Unapologetic Uplift with Kim and Ianthe

What if the key to scaling your business was letting go of control and letting God run the show? Ordained spiritual minister and serial entrepreneur Jenny Bitner joins hosts Kim Staples and Ianthe Mauro to share how an "ego death" led her from corporate burnout to building a freedom-first empire guided by divine downloads.

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Can shaking like a scared animal actually heal your nervous system? Neurogenic Qigong practitioner Lara J. Day joins host Ianthe Mauro to break down the ancient energy medicine and trauma-release technique she invented after her own decade-long health crisis. Lara explains why humans suppress the same tremor response that lets a gazelle walk away from a lion attack unscathed, and how relearning to "shake it off" can release trapped trauma from the body.

The conversation goes even deeper into ritual: Lara reveals why our holidays have been intentionally rebranded throughout history to manipulate mass behavior, and introduces her own 13-night Winter Solstice ritual: a practice she's used for almost 18 years to set intentions, track synchronicities, and realign with the seasons.

If you've ever felt hollow, frazzled, or "not enough" during the holidays, or wondered whether energy work like qigong is more than just woo, this episode connects ancient practice with lived, tangible experience.

🔔 Subscribe for more Unapologetic Uplift conversations on healing, ritual, and self-empowerment.

In this episode:

📍 Connect with Lara Jade Day: larajday.com | Instagram: @LaraJDay

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#EnergyHealing #NeurogenicQigong #TraumaHealing #WinterSolstice #Ritual #HolisticHealth #UnapologeticUplift #NervousSystemHealing

Chapters:

00:00 – Cold Open: A Physical Awakening

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What if you don't need to be broken to deserve your own care?

This episode of Unhinged Out Loud is a mini activation for anyone who's been taught that healing only counts when something's falling apart — that we only meditate when we're stressed, only rest when we're exhausted, only turn inward after the crisis hits.

Kim challenges that belief and invites you into a different way of being: honoring yourself not because you're fixing something broken, but because you're remembering something whole.

Then she guides you through a gentle transmission to help you:

✨ Release the belief that you have to earn peace or wait for a crisis to choose it

✨ Soften into the present moment and feel the support already beneath you

✨ Visualize a warm golden light expanding through your chest, heart, and mind

✨ Anchor into new affirmations: "I don't need to be broken to deserve my attention" and "Abundance is already here"

✨ Reconnect to the truth that certainty and wisdom already live within you

✨ Shift from surviving your life to intentionally creating it

This isn't about self-improvement. It's about self-honoring. When you stop waiting for pain to become your invitation, peace becomes your practice — and eventually, peace becomes your personality.

You don't need a diagnosis, a breakdown, or a rock bottom to choose yourself. You just need to remember.

📲 Follow Kim on Instagram: @kimberly_staples

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#UnhingedOutLoud #KimStaples #GuidedTransmission #SelfHonoring #Intuition #TrustYourself #UnapologeticUplift #EnergyHealing #SpiritualHealing #WomensEmpowerment

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Can energy medicine actually be measured by science? Functional medicine expert Dr. Shawn Altman joins Kim Staples to reveal how frequency-based healing, SPECT imaging, and root-cause diagnostics are changing the way we treat chronic pain, trauma, and autoimmune disease. Dr. Altman breaks down why medication is the slowest form of energy transfer in the body, how unresolved trauma shows up physically, and the one daily practice (it's not what you think) that can transform your health.

If you've ever wondered whether reiki, PEMF, or grounding actually "do anything" scientifically — this episode connects the dots between conventional medicine and energy healing like never before.

🔔 Subscribe for more Unapologetic Uplift conversations on healing, science, and self-empowerment.

In this episode:

📍 Connect with Dr. Shawn Altman: drseanaltman.com

💬 Loved this episode? Leave a 5-star review, screenshot and tag us in your stories, and share it with someone who needs to hear this.

#EnergyHealing #FunctionalMedicine #TraumaHealing #Autoimmune #Reiki #PEMF #HolisticHealth #UnapologeticUplift

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Zappy Zapolin walked into a private conversation with Sam Altman and pitched him a theory: what if plant medicine is the thing that convinces AI to keep humanity around? Altman's answer might surprise you. Zappy is a psychedelic concierge, the founder of Mind Army, and one of the leading voices connecting ancient plant medicine to the modern mental health crisis — and in this episode he explains why we're standing at the edge of a second psychedelic renaissance, fifty years after the first one was crushed by the Vietnam War, Big Pharma, and the alcohol industry.

Zappy breaks down the real science behind neuroplasticity and why a single dose of psilocybin can rewire the brain permanently, why Elon Musk uses ketamine twice a month to "build gray matter," the difference between recreational and medical use of ketamine (and what actually happened to Matthew Perry), and why ibogaine — a root from Africa — is being called one of the most powerful addiction interruptors ever discovered. Ianthe also opens up about her own experiences microdosing psilocybin for anxiety and ADHD, live on the show.

This episode is for you if you've ever wondered whether psychedelics could help with anxiety, depression, addiction, or creativity, if you've heard the words "microdose" or "ketamine therapy" and want the real story instead of the stigma, or if you just want to understand why the DEA, RFK Jr., and the Trump administration are suddenly moving to reschedule these medicines right now.

In this episode:

🍄 The Renaissance Begins - The Vietnam War, Big Pharma, and alcohol industry money that buried psychedelic medicine for 50 years.

👋 Welcome and What "Renaissance" Really Means - Zappy explains the 1960s psychedelic movement and why it's coming back stronger this time.

⏳ Psilocybin Could Be Rescheduled Any Day Now - Why the DEA's move off Schedule 1 could let 10-20 million Americans legally try mushrooms within the next year and a half.

🧠 Kim's Real Microdosing Story - Her Amsterdam social dose, six months without anxiety, and what she's doing differently today.

✨ Neuroplasticity Explained: Why One Dose Changes Your Brain Forever - The science behind rigid thought patterns and how psychedelics rewire the brain.

💉 Ketamine and Why Elon Musk Uses It Twice a Month - The miracle molecule that's 72% effective for treatment-resistant depression.

🚀 The Sam Altman Conversation - Zappy's face-to-face pitch to the OpenAI CEO about plant medicine saving humanity from superintelligent AI.

⚠️ Ketamine Safety, Addiction Myths, and What Really Happened to Matthew Perry - The truth about medical use versus recreational misuse.

🌍 Iboga and Ibogaine: The African Root Breaking Addictions in One Session - Why veterans and a recent Trump executive order are turning to this ancient medicine.

💛 What Zappy Will Never Apologize For - His philosophy on staying unapologetic.

💕 MDMA, Marriage, and the Legal Mushroom Hiding in Plain Sight - How guided MDMA sessions could reconnect couples, plus the red-and-white mushroom helping people quit alcohol without even trying.

📍 Where to Find Zappy and Final Thoughts - How to work with him and learn about his Psychedelic Concierge program.

📲 Find Zappy Zapolin:

Instagram/Social: @zappyzapolin

Subscribe for new episodes of Unapologetic Uplift every week.

💬 Have you tried microdosing, ketamine therapy, or plant medicine? Tell us your story. We read every message and we respond.

0:00 - The Renaissance Begins

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Andrea Donsky spent 14 years in perimenopause, 11 of them not even knowing it. She was hemorrhaging, anemic, smelling phantom cigarette smoke, and thought she was losing her mind. Now she's a nutrition expert with over 26 years of experience, the author of Nourishing Menopause, and she's here to make sure you never feel that lost.

Andrea built her research on over 5,300 women's responses and uncovered 103+ symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, ranked by what actually shows up most (hint: hot flashes are not number one, fatigue is). In this episode she breaks down her Balance Blueprint framework, the exact protein and fiber numbers women should be hitting, why 50% of women gain weight in this phase and why it is not about willpower, and what blood tests to ask your doctor for right now.

Ianthe also opens up about her own menopause story for the first time publicly, from a Graves' disease diagnosis at 39 to being told she had the hormone levels of a 65 year old, and why she is done hiding it.

This episode is for you if you are tired all the time, your cravings feel out of control, your period is doing something new and confusing, or you just feel like you do not recognize your own body anymore. You are not going crazy. You are not alone. And there is a real plan for feeling better.

In this episode:

🔥 The First Hot Flash That Changed Everything - Andrea's 47-year-old self in her office having zero idea what perimenopause even was, and the decade-long rabbit hole that followed.

📊 103+ Symptoms and Why Hot Flashes Are Not Even Top 10 - The real data from Andrea's published research on 5,300 women, and why fatigue is actually the number one complaint.

🩸 Hemorrhaging, Anemia, and the Diagnosis No One Warned Her About - The horrific stretch of fight or flight mode, phantom smells, and finding out her hormones looked like a 65 year old's.

💤 Why You Are Exhausted and What Blood Tests to Ask For - Thyroid panels, vitamin D, ferritin, B12, and the low hanging fruit most women never get tested.

🍽️ The Balance Blueprint: Protein, Fiber, and Fixing Cravings - The exact macro targets Andrea recommends, and why chasing a number without knowing your body can backfire.

🧠 Brain Fog, Creatine, and What Ianthe Is Actually Doing - Ianthe's real time perimenopause experiment with creatine, fiber, HRT, and what worked versus what made things worse.

⚖️ Why 50% of Women Gain Weight in This Phase (And It Is Not Willpower) - Visceral fat changes, the noise Gen X women grew up with, and Andrea's empowerment first approach to writing about weight.

🏆 From Unjunk Your Junk Food to a National Bestseller - Andrea's publishing journey with Simon & Schuster, hitting the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Indigo bestseller lists in weeks.

💔 Ianthe's Story: Graves' Disease, Menopause at 39, and Grieving Silently - The diagnosis that made her think she could never have another child, and why she stayed quiet about it for over a decade.

🌸 The Japanese View of Menopause and Why Mindset Changes Symptoms - The research on how believing menopause is a curse versus a rite of passage actually changes what your body experiences.

🧘 HRT, Hormones, and Staying in Your Lane - Why Andrea brings in OBGYNs and naturopaths instead of prescribing hormone advice herself, and how to build your own team.

💛 Where to Find Andrea and Get Nourishing Menopause - Her book, her research, and how to get support so you never have to figure this out alone.

📲 Find Andrea Donsky:

Subscribe for new episodes of Unapologetic Uplift every week.

💬 Have you noticed subtle changes in your body that you could not explain? Tell us. We read every message and we respond.

0:00 - The First Hot Flash That Changed Everything

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She has lived in 8 countries, healed from decades of misdiagnosis, and built a framework for women who have everything on the outside and still feel an ache they cannot name. Madam Z, aka Zahara, is a World Crafter, ancestral healer, intuitive guide, and the woman Ianthe has been wanting to bring to you since they became online friends in 2021. This one goes deep.

Madam Z works with the most accomplished, complex women in the world. Women for whom the world was never built at their full scale. Her work is not therapy. It is not coaching. She does not adjust the woman to fit the world. She builds an entirely new world around her.

In this episode: the lineage of conjurers, a sensual awakening in Rome, the fear of travel and why to do it anyway, AuDHD diagnosis after decades of being misunderstood, what bespoke world crafting actually means, and the one message Madam Z wants every woman who feels like an alien to hear.

This episode is for you if you have tried therapy, coaching, retreats, and every framework out there, and still feel like something is missing. You are not broken. Your world just does not fit you yet.

In this episode:

🌍 Meet Madam Z: The World Crafter - From a lineage of conjurers rooted in West Africa and the Caribbean, to living in 8 countries, to working with women at the Pentagon and beyond. Madam Z is unlike anyone we have had on this show.

👁️ Seeing Spirits as a Child - She never told this story publicly before. The gifts she was raised to suppress, the religious oppression that tried to silence them, and why she now knows they were always there to protect her.

💔 The Moment 1000 Versions of Her Showed Up - In a toxic relationship in her early 20s, something took over. A voice. A presence. A thousand more powerful versions of herself from other dimensions flooding her body in one moment of clarity. This is where her life changed.

🌹 The Sensual Awakening in Rome - A scholarship, a Euro pass, 17 countries, and a man who made pasta sauce in the shape of a heart. The story of how Madam Z shed decades of shame in 8 days in Rome and started a lifelong love affair with herself.

✈️ No Woman Travels Unafraid - Why the fear of not living your forbidden, hidden desires is far greater than the fear of a flight. Madam Z and Ianthe both share what travel broke open in them, and what they say to the woman who thinks she cannot do it.

🗼 Paris, Past Lives, and Pattern Recognition - Three women on three continents, all called to Paris before they could explain why. What happens when the city already feels familiar the first time you walk its streets.

🧩 What Is Bespoke World Crafting - Most methodologies work on the woman. Madam Z works on her world. The framework she built for women who have tried everything and still feel that unnamed ache.

🧠 AuDHD After Decades Undiagnosed - 15 years of misdiagnosis, a male psychologist who told her she was just being difficult, and a woman practitioner who finally listened. What diagnosis felt like, why there is also mourning in it, and what she is now building for others who are still figuring it out.

🔥 The Hidden, Forbidden, Unlived Iconic Selves - The ache is not the problem. It is information. It is your unlived selves telling you they are ready. Madam Z's final message to every woman listening who has been sitting on her fullness.

📲 Find Madam Z:

Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday, plus Intentionally Ianthe on Mondays and Unhinged Out Loud with Kim Staples on Fridays.

💬 Have you ever felt like an alien? Like you never quite fit, no matter how much you have built? Tell us. We read every message and we respond.

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Brownell Landrum found us by listening to our podcast. Then she blew our minds.

Brownell is the author of The Art and Science of Wishing, citing over 70 scientists and dozens of sciences. She has also written a children's book on the subject, developed hundreds of science and activity cards, and is launching a podcast called Cosmic Wishes. Her message: making a wish is not childish, passive, or magical thinking. Every time you make a wish, you engage over a dozen different sciences, and when you apply those sciences intentionally, you turn a wish into something she calls a Cosmic Wish.

This episode is for anyone who's ever felt like manifestation was too vague, goal-setting was too rigid, and prayer was for things outside their control. Brownell shows you how wishes can be all three at once, and why that might be the most powerful thing you've been overlooking.

In this episode:

🌟 The Preview: Wishes as Technology - Kim and Ianthe set up the episode with clips from the conversation that hit differently once you know the science. A wish is not a birthday candle moment. It is an actual tool.

🎙️ Meet Brownell Landrum: Cosmic Wish Experiment - How a novelist writing about wish fairies ended up researching 70 scientists and publishing a book that bridges quantum physics, neuroscience, anthropology, and spirituality under one very simple word: wish.

🧠 The Science You Are Already Using - Did you know you engage over a dozen sciences every time you make a wish? Brownell breaks down what is actually happening in your brain and body, and why wishing with intention activates the same mechanisms as elite performance.

🔁 Reticular Activating System vs. Default Mode Network - Two of the most powerful brain systems working on your behalf. One filters reality to show you what you are focused on. The other solves your problems while you are in the shower. Brownell explains how wishes activate both.

🎯 Wish vs. Prayer vs. Goal vs. Manifestation - What is actually the difference, and why does it matter which one you are using? Goals are too rigid to allow something better. Manifestation can become toxic. Brownell defines where wishes fit, and why they might be the most complete framework of all.

4 Responses to a Wish: Yes, No, Wait, Something Better - The reason you are not getting what you want might not be what you think. This framework changes the way you interpret outcomes and stops the spiral of self-blame.

✏️ The Three Ps: Peaceful, Positive, Purposeful - The framework Brownell teaches in her children's book and her adult work. Shift "I wish not to fail" to "I wish to feel calm as I take this test" and watch what the science says happens next.

💡 Wants vs. Needs: The Legally Blonde Framework - Why goals can sometimes be the worst thing for you, and how a wish opens you up to something better than the thing you were forcing yourself toward.

🎴 The Cosmic Wish Cards: Science Meets Oracle - Brownell pulls a live card from her deck of 200 science cards and 200 activity cards. The draw lands on Network Position. "Your wish moves through relationships. Tend the inner circles first."

🌍 Wishing for All Ages, Including Kids - Brownell's children's book introduces polyvagal theory, mirror neurons, and neuroplasticity to five-year-olds using before and after pictures. Because kids understand wishes better than we give them credit for.

🔮 The Blue Balloon Phenomenon - Envision a blue balloon in your driveway. Drive home. There it is. This is not coincidence and it is not magic. Brownell explains what is actually happening.

🙅 What Brownell Will Never Apologize For - Being the weird person who writes fiction AND science books AND children's books AND wishing frameworks. Being authentically, unapologetically all of it.

📲 Find Brownell and Her Work - Books, cards, YouTube channel, website, and the upcoming Cosmic Wishes podcast:

https://cosmicwishexperiment.com

https://brownelllandrum.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@brownell.landrum

Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday, plus Intentionally Ianthe on Mondays and Unhinged Out Loud with Kim Staples on Fridays.

💬 Have you ever made a wish and meant it? Do you have a ritual around wishing, manifesting, or prayer? DM us. We read them and we respond.

0:00 - Preview: Wishes Are Technology

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This bonus episode of Intentionally Ianthe is a quiet moment to pause, light a candle, and hear something you might need today.

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Denise Howell was told she'd never walk the same again. She became a fitness trainer anyway.

After shattering her ankle in 2007 and being diagnosed with a rare genetic disease, one that only 1 in 1.7 million people have ever had, Denise built Bodies by Design, launched a podcast called The Grit of the Matter, and now goes live on 5 platforms simultaneously, 5 days a week at 7AM Central. She does it all while managing daily pain, a progressive disease that keeps moving to new parts of her body, and doctors who told her it was in her head.

This episode is for anyone who's been gaslit by a doctor, dismissed because of their limitations, or told there's a ceiling on what their body can do. Denise doesn't push through pain because she ignores it. She pushes through it because she refuses to let it define her, and she'll show you how to do the same.

In this episode:

🔥 The Preview: "Don't Apologize For Your Limitations" - Always be your own advocate. You know your body. If you feel something, keep pushing for the right answers. Denise opens the episode with the words she wishes someone had said to her years ago.

💪 Bodies by Design Origin Story: From a shattered ankle in 2007 to a rare disease diagnosis in 2014 to an ankle replacement in 2023. How Denise went from barely walking to becoming a certified fitness trainer, not to build a brand, but to save her own body.

🌐 Going Online & Launching The Grit of the Matter: Why Denise left in-person training after her replacement surgery, what she found when she moved everything online, and how this podcast was born.

⚖️ Push Through or Rest? How to Actually Know: The trainer's framework for when to keep going and when to back off, especially when you live with chronic pain and your baseline is different from everyone else's.

📱 Why She Goes Live 5 Days a Week: The real reason Denise shows up every morning on 5 platforms at once, what she's actually doing when she works out with strangers on the internet, and what a quadriplegic client once told her that changed everything.

🏥 Medical Gaslighting Is Real: An autopsy found decades of severe endometriosis labeled as "medical anxiety." Denise has been told it's in her head more times than she can count. What to do when doctors don't believe you.

🔤 What GRIT Actually Stands For: Grace. Resilience. Intentional. Trust. Thrive. The acronym behind her brand, and why one step forward counts as thriving.

🛡️ How to Advocate for Yourself When Doctors Dismiss You: Don't let it defeat you. Find your people. Keep pushing for answers. Denise shares exactly what kept her going when the medical system failed her repeatedly.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 What Her Kids and Husband See: "I just don't let them see me stop." Her son and daughter call her one of the strongest people they know. Her husband of 30 years is her rock. How the people closest to her experience living alongside her rare disease.

🚀 Living Day to Day When the Future Is Uncertain: Why Denise doesn't plan 10 years ahead, what keeps her going when surgery can come out of nowhere, and why presence is the most powerful strategy she has.

🏆 What She'll Never Apologize For: She limps. She's not always mobile. She pushes hard. And she's done apologizing for any of it.

📲 Find Denise & Work With Her: Bodies by Design Denise. Live every weekday at 7AM Central on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and more. Replays available.

Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday, plus Intentionally Ianthe on Mondays and Unhinged Out Loud with Kim Staples on Fridays.

💬 Have you ever been told your pain was in your head? Have you pushed through something that everyone said would stop you? DM us. We actually read them and we actually respond.

0:00 - Preview: "Always Be Your Own Advocate"
2:12 - Welcome + Introducing Denise Howell, Bodies by Design
3:06 - Bodies by Design Origin: Shattered Ankle, Rare Disease Diagnosis
4:14 - "I'm Gonna Show You": Going Back to School as a Trainer
5:36 - Ankle Replacement 2023 & Disease Progression
9:38 - Push Through or Scale Back? The Trainer's Framework
12:28 - Going Live 5 Days a Week: Why She Does It
16:22 - The Quadriplegic Client: "You Make Me Feel Human"
16:20 - Medical Gaslighting: What the Autopsy Revealed
24:38 - G.R.I.T.: Grace, Resilience, Intentional, Trust, Thrive
26:01 - How to Advocate for Yourself When Doctors Dismiss You
30:17 - What Her Kids Think of Everything She Manages
31:17 - Her Husband of 30 Years: "He's 100% My Rock"
34:10 - Living Day to Day When the Future Is Uncertain
34:10 - The Rare Disease: 1 in 1.7 Million, Golf Ball Mass, Amputation Risk
44:30 - What Denise Will Never Apologize For
46:17 - How to Find Denise & Work With Her

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