In this special episode we have curated a compilation of standout conversations from our first 38 episodes.  Featuring wand drop moments from some of our many guests, from producer/screenwriter, Kristin Hahn, to astrologer/psychologist, Debra Silverman, to journalist Brooke Baldwin and many more. Stories that inspire us, lessons that stayed with us and voices that lit up the circle.  Whether you’re new here or have been circling with us from the start, this is a great place to explore, reflect and experience the power of connection. 

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Stay connected with the Circle This team: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @tracenthomas

To sponsor Circle This, email: [email protected]

In this episode of Circle This, Dre sits down with meditation teacher and author Megan Monahan to explore the question Do I want to be liked, or do I want to be loved? A layered conversation about the places where spirituality meets humanity and where our practices are tested not on the meditation cushion, but in the messy moments of real life.

Megan and Dre share about the patterns of codependency, the subtle addiction to being liked, and the uncomfortable but necessary shift toward true self-connection and interdependence. They talk about emotional bandwidth, spiritual bypassing, and how to stop outsourcing your worth to others. This episode invites you to notice your triggers, to hold yourself in discomfort, and to honor the sacred practice of being, rather than constantly doing.

They discuss what it means to embody the divine feminine, how to walk through resistance with integrity, and how to recognize the proof-of-concept moments that show you just how far you've come. Healing doesn’t always look graceful and transformation rarely asks for your approval.

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Follow Megan: @megmonahan Learn more at: meganmonahan.com Check out her 21-day meditation series: Link Here!

Stay connected with the Circle This team: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @tracenthomas To sponsor Circle This, email: [email protected]

In this episode Dre is joined by psychic medium Jonathan Mark—martial artist, lacrosse player , and lifelong skeptic—whose unexpected gift now helps families and detectives across the country solve cases and find connection after loss.

He never set out to do this work. But the messages kept coming. Loud. Specific. Unshakable. And soon, so did the calls—from grieving loved ones and law enforcement agencies such as NYPD, DA’s office, and FBI asking for extra insight no one else could provide.

From scientific studies at MIT and Johns Hopkins that confirm unusual brain activity during readings, to the intuitive “screenshots” spirit sends him, Jonathan’s work blends the mystical with the grounded—always with humility and deep care.

Together, Dre and Jonathan explore what it means to hold space between worlds. They talk about the science behind his gift, the grief that opens us, and the symbols spirit uses to reach across the veil. And the sacred responsibility of listening to what sometimes is hard for people to hear.

Johnathan illustrates just how connected we are and continue to be even when someone has crossed over, so much love remains.

Follow Jonathan on IG & TikTok: @Jonathanmarkmedium

Learn more at: https://jonathanmark.net/

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Stay connected with the Circle This team: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @tracenthomas

To sponsor Circle This Podcast, email [email protected]

In this episode, Dre sits down with Stephanie Ferrario, founder of SheCan—a global movement and media platform amplifying women’s voices through storytelling, education, and community. With over 3 million organic listeners, SheCan has become a living archive of transformation, visibility, and purpose.

Together, Dre and Stephanie circle around the questions: What makes a mentor? Why is emotional wellbeing a collective issue?

How do circles help us sit with discomfort, regulate our nervous systems, and remind us we’re not alone?

From sitting with women in Ethiopia to launching a digital movement, Stephanie shares how SheCan was born in circle, listening to women’s lived experiences and inviting the world to be inspired by them. They explore how internalized patriarchy, ageism, and competition keep women from rising, up until now, and how storytelling dismantles those myths.

This episode is both a love letter and a call to action: to gather, to witness, to build a new archive where her story matters—because when one woman rises, she lifts many.

Follow Stephanie & SheCan: @stefferrario & @she.can.world Learn more: www.shecan.world Subscribe: YouTube - SheCan World

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Stay connected with us: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @talkwithtrace

To sponsor this podcast, email: [email protected]

Most birthday celebrations are filled with gifts, cake, and casual conversation. But what if the real gift was presence—the kind that invites everyone to connect in a deep, meaningful way?

In this episode, Dre and Em are joined by Emily’s best friend, David Perlman, who shares what it was like to celebrate his birthday in a completely different way: by sitting in circle. Instead of the usual dinner and side conversations, the group dropped into something sacred—an intentional space for reflection, vulnerability, and connection.

David reflects on how simply creating space for a shared experience, guided by Dre’s facilitation, allowed everyone to be seen, heard, and moved—to laughter, to tears, and to something unforgettable.

Whether you’re curious about circling or already hold space for others, this conversation is a beautiful reminder: we don’t need a special occasion to create sacred connection. We just need the intention.

This episode is an invitation to rethink how we gather—not just for birthdays, but for life.

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Stay connected with the Circle This Team:

@andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @talkwithtrace

To Sponsor Circle This Podcast, email [email protected]

In this episode, Dre welcomes love coach and author Francesca Hogi (How to Find True Love) for a conversation about self-worth, connection, and what it really means to flirt with life.

Francesca redefines flirting as a way of engaging with the world—not rooted in romance, but in presence. At its core, flirting is about making others feel seen and acknowledged, creating space for possibility, chemistry, and soul-level connection.

They explore how dating can become a practice of self-love, how emotional resilience opens the door to intimacy, and how we can begin to shift from “being chosen” to choosing ourselves.

This episode touches on patterns, boundaries, AI dating agents, serendipity, the myth of scarcity in love, and the narratives we’ve inherited around beauty and worth.

Together, Dre and Francesca offer reflections, questions, and gentle permission to approach love—not as a game to win, but as a mirror, a teacher, and a human experience worth showing up for.

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Stay connected with the Circle This Team:

@andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @talkwithtrace

To Sponsor Circle This Podcast, email [email protected]

In this episode of Circle This, Dre sits down with writer, speaker, and “shame loss” advocate Jen Pastiloff to explore embodiment, bravery, and becoming the most unapologetic version of yourself.

Living with hearing loss since childhood, Jen learned to listen with her whole body—a practice that’s become her superpower in helping others feel truly seen. Together, she and Dre unpack the art of the apology, the radical act of claiming joy without reason, and the healing that happens when we stop minimizing our worth.

From giving yourself a medal for the smallest wins to speaking your desires out loud—especially when they scare you—this episode is a call to stop performing, stop apologizing, and start living like you mean it.

Jen shares the vulnerable story behind her new book, how rejection still echoes old wounds, and why she believes transparency is a sacred act of sisterhood. With humor, heart, and holy honesty, she reminds us: self-acceptance is a practice. And showing up—messy, honest, and whole—is more than enough.

Follow Jen: @jenpastiloff Pre-order her new book: Proof of Life: Let Go, Let Love, and Stop Looking for Permission to Live Your Life

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Stay connected with the Circle This team:

@andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @talkwithtrace 

To sponsor Circle This Podcast, email [email protected]

In this episode, Dre welcomes the luminous Debra Silverman—astrologer, therapist, and author of I Don’t Believe in Astrology—for a conversation that spans lifetimes.

What begins as an exploration of Dre’s chart (a double Capricorn with a Pisces sun, a powerful Saturn-Pluto imprint, and a rare Yod of destiny) unfolds into something deeper: a soul-mirroring dialogue about purpose, pain, and the poetry of being understood. Because sometimes the most sacred love language isn’t touch—it’s resonance.

Together, Dre and Debra explore astrology not as prediction, but as ancient medicine for modern healing. They touch on childhood wounds, spiritual assignments, and how the stars reveal what we already know deep within: there is nothing random about who we are.

This episode is for the astrology-curious and the cosmically fluent alike. It’s an invitation to slow down, decode your chart, and remember the mission your soul signed up for. As Deb says, your soul is madly in love with you—and it’s time you saw yourself through its eyes.

Follow: @debrasilverman_astrology

Learn more at: https://debrasilvermanastrology.com/andreabendewald

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Stay connected with the Circle This team:

@andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia

To sponsor Circle This Podcast, email [email protected]

What if asking for help was actually a sacred act of intimacy?

In this episode, Dre and Em circle around the quiet bravery it takes to receive. From post-surgery support to spilled soup and “airport asks,” they explore the deep discomfort so many of us feel when we’re not the helper—but the one in need.

Dre shares her journey as a recovering over-giver who once wore independence like armor, until she realized that saying “I’m fine” was costing her connection. Together, they unpack the hidden wounds behind hyper-independence, the epidemic of loneliness it feeds, and why learning to receive is a practice of trust, surrender, and letting love in.

This is a conversation about softening. About asking. About remembering that we don’t have to carry it all alone.

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Stay connected with our Circle This Team:  @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @talkwithtrace

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We appreciate you. 

In this episode, Dre sits down with Jennifer Fisher—writer, healer, and ceremony facilitator—for a powerful conversation about creative reinvention and the transformative wisdom of plant medicine.

With over 30 years in the television industry, Jen shares how her identity as a writer became entangled with external pressure and survival-mode success—until plant medicine helped her reconnect with creativity as a sacred expression of spirit. She and Dre reflect on their parallel paths from the entertainment world to the healing arts, and the freedom found in embracing all parts of the self.

Jen opens up about the life-shifting power of empathogens, which quiet the mind’s default network—loosening the grip of ego, old stories, and defenses—and offer a direct experience of connection, compassion, and belonging.

Together, they explore how healing is not about fixing, but about remembering. Remembering who we were before the protective narratives. Before the roles. Before the ache. They speak of ego death, the beauty of intention, and the liberation that comes from allowing both light and shadow to belong.

Follow: @TheJenFish

Learn More At:  jenniferfisher.me 

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Stay connected with the Circle This team: @andreabendewald @circlethispodcast @emkratter @goodmessmedia @talkwithtrace

To sponsor the podcast, email: [email protected]