Going There with Jen

Meet Tanya“I am a child of extremes, raised with poison, steeped in possibility between an orchard and giant maple trees, drawn to flowers, and re-birthed by a frigid, roaring sea.” —Thug UnicornTanya Markul’s path is one of the poetess, intuitive and wounded healer.An unwanted child, she was raised on barren soil of shame, guilt and overwhelming self-hatred. From the womb, her inner navigation was tainted by an ancestry of addiction, instability, abuse and fear. Her journey to self-heal and to become ready to guide others has taken many arduous paths, risks, and harrowing rebirths.She is a guide to the other side of pain. A key and wisdom keeper. A creative midwife. An enchanting storyteller and quirky rule-breaker. She is a tree lover and fairy spirit. Imagination is her wand, the dreamworld her guide and Nature her map.Tanya is dedicated to helping others heal by holding sacred space for their stories, and by unlocking the impossibility of shape-shifting their pain into creative, soul-led, healing purpose.Her medicine beckons the brave curiosity to look within, brings a sense of humour to cracked surfaces, unveils the beauty of hidden authenticity, and conjures the revolutionary courage to love, accept, and empower oneself in this lifetime.Tanya heals with words, the unseen world, sensitivity and vulnerability.May we all live a beautiful life of magic, mystery, inner peace and freedom.The Alchemy is in the ConversationLook, boo. Healing is f*cking messy. It’s alienation. It’s detachment. It’s bat shit crazy. It’s jet black darkness. It makes you ache for the void and mundane. You want to quit everything, but you can’t. You won’t. Not now. No baby, not ever. Because even though it aches the mother of all aches, you’ve changed. Underneath all that bullshit, there you are. Brand new. Born again. An angel who’s woken up to their cosmic mission. And you ain’t ever going back. And, there’s more like you out there. We’re waking up right next to you in the dark, wild one. So don’t worry about fixing any part of you and let your wicked shambles raise the goddamn roof on this whole things. ~ THUG UNICORN by TANYA MARKULI just…how can you read that and not feel empowered?Tanya and I (and so many others) are testaments to how we can be empowered by the healing work EVEN WHEN it’s grotesque and messy and you’re dying a million deaths and it’s lonely and isolating. Because when you have the courage to look at your circumstances – /no matter how shitty or painful or whatever/ – and not try to force it away?POWERFUL. MAGICAL. LIKE, WHOA.I’ve known of Thug Unicorn for a few years. A) How can you not love and follow a name like Thug Unicorn? and B) the words are always exactly the ones you need to hear.But I never thought of the person behind the name…not until a few pages into THE SHE BOOK and I knew this was a kindred, wounded, soulful, healing spirit.I knew there were layers and layers upon stories and stories behind the healing words. I could feel the pain seeping through the pages…and I wanted to know this person. The person behind the very cool name, Thug Unicorn.On a whim, I sent an email…call it a moment of bravery because…who am I? I sent the email into the ether with no expectations because I don’t do disappointment well.And to my surprise and utter delight (seriously – the happy dance was #offthecharts) I received an email the next morning…yes.OUR CONVERSATION WAS MAGICAL.Two wounded spirits in the midst of their own messy healings (because always healing) coming together to share an intimate conversation.Listen in as we talk about:The story behind calling herself an unwanted child.Maybe not every aspect of ourselves needs to be healed….take a deep breath with me…how freeing is that?!?Why do we give people the power to place us into a category? Oh – look at her…she must be so happy because she smiles all the time.Ways we can we creatively express our pain.And screw happiness! How ‘bo

Veronica Grant is a Love-Life Coach for smart, successful women who feel like they have it all except love, find it. She believes finding real love isn’t about a great profile, a snazzy text, or pleasing men. It’s about stepping into the fullest, most authentic, empowered version of yourself, even in a world where it feels like the cards are stacked against you.Through her binge-worthy podcast, free challenges, and coaching, she’s here to shake up how you find love, even in our swipe right, swipe left world.A few of her guilty pleasures (a must-have for recovering perfectionists!) include binge-watching HGTV, hiking with her husband and pup, and sushi everything.Meet Veronica and get ready to finally throw out everything you’ve ever learned about love and relationships through her popular DATE YOURSELF CHALLENGE.MY FAVE MOMENTS…Before we truly begin…can we all admit that Veronica Grant is just about the greatest superhero name EVER? Yeah?So much of Veronica’s stories remind me of my unmarried and uncoupled days of looking for love in allll the wrong places. I mean…I was just looking for love any old way I could get it…like Veronica.It got a little awkward when I asked her about the cleanliness of her bathroom floor (you know…when she was having her ‘bathroom floor moment’) and thankfully…she just rolled with it, lol.Listen in as we talk about:The importance of building strong emotional foundations in childhood and what happens when you don’t…no matter if your childhood was traumatic or “idyllic”.What happens when the facades of perfection come tumbling down? Then what?We’ll always have our days where we question, “Who the hell am I?” but hopefully we gather tools along the way to help ourselves through those times.Veronica’s mortifying lesson learned: Never ask a woman if she’s pregnant. Sadly, SUSAN from Season 1 can relate.PEOPLE + RESOURCES MENTIONEDVeronica’s fave coaches – BECCA PIASTRELLI and HILLARY RUBINLove Life Connection, Veronica’s podcast (check-out my EPISODE on healing from childhood trauma)CONNECT WITH VERONICAWEBSITE | PODCAST | INSTAGRAMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Like - this is my life and I got shit to do...like good shit to do. Good, awesome, amazing things that I'm excited to do and I'm doing them and that's that." ~ Kate Courageous Meet KateKate Swoboda is creator of YourCourageousLife.com, Director of the Courageous Living Coach Certification at TribeCLCC.com and author of The Courage Habit: How to Accept Your Fears, Release the Past, and Live Your Courageous Life. She helps individuals, teams, and companies see where old, fear-based habits have kept people stuck or started to limit what’s possible for an organization, and then start creating more courageous lives by getting into “the courage habit,” a four-part process for behavioral and organizational change.Kate has appeared in MindBodyGreen, Entrepreneur, USA Today, Forbes, Lifetime Moms, The Intelligent Optimist, Business Insider, and more, and her website Your Courageous Life was named a top-50 blog for happiness by Greatist. She’s spoken at conferences and seminars on the topic of courage as it relates to personal development, releasing overwhelm, business and marketing, money mindset, wellness, increasing emotional resilience, and healthy goal-setting using habit-formation techniques.My fave moments from this conversation:I mean...first of all, Kate Courageous was my very first life coach EVER and she taught me a personal growth lesson having to do with tight pants and I've got to tell you...I've carried that lesson with me years later still!And I am SO STINKING EXCITED + PROUD of her on the release of her very first book, The Courage Habit.How fear-based behaviors become fear-based habits and what we can stop that shit and practice courage-based habits instead.Kate's journey through an auto-immune diagnosis all while thinking...I'm doing the right things SO WHY AM I SICK?The hard-won courage and knowing when you're able to say - it's ok - I'll get to the other side.How the shadow side of working on our 'stuff' can show up in relationships and boundaries.The four predominant ways fear shows up for us. I especially love that Kate takes us through a super practical and relatable example of how to practice The Courage Habit when needing to have an uncomfortable conversation with a close friend.How short-term "rewards" like a decrease in stress is a fear-based way of how we can self-sabotage our long-term goals and desires. (<==HELLOTHISISME)Kate's recent and positively mortifying 'mom' moment (zomg, I so relate!!).People + Resources MentionedKate's new book, The Courage Habit!The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (Kate doesn't endorse the entire book but there are some good nuggets in there!)Connect with KateWebsite | Facebook | InstagramSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meet BrodieBrodie Welch is a Licensed Acupuncturist, board-certified herbalist, Chinese Medicine expert, group coach, and self-care strategist. She’s the founder of Life in Balance Acupuncture in Corvallis, Oregon, where she has been treating patients since 2003.In addition to her clinical practice, Brodie helps caring, high-achieving, women put themselves on their own to-do lists so they can trade stress and burnout for energy, joy, and vibrant health.She has helped thousands of clients improve their digestion, sleep, and mood; dial in a regular bodymind practice, and step into the next version of themselves. She’s also the creator and host of A Healthy Curiosity: the podcast that explores what it takes to be well in a busy world.My fave moments from this conversation:Brodie and I share the whole cobbler's children have no shoes syndrome...Brodie in the form of her own self-care and me (not) being able to strategize and plan for me (but a whiz-bang doing it for others!).The messages you receive early on when your dad is a functioning alcoholic (and fairly absent) and your mom is basically Superwoman.How being around kids (Brodie became a step-mom to two children who'd lost their mom) tends to bring up all the not so great stuff about our childhoods (Can I get an AMEN!).Asking why we put such unnecessary pressure on ourselves? Just...why?The shame of being a healer and not being able to cure yourself.How to be a good step-parent when you haven't had the best of role models and not wanting to carry forward traumas and wounds from your own childhood.And so much more including lessons from step-parenting, being an overachieving altruist, and healing through work with the Chinese elements.People + Resources MentionedEmelia Symington Fedy's thoughts on radical inconvenience as it relates to self-care (check out Emelia's episode on Going There)Tara Gentile, CEO of CoCommercial (where Brodie and I first met)What's Your Chinese Element - Brodie's amazing resource for learning more about your Chinese elementConnect with BrodieWebsite |Facebook | A Healthy Curiosity Podcast (check out my episode!)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My fave moments from this conversation:Understanding our worthiness is there all along...it doesn't grow bigger or diminish and we don't need to try harder.In healing ourselves, we are able to help others heal.When Kelly felt that failing at being a mother felt like failing at being a women and how motherhood felt like just another thing to get an A+ on.The realization that Kelly couldn't change her autistic child but instead, she had to trust and love herself as fully as possible.Knowing when to pick your fights as a parent and perhaps wearing underwear isn't the most important fight to pick!Learning the lesson that when things are not as we expect them to be...is not necessarily a bad thing.And that's just the first 16 minutes or so...Meet KellyKelly Covert is an inner voice coach with a passion for helping visionary women believe and achieve their big vision by connecting deeply with the wisdom that is inside of them all while owning their worthiness each and every day. Through her intuitive, heart-centered approach she helps women awaken to their true power as creators and world-changers.She is the creator and host of the In Her Voice, a podcast that empowers women to listen and live by their inner voice so they can change the world. Her work has been featured on The Huffington Post, The Elephant Journal, YourTango.com, and she has been a featured guest on many podcasts.Kelly is also a professional flutist with Symphoria, a wife and the mother of 2 boys, 14 and 11, and 1 baby girl beagle named Piper.You can learn more and connect with Kelly at www.kellycovert.com.Kelly's MissionMy mission here on earth is to empower women to understand that their inner voice, their inner wisdom is always there for them, will always have the answers and will always, always tell them that they are worthy.People + Resources MentionedKelly's upcoming Journaling Challenge (join me!)In Her Voice, Kelly's gorgeous podcast (check out my episode on loneliness)Connect with KellyWebsite | InstagramSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meet KeiraI am Keira Poulsen.First and foremost I am a mother to 5 beautiful kids; 4 boys and 1 girl.I am a life coach for women. I help women bring to life their passions and accomplish their goals and dreams. I support them as they hit their walls, walk through resistance and step into the greatness that has been hiding inside of them.I’m a writer on MEDIUM.COM. I write articles to help wake up the parts inside of us that are asleep are dormant. The parts that want to run away from pain by numbing up or hiding our light.I am also an author. I am writing a book that will be coming out June 2018. This book is to help victims of sexual abuse see the hope and healing that is available when they address the trauma that they have gone through.I have worked as a Muscle Testing facilitator for 6 years. This is a form of kinesiology that helps release emotional patterns. I also do a form of light work and energy work to help with healing of the body as well as emotional healing.I have a drive inside of me to help others to wake up to their light. I have learned that it is when we finally face the pain we have run from, we get to step into the light that is within us.PEOPLE + RESOURCES MENTIONEDEMDR (therapy treatment Keira found especially helpful)The book I recommend over and over and over – THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der KelkKeira’s upcoming book – THE HIDDEN GIFTS WITHIN THE TRAUMA OF SEXUAL ABUSEBENJAMIN HARDY – the points of no returnCONNECT WITH KEIRAWEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | PROJECT BREAK THE SILENCESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

in Melanie's own words...The best conversations often happen over coffee. Melanie Scroggins is the host and producer of the Over Coffee podcast where she digs deep to uncover helpful insights for living life more intentionally.Each episode, Melanie invites inspiring people with genuine stories, in-depth knowledge, and first-hand experience on a variety of topics in a way that is easy to follow and understand - like chatting with a friend at your favorite cafe.Never found without coffee in hand, Melanie is passionate about advocacy, minimalism, and general simple living. Whether it’s writing or podcasting, she’s a firm believer that your story should be told.If you’re ever in Austin, TX, give her a buzz!People + Resources MentionedEMDR (therapy treatment Melanie found especially helpful)The book I recommend over and over and over - The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der KelkMelanie is super inspired by the RadioLab podcastIf you ever want to die laughing, check out My Mortified Life. You're welcome!Over Coffee - Melanie's Podcast (check out my episode on motivation)Connect with MelanieWebsite | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Sarah's Own Words...Sarah is a wife, mama, and podcaster who loves stories. The kind of stories that you share over a cup of coffee, on a comfy couch, or with a box of tissues. She is the host of the Messy Roads to Motherhood podcast which is a safe place where women come to share their difficult journeys to becoming moms. Her hope for the podcast is that every woman would believe their story is worthy of being told. When she’s not busy spending time with family or working, you can probably find her enjoying a good Netflix binge with some Andy’s Frozen Custard.People + Resources MentionedThe Birth Hour PodcastMessy Roads of Motherhood - Sarah's Podcast (check out my episode!)Connect with Sarah + Messy Roads Of MotherhoodWebsite | Instagram | Facebook |Facebook GroupSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

in Tiana’s own words…Tiana Dodson is a fat activist and health coach who runs One Beautiful Yes, where she helps people in big bodies find their healthy. (Body shaming, intentional weight loss, and self-hatred not included.) If she could only ever tell the world one thing, it would be that health isn’t about the size of your body: it’s about how you function in that body, how you fuel that body, and how you feel about that body. And that process always starts with one precious, beautiful yes.PEOPLE + RESOURCES MENTIONEDTiana’s MANIFESTO and ONE BEAUTIFUL YES!INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRATIVE NUTRITIONRITA CHAND (Going There Season 1 Guest) Putting the Diet Industry out of BusinessCONNECT WITH TIANAWEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTERSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

IN TASHA'S OWN WORDSI am a compassionate woman with a passion for wisdom, creativity and unconditional love.  My past has been dark, I lived through eight years of debilitating child sexual abuse, violence and carried around a deeply wounded heart. My faith has been strong. It was a deep belief in unconditional LOVE that I held on to, that kept me living with my heart on my sleeve. Open always with hope and full of love to give. My determination and deep knowing that there is goodness to be experienced in life has brought me to where I am today.IN THIS EPISODETasha opens up beautifully and vulnerably about healing from childhood sexual abuse and we share how we both saw ourselves as the protectors…and failed. It never ceases to amaze me the connection we can find in others’ stories…even when they are so different from our own.PEOPLE + RESOURCES MENTIONEDAlana Helbig, PODCAST MENTOR + creator of Ignite (a podcasting course)THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der KolkWOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola EstesTasha’s AFFIRMATION CARD DECKCONNECT WITH TASHAWEBSITE | INSTAGRAMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.