Mystical Alchemy™

Description of Episode:

In this deeply personal and emotionally raw episode, Shandra Shultz returns after a hiatus to share her recent journey through a profound “dark night of the soul.” She opens up about navigating grief, trauma, addiction, spiritual growth, and healing with vulnerability and compassion. The episode is centered around the 21st anniversary of her father’s passing coupled with the coming to terms of her relationship ending with her former partner, which becomes a reflective lens through which she explores the nature of grief, its layered complexity, and how it resurfaces through different life experiences.

By the end of this episode you will have a greater understanding of the following:

Personal grief and healing: Shandra recounts the complicated relationship with her father, her early experiences of loss, and how grief impacted her path into addiction and ultimately, sobriety.

Spiritual insights: She frames grief as “love with nowhere to go,” discussing how understanding this allowed her to process it through spiritual and somatic practices like EFT tapping, Reiki, and inner child work.

The void phase: A spiritual metaphor for being stripped of what no longer serves you, and sitting in the unknown. Shandra describes how surrendering to this space helped her rediscover clarity, intention, and self-love.

Cultural silence around grief: She emphasizes that society doesn’t teach us how to deal with grief, and stresses the importance of honoring all feelings without shame.

Future vision: Inspired by her healing journey, Shandra mentions her upcoming workshop on grief to help others safely process their emotions and find peace.

Tone and style: Soulful, intimate, therapeutic — Shandra weaves storytelling with spiritual insight, aiming to comfort and empower listeners who are moving through their own pain or transformation.

Grab your Chakra Clearing meditation at www.igotthewoo.com/meditation and stay up to date on all future episodes.

More from Mystical Alchemy™

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Description of Episode:

Shandra Shultz discusses her emotional and spiritual journey following the 2024 U.S. election, expressing disappointment over the re-election of a controversial figure. She reflects on her privilege as a cisgendered white woman and her efforts to deconstruct internalized racism and misogyny. Shandra emphasizes the importance of education, empathy, and self-awareness in addressing systemic issues. She shares her personal experiences, including her father's racist comments and her own struggles with internalized homophobia. Shandra advocates for continuous self-improvement and allyship, urging others to listen, learn, and take responsibility for their own growth.

By the end of this episode you will:

Have a better understanding of how Shandra came to understand her internalized beliefs around race, gender, sexuality, and more. You will be able to take steps to start or continue your own journey to deconstruct the toxic beliefs that society has put up you. Learn how to become a better Ally.

• How to Be an Anti-Racist
• White Fragility
• Hood Feminism

Grab your Chakra Clearing meditation at www.igotthewoo.com/meditation and stay up to date on all future episodes.

More from Mystical Alchemy™

• Subscribe: www.mysticalalchemypodcast.com
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• Facebook: www.facebook.com/IGotTheWoo
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/IGotTheWoo
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CONTENT WARNING!!!!!! Sensitive topics that can be activating/triggering are discussed on this episode. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction or substance use, please reach out to a qualified healthcare professional, addiction professional, or trusted support resource.

Description of Episode:

Shandra shares her personal journey through addiction and recovery, from becoming physically dependent on prescription opioids as a teenager to nearly 13 years of sobriety at the time of this recording. She explores how trauma, emotional pain, shame, and the desire to escape shaped her relationship with substances and other behaviors throughout her life. Drawing from her lived experience, education in psychology and human development, and training in spiritual and somatic healing modalities, Shandra discusses the deeper emotional patterns that can exist beneath addictive behaviors.

She shares how getting sober was only the beginning of her healing journey and how reconnecting with her inner child, exploring her shadow self, developing greater self-compassion, and learning to be present with uncomfortable emotions helped transform her relationship with herself. Shandra also reflects on replacing one form of escape with another, including exercise and even the constant pursuit of healing, and what she learned when she stopped treating herself as something that needed to be fixed.

Ultimately, this episode explores addiction through the lens of survival, healing, self-love, and coming home to oneself, while honoring the younger versions of ourselves who used the tools they had available to survive.

By the end of this episode you will:

Have a deeper understanding of how trauma, emotional pain, shame, and escapism can intersect with addiction. Receive more of Shandra's personal story of addiction, sobriety, and the healing journey that continued long after she stopped using substances. Explore how inner-child work, shadow work, self-compassion, emotional awareness, and other healing practices can support a deeper relationship with oneself. Consider the difference between simply removing an addictive behavior and exploring what that behavior may have been helping us survive or escape. Be invited to approach the parts of yourself you may have judged or rejected with greater curiosity, compassion, and love.

Episode Resources & Educational Foundations

The perspectives shared in this episode are informed by my lived experience in long-term recovery, my BA in Psychology, coursework in human development, and years of additional education and training in somatic, spiritual, trauma-informed, and parts-oriented healing modalities.

Some of the concepts discussed in this episode were informed by my training through The Adult Chair® and my study of trauma and the body, including The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, MD.

This episode was originally recorded before I began my formal addictions counseling education and professional work in the addiction treatment field. My education and experience have continued to deepen and expand since this recording.

*Further Reading & Current Resources*

The following resources were added after the original publication of this episode for listeners interested in exploring some of the topics discussed further:

• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) — Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction

An overview of the science of addiction, including how substance use can affect the brain and behavior and the biological and environmental factors involved in substance use disorders.

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) — Trauma and Violence

Information about trauma, its potential effects on mental and physical health, and its relationship with behavioral health concerns including substance use.

• SAMHSA — Trauma-Informed Approaches and Programs

Information about trauma-informed approaches to behavioral health, recovery, safety, empowerment, and avoiding retraumatization.

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) — The Teen Brain: 7 Things to Know

An accessible overview of adolescent brain development, including the continued development of the prefrontal cortex into the mid-to-late 20s.

• Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University — A Guide to Toxic Stress

Research-based information about early development, prolonged adversity, stress-response systems, supportive relationships, resilience, and the developing brain and body.

Addiction & Recovery Support

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use or addiction, support is available. SAMHSA offers confidential treatment-referral information and resources for finding substance-use and mental-health treatment throughout the United States.

SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

FindTreatment.gov can also be used to locate treatment programs and providers.

Grab your Chakra Clearing Meditation at www.igotthewoo.com/meditation and stay up to date on all future episodes.

More from Mystical Alchemy™

• Subscribe: www.mysticalalchemypodcast.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/IGotTheWoo
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/IGotTheWoo
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/IGotTheWoo
• Website: www.igotthewoo.com

*CONTENT WARNING!!!!!! Sensitive topics that can be activating/triggering are discussed on this episode*

Description of Episode:

Shandra discusses her personal experiences with miscarriage and the societal stigma surrounding it. She reveals having three miscarriages and one live birth, highlighting the emotional and physical toll, including the trauma from assault. Shandra critiques the misrepresentation of abortion debates in the USA. She recounts her struggles with medical neglect, societal pressure, and the impact of her experiences on her mental health and relationships. Shandra advocates for destigmatizing miscarriage and abortion, supporting women's rights and healing, and calls for societal change to protect reproductive freedoms. Finally, she discusses how she was able to alchemize her own experiences through the healing work she herself does.

By the end of this episode you will:

Have a deeper understanding of the choices that some have to make and the stigma's surrounding them. Receive more of Shandra's story and able to relate to her journey of healing deeper. Understand what women in the USA are facing during this pivotal time in "herstory" and how spiritual healing of one's trauma's can lead to self-discovery and self-love. Have a little more knowledge around the truth of what certain subjects include and are in medical terms.

If you or someone you know is experience a unplanned pregnancy or is looking for support after a loss of pregnancy, the following are great resources. If you are looking for further education around the subjects discussed on this episode, those links are here too.

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560521/ National Library of Medicine - Miscarriage/Spontaneous Abortion
• https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001488.htm Medline Plus - Miscarriage
• https://www.aamc.org/news/what-gender-affirming-care-your-questions-answered Association of American Medical Colleges - Gender Affirming Care (Not just for Trans Folx)
• https://www.plannedparenthood.org/ Planned Parenthood
• https://www.postpartum.net/get-help/loss-grief-in-pregnancy-postpartum March of Dimes - Postpartum Support for Pregnancy loss

Grab our Chakra Clearing meditation at www.igotthewoo.com/meditation and stay up to date on all future episodes.

More from Mystical Alchemy™

• Subscribe: www.mysticalalchemypodcast.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/IGotTheWoo
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/IGotTheWoo
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/IGotTheWoo
• Website: www.igotthewoo.com

*Content Warning* Suicide is briefly mentioned, though not in detail. Additionally there is mention of other trauma.

Description of Episode:

On today's inaugural episode Shandra recounts her traumatic brain injury in 2014, which left her with dissociative amnesia, causing her to lose 31 years of memories. She describes the initial confusion and emotional turmoil, including the support from than man who would become her future spouse and the challenges of reconnecting with her child and mother. Shandra's recovery involved various therapies and the use of plant medicine, which combined, eventually restored her memories. She emphasizes her journey of self-discovery, becoming a Mystic Shaman, and helping others through similar life altering experiences. This podcast episode aims to share her story and tools for personal growth and inspiration.

This is one part of the greater whole that is the story of Shandra's becoming the Phoenix she is.

By the end of this episode you will:

Have a better idea of who Shandra is, why this podcast came to be, and how she became the Spiritual Midwife, Alchemist, and Mystic Shaman she now is.

• Grab our Chakra Clearing meditation at www.igotthewoo.com/meditation and stay up to date on all future episodes.

More from Mystical Alchemy™

• Subscribe: www.mysticalalchemypodcast.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/IGotTheWoo
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/IGotTheWoo
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/IGotTheWoo
• Website: www.igotthewoo.com

Welcome to Mystical Alchemy™, the podcast that takes you on a deep dive of self discovery, healing our shadow self and reconnecting with our inner child. Hosted by podcast host and producer Shandra Shultz. (Evolving on Purpose: Mindful Ancestors Paving the Way)

More from Mystical Alchemy™:

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