The Art of Relating

In this conversation I sit down with my best friend Kate Phillips — transformational performance coach, filmmaker, and guest teacher inside Awakening the Wild Woman — for one of the most honest conversations I've ever had on this podcast.We talk about how sexual trauma creates the seductress as a survival response. About the difference between seduction as a tool of survival and seduction as sovereign, vital expression. About carrying the predator inside us long after the original harm is done — and how it shows up in the committed relationships we've been working so hard to call in.We also get into our righteous rage. The Epstein files. The crimes that happened to us personally. And why we're done making our pain palatable.In this episode:The seductress archetype — reclaiming her from harm and shameHow sexual trauma creates the seductress as a survival responseThe Epstein files and systemic male violence — and our justified rageCarrying the predator inside us and how it shows up in committed relationshipsThe difference between seduction as survival vs seduction as sovereign expressionShadow work, intentional hedonism, and healing through performance and playThe wounded masculine and what we actually need from menSpeaking directly — not making our pain palatableThis episode contains explicit personal disclosures including sexual assault. Please listen with care.Kate will be leading us through shadow embodiment and reclamation of the seductress archetype inside Awakening the Wild Woman this May.Enrollment is open through May 12th. We begin May 21st.Join Awakening the Wild WomanLearn More + Book a CallGet my Free Male Gaze DetoxSign UpKate’s film “You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself”Watch NowSong:Ayla Nereo “Seeds”

What does your voice have to do with the male gaze? More than you think.In this conversation, I sit down with Julie Anne Shapiro — vocal sound healer, theatre artist, ritualist, community builder and guest teacher inside Awakening the Wild Woman — to explore the profound intersection of voice, performance, and somatic healing.We talk about what it means to stop performing for the gaze and start expressing from the body. About the difference between singing to be chosen and singing to be close to yourself. About containment, wildness, and why the most magnetic thing you can do is stop giving yourself away.In this episode:Why your voice freezes when you're performing for approval — and what unlocks itThe paradox of containment: how holding your energy in actually makes you more magneticWhat musical theater taught us both about unfreezing from perfectionismThe "pick-me girl" pattern in performance — and in datingHow ritual theater and sacred sound healing reconnect us to our bodiesThe balance of masculine and feminine in art, voice, and lifeWhy the most compelling performers aren't the most technically perfect — they're the most presentWorking in nature as a somatic and vocal practiceThe feminine without the masculine as a wildfire without containmentJoin Awakening the Wild WomanLearn moreWork with JulieLearn moreFollow Julie on IG@trulie_julie_Song:Ayla Nereo “Seeds"

I sit down with my teacher Ann Bradney, founder of Radical Aliveness, to talk about her ground-breaking work facilitating a two-year leadership training program in Israel that brings together Israeli Jews and PalestiniansWithin this program, Ann leads deep process groups where participants learn to hold intense emotions, face painful truths, and stay connected across seemingly impossible divides. The program began before October 7th—and even as terror broke out, leaders from both sides risked their lives to keep meeting. Amidst all the outrage and polarization we see in the media, this quiet, steady peace work has been happening behind the scenes, on the ground.Ann shares bittersweet, heart-wrenching stories of what unfolds when people from vastly different worlds choose to meet in their differences, stay with the mess, and keep coming back to one another with the hope of creating a different future for generations to come.We explore:→The core principles of Radical Aliveness: Knowing I Don’t Know, Being Willing to be Changed, Honoring Multiple Perspectives, Welcoming Everything, Cultivating a Non-Shaming Heart, and Do No Harm/Do Your Part→What it takes to hold real conflict without forcing resolution→How a group that began before October 7th continues to meet across checkpoints, grief, and fear→Why allowing difference—rather than sameness—creates the conditions for peaceThis episode is about courage, humility, and the quiet miracle of people staying in the room when the world says they shouldn’t.Support the Israel + Palestine Peace Leadership ProgramDonateAnn’s Letter’s From the ProgramLearn MoreRadical Aliveness PrinciplesLearn MoreSong:Ayla Nereo “Seeds"

This isn’t a conversation about relational repair—we’re actually doing it in real time. Kate (my best friend of 22+ years) and I hit some big ruptures this past month. We were in an intensive training together, then went straight into a retreat that I hosted at my house. We were both at our limit… and we hit three big triggers that needed to be resolved later. In this episode, we work through repair for these recent ruptures: → When she missed her flight and I couldn’t show up how she needed→ A trigger around money and unspoken expectations→ A painful rupture at the end of a retreat day when we both needed totally different things If you’ve ever felt afraid of conflict in your closest relationships, this one’s for you. Work with me:Schedule a Discovery CallBook a SessionSong: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

This is the other side of the story. In this deeply honest follow-up to “Avoidant Men CAN Heal,” we hear from Brittany—somatic experiencing practitioner, attachment re-patterning guide, and James’s partner—about her lived experience navigating anxious attachment, rupture, and the long, disorienting path of healing. We talk about what it felt like when James said “you’re not the one” in front of a room full of people, how heartbreak cracked her open, and what it really took to rebuild herself—body, mind, and spirit—after the breakup. Brittany shares the tools that held her through the spiral, the rage and tenderness she had to reclaim, and how practicing devotion (not just processing) changed everything. We explore:→ The somatic reality of anxious attachment and what healing actually feels like→ How to tell the difference between a boundary and an ultimatum→ Why spiritual compatibility matters—and why it doesn’t mean sameness→ What intimacy practice looks like now in her marriage to James→ How relationship can become a sacred, daily path to presence This conversation is a balm for anyone who’s ever clung to crumbs of connection, doubted their worth, or wondered if they’d ever feel safe in love again. If you're healing, holding on, or learning how to let go—this one is for you. Work With Brittany Touching the Earth SomaticsSong: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

In this intimate, soul-bearing conversation, James Nepenthe Frank—Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, dharma teacher, and former monk—shares the journey of transforming from emotionally unavailable and intimacy avoidant to a man fully devoted to love. We discuss the alchemy of group somatic work, radical honesty, and the quiet, relentless devotion of spiritual practice. Together, we explore how healing attachment is not just psychological—it’s spiritual. How relationship, when met with courage and reverence, becomes a living altar. A path to awakening. A place where even avoidant men can heal. If you’ve ever felt stuck in longing, shame, or old relational patterns, this conversation will remind you: it’s never too late to choose love. Tune in for a transmission on grief, transformation, and the sacred possibility inside every connection. Apply for James’ Mens Group More Info Somatic Process Group Waitlist Sign Up Now Radical Aliveness Group Docuseries Watch Now Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

Catherine Quiring had me on her podcast Who We Are & What We Need to chat about the somatic path of healing, my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman, the role of Saints, Goddesses and archetypes like Mary Magdalene, Joan of Arc and Persephone on my path, and what has crystalized in my practice lately from my Sacred Pilgrimages.

I guide my friend Jenny into her body during a live session to explore the complicated relationship she has with money. Her body’s wisdom shows us the generational wounding that needs to be honored and healed in order for her to move forward in her life to receive abundance and reciprocity. Apply for my 3-Month 1:1 Mentorship: Somatic Spirit Journey Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

Join me for an inspiring conversation with Sara, founder of Women Rising, 15x award-winning documentary filmmaker, mentor, speaker, and soon-to-be debut author with HarperCollins. Sara is also the visionary behind the first-ever sociological study exploring the link between women’s empowerment and autoimmunity in America. In this episode, Sara shares her powerful journey from self-abandonment to reclaiming her voice and becoming her own advocate in the healthcare system. Learn practical strategies to advocate for your health, uncover the root of unexplained symptoms, and transform from the "good girl" into a cycle-breaker. Follow Sara on Instagram: @sarahirschbordo Work with Sara: Email Work with me 1:1: Somatic Spirit Journey Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

Me and my teacher Adriana Rizzolo, founder of Body Temple Dance, nerd out about the importance of right-brain focused therapy and healing the frozen parts of us through performance, dance, song, poetry, and art. I share about my vulnerable experience singing on stage to reclaim my sacred sexuality as a pivotal part of healing from sexual trauma.  Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman: Awakening the Wild Woman Work with me 1:1: Somatic Spirit Journey Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

Erin and Lisa interview me on their “I Decide Darlings” podcast about my journey of healing from trauma and how it led me to help others do the same. I share my story as a child of an alcoholic, healing the mother wound, and overcoming sexual trauma, bulimia, body dysmorphia, disorganized attachment, depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and low self-worth that consumed a third of my life, before finding my path as a healer.  Work with me 1:1: Somatic Spirit Journey Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman: Awakening the Wild Woman Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

Join me and my BFF for life Kate as we navigate our #1 trigger - TIME. We’ve been best friends for 22 years, and we still trigger each other’s abandonment wound when it comes to this topic. In this episode, we re-count our most recent blow-ups and discuss the multitude of creative ways we’ve learned to navigate conflict resolution, including Existential Kink, Non-Violent Communication, Circling, Radical Aliveness, and Ritual Theater to name a few. Listen to us work out our differences in real time and how we can improve our ability to collaborate better in the future when we trigger the sh*t out of each other again.  Follow Kate on IG: @katereb Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman: Awakening the Wild Woman Work with me 1:1: Somatic Spirit Journey Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

I catch up with my friend Jennifer about the similarities we are experiencing through huge shifts in our personal lives and soul-led businesses. We talk about our intuitive travels, downloads from God, and the challenges that are currently humbling us during this huge transitional phase. Jennifer’s Offerings: Current Offerings  Guided Creative Directory Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman:  Awakening the Wild Woman  Work with me 1:1: Somatic Spirit Journey Song:  Ayla Nereo “Seeds"  

Me and my friend Marsha, a feminine guide, healer, and muse dive into a juicy, vulnerable conversation about re-claiming raw sexuality, redefining relationship commitments with divine union, and how her devotion to sacred celibacy for two years was a means of self-discovery, healing, and spiritual growth. Register for Marsha’s Sacred Celibacy Course: Sacred Celibacy Course Follow Marsha on IG: @worldwithinher @sacredcelibacy Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman: Awakening the Wild Woman Work with me 1:1: Somatic Spirit Journey Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds"  

I chat with my teacher Adriana Rizzolo, founder of Body Temple Church, about healing co-dependency by taking the shame out of it and learning how to alchemize this energy through the power of story, ancestral healing, and spiritual practice.   Episode Highlights08:20 -  Stop shaming your co-dependency 26:43 -  Healing is not about doing it “right”54:06 - The dark night of the soul many women experienceTemple of Shakti Retreat May 16-20: Temple of Shakti Work with me 1:1Somatic Spirit JourneyJoin my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman: Awakening the Wild Woman Get my digital course to regulate your nervous system: Life Is Art Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

I guide my friend Kylee into her body during a live Somatic Spirit Session to address the emotional trauma that is at the root of her chronic gut issues. We re-write a memory from her childhood to process the impact of growing up as a child of abuse and addiction. Our exploration leads Kylee to heal generational trauma passed down from her maternal line, which helps her unlock a deep sense of empowerment, safety, and authenticity within her body.  Episode Highlights 22:53 - Kylee speaks about the abuse and addiction she grew up with in her family that was considered normal.29:48 - “I grew up with a mom who was very loving, but also had kids really young and so was a little bit vacant and then a dad who was deeply hurting and numbing and masking through substance.”47:28 - Kylee recalls imagery she received from a ceremony illustrating how the women in her family weren’t ever able to use their voice.01:00:37 - Kylee speaks about witnessing her mom on her healing journey for the first time.Work with me 1:1Somatic Healing JourneyJoin my 3-month program The Art of Relating:  The Art of Relating  Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman:  Awakening the Wild Woman  Get my digital course to regulate your nervous system:  Life Is Art  Song:  Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

Natalie Kashani interviews me for her online summit “Surviving to Thriving.” I tell my story of how I became a somatic facilitator and open up about my most recent dark night of the soul that required me to purge generations of women's pain around body-image and sexual trauma. We also connect on our shared experiences as artists and healers, and how we view trauma-healing as an art. Episode Highlights 06:53 - My most recent dark night of the soul that triggered me back into body dysmorphia, depression, and incessant thought loops that happened right before I began my practice helping clients. 14:49 - This dark night of the soul forced me to examine my relationship to my body through my sexuality and facing the sexual trauma from my history. 23:30 - The deeper we get into our embodiment, the hard it is to be defined by titles. 23:54 - I explain why I chose not to go the traditional route of becoming a therapist. 37:13 - My cathartic experience at a retreat processing my sexual trauma.  Follow Natalie Kashani on IG: @iamnataliekashani Join my 3-month program The Art of Relating:  The Art of Relating  Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman:  Awakening the Wild Woman  Get my digital course to regulate your nervous system:  Life Is Art  Song:  Ayla Nereo “Seeds"  

Me and Melina, my soul sister and fellow somatic experiencing practitioner, talk about the impact of colonization and how we've unpacked this through our own somatic healing journeys through making sense of our Chinese heritage in a Western culture, having our definition of God taken away from us at an early age, and how we reckon with taking on traditions and practices from other cultures.  Episode Highlights 09:18 - My mom apologies for the generational trauma she passed down to me being critical about my appearance. 11:25 - Racism is very woven into Australian culture. I remember looking back at comments about my own people or other Asian cultures. 28:30 - One of the biggest body violations for me had nothing to do with a physical person. 52:10 - In order to earn love and approval from parents, friends, our church society, we needed to subscribe to the truth that would make us fit in.Join my 3-month program The Art of Relating: The Art of Relating Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman: Awakening the Wild Woman Get my digital course to regulate your nervous system: Life Is Art Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds"

I have a conversation with my dear friend Lee, who co-founded the modern relationship school for women called Aligned Attraction with her partner, Ani. They guide women who are ready to take a stance of “fierce love" to cut through the illusion of unworthiness and feel deeply safe to be themselves in relationships. Lee is one of my go-to’s to talk to when I'm trying to figure out my own dating life and how to navigate each phase of dating that I’m in. In our conversation, I'm bringing her exactly what's present in my dating life right now, and her nurturing presence and consistent way of showing up is so helpful for me to get some clarity on what it is that I need and how to voice it in an empowered way. Episode Highlights 10:06 - There are plenty of moments where I need to be reminded that I'm worthy and that I don't have to prove myself. 22:45 - One of the things that I share with my clients, most of whom are single and wish to attract the love of their life and create a healthy thriving relationship is treat yourself the way you would want your partner to treat you and become that partner to yourself. 45:53 - Intimacy doesn't mean perfection. It doesn't mean you've in a vacuum done all your inner work and your attachment wounds are healed. Intimacy often means getting messy together and allowing ourselves to be seen first by ourselves. 48:30 - Sometimes when we have a hot and heavy spark, there's a lot of trauma bonding that's happening and if we don't do the work to maintain the spark, then it can burn out just as fast as it started. Join me, Lee and Ani for a free live workshop on Valentine's Day:  Becoming Magnetic Join my 3-month program The Art of Relating:  The Art of Relating  Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman:  Awakening the Wild Woman  Get my digital course to regulate your nervous system:  Life Is Art  Song:  Ayla Nereo “Seeds"  

In this episode I chat with my best friend Kate who I’ve known since we were 13 years old. We learn from each other by showing up as non-experts to discuss what it means to be self-led in the Age of Aquarius, implementing non-violent communication into our daily lives, how the conflict in Israel and Palestine is affecting us, and what activism means to us personally, away from all of the social media noise. Episode Highlights 15:48 - Each of us are individual puzzle pieces that fit into the whole, and you can be you and I can be me, and we're different, and we don't have to agree, but we could still exist together. 19:48 - I find myself, when I get triggered and agitated, I start wanting to tell people, this is what you should be doing. This is what you should be doing.  44:02 - All I wanna do right now is not put more violence into the collective. 59:29 - One thing that distinguishes humans from all other living beings in this world is our capacity to tell stories about ourselves. And it's both our most defining, beautiful characteristic and it's our most harmful and violent characteristic. Because the stories about ourselves are what give us identity, family, belonging, meaning, culture, food, all of that is stories. Join my 3-month program The Art of Relating: The Art of Relating  Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman:  Awakening the Wild Woman  Get my digital course to regulate your nervous system:  Life Is Art  Song:  Ayla Nereo “Seeds"  

Welcome to the first episode of The Art of Relating. My dear friend Zori and I talk about Authentic Relating and the practice of Circling. She helps me workshop my way through some intense moments of freeze when it comes to communicating while dating consciously.Get ready to ignite your soul and discover a new level of connection. Episode Highlights 03:17 - For the first time in my life, I'm finally taking a step back and consciously dating and assessing my options with several people with more context of understanding attachment styles, with more awareness to look for what's suited for me rather than seeing “who will like me. 06:55 - Listening to how other people navigate dating allows me to try it out and see if it works for me. Without this context, I get stuck in a freeze state of not knowing what to do. 13:26 - It’s easy to still operate from the place of holding back for fear of triggering my abandonment wound. However, learning tools for authentic relating helps me filter out the relationships that don’t work for me. 35:00 - This work is about shifting the narrative from not being good enough or worthy of love into having the ability to choose whose right for me. Join my 3-month program The Art of Relating: The Art of Relating Join my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman: Awakening the Wild Woman Get my digital course to regulate your nervous system: Life Is Art Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds" 

Welcome to the Art of Relating podcast, where I’m figuring out life, asking questions, becoming present with the unknown, and navigating the Mystery with my dear friends.  We explore the healing journey through my favorite topics like the nervous system, trauma, somatics, spirituality, psychology, and authentic relating. My mission is to empower you to discover what works best for you by tapping into the innate wisdom of your body. These conversations are one of my greatest resources, and I hope they can be a catalyst for you on your journey as well. You can find my work at somatic-spirit.comWork with me 1:1: Somatic Spirit JourneyJoin my 6-month program Awakening the Wild Woman: Awakening the Wild Woman Get my digital course to regulate your nervous system: Life Is Art Song: Ayla Nereo “Seeds"