The Spiritually Curious Therapist

The Spiritually Curious Therapist is a podcast exploring the intersection of nervous system science, mental health, spirituality, and healing. Hosted by Jodi Silverman, LCSW, this show is for therapists, healers, and curious humans who sense that true healing happens below the level of insight alone. Through thoughtful conversations and solo reflections, we explore trauma, chronic pain and illness, altered states, regulation, meaning-making, and what it really takes to help the nervous system feel safe enough to change. This is a space for grounded mysticism, where evidence-based practice meets soul-level wisdom, and where healing is approached with curiosity, compassion, and respect for the body’s innate intelligence. Whether you’re a clinician expanding beyond talk therapy or someone on your own healing path, this podcast invites you to listen differently — to symptoms, to stories, and to what’s asking to be i

The Spiritually Curious Therapist is a health podcast hosted by Jodi Silverman, LCSW, with 70 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Jodi Silverman, LCSW hosts The Spiritually Curious Therapist, a health show with 70 episodes published.

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  The Spiritually Curious Therapist

  Being Loyal to Your Body: Paula Atkinson on Body Liberation, Trust & Not Abandoning Yourself

  Sep 22, 20261h 1m

  What does it mean to be loyal to your body? For Paula Atkinson, that question carries a lot of weight. After years of trying to control, shrink, and override her body, including an experience with anorexia that nearly took her life, Paula now talks about her body in a radically different way: with trust. In this conversation, Paula and I explore body liberation as something much deeper than body positivity or learning to like what you see in the mirror. We talk about what happens when we stop measuring our bodies through someone else’s gaze and begin paying attention to what it actually feels like to live inside them. Paula shares how her relationship with her body moved from control to trust, and why being “infinitely loyal” to her body has become such an important part of how she lives now. We also get into the complicated territory around weight loss, dieting, GLP-1 medications, aging and changing bodies, and the difference between making a choice about your body and believing your body needs to change in order for you to be okay. One of my favorite ideas from our conversation is Paula’s belief that “infinite permission equals infinite choice.” That stayed with me. Because maybe body liberation isn’t about arriving at a place where you love every part of your body every day. Maybe it’s about having choice. Listening instead of overriding. Trusting instead of constantly controlling. And learning that you don’t have to abandon yourself, or your body, to belong. In this episode, we explore: Paula’s experience with anorexia and the early messages she received about her body The difference between body positivity and body liberation What it means to become loyal to your body How control can become a form of self-abandonment Body trust, permission, choice, and autonomy Weight loss and whether wanting your body to change is incompatible with body liberation GLP-1 medications and the complicated conversations surrounding them Aging, menopause, and living in a body that naturally changes Why your experience of living in your body may matter more than someone else’s experience of looking at it This is a conversation about our bodies, but underneath it, I think it’s really a conversation about relationship : the relationship we have with ourselves, whose voice we listen to, and what becomes possible when we decide to stay on our own side. Connect with Paula: Insta: @pauladatkinson Website: https://www.pauladatkinson.com/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/pauladatkinson/ TikTok: @pauladatkinson5 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WINWWY Episode of Surrounded: https://youtu.be/M7K87rGoGps?si=KPjMLmxc4KPfp0nJ Interested in Reiki Training? Reiki I & II for Mental Health and Helping Professionals Living with Chronic Pain and Illness - this Reiki retreat may be exactly what you need. More Information Here Share what resonated for you Thank you for listening to the Spiritually Curious Therapist Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave a review - it helps us grow and reach more listeners! Until next time. Stay Curious. You can find Jodi Silverman, LCSW at www.therachihealing.com www.journeywithkindredsouls.com Follow Jodi on Socials: TikTok @spiritcurioustherapist Instagram @therachihealing Facebook @TheraChi Healing Stay up to date on our offerings by joining our newsletter here Are you interested in learning more about Reiki Assisted Psychotherapy? Join our facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/psychotherapeuticreikiforclinicians Are you a mental health professional with a spiritual edge and have something to share? Complete this form to apply to be on the podcast

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  The Spiritually Curious Therapist

  The Inner Compass: Authenticity, Dharma & Learning to Trust Yourself with Katie Padilla

  Sep 14, 202657 min

  What are we really looking for when we chase achievement, approval, success, or even rebellion? For my guest Katie Padilla , so much of it came back to one very human longing: To be seen. To be loved. To feel deeply connected. Katie is a certified family law specialist, founder of Bloom Family Law, collaboratively trained attorney, certified coach and meditation teacher. But the path that brought her there is anything but conventional. As a highly sensitive child growing up in a family experiencing conflict and divorce, Katie remembers feeling alone and longing for a kind of connection she wasn't receiving. She developed a deep relationship with God at a very young age, and an inner sense that there was something more for her. Then she stopped trying to be the “good girl.” Katie became what she calls the black sheep and the rebel. She dropped out of college, moved to San Francisco, partied hard and intentionally explored the opposite of the perfectionism and anxiety that had defined her earlier life. And for a while, it worked. Until it didn't. What she thought she might find through freedom, rebellion and experience was the same thing she'd been looking for all along: deep love, connection and acceptance. So Katie changed direction again. She went back to school, worked incredibly hard, got into law school, became an attorney, and finally achieved the kind of success that made everyone around her proud. And something still wasn't right. Because people admired her accomplishments. They respected the title. But Katie realized: Admiration isn't the same thing as love. That realization eventually followed her into family law. Katie had created her own firm because she wanted to practice differently, only to discover that she'd recreated many of the same patterns she'd been trying to leave behind. Once again, she had to ask herself: Is this actually who I am? And that question changed the way she practices law. In this conversation, Katie and I explore the tension between connection and authenticity , the roles we take on in order to feel safe and valued, and what happens when we begin trusting our own internal compass rather than the expectations around us. And eventually, we bring all of that into Katie's work with divorce. Because perhaps saying “I don't want this anymore” isn't the whole awakening. Maybe it's the beginning of asking: What do I want? What is actually true for me? What have I been doing because I thought I was supposed to? And who am I when some of those roles begin to fall away? We talk about Katie's work with foster youth, her own childhood and spirituality, rebellion and perfectionism, achievement and identity, the nervous system, family court, women's changing relationship with marriage and divorce, and why she believes difficult transitions can become opportunities to meet ourselves more deeply. Katie's story left me thinking about how many different ways we can spend our lives trying to find the thing we've been looking for all along. And what might change when instead of looking outside ourselves, we begin listening to what's been there all along. Connect with Katie: Website: bloomlegalcoach.com IG: @bloomfamilylaw Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/katie-padilla-bloom The Third Presence Reiki I and II for Mental Health and Helping Professionals Reiki Retreat for People Living with Chronic Pain and Illness From Lock to Liberation A weekly reflection on the patterns that keep us stuck, the possibilities we may not be seeing, and one question to carry into your week. → Join the conversation Share what resonated for you Thank you for listening to the Spiritually Curious Therapist Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave a review - it helps us grow and reach more listeners! Until next time. Stay Curious. You can find Jodi Silverman, LCSW at www.therachihealing.com www.journeywithkindredsouls.com Follow me on Socials: TikTok @spiritcurioustherapist Instagram @therachihealing Facebook @TheraChi Healing Stay up to date on our offerings by joining our newsletter here Are you interested in learning more about Reiki Assisted Psychotherapy? Join our facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/psychotherapeuticreikiforclinicians Are you a mental health professional with a spiritual edge and have something to share? Complete this form to apply to be on the podcast

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  The Spiritually Curious Therapist

  When Healing Becomes Another Form of Escaping: Megan Ashton on Breathwork & Coming Back to Yourself

  Sep 7, 20261h 1m

  What happens when the search for healing becomes another way of avoiding what we're trying so hard not to feel? My guest today, Megan Ashton, spent nearly 17 years searching for something that would help her heal. She studied yoga, Reiki, holistic nutrition and clinical hypnotherapy. She traveled the world, living in places many of us might imagine as idyllic. She tried talk therapy and eventually plant medicine. And yet, underneath it all, Megan was struggling with bulimia, alcohol dependence, painful relationships, and a sense that no matter where she went or what she tried, she couldn't escape what was happening inside of her. As Megan says during our conversation: “Wherever you go, there you are.” Things began to change when a friend invited her to try conscious connected breathwork. Megan describes what happened during that first experience, the grief and longing that surfaced, and how giving herself a place to actually feel began to change her relationship with the behaviors she had been using to numb. But this isn't simply a conversation about the potential of breathwork. Megan is now the founder of Unity Breathwork and a strong advocate for greater safety and training standards within the breathwork community. We talk about why something being “just the breath” doesn't necessarily mean it's appropriate for everyone, and why facilitator training, screening, choice and agency matter. In this episode, we explore: When the pursuit of healing can become another form of escaping Megan's experience with bulimia and alcohol dependence The shame of struggling privately while publicly working in the wellness world Why numbing behaviors can make sense when we understand what they're providing Megan's first conscious connected breathwork experience What began changing when feeling no longer seemed quite so unsafe The difference between everyday breathing practices and conscious connected breathwork The nervous system and non-ordinary states of consciousness Why agency and choice are essential in trauma-informed work The importance of properly trained breathwork facilitators Contraindications and why screening matters What overachievers and people pleasers may need to consider when they're encouraged to “go deeper” Touch, connection and corrective experiences How Megan integrates Reiki into her work Why healing doesn't necessarily mean curing the human experience One of the things I appreciated most about this conversation is that Megan doesn't present healing as a place we finally arrive. She talks openly about still being a work in progress and about the difference between appearing healed and actually being willing to stay present with ourselves. Maybe the question isn't always, “What else do I need to try?” Maybe sometimes it's worth asking: “What am I hoping I won't have to feel?” Try Breathwork with Megan — Free September 27 Session Megan is offering a free virtual conscious connected breathwork group session on September 27 . The experience is approximately two hours and includes preparation, 55 minutes of guided breathing, grounding, integration and a sharing circle. Megan screens participants in advance and provides modifications when appropriate. You can learn more and register through Unity Breathwork , where you'll also find information about Megan's one-on-one sessions, retreats and professional breathwork facilitator training. Follow Megan on instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/unitybreathwork/ YouTube: @unitybreathwork Interested in our Reiki I and II trainings? More information here https://www.therachihealing.com/reiki-training Apply to be on the Spiritually Curious Therapist Unlock: Real Time Lock to Liberation Session Share what resonated for you Thank you for listening to the Spiritually Curious Therapist Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave a review - it helps us grow and reach more listeners! Until next time. Stay Curious. You can find Jodi Silverman, LCSW at www.therachihealing.com www.journeywithkindredsouls.com Follow me on Socials: TikTok @spiritcurioustherapist Instagram @therachihealing Facebook @TheraChi Healing Stay up to date on our offerings by joining our newsletter here Are you interested in learning more about Reiki Assisted Psychotherapy? Join our facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/psychotherapeuticreikiforclinicians Are you a mental health professional with a spiritual edge and have something to share? Complete this form to apply to be on the podcast

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  The Spiritually Curious Therapist

  The Other Side of “I Can Do It Myself”: Amanda Hill on Connection & Hope

  Aug 31, 202646 min

  What happens when being the person who can handle everything becomes part of your identity? My guest, Amanda Hill, knows that experience well. Amanda is a licensed mental health counselor, nationally certified counselor, board-certified life coach, author, podcast host, and founder of Connections of Hope, a multi-location counseling practice in Indiana. But long before she was running a growing mental health practice, Amanda was a newly divorced mother with two very young children, trying to figure out how to keep the bills paid and take care of her family. On the outside, people saw someone who had it together. On the inside, she was struggling. Amanda describes herself as hyper-independent and shares how difficult it was for her to ask for help, even during periods when she barely had enough money to feed herself after feeding her children. One of the parts of our conversation that stayed with me was what happened when Amanda finally did ask for help. The person she was afraid to need, her dad, showed up. And while that didn't immediately erase the shame she felt about needing support, over time it gave her a different experience of what it could mean to depend on someone. We talk about that experience and so much more, including: Where hyper-independence can come from Why asking for help can feel like failure What Amanda learned from becoming a single mother The role her faith played during some of her hardest years Why hope doesn't always mean knowing how things will work out How our past experiences shape what our brain and nervous system predict will happen next The relationship between our thoughts and our physiology Why we can't simply “think positive” when our nervous system is in survival mode What happened when Amanda's daughter reached the same age Amanda was when she experienced a traumatic event Learning to approach activation with curiosity rather than fear Parenting, presence, perfectionism, and the impact of social media How Amanda's own experiences eventually informed the work she does today We also talk about the name Connections of Hope , which feels especially meaningful after hearing Amanda's story. The woman who once found it so difficult to let herself need other people ultimately built a practice centered around two things that became deeply important in her own life: Connection and hope. And maybe there's something in that for all of us. Sometimes strength looks like figuring out the next step and continuing to move forward. And sometimes strength looks like allowing ourselves to say, “I can't do this by myself.” Connect with Amanda Hill Instagram: connectionsofhope4u Facebook: connectionsofhope https://www.tiktok.com/@mentalhealthwithamanda1?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc; You Tube: @mentalhealthwithamanda Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/48zMd4OwRLSx36vG3c4rg5?si=lMZPwXIdQ2ifma73Lhj0Rg; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mental-health-with-amanda/id1885180390; https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-hill-4078b3126/ Amanda is the founder of Connections of Hope, LLC and author of Making Sense of Dysfunction . You can also find her podcast and YouTube channel, Mental Health with Amanda . Share what resonated for you Thank you for listening to the Spiritually Curious Therapist Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave a review - it helps us grow and reach more listeners! Until next time. Stay Curious. You can find Jodi Silverman, LCSW at www.therachihealing.com www.journeywithkindredsouls.com Follow me on Socials: TikTok @spiritcurioustherapist Instagram @therachihealing Facebook @TheraChi Healing Stay up to date on our offerings by joining our newsletter here Are you interested in learning more about Reiki Assisted Psychotherapy? Join our facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/psychotherapeuticreikiforclinicians Are you a mental health professional with a spiritual edge and have something to share? Complete this form to apply to be on the podcast

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  The Spiritually Curious Therapist

  Letting Love Lead: Dr. Colleen Quinn on Psychology, the Soul & Awakening

  Aug 24, 202649 min

  What do we actually mean when we talk about love? My guest, Dr. Colleen Quinn, defines love not simply as something we feel, but as an action, one that serves the greater good while also including ourselves. That idea became a thread throughout our conversation. Colleen is a mystic and transpersonal, trauma-informed psychologist whose understanding of psychology, consciousness, and healing has been shaped not only by her clinical training, but by two near-death experiences and her own deeply personal journey through grief and awakening. We talk about the death of her younger brother and the complicated grief that followed, the beliefs she carried about what it meant to continue living and experiencing joy without him, and how her relationship with that loss eventually began to change. From there, we explore love, sovereignty, boundaries, surrender, breathwork, the nervous system, and the relationship between our psychological and spiritual selves. In this episode, we explore: What it means to think of psychology as the study of the soul Colleen's definition of love as an action Why boundaries and sovereignty can be expressions of love Her experiences with grief and the loss of her younger brother The meaning Colleen has made from her two near-death experiences How our relationship with a traumatic experience can change over time The role of breathwork in Colleen's personal and professional life Ego, control, and the practice of surrender Where the nervous system and the spiritual self may intersect What it means to bring conscious awareness to our breath Finding meaning in difficult experiences without expecting life to be free from pain Love as a spiritual practice rather than simply an emotion Colleen and I also explore places where psychological and spiritual frameworks don't always fit neatly together - and why I think there's value in staying curious rather than needing to have all of the answers. One thing I appreciated about this conversation is that Colleen doesn't describe awakening as arriving at some final destination. She talks about it as an ongoing process of noticing, surrendering, learning, and choosing how she wants to meet her life. And perhaps that's one of the questions this conversation leaves us with: What might it look like to let love lead—not only in how we relate to others, but in how we relate to ourselves? Connect with Dr. Colleen Quinn Insta: essence_merging Bluesky: essencemerging Facebook: Essence- Merging YouTube: Essence Merging - Colleen Quinn PhD Steps to Integrative Breathwork video: https://youtu.be/HiHkw_9UiVo?si=UDLiyUZCzN-KfI2O Link to buy Essence Merging Book: https://a.co/d/09bOvw36 Colleen's newly released book, Essence Merging , chronicles her personal journey of awakening and explores her work with breathwork, Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, and her own spiritual experiences. Visit Colleen's website for her free Nine Simple Steps to Awakening , information about her work, and links to her YouTube channel and other resources. www.essencemerging.com Share what resonated for you Thank you for listening to the Spiritually Curious Therapist Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave a review - it helps us grow and reach more listeners! Until next time. Stay Curious. You can find Jodi Silverman, LCSW at www.therachihealing.com www.journeywithkindredsouls.com Follow me on Socials: TikTok @spiritcurioustherapist Instagram @therachihealing Facebook @TheraChi Healing Stay up to date on our offerings by joining our newsletter here Are you interested in learning more about Reiki Assisted Psychotherapy? Join our facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/psychotherapeuticreikiforclinicians Are you a mental health professional with a spiritual edge and have something to share? Complete this form to apply to be on the podcast

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