The Spiritual Parent: Mindful Tools for Raising Spiritual and Conscious Kids

Don't you just love watching your four-year-old walk out in a bucket hat, rain boots, and a tutu like they're the most glamorous person on earth? No worries about what anyone else thinks. 💚 Wouldn't it be amazing if we could live from our hearts like that now, as parents?

In this episode, we're continuing our chakra series with the heart chakra, our fourth chakra, all about relationships, self-love, and receiving love. And something came to me that blew my mind: if we don't love ourselves, we can't receive love.

We talk about:
✨ Shedding the layer...

This guided meditation is the companion to episode 115, Releasing Control as Our Kids Grow. 💛

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 
https://thespiritualparentpodcast.com/episode-116-guided-meditation-release-control-self-love/

When our kids grow and start reaching for more independence, that need to hold the reins can grip us right in the solar plexus. In this meditation, we ground in, let love rain down from a big cloud, and float above our homes and communities as a butterfly. We release any feelings of control and fill our solar plexus and he...

As our kids grow, they start reaching for more. Screens, friends, independence. Every week there’s something new, and if you’re like me, mama starts getting a little queasy! 

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 

https://thespiritualparentpodcast.com/episode-115-letting-go-of-control-solar-plexus-chakra/

This week we’re continuing our chakra series with the solar plexus, your third chakra and the center of your personal power. We look at what happens when we grip the reins too tight, and what opens up when we pause, tune in, and le...

This is a guided meditation episode, you guys! Grab a cozy spot, put your feet flat on the floor, and get ready to breathe with me. (Please don’t listen while you’re driving.)

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 

https://hearttoheartlife.com/episode-114-guided-meditation-calm-big-emotions-inner-child/

This meditation goes hand in hand with Thursday’s Episode 113, Your Kids Meet You at Your Frequency. In that one we talked about conditioning, the FM dial, and the sacral chakra. If you haven’t heard it yet, start there...

If I could ask my grandma anything, I'd ask her what to do with kids like mine. She was a special ed teacher until she was 72, the one schools sent kids to when nobody else knew how to help. When I call on her now, she just giggles and says, "Carrie, you have the keys inside of you."

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 

https://hearttoheartlife.com/episode-113-your-kids-meet-you-at-your-frequency/

In this episode we're turning up the FM dial. I share the radio message my...

"What is this growth period stuff you keep talking about? And how do we make it stop?" That's what my husband asked me this week, and ooh, you guys, I bet you've wondered the same thing.

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 

https://hearttoheartlife.com/episode-112-when-will-this-growth-period-end/

Growth periods are those seasons when everything seems to go wrong at once. Maybe you feel voiceless at work, you're advocating for your kids at school, or your friendships are shifting. They're heavy, and they're hard. But...

Heal your inner child and release the resistance that bubbles up when our kids receive a label or we realize they're highly sensitive. This guided meditation goes with last Thursday's episode on the grief, resistance, and big emotions that bubble up when our kids receive a label, or when we realize they're highly sensitive.

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 

https://hearttoheartlife.com/episode-111-guided-meditation-release-resistance-to-labels/

Sometimes what comes up in our parenting isn't only about our children. It touches the little version of us...

When my kids received their labels, it took me two solid weeks of crying to process it — while my husband moved on almost instantly. Whether it’s an official diagnosis or simply realizing “my child is highly sensitive,” this episode is about the grief that can come with naming what’s different, even when the label may help us understand and support our children.

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 

https://hearttoheartlife.com/episode-110-diagnosis-highly-sensitive-grief/

I share what resistance can feel like in the body, why...

Join us for a gentle guided meditation for kids featuring a mama kangaroo and her joey—and a beautiful reminder that we are born with many of the tools we need for this lifetime already within us.

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 

https://hearttoheartlife.com/episode-109-bedtime-meditation-for-sensitive-kids/

In this short meditation, children are invited to settle their bodies, clear their energy, ground themselves, and connect with their own inner wisdom. Through the story of the kangaroo and her joey, we explore the idea...

In this episode of The Spiritual Parent, we’re talking about energy, sensitive children, and how kids can learn to recognize when they’re absorbing the emotions and energy of the people around them. I share simple spiritual tools for children—including white and gold light, grounding roots, energy clearing, and a nightly clearing practice—to help sensitive and intuitive kids stay connected to themselves.

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website:

https://hearttoheartlife.com/episode-108-protect-your-sensitive-childs-energy/

We’ll explore why some children may feel other p...

What if there is a reason you were chosen to parent your child?

In this episode of The Spiritual Parent, we go deeper into spiritual parenting, exploring the idea that our children may come into our lives for a reason—and that our own life experiences may have prepared us to understand the unique children we are raising.

Read the show notes, try this week’s practice, and find more episodes on my website: 

https://hearttoheartlife.com/episode-107-why-you-were-chosen-to-parent-your-child/

If you are parenting a sensitive, intuitive, gifted, intense, or neurodivergent child, you m...

What if that feeling in your body isn't anxiety… what if it's intuition?

In this episode of The Spiritual Parent, Carrie explores the powerful connection between parenting intuition, inner knowing, spirituality, and listening to your body. As parents, we often question ourselves: Am I overthinking this? Am I anxious? Or is my intuition trying to tell me something?

Carrie shares real-life stories from parenting her neurodiverse children and explores how intuition can show up through feelings, thoughts, body sensations, inner knowing, and those little moments when something simply feels “off.”

You'll hear about trusti...

In this episode of The Spiritual Parent, Carrie explores what happens when we stop trying to be the “perfect” parent and begin reconnecting with our true selves.

Through her message of “unleashing the frock,” Carrie talks about releasing the expectations, conditioning, and energy we carry as parents—and how that can change the way we show up for our children.

When our kids are overwhelmed, highly sensitive, emotional, or dysregulated, it’s easy to become activated right alongside them. But instead of trying to fix or control our child’s emotions, what if we grounded ourselves firs...

Uncover the hidden dynamics of parenting with me, Carrie, and my guest Catherine DeMonte, a seasoned marriage family child therapist. Together, we venture into the world of shadow work, revealing how childhood labels like "too sensitive" can affect your adult interactions with your children. Drawing on insights from thought leaders like Brené Brown, we promise to illuminate the path to nurturing the full spectrum of emotions in your children. By understanding these profound connections, you'll gain the tools to transform your parenting journey into one filled with healing and growth.

Explore the spiritual dimensions of parenting as w...

Tired of the constant battles over school? If you're practicing conscious parenting or mindful parenting with a highly sensitive child or neurodiverse kid, you know the traditional classroom isn't built for them.

This episode gives neurodiverse parenting a practical roadmap! Educational expert DJ Stutz shares proven strategies to shift from fighting the school system to partnering with it.

The Main Takeaway: You don't need a school change or a massive time commitment to create success. By adopting a partner mindset and providing the right sensory tools, you empower your child to regulate and thrive.

Have your kids felt extra emotional, dysregulated, or “amped up” lately—and nothing you try seems to help?

In this episode of The Spiritual Parent, Rev. Carrie Lingenfelter shares a real-time parenting experience during a powerful super moon, when big emotions surfaced in her highly sensitive, intuitive children—and in herself. What looked like meltdowns on the surface revealed something deeper: unhealed fear, old conditioning, and a mirrored invitation for growth.

Carrie explores how moon energy, end-of-year transitions, and heightened sensitivity can impact highly sensitive kids, neurodivergent children, and spiritually aware families. She unpacks why full moo...

What if your home could actually regulate your nervous system?

In this eye-opening conversation, Carrie Lingenfelter sits down with Stephanie Lee Jackson, founder of Practical Sanctuary and creator of the emerging field of Sensory Interior Design. Stephanie shares how she integrates art, neuroscience, and healing to design spaces that support highly sensitive and neurodiverse families.

They explore how clutter affects the brain, why having “a place for everything” helps kids with ADHD, and how your home can become a sanctuary that meets everyone’s sensory and emotional needs—including parents!

Topics covered:

In this inspiring episode of The Spiritual Parent podcast, host Carrie Lingenfelter sits down with Valerie Probstfeld to explore what it really means to release perfectionism and live as your authentic self in motherhood. Valerie shares her powerful journey from shame and overwhelm to discovering the healing power of inner child work, mindful play, and authentic connection.

Together, they unpack:

In this powerful episode of The Spiritual Parent Podcast, host Carrie Lingenfelter sits down with licensed clinical therapist Vickie Victorenko to explore the unspoken transformation every mother goes through: matrescence. Vickie explains how motherhood is not just about caring for a baby but about a profound identity shift—emotionally, physically, hormonally, and spiritually.

Together, Carrie and Vickie unpack the pressures modern moms face, the myth of “bouncing back,” and why it’s essential to normalize asking for help. They also share stories about preparing for the fourth trimester, managing overwhelm, building support systems, and breaking generational patterns of burno...

In this heart-centered episode, Carrie Lingenfelter sits down with intuitive animal communicator Melissa Corrion for a powerful conversation on the spiritual connection between animals and neurodivergent children. They explore how pets serve as grounding companions, emotional mirrors, and even spirit guides for highly sensitive or gifted kids.

Melissa shares touching stories from her animal communication sessions, emphasizing how soul contracts, energy healing, and even animal spirits can support children (and adults) through emotional challenges.

Together, they discuss the healing power of nature, the Schumann Resonance, and how animals teach us to live in the present...

In this powerful episode of The Spiritual Parent, host Carrie Lingenfelter sits down with Emma Smallbone to explore the deep intersections of integration, autism, emotional regulation, parenting, and self-discovery. Emma vulnerably shares her late-in-life autism diagnosis, the disruptive yet healing journey of truly understanding herself, and how body awareness can unlock both emotional regulation and spiritual connection.

Together, Carrie and Emma dive into how parents must model emotional regulation to support their children, the role of trauma stored in the body, and the healing gifts of nature, frequency, and collective consciousness. Whether you’re navigating neurodiversity in yo...

Have you ever wondered how to raise highly sensitive, empathic, or neurodiverse kids in a way that truly honors their spirit? In this heartfelt episode of The Spiritual Parent, I sit down with fellow speech therapist and healer Jen McNerney to explore the powerful intersection of speech therapy, energy healing, and conscious parenting.

Jen shares her inspiring journey from early intervention speech therapy to building a healing practice rooted in muscle testing, tuning forks, Qigong, neuroemotional technique, and myofascial release. Together, we dive deep into the ways children naturally connect with energy, frequency, and authenticity—and how pa...

The first day of school isn’t just a milestone for our kids—it’s a deep emotional moment for us as parents. The mix of excitement, pride, sadness, and worry can feel overwhelming. In this heartfelt and honest episode of The Spiritual Parent, Carrie Lingenfelter shares the raw, real journey of releasing control and trusting her children to grow into their own strength.

Carrie opens up about her personal struggle with control—how it first showed up in motherhood and how it resurfaced recently with her 10-year-old son. What started as a “gluten experiment” turned into a profound l...

What if your child's sensitivity isn't a weakness, but their greatest strength? 

As a speech therapist and parent of neurodiverse children, I've learned to navigate this delicate balance: acknowledging challenges while celebrating the extraordinary gifts that come with neurodiversity. While much attention focuses on moderate autism or nonverbal children, those who are highly sensitive, gifted, or have ADHD also arrive with remarkable abilities that deserve recognition.

These children process information deeply, notice what others miss, and often possess an innate spiritual awareness that manifests in profound questions like my seven-year-old asking, "Do dogs think about t...

Kara Anaya, Children's Advocate and Druidic Shaman, takes us on a transformative journey exploring the delicate dance between ego and echo in our psyches. She reveals how these seemingly opposing forces can be paired to create internal harmony rather than conflict. "When I go too high, echo brings me back. When I go too low, ego lifts me up," she explains, offering a practical framework for self-regulation that parents can both use and teach.

The conversation shifts to a revolutionary perspective on raising today's unique children. Kara challenges conventional thinking about neurodiversity, suggesting that nonverbal children aren't...

What if being fully present with your child is more powerful than all the parenting advice in the world? In this deeply insightful conversation, Carrie welcomes Lindsay Miller, mindfulness kids coach and host of the Stress Nanny podcast, who shares transformative tools for mindful parenting.

Lindsay introduces us to the powerful "benches in a park" metaphor, explaining how throughout life we need to learn to sit on all emotional benches—whether they represent joy, fear, anger, or grief. As parents, our natural instinct might be to pull our children away from uncomfortable emotional experiences, but the greatest gi...

Does your child ever feel overwhelmed by big emotions or energy they don’t quite understand? Whether your little one is highly sensitive, anxious, or simply in need of a reset, this peaceful guided meditation was created just for them.

In this special episode of The Spiritual Parent, Carrie leads children on a soothing ocean journey to meet a magical sea turtle—a gentle guide who offers wisdom, calm, and connection. Through breathwork, grounding visualizations, and heart-centered affirmations, kids learn how to release heavy feelings and reconnect with their inner peace.

“Sometimes the road feels bumpy…...

Ever been told you're "too sensitive" or wondered why parenting feels so overwhelming? You might be among the 20-30% of people born with the highly sensitive person (HSP) trait. In this illuminating conversation with Lisa Lewis, licensed therapist and holistic practitioner, we unpack what it means to parent as an HSP—and possibly raise HSP children.

Lisa introduces us to Dr. Elaine Aaron's DOES framework, which helps explain why highly sensitive people process deeply, become easily overstimulated, demonstrate strong empathy, and notice subtleties others miss. We explore how these traits shape our parenting approach, often leading to pe...

Have you ever noticed your child suddenly reflecting emotions you've been quietly harboring? There's a profound energetic connection between parents and children that goes beyond words—one that can teach us as much as we teach them.

In this eye-opening episode, I share a recent experience with my son who expressed heartache about attending a concert because he missed his old friends. This moment revealed the fascinating way children can sometimes mirror our unspoken feelings, while other times they're processing their own authentic emotions. The challenge for spiritual parents lies in helping our children discern between the tw...

Have you ever stopped to consider how energy flows through your family? Not just the buzzing activity of daily life, but the actual spiritual energy that connects you, your children, and everything around you?

Energy awareness forms the foundation of conscious parenting, yet many of us overlook this powerful concept when raising our children. I share my journey rediscovering energy principles I learned as a child and how teaching these concepts to my own kids has transformed our family dynamics. For highly sensitive or empathic children especially, understanding energy flow is crucial to their wellbeing.

...

Have you ever tried everything to solve a persistent family issue—therapy, specialists, countless books—only to find yourself still struggling? What if the root cause isn't in your parenting approach or your child's behavior, but in patterns inherited from generations past?

Family Systemic Constellations offers a profound perspective: many of our challenges stem from moments when love was interrupted in our family lineage. When traumatic events weren't properly processed by our ancestors—wars, migrations, losses, abandonments—someone down the line often unconsciously "takes on" this unresolved energy. This explains why we sometimes develop patterns that therapy can't fu...

Are our kids here to heal us? Renee Boos of the Neurodiverse Community Center joins Carrie to share her incredible journey of raising a demand avoidant, highly intuitive son—and how his sensitivities became a gateway to both of their healing.

Renee shares her transformative journey as a parent of a demand avoidant child who taught her that everything she once viewed as "wrong" could actually be reframed as perfectly right. With raw honesty, she describes how her son's wisdom—expressed remarkably early—led her to question deeply held beliefs about normalcy, success, and what truly matters. "My son...

Have you ever wondered why your child's emotional outbursts seem to come out of nowhere? The answer might be closer to home than you think. In this deeply reflective episode, I share a powerful personal story about the hidden connection between my son's unexpected meltdown and my own unacknowledged emotional turmoil.

When my child erupted in the car after school, something profound was happening beneath the surface. By pausing, grounding myself, and listening not just to his words but to the energy between us, I discovered that his behavior was actually mirroring what I needed to heal...

Parenting sensitive children demands more than just conventional approaches. After nearly exhausting every traditional therapy option for my kids who hold it together in public but release their emotions at home, I discovered a powerful truth: the spiritual dimension of parenting transformed our family dynamics in ways no cognitive behavioral therapy or occupational therapy ever could.

This revelation marks an important evolution in my parenting journey and this podcast. What began as Heart to Heart Parents is now becoming The Spiritual Parent—reflecting the spiritual undercurrent that has naturally emerged as the most effective approach for my fa...

What if your child's greatest challenges are actually their most profound spiritual gifts? 

Every parent has felt that moment of worry when comparing their child to others or receiving a discouraging evaluation from a teacher or therapist. We're conditioned to focus on what our children lack rather than the extraordinary qualities they bring. But what if there's a profound spiritual purpose behind your child's unique traits and challenges?

Akashic Records reader and energy coach Kanika Vasudeva transforms our understanding of neurodiversity and sensitivity in children by revealing the deeper spiritual framework at play. Each child a...

What if your child's challenging behavior isn't a problem, but a message about your own energy? Kevin Young, intuitive coach and healing facilitator, reveals how our most sensitive children are actually mirrors reflecting our own emotional state.

When children act out—whether through tantrums, meltdowns, or defiance—they're often responding to energetic imbalances in their environment. Drawing from his work with telepathy and consciousness, Kevin explains how children naturally operate at higher frequencies and struggle when pulled down into lower vibrational states of fear, worry, or stress. Rather than trying to "fix" these children, we need to unde...

Spiritual parenting transcends traditional approaches by recognizing the profound energetic connection between parent and child. This episode dives deep into how our energy directly influences our children's behavior—illustrated through a tooth-brushing standoff where parental frustration was perfectly mirrored by the child, creating a cycle that only broke when calm energy entered the equation.

I share my journey of discovering how mindfulness practices, peaceful parenting techniques, and energy work combine to create a foundation for raising conscious, emotionally intelligent children. We explore the difference between guided and unguided meditation, encouraging parents to try sitting with their thoughts in...

Parenting from a place of spiritual awareness brings unique challenges and profound opportunities. In this illuminating conversation with author and energy healer Kara Goodwin, we explore the delicate dance of nurturing both our children's spirits and our own.

Kara's spiritual journey began through tragedy - the sudden loss of her sister-in-law followed by multiple family health crises within weeks. Living abroad with young children during this tumultuous time, she discovered meditation as her lifeline. What starts as a deeply personal story opens into universal wisdom about the pitfalls of forcing spiritual practices on our children.

...

Discover the gentle power of mindfulness for your butterfly-minded children with mindfulness expert Natasha Iregbu, founder of Butterfly Minds. Unlike the often-referenced "monkey mind," Natasha's butterfly metaphor beautifully captures both the fluttering thoughts and the potential for transformation that mindfulness offers our kids.

This episode delivers practical, accessible techniques specifically designed for children's developing minds. Learn hand breathing exercises that provide visual and tactile grounding, discover how to teach diaphragmic breathing in child-friendly ways, and explore mindfulness activities that don't require sitting still – perfect for your active little ones. 

Beyond techniques, Natasha shares profound insights abo...

The journey of motherhood often awakens dormant spiritual gifts and sensitivities that transform how we parent. Maria Adlam, host of the Soulful Mamas podcast, shares her remarkable evolution from seeing unexplained lights as a child to becoming a Reiki practitioner after her children's health challenges guided her toward energy healing.

Maria introduces us to the powerful concept of the "sacred pause" – a simple breath practice that helps parents respond from heartfelt presence rather than reactive thinking. This pause creates space for intuition to emerge before we interact with our children during challenging moments. The seemingly simple act of...