Embodied Healing Journey

In this episode, Melissa shares with me what Yoga Therapy is about. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a lot of crossover between my trauma training background and the Yoga Therapy approach.  What started as a podcast interview, ended up becoming a beautiful conversation, where Melissa and I shared with one another our perspective on healing and supporting clients land safely in their body. Melissa shares what 'client-led' means and how powerful it is to be supported by a practitioner who is putting you in the driver seat (something you may not have gotten earlier in your life, or maybe even now!).  Melissa is a Yoga Therapist and a Yoga teacher. She also teaches group classes, weaving in her Yoga Therapy presence. She is also a teacher for the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Training.  To find Melissa  Personal website: https://www.bodymindwisdom.ca Pheonix Rising: https://pryt.com Local (the the Sunshine Coast, BC) Yoga Studio and classes: https://yogabythesea.ca

Sasha Cuff has spent the last 25 years studying and exploring trauma and trauma resolution of all types. Sasha combines his knowledge of how Relational (attachment) trauma affects our body (aka Nervous System). He has a unique way of describing his understanding of trauma along with how Psychedelics create what he calls "a match made in heaven" for creating an optimal environment for healing these deep trauma patterns. If you are someone who is interested in all things trauma resolution and want to hear from someone who has the added lens of how psychedelics can support the process like no other method; you will love hearing from Sasha as much as I did.  To access his Masterclass: https://www.nectara.co/masterclasses/physiology-of-trauma?via=kendra Contact Sasha about his training offerings or help finding a therapist: [email protected] The Poem: “How I became a Warrior” by Jeff Foster

This month I am offering you a short podcast where I offer a tool that might possibly help calm you and bring you back to yourself. If you notice that it is hard for you to achieve this sense of calm, I offers reasons why it might be hard for you at times (or maybe all the time).  My intention is to support you in your healing and moving towards feeling more at peace within yourself. Once you are done listening, you might want to ask yourself "Who is driving my bus"? Until next month! 

This month I invited my husband, Andreas, to join me to talk about our relationship and his healing journey. We cover what it is like to show up for your relationship from a mans perspective. Andreas shares about his recent experiences joining a Men's group (Samurai Brotherhood). He also reflects on the changes that he has experienced over the last couple of years.  Here is a link to the Men's group that Andreas is participating in: https://samuraibrotherhood.com Check to see if the Samurai Brotherhood has a group in your community! At the beginning I talk about a book called "How to do the Work" by Nicole LaPera. You can google her or find her on instagram the.holistic.psychologist (thanks Erin McLean for this recommendation!) Nicole LePera Website: https://theholisticpsychologist.com If you are interested in learning more about any of this, feel free to contact Andreas or myself.  kendratize@gmail andreastize@gmail

Shahar is a psychotherapist who has a rich history of working with addictions and trauma recovery. In this interview, Shahar shares everything from life breaking you open, early developmental trauma and his relationship to spirituality. We start this conversation with Shahar sharing what he is reflecting on at this stage of his life. We then cover some aspects of how early development can shape us and then we touch on his history and current relationship to spirituality. He beautifully shares how a certain amount of reflection on our early lives and possible trauma history may need to be lovingly attended to for a time in our life in order to heal. Most often through some form of support, group work, a deep intimate friend or therapy.  Shahar also uses a metaphor of over training certain parts of our body and under training other parts as a way to explain how over training in either spirituality or just the physical can be a contributor to a fragmented self. Equal "Leg Days" and "Upper Body Days" help a more balanced and integrated Self.  To learn more about Shahar, connect with him or learn more about his book "Spiritual Misfits" check out his website: https://www.shaharrabi.com

In this episode Tracy and I talk about her amazing new book "Women who walk with Horses". This is a fun conversation about the art of combining healing and horses. As the book title suggests, Tracy focuses on what she has noticed while observing women transform in the presence of the generous spirit of a horse. Her insight into how women seem to respond in the world, based on our culture and upbringing, really shows itself in her work with her clients. This book feels so timely for me personally. Also, I believe the collective feminine seems to be raising our awareness around what being an empowered embodied woman might look like (not a woman trying to be equal to a man.... but a woman being in her full feminine). I hope that this episode provides you with some new perspectives on how we, collectively, have been living and where we might all want to go together.  Amazon link to Tracy's book: https://www.amazon.ca/Women-Who-Walk-Horses-Healing/dp/1777618606/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Women+who+walk+with+horses&qid=1618975163&sr=8-1 Tracy's Website: https://tracygraystar.com

All parts of you are Welcome! I am honoured to talk to Delyse about the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of therapy. Her rich background, where she got her start as a Social Worker in London then transitioning into more experiential models of therapy including Gestalt, Relational Life Therapy (RLT)  and IFS. Delyse has a beautiful way of explaining why connection and transformation are crucial parts of coming more deeply into ourselves. She also shares with me how our early environment affects us and shapes our responses and the defensive parts that form to protect us later in life (often to our own detriment). You can tell through how she talks that there is so much respect for the process of healing and she appreciates where her clients are at in their life and journey. She holds a safe, curious and compassionate space which shines through in this interview. To find Delyse: https://counselling-vancouver.com/delyse-ledgard/

Chaz Franke has his Bachelors and Masters of Psychology and is a Licensed clinical Social worker. The expansive space he holds for others seems to naturally create enough safety to explore often hard to reach places in ourself. My experience of him is that he embodies authenticity and honesty. I am especially inspired by the fact that he is a man in a culture that hasn't traditionally celebrated his level of gentleness and courage to feel all the feelings.  If you want to learn more about Chaz, check out his website https://findyourlightsource.com/chaz To listen to another amazing interview with Chaz: https://shrinkrapradio.com/728-the-tao-of-bodybuilding-and-trauma-psychotherapy-with-chaz-franke-lcsw/

In this Episode I excitedly share, what I believe, is a magical connection between spirituality and trauma-informed healing. By drawing upon new information (to me) about a form of therapy called Internal Family Systems along with what I have learned about Polyvagal theory, Early Developmental Trauma Resolution and my limited understanding of Relational Life Therapy (with Terry Real). As you may know, I have been wondering for quite some time "Where and how does our spirit/soul intersect with trauma healing?" I feel that Richard Schwartz PhD, creator of Internal Family Systems has come the closest to expressing it of any teachings I have ever come across. I am so excited in this episode and so passionately wish to share with you what I think I have discovered that at times I sound a little scattered and may not totally make sense. I decided to leave it all in though. If you follow my excited rambling, it is either because we are kindred spirits or you are as into this stuff as I am!  Episode with Tim Ferris and Richard Schwartz: https://tim.blog/2021/01/14/richard-schwartz-internal-family-systems/ Internal Family System website: https://ifs-institute.com/ Terry Real Website: https://terryreal.com/ Lissa Rankin webiste: https://lissarankin.com/

For starters, in my intro to this episode, I reference it as Episode 9. It is in fact, episode 10.  More important than that mistake I made, this episode takes a look back over how parts of 2020 affected me. I would be curious to hear other people's stories about how the pandemic might have co-created some inner reflections.  After around 10 minutes of talking about myself, I start sharing my perspective on spirit/soul, a bit on energy work (and how much I actually don't understand it) then get into the basics of Polyvagal theory with an intention of sharing how this information can offer an empowering path to healing.