Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, Kimberly and Deborah discuss friendships, desire, and healthy attachments. Deborah explains her experience with having a large capacity for many friendships and how her clients often discuss issues around finding and keeping lasting friendships. They discuss how our original wounds seek out repair in patterns that often appear in friendships, as well as how the pandemic changed many relationships and friendships. Deborah debunks the myth that healing, love, and growth happen individually to assert that we are wired from birth for secure attachment, love, and attention. Friendship can be an opportunity to help us acknowledge past wounds, seek out ways for resolution, and grow as more whole and healed beings. Bio Deborah Clare Bragg is a somatic psychotherapist, yoga teacher, doula, and practitioner of feminine arts. She graduated from Naropa University with a masters in somatic psychotherapy. Alongside her therapy work, she teaches yoga at Love is Juniper and is hosting an upcoming Friendship Workshop which starts on November 17th and can be accessed through the link on the website below. In this episode, Kimberly and Deborah discuss friendships, desire, and healthy attachments. Deborah explains her experience with having a large capacity for many friendships and how her clients often discuss issues around finding and keeping lasting friendships. They discuss how our original wounds seek out repair in patterns that often appear in friendships, as well as how the pandemic changed many relationships and friendships. Deborah debunks the myth that healing, love, and growth happen individually to assert that we are wired from birth for secure attachment, love, and attention. Friendship can be an opportunity to help us acknowledge past wounds, seek out ways for resolution, and grow as more whole and healed beings. Bio Deborah Clare Bragg is a somatic psychotherapist, yoga teacher, doula, and practitioner of feminine arts. She graduated from Naropa University with a masters in somatic psychotherapy. Alongside her therapy work, she teaches yoga at Love is Juniper and is hosting an upcoming Friendship Workshop which starts on November 17th and can be accessed through the link on the website below. What She Shares: –Why it's hard for women to make friends –Tending to original wounds and repairs –Attachment styles in friendship –Impact of pandemic on friendship –Secure attachment and community –Deb's upcoming Friendship Workshop What You'll Hear: –Hesitancy around discussing friendship –Attending to previous ruptures in friendships from adolescence –Pains leading to narratives around female friendships –Knowing our capacity for friendship –Honoring desire and vulnerability –Making bids and invitations –Tolerance for rejection –Discerning when friendship is worth conflict or not –Patterns of conflict avoidance –Including and excluding –Alchemy variations in different groups –Different attachment styles in friendship –Repetition and compulsion –Original wounds searching for repair in patterns –Impact of pandemic on friendships –Experiencing major life changes and friendships –Debunking myth of loving self before loving others –Interconnection and healthy attachment –Feeling safe as children and in friendships –Sickness individualization –Picking community that reflect love and value –Taking stock of people in our lives –Breakout rooms and flight responses –Rejection and secure attachment –Friendship Workshop starts November 17th Resources Website: https://www.loveisjuniper.com/ IG: @loveisjuniper

In this episode, Kimberly welcomes back her daughter Cece to the podcast. Cece first appeared on the podcast in 2019 when she was in 6th grade. She shares what has changed in her and Kimberly's lives since then. Together, they discuss Cece's perspective on issues important to her peers and teenagers in general such as sex, intimacy, mental health, climate change, and more. Cece explains that much of her and her peer's frustrations are with older generations who cannot empathize with adolescence experiences today. Cece suggests for parents and older generations to provide specific information regarding these major issues to have non-defensive, open-hearted conversations. She also provides some comical tidbits of what it's like being Kimberly's daughter. Bio Cece, Kimberly's daughter, is a 15 year old biracial highschooler, who shares her perspectives on Kimberly as a mother, Kimberly's work on sex, birth, and trauma, and other important topics that her peers are discussing. She is a guitarist and has enjoyed playing in a band since she last appeared on the podcast. What She Shares: –Cece's evolution since her first podcast episode –Teens' perspectives on sex –Technology's influence on teen girls' mental health –Intergenerational conversations on complex issues, including climate change –Pandemic's impact on teens What You'll Hear: –Cece's first podcast episode in 2019 –Moved to NYC, Moved back to California, started high school –Cece's interest in guitar and writing music –Cece's perspective on having Kimberly as a mom –Parents discussing sex –Remaining neutral in conversations around sex with teenagers –Cece's experience of over-exposure of Kimberly's work –Teenage girls' perspectives on porn –Cece's friends turning to her for information on sex –Teens turning to social media for intimacy and dating –Rejecting labels of sexual identities –Social media impacting teen girls negatively –Social media and comparison –Teenage girls using social media to tear each other down –Experimenting with removing social media –Higher rates of depression and anxiety in teen girls –Disconnect of understanding from older generations to teens now –Generations without technology –Expressing anger towards older generations for contributing to climate change –Having difficult conversations without getting defensive –Adolescence during threats of nuclear warfare, climate change, artificial intelligence –Having specific conversations around complex issues –Feelings of impending doom culturally contributing to mental health issues –Accepting and enjoying solitude without spiraling –Cece's reaction to Kimberly's work with Stephen Jenkinson –Pandemic's impact on Cece and peers –People who didn't transition well back into socializing

In this episode, Kimberly and Ali discuss how food intersects with physiology and psychology. Specifically, they discuss how to identify our physical and emotional needs, how to send safety signals to our bodies, and how to unpack some of the deeper impacts of socialization and culture around eating and body image. Similar to our nervous system signals, our bodies and minds send signals when dealing with chronic stress and unconscious stories around our behaviors that often motivate our food choices. Ali works with women to help them unpack issues around diet culture, body image, and eating for satisfaction and nutrition. Bio Ali Shapiro is an MSOD, CHHC, holistic nutritionist, cancer survivor, and host of the podcast "Insatiable." Her work is at the intersection of physiology and psychology as she helps women unravel their relationships with body image, food, and movement in order to ultimately build a sense of safety and satisfaction. She offers the Truce with Food Coaching program as well as individual client sessions and speaking engagements. What She Shares: –Uncoupling body image from normal human emotions –Physical and emotional safety signals –Identifying physiological and psychological needs –Emotional immune system –Food for healing and health –Truce with Food program What You'll Hear: –Issues with body image/positivity marketed to women –Socialization and religious culture influencing body image –Prioritizing safety signals –Unpacking individualization and systemic issues surrounding food –Weight and health –Physical and emotional safety signals –Identifying foods and movement right for our individual bodies –Prioritizing sun and sleep especially through aging –Re-establishing relationship with our bodies with food experiments –Identifying which foods make body feel safe and satisfied –Intrinsic motivation versus shame-based motivation around health –Emotional safety –Emotional immune system run down by chronic stress –Anticipating deprivation and/or restricting with food –No baseline of neutrality and satiation –Translating the body's signals –Intuition based on patterns, difficult with lifetime of dieting/overeating/undereating –Highly processed foods hijacked intuitive understanding –Practicing intuition with three meals a day for physiological and psychological benefits –Rejecting commercialized brand names of diets –Restriction with food in relation to aging, stress, parenting, etc. –Processed foods on a continuum –Amount of attention to give eating can be overwhelming –Undoing binary thinking around foods –Emotional health in relation to food, exercise, diet –Emotional immune systems made up of stories –Intersection of physiology and psychology –Family, peers, religion, work influences to emotional health –Overriding body's signals to "deserve" to eat –Seeking belonging on deepest level –Food one of our first senses of safety and comfort –Understanding insulin resistance, blood sugar levels, and stress –Turning to sugar for nurturance and comfort –Reducing stress and balancing blood sugar results in less sugar intake –Sleep-deprivation contributing to higher sugar intake –Nervous system predisposes towards certain tolerances with foods –Identifying physical and psychological needs for health and sense of safety –Basic human habits declining with modernization and individualization –Food and community Resources Website: https://alishapiro.com/ IG: @alimshapiro

Summary In this episode, Kimberly and Sara discuss how they met through yoga, how they approach their businesses, and how they navigate moving through biological seasons such as premenopause and menopause. While culture wants women to continue pushing towards growth, Kimberly and Sara explain the importance of honoring their own limitations and energy levels especially as entrepreneurs. They also discuss Sara's approach to her online yoga teacher trainings for women. Bio Sara Avant Stover is a teacher of feminine spirituality, bestselling author, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) Practitioner. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Columbia University's all-women's Barnard College, she had a cancer scare, moved to Thailand, and embarked on a decade-long healing and spiritual odyssey throughout Asia. Since then, Sara's gone on to uplift the lives of tens of thousands of women worldwide. The creator of the world's first Women's Yoga Teacher Training, she specializes in supporting women to navigate challenging life transitions and heal from trauma, in service of living with more ease, wholeness, and fulfillment. Sara has also been featured in Yoga Journal, the Huffington Post, Newsweek, Natural Health, and on ABC, NBC, and CBS. She lives in Boulder, CO, and online at SaraAvantStover.com What She Shares: –Kimberly and Sara's yoga teaching experiences together –Sara's The Way of the Happy Woman: Yoga and Meditation Teacher Training for Women –Accepting limitations and different capacities in business –Navigating biological seasons and accepting life's paths What You'll Hear: –How Kimberly and Sara met –Sara's experiences hosting yoga teacher trainings –Discovering love and capacity for leadership –Developed women's yoga teacher training –Transitioning to online teacher trainings –Reasons for focusing on women in trainings –Having sensibility and sensitivity while working with range of people –Processing emotions in community during trainings –Sara's experience dismantling and rebuilding business –Business practices valuing simplicity, cohesion, and sustainability –Navigating behind-the-scenes business challenges –Business expectations and assumptions for coaches –Marketing in the self-help, coaching, yoga worlds –Regret in business and entrepreneurship –Limitations and the feminine –Feminism, fertility, aging, and biology –Accepting limitations around bearing children –Childlessness and singleness in US culture –Ideology trumping biology in many circumstances –Technology and IVF not guarantees –Specific practices for pregnancy, postpartum, menstruation, perimenopause, postmenopause –Internal Family Systems therapy –IFS therapy part of teacher training –Range of experiences, ages, etc. in trainings –Intergenerational and international training –Women learning through modeling and others' stories –Setting up life and business to prepare for menopause –Sara's YTT starting early October –Honoring Zoom fatigue during online training Resources Website: https://www.womensyogateachertraining.com/ https://www.saraavantstover.com/ IG: @saraaventstover

In this episode, Kimberly and Barbara discuss Barbara's iconic career as a dancer and performer in the 1960s, her work as a founder and President of Naropa University, and her pedagogy which combined dance and performance with mindboby practices and various spiritual traditions. She also discussed the early days of Naropa University which symbolized the creative and expansive, alternative movements that were happening culturally at the time. Barbara then shares her reflections on aging, sickness, and internalized ageism as well as creative ways for aging people to live and embrace the end of life. Bio Barbara Dilley (Lloyd) (born 1938) is an American dancer, performance artist, improvisor, choreographer and educator, best known for her work as a prominent member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and The Grand Union, from 1969 to 1976. She has taught movement and dance at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, since 1974, developing a pedagogy that emphasizes what she calls "embodied awareness," an approach that combines dance and movement studies with meditation, "mind training" and improvisational composition. She served as the president of Naropa University from 1985 to 1993. What She Shares: —Early career as a dancer —Performing as a young mother —First President of Naropa University —Origins of Mind-Body practices in 60s and 70s —Ageism in spiritual and New Age communities —Kindness through sickness, aging, and death What You'll Hear: —Being the "first" in various fields —First President of Naropa University —Transition from ballet into modern dance —Pregnancy and mothering while performing —Shadow-side of touring the world as a young mother —Modern dancing in India in the 1960s —Strain on family life while touring —Leaving marriage and family during 60s —Personal drive to pursue performing career —Cultural environment of new thoughts, opportunities, creativity, avant-garde world —Origins of Movement Studies work —Improvisation performance technique styles emerging —Began teaching at Naropa in 1974 —Created dance program at Naropa and leaving NYC —Teaching alongside Ram Dass and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche —Contemplative Education from East and West at Naropa —Incorporating Mind-Body practices into Dance courses —Spiritual appointment of serving as President at Naropa —Transitioning to retirement from writing and teaching —Feeling emotionally and physically drained leading to health issues —Learning through aging and cultural ageism —Working through cultural imprints around aging —Feeling in competition with younger self —Ageism in spiritual and New Age communities —Kindness through aging which is inevitable —Accepting inevitability of aging and death instead of turning away —"Spiritual materialism" —Becoming invisible as an aging woman —No cultural appreciation for elders —Holistic understanding of human journey including aging and death —Multicultural and multigenerational living instead of nuclear families —Finding small community to discuss sickness, old age, and death —Stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death

In this collection of testimonials, Jaguar course alumni speak about how the Jaguar work and community have supported their journey of healing trauma and widening their capacity to actively and presently engage with life. As Kimberly and her team prepare for the next round of Jaguar, this testimony speaks beautifully to the type of experience you might find in the upcoming 4-week course "Activate Your Inner Jaguar Foundations." In this episode, you meet three dynamic Jaguar women: Audrey Holst, Tori Miller, and Nicole Siegel. Each of these women talks about specific before and after experiences that intersected with their Jaguar work. Here is some of what you will hear in this episode: Audrey: Jaguar shows up as full-life shifts We can't think our way to something different Jaguar work is approachable and doable when taken in as small bites on a regular basis Her dominant story in the past, "Nothing bothers me" she realizes now, is more about resignation The accumulation of reclamations of space and time is hugely important to her The embodiment of panic is shifting when she rock-climbs. When in moments of stress, staying conscious and present is increasing The bigger piece of this work is enjoying the things that she wants to enjoy in her life more fully Tori: The Jaguar community aspect has been so important to her After cancer treatment, Tori found herself struggling to be around others. Jaguar work helped her to re-engage with important people in her life With innovative Jaguar practices she continues to notice new things in her body, after having ignored it for so long, due to chronic pain Having Ehlers-Danlos has caused proprioception issues. Jaguar work has helped Tori rediscover a new grounding in her body Tori loves how Kimberly talks about healthy sympathetic charge, even adrenaline responses. When she accepted this in her system, it calmed down more quickly, leaving behind a constant state of fight or flight Tori is more hopeful about her health and that her own body can help with her healing Dancing never felt good with Ehlers-Danlos: balance issues, pain, coordination, self-consciousness. Now she dances all of the time, even in public To sign up for the Foundation Edition of Activate Your Inner Jaguar that begins September 6th, or to read more about the course and about what other women are saying about Activate your Inner Jaguar, go to https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/sessions/.

In this episode, Kimberly and Catherine discuss their personal experiences of perimenopause and menopause. Catherine shares how her identity as a holistic health practitioner and educator initially conflicted against her need for allopathic medical treatment or HRT, hormone replacement therapy, which has been life-changing through her experience of menopause. Together, they discuss symptoms of perimenopause and menopause and how menopause changes pelvic health, business, sex, and relationships. Menopause serves as a season that invites us inward while disrupting areas in our lives that need shifted. They also discuss how today's generation of menopausal women are disrupting the narratives around this life-changing initiation. Bio Catherine Hale is a UK-based practitioner and educator. She is trained in Sexological Body Work, Tantra, Sexual Shamanism and supports clients collectively and individually around trauma, sex, pelvic health, nervous system regulation, money, business, and more. Recently, she has publicly shared her menopausal journey as a practitioner which has helped her further support her community. She offers coaching, courses, and more on her website below. What She Shares: –Symptoms of perimenopause and menopause –Using Hormone Replacement Therapy –Radical self-care and self-love –Navigating business, sex, and relationships through menopause What You'll Hear: –Identifying perimenopause –Irregular cycle, change in length of cycle, hot flashes, etc. –Feeling like cognitive function dissipated during hot flashes –Debilitating hot flashes during nighttime –Difficulty as a sex, tantra, women's health practitioner but not finding solutions –Menopausal underwear –Identity as a practitioner, belief about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) –Strong identification against HRT created sense of belonging in community –Sense of being a failure using HRT –Becoming humbled by menopause journey and HRT –Change in newer data showing not as strong link between cancer and HRT –Spiritual healer identity –Synthetic hormones versus bio-identical hormones –Dutch test to identify hormones –Radical self-care and fully caretaking of body in business –Changing relationship with business through menopause –Prioritizing body and self more fully in business –New levels of needs and organization through and post menopause –Finding new sources of energy and needs for rest –Menopause and relationships –Menopause gives blueprint for who you're moving towards –Fear in some men around women's power during menopause –Gap in communities for men to be supported during partners' menopause –Vaginal and libido changes –Creating closer relationship to vulva and internal felt senses for vaginal tissue –Misinformation in tantra trainings around sexuality and menopause –Intimacy, sexual, and spiritual communities ignoring menopausal bodies –Catherine's offerings around nervous system, trauma, money, and more Resources Website: https://catherinehale.co.uk/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/catherinehaleuk/

Celebrating the release of their new book Reckoning, Kimberly Ann Johnson and Stephen Jenkinson grapple with the key themes of their convergence: grief, heartbreak, culture work, elderhood, and the prevalent myth of individualism in this Me First era we find ourselves in. Three times as many people listened to their 2021 conversations (Episodes 135 and 136) than any other talk, which led to a five conversations series, an exchange of letters, and now Reckoning. To order the book - hardback, paperback, or audiobook - go to: www.orphanwisdomschool.com/reckoning Bullet points won't do this episode justice, so buckle in for the two-hour ride that is more in the spirit of the original conversations than about the book itself.

In this episode, Kimberly and Jen discuss financial planning and making financial decisions such as investing, budgeting, managing debt, saving for emergency funds and retirement. With recent inflation and a possible upcoming recession in addition to ethics of equity, many feel overwhelmed by their personal finances moving them into a state of freeze. Jen provides practical steps towards mapping out a budget, paying off high-interest debt, and creating savings. Jen also discusses how she works with clients individually and her upcoming 12 week financial planning program for entrepreneurs. Bio Jen Mayer is a Brooklyn-based mother of two, financial counselor, and former doula with a vast background in the wellness industry. She currently works with clients by offering non-judgemental financial counseling such as paying down debt, planning for retirement, in addition to other major life changes such as starting a business or having a child. Jen can be contacted through her Instagram and website linked below. What She Shares: –Inflation and the current US market –Overwhelming debt –Saving, investing and emergency funds –Shame and freeze around finances –Profit Foundations 12 week financial planning course What You'll Hear: –Transition from doula work and agency to finance –Personal finance counselor and coach –Debt management, financial foundations, retirement, savings, and more –Non-judgemental support, shame around finance –Advocacy in finance –Offered free counseling sessions –Financial trauma and shame –Navigating ideals around money and real-world contexts –Retirement needs within the US –Anti-capitalism and individual preferences and comfort around money –Investing, owning and other decisions around money –Emergency funds for 3-6 months living expenses –Distinction between savings and hoarding –Saving with a plan instead of hoarding –Cash losing value from inflation –Stock market depreciating –Possible upcoming recession –Uncertainty around current economy –Investments waiting for financial rebound –High interest debt over 6-7% –Opportunity for investments –Paying off debt as rates go up –Ambivalence around entrepreneurship –Fixed expenses, variable expenses, debt and savings –More leeway in increasing income versus cutting spending –Managing massive amounts of debt –Nervous system responses to debt –Aggressive strategies for more financial freedom –Debt as morally neutral –Having witnessing and accountability to personal finances –Getting a personal banker and an advisor –Understanding different roles of financial professionals –Profit Foundations: 12 week financial program –Self-employment finances –Program for personal finances, business projections, tax strategy and retirement –Benefits of one-to-one sessions versus group program –Investing and saving while paying off debt –High interest and low interest debt –Investment growth and debt compounds –Invest in traditional retirement account to lower student loan debt –Women having personal accounts while married and partnered Resources Website:www.fullyfundedx40weeks.com IG: @fullyfundedx40weeks @jennyleighmayer

In this episode, Kimberly and Alicia discuss connective tissue, states of the nervous system, dealing with chronic pain, and more. They discuss the complexities of fascia, differences between genetics and epigenetics, understanding individual dominant nervous system states, and body/mind mapping. Understanding the differences between physiological stress versus emotional stress as well as the importance of consciously and specifically paying attention to pain can help us begin to understand how to manage it better. Bio Alicia has over 35 years of experience in the fitness industry and holds a B.S. in Exercise Science and Sports Studies. A longtime movement enthusiast, Alicia has studied, practiced, and taught many different types of movement throughout her career. She is the Founder of the Fajardo Method of Holistic Biomechanics which teaches movement education and motor re-patterning in conjunction with nervous system awareness. She teaches various kinds of classes and has an upcoming workshop which can be accessed by the link below. What She Shares: –Composition of Fascia –Ehlers-Danlos syndrome –Genetics versus epigenetics –Place and grid cells –Working with chronic pain –Physiological versus emotional stress What You'll Hear: –Syndrome longer lasting consequences affect autoimmune system –Ehlers-Danlos syndrome as connective tissue disorder can go through all layers of tissues –Can occur in muscular, joint, organ, vascular system(s) –Attacks in different ways for different people –Different types of testing to determine syndrome –Perceptual experiences of symptoms –Fascia made up of collagen, elastin, glycoproteins and protoglycans –Ground substance in fascia –Dominant state of nervous system determines ground substance –Body weight distribution dependent upon dominant state of nervous system –Nervous system state determines mineral absorption and digestion –Hypermobility and developing support for joints –Getting valve system to move –Creating dominant parasympathetic motor patterns versus sympathetic motor reflex –Genetics versus epigenetics –Genetic has dominant or receptive expression from parents' genes –Genetic expression has to do with mutation of a gene –Epigenetics deals with genetic expression –Epigenetics internal or external environment can potentially change gene expression –EDS can be both genetic or epigenetic –Many mental health issues connected to hyper-sympathetic nervous system –Emotional stress versus physiological stress –Physiological stress is sympathetic nervous system –Emotional stress causing conflict to conscious and unconscious brain firing off sympathetic nervous system –Vagus nerve and adaptability to sympathetic and parasympathetic –Trigeminal nerve largest nerve in body, controls brain and senses –All nerves have roles in either sympathetic or parasympathetic states –Paying attention to bodily sensations doesn't create brain map –Paying attention to external environment to communicate safety to brain –Proprioception and greater movement orientation –Brain map –Sensation and location awareness –More movement and dynamic and parasympathetic –Exercises for mapping –Keeping awareness between two points on body –Different stages of states and conservation of energy –Emotional Anatomy by Stanley Keleman –Observing and being very specific about what's happening in body with EDS –Bodies constantly changing –Avoiding labels when understanding pain –Losing body's adaptability when labeling –Attachment to diagnoses and labeling –Symptoms dependent on nervous system states difficult to diagnose and treat from medical perspective –Adapting sympathetic activation to be appropriate to environment –Brain assessing environment to determine appropriate state –Physiological responding to environment instead of emotional state –Teaches various classes and upcoming workshops Resources Website: https://fajardomethodmovement.com/