The Cycle Breakers Podcast

In this Season 2 finale, I open up about my own story. This is a personal conversation about the last 4 years of reconnecting to my Anishinaabe roots, my spirit, my authentic self, and finding my way home. After this season's massive growth, with listenership quadrupling and the Cycle Breakers podcast community expanding, this episode marks both a pause and a turning point. It is a moment to reflect, to ground, and to speak directly to those walking a similar path of reconnection. If there is one thing I hope you take from this episode, it's this: you do not need to earn your ancestry - you already belong. I also share my early vision for creating a space for reconnecting Indigenous women, a community rooted in belonging, safety, and shared experience. Thank you for being part of this season! I will be back for Season 3 in the fall.

In this episode, I talk about:

• The identity crisis of reconnection, including imposter syndrome and feeling between worlds
• The grief and loneliness of finding your way back
• Building relationships with Creator, ancestors, land, and self
• Letting go of the need to prove or rush the process
• Accepting that not everyone will understand your journey

LINKS

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

The Freedom Method™️ Certification

Private Mentorship for Indigenous Leaders

Indigenous Employee Empowerment Program

In this solo episode, I talk about blood memory and how the patterns, trauma, and resilience we inherit shape the way we live and lead.

I get into how so many of our responses come from survival, not choice, and how those patterns can be passed down through generations. But more importantly, I share how they can actually be changed.

This is both a reflection and an invitation. You are not just carrying your lineage, you are shaping what comes next.

If you have ever felt stuck in patterns that do not feel like your own, or wondered if real change is even possible, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, I cover:

• What blood memory is and how it shows up in your life • How generational trauma shapes the way you respond • Why were many of your patterns never consciously chosen • What it looks like to move from survival into self-leadership • Tools to start rewiring those patterns through subconscious and somatic work • What it really means to become a cycle breaker in your lineage

LINKS:

The Freedom Method™️ Certification

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

Private Mentorship for Indigenous Leaders

Indigenous Employee Empowerment Program

In this honest conversation, Rachael sits down with Sheryl-Ann Carscadden (SAS) and Christine John, two Indigenous leaders who are reshaping how we understand harm, healing, and responsibility within our communities and workplaces.

Sheryl-Ann Carscadden (SAS) is the Founder and Owner of Sundance Source Consulting. With more than 30 years of experience, SAS works alongside Indigenous communities, industry leaders, and organizations to build relationships grounded in respect and shared purpose.

Christine John is the Founder & Principal Consultant of Owl Vision Strategies, bringing over 20 years of energy sector experience and a deep commitment to advancing reconciliation

Together, they explore the reality of lateral violence, how it stems from systemic and historical harm, and the subtle ways it continues to show up today through exclusion, competition, and silence. More importantly, they introduce the concept of lateral kindness, a deliberate practice of compassion, accountability, and conscious change.

This conversation moves beyond awareness and into action, asking what it really means to interrupt harmful patterns and become a cycle breaker in our own lives.

In this episode, we explore:

• What lateral violence is and how it shows up in everyday spaces
• The impact of colonial systems on relationships and community dynamics
• The concept of "distortion of care" and how protection can turn into harm
• Lateral kindness as an intentional practice, not just an idea
• How to create safety, belonging, and accountability in workplaces and communities

LINKS

Sheryl-Ann Carscadden's LinkedIn

Sheryl-Ann Carscadden's Website

Christine John's LinkedIn

Christine John's Website

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

The Freedom Method™️ Certification

In this solo episode, I share how somatic healing became the missing link in my trauma healing journey and why it's less about learning something new and more about remembering what our bodies already know.

After years of hearing "regulate your nervous system," I finally understood how trauma lives in the body and why mindset work alone wasn't enough. Through somatic practices, I was able to move out of survival mode, build emotional resilience, and create real, lasting change.

We also explore how this work connects to ancestral wisdom, especially within Indigenous communities, and why so many people are being called back to the body right now.

In This Episode:

• Somatic healing for trauma and nervous system regulation
• Why talk therapy and mindset work weren't enough
• How trauma affects the brain and body
• Expanding your window of tolerance and emotional capacity
• Moving from survival mode to stability and growth
• Somatics as ancestral remembrance and embodied healing

Links:

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

Freedom Method™️ Info Session April 23rd

The Freedom Method™️ Certification (we start May 13th)

In this conversation, Rachael sits down with Dra. Rocío Rosales Meza, a Mexicana/Chicana seer, medicine woman in the Q'ero Inca lineage, and former Counseling Psychology PhD and professor whose life took a profound turn from academia to ancestral healing.

She shares the life-altering moment that shifted her from a tenured academic career into ancestral medicine, and how chronic illness, loss, and surrender became the doorway to her true purpose.

What unfolds in this episode is not just a story of personal transformation, but a powerful reflection on the systems we are taught to trust, and the cost of staying disconnected from our bodies, our spirit, and the Earth.

If you are navigating your own awakening, questioning the systems you were taught to trust, or feeling the pull toward something deeper this conversation will stay with you. In this episode, we explore:

🕊️ The breaking point that led Doctora Rocío from academia to ancestral medicine 🕊️ What "decolonial shadow work" actually looks like in daily life 🕊️ The concept of colonial collusion and how it shapes modern living 🕊️ Reclaiming ancestral wisdom while living in a modern world 🕊️ The difference between transactional healing and relational, embodied practice LINKS

Dra. Rocio Rosales Meza's Instagram

Dra. Rocio Rosales Meza's Website

Dra. Rocio Rosales Meza's Healer's Journey

Dra. Rocio Rosales Meza's Newsletter Sign up

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

The Freedom Method™️ Certification (Spring 2026 cohort enrolling)

Indigenous Employee Empowerment Program

In this powerful conversation, Rachael sits down with Susan Aglukark - renowned Inuk Canadian singer-songwriter, Juno Award winner, and Officer of the Order of Canada - whose music has shaped the landscape of Indigenous storytelling in this country.

Best known for her iconic 1995 hit O Siem, Susan became the first Inuk performer to reach the Top 10 in Canada. But beyond her accolades - including the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement and the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award - this conversation centers on the woman behind the music.

Together, they explore how her career unfolded unexpectedly, the loneliness and lack of belonging that shaped her early life, and the deeper layers of healing, identity, and responsibility that came with becoming a voice for so many. Drawing from her memoir Kihiani, Susan shares what it means to move from survival into self-discovery, and how creativity became a pathway back to herself.

In this episode we explore:

• How Susan Aglukark's music career unfolded unexpectedly and what guided her path, including the impact of O Siem
• The impact of trauma, loneliness, and not belonging and how it lived in her body
• The shift from survival mode into intentional healing and self-awareness
• Writing, journaling, and creativity as tools for processing, expression, and release
• Confidence vs. arrogance and staying grounded while navigating visibility and responsibility
• Rediscovering joy through art, and what it means to return to yourself

LINKS

Susan's Website

Arctic Rose Foundation Website

Kihiani: A Memoir of Healing

Susan's Instagram

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

The Freedom Method™️ Certification

Private Mentorship for Indigenous Leaders

Indigenous Employee Empowerment Program

Podcast Studio: Jilani Place

·

In this solo episode, I share a deeply personal & vulnerable reflection on my journey with humility - from navigating many a ego death / rock bottoms in the past few years & being repeatedly humbled in ways that reshaped how I lead, live, and relate to myself. This is an honest conversation about what it actually means to walk in integrity, let go of needing to prove yourself, and lead in a good way.

In this episode, I cover:

🧡 Being initiated into the Seven Sacred Teachings and why humility challenged me most

🧡 The ego, survival patterns, and blindspots I couldn't see before

🧡 The breakdowns that forced me to face myself and let go of the mask

🧡 What humility really is (and releasing the need to prove or perform)

🧡 Leading from honesty, groundedness, and connection to Creator

LINKS

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

The Freedom Method™️ Certification

Private Mentorship for Indigenous Leaders

Indigenous Employee Empowerment Program

Podcast Studio: Jilani Place

In this episode, I'm joined by Asha Frost - an Indigenous Medicine Woman, and the international best-selling author of You are the Medicine, The Sacred Medicine Oracle, and The Animal Elders Oracle. She has guided thousands of people through profound and lasting transformation as a healer, homeopath and ceremonial guide and has become a prominent speaker in the field of Indigenous healing, garnering recognition on both local and international platforms.

Asha holds membership at Chippewas of Nawash First Nation and is a mama of two boys with whom she walks gently upon the earth. She loves sharing her Medicine in powerful ways through ceremonies, teachings, and speaking events. Through this work, she loves seeing people reclaim their roots, find their healing wisdom, and rise into their power.

This conversation dives into boundaries as self-respect, the pressure placed on Indigenous women to carry more than is theirs, and how reconnecting with ancestors can guide purpose, clarity, and grounded leadership. In this episode, we discuss:

• Honouring the void space through a decolonized, Indigenous lens

• Navigating "inner winter" and cycles of rest, pause, and becoming

• The expectations placed on Indigenous women and the impact on well-being

• Boundaries as an act of self-respect, not disconnection

• Wisdom for women who struggle to take up space and be seen

• Connecting with ancestors as guides for purpose and direction

LINKS

Asha's Website

Asha's Instagram

You Are The Medicine: Book

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

The Freedom Method™️ Certification

Private Mentorship for Indigenous Leaders

Indigenous Employee Empowerment Program

Podcast Studio: Jilani Place

In this deeply intimate conversation, Rachael sits down with Patricia June Vickers - teacher, artist, psychotherapist, and spiritual director - to explore healing from childhood trauma through the lens of neurofeedback, relational repair, and embodied wisdom.

Patricia shares personal reflections on early trauma and dissociative amnesia, reframing it as a protective intelligence of the nervous system. Together, they unpack how trauma imprints in the brain, how shame forms in two distinct ways, and why healing requires more than insight - it requires safety, repair, and relationship.

Rooted in Northwest Coast Feast Hall teachings, Buddhist wisdom, and the teachings of Christ, this conversation bridges neuroscience and spirituality, offering a grounded, compassionate look at what it truly means to remember ourselves back into wholeness. In this episode, we explore:

• How childhood trauma organizes the brain and how neurofeedback supports neurological healing

• Dissociative amnesia as an intelligent survival response, not a pathology

• The two dimensions of shame and how they shape identity, self-worth, and belonging

• What it means to invite repair as a pathway to real, lasting transformation

• Why community and relational connection are essential for trauma healing

LINKS

Patricia's Website

Raven's Calling Website

Book: Singing to the Darkness

Bessel van der Kolk: 3 Ways Trauma Changes the Brain

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Cycle Breakers YouTube

The Freedom Method™️ Certification

Private Mentorship for Indigenous Leaders

Indigenous Employee Empowerment Program

Podcast Studio: Jilani Place

In her first attempt to attain public office in 2009, Kahsennénhawe Sky-Deer was elected to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke. She served for fifteen consecutive years, culminating with her election as Grand Chief in 2021. She is CEO and President of Sky-Deer Consulting; Vice President at Dable Advisory and Consulting Services and Vice President at Panorama Real Estate Services. She is also the Co-Chair of the Northeast Grid Planning Forum, sits on the President's Advisory at Concordia University, and is a water protector of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River on the Biinaagami Circle. Kahsennenhawe is a proud member of (and advocate for) the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

In this episode, we discuss:

• what leaving community at 20 taught her about resilience
• the courage to be authentic & come out as Two-Spirited
• making history as the first 2SLGBTQ+ woman elected as Grand Chief
• becoming a great leader in community
• trusting the path forward when doors are closing
• an outlook on creating wealth for our peoples

LINKS

Kahs's LinkedIn

Rachael's Website

Rachael's Instagram

Rachael's LinkedIn

The Freedom Method™️ Certification (Winter 2026 cohort enrolling)

Private Mentorship for Indigenous Leaders

Indigenous Employee Empowerment Program