highlights the systemic destruction of empathy and the mind-body connection within Scientology. He emphasizes the importance of his book in raising awareness about the lost children of Scientology, as well as the intersection of race and his family's history, framing his story as a quest for humanism and resilience.  You can best support Jamie's work by pre-ordering the Child X and Hybred at the links below!   Bio Jamie Mustard was born into one of the most influential fringe movements in the 1970s: Scientology. Raised on a mythos of spaceships and made to believe that it was his life's purpose to help save the world, he was determined to survive — not only unsurvivable neglect but also the impossible physical and psychological gauntlet of extreme poverty and illiteracy. Child X (BenBella Books) is a dark existential journey into a deepest hole of human existence and the road back. The unbelievable story of a lost generation of children, Child X takes readers through Mustard's childhood and adolescence in "the movement," his daring escape, and his rise into self-possession. With wit and vulnerability, Mustard sheds light on one of the untold, but not uncommon, accounts of a powerful Black family that rose from the ashes of slavery to prominence and wealth, and how the counterculture of the 1960s and 70s caused that rise to crumble. This deeply personal true story gives a child's-eye view of one of the most notorious American religious movements in history. Despite his family's success, Jamie would be born a slave and then reborn an artist. Through extraordinary encounters with celebrity, icons, and historical figures, it also powerfully places Black American history in the larger context of world events. A universal story of resilience in the face of overwhelming odds, Child X celebrates yet transcends race — and is ultimately an uplifting, impossible-to-believe story of rising out of adversity and building a life full of meaning and connection. With this book, Mustard continues working to restore his family's legacy and provides a salient saga of the road to humanity and self-possession.   What You'll Hear: Why Jamie hesitates to call himself a survivor Why Jamie doesn't refer to Scientology as a cult How an artist and art director dove headlong into trauma research The ins and outs of Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) treatment for PTSD/PTSI Jamie's extensive research on PTSD/PTSI treatment modalities Jamie's encounters with Stephen Porges, Gabor Maté, Peter Lavine, and Daniel Amen, and military psychologists on Fort Bragg. How Scientology's Mission translates to severe childhood neglect The consequences of Medical neglect for infants The justifications savior-complex-driven parents use to emotionally separate from their child The way that Scientology's ideology treats feelings and ailments The impact of hiding health issues The power of self-blame How Child X focuses more on the emotional effects than the sensationalist events What are the retaliation tactics of Scientology for speaking out? Jamie's African-American family history including the Tuskegee Airmen and generations of doctors   Links Website: iconist.ltd IG: @jamie_mustard (Jamie encourages you to direct any questions to him over DM) Pre-Order Child X here Pre-Order Hybred here
• 
  EP 232: Attachment and Mothering through Life's Seasons with Bethany Saltman 14.07.2025 54min

  In this episode, Kimberly and Bethany discuss their reflections and experiences of attachment and mothering their adult children. Bethany describes changes in how she viewed herself and parenting while her daughter became an adult herself while Kimberly shares her experiences mothering her daughter who is about to move out of their home for the first time. They share challenges, frustrations, and confusing moments around their attachment and parenting, particularly as they age themselves. As most parenting content focuses on the early years, this conversation reveals the nuances of what attachment parenting actually is and how they are navigating its challenges while parenting their grown daughters.   Bio Bethany Saltman is a literary agent, mother, wife, zen practitioner, and author of "Strange Situation: A Mother's Journey Into the Science of Attachment." She has an extensive background in writing, teaching, publishing, and devotes her time as a literary agent helping people put their stories into the world. She is a long-time friend of Kimberly's and a repeat podcast guest.   What She Shares: –Different kinds of attachment and the adult  attachment test –Mothering through seasons –Generational differences of parenting –Navigating challenges of mothering adult children   What You'll Hear: –Different types of attachment –Securely attached is independent –Develop through creativity and exploration with secure base –Flexibility and response with parenting –Behavior versus attachment –Parameters for boundaries when discussing children publicly –Posting children on social media –Attachment research with adults –Generational leaps around attachment and development –Mothering through perimenopause –Hormonal changes through mothering and phases –Similarities between toddler and teenage years –Experiencing the second half of life while mothering –Values shifting through mothering phases –Cultural differences around parenting young adults –Leaving versus staying the nest  –Generational differences of survival wiring –Frustrations of parenting adults –Self-actualization leaving parents' house –Adult attachment interview protocol –Mixed feelings shows secure attachment in adulthood –Importance of rupture and repair instead of only positive –Spirituality, religion, and parenting   Resources Website: https://www.bethanysaltman.com/ IG: @bethany_saltman   Class Sign up for Jagamama Summer School here: https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/jagamama/  
• 
  EP 231: Cece on College and Being a Child of a Micro-celebrity 06.07.2025 54min

  Summary In this episode, Kimberly interviews her favorite podcast guest–her daughter Cece! Cece's last podcast episode was four years ago, so she shares her reflections around graduating highschool, her college application process, and her experiences as being Kimberly's daughter. She also turns the mic back to Kimberly to ask Kimberly her own reflections on life's various stages, single parenting, and what she wants her work to look like after Cece flies the nest.    Bio Cece, Kimberly's daughter, is a 17 year old high school graduate and vocalist.   What She Shares: –Cece's college application process –Reflections on being Kimberly's daughter –Decisions around college and major –Cece interviews Kimberly   What You'll Hear: –Graduating highschool –How Cece feels being apart of Kimberly's "brand" –Why Cece wants to go to college –Highly academic highschool –Where Cece will attend college –Applying to various colleges –Ranking safety schools, match schools, and reach schools –Writing college application essays –Cultural neuroses of applying to colleges –Kimberly's experience of college applications –Reflections on being an only child –Wanting a sibling –Being the focus as an only child –Thoughts on being Kimberly's daughter –How Cece feels leaving home –Excited about moving to Scotland –Navigating the current political climate –Kimberly's reflections about being a maiden –What Kimberly finds hard about single parenting –What Kimberly would do differently as a parent –Kimberly's favorite part of being Cece's mom –How being Cece's mom informs Kimberly's work –Parenting phases that Kimberly misses –Kimberly's work as fringe and niche –How Kimberly views her future work –What it's like to be a teenager right now –How Cece handles having a phone –Cece's advice for other parents –Cece's music update –Cece's offers support for college application process   Resources Email: [email protected] IG: @ceciliajvieira