Sparking Wholeness

Host Erin Kerry sits down with naturopathic physician, bodyworker, former dancer, and “Frequent Feeler” Dr. Jenn Rapkin to explore why so many of us struggle to feel our feelings—and how reconnecting with the body can completely transform emotional and physical health.

Drawing from more than 25 years of mind-body work and her new book The Feeling Muscle, Jenn explains the cultural stigma around emotions, the four common forms of emotional avoidance, and why the body often carries what the mind refuses to process. Erin and Jenn unpack everything from grief and distraction to parenting “frequent feelers,” the difference between rumination and true emotional presence, and practical ways to build emotional resilience.

Whether you’re a parent, a healer, a highly sensitive person, or someone who’s spent years pushing feelings down, this conversation offers compassionate, nonjudgmental tools for befriending difficult emotions, expanding your emotional capacity, and healing from the inside out.

Key Topics:

- What it means to be a “Frequent Feeler”

- Why emotions get suppressed—and the cost to the body

- Jenn’s four categories of emotional avoidance

- Rumination vs. body-centered awareness

- How emotional retreat shows up physiologically

- Practical tools for sitting with discomfort

- Parenting strategies for kids with big emotions

- How to break familiar emotional narratives

- Micro-practices for building emotional resilience

- The role of art, movement, and bodywork in processing feelings

- How suppression impacts relationships and nervous system health

Book: The Feeling Muscle

Website: drjennrapkin.com

Instagram: @drjennrapkin

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/

Host Erin Kerry sits down with functional nutritionist and bestselling author of God's Prescription, Terri Ward, MS, FNTP, CGP, to explore the powerful intersection of faith and functional nutrition. Together, they unpack the limitations of the conventional “sick care” model and discuss how root-cause nutrition, gut health, inflammation, and mindset shifts can restore the body according to God’s design.

Terri shares her personal journey from CPA to functional nutritionist, the science of neuroplasticity and prayer, why inflammation is at the root of chronic disease, and how an anti-inflammatory “rainbow diet” can support gut healing and autoimmune recovery. They also tackle controversial topics like seed oils, saturated fats, cholesterol myths, raw milk, sugar reduction, and raising healthy kids in a processed-food world.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by conflicting health information or wondered how Scripture and science work together, this episode will encourage you with practical, faith-based strategies to reclaim your God-given health.

Key Topics:

- Sick Care vs. Root-Cause Healing

- Faith and Neuroplasticity

- Gut Health and Inflammation

- The Anti-Inflammatory Rainbow Diet

- Fat, Cholesterol, and Seed Oil Myths

- Genetics vs. Lifestyle Choices

- Raising Healthy Families Without Food Fear

Links:

Website: Go to terriward.com/sparking for a consult package and food guide from Terri!

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/

Host Erin Kerry is joined by Dr. Nima Rahmany, a trauma and nervous-system expert who helps high-performers heal attachment wounds and become “trigger-proof” in love, leadership, and everyday life.

They break down the least talked about trauma response: fawning—the automatic people-pleasing pattern rooted in attachment injury, self-abandonment, and chronic dysregulation.

You’ll learn how the fawn response affects physiology, how it shapes boundaries, and why your body often becomes the boundary when your voice can’t. They also explore attachment styles, polyvagal theory, somatic healing, and the neuroscience of safety.

Dr. Nima shares practical tools to rewire your stress response, break away from shame, restore connection, and create secure relationships from the inside out.

Links from this episode:
Website: becometriggerproof.com
Attachment Style Quiz: https://becometriggerproof.com/attachment-style-assessment/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnima/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/chironimz

Erin's links:

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/

45 Journaling Prompts for Mind-Body Regulation

https://mailchi.mp/dc24677d1aad/45-journaling-prompts

What if you could literally rewire your brain with the power of your mind?
This week, host Erin Kerry is joined by neurosurgeon, award-winning author, and Iraq War veteran Dr. Lee Warren, whose new book The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery reveals how neuroscience and faith work together to transform our emotional health. Drawing from functional brain imaging research, decades of surgical expertise, and his own story of PTSD and devastating loss, Dr. Warren shares why 80% of your thoughts and feelings aren’t based in truth — and how changing your mind can truly change your life.

They discuss the tools he uses to help people heal from trauma, anxiety, chronic stress, and the emotional spirals that keep us stuck. Dr. Warren explains why not all adversity is trauma, how the brain’s design reflects God’s intentionality, and why curiosity is more powerful than reactivity. Through the concept of “self-brain surgery,” he teaches how to access the resilience your brain was built for.

If you’ve ever wondered how faith, neuroscience, and daily habits can shift your emotional landscape, this conversation will empower you with practical steps toward hope, stability, and renewed mental strength. This episode is for anyone who wants to break old patterns, understand the brain through a Biblical lens, and develop the emotional tools to live a healthier, more connected life.

Website: drleewarren.com

Book: The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery

Podcast: The Dr. Lee Warren Podcast

Instagram: drleewarren

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/

What if depression isn’t “all in your head," but in your body?
In this powerful conversation, host Erin Kerry is joined by Dr. James Greenblatt, MD—one of the world’s leading voices in functional and integrative psychiatry and the pioneer of low-dose nutritional lithium for mental health.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Greenblatt has been sounding the alarm that psychiatry can do better. Much better. And the research finally agrees: depression is influenced by nutrient deficiencies, immune activation, gut dysfunction, endocrine imbalance, and the brain’s biochemical wiring.

This episode unpacks the root causes of depression, why nutritional psychiatry is essential for healing, the truth about serotonin, what clinicians get wrong about deprescribing, and the overlooked nutrients that often make the difference between struggling and thriving.

If you’ve ever felt hopeless, stuck, or confused by your symptoms—or if traditional treatments haven’t worked—this episode will help you see your mental health through an entirely new (and hopeful) lens.

Key Topics:

- Why nutritional psychiatry needs to be integrated into all mental health treatment plans

- The role of amino acids as precursors for neurotransmitters

- Serotonin and depression: science vs. marketing

- What everyone should know about deprescribing antidepressants

- How B vitamins impact mood, methylation, and energy production

- The mineral deficiencies most commonly seen in depression

- The nutritional patterns that support recovery from chronic low mood

- Root causes of PMDD and natural ways to reduce symptoms

- Why Vitamin D is a pivotal regulator of mood and stress

- The surprising role of cholesterol and healthy fats in mental health—and why low cholesterol can increase depression risk

- How functional psychiatry gets to the root cause instead of masking symptoms

- A preview of Dr. Greenblatt’s new book, Finally Hopeful


Links:

Website: jamesgreenblattmd.com

Book: Finally Hopeful

Instagram: @psychiatryredefined

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/

In this powerful conversation, host Erin Kerry is joined by Gina Birkemeier, LPC—licensed professional counselor, international speaker, and award-winning author of Generations Deep. Gina is a leading voice on generational trauma, helping thousands understand how faith, neuroscience, biology, and epigenetics intersect to shape our emotional and spiritual health.

Together, they explore how trauma can be passed down through both learned behavior and biological imprinting—and how God designed the brain and nervous system with the capacity to heal, rewire, and experience safety again.

Key Topics:

- What generational trauma actually is and how it shows up in everyday life

- How epigenetics influences genetic expression and emotional patterns

- Why God’s nervous system design equips us to shift our default settings

- The neuroscience behind being “wired for healing”

- How to find safety in discomfort and build resilience

- The generational impact of shame and how it fuels the fawn response

- Why breaking patterns begins with awareness—not self-blame

This episode offers both scientific grounding and Biblical hope, reminding you that what runs in your family doesn’t have to run your life.

About Gina:

Instagram: @myoutloudvoice
Book: Generations Deep
Website: https://www.ginabirkemeier.com/

Substack: https://ginabirkemeierlpc.substack.com/

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/

What do you do when faith doesn’t make the pain disappear?

In this deeply grounding conversation, host Erin Kerry sits down with Dominique Young, founder of Faith Mamas Inc., to talk honestly about pain, fear, and the temptation to hide—both from God and from others.

Dominique shares how her own experiences with suffering shaped her ministry and her new book, God, Where Are You, challenging the Christian “quick fix” mentality that often pressures believers to move past pain before it’s been acknowledged. With wisdom rooted in Scripture, psychology, and lived experience, she invites listeners to stop masking, stop spiritualizing discomfort away, and instead allow God to meet them inside their pain.

This episode explores what it really means to feel uncomfortable emotions without shame, how faith communities can become safer spaces for those who are hurting, and why true healing begins when we rest in our God-given identity—not performance, productivity, or pretending.

If you’ve ever wondered where God is in your suffering, this conversation is a reminder: you don’t have to hide to belong.

Key Topics:

- Why pain doesn’t mean God is absent

- The cost of hiding behind spiritual “quick fixes”

- Giving yourself permission to feel hard emotions

- Vulnerability, identity, and emotional honesty in faith spaces

- How churches and communities can better support suffering

- Resting in who you are—not who you perform as

Guest Info:

Instagram: @dominiqueyoung

YouTube: Faith Family Worldwide

Website: dominiquenyoung.com

Dominique's Book: God, Where Are You (available wherever books are sold)

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/

This solo episode with host Erin Kerry reflects on the most impactful mental health conversations from 2025: anxiety, nervous system regulation, gut-brain connection, hormone health, trauma, and faith.

Erin shares a whole-body, faith-forward framework for mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health—grounded in neuroscience, nutrition, and Scripture.

This episode is for anyone who feels tired of pressure-based healing and is ready for compassion, regulation, and hope.

Topics Covered:

- Anxiety and the nervous system

- Why anxiety is not a faith failure

- Gut-brain-hormone connections

- Perimenopause, hormone shifts and mental health

- Faith and neuroscience working together

- Moving from survival mode into wholeness

Book Mentioned:
Live Beyond Your Label by Erin Kerry, erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook

Journaling Prompt Resource Mentioned:

https://mailchi.mp/dc24677d1aad/45-journaling-prompts

Health coaching interest form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfBahf6Wv677i9tlcF_6uIrfvfPzUmWNjrykpVxGWpKegfWWA/viewform?usp=header

Chris Morris is an author, speaker, and ministry leader helping others navigate depression, suicidal thoughts, and emotional pain through the integration of theology, therapy-informed tools, and spiritual formation.

In 2020, Chris reached a breaking point. After a suicide attempt, he experienced a life-altering encounter with God—one marked by a simple but radical message: “I still love you.” That moment became the foundation for his healing journey and a renewed approach to mental health, faith, and community.

A graduate of Northern Seminary, Chris brings depth, humor, and theological insight to complex mental health conversations. He is the author of Resilient and Redeemed, Trucking Toward Tenacity, and By Faith, and is a sought-after speaker at national events, including the Disability and the Church Conference.

In this episode, Chris and host Erin Kerry talk honestly about rock-bottom moments, what the church often misses in mental health conversations, how community reshapes our healing stories, and practical rhythms—like morning routines—that support emotional resilience and hope.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your mental health struggles disqualify you from God’s love, this conversation is for you.

Follow Chris on Instagram at @chrismorriswrites

Learn more about his books at chrismorriswrites.com

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/

Buy Erin’s brain healthy recipe book, co-written by pediatrician Dr. Alina Olteanu here:

https://a.co/d/ateoVxx

Robin Long is the Founder and CEO of Lindywell, a global wellness brand helping women build strength, reduce stress, and find balance through Pilates, nutrition and nervous.system support. What began in her living room has grown into a global digital platform serving tens of thousands of members in over 80 countries - and recently celebrated 10 years of empowering women to feel strong, vibrant, and resilient at every age.

Her “grace over guilt” philosophy and sustainable approach to wellness have been featured on The Today Show, LIVE with Kelly & Ryan, Well + Good, and the Lindywell app was voted Best Pilates App by Women's Health Magazine. As a mom of four, Robin is passionate about building a company that aligns with her values - proving it’s possible to grow a successful business while prioritizing family, health, and purpose.

In this episode, Robin shares how nervous system dysregulation impacts exercise tolerance, blood sugar balance, hormone health, and mental well-being, especially for women in midlife. Together, Erin and Robin unpack why intensity isn’t always better, how short consistent movement supports resilience, and how nourishment, breath, and self-compassion create true healing from the inside out.

This conversation weaves science, psychology, and faith into a compassionate framework for sustainable strength, calm, and purpose, reminding us that wholeness begins when the body feels safe.

Key Topics:

- How Pilates rebuilds connection to the body instead of punishing it

- The hidden nervous system cost of high-intensity, all-or-nothing workouts

- Why consistency matters more than intensity for long-term health

- Nervous system dysregulation, burnout, and midlife hormone shifts

- How stress and over-exercise contribute to blood sugar dysregulation

- Why protein, fat, and fiber stabilize both mood and energy

- Nutrition “noise” to let go of (supplement overload, perfectionism)

- Why the body can’t heal if it doesn’t feel safe

- Redefining health beyond body size, aesthetics, and fitness culture

- Self-compassion as a biological regulator, not just a mindset shift

- Honoring your God-given purpose through sustainable care of your body

Download Robin’s Lindywell app to access her workouts, recipes, and mediations.

Follow her on Instagram at @wearelindywell and @robinmarielong

Join Erin’s monthly mailing list to get health tips and fresh meal plans and recipes every month:

https://mailchi.mp/adde1b3a4af3/monthlysparksignup

Order Erin’s new book, Live Beyond Your Label, at erinbkerry.com/upcomingbook/