A tour through GraceLand in Nashville was created to be a fun excursion. But became something much bigger: a clear view of how much has changed; and how much we take for granted when it comes to voice, rights, and real creative freedom. 

Standing where Elvis needed producers, radio slots, and physical pressings to be heard, we realized we can open a laptop, hit record, and publish without permission. That contrast sparked a conversation about gratitude, responsibility, and the quiet privileges woven into everyday life.

Episode Highlights:
• contrast between legacy music gatekeepers and today’s creator tools
• creative control as modern privilege and responsibility
• women’s financial and legal milestones expanding choice
• tradeoffs of single vs double income households
• self‑actualization across generations and parenting timelines
• regulating the nervous system to make clear choices
• celebrating small wins as daily practice
• reframing success markers around alignment

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Book with Brenda

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Ever feel like your calendar runs your life and your heart gets whatever scraps are left? This week, we dig into what it truly takes to stay connected to yourself while navigating love, work, and the relentless pull of everyday demands. From body-based practices to smart scheduling, we map out how to reclaim attention, set honest boundaries, and make choices you can stand behind.

We start with the core truth: the most important relationship you have is with yourself.  

We share how to stop losing yourself in love, work, and life by building a daily relationship with your body, your attention, and your truth. We offer practical tools to find your yes and no, use your calendar as support, and return faster when you drift.

Highlights:
• Self-connection as your most important relationship
• Tools we share: body scans, breathwork and somatic practices to reconnect
• How to use systems and calendars that protect rest and fun
• Spaciousness versus stillness as different pathways
• Learning your true yes and no through experiments
• Reducing cleanup by pausing before commitments
• Building five-minute daily touch points that stick
• How to recover faster after disconnection and compression

We are available to support you in a one-to-one capacity. Click the links to message us to inquire about working with either one of us. 

Like, share, subscribe to our podcast. It is the best way that you can show us love and support.  Thank you for listening!

Support the show

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Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

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Connect on Instagram:
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@CoachCatherineN

Catherine & Brenda guide a Body Scan that turns stress into clear signals and shows how somatic awareness supports desire-led choices. Breathwork, curiosity, and small resourcing moves help you feel safer, softer, and more honest with yourself.

Episode Highlights:
• why a five-minute body scan builds self-trust
• naming sensations to separate signals from stories
• lengthening breath to calm the nervous system
• breathing into tension and letting it speak
• using humming, hand-to-heart, and grounding as resourcing
• choosing a one percent action for support
• integrating presence into daily decisions and desire

You can find our links to book calls with us if you're interested in working one-on-one with either one of us.  Links to message us are in the show notes. We would love to hear from you xoxo

Support the show

Please rate, share, review, and follow for more. Thanks in advance. These actions help more people find the show and it's such a generous way to support our work.

Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

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When the mind gets loud and the body goes into alert, thinking harder does not calm anything. Brenda and Catherine guide listeners to slow down. They introduce a gentle body scan practice to shift awareness into regulation. One breath. One sensation. One small shift. These small shifts build trust in the body’s signals.

They share how to use a body scan daily. Before checking a bank balance, during an argument, while parenting, when our inner alarm system fires without a clear cause. Listeners learn what to notice, how to track changes before and after, and simple resources like water, breath, movement, journaling, and truth-telling. Brenda introduces a Qoya movement practice. 

This episode supports anyone who feels tired and wired, stuck in comparison, or unsure how to hear the body. Better choices grow from a rooted place. Stronger relationships grow from presence. A connected body keeps you from self-abandonment.

Episode Highlights
• What a body scan is and why it works
• Signs of dysregulation and the runaway train feeling
• Curiosity and compassion instead of fixing
• Practical cues to track during a scan
• Using the scan during money stress, relationship conflict, and busy days
• Movement and nature as pathways back to yourself
• Ego wants versus true desire
• One percent resourcing and integration
• How regulation deepens intimacy and choice

The upcoming episode #115 will be a toolbox episode, with the full guided body scan practice.

If you resonated with anything that we spoke about today, please subscribe to our podcast, like, share with a fried, rate and review. It is the best way for you to support this podcast. Book a call through the show note links to explore one-to-one support. 

Support the show

Please rate, share, review, and follow for more. Thanks in advance. These actions help more people find the show and it's such a generous way to support our work.

Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

Book with Catherine

Email Us:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Connect on Instagram:
@desireasmedicinepodcast
@Brenda_Fredericks
@CoachCatherineN

Ever feel like your desire tank is running on empty? After a season of deep conversations, Brenda and Catherine shift gears to explore the often-overlooked wisdom of coasting.

Growth is not meant to be nonstop. Just as nature moves through seasons, desire ebbs and flows. Sometimes the healthiest choice is to step back, pause the practices, and let yourself float for a while.

In this conversation, they share real-life moments of exhaustion and burnout, reminding us that these pauses are not failures. They are part of our natural rhythm. Trees rest in winter. Farmers leave fields fallow. We too need downtime.

The paradox is that when we give ourselves permission to coast, new desires often emerge with more clarity and energy. Coasting is not laziness. It is wisdom.

Episode Highlights
• Growth is not meant to be a 24/7 job
• Permission to coast through seasons of dormancy
• Naming your season: wintering, integration, or simply being human
• Desire sometimes "calls in sick" and that is okay
• Natural rhythms include pauses, like trees in winter or fallow fields
• Breaks create space for new desires to emerge
• Not everything needs to be about growth
• Coasting is not failure, it is wisdom
• Fun and lightness balance the deep work
• Permission slips: nap instead of journal, TV instead of self-help

What's your favorite way to coast? Maybe it's lazy rivers, hammocks, hula hoops, or naps. May your permission slips lead you to many blooms. 

We would love it if you could Like, Rate, Review and Share this episode. Thanks in advance for your support. You're the reason this show continues to grow.

Support the show

Please rate, share, review, and follow for more. Thanks in advance. These actions help more people find the show and it's such a generous way to support our work.

Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

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What happens when two desire coaches pause to reflect on their own relationship with desire? After three years and 111 episodes of the Desire as Medicine podcast, Brenda and Catherine open up about where desire feels alive, where it feels challenging, and how their relationship with it has evolved.

Brenda shares about her journey of building physical strength at 57 through pole dancing, inspired by a conscious choice to shift family health patterns. Catherine reflects on her uncertainty around retirement planning, revealing how some desires flow naturally while others feel overwhelming.

Together, they explore the importance of letting go of tight control and instead trusting the process of desire. Brenda captures this beautifully: "I believe everything that's happening is conspiring for me to have my desire." Obstacles become part of the journey rather than proof of failure.

They also discuss the liberation that comes from focusing on what is within their control rather than expecting others to change for their desires to be met. This awareness creates freedom, clarity, and deeper alignment with what they truly want.

Whether desire feels playful, overwhelming, or steady, this episode is an invitation to pause and ask yourself: What feels alive right now? What feels sticky? How has your relationship with desire shifted over time?

Episode Highlights
• Desire can feel alive and easy or sticky and challenging at different times
• Brenda shares her desire to build physical strength at 57 through pole dancing and other practices
• Catherine discusses her uncertainty around retirement planning as a desire that feels overwhelming
• Three seasons of desire: ignoring it, being whimsical with it, and practicing responsible desire
• Learning to trust the process instead of gripping tightly to outcomes
• Distinguishing between what is within our control versus trying to change others' behaviors
• Exploring the difference between desire and capacity: what we want versus what we can handle
• The podcast itself is an example of desire in action, evolving from casual conversation into consistent practice

We invite you to reflect on your own relationship with desire. Where are you right now? What feels alive? What feels challenging? How has your relationship with desire shifted over time?

We would love it if you could Like, Rate, Review and Share this episode. Thanks in advance for your support. You're the reason this show continues to grow. 

Support the show

Please rate, share, review, and follow for more. Thanks in advance. These actions help more people find the show and it's such a generous way to support our work.

Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

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[email protected]
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Have you ever noticed how easily we focus on the difficult patterns inherited from our families while overlooking the beautiful gifts passed down through generations?

In this heartfelt mini-episode, Brenda and Catherine expand the conversation about lineage beyond trauma to celebrate the treasures our ancestors have given us.

Brenda shares the story of her family’s chicken soup recipe, passed from her grandmother to her mother, to herself, and now to her daughter. This tradition is more than food. It is love, care, and wisdom carried through generations. Making the soup connects her to the women in her family and offers a sense of healing and continuity. She also reflects on inheriting her family’s sense of humor, recalling a Passover celebration where her uncles tossed her grandmother’s dense matzo balls across the room, a reminder of the gift of laughter even in imperfect moments.

Lineage gifts come in countless forms: culinary traditions, resilience, artistic abilities, communication styles, celebration rituals, or the way a family values togetherness. These inheritances often go unnoticed, yet they shape who we are as much as the challenges we carry. This episode invites you to reflect on the gifts you’ve received, how they show up in your daily life, and which ones you want to nurture and pass forward.

Episode Highlights
• Expanding the conversation beyond family trauma to acknowledge inherited gifts
• Brenda shares her grandmother’s chicken soup recipe as an embodiment of ancestral wisdom and love
• Family humor as a gift that teaches lightness and perspective
• How lineage gifts differ from memories by becoming transferable qualities and practices
• Examples of gifts families pass down: cooking, art, resilience, traditions, communication styles, storytelling
• Invitation to identify and appreciate your own lineage gifts
• Reflection on how these gifts shape who we are and what we pass to future generation

We would love it if you could Like, Rate, Review and Share this episode. Thanks in advance for your support. You're the reason this show continues to grow. 

Support the show

Please rate, share, review, and follow for more. Thanks in advance. These actions help more people find the show and it's such a generous way to support our work.

Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

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@desireasmedicinepodcast
@Brenda_Fredericks
@CoachCatherineN

The threads of ancestry shape daily life in both subtle and profound ways. From stress responses to emotional habits to worldview, Catherine and Brenda reflect on how they are living expressions of those who came before them.

In this episode, they explore the Indigenous wisdom concept of Seven Generations Forward and Back, which teaches that present choices affect seven generations ahead while also carrying wisdom, gifts, and wounds from seven generations behind.

Catherine shares how she inherited a lineage of hardworking women who rarely asked for help, giving her strength but limiting her ability to receive support. Brenda reflects on her family’s pattern of suppressing emotions to keep peace in relationships and how she is transforming this legacy for her children.

Together, they discuss how healing is not only personal but ancestral. By consciously working with inherited patterns, it is possible to create change in one’s own life, ripple healing backward, and open new paths forward.

They also reflect on the opportunity to learn from younger generations who have already moved beyond certain patterns. Instead of feeling threatened, their growth can serve as inspiration and guidance.

This conversation highlights how ancestral healing influences not only families but also communities and future generations.

Episode Highlights
• Patterns of ancestors live in our bodies, thoughts, and behaviors
• Ancestral patterns include both wounds and gifts to recognize and honor
• Breaking generational patterns requires awareness and courage
• Children often evolve beyond their parents’ patterns, creating opportunities for learning
• Even without biological children, influence spreads through connections and relationships
• Healing creates ripple effects through past and future generations
• Life choices affect seven generations forward, regardless of having children

What story from your lineage are you carrying and are you ready to change it? What do you love about your lineage that you're ready to pass on? Let us know how this episode resonated with you. Rate, like and share. We love hearing from you. 

Support the show

Please rate, share, review, and follow for more. Thanks in advance. These actions help more people find the show and it's such a generous way to support our work.

Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

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Personal transformation does not fit neatly into a 90-day program. In this conversation, Catherine and Brenda explore why meaningful growth often takes years or decades, and why that timeline is both natural and necessary.

They reflect on what sustains the process when change feels slow: forgiving who we were, showing compassion for how long it takes, and facing reality without judgment. Many of the most difficult patterns are not entirely our own, but are carried through family lineage. Even so, they become ours to transform.

While breakthroughs can happen quickly, lasting transformation requires practice and the steady development of new skills. What keeps many people stuck is self-judgment and wishing things were different rather than working with what is.

They also examine the habit of projecting today’s awareness onto past versions of ourselves, shaming who we were for not knowing better. This retroactive perfectionism creates shame instead of honoring the growth already made. The shift comes when we move from a perfection mindset to a practice mindset, treating life as a series of learning opportunities instead of tests.

Transformation is possible, but it happens one step at a time, often with wobbles along the way. Like learning to ride a bike, growth requires falling, adjusting, and building the muscle memory for a new way of being.

Episode Highlights
• The gap between instant gratification and the reality that growth takes years
• How inherited family patterns become ours to transform
• The difference between sudden breakthroughs and gradual skill-building
• How judgment and perfectionism keep us stuck in shame
• Accepting reality as it is before change can occur
• Why loving former versions of ourselves supports growth
• Moving from a perfection mindset to a practice mindset
• Viewing challenges as learning opportunities rather than pass/fail tests

We would love to know what landed for you in this episode. What are you working on that might be taking a day, a week, a decade or maybe even a lifetime. Please tell us, rate, review and share this episode with someone you love.

Support the show

Please rate, share, review, and follow for more. Thanks in advance. These actions help more people find the show and it's such a generous way to support our work.

Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

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Email Us:
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[email protected]
[email protected]

Connect on Instagram:
@desireasmedicinepodcast
@Brenda_Fredericks
@CoachCatherineN

The space between knowing something and embodying it is where transformation happens. In this conversation, Catherine and Brenda explore what it takes to move from intellectual understanding to living change as second nature.

Catherine shares her 20-year journey of opening her heart and building healthy boundaries. What began as a desire for deeper relationships required years of therapy, confronting judgment, untangling codependence, and resisting the urge to rescue others. She reflects on moments of doubt and pain, and how her commitment to meaningful connection kept her moving forward.

Brenda reflects on her daily yoga and dance practice, now as natural as brushing her teeth but built through years of steady effort. Together, they emphasize that embodiment cannot be rushed or handed off to someone else. It is a deeply personal upgrade that requires patience, practice, and persistence.

This episode will especially resonate with those who understand growth concepts yet struggle to live them out. Catherine and Brenda challenge the quick-fix promises in personal development and speak honestly about the discomfort, uncertainty, and unexpected challenges that real transformation brings.

They invite listeners to ask: What desire is calling you into embodiment, and are you willing to walk through the messy middle to honor it?

Episode Highlights
• Morning practices as examples of embodied desires that become second nature
• How listening well requires noticing patterns and practicing consistently
• Catherine's 20-year journey to open her heart and create boundaries
• Moving beyond judgment, codependence, and rescuing others
• The new challenges that appear after transformation
• Why intellectuals often struggle to embody what they know
• Pain and difficulty as necessary catalysts for growth
• Embodiment as a personal upgrade only you can create

What's your invitation? What desire is calling you from within, and do you have the courage to follow it? Rate, Review, and Share this episode. We'd love to hear from you.

Support the show

Please rate, share, review, and follow for more. Thanks in advance. These actions help more people find the show and it's such a generous way to support our work.

Click the links below to inquire about 1:1 support.

Book with Brenda

Book with Catherine

Email Us:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Connect on Instagram:
@desireasmedicinepodcast
@Brenda_Fredericks
@CoachCatherineN