Human Amplified

Today, we’re talking to guest Katie Jensen, of Franklin, TN. She’s first and foremost a mom and wife, but she’s also a NASM certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, and travel planner. With everything she does, she loves empowering people to find happiness and confidence through healthy lifestyles that feel good.

She’s here today to help us wind up Human Amplified season 5 with ways to incorporate more fun, laughter, and play into your life. Spoiler alert: a lot of this involves how you prioritize, approach, and look at your relationships with other people. 

We talk about the importance of laughter and fun, changing what you can while accepting what you can’t, the importance of knowing you’re not alone, giving yourself permission to play, even when life is hard, how to create authentic bonds instead of trauma bonds, processing hard emotions while trying to remain positive, and staying motivated to keep moving forward. 

This episode is really about finding the silver linings, purposefully changing your attitude no matter what your situation is, and being resilient.  

Katie is not only great at this professionally, but she gets really honest with us about the realities of living with her daughter who was born with a traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy, among other life-long diagnoses. Katie has five children all together.

So the conversation today comes from the lens of how much Katie loves and dedicates herself to her family and the lessons she’s learned from those experiences that translate into how she approaches happiness, joy, and having fun.

I’m so excited for the perspective-changing tips you’ll get from this episode — and hope that after you’ve listened, you can take life a little less seriously. Just what we need to end the season that has traversed the depths of identity and self realization.

Thanks for listening all season. Thanks for listening today. And, we’ll see you back in the podcast apps soon.

Now, let’s dive in.

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So, you guys probably know by now that I’m a firm believer in finding your own custom mix of healing modalities when you’re focusing on healing your trauma. There’s not one silver bullet at any given time, but many modalities, when combined, can create a winning strategy. Some modalities work for you while some won’t, and depending on where you are in healing and what you need to process and integrate, different modalities may be better suited at different times too. All that to say, I love trying and learning about different healing modalities and introducing them to you. 

Now, PSYCH-K® isn’t necessarily new in the world, but it was new to me when today’s guest, Adelajda Child, came on the show. And it’s so interesting how it leverages different parts of the brain to create change in your life. It reminds me somewhat of the Two Mind Method that we featured in last weeks episode 123. So it’ll be interesting for you to hear the differences and decide if you want to try it.

Today’s guest, Adelajda Child, is a PSYCH-K® instructor, conducting workshops globally, helping individuals recognize and overcome their subconscious barriers to peace and success.

During our discussion, we really get into the technicalities about the difference between our subconscious mind and conscious mind, how to align them, and why beliefs — subconscious or conscious — are so powerful in our lives. We not only go in depth about what PSYCH-K® aims to do, but we talk about how to access the subconscious mind, what’s available to us when we do, how cognitive dissonance can set in, and where the struggle comes from. Then, we pivot into how to know what to consciously believe, in the era of misinformation that we’re living in and when to know if you should change your beliefs.

While we talk a lot about the hemispheres of the brain, getting them to work together, and how the subconscious mind creates our realities, ultimately, when you dig deeper, this episode is about decision making. Do you want to make decisions that impact your life with some of the information, or all of the information that could possibly be available to you — and also making sure you can trust that information before making decisions, leading to more peace in your life.

This is a really interesting topic and I know there are a lot of opinions out there about what goes into creating our realities, so let’s dive in. And let us know in the comments (of the show notes or on YouTube) what comes up for you as you listen.

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Today, we're talking to Kirby Fling. He’s a computer science guy turned trauma-informed relationship coach and Founder of his signature program, the Two Mind Method. He focuses on healing attachment wounds and preventing them in the first place. And while the topic at hand may seem heavy, this was such a fun conversation. You’ll walk away from it knowing how to approach relationships in healthier ways and how to take responsibility for your own emotions, beliefs, and actions in a way that's healing and safe to your inner child and therefore, your external relationships as well.

In today’s episode, we talk about how hypervigilance and intuition are connected, how to know if you can trust your intuition, the predictability of attachment wounds, how attachment impacts everything in life, how sleep and trauma play in, the five pillars of attachment, the enemies of healing, changing attachment styles, green and red flags in a relationship, and so much more. 

Kirby is currently in Bali, Indonesia teaching what we’ll be talking about in today’s episode. He’ll be hosting a retreat on the beach in Bali in November — omg, doesn’t that sound amazing— and he also does 1 on 1 coaching in person and virtually.

I love the interviews, and I mean love, that turn into real conversations where the guest pauses to think and digs deep within themselves to find the real answer, and then we’re both thinking deeply and philosophically about the topic at hand. That’s when ish gets really real. Genuine. Authentic. Honest. This is one of those episodes. So, get ready to do some thinking and digging with us.

And a quick heads up: there was a tiny bit of lag on our call, so we do talk over one another a few times, which doesn’t normally happen here on Human Amplified — but its minimal. 

So, let’s dive in.

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Today, we’re talking to Nashville-based yoga instructor, doula, and activist, Renee Watkins, about reconnecting to your body to make a real difference. And what does that actually mean? 

It means using breath work, which is the common thread among all of Renee’s passions and pursuits, so you can find not only emotional healing for yourself, but also for your community.

It’s evident that Renee cares deeply about helping people and she starts with her local community here in Nashville. Through Renee’s yoga practice, she’s breaking down stereotypes and creating safe, inclusive spaces for Black and brown women. We get into all of that in this episode, plus we also talk about:

Why its important to be in tune with your body, what your body can tell you, how to start making a difference while protecting your peace, releasing anger, and breathing the correct way. And you might be surprised about what the right way is.

Then, we get into the topic of high birth mortality rates, especially for Black women, in the United States, what to do to minimize birth trauma and how it all fits together with Yoga, human advocacy, and teaching our kids what they really need to know so they can avoid some of the pitfalls we're seeing in our time.   

We finish up the episode talking about sexuality and sensuality and dealing with repression of it. It’s all connected.

Throughout the episode, Renee gives us awesome expert advice and she mixes in personal stories too, so you’ll love getting to know her and her bright personality. Her Yoga practice, which is her primary focus right now, is called RW Yoga. She’s trained extensively in Vinyasa, Rocket, and Prenatal Yoga.

This episode does come with a trigger warning: About half way through, maybe a little before, we start talking about sex education with several hard truths and then move into the topic of birth trauma with real life examples. These are very important, critical conversations to have, but proceed with caution if these topics are triggering for you.

Now, let’s dive in.

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In the span of the six years I’ve known Courtenay, she’s completely transformed. She’s absolutely glowing, but it wasn’t an overnight, easy kind of change. It was a deep, healing journey, where she had to go within, choose to let go of many things, like alcohol for example, that had had a steady presence in her life up until the make or break moment. And not only did she  have to learn how to feel her emotions again, but she decided to start listening to them.

With this episode, the hope is that if you’re on a healing or awakening journey yourself, that you take comfort in knowing you’re not alone and that you’re also inspired that it can be done. You can absolutely heal, find yourself, and live in a way that’s in complete alignment with that. 

But who is Courtenay Rogers? She’s such a presence in the community of Franklin, TN not only from her previous political campaigns to her longstanding career in operations and logistics, but simply because she befriends and connects people. She’s also a Navy veteran who loves her family, friends, and now, herself too. Her life motto is “love always wins.”

We cover topics like making healing decisions in critical life moments, what healing is like, the difference between ego and self love, toxic positivity, letting go of desperation and control, trusting your intuition, and how to start loving yourself. And at the end, we have a quick little bonus discussion on what it’s been like for Courtenay to leave behind her political career as a result of embracing more authenticity in her life.

The amount of honesty and vulnerability Courtenay brings in this conversation is refreshing and can help us look within ourselves with the same intensity of love that she’s found. Let’s hear from her now.

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Register for my FREE Self Healing the Root workshop to learn about your trauma responses and how to start changing them.

If you’re familiar with the Enneagram through pop culture, you might be using it as a personality test to gain more insight into what makes you tick and how you act. However, what’s so cool about what our guest, Micky ScottBey Jones, will share with us today is that it’s not just a personality test.

In fact, your personality is not fixed and the strategies you use to cope and interact in the world can be expanded upon and changed, if you want them to be.

So, today we’re talking all things Enneagram. Guest Micky ScottBey Jones is an Enneagram expert, coach, and facilitator.

In today’s episode, we’re covering topics like what the Enneagram actually is, the impact it can have, why people love it so much and it’s rise in popularity, how it helps you feel seen and see others, how bias fits in, practical ways you can apply Enneagram to your real life, and what to do with fear as it arises. 

Now, of course, we get philosophical in this conversation and while discussing Enneagram, which can help you be in relationship to self and others better, we also dive deep into identifying what our responsibility to other human beings is. What are we really responsible for when we see another human being in their wholeness?

And, one of the most powerful parts of this episode, among the many, is when Micky shares part of her personal journey with Enneagram. She says, “The Enneagram helped me not hate myself.” That’s huge — there’s so much there.

It’s all packed into the next hour, so let’s get to it. And if you know your Enneagram type and your’e watching on YouTube, go ahead and tell us what it is in the comments.

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Register for my FREE Self Healing the Root workshop to learn about your trauma responses and how to start changing them.

Today, we’re talking to Kourtney Brownlow who is a business mentor and gym owner here in Franklin, TN, right outside of Nashville. This episode is for you if you’re looking for ways to change your mindset, build resilience, and stay motivated toward your goals, whatever they may be, while still embracing the fact that you’re a human and sometimes have what we generally consider negative emotions.

Kourtney is personally and professionally equipped to talk about these topics because she practices what she preaches — she’s had to delve deep into mindset work when her journey into entrepreneurship began unexpectedly in 2014 when she opened a gym. The first 5 years she had no idea how to run a business and succeeded on sheer will and relationships.

In 2019, Kourtney made a pivotal decision to invest in her professional development by hiring her first business mentor. This decision transformed her business and led her to buy a second gym in 2021. In 2022 due to some life changes Kourtney sold her original gym but continues to run her personal training studio in Franklin, TN. Inspired by her own journey, Kourtney now pays it forward by mentoring other business owners, helping them unlock their full potential and achieve the life they envisioned when they first embarked on their entrepreneurial ventures.

Personally, Kourtney is a wife and mom to four beautiful children — one of whom is Deaf, and you’ll hear part of her personal story around learning this, how her mindset evolved, and what she’s done to grow with her son.

We also cover topics like the importance of mindset, how grief impacts mindset, the spectrum of mindsets available to you, healthy positivity versus toxic positivity, the point of negativity and what to do with it (and yes, it does have a point!), getting unstuck from negative cycles or patterns, where resilience fits in, welcoming challenges, and holding yourself accountable for achieving your real goals.

The next hour is packed with personal development and growth gems, so let’s dive in to get you moving.

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Visit the complete show notes at https://humanamplified.com/episodes/119

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Today, we’re talking to Stephanie Dunn. She’s a United Methodist minister who served for about 15 years before transitioning careers to become a certified life coach. She opened her private coaching practice, Stephanie B. Dunn Coaching, a little over a year ago. 

Now, before we go further in this introduction, here’s some context for our discussion that you’ll hear today.

We recorded this conversation in April of 2024, so it happened right as the United Methodist church opened it’s general conference to cover topics, yet again, like same-sex marriage and LGBTQIA+ clergy.

The Methodist church has had well-known internal fissures around these issues and NPR reports that up to 7600 congregations disaffiliated because they disliked that many of the churches didn’t enforce the ban on LGBTQIA+ marriage and clergy.

In a landslide vote at the end of April/beginning of May 2024, the Methodist church reversed it’s ban.

That's a sure win for recognizing the humanity of others.

All this is to say, that what you’ll hear Stephanie and I talk about today - primarily burnt out clergy - is another symptom of a larger problem that’s been going on for a while now. 

That is, institutionally, things are changing for the church. Not only are congregations leaving, but attendance numbers have been down for ages (in many churches, not just the methodist church), and clergy women are leaving too.

That’s where Stephanie comes in. Once clergy herself, she now coaches clergy women and other helpers who are burnt out and looking for support, rest, self esteem, and ways to fit into an institution that wasn’t designed with them in mind. 

Stephanie has a unique perspective as an insider who left her traditional role but took on an adjacent support role that’s very much needed. So, whether you’re clergy, a church goer, or are simply interested in how society is changing in all the various ways with human will behind the change, this is an honest inside look at where clergy is going, what they’re doing, and what’s next for the church as an institution and fabric of communities, plus, how you can heal from burnout.

Let’s dive in.

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Visit the complete show notes at https://humanamplified.com/episodes/118

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You’ll want to tune in today because we’re talking all things being seen, especially if you’ve ever felt like an outcast or like society just wasn’t built with you in mind. You have so many different parts of your identity that intersect, sometimes you may have to prioritize one over the other to feel safe, but that doesn't mean that the other parts go away. And this is exactly what today’s guest is an expert in navigating — in her own life and with clients — among many other things. 

I’m pleased to introduce you to fellow Nashvillian, Aimee Sadler. She has a Masters in Social Work, is currently a masters candidate at Lipscomb University specializing in conflict management. She currently works as the manager of Community and Collective Impact at the Center for Nonprofit Management. She provides nonprofit consulting in DEI, cultural competency, cultural humility, and cultural understanding. She’s also a private practice clinician focusing on therapy for women of color and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. She’s also a mom, partner, and loves all things Disney. She’s won a plethora of awards, including but not limited to being recognized as one of Nashville Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, and serves as Vice President on the board of Nashville LAUNCH PAD, an organization offering safe and LGBTQIA+ affirming shelters and housing accommodations to unhoused young adults.

In this episode, we're covering things like what it means to be seen, why it’s important for people to feel seen, why people struggle with being seen, dealing with the fear that sometimes comes with the vulnerability of being seen, listening to your intuition, and confidently navigating the intersectionality you experience, even while breaking social norms safely. Amiee also get’s personal and tells us about her own experience with intersectionality.

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Visit the complete show notes at https://humanamplified.com/episodes/117

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Now, y’all know this isn’t a political podcast. It’s a podcast about humanity. This podcast serves to unify each other and unify you with your own authenticity. We’ve always sought to humanize one another and therefore understand each other and ourselves better. And with that sometimes comes difficult and necessary conversations regarding the political arena, where policies shape our society and how we interact with it. No one is immune from it.

With that in mind, I’m extremely honored to be bringing you a conversation with local Nashville activist, blogger, commentator, columnist, community organizer, civic educator, and human rights advocate, Timothy Hughes. He oftentimes finds himself working at the intersection of public policy and social justice. He comes from a line of activists, community organizers, and educators who have sought to change the world. 

As Timothy and I convened for our conversation, neo-nazis were protesting at the city council meeting in Nashville. This has become a somewhat common sight in the last several years here, where white supremacy has been allowed to flourish in our most basic levels of government —the tip of the spear — as Nashville representative Justin Jones has called it. There has been an ever increasing and louder presence as we’re leading up to presidential elections in 2024.

Speaking of, Timothy and I had decided to do this podcast episode together before the attempted assassination on former president Trump, but the conversation seems to have a special punctuation on it now — what is behind this type of political violence? It’s bigger and older than you might think.

Timothy shares insight into how our systems have evolved from a lens of exclusion and also a lens of prioritized inclusion — something which the neo-nazis of our day, just like the one’s in our grandparents’ day, want to extinguish.

So where do we want to go from here? 

Stay tuned for not only a quick big-picture education and context, but also tactical advice for what you can do in your everyday life to change our political trajectory, which is really our human trajectory, even if you’re not a front lines activist.

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Visit the complete show notes at https://humanamplified.com/episodes/116

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FREE Workshop:

https://www.brandifleckcoaching.com/self-healing-the-root-workshop