Blood, Belly & Stars

More than you might think.

In this episode, I explore touch as a mirror for relationship—not just with our bodies and our wombs, but with ourselves, with pleasure, with boundaries, with other people, and with the way we allow ourselves to receive care.

I talk about the difference between extractive and non-extractive touch.

We are often taught to touch our bodies with an outcome in mind: to change something, fix something, get somewhere, produce pleasure, or make our bodies look different.

But what happens when touch isn’t about getting something from ourselves?

What happens when we touch simply to listen?

To feel.

To notice.

To say hello.

To be with ourselves with love and reverence.

In this episode, I explore:

* What the way you touch your body can reveal about how you value yourself

* The difference between extractive and non-extractive touch

* What happens when we touch our bodies because we’re trying to change or fix them

* How cultural messages about women’s bodies can become embedded in the way we touch ourselves

* What your relationship with self-touch might reveal about your relationship with your body

* Why the pelvis and vulva can be such powerful places to explore this

* How touch can teach us about pleasure, sensation, boundaries, and receiving

* What the way we allow others to touch us can mirror about our relationship with ourselves

* Why slowness and intention matter

* My own journey with touch, sensory sensitivity, and learning to receive touch from others

* How receiving Womb Continuum Care became part of my own relationship with my body

* Why I believe touch deserves a much more central place in conversations about embodiment and healing

* And an invitation to simply notice: How do you touch yourself?

I also share more of my own story—including a time in my life when physical touch was extremely difficult for me, and how developing a more intentional relationship with my body and receiving supportive touch from other women changed that relationship over time.

This episode is an invitation to get curious, notice, and let touch become information.

Sometimes the way we touch ourselves can tell us something our minds haven’t quite found words for yet.

A question to take with you

What would it feel like to touch your body without needing anything from it?

No fixing.

No changing.

No outcome.

Just listening.

Try that this week.

Work with me

WOMB HOMECOMING is my six-month private mentorship for women who are ready to deepen their relationship with their bodies, their souls, their wombs, their intuition, and the life they’re living.

LOVE YOUR LIPS is a four-week embodied journey into the vulva and pelvis, created to help you develop a deeper, more intimate relationship with your own body through anatomy, attention, touch, and experience.

Learn more and join the Love Your Lips waitlist.

And if something in this episode sparked a question, brought something to the surface, or made you see your own relationship with touch differently, I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Over the years I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things in healing work.

I don’t believe that my approaches in the past were wrong, just lacking as much information as I have today. After more years putting these ideas through my own life, working with other people, and paying attention to what actually creates change that can be lived and embodied, I’ve changed my mind about some things.

In this episode, I share some of the things I approach differently now than I did when I first began this work.

I talk about why I no longer use Akashic Records as a standalone healing modality, why I now begin with the body before moving into deeper spiritual or soul work, and why I’ve stopped thinking in terms of finding a single “root cause.”

I also talk about the tension between healing and the desire to understand every variable, and how I’ve learned to recognize when there may be more to explore versus when the body is telling us that something has already become integrated enough to live with.

Some of the things I explore:

• Why I believe the body needs to come first in healing work• Why I no longer think there is always one root cause underneath what we’re experiencing• Why healing doesn’t have a finish line• Why more information, readings, books, or spiritual knowledge don’t necessarily create more freedom• What I mean by the body being able to “digest” healing• Why embodiment matters more to me now than accumulating knowledge• How I think about past experiences and the stories we continue to carry from them• Why spiritual work needs to have an impact on how we actually live our lives• How my own healing philosophy and practice have changed over the years

At the heart of all of this is a question I keep coming back to:

Is the work we’re doing actually helping us become more present and more available for our lives?

For me, healing isn’t about reaching a point where nothing ever hurts, nothing ever activates us, or nothing else ever needs our attention.

It’s about developing a relationship with ourselves that allows us to meet what arises without constantly searching for the next thing that needs to be fixed.

And increasingly, that begins with the body.

I’d love to hear what lands for you.

Was there something in this episode that you strongly agree with? Something you don’t agree with? Something that made you curious or uncomfortable?

Share your reflections with me in the comments on Substack. I genuinely want to hear them. Sometimes another person’s perspective gives us access to a doorway inside ourselves that we hadn’t found yet.

Thanks for being here!

For so many women who are drawn to healing, spiritual, embodiment, and self-development work, fixing ourselves can become almost second nature.

We notice something we don’t like.

We find a pattern.

We discover a wound.

We identify something that’s “wrong.”

And then we get to work trying to change it.

I’ve lived this myself.

For years, I approached my body through the question of: How do I fix this?

How do I fix my illness?Why is my body reacting this way?What treatment, modality, herb, practitioner, or piece of information am I missing?

Over time, I began to discover a different question:

What if I stopped trying to fix my body and learned how to relate to it instead?

This question shifted the way I understand my body, my soul, my womb, and my healing.

When we come into relationship with ourselves, things that genuinely need attention, healing, renegotiation, or change can still arise, but fixing them is no longer the reason we’re relating to ourselves.

Relationship comes first.

In this episode, I explore what it means to stop making self-improvement the driving force behind healing and begin listening to ourselves instead.

I share parts of my own experience with chronic illness, trauma, my relationship with my body, and the evolution of my work from trying to fix myself toward learning how to listen, relate, and create space for more of myself to come into my body.

I also explore:

* Why women who are deeply committed to healing can become especially good at trying to fix themselves

* The difference between understanding your body or soul because you’re fascinated by it and trying to understand it so you can fix it

* What changed for me when I stopped approaching my body and soul as a problem to solve

* How learning to relate to the body and soul can create space for healing to happen without making healing the primary goal

* Why “the fixer” can become an identity of its own

* What happens when we stop imposing our will on the body and soul and begin listening to what they are asking for

* Why you don’t have to love your body perfectly before you can experience pleasure, joy, and connection within it

* The relationship between discomfort, shame, pleasure, and embodied connection

* Why my work has increasingly moved toward body-based practices like Womb Continuum Care

* How I came to understand body and soul work as deeply connected

* The difference between trying to fix yourself and learning how to relate to yourself differently

Ultimately, I’m not suggesting that nothing ever needs to change.

Some things do need our attention.

Some patterns need to be renegotiated.Some wounds need care.Some behaviors need to change.

But what if those changes don’t have to come from the belief that something is wrong with you?

What if healing can happen as a byproduct of learning how to listen?

What if you don’t need to fix yourself anymore?

What if you could learn to be in relationship with yourself and live?

Work With Me

If you’re ready to explore this work with support, there are currently two main ways to work with me:

WOMB HOMECOMINGA six-month private mentorship for women who want to develop a deeper relationship with their body, soul, womb, intuition, and whole self.

[EXPLORE WOMB HOMECOMING →]

LOVE YOUR LIPSA four-week embodied journey into deeper relationship with your vulva and pelvis through anatomy, self-touch, and learning to tend to your own tissues.

The next round begins in October. Join the waitlist here:

[JOIN THE LOVE YOUR LIPS WAITLIST →]

And if something in this episode stirred something for you, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below and tell me what you’re noticing, questioning, agreeing with, or seeing differently.

We are all mirrors for each other, and I believe these conversations can open doorways into deeper relationship with ourselves.

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

EDIT: This post was scheduled to be released October 1st. Somehow technology did what it likes to do sometimes and it got sent out early. In the reading, I mention that as of the time when you’ll hear this, the full moon in Aries will have already happened. Because of the scheduling snafu, that’s not true! The full moon has not happened yet as of the actual publishing date of this reading.

What is October asking you to do?

In this month-ahead reading, I explore the energetic themes of October 2026 through the astrology, two animal guides, and two runes.

This month brings a conversation about strategy, fear, and action.

Opossum reminds us that not every situation requires us to fight. Sometimes protection looks like strategy, adaptation, and knowing when not to reveal everything.

Rabbit asks us to notice where fear and worry may be keeping us stuck.

And Inguz + Kenaz bring a message of action and illumination: there is movement available to you this month, but you don’t have to take every action. You can choose the right one.

What is October asking you to move toward—and what fear might be asking you to meet along the way?

Listen in and see what resonates.

Want support working with what comes up?

If this month’s themes bring something alive for you and you’d like a place to explore it more deeply:

LISTENING SESSION — Bring what’s alive. We’ll slow down, listen beneath the surface, and explore what may be asking for your attention.

WOMB HOMECOMING — A six-month private mentorship for women ready to deepen their relationship with their bodies, souls, wombs, intuition, and the life they’re living.

LOVE YOUR LIPS — A four-week embodied journey into your vulva and pelvis through anatomy, touch, attention, and experience.

Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

We often assume that deeper healing means better healing.

We want to get to the root. Find the lost piece. Have the breakthrough. Do the deeper journey.

But there’s a beautiful perspective I want to share with you today, about how healing work unfolds in layers. In this chat, I share how I approach healing in layers through the metaphorical lens of hands-on womb work and shamanic soul work.

At the core of this perspective is this: The deeper work can only land when the layers underneath it have been met first.

In this episode, I explore the beautiful parallel between working with the physical body and working with the soul.

In womb care, we begin with scar tissue and adhesions before moving into fascia, deeper organ work, and uterine alignment. The most superficial layer isn’t less important simply because it’s closer to the surface. In fact, working with the superficial layers is what makes deeper work possible.

I see the same principle in soul and nervous system work.

Before we reach for deep healing experiences, we first need to learn how to be in our bodies. We must learn how to ground, listen, and begin to build a relationship with ourselves.

This teaches us that the work isn’t always about going deeper. It’s about meeting what is present, and deepening only as the body and soul are ready for it.

In this episode, I talk about:

* Why “deeper” isn’t the same thing as more effective

* What scar tissue and fascial work can teach us about healing

* The relationship between grounding, embodiment, and deeper soul work

* Why I don’t believe in forcing a client into the deepest layer of healing

* How foundational work creates the conditions for deeper change to actually integrate

* Why the more subtle layers of healing deserve just as much attention as the dramatic ones

* What happens when we slow down enough to listen for what is actually asking to be met

We don’t need to always go deeper and uncover something new in healing work.

We need to build a relationship with ourselves that allows us to meet what is present, and let the next layer reveal itself when it’s ready.

Work With Me

If something in this episode is resonating, below you will find the different ways you can work with me right now. If you have questions or want guidance about which container is right for you, my email is below and you can reach out.

PRIVATE LISTENING SESSIONBring the thread, question, pattern, or experience that’s alive for you right now. We’ll slow down, listen together, and explore what wants your attention.90 minutes · $200[BOOK A LISTENING SESSION →]

RETURNA four-session container for when you want more space to explore what’s unfolding and be supported as you return to deeper relationship with yourself.4 sessions · $777[EXPLORE RETURN →]

WOMB HOMECOMINGA six-month private mentorship for women ready for a deeper, sustained journey of transforming their relationship with their bodies, souls, and lives, including a required in-person immersion.6 months · $5,500[LEARN ABOUT WOMB HOMECOMING →]

Not sure where to start?You don’t have to figure that out first. Reach out and we can find the doorway that makes sense for where you are.Email me: [email protected]

What happens when something you’ve been doing for years no longer feels sustainable?

In this episode, I’m sharing an update on the future of my week-ahead readings—and the deeper personal lesson underneath that change: learning to recognize when service becomes overgiving, and when giving needs to be balanced with receiving.

With the Virgo New Moon falling directly on my natal Sun, I’m reflecting on what we’re still carrying that we may be ready to put down: old identities, expectations, patterns, and ways of being that no longer belong in the next chapter.

I also share the energetic themes for the rest of September through Inguz and Otter: movement and momentum alongside receptivity, play, and feminine energy.

The deeper invitation for this month is simple:

You don’t have to embody it perfectly. Keep practicing.

And if you’re moving through a major threshold or initiation and know you don’t want to walk it alone, I also share about my new six-month private mentorship, Womb Homecoming.

If you’ve been following the weekly readings, I’d love to hear what you’d like these offerings to become as I move forward. You can reach me at [email protected] if you’d like to share your thoughts or reach out privately.

In this episode:

* Overgiving, service & receiving

* The Virgo New Moon & putting down what we no longer need

* Inguz: movement and forward momentum

* Otter: receptivity and feminine energy

* Why embodiment takes years

* An update on the future of the weekly readings

* Womb Homecoming: six-month private mentorship

We’re coming to the end of eclipse season and moving into a time of integration, rooting, and beginning to build whatever the eclipses have brought forward.

This week, Wunjo reversed asks us to look at identity: What version of yourself no longer fits? What are you ready to release so you can become more fully who you are now?

Ehwaz brings the medicine of partnership, collaboration, and connection, while Sowelo, the Sun, brings illumination and blessings. Together, these runes suggest that letting go of an outdated identity may create space for deeper connection and collaboration—and that there are blessings available through the people and relationships you nurture this week.

Our animal medicine, Hawk, asks us to observe. Zoom out. Pay attention to the signals and messages life is offering you, but be careful not to let emotion, ego, or your own desires distort what you’re perceiving.

This is a week to listen, stay curious, remain grounded, and allow the bigger picture to reveal itself.

In this episode:

* Moving out of eclipse season and into integration

* The September 10 Virgo New Moon and the end of eclipse season

* Wunjo reversed and releasing an identity that no longer fits

* Ehwaz and the importance of partnership and collaboration

* Sowelo and the illumination and blessings available this week

* Hawk medicine and the power of observation

* Learning to zoom out and see the bigger picture

Reflection for the week:What identity are you ready to release? Where could deeper collaboration support what you’re building? Can you slow down enough to observe what life is actually showing you without needing to immediately interpret or control it?

If Hawk appears in your physical world this week, take a moment to stop and watch. Notice what you perceive when you simply allow yourself to observe.

Subscribe and follow along for the Week Ahead readings, and share this episode with someone who might benefit from it.

Resources:

Elemental Embodiment Journey

This self-guided, seven-module course weaves together embodiment practices, guided journeys, and shamanic teachings to help you experience the spiritual and grounded wisdom of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air within your own body. It’s an invitation to come home to yourself through direct experience.

The course is available for $27 and includes lifetime access, allowing you to return to the practices whenever you need grounding, clarity, or reconnection.

https://shannon-amrein.thinkific.com/courses/take/elemental-embodiment-journey-2026

If you’re feeling called into deeper feminine embodiment work: Make sure you’re on the waitlist for the next round of Love Your Lips!

The eclipses are over, and we’re entering a quieter week of integration.

After the intensity, confrontation, and transformation of the past few weeks, Turtle and Thurizaz bring a different kind of medicine: slow down, ground, protect your peace, and give what has been stirred up time to settle.

This week asks us to consider how we defend ourselves and our energy. Are you protecting yourself when you need to, or are you over-defending? Are you allowing yourself to be vulnerable when it’s appropriate, or do you need to strengthen your boundaries?

Turtle also reminds us that we don’t need to rush what is growing. What has been planted during eclipse season needs time to take root.

In this episode:

* The first week after the August eclipses

* Moving from intensity into integration

* Thurizaz and the medicine of defense

* Turtle as a symbol of protection, grounding, and Mother Earth

* Defending your peace without living in a constant state of defense

* Slowing down and allowing things to develop in their own time

* Moving out of your mind and back into your body

* Connecting with Earth and practicing reciprocity

* Giving what eclipse season has planted space to grow

Reflection for the week:Where do you need to protect your peace? Where might you be moving too quickly? What would happen if you slowed down enough to listen to what your body, the Earth, and this new reality are asking of you?

If you’re looking for support with grounding and embodiment, The Elemental Embodiment Journey is available as a self-guided course.

The course is available for $27 and includes lifetime access, allowing you to return to the practices whenever you need grounding, clarity, or reconnection.

You can find the link below.

https://shannon-amrein.thinkific.com/courses/take/elemental-embodiment-journey-2026

Subscribe and follow along on Substack to receive the Week Ahead readings each Monday morning, and share this reading with someone who might benefit from it.

We’re entering the final eclipse in the Pisces-Virgo eclipse series that began in September 2024. This week invites us to look back at what has been refined, released, and reshaped over the past two years—and to become honest about what still needs to change.

With Crow reversed and Wild Boar, the message is powerful: Where are you lying to yourself? Where are you avoiding what you know is true? And where are you allowing fear, old beliefs, or past patterns to keep you from moving forward?

This is a week of confrontation—but not confrontation for the sake of conflict. It’s about confronting the parts of ourselves that keep us small or stuck, reclaiming our courage, and taking responsibility for what we are creating.

As we meet this final Pisces eclipse, we’re being asked to consider what we’re dreaming, what we’re avoiding, and whether the way we’re showing up to our lives is actually supporting the reality we want to create.

In this episode:

* The final Pisces eclipse and the closing of a two-year eclipse cycle

* What the past two years have refined or reshaped in your life

* Crow reversed and the invitation to stop lying to yourself

* Wild Boar returning with the medicine of confrontation

* Confronting fear, old beliefs, and the patterns that keep you stuck

* Radical self-responsibility and the paradox of being both creator and participant in your life

* Dreaming bigger and moving beyond Pisces’ tendencies toward avoidance and illusion

* Allowing energy to release where something needs to implode

* How to meet this final eclipse with honesty, courage, and openness

Reflections for the week:

* Where are you lying to yourself?

* What are you avoiding confronting?

* What might become possible if you stopped holding yourself back?

Subscribe and follow along on Substack if these readings are supportive to you, and share what this eclipse brings up for you in the comments.

Resources:

Elemental Embodiment Journey

This self-guided, seven-module course weaves together embodiment practices, guided journeys, and shamanic teachings to help you experience the spiritual and grounded wisdom of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air within your own body. It’s an invitation to come home to yourself through direct experience.

The course is available for $27 and includes lifetime access, allowing you to return to the practices whenever you need grounding, clarity, or reconnection.

You can find the link below.

https://shannon-amrein.thinkific.com/courses/take/elemental-embodiment-journey-2026

If you’re feeling called into deeper feminine, pelvic embodiment work: Make sure you’re on the waitlist for the next round of Love Your Lips!

We’re in the powerful space between eclipses—a time of transition and movement from one reality into the next.

This week, Wild Boar brings medicine around confronting what you’ve been avoiding, reclaiming your courage, and being willing to face the parts of yourself or your life that are asking for your attention.

The runes Gebo, Hagalaz, and Ansuz speak to commitment, the storm of transformation, and reconnecting with intuition, knowledge, and inner wisdom.

This is not a week to check out. It’s a week to be present, meet what’s changing, and find the courage to face it—even if you’re afraid.

In this episode:

* The energy of the week between eclipses

* What the Leo solar eclipse may have illuminated

* Wild Boar and the medicine of confrontation

* Commitment and promise through Gebo

* Hagalaz and the storm of transformation

* Listening to your intuition and inner wisdom through Ansuz

* Finding the courage to confront what you’ve been avoiding

Resources:

Elemental Embodiment Journey

If you’re feeling called to deepen your relationship with your body and strengthen your connection to your intuition, the Elemental Embodiment Journey is a beautiful place to begin.

This self-guided, seven-module course weaves together embodiment practices, guided journeys, and shamanic teachings to help you experience the spiritual and grounded wisdom of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air within your own body. It’s an invitation to come home to yourself through direct experience.

The course is available for $27 and includes lifetime access, allowing you to return to the practices whenever you need grounding, clarity, or reconnection.

You can find the link below.

https://shannon-amrein.thinkific.com/courses/take/elemental-embodiment-journey-2026

If you’re feeling called into deeper feminine, pelvic embodiment work: Make sure you’re on the waitlist for the next round of Love Your Lips!

Thank you for being here. If these weekly readings support your journey, I’d love for you to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.