So, over the past couple of weeks I have noticed an interesting pattern. An unwillingness to receive. Or, as I like to put it, a gooey, vulnerable, icky part, resting not so soundly on the cusp of my psyche which has trouble receiving.

As humans, we naturally want to give. It is part of how we reach out and connect with another being as well as create secure rapport. Think monkeys in the wild, tending to each other, plucking lice from a fellow monkey’s back. Luckily, we have evolved to give and receive in other, more advanced ways which doesn’t involve lice. However, the base of demonstrating interest, appreciation and bonding is still there.

In this episode, I touch upon how I personally have found receiving hard and how this shows up in relationship with others. I also touch upon attachment modelling and how this can play into how we create meaning whether delicious or not so delicious around receiving. Lastly, I throw in a couple of tips around learning how to receive, which includes a few mindful questions.

Topics

• Personal reflection on receiving and my difficulty in this area
• Bonding through receiving
• How an unwillingness to receive can cut us off from letting love in
• Creating boundaries when choosing what to receive
• Communicating how you feel and becoming curious when receiving support whether emotional, spiritual, physical or materialistic

CONNECT WITH KESTEN

IG: @kestenjean 

Arrh Grief, a universal experience that can bring us to our knees, sweep us off our feet and at the same time, open our hearts. Let’s be real, over the past two years with the onslaught of COVID, everyone has uniquely touched Grief. Grief takes route whenever we have a transition or un met expectations. Yes, this includes a loss of a loved one but Grief can also manifest when transitioning home, opening your first business, attending college for the first time, opening or closing relationships or in Jasmin’s own words, any time we have an unmet expectation or unanticipated transition.

In light of this, I am welcomed by the grounding presence of Jasmin Jenkins. Jasmin is an Integrative Grief guide and founder of Fall Up, A healing space that supports people navigating the spectrum of Grief through 1:1 guidance, mentorship, circles and healing ceremonies. She also partners with The Confetti Project, here, Jasmin holds Grief as celebration events. These events celebrate Grief through confetti and community.

In this conversation, Jasmin shares how she now finds herself in the position to facilitate growth and healing through Grief integration & leading expansive cultural conversations around Grief. Jasmin highlights the ultimate fear around mortality and how we can approach the impermanence of life with courage. We also discuss the full textures of being human, healing through layers, unburdening + softening, the four invitations of Grief work and giving ourself permission to be human.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. 

C.S. Lewis

CONNECT WITH KESTEN

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH JASMIN

IG: jasmin.jenkins 

WEBSITE: www.jasmin-jenkins.com 

FALL UP: www.wefallup.com 

GRIEF AS CELEBRATION: www.theconfettiproject.com 

Here I am joined by Stephanie Strauss. Stephanie is a meditation and mindfulness teacher based in Chicago Illinois. She is part of the dedicated team of “Chill Anywhere”, a meditation and mindfulness app which aims to bring ancient wisdom of stillness into our fast paced modern society.

Stephanie uses the power of intention as a modality in which she believes has the unique ability to allow one to show up in a way which sparks joy, creativity, open heartedness and alignment. In this episode, Stephanie explains what intention work is and how she has used this work as a solid foundation to support herself through life’s changes. She also chats about career switches, societal expectations and giving one’s self compassion when we feel pressed by time. In addition, Stephanie mentions the art of reframing and how this can change the way we conceptualise internal and external situations. Lastly, we chat about hope and how mindfulness + intention work can be the bridge that helps to touch trust. 

TOPICS

• What is intention work
• Career switches
• Societal expectations
• Questioning your own individual journey of life
• The 5 intentions that have impacted Steph’s journey
• Cultivating hope

“There is so much beauty and joy around us if we pause and pay attention”

CONNECT WITH KESTEN

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH STEPHANIE

IG: @stephstaussmindfulness 

WEBSITE: www.stephstraussmindfulness.com 

MEDITATE WITH STEPH: Chill Anywhere App 

Laura Poburan is a North American based Trigger Mapping  coach for coaches, nutritional experts and change makers. Laura helps professionals to deepen their level of self awareness so that they can connect deeper with both their needs and the subconscious needs of clients. Trigger Mapping is based in psychology, neuroscience, communication techniques and mindfulness. Connection + deepening empathetic listening skills are foundational principles in her artfully crafted recipe which forms Trigger Mapping. Her approach to self discovery + business development and ethical marketing makes the Trigger Mapping technique beyond cromulent.

Laura and I are on the same page when it comes to connection. Whether you are in the coaching industry, a business professional, athlete, teacher, student or parent, the ability to deepen your connection with self + other leads to a more fulfilling relationship with the life and circumstances that are presented.

Meeting people where they are, opening space for transformational dialogue, holding space instead of becomming a “fixer”, putting reaction on pause and becoming curious not furious shape this episode. As well as understanding reactions and resistance in a client dynamic and changing your relationship with expectations.  

Ohhhhh, if you are human (I assume your are) then I hope this conversation helps you as much as it personally helped me with my own process. May we all become Curious rather than Furious.      

“ We can’t stop the process, but if we understand it and get curious about it. We have a chance of rewriting it. “

CONNECT WITH KESTEN

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH LAURA

IG: laurapoburan 

WEBSITE: www.laurapoburan.com 

TRIGGER MAPPING 

Meghan Sandve is far from your average fitness coach. With a formula that looks intimately at limited mindset patterns, as well as using techniques such as breathwork and radical self-acceptance, her relationship with fitness culture is pathing a unique path for generations to come. Meghan is on a personal mission to help as many women possible to master their mindset to therefore transform their bodies from the inside out. In addition, Meghan is the host of a sensational podcast platform named the Fit & Fierce Podcast. Here, she dives deeply into her own story and what she herself has learnt from her own process. Topics such as strengthening your emotional agility, healing your relationship with exercise and living from a place of radical self-permission, fashion the Fit & Fierce Podcast + create Meghan’s coaching a safe haven for every person and this ubiquitous felt experience. 

In this episode, Meghan and I chat about her process, this includes healing her association with exercise addiction, disordered eating and disassociated inner relationship. We also chat about how to ditch the toxic diet and fitness culture fed via media, what women actually want, radical self-permission, breathwork, being flexible with your identity and the gap between love and hate. Like a needle pointer at a loom, cultivating the capacity to feel safe within yourself is woven throughout this episode.

“We are searching for love, connection and safety and the most basic of emotions” 

If this podcast helped you in any way, share it with a friend, loved one or through Instagram stories tag @kestenjean. and @meghansandve I would love to know your takeaway and hear your Process. Connect with me via Instagram and send a message. I would be honoured to hear your story. Subscribe, review and rate on iTunes as all support is appreciated. 

CONNECT WITH KESTEN

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH MEGHAN

IG: @meghansandve 

WEBSITE: www.fitandfierce.co 

PODCAST: Fit & Fierce 

Heather Roddy lives in Austin, TX and is an Intuitive Soul Coach & podcast host of Coffee Talks with Roddy. Roddy empowers empaths and highly sensitives alike to harness their gifts, connect to their authentic voice, step into their power and to monetarize their gifts. Roddy is deeply passionate about her coaching practice as she has struggled with being a Sensitive Empath her entire life. This has been a cause of much suffering which revealed itself in the form of anxiety.  Through her own personal development, gaining her certificate as an energy coach and growing her heart centred business, what she has learned is that this healing work is changing Empaths & Sensitives lives in ways they never thought possible.

In this episode, Roddy mentions the imperative role of setting boundaries as an empath, the importance of coming home to your authenticity, finding community and belonging as an HSP + empath, letting go of doing, dismantling belief systems, being clear on your needs and asking for space in relationships. If you are a self-proclaimed HSP or Empath wishing to feel seen, heard and connected, this is the episode for you!   

“We are so busy; we are so distracted and we don’t take time to stop and get curious. The inquiry of who am I and what do I really want is a process. It’s a dismantling of belief systems that you thought was yours but really was not yours.”

If this podcast helped you in any way, share it with a friend, loved one or through Instagram stories tag @kestenjean. and @theroddymethod I would love to know your takeaways and hear your Process. Connect with me via Instagram and send a message. I would be honoured to hear your story. Subscribe, review and rate on iTunes as all support is appreciated. 

CONNECT WITH KESTEN

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH RODDY

IG: @theroddymethod

WEBSITE: www.theroddymethod.com 

PODCAST: Coffee Talks With Roddy 

Mike Dayem is a coach, author, speaker and I declare a poet at heart. As mental diagnoses continue to rise and be such an ominous presence in modern society and deeply embedded in our culture, Mike has made it his mission to help shift stigma on mental health. He believes that mental health is not something to shun, silence or “cure”; but something to respect, listen to and understand.  Through his own brush with suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression, Mike truly knows how one’s own mania can shape an individual and gently coax them to seek new ways of communicating with life. Meditation, mindfulness and psychology have been the foundations in which Mike has been able to understand his own internal workings and connect with a larger, ever continuing sense of stability. Mike helps clients to transform their relationship with mental health, moulding anxiety and depression into a resource and guidance system to authenticity as well as a more enriched way of living.

In this episode, Mike and I discuss his experience with mental health, channelling emotions into healthy forms of energy, how emotions + thoughts are interpreted in physical, philosophical and mental stories, as well as changing the relationship with mental health, suicide and life. Mike also mentions how to honour big thoughts + feelings whilst ALSO continuing to remain in touch with a grounded sense of self. This episode is full of common humanity and probes the listener to question stories and deepen their relationship with self as well as mindfulness.

This episode does mention suicide and some pretty “tough” topics. If you are or have experienced such thoughts or emotions, I ask that you turn to a counsellor, mental health professional, loved one or friend for support. In Australia, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. Likewise, contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline on 1-800-273-8255 if you are based in the USA.

“When you really put yourself into someone else’s shoes. How do you come back to you? That which is bigger than all of this is going to allow me to find my way back to myself.  THAT is the exploration.”

If this podcast helped you in any way, share it with a friend, loved one or through Instagram stories tag @kestenjean. and @mikedayem.  I would love to know your takeaways and hear your Process. Connect with me via Instagram and send a message. I would be honoured to hear your story. Subscribe, review and rate on iTunes as all support is appreciated. 

CONNECT WITH ME

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH MIKE

IG: @mikedayem 

WEBSITE: www.mikedayem.com 

BOOK: From Suicide to Superhuman: Accepting Mental Illness and its Role in Global Sanity. 

COACHING: Cracking The Narrative 

Ben Dorfman is the founder of Seattle Acupuncture and Coaching. His passion for wellbeing was first encouraged by his mother, a well-known dietician. As Ben encountered his own personal struggles, which were shaped in clouds of inner turmoil, a barrage of unwanted thoughts and feelings that felt like serial loss, this core need for relief prompted him to look for answers through psychology and spirituality. Now Ben, a true architect of body and mind, bridges the gap between the physical and emotional in regard to medicine.

Ben has a unique way of connecting through vulnerability and humour, allowing myself as a host to un armour. This I can only imagine transpires effortlessly into his coaching repertoire and TCM expertise.  Ben and I discuss his journey that led him to attachment theory based coaching, attachment styles and how each style can manifest in the body. We also chat about the struggle to be vulnerable in a romantic relationship, the normal progression of vulnerability in different group settings and covert trauma. Additionally, Ben mentions the importance of having support to label bodily sensations when uncovering trauma.

“It blew me away, what it felt like to be in the presence of someone who’s willing to be honest and reveal themselves”

“Our present moment now will always reflect unresolved past things from before”

If this podcast helped you in any way, share it with a friend, loved one or through Instagram stories tag @kestenjean.  I would love to know your takeaways and hear your Process. Connect with me via Instagram and send a message. I would be honoured to hear your story. Subscribe, review and rate on iTunes as all support is appreciated. 

CONNECT WITH ME

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH BEN

IG: On hold, will update when Ben is back from his break

WEBSITE: www.seattleacupunctureandcoaching.com

Amber Campion is a trauma-informed yoga teacher, somatic yoga therapist, & integrative leadership coach. She is also the founder of Dynamic Release Method and The Fulfillment Formula. Both a mindful, intuitive and intentional way to look at life holistically and become clear on personal values. Here, she weaves somatic yoga and embodiment practices such as self-myofascial release to help foster a sense of inner connection. This connection creates a space (a mindful pause) which serves as a prerequisite, an appetiser if you will, to what she calls, envisioning work.

At a young age, Amber, like a moth to a flame, was drawn to poetry, philosophy and art. This flame opened the furnace of her heart, which encouraged the importance of self-expression, steeped her love of humanity and prodded deep curiosity. For more than a decade, Amber has worked in the field of emotional intelligence, personal development, mindfulness, yoga and self-discovery.  This has led her to create embodied trainings, workshops, retreats, masterminds, and online courses which aim to bring your â€œFull Self” to the world. For six and a half years, Amber mentored and taught mindfulness to incarcerated youth for a non-profit, encouraged by one of her mentors. Mentorship and the magic potential when someone truly “sees” you is very much threaded through this podcast episode, as well as Ambers life. May this podcast episode caress your creativity and inspire you to open to your own poem of life.

In this episode Amber and I discuss her journey, what led her work as a mentor, storyteller and leader in self-expression and mindfulness. Additionally, the essentialness of mentorship, the gift of working with incarcerated youth, the importance of tiny rituals to create lasting impact and her experience at a Vipassana meditation retreat in the jungle of Brazil. We also chat about releasing control, the seven common mind traps that as humans we may find ourselves oscillate between and how creativity and poetry arrange the foundations of her life.

“Mindfulness encourages us to look at the brutality as much as it encourages us to see the beauty.”

“Embodiment helps to release the armour, that we as humans put on to naturally protect ourselves. However, it also keeps our life at bay. Keeping us from really bringing our full selves into the world.”

Topics

Ambers Journey which led her to the wellness space in NY and room setting for Deepak Chopra.

The importance of mentorship.

Her Vipassana retreat experience.

Developing a muscle of awareness.

How mindfulness shapes her life and work.

The “Itty Bitty Shitty Committee”.

Seven common mind traps.

Embodiment work.

Dynamic Release Method & Fulfillment Formula.

Check out Ambers offering RITUAL and FLOURISH

If this podcast helped you in any way, share it with a friend, loved one or through Instagram stories tag @kestenjean and @ambercampion. I would love to know your takeaways and hear your Process. Connect with me via Instagram and send a message. I would be honoured to hear your story. Subscribe, review and rate on iTunes as all support is appreciated. 

CONNECT WITH ME

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH AMBER

IG: @ambercampion

WEBSITE: www.ambercampion.com 

YOUTUBE: Amber Campion 

Holiday season, a time in which both joy and sorrow collide, creating a rich kaleidoscope of brightly coloured emotions both individualised and shared. With this, may come the pull to reach for old coping mechanisms. Of many, food being one of the most common mechanism in which we may find relief.

So, here we have Lindsay Fein, a certified Intuitive eating Coach and wellbeing Counsellor. Through Lindsay’s own experience, being ostracised as a teen and judged through the eyes of a perfection seeking society, food became a refuge. And like most stories, there comes a moment when a pause has been touched and there lays a space in which you realise you have choice. In this pause, Lindsay recognised that no matter how much external validation one gets, it never seems enough. Here, Lindsay found her own sense of Validation. Validation in her own being, in her story and in her process.

On this episode, Lindsay and I discuss her own journey, the importance of listening to internal ques, cultivating self-trust and the 10 guiding principles of intuitive eating. We also chat about how to tend to emotional needs with compassion, distinguishing between hunger and emotional eating and how mindfulness plays an important role in her coaching technique.

Topics highlighted

Listening to internal direction instead of external noise

10 guiding principles of intuitive eating

Lindsay’s journey into intuitive eating and now coaching

Cultivating self-trust

Distinguishing between hunger and emotional eating

How mindfulness has helped Lindsay tune into her body, therefore helping her relationship with food.

Tending to your emotional needs

Letting passion lead you

If this podcast helped you in any way, share it with a friend, loved one or through Instagram stories tag @kestenjean and @lindsay.fein. I would love to know your takeaways and hear your Process. Connect with me via Instagram and send a message. I would be honoured to hear your story. Subscribe, review and rate on iTunes as all support is appreciated. 

CONNECT WITH ME

IG: @kestenjean 

CONNECT WITH LINDSAY

IG: @lindsay.fein 

FREE CLARITY CALL: book here