The Soul's Work Podcast

In this special birthday episode, Janice and her special guest interviewer (her almost 1-year partner, a.k.a. Sugar) sit down to reflect on Janice's life and path ahead as she turns the big 4-0. Janice answers:

• What makes you happy?
• Are there such thing as happy coincidences in life? 
• What scares you? And will you meet that fear face to face one day?
• What's been rewarding and challenging about navigating polyamory?
• What's one thing you did in your past relationships that you'd change?
• What role does sex play in your life? What does it do for you, and what do you bring to it?
• How does Sugar factor into your life? 
• Why did you decide to become a therapist?
• What would you tell a younger version of yourself based on what you know now?
• Does turning 40 scare you? 
• How do you approach aging in general? (Including how Janice grapples with beauty standards)
• What's on your bucket list?
• If you could see into the future, what's one thing you'd want to see?

Rate & review the podcast:

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• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

Are you feeling the weight of the seemingly endless and senseless tragedies of today’s world? Are you wanting to stay informed and contribute to change but find it hard to not disconnect after hearing about yet another mass shooting? In this episode, Janice shares about the grief, despair, anger, and rage (amidst moments of levity and joy) she’s been experiencing these days and what’s helped her to cope and cultivate enough resilience to stay engaged without becoming overwhelmed (understanding that it’s always a WIP!). She also shares about why issues of social justice matter so deeply to her, including how her past struggles shaped her perspectives on what doing the “self-work” and coming back into wholeness really means.

CW: Topics of intergenerational, complex, and structural trauma are discussed in this episode as well as brief mentions of some of the recent tragic happenings in the world. Please take care of yourself as you listen in. 

Rate & review the podcast on:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with me:

• Instagram: @janicehoimages | @janicehocounselling
• Facebook: @thesoulsworkpodcast
• Email: [email protected]

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• My Grandmother’s Hands, Resmaa Menakem
• Leesa Renee Hall (Patreon): https://www.patreon.com/innerfieldtrip 
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Instagram): @AOC | May 25, 2022 IG Live 
• Lama Rod Owens (Instagram): @lamarodofficial | Tending to Our Grief through Love and Prayer IG Live
• Rooted Global Village: https://www.rootedglobalvillage.com/ 
• The Wild Edge of Sorrow, Francis Weller

Podcast editing:

Many thanks to Dexter Charles for his great work editing this episode! Please reach out to Dexter for inquiries if you're also needing help with podcast editing: 

• Telegram: +1 758-730-3677
• Email: [email protected]

Janice and her guest (also dating partner) Steve LeBlanc get vulnerable chatting about how early abandonment trauma has impacted their later relationships and capacity for connection. In part 2 of their conversation, they dive into:

• Integrating the inner work into relationships
• Healing from infidelity
• Steve’s greater self-awareness of his triggers in present-day situations
• Experiencing secure attachment and freedom in a consensually non-monogamous relationship
• Developing a safe container to be present (and just be) in the relationship
• Healing sexual trauma and unlearning patterns in relationship
• How Steve’s earlier sexual experiences led to repressing his needs and being performative in later relationships
• The differences Steve has experienced between having sex with men versus women
• A spontaneous, real-time moment of processing between Steve and Janice about Steve’s internalized belief that women don’t want him sexually
• A mutually healing sexual experience between Janice and Steve
• The need for both clear communication and an understanding of the nuanced power dynamics in heterosexual relationships
• Steve’s understanding of his privileges and some ways he’s developed empathy
• What Steve hopes for going forward with connection and love

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Steve LeBlanc:

• Instagram: @steve_leblanc

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

Janice and her guest (also dating partner) Steve LeBlanc get vulnerable chatting about how early abandonment trauma has impacted their later relationships and capacity for connection. In part 1 of their conversation, they dive into:

• The research on how impaired connection in early childhood can lead to the abandonment wound
• The impacts of Steve’s early relationships with his parents on his self-identity and later relationships
• Experiencing co-dependency, anxious attachment, and low self-esteem
• How the stories Steve told himself didn’t reflect reality
• Becoming a “chameleon” to fit in and be liked
• Taking on the “lone wolf” identity to protect against the fear of rejection and abandonment 
• Doing the work to shift from abandonment trauma to connection
• Becoming conscious of the stories and self-beliefs of unbelonging and abandonment
• Becoming the good parent/guide for ourselves that we always needed

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Steve LeBlanc:

• Instagram: @steve_leblanc

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

Janice and her guest Hari Alexandra, a coach who helps women heal trauma, share about how their experiences of childhood trauma have impacted their adult relationships, their 4-year healing journeys, and the process of integrating the inner work into relationships in everyday life. The conversation dives into:

• Hari's and Janice's childhood relationships with their fathers and anger 
• Hari's experience with energy healing (how it was both helpful and limited)
• How Hari's and Janice's experiences of childhood trauma led to people pleasing and anxious/avoidant tendencies in adulthood 
• The spiritual experience in Thailand that started Hari on her 4-year path to healing trauma and holding space for others to heal 
• What are the third eye, chakras, and channeling?
• Hari's coaching work helping women heal trauma and improve their romantic relationships
• Hari's and Janice's personal work healing their feminine wounds and cultivating deeper friendships with other women
• Healing their relationship to the masculine, including with sex
• Learning how to work through conflict and be held in relationships 
• Integrating the inner work into the messiness of real-life relationships 

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Hari Alexandra:

• Website: www.sacredflute.org
• Instagram: @sacred_flute

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice and her guest Youhjung Son, an art therapist and business coach, demystify what art psychotherapy (or "art therapy" for short) is, and how it helps people tap into their inner world in powerful ways that talk therapy can sometimes miss. 

Youhjung also talks about her coaching work helping budding art therapists make a career out of this practice, and Janice shares about her experience getting a "taste" of art therapy through Youhjung's online exercises.

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Youhjung Son:

• Website: www.thirstyforart.com
• YouTube: @thirstyforart
• Instagram: @thirstyforartofficial
• Podcast: Thirsty For Art - Art Therapist Podcast

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• "Art for Anxiety | Self Art Therapy Activity Session" (Thirsty For Art, YouTube)

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice shares about some of her personal experiences exploring solo polyamory over the past few months. She defines what consensual non-monogamy, polyamory, and solo polyamory are to get us on the same playing field, then answers the most common questions and/or misperceptions she gets when telling others about her new way of doing relationships, including:

1. Why did you decide to explore polyamory?
2. Solo polyamory sounds like dating with no commitment.
3. How many people would you be seeing at one time?
4. What if you want more (from your already married partner)? 
5. Don't you ever get jealous?
6. Maybe you just haven't found the right one yet.
7. You must have gotten really hurt in relationships to be doing this.
8. Wow, it sounds complicated.
9. Is polyamory easier or harder than monogamy?

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Polysecure (Jessica Fern)
• Off the Relationship Escalator: Uncommon Love and Life website (Amy Gahran)  
• Solo Polyamory Facebook Group
• “10 Common (But Annoying) Questions About Solo Polyamory” (Roselyn Thomas, Loving Solo) 

Also check out:

• @polyamorouswhileasian (Instagram)
• @polyphiliablog (Instagram)  
• Happy Polydays Podcast

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice and her guest Gwendolyn Dolske (philosophy professor and host of the Good Is In The Details Podcast) discuss the current "intimacy recession" among young people that is not only keeping individuals from experiencing pleasureful sex, but also placing them in risky situations. 

They share about their own experiences of learning how to bring more intimacy into their relationships and discovering what turns them on, from erotic novels to BDSM. And they talk about the harmful impacts of denying our young people nuanced sex education and open, honest conversations about sex and intimacy. 

This episode covers:

• What is philosophy and how does it shape our lives?
• Gwendolyn’s philosophy course on sex and love 
• The current sex and intimacy “recession” among young people
• What’s missing: knowing our own bodies and pleasure first
• The taboo of masturbation for girls
• Gwendolyn’s personal path to discovering intimacy and pleasureful sex
• The disconnect between how young men behave vs. how they really feel about intimacy
• The phenomenon of young women giving sexual favors just to end a date
• How men are also harmed living in a heterosexual, mysognistic culture
• How BDSM can give people the space to explore different sides of their sexuality, including submissiveness for men
• How consent and open conversations actually enhance your sex life
• What Gwendolyn has learned as a professor from her students
• What gives Gwendolyn hope about the younger generations 
• How to connect with Gwendolyn

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Gwendolyn Dolske:

• Instagram: @goodisinthedetailspod  
• Instagram: @profdolske 
• Podcast: Good Is In The Details Podcast  

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir
• The Symposium, Plato
• “WHY ARE YOUNG PEOPLE HAVING SO LITTLE SEX?” (Kate Julian, The Atlantic)
• "How To Be A FemDom" (Good Is In The Details Podcast)
• Overthink Podcast  
• “What young women believe about their own sexual pleasure” (Peggy Ornstein, TEDWomen 2016)  
• For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color (Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez)  

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice explains why is the body so important in healing trauma. She also shares some body-based (somatic) practices that can help us build a foundation for addressing trauma and coming back to our "whole selves" by:

• Expanding our capacity to be aware of, and stay with, our body's internal physical sensations and emotions 
• Reducing hypervigilance 
• Staying curious and open to the people and environment around us
• Noticing more easily when we aren't aligned with our grounded, authentic selves.

Over time, these practices can support us in building the capacity to handle more emotional charge when diving deeper into healing trauma, walk away from harmful situations earlier, be more present in the moment, and feel more alive in our bodies.

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• “The Missing Piece: Healing Trauma through Somatic and Mind-Body Therapies” (The Soul’s Work Blog)  
• Yoga Nidra (Janice uses Insight Timer App)
• Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy (Susan McConnell)
• Coming to Our Senses (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
• My Grandmother’s Hands (Resmaa Menakem)
• Awaken to the World Alive! mindfulness foundations course (Rooted Global Village)
• "Orienting as a resource" Drop-In Class with Irene, February 20, 2021 (Irene Lyon)
• Grounded dancing (Joy-Marie Thompson)
• Tending the Roots Festival, April 6–9, 2022 (Rooted Global Village)
• "Liberate Your Soul’s Voice Through Song" workshop (Thorald and Isaac Koren, hosted by The Shift Network)
• "Singing is For Everyone: Technologies of Liberation" (Eli Conley, Rooted Global Village)

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.

In this episode, Janice and her guest Erica Wiederlight (sexual empowerment and dating coach) discuss practices for exploring our own pleasure (it's probably not what you think), how to be more in tune with our bodies and less in our heads, and being with the confronting bits that often come up in our exploration of pleasure. 

Erica also shares about the transformative coaching work she does to help clients navigate the often unfamiliar (sometimes scary) journey of getting in touch with what pleasure means to them. 

This is not a surface-level conversation about pleasure and embodiment. The nuance in this rich convo is sure to make you think about exploring pleasure in new ways!

Rate & review the podcast:

• Apple Podcasts
• Podchasers
• Spotify
• www.TheSoulsWorkPodcast.com

Connect with Erica Wiederlight:

• Website: www.wethelight.org
• Instagram: @wethelight_llc
• Podcast: Welcome to the Wiederlife
• Book your complimentary session with Erica here: https://wethelightschedule.as.me/schedule.php

Listen to all The Soul's Work Podcast episodes: www.thesoulsworkpodcast.com

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Janice is a therapist-in-training and not licensed to work with clients.

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for working with a professional mental health or healing practitioner.