The Spiritually Curious Therapist
The Spiritually Curious Therapist is a podcast exploring the intersection of nervous system science, mental health, spirituality, and healing.Hosted by Jodi Silverman, LCSW, this show is for therapists, healers, and curious humans who sense that true healing happens below the level of insight alone. Through thoughtful conversations and solo reflections, we explore trauma, chronic pain and illness, altered states, regulation, meaning-making, and what it really takes to help the nervous system feel safe enough to change.This is a space for grounded mysticism, where evidence-based practice meets soul-level wisdom, and where healing is approached with curiosity, compassion, and respect...
What If You Didn't Have to Fix How You Feel? Reiki, Persistent Pain & a Different Way to Respond
What if you didn't have to wait until you felt better to begin caring for yourself?
When we're living with persistent pain, uncomfortable symptoms, worry, or emotional distress, it's natural to want those experiences to go away. But sometimes, the constant effort to fix how we feel becomes another source of distress.
In this solo episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I invite you to explore a different approach.
Rather than beginning with an explanation, I guide you through a simple practice of noticing discomfort without immediately trying to change it.<...
When You Don't Even Know What You Want: Audra Phelps on Leaving Mormonism, Identity & Self-Trust
Have you ever realized that you've spent so much time meeting everyone else's expectations that you're no longer sure what you actually want?
For Audra Phelps, that realization came while making an apple pie.
After spending much of her life in the Mormon Church, Audra made the difficult decision to leave behind the belief system that had shaped her identity, relationships, and understanding of what it meant to be a good wife, mother, and person.
Leaving gave her the freedom to make her own choices. But it also meant confronting...
Finding Your Center in a Changing World: Andrew Keaveney on Breathwork, Nervous System Regulation & the Seasons of Life
What does it actually mean to be regulated?
Does it mean feeling calm? Being happy? Having control over our emotions? Or is it something more flexible, the ability to respond to what life is asking of us in any given moment?
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I'm joined by Andrew Keaveney, a breathwork and meditation teacher with the Art of Living, for a conversation about the relationship between our breath, emotions, nervous system, and overall well-being.
Andrew shares how his interest in meditation began as a teenager and eventually led...
Why Knowing Better Isn’t Enough: Hypnosis, Shame, and the Beliefs That Keep Us Stuck with Nelson Whiting
You can recognize a pattern, understand where it came from, and have plenty of reasons to change it. So why can doing something different still feel so difficult?
In this episode, I sit down with hypnotherapist Nelson Whiting to explore that question, and the beliefs about ourselves that may sit beneath familiar behaviors.
Nelson shares his introduction to hypnosis and how his approach has shifted toward asking questions that help people discover their own meanings. I bring my therapist’s curiosity to what he calls the subconscious, the relationship between emotional experience and insight, and th...
When Your Body Becomes a Full-Time Job: Reiki for Persistent Pain and Symptoms
Appointments. Tests. Treatments. Exercises. Supplements. Checking whether something feels better, or worse.
When you live with persistent pain or physical symptoms, caring for your body can start to feel like a full-time job.
In this solo episode, I explore what happens when life becomes organized around monitoring, protecting, and trying to fix the body, and why I bring Reiki into this conversation as a self-practice.
At the heart of this episode is a distinction from my From Lock to Liberation framework: the symptom itself is not the lock. The lock is the...
What Does “Creating Your Reality” Mean? A Therapist Explores Soul Intelligence with Sanné Lind
Spiritual language can offer hope and connection. It can also raise questions about how we understand suffering, responsibility, and healing.
In this episode, I sit down with Sanné Lind, author of Soul Intelligence: Quantum Living from the Inside Out and creator of the Quantum Soul Sync Method. Drawing on her personal experience with depression, loss, and decades of spiritual exploration, Sanné shares how she approaches emotional patterns and reconnecting with herself.
One thread I wanted to explore was the meaning behind the language we use. Terms like “frequency,” “creating your reality,” and “taking responsibility” can land very diff...
Being Loyal to Your Body: Paula Atkinson on Body Liberation, Trust & Not Abandoning Yourself
What does it mean to be loyal to your body?
For Paula Atkinson, that question carries a lot of weight. After years of trying to control, shrink, and override her body, including an experience with anorexia that nearly took her life, Paula now talks about her body in a radically different way: with trust.
In this conversation, Paula and I explore body liberation as something much deeper than body positivity or learning to like what you see in the mirror. We talk about what happens when we stop measuring our bodies through someone else’s ga...
The Inner Compass: Authenticity, Dharma & Learning to Trust Yourself with Katie Padilla
What are we really looking for when we chase achievement, approval, success, or even rebellion?
For my guest Katie Padilla, so much of it came back to one very human longing:
To be seen. To be loved. To feel deeply connected.
Katie is a certified family law specialist, founder of Bloom Family Law, collaboratively trained attorney, certified coach and meditation teacher. But the path that brought her there is anything but conventional.
As a highly sensitive child growing up in a family experiencing conflict and divorce, Katie...
When Healing Becomes Another Form of Escaping: Megan Ashton on Breathwork & Coming Back to Yourself
What happens when the search for healing becomes another way of avoiding what we're trying so hard not to feel?
My guest today, Megan Ashton, spent nearly 17 years searching for something that would help her heal.
She studied yoga, Reiki, holistic nutrition and clinical hypnotherapy. She traveled the world, living in places many of us might imagine as idyllic. She tried talk therapy and eventually plant medicine.
And yet, underneath it all, Megan was struggling with bulimia, alcohol dependence, painful relationships, and a sense that no matter where she went or what she...
The Other Side of “I Can Do It Myself”: Amanda Hill on Connection & Hope
What happens when being the person who can handle everything becomes part of your identity?
My guest, Amanda Hill, knows that experience well.
Amanda is a licensed mental health counselor, nationally certified counselor, board-certified life coach, author, podcast host, and founder of Connections of Hope, a multi-location counseling practice in Indiana.
But long before she was running a growing mental health practice, Amanda was a newly divorced mother with two very young children, trying to figure out how to keep the bills paid and take care of her family.
On the...
Letting Love Lead: Dr. Colleen Quinn on Psychology, the Soul & Awakening
What do we actually mean when we talk about love?
My guest, Dr. Colleen Quinn, defines love not simply as something we feel, but as an action, one that serves the greater good while also including ourselves.
That idea became a thread throughout our conversation.
Colleen is a mystic and transpersonal, trauma-informed psychologist whose understanding of psychology, consciousness, and healing has been shaped not only by her clinical training, but by two near-death experiences and her own deeply personal journey through grief and awakening.
We talk about the death of her...
Am I Safe Enough to Be Myself? Natasha Ramlall on Identity, Safety & the Nervous System
What happens when the version of you that has always been capable, productive, responsible, and able to get things done suddenly can't keep going in the same way?
My guest, Natasha Ramlall, calls this an identity rupture -that unsettling space between who you have been and who you are becoming.
Natasha spent 25 years working with newcomers and refugees settling in Canada before eventually recognizing that the work she had once loved no longer felt the same. She followed the pull toward something new, but instead of immediately feeling energized by the change...
The Way Out Is In: Crystal Clear on Somatics, Tantra & Nervous System Healing
What if healing isn't about thinking your way through your past...
What if it's about learning to listen to your body?
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I sit down with somatic bodywork practitioner Crystal Clear for a thoughtful conversation about trauma, nervous system regulation, embodiment, and the profound wisdom our bodies hold.
Crystal shares her own healing journey—from growing up in an abusive home and years of traditional talk therapy to discovering the transformative role of yoga, somatic practices, and trauma-informed bodywork. Along the way, we ex...
The Power to Act: Maritza Schaefer on Spirituality, Magic & Personal Transformation
What if power isn't about having control over others...
What if it's simply the capacity to act?
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I sit down with Maritza Schaefer, founder of Bruja School and creator of the Liberation Magic Method. Raised in Chile in a family of witches, Maritza offers a perspective on spirituality that invites us to look beyond stereotypes and consider magic as the practice of transforming our lives with intention.
As our conversation unfolded, we found ourselves exploring questions that extend far beyond witchcraft. We talked about the...
From Growing Up "Too Much" to Finding the "Freedom to Be Me" with Lisa Richer
What if you were never "too much"?
For years, Lisa Richer believed the messages she heard growing up, that she was too emotional, too loud, too talkative, too sensitive. It wasn't until adulthood that she discovered she was neurodivergent, and with that understanding came something far more valuable than a diagnosis: permission to finally understand herself with compassion.
In this deeply moving conversation, Lisa shares her journey from growing up undiagnosed to becoming a neurodiversity consultant who helps families, educators, professionals, and organizations create environments where people can thrive instead of simply survive.<...
What Breaks Us Open: Colleen Clifford on Grief, Addiction, and Finding Meaning After Loss
We often think healing begins when the crisis is over.
But what if that's actually when the real work begins?
In this heartfelt conversation, I sit down with Colleen Clifford, author, health coach, commercial fisherwoman, and alcohol-free advocate, to explore the hidden survival patterns that shape our lives and the courage it takes to face them with honesty and compassion.
Colleen shares her deeply personal story of binge drinking, the devastating loss of her husband to alcohol-related suicide, and the complicated journey through grief, guilt, and healing that followed. Together, we explore not...
Remembering Who We Are: Wren Morrow on Nature, Shame, and the Freedom of Coming Home to Yourself
What if healing isn't about becoming someone new?
What if it's about remembering who you've been all along?
In this deeply reflective conversation, I sit down with Wren Morrow. Wren is an outdoor boudoir and erotic adventure photographer whose work extends far beyond photography. Through immersive experiences in nature, Wren invites individuals and couples to reconnect with their bodies, release shame, and experience themselves with fresh eyes.
As our conversation unfolds, we move far beyond cameras and photographs. Together, we explore the lasting impact of purity culture, the courage it takes to leave b...
It's Okay to Want: Trauma, Embodiment, and Reclaiming Desire with Laura Khoudari
What if healing isn't about fixing yourself?
What if it's about learning how to listen?
In this deeply thoughtful conversation, I sit down with trauma-informed wellness expert, author, and educator Laura Khoudari to explore the intersection of trauma, strength training, embodiment, self-trust, and desire.
Laura shares her personal journey from experiencing PTSD to developing a trauma-informed approach to strength training that helps people reconnect with their bodies, build nervous system capacity, and cultivate a deeper relationship with themselves.
As our conversation unfolds, we move beyond exercise and into something much bigger:<...
The Human Side of Healing: Why Medicine Needs More Than Answers with Georgia Tetlow, MD,ABOIM, ABPMR, FMCP-M
Dr. Georgia Tetlow, MD, ABOIM, ABPMR, FMCP-M is the Founder & CEO of Philadelphia Integrative Medicine, an Integrative & Functional Medicine Physician
Clinician Mentor and Bravewell Fellow of Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.
Dr. Tetlow, knew long before medical school that she wanted to practice medicine differently. In this thoughtful and deeply human conversation, we explore what it means to care for the whole person, not just their symptoms.
Dr. Tetlow shares her journey from yoga teacher to physician, the intentional inner work that helped her stay connected to her values throughout traditional medical training...
The Nature of Reality: Mystical Experiences, God Consciousness & the Search for Meaning with Michael Monk
What happens when an experience is so profound that it changes the way you understand reality itself?
In this thought-provoking conversation, I sit down with Michael Monk, spiritual teacher, healer, and founder of the Avatar Energy Mastery Institute. Michael shares a series of extraordinary experiences that began with what he describes as a direct communication from God and led him on a decades-long exploration of consciousness, healing, spirituality, and human potential.
Together, we explore mystical experiences, God consciousness, energy healing, out-of-body experiences, personal transformation, and the challenges of integrating extraordinary spiritual experiences into everyday life.
Getting Out of the Way: Jessica Maitri on Trauma, Intuition, and the 3 AM Download That Changed Everything
Many of us can explain our patterns, understand our trauma, and tell the story of what happened—yet still find ourselves feeling stuck.
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I sit down with Jessica Maitri, LCSW, brainspotting consultant, certified yoga therapist, breathwork practitioner, intuitive energy healer, and creator of the Yothera Method, to explore what happens when healing moves beyond insight and into embodiment.
Jessica shares her journey from therapist burnout to developing an innovative approach that integrates yoga therapy, somatic awareness, intuition, and brainspotting. Together, we explore why healing isn't simply about un...
When the Pain Won't Go Away: Understanding Neuroplastic Symptoms, Fear, and Nervous System Healing with Georgia Thelen
What if chronic pain isn't always a sign that something is broken?
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I sit down with certified nutritionist, hypnotist, energy healer, and Pain Reprocessing Therapy coach Georgia Thelen to explore the growing field of mind-body healing and neuroplastic symptoms.
After developing long COVID and a host of chronic symptoms herself, Georgia found her way beyond diagnoses, medications, and endless medical appointments into a deeper understanding of the nervous system's role in chronic pain and illness. Together, we discuss how fear, stress, hypervigilance, and nervous system dysregulation can...
What If It Isn't Yours? Intuition, Conditioning, and Coming Home to Yourself with Gwyneth Flack
How do we know what is truly ours?
Our thoughts.
Our fears.
Our beliefs.
Our reactions.
In this thought-provoking conversation, I sit down with transformational teacher, intuitive development guide, and author Gwyneth Flack to explore the role intuition plays in helping us reconnect with ourselves beneath the noise of conditioning, expectation, and fear.
Gwyneth shares stories from her childhood, including a near-death experience that shaped her understanding of consciousness, her early awareness of the deeper layers of people beyond their outward appearance, and how she learned to distinguish her own...
From Ego to Embodiment: Spiritual Bodybuilding, Identity & the Search for Self with Nahum Vizakis
In this follow-up conversation, Nahum Vizakis returns to The Spiritually Curious Therapist to go deeper into the philosophy behind his book, The Biohacker’s Guide to Spiritual Bodybuilding.
If you missed part one (released April 20), I highly recommend going back and listening first. In that episode we explored Nahum’s story and the experiences that shaped his path. This time, we move into the deeper questions:
What happens when the pursuit of strength is driven by pain? Where is the line between discipline and self-abandonment? And what changes when the body shifts...When Movement Becomes Healing: Trauma-Informed Embodiment with Emily Young, LCSW-C
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I sit down with Emily Young, a trauma-informed personal trainer, somatic therapist, and founder of The Embodied Trainer, for a conversation about movement, embodiment, trauma, and the nervous system.
This conversation explores something that feels increasingly important to me:
the idea that healing cannot happen through the mind alone.
Emily shares her own journey of integrating the worlds of therapy and personal training after experiencing burnout, chronic pain, and a growing realization that many people are deeply disconnected from their bodies, even while actively exercising them.<...
Your Body Isn’t the Problem: Trauma, Fitness, and the Nervous System with Gabi Varga
What if the way you’ve been trying to get healthy… is actually keeping your nervous system stuck?
In this episode, I sit down with trauma-informed personal trainer Gabi Varga to explore the often-overlooked relationship between fitness, trauma, and the nervous system.
Because here’s the thing, so many people are doing all the “right” things: working out, staying active, pushing themselves to be disciplined…but underneath it, their system doesn’t feel safe.
And when that’s the starting point, even healthy behaviors can become part of a pattern of overdrive, disconnection, and burnout.
...When the Body Speaks: Decoding Symptoms Through Mind, Body, and Energy with Denise Schonwald
In this episode, I sit down with Denise Schonwald, a nurse, mental health counselor, and author whose work bridges physical health, emotional healing, and spiritual awareness.
We start with Denise’s journey, from 20 years as a critical care nurse to stepping into mental health, and how she began noticing something that would shape her entire approach: physical symptoms and emotional patterns are not separate.
They tell a story together.
From there, we explore the connection between mind, body, and energy, and what happens when we ignore the signals our system is constantly giving us...
Biohacking and the Soul: Strength, Trauma, and Spiritual Bodybuilding with Nahum Vizakis
This is one of those conversations that stays with you.
In this episode, I sit down with Nahum Vizakis—combat veteran, bodybuilder, and healer—whose journey spans trauma, identity loss, nervous system overwhelm, and a deep dive into both physical and spiritual transformation.
We explore what it actually means to “build” yourself… not just physically, but emotionally, neurologically, and spiritually.
We talk about:
How early trauma and lack of safety shape the nervous system The role of fear and how it can become a compass instead of something to avoid The intersection of biohacking a...Psychodrama, Sand Tray & Tarot: Embodied Healing Beyond the Talking Cure with Karen Carnabucci, LCSW-TEP
What happens when we stop talking about our inner world and start stepping into it? This week, I sit down with Karen Carnabucci, LCSW-TEP, therapist, trainer, and founder of the Lancaster School of Psychodrama, to explore the transformative power of action methods in healing.
Karen shares how psychodrama, sand tray, family constellations, and tarot can reach places that insight and words alone cannot. Together, we explore how the nervous system responds to enacted experience just as powerfully as real-world events, and why that matters deeply for healing.
In this episode:
What psychodrama...The Breath as a Pathway: From Regulation to Transformation with Blakey Hastings
In this episode, I’m joined once again by Blakey Hastings - a mystic, yogi, and somatic practitioner whose work beautifully bridges the body, breath, and spiritual embodiment.
If you heard our first conversation on craniosacral therapy, you’ll love where this one goes.
Blakey shares how her work has evolved from hands-on healing into something even more empowering—helping people access their own healing through the breath.
And this isn’t just about “taking a deep breath to calm down.”
We explore the full spectrum of breathwork—from foundational f...
Notice What You Notice: Curiosity, the Goddess, and the Intelligence of the Heart with Cynthia Abulafia
In this deeply expansive and grounding conversation, I sit down with author, educator, and yoga therapist Cynthia Abulafia to explore what it truly means to come home to the heart.
Cynthia’s work bridges sacred texts, embodiment practices, and the often-overlooked wisdom of the divine feminine. Her debut book, Embodying the Goddess: How to Awaken Curiosity and Reverence on the Spiritual Path, invites us to question the ways spirituality has been shaped by separation—and to rediscover a path rooted in wholeness, curiosity, and lived experience.
Together, we explore:
What non-duality act...Widening Your Window of Tolerance: How the Nervous System Learns Safety - Solo Episode
In this solo episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I explore one of the most important concepts in nervous system healing: the window of tolerance.
I realized it's something I don't talk about enough and with so much information circulating about nervous system regulation, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed trying to figure out what actually works. I
So in this episode, I break down what we’re really talking about when we talk about “regulating the nervous system” and why the goal isn’t to stay calm all the time, but to exp...
When the Nervous System is Stuck: Neurodivergince, Chronic Illness & the Path Back to Regulation with Micah Saviet, MSW, LCSW-C, NBC-HWC
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I sit down with therapist, coach, and researcher Micah Saviet, MSW, LCSW-C, NBC-HWC to explore the powerful intersection of nervous system regulation, Neurodivergence, trauma, and chronic illness. Micah is a therapist and board-certified health and wellness coach who specializes in working with adults at the intersection of trauma, ADHD, and chronic illness. His integrative somatic approach draws from mindfulness, energy psychology, emotional freedom techniques (EFT), brainspotting, somatic experiencing, and parts work to support lasting healing and nervous system regulation.
Micah shares his personal s...
Embodiment Is Spiritual: The Story Beneath My Work
For years, I’ve spoken about spirituality, nervous system regulation, somatics, Reiki, and embodiment.
But I’ve never shared the story underneath all of it....because I didn't know it existed.
This episode is not my credentials.
It’s not my training history.
It’s the lived experience that I know understand shaped everything I do and everything I teach.
From being born four pounds, fifteen ounces…
To proprioceptive challenges and chronic clumsiness…
To finding regulation through gymnastics…
To surviving placenta accreta and three months of pain absorbing what my body refuse...
Just Because It’s Normal Doesn’t Mean It’s Natural: Ayurveda, Digestion & the Path Back to Balance
In this conversation, I sit down with therapist and Ayurvedic student Kara Mifflin to explore a powerful idea:
Just because something is common… doesn’t mean it’s natural.
So many of us accept chronic stress, fatigue, digestive issues, anxiety, and disconnection as simply “part of life.” But what if many of the symptoms we’ve normalized are actually signs of imbalance — not our natural state?
In this episode, we explore how Ayurveda, nervous system awareness, and spiritual connection can help us return to a more balanced, energized, and aligned way of living.
...Grounded Mysticism & Neuroplastic Healing: Trance, Safety, and the Nervous System with Juliana Sloane
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I am joined by Juliana Sloane, a Buddhist teacher, hypnotherapist, and depth-oriented healer who blends ancient wisdom traditions with modern neuroscience and client-centered neuroplasticity.
Together, we explore how altered states of consciousness, including hypnosis, shamanic journey work, and meditation, can support deep healing without overwhelming the nervous system. This conversation bridges spirituality, trauma-informed care, and practical nervous system regulation, offering a grounded alternative to “more intense” healing experiences.
In this episode, we explore:
Why altered states can support heal...Integrating Nervous System, Somatic & Energy Work in Therapy — A Conversation with Kanjana Hartshorne
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I sit down with fellow psychotherapist, Reiki practitioner, and holistic educator Kanjana Hartshorne for a deeply grounded and expansive conversation about what it truly means to treat the whole person in therapy.
Kanjana shares her journey from cancer care and hospice work into building a somatic- and energy-informed private practice — and eventually a growing ecosystem of trainings, retreats, and clinician support spaces. Together, we explore the gap many therapists feel between traditional clinical training and the lived practices that actually sustain us as humans and healers.
...
When Symptoms Speak: Homeopathy, Safety, and the Intelligence of the Body
In this episode of The Spiritually Curious Therapist, I’m joined by Lauren Messina, a board-certified classical homeopath whose mission is healing generations one family at a time.
Lauren shares her deeply personal journey into homeopathy, shaped by a lifetime of chronic illness, autoimmune diagnoses, and a profound desire to approach healing differently, both for herself and for her children. What unfolds is a powerful conversation about the body’s innate intelligence, the meaning behind symptoms, and how true healing happens when we stop suppressing signals and start listening.
Together, we explore how home...
Power Stories & the Medicine of Myth: Finding Soul Safety Through Storytelling with April Isaacs
In this deeply poetic conversation, I sit down with writer, photographer, and intuitive storyteller April Isaacs, creator of Power Story Tarot Readings and author of The Ecstatic Wanderer. From years spent living nomadically in her van “Firefly” to discovering myth as a mirror for the soul, April shares how story, tarot, and wilderness have become her way of helping others reclaim their personal power.
Together, Jodi and April explore:T
The difference between being “read to” and being witnessed and why the latter transforms.The origin of Power Story Readings and how mythic a...Presence Over Perfection: Remembering the Healer Within
What happens when the healer becomes the one who needs healing?
In this moving and illuminating conversation, I sit down with Amy Marohn, a spiritual hypnotherapist, channel, and former rehabilitation professional whose own “mystery illness” and near-death experience became the catalyst for her soul’s unfolding.
Amy shares how years of chronic illness, medical dismissal, and despair led her to a life-changing moment of surrender and how that surrender opened the door to spiritual guidance, intuitive awakening, and a completely new way of understanding healing.
Together we explore:
The sacred turnin...