Breaking Free - A Body, Mind, Spirit Approach to Mental Health

What does it take to build a spiritual community where everyone feels safe, seen, and supported?

In this thoughtful and tender conversation, Sommer Seitz and Pastor Ric Shewell reflect on the shifting landscape of spiritual community in a post-pandemic world. As many people reevaluate their relationship with organized religion, this episode offers a compassionate exploration of what it means to belong, to question, and to be held in unconditional community.

Sommer shares deeply personal stories of faith, healing, and growth—touching on moments of disconnection, family conflict, and the quiet courage it takes to seek spiritual authenticity. Pastor Ric offers insight into his ministry at Faith United Methodist Church, where open communion and radical welcome are central to his practice. Together, they speak to the power of creating spaces where people feel safe to explore their beliefs, express their doubts, and experience grace without prerequisites.

This episode invites listeners to consider what it means to belong, to question without fear, and to build communities rooted in grace, inclusion, and love.

Learn More
To explore Faith United Methodist Church and its inclusive practices, visit their website or connect via social media.

Website: https://www.faithunited.org/

Facebook: @pastor.ric.shewell 
Instagram: Pastor Ric Shewell

In this episode of Breaking Free – A Body, Mind, Spirit Approach to Mental Health, host Sommer Seitz welcomes Andrew Zorich, an integrative psychotherapist, international trainer, and author of Contemplative Somatics: Body-Based Meditations for Healing Trauma Gently. Based in Seattle, Andrew draws on nearly two decades of experience in the healing arts, blending trauma therapy, somatic psychology, and global contemplative traditions.

Andrew shares insights from his experience in massage therapy, bodywork, and contemplative practice, offering a grounded perspective on how traditional therapy can overlook the body’s wisdom. He and Sommer discuss how trauma is held in the nervous system and how internal safety becomes the foundation for deep, sustainable healing.

Listeners are introduced to contemplative somatics—a gentle practice blending meditation and body-based awareness. Sommer reflects on how this approach supports nervous system regulation, emotional connection, and self-compassion, while also touching on Eco-somatics, the healing power of nature, and creativity as a doorway to integration.

This heart-centered conversation offers both inspiration and practical tools for anyone on a path of embodied healing.

Connect with Andrew Zorich:
📘 Contemplative Somatics: Body-Based Meditations for Healing Trauma Gently
🌐 Website: www.premabodymind.com
📸 Instagram: @prema.body.mind.therapy
💼 LinkedIn: Andrew Zorich

Connect with Sommer Seitz:
🌐 Website: www.sommercounseling.com
📸 Instagram: @holistic.trauma.specialist
Sommer is a licensed mental health counselor in Washington with 18 years of experience and a certified life coach.

If this conversation resonates with you, share it with someone on their healing journey—and don’t forget to follow Sommer for more insights on body, mind, and spirit integration.

Episode 54: Embodying Your Desire Part II

Welcome back to the Breaking Free Podcast, where we continue our journey of profound self-discovery through a Body, Mind, Spirit Approach to Mental Health. This week, your host Sommer Seitz is joined once again by the insightful intimacy and relationship coach, Naomi Slater.

Naomi Slater is an experienced Intimacy & Relationship coach, yoga teacher, and bio-energy therapist. She works with a unique blend of Tantric and Tao practices, combined with modern psychoanalytic tools, to help clients awaken their desire, heal relationships, and reclaim their power, pleasure, and passion. She's also the creator of the 'Awaken Your Desire' online course and works privately with couples online.

We're diving deeper into the vital education and tools that are often missing from conversations around desire and relationship building, especially when it comes to human sexuality.

In this candid discussion, Sommer and Naomi explore how societal shame, religious conditioning, and upbringing can create significant blockages to authentic sexual expression. They highlight that while curiosity about sex is a natural human drive, many traditional sources of "education," like some forms of media and pornography, offer misleading and often harmful portrayals. Our conversation emphasizes the importance of fostering healthy, consensual relationships and introduces powerful, practical tools like Imago Dialogue – a form of emotions-based communication that fosters deeper emotional awareness and connection – and the "wheel of consent" for cultivating truly fulfilling sexual experiences.

Tune in to discover how you can:

• Identify, value, and communicate your emotions more effectively.
• Understand the nuances of authentic consent in all intimate interactions.
• Release shame and wholeheartedly embrace your natural desires.
• Develop the profound "archetype of the lover" to experience a more soulful and deeply satisfying intimate life.

Whether you're looking to deepen your existing relationships or embark on a journey of self-understanding around your own sexuality, this episode offers a safe, supportive space and invaluable insights to help you break free from limiting beliefs and build healthier, more authentic connections.

Connect with Naomi Slater:
Email: [email protected] 
Website: www.naomislater.com

Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this episode if you found it valuable!

Welcome back to a whole new season of this podcast in which I will share the personal work of interpersonal healing I have done and the people teachers I have had on the journey to my own embodied wholeness. In this podcast I will introduce you to work of Naomi Slater and experienced intimacy and relationship coach with whom I had the opportunity to study in the healing art of tantra, bioenergy healing, and Imago Communication in her 12-week seminar, "Awaken Your Desire." I share my own personal journey reclaim the divine connection between spirituality and sexuality, reclaim my pleasure, and use tools of tantra to improve communication, establish healthy boundaries, and learn the inner workings of my own embodied sexuality.  Naomi walks us through what blocks our pleasure, and how to release these blocks embodied safety with a holistic perspective on human sexuality and relationship. Naomi teaches us how to be deeply present and curious with our sensuality to awakens parts of self that may have been cutoff or repressed and provides a practical approach to embodying your desire. She is a mature woman, mother, long-term partner, and someone who teaches the medicine that she has learned in her own healing journey. She guides us to deeper self-awareness, sensitivity, and presence with our divine sexual Self.

In this podcast, I interview Dora Gyarmati, a seasoned  teacher of mindfulness-based yoga for nearly 20 years, about how yoga has benefitted her life and that of her many students. I was able to complete my 200 hour yoga teacher training with Dora this past year and together we explore the lessons learned in life from the practice of yoga as well as how yoga can link our mind, body, and spirit in an intentional daily practice. We discuss why yoga has the capacity to add to the quality of our daily lives through helping us embody ourselves through mindful motion, self-awareness through meditation, and further connection with our spiritual selves through breath and heart space connection. We also discuss how not all yoga programs are the same. Many yoga studios seem to be loosing their holistic roots and perhaps loosing some part of the value that yoga provides in mirroring in the yoga room the same challenges we face in life such as dealing with discomfort, emotional regulation,  finding balance, and keeping our focus where we desire to hold it. Whether you are a seasoned yogi or new to the practice of yoga, this podcast offers some beautiful wisdom and tools for how to bring mindful awareness to our lives and how to live a more self-examined life. 
For more information about Dora, her teacher training, and her upcoming "40 Days workshop" on mindfulness and nutrition go to: https://www.spirapoweryoga.com/

In this episode I invite Dr. Sarah Campbell to discuss her soul work prompted by her graduation from her Doctoral Program in naturopathic  medicine and a master's in Chinese medicine. Sarah finally gave herself space to feel the cycles of anger, grief, and finally joy at the retrieval of lost parts of Self she had dissociated in order to "fit in" to her programs that did not value her perspectives on healing.  Sarah, who is a powerful teacher on the integration of body, mind, and spirit in our healing journey, shares how she uses free form movement such as dance, walking, intuitive touch, and other somatic therapies to "unwind" the emotions that get stuck in her body. She both celebrates the mind work of conceptualizing our trauma that has been done with traditional talk therapies and calls for a new season of growth that incorporates the mind-body connection through somatic therapies. She also celebrates slowing down and being present with her body-felt experience and re-parenting herself by celebrating herself for "being Sarah" and not for her achievements while giving her nervous system a needed rest after such a long season of producing.  Sarah and I explore the universality of the body-stored trauma that people have when cutting off parts of themselves in order to fit into systems rather than living from authenticity.  We further explain the joy that can be felt as we create intentional space to pause in our lives and connect to our body-felt wisdom that knows what is needed to retrieve these lost part of Self.
 

Journey with me on my most vulnerable podcast yet as I share what has truly healed and continues to heal me and what obstacles I needed to breakthrough on my path of expansion in spiritual growth and development.  Ask the deep questions with me such as:  What systems support your growth and development and which hold you back? What mirrors do you have in your life that give you glimpses of who you really are? What courage and fortitude do you need to gather as you choose your personal expansion in the face of possible rejection and abandonment?  Is it possible to choose your own growth journey and still find peace when others may not understand or even try to hold you back because of their own fear and dogmatic positioning?  Is personal expansion really worth it?  In my experience, the answer is a resounding YES!