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Ep 9: As the New Year approaches, many of us are contemplating what intentions we're holding and what we're ready to release from the year past. Personally, I am a BIG fan of reflection and visioning, and would love to share with you about the process I like to use - and some key principles of why it works.  In this episode, I share why most New Year's Resolutions don't work - and what we can do instead to ensure we manifest our desires and start moving towards our biggest visions and new versions of ourselves in an actionable and sustainable way.  In this episode, we'll explore: Why most New Years resolutions don't work - (hint: most people don't understand what creates real change!) Why real and lasting shift must be embodied (not just in your mind) How to get your body and nervous system on board with your intentionsSetting intentions at the level of IDENTITY, not behaviorReflection on the past year as a process of metabolizing your experiencesA few potent practices I love to use as part of my reflection & integrationHow we create from the level of our subconscious mind (and why it's so important to take this perspective when setting intentions) Key questions to ask as you process the year past and clear space for the newHow to start excavating the belief systems holding you back from your biggest visions and dreamsHow to decide who you are becoming in the New YearKey questions to ask to determine your new operating system and way of being3 areas to focus on when setting goals and visions for 2026 As part of this community, I'd love to share with you the Embodied Refleciton & Visioning workbook I've created for 2026: Envision & Align 2026 - A Reflection & Visioning Workbook (PDF) Wishing you a blessed New Year, and all that is to come!! 

Ep 8: Today, I'm sharing with you a bit of a personal story about a month I recently spent living on a rescue ranch in Baja Sur, Mexico immersing with horses, donkeys, the magical Baja desert, and more lessons than I expected to receive. I went down with no real plan, said yes to the unknown, and found myself slowed way down… tending animals, stewarding land, and remembering parts of myself I didn’t realize had been waiting to come back online. This is a reflection on horse medicine, donkey wisdom, nervous system regulation, leadership, presence, and the kind of healing that happens out on the land, in stillness, rhythm and relationship - rather than in a therapy room. (also: I personally find most healing and transformation to happen out in life and the world!)  In this episode, I share: How periods of transition and uncertainty can become powerful portals for growthThe role of land, rhythm, and simplicity in nervous system regulationMy journey spending a month on a ranch, disconnected from the "default world" and returning to a deeper remembrance withinWhat horses teach us about leadership, presence, and our own energy statesPerspectives on purpose and stewardship in our livesWhat working with horses taught me about pressure and release (and where we apply too much pressure in our own lives)How working with horses mirrors our patterns in relationships and decision-makingHorses as a powerful model for trust, attunement, and relational consentThe gentle, grounding wisdom of donkeys (and why they might be some of the most underrated healers!!)How returning to ranch life became a form of my own inner child and soul retrievalWhy healing doesn’t have to be heavy - it can be joyful, playful, and alive!The importance of community, creativity, and finding environments that support who we’re becoming I share this episode from my heart as part story/reflection, and part love letter to the land, the animals here and their medicine, and the ways life is always available to reshape us when we listen to the inner call forth to the unknown. I hope you find resonance and that this sparks a curiosity or 

Ep 7: I am recording this episode as a soul-stream from the desert of Baja, reflecting on the endings, completions, and releases that I've been experiencing this year and that so many of us are moving through right now. As we step into the stillness of winter and prepare to close out 2025, we'll explore what it is to be in the tender liminal space as old identities and ways of being are shed away, how to navigate the process of release, and six tools to move through times of completion with grace, creating potent space for the next chapter to arise. If you’ve been feeling the old falling away in your life this year, you are definitely not alone - trust that it is paving the way for a personal and collective new beginning!  In this episode we explore: The collective theme of release and completion as we close out 2025Why so many of us are shedding old identities, roles, and masks right nowHow the Year of the Snake relates to shedding skin and returning to the earthMy personal season of endings, loss, and integration this yearHow trying to “build” in a year meant for integration creates struggle and burnoutMoving from our default linear, productivity culture back into nature’s cyclical wisdomWinter as a powerful portal for stillness, rest, and energetic restSix practices for moving through release and completion with more graceLetting go by just “5%” and taking one stone out of your metaphorical backpackInviting more silence, stillness, and polarity between movement and restEmotional processing tools like breathwork, shaking, sound, and somatic practicesFinding a healthy balance between solitude and chosen community that supports your becomingUsing writing, creativity, and non-verbal expression as soul work in the liminal spaceThe power of ritual, ceremony, and nature as teachers of death, composting, and rebirthRewilding as a return to innate nature, instinct, and authenticity beneath the programmingA look ahead at the shift from a “9 year” of endings to a “1 year” and the Fire Horse energy of new beginnings

Ep 6: Today, I am joined by my dear friend and sister Kaleigh Smith for a rich conversation on creative liberation, retreats (...journeys!), and the healing power of our authentic expression - especially as women on a journey to reclaim our sovereignty and embodied power.   Kaleigh is an expressive arts therapist in training, and together we will be co-hosting the Vibrant Heârt Creative Liberation & Expressive Arts Retreat for women this coming November 2-8 in beautiful Costa Rica.  Together we explore: Expression as a soulful, embodied practice, not just an artistic oneThe universal human impulse to create - and how expression is actually our medicineUsing expression to give voice to our inner parts - from trauma to leadershipThe necessity of slowness and softness in nurturing feminine creative energyThe contrast between cerebral living and somatic, soul-led creationDifferent modalities of expression - cognitive, kinesthetic, sensory, symbolic - and how each can unlock deeper self-awareness.Kaleigh's journey of finding Expressive Arts Therapy as a soulful modality for her service in the world Kristen’s journey of “rewilding” through plant medicine, psychedelics, and life in PeruCreativity beyond art: in relationships, rituals, home, and daily choicesThe role of environment, nature, and cultural influence on creativity and embodimentHow overstimulation and digital overwhelm in our modern age hinder authentic expression - and what we can do about it   🌴🎨🌊 Costa Rica Creative Women's Retreat - Nov 2-8, 2025 (Apply below!) Vibrant Heart - Creative Liberation Retreat for Women Costa Rica Retreat Application Learn more about my work and offerings here: www.wildsoulmedicine.com

Ep. 5: Today we'll be exploring one of my favorite topics and one that has many facets (of which we will cover a few): our Purpose and Dharma.  A few themes we explore in this episode: Why is purpose discovery and inquiry so important? What is meant by "Dharma" in the yogic traditionThe 3 components of Dharma, and how we can start to uncover our ownWhy it's important to understand our true naturePrompts and questions to start unraveling your personal dharmaWhy finding our purpose often involves letting go the idea of purposeHidden places your purpose/dharma may be hidingThe Ikigai framework for discovering our reason for beingTim Kelley's True Purpose model Resources from this Episode: Purpose Discovery Reflections (PDF) True Purpose - Tim Kelley   🌴🎨🌊 Costa Rica Creative Women's Retreat - Nov 2-8, 2025 www.wildsoulmedicine.com/costa-rica-retreat Learn more about my work and offerings here: www.wildsoulmedicine.com Connect with me on Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. If you'd like to get in touch with me directly, you can send me an email at [email protected]

Ep. 4: Today, I'm returning from the podcast void (!!) with a personal update from Peru, along with some of the top lessons life has been delivering here - and some of my greatest teachers in my five years living in the Sacred Valley.  I am so grateful for those of you along with me here on this podcasting journey, and am excited for the new evolutions in the vision and mission of The Wild Within. I'll be publishing weekly episodes and would love to have you along for the explorations!  A few themes we explore in this episode: Highlights from my personal journey over the past yearLearning to embrace grief and paradoxWorking with sacred plant medicines in a mindful and balanced wayLife and relationships as a mirror for our shadows and unmet partsThe power of communityMy greatest teachers here in Peru..... and more stream-of-consciousness thoughts from yours truly :)  Learn more about my work and offerings here: www.wildsoulmedicine.com   Costa Rica Retreat - Nov 2-8, 2025 www.wildsoulmedicine.com/costa-rica-retreat Connect with me on Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. If you'd like to get in touch with me directly, you can send me an email at [email protected]

Ep. 2: In this episode, I share a rich conversation with Maitreya Wolf, a soul evolution mentor, tarot reader, and musician whose life and work are devoted to the spiritual power of Beauty, living the path of soul, and the wild earth.  We explore:  The qualities and stages of a soul initiation processRecognizing the link between our personal and collective evolution; becoming coherent and generative beings not only for ourselves, but for the greater field of consciousnessAccessing our unique purpose during these timesThe intertwined journey of personal and collective evolutionLiving at the choice point in our lives, learning how to orient within the arc of our trajectory and soul’s compassWorking with our core wounds and challenges in a generative, life-giving way as part of our evolutionary processThe relationship between trauma and initiation, and reframing trauma as a deepening into our soul pathLearning to recognize and clear the distortions to our own inner beautyReturning to the remembrance of our innate connection to all of lifeWidening ourselves and our perspectives to the fullness of existence, so we can make truly conscious choices in our livesBecoming coherent for life to pour through us in full awarenessRe-establishing our innate connection to nature and the wildHow being in relationship with nature is linked with our personal empowermentBecoming in tune with the rhythms and cycles of nature and sourcing our power thereinAwakening from “stranded amnesia" to reclaim our sovereignty and remember who we truly areRemembering the symbiosis of all things and how this applies to our livesChoosing to “stay and be with what is” rather than run away, as a generative actThe questions to ask ourselves to be in true service to our world today and discover what we are here to give.How to connect to your “Exalted Self”Accessing your creative power and becoming the creative force of lifeChanging our relationship to life (at a personal and collective level)Returning to a state of wonder and reverence for life, and to the magnificence of our beingTransmuting and integrating all parts of ourselves so we may become more whole Resources from this episode: You can get in touch with Maitreya at her website: soulpowermentoring.com You can book a free soul power activation call with her here,  Connect with her on Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. Get in Touch: If you'd like to get in touch with me directly, you can send me an email at [email protected] Find me on IG: @soulrise.medicine Or contact me through my website at www.soulrisemedicine.com

Shadow Integration is a vital tool for integrating all aspects of ourselves in order to live with more vitality, wholeness, and self-awareness.  In this solo show, we will explore: What shadow work is, and how our shadow forms in childhoodWhat happens when we ignore our shadow (or in Jungian terminology, repress our 'personal unconscious') The holographic nature of the universe, and how we can grow self-aware through seeing parts of ourselves projected out onto othersHealing the illusion of separationWorking with our natural desires to uncover our true path in lifeUncovering and owning our shadow parts The "light shadow" and whole-self integrationTools for emotional awareness and transmuting shadow parts into our personal power Resources from this episode: The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by Carl Jung The Dark Side of the Light Chasers by Debbie Ford Owning Your Own Shadow by Robert A. Johnson Shadow Work Toolkit Get in Touch: If you'd like to get in touch with me directly, you can send me an email at [email protected] Find me on IG: @soulrise.medicine Or contact me through my website at www.soulrisemedicine.com

Welcome back to the podcast! It's been a 3-year evolutionary hiatus for The Wild Within, but it feels amazing to be back, ready to explore what is emerging at this point in time, sharing tools for elevating our consciousness and diving deeply into our medicine within. This season, you can expect solo shows and inspiring conversations with others in the consciousness movement, to help your journey to awakened and empowered living in these times.  All my love! Kristen

Ep . 25: In this solo episode, we explore the idea of our ego and personality as a "construct" that we have the power to shift in any given moment, and I share some tools for making real changes in your life. We explore: What constitutes what we think of as our personalityHow radical presence is connected to deep personal shiftsWhy our sense of self is an illusion - and how this is actually empoweringAccessing our limitless life force energy withinMoving. from mind-based to body-based beingDiscovering our true self in our emotional bodyHow language can limit our full experience of life (and why it's so important to come into silence and stillness to access our true self)If you resonate with the topics in this episode and would love to share your thoughts with me, I'd love to hear from you! You can reach out through my website at www.kristenyates.com, send me an email at [email protected], or send me a message on Facebook!

Ep. 24: In this solo episode, I dive into "3 I's" that have been on my mind lately: integration, intuition, and (beating) imposter syndrome.  What integration is, and why it's so important to build into our lives after intense phases of personal growth How integration looks different for everyone Tapping in to find your best integration methodWorking through times of transition (with integration and intuition!)Connecting to your intuition as a grounding tool during times of chaosTransparency around my own struggles with imposter syndromeMy #1 key for clearing imposter syndromeStaying connected to your WHY and personal mission

Ep. 23: In this episode, we explore how facing ourselves fully with radical-self honesty can be the key to changing our habits,  fulfilling our potential, and creating lasting change in our lives.  We get into:  My story of facing myself fully for (possibly!) the first time in my lifeHow I perpetuated unconscious habits of escapism until they all came out in the openThe inner knowing we have around whether we are truly living up to our potentialWhy grief and release can be an essential part of the self-honesty processWhat it means to truly show the F up for your lifeHow the little lies we tell ourselves chip away at our self-worth and identityThe difference between conscious and unconscious commitmentThe key component of lasting habit changeSix questions to reveal your true self and face yourself with radical honestyWhy full awareness is so key for lasting change in our livesGet in Touch: If you'd like to get in touch with me, feel free to email me at [email protected] Or contact me through my website at www.kristenyates.com

Ep. 22: What does it mean to walk a spiritual path? What does this mean for you? And how can spiritual practices help you move closer to your most authentic self and true nature? This episode dives into basically my favorite topic ever - the spiritual path. We explore: Why spirituality does not look the same for everyoneHow to cultivate your own unique spiritual practice and pathSome core essence qualities of the spiritual pathThe nature of soul and consciousnessQuesting for meaning and purposeDeconstructing the ego and personality for spiritual growthUnderstanding the layers of "self" we acquire as we move through lifeThe power of reinventing yourselfA few key practices to begin walking a spiritual pathThe connection between spirit and embodimentSurrendering to the mystery of existenceThe illusion of "seeking" meaning and purposeHow spirituality assists us in the quest for freedom and truthQuestions for spiritual exploration:  What brings you peace?  What makes you feel most at home?  What brings you into your body?  What brings you JOY?  

Ep. 21: I wanted to share a bit of a personal update, as my past few months have been chock full of challenges, lessons, magic, darkness... and everything in between.   On this solo episode, I dive into my own personal "dark night" (or as I like to say, total emotional unraveling  over this past month in Mexico 😆), sitting with massive discomfort and surrendering to growth, my real experience of Tulum (hint: it's not what you see on Instagram) and basically getting my ass humbled AF in the final stretch of 2020 ;)   Some topics I cover include:  The process of grounding after a nomadic lifestyle Why self-centeredness is not a bad thing What we *think* we need is often not what we *really* need What is a "dark night" of the soul, and how to work with and through it My authentic challenges and experiences moving to Mexico The polarity of massive challenge and big magic Why we need to be triggered to shake us out of our comfort zone and grow Surrendering into darkness to find the light The energy of vortex places on the planet and how they impact us Learning to make courageous and graceful pivots towards our true path Listening to the call of your heart and purpose Embodying our true purpose: to FEEL the full spectrum of emotions ....and more :)  Let's connect more! If any of this episode has spoken to you, please feel free to reach out to me on Facebook (facebook.com/kyates8) or through my website, and let me know what resonates with you! 🥰❤️  I will be opening a few spots for private coaching in early 2021, so if you're interested, you can apply through my website:  http://www.kristenyates.com