Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, Katie and Kimberly discuss their evolving relationship to trauma and spiritual work. After serving clients one-on-one for over 20 years, they consider the importance of community and creativity to healing. In the wake of so many people sharing their trauma stories online, they consider the tools we need for spiritual fortification to find resolution. They introduce Katie's upcoming 4-week course "Source Regulation: Connect to Source Energy through Your Fluid Nervous System," which begins July 12th. Bio Katie Dove is a somatic therapist, intuitive guide, healer, and mystic with over two decades of experience working with individuals and groups. She is a keeper of ancient wisdom, exploring new paths for the preservation of human nature through connection to mother nature. Her methods weave a mixture of experiences she has collected over time, modalities she has personally cultivated, and extensive studies in transpersonal psychology and craniosacral therapy. With exploration in voice, touch, sound and movement, she guides her clients and students to investigate habits, freedom of choice, expressiveness, and the wealth of sensory information within and around them. Her upcoming course "Inhabit the Heart" is a four week journey into deep relationship with self and soul. What You'll Hear —Combining Trauma and the Spiritual Path —Healing and Trauma Re-negotiation —From Trauma Therapist to Resilience Coach to a Release of All Titles —Beyond Individual Repair: —Repairing the Continuum of Self, Soul And Source —Sharing your trauma on Social Media and then what? —The value of short, sweet, simple ceremonies —Seeing people who have experienced trauma in their wholeness —How sexual boundary rupture differs from other kinds of trauma —The conflation of worth and virginity —The connection between rupture and creation —Psyche vs. Soul —The value of Source Regulation and Regeneration through the fluid system —The power of spiritual assistance and fortification in trauma repair Website https://www.katiedove.love/source-regulation IG: @divineportals

In this episode, Christine and Kimberly discuss contemporary relationships to consent and ask what is ethical sex? They consider the complexities of sex positivity, navigating sexual conversations with your children, as well as coming to terms with what we want and what we owe each other. Bio Christine Emba is the author of "Rethinking Sex: A Provocation," as well as an opinion columnist for the Washington Post focusing on "ideas and society." What you'll hear: –In a sex positive culture why are people still having bad, unwanted sex? –Where is our sexual culture in this moment? –Is consent a high enough bar? –Are your politics making your sex better? –The value of "willing the good onto the other –How has our sexual and romantic culture changed over time? –Developing trust with someone. –What do you want from a sexual encounter? –Parenting in the age of cell phones, accessible cannabis, and internet porn –The value of boundaries in parenting –The way we talk about parenting girls –The crisis of masculinity with a lack of rites and role models –The pitfalls of gentle parenting –The intersection of dating apps and corporate interests –The value of making healthy, moral judgements –The pendulum swing of normalized kink –What we want and what we owe each other

In this episode, Kimberly and Greer discuss her upcoming book "The Nurture Revolution: Grow Your Baby's Brain and Transform Their Mental Health Through the Art of Nurtured Parenting." Greer discusses combining her work as a doula, neuroscientist, and sleep specialist after completing research on infant sleep. She proposes "nurtured parenting" as a revolution that tends to the complex emotions and stressors of both parents and infants. With tending to these needs and co-regulation, parents can help babies develop better stress responses in their brains. Bio Greer Kirshenbaum PhD is an Author, Neuroscientist, Doula, Infant and Family Sleep Specialist and Mother. She trained at the University of Toronto, Columbia University, New York University and Yale University. Greer has combined her academic training with her experience as a doula and mother to lead The Nurture Revolution. A movement to nurture our babies' brains to revolutionize mental health and impact larger systems in our world. Greer wants families and perinatal practitioners to understand how early caregiving experience can boost mental wellness and diminish depression, anxiety, and addiction in adulthood by shaping babies' brains through simple intuitive enriching experiences in pregnancy, birth and infancy. Her book is called The Nurture Revolution: Grow Your Baby's Brain and Transform Their Mental Health Through the Art of Nurtured Parenting. See the link to her website below. What She Shares: –Connecting doula work, parenting, and neuroscience –Nurtured parenting tending to infant and parental emotions –Developing brain growth in babies –Demystifying infant sleep and high needs' babies –Emotional co-regulation during infancy What You'll Hear: –How infanthood led her to doula and neuroscience –Fascinated by early life experience and neuroscience –Wanting to take research into the public –Attachment parenting as good foundation for nurtured parenting –Nurtured parenting tuning to both parent and infant emotional needs –Nurtured presence and empathy for parent and baby –Emotional co-regulation at center of parenting practices –Uniqueness of infant brain –Baby borrows parent's brain in places their brain hasn't developed –Stress responses and systems in parent brain –Baby detects parent responses through their senses –Increasing oxytocin and lowering stress response in baby's brain –Co-regulation in first 3 years builds areas of brain to handle stress –Major life moments and stress responses –Becoming parent changes brain chemistry similar to infancy –Brain areas become tuned to be more aware and empathetic of babies –Brain shifts during perimenopause –Being near babies also changes brain areas –Cultural changes causing less experience with babies pre-parenting –Issues with attachment parenting –Demystifying infant sleep –Understanding what is biologically normal for babies –Cultural expectations are off for infant sleep needs –Babies develop sleep on their own and can be supported –Infant sleep like a river and physiological process –Night-waking, sleeping nearby, closeness –Circadian rhythm, sleep pressure, stress, daily movement –Babies don't need sleep training or sleeping alone –Sleep in same bed or room for 6 mo to 1 year –Babies need to sense safety of parents –Optimal circadian input –Opportunities for light, movement, and sensory input –Time in nature and green space helpful for sleep –Normal features of infant sleep –Stress reactivity and sensitivity is genetic and experiential –"High needs" infant sleep –Intergenerational experiences and epigenetics –Experiences in ancestry, pregnancy, and birth contribute to temperament –Identifying needs for intense crying –Emotional contagion and mirroring –Addressing parental burnout –Infant emotions and physiological responses –Anticipating infant stressors and verbalization –Parenting with empathy and compassion to grow brain Resources Website: www.nurture-neuroscience.com IG: @nurture_neuroscience_parenting

In this episode, Kimberly and Sophie explore the nuances of being public entrepreneurs and authors. They wonder aloud together about the various roles of knowledge, expertise, and experience and discuss issues such as psychedelics for women, the complexities of social media, the need for eldership, disability and sickness as an altered state, as well as healing practices outside of a hyper-fixated and individualistic framework. The common threads connecting their questions center around identities as facilitators and writers, the need for connection to community and lineages, and managing the challenges of social media and identity politics in a hyper-individualistic culture. Ultimately, they land on the beauty that comes from maturation, wisdom, and growth over time that cannot be done by a quick-fix nor in isolation. Bio Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Her first book of essays "The Flowering Wand: Lunar Kings, Lichenized Lovers, Transpecies Magicians, and Rhizomatic Harpists Heal the Masculine" was published last year in 2022 from Inner Traditions. Her books of poetry include "Love Song to a Blue God," "Those Other Flowers to Come" and "The Approach." Her poems and essays have been published by Art PAPERS, The Dark Mountain Project, Poetry.org, Unearthed, Braided Way, Creatrix, Your Impossible Voice, The Doris, Persephone's Daughters, and Entropy. She has recently finished a work of historical fiction, "The Madonna Secret," that offers an eco-feminist revision of the gospels, and will be released this summer. She is currently researching her next epic, a mythopoetic exploration of ecology and queerness in the medieval legend of Tristan and Isolde. What She Shares: –Cultural band-aids for deeper wounds –Public and private identities –Demonizing and idolizing figures –Impact of social media and identity politics –Elderhood, wisdom, and changing perspectives What You'll Hear: –Problematizing psychedelics –Gendered experiences with psychedelics –Harder for women to recover after psychedelics –Cultural band-aids on wounds –Sophie addresses disabled writer label –Publishing editorial choices and confinement –Public identities and social media –Collective energy demonizing or idolizing figures –Navigating social media pressures and intuition as entrepreneurs –Is the medicine of these times insignificance? –Story of Joan of Arc –No saviors, no heroes –Creating money and wanting to be insignificant –Tensions between community, authority, and parasocial diffusion –Bodily impact of social media –Problematizing gatekeeping of knowledge and lived experiences –Risk-averseness and obsession with safety –Safety as limited capacity to survive –Hyperfixation and hyper-individualism of healing –Impact of identity politics on youth –Maturity, wisdom, and changing perspectives –Discerning between privacy, secrecy, and transparency –Using discretion when writing memoir –Difference between rot and fermentation Resources Website: https://sophiestrand.com/ IG: @cosmogyny

Kimberly Ann Johnson interviews Stephen Jenkinson, author and death worker, about their ongoing event series Reckoning. They discuss the role of witness in their work, politics of feelings, and their relationship to matrimony. They reflect on the difference between recording and live events and the unique impact it has on their relationships to the oral tradition.

In this episode, Kimberly and Keli discuss the future of women's health. During this recorded live event from Kimberly's living room, we learn about the extensive health benefits of vaginal steaming and how the shortcomings in gynecological training reflect contemporary cultural politics around women's bodies. They discuss how to bridge the knowledge gaps found in western medicine's approach to gynecological health when it comes to menstrual cycles, birth, postpartum, and menopause. They discuss their role in pushing the science forward with their collaborative vaginal steam study. They go in depth about healthy periods, uterine cleanses, the fertility industry, and the importance of new language that evolves Women's health. This conversation helps us understand how tending to gynecological care holistically is a way to tend to our own bodies, to tend to future generations, and to build mother culture. Bio Keli Garza has a Masters degree in International Development graduating cum laude with a focus in nonprofit management and human rights. Keli is the owner of Steamy Chick and the founder of the Peristeam Hydrotherapy Institute. Through her company she raises awareness on the benefits of vaginal steaming, makes supplies accessible, conducts research and trains practitioners. Keli is the author of the Vaginal Steam World Map, Pelvic Steam Testimonial Database, Fourth Trimester Vaginal Steam Study and Steamy Chick blog. Some of her notable work includes executive producing the Hot & Steamy Podcast, creating the annual #steamyaugust Vaginal Steam Awareness Month and an upcoming documentary film with the working title STEAM. With over 20 years experience in the nonprofit field, Keli also serves as the founder and president of the Bahia Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to artistic, cultural, physical, educational and financial community wellness as well as the founder of the Good Gynecology Project. What She Shares: –Steaming impact on postpartum, infertility, and for all cycles –Centering cycles and uterus for overall health –Inadequate medical care for women –Creating mother culture What You'll Hear: –Need for physiological care postpartum –Using better language to create stronger mother culture –Vaginal Steam documentary –Gaps in women's health –Training practitioners for vaginal steaming –History of vaginal steaming in U.S. –Significant blood pressure levels lowered after steaming –Steaming for preeclampsia, birth injuries, and postpartum care –Lack of conversations around postpartum recovery –Disconnect between possibilities of postpartum issues and medical solutions –Fertility in relation to overall health –Destigmatizing steaming –Morality and ideology versus physiology –Infertility industry –Tending to postpartum care before crisis –No structural space for cycles in work, education, and healthcare –No definition for miscarriage recovery or infertility –Women's physiology as cyclical not just deviant men –Menstrual leave policies for workplace –Period is a uterine cleanse –Cramps are uterus contracting to clear out residue –Healthy periods begin and end with fresh red blood –Lack of consideration in health of uterus during IVF –Using periods for postpartum practice –Female brain and female nervous system –Understanding phases and cycles post menopause –Importance of endocrine system for overall health –Viewing the body as a whole not separate parts –Purposes of the uterus other than reproduction –Reproductive system as health –Centering, understanding, and defining the uterus and care –Other applications for steaming after assault and infection –Facilitator steaming training –Building mother culture - Menstrual health as a vital sign - Definition of Postpartum Recovery - Uterus is more than a Reproductive Organ - Physiological Feminism (different from choice feminism) - Female systems are more sensitive and resilient than male systems - Stop normalizing pain with s*x the first time (instead of "it's gonna hurt" "it shouldn't hurt.") - Build MotherCulture Resources Website: www.steamychick.com IG: @steamychick www.fourthtrimestervaginalsteamstudy.com

In this episode, Kimberly and Katie discuss the roles of student, teacher, mentor, elder, and friend. They discuss their experiences in each of those roles but how many conflate them. In an age of constant information, many want to consume, but few commit themselves to the devoted path of long-term learning. They also discuss different teaching styles, finding elders versus mentors, and their experiences of being teachers and students. Katie highlights the value of being in circle with others as a commitment to learning and growth. Bio Katie Dove is a somatic therapist, intuitive guide, healer, and mystic with over two decades of experience working with individuals and groups. She is a keeper of ancient wisdom, exploring new paths for the preservation of human nature through connection to mother nature. Her methods weave a mixture of experiences she has collected over time, modalities she has personally cultivated, and extensive studies in transpersonal psychology and craniosacral therapy. With exploration in voice, touch, sound and movement, she guides her clients and students to investigate habits, freedom of choice, expressiveness, and the wealth of sensory information within and around them. Her upcoming course "Inhabit the Heart" is a four week journey into deep relationship with self and soul. What She Shares: –Roles of student, teacher, mentor, and elder –Path of deep inquiry and devotion –Reciprocity between teacher and student –Learning and embodying versus consuming –Important of circle and communal spaces What You'll Hear: –What it means to be a student –Katie's relationships with teachers and students –Teachers versus mentors –Worth in long-term relationships with teachers and mentors –Being curious and humble to receive teachings –Path of deep inquiry –Understanding real devotion and repetition –Experiencing similar teachings with different transmissions –Maturing beyond teacher pedestals and accepting human limitations –Valuing different ways of wisdom teachings –Story-tellers as original teachers –Awareness of different teaching styles –Valuing shared wisdom and intuitive knowledge of teachers –Embodying as internalizing information –Greatest teachers embody their teachings –Consuming information versus embodied knowing and wisdom –Repeating classes and exploring foundational aspects of the heart and embodiment –Fundamental difference between therapist role and teacher role –Safe spaces blocking real learning and growth –Remaining in long-term practices and observation spaces –Public role of apprenticeship and as a learner –Reaching mastery through devotion of a certain path –Reciprocity of learning between student and mentor –Learning through relationship of mentorship and eldering –Differences between friendship and mentorship –Being a good student before being a good elder –Defining what you're about and what you're not as a student and teacher –Elderhood finds you –Work itself as a teacher, mentors and elder just reflecting lessons –Circles and communities that are teaching and holding us –Hours spent in devotion in circle –Learning versus consuming –Valuing elders who have longer life experience –Calling in right students and right teachers –Knowing what seat you're taking in which circle –INHABIT THE HEART: A 4 week journey into Deep Relationship with Self and Soul Resources Website: https://www.katiedove.love/

In this episode, Kimberly and Jamie discuss his book "Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World That's Lost Its Mind." Jamie gives an anthropological perspective of human history across millennia to trace how we ended up today with economic, climate, technological, mental health, and other crises. He discusses how all of our social media and culture wars are missing the mark on the actual crises to our planet, and if we don't address it, it will destroy us all. His solution for processing this grief is by making intentional choices toward hope, and moving from hyper-individualism of our times to supportive, intergenerational communities. Bio Jamie Wheal is the author of "Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex and Death In a World That's Lost Its Mind" and the global bestseller "Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work" and the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an international organization dedicated to the research and training of human performance. His work and ideas have been covered in The New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., and TED. He has spoken at Stanford University, MIT, the Harvard Club, Imperial College, Singularity University, the U.S. Naval War College and Special Operations Command, Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, the Bohemian Club, and the United Nations. He lives high in the Rocky Mountains in an off-grid cabin with his partner, Julie; two children, Lucas and Emma; and their golden retrievers, Aslan and Calliope. When not writing, he can be found mountain biking, kitesurfing, and backcountry skiing. What He Shares: –Increase of fossil fuels and global population –Finding radical, authentic hope –Antidotes and strategies for building community through crises What You'll Hear: –Finding meaning in global crises –Rapture ideologies –"The Great Fact" of increase of human population –Environmental impact of human population increase –Crisis is population increase with eroding resources –Global impact increasing food insecurity, housing shortages, and migration –Migration increasing political tensions and culture wars –Finding authentic, radical hope during global crises –Grief as central to finding mature, radical, useful hope –Deep responsibility and service to others –Human experience of privilege and responsibility –Building resilient communities and cultures on behalf of hope –Finding transcendent courage to move forward to progress –Breaking away from hyper-individualism –Returning to rituals of initiation –Authentic resurfacing of traditions of lineage without appropriation –Ways to dispel and dispense micro-PTSD –Highest cultural unrest as release valve during quarantine –Having tools on a regular basis to help us level-set nervous systems and defrag –Addressing conflict, reparation, and restitution with elders –Accessing awe and tapping into experiences of meta-physical –Inter-generational awareness –Gratitude on behalf of ancestors and service on behalf of descendents –Deep, rooted presence –Taking risks to find community –Camp Omega for more Resources Website: https://www.flowgenomeproject.com/ IG: @flowgenome

Summary In this episode, Kimberly and Ash, one of Kimberly's business strategists, discuss all things related to women in business and entrepreneurship. Ash acknowledges the historical gaps in financial literacy and opportunities for business that women have only in recent decades begun to access. They discuss common challenges for women in business, such as over-personalization and under-selling, as well as advantages such as creating strong strategies for collaboration and equity in ways that are sustainable to us as individuals and to our families. Ash offers wise advice for creating and expanding businesses as women and for women audiences. She offers Ignite, a 9-week online program for women looking for expertise in creating and expanding their businesses. Bio Ash Robinson, a returning podcast guest, is a woman, daughter, and mother of two. As an entrepreneur for most of her career, she spent most of her time creating and building, not consulting. She bootstrapped two of her own startups; raised over $12M in funding; had a successful exit to a public company right before the 2008 recession and has been consulting through bon·fire since 2013. Her passion and research in neuroscience, cognition, behavior change, and culture inform both the tools and approach used in bon·fire. She believes we have to build the world we want to belong to. The Ignite program for women interested in creating and/or expanding current businesses begins at the end of March. Find out more about it through the link below. What She Shares: –Gaps in womens' opportunities for finance and business –Challenges of women in business –Handling over-giving, access, and pricing –Collaboration, intuition, and partnership –Ignite program for women in business starts end of March What You'll Hear: –Honoring the gaps women have had in financial education and business –Under-resourcing ourselves as women entrepreneurs –Over-personalizing business failures –Over-complicating client needs –Lacking clarity on business strategy and plan –Distinguishing between needing personal or business resources –Factoring in childcare for women in professional work –How to know when to hire an assistant –Focusing on business structure issues over personal –Service and/or product market-fit –Articulating your service in easy language –Power of our stories as women –Pricing issues hardest in business –Formula for pricing –Most women entrepreneurs are under-priced –Creating more wealth to create more opportunities for under-serviced populations –Inner capacities and outer structures –Interrogating inner-world beliefs around making money –Over-giving models in tensions with access –Feeling depleted with over-serving is unsustainable –Scholarships and trade as ten percent of business –Moving to strategy instead of overwhelm –Cost basis impacted by inflation –Unique skills women have in business and market –Collaboration, intuition, and partnership –Running businesses supportive of our families not depleting –Building capacity for women in places they haven't had it –IGNITE: A series of frameworks to create, organize, and harness businesses –IGNITE: 9 week program beginning end of March Resources Website: http://bon-fire.co/ignite

In this episode, Kimberly announces the opening of the first ever MotherCircle Facilitator training. She is interviewed by Jessica Connolly, a circle facilitator working with Kimberly to bring this 8 year long vision into the world. Kimberly shares about how the current structures do not support the deep longing we have to mother and be mothered in real community, and how concentric circles of mothers supporting mothers in this way creates a pathway of wisdom and support that impacts generations The MotherCircle Facilitator training equips women to create, strengthen and lead circles of mothers in their in person or online communities. Participants will learn the facilitation skills to lead groups in circle, as well as receive certification and a comprehensive 8 week curriculum to use for paid or unpaid offerings. We begin May 3rd. The 9 week MotherCircle Facilitator training is now open for enrollment at a one time founders rate until March 12th. Who the MotherCircle Facilitator training is for: Birthworkers- Midwives, birth and postpartum doulas, OBGYNs, Lactation consultants L&D nurses Childbirth educators Prenatal and postpartum yoga teachers Women's circle leaders Somatic therapists Mothers who want to build community and gather around meaningful topics and motherhood wisdom Mothers who want to create a paid Mother Circle offering as a stand alone business or within their current business At the end of this training, you will: Have greater confidence to lead groups both in person and online Have training in the facilitation skills you'll need to hold a group environment while tending to the individuals within it Understand the components of ceremony and know how to facilitate a ceremonial experience Understand the difference between teaching and facilitation Know how to contain a group when things get off track Know the foundational principles of the arc of the motherhood journey Receive an 8 week holistic mother centric curriculum that you can use personally or professionally Be ready and have a plan to lead your first MotherCircle Go to www.mothercircle.com to become part of the MotherCircle Facilitatorfounding community!