Breaking Free - A Body, Mind, Spirit Approach to Mental Health

What does it take to build a spiritual community where everyone feels safe, seen, and supported? In this thoughtful and tender conversation, Sommer Seitz and Pastor Ric Shewell reflect on the shifting landscape of spiritual community in a post-pandemic world. As many people reevaluate their relationship with organized religion, this episode offers a compassionate exploration of what it means to be...

In this episode of Breaking Free – A Body, Mind, Spirit Approach to Mental Health , host Sommer Seitz welcomes Andrew Zorich , an integrative psychotherapist , international trainer, and author of Contemplative Somatics: Body-Based Meditations for Healing Trauma Gently . Based in Seattle, Andrew draws on nearly two decades of experience in the healing arts, blending trauma therapy, somatic psychol...

Episode 54: Embodying Your Desire Part II Welcome back to the Breaking Free Podcast, where we continue our journey of profound self-discovery through a Body, Mind, Spirit Approach to Mental Health. This week, your host Sommer Seitz is joined once again by the insightful intimacy and relationship coach, Naomi Slater. Naomi Slater is an experienced Intimacy & Relationship coach, yoga teacher, an...

Welcome back to a whole new season of this podcast in which I will share the personal work of interpersonal healing I have done and the people teachers I have had on the journey to my own embodied wholeness. In this podcast I will introduce you to work of Naomi Slater and experienced intimacy and relationship coach with whom I had the opportunity to study in the healing art of tantra, bioenergy he...

In this podcast, I interview Dora Gyarmati, a seasoned  teacher of mindfulness-based yoga for nearly 20 years, about how yoga has benefitted her life and that of her many students. I was able to complete my 200 hour yoga teacher training with Dora this past year and together we explore the lessons learned in life from the practice of yoga as well as how yoga can link our mind, body, and spirit in...

In this episode I invite Dr. Sarah Campbell to discuss her soul work prompted by her graduation from her Doctoral Program in naturopathic  medicine and a master's in Chinese medicine. Sarah finally gave herself space to feel the cycles of anger, grief, and finally joy at the retrieval of lost parts of Self she had dissociated in order to "fit in" to her programs that did not value her perspectives...

Journey with me on my most vulnerable podcast yet as I share what has truly healed and continues to heal me and what obstacles I needed to breakthrough on my path of expansion in spiritual growth and development.  Ask the deep questions with me such as:  What systems support your growth and development and which hold you back? What mirrors do you have in your life that give you glimpses of who you...

I loved this conversation with Isabella Hague, a certified fitness trainer and health coach, about her journey of self-love in relationship to her body and approaching wellness from the abundance of the heart. Bella tells a powerful story of moving from her story of scarcity and "not enough" mindset when she was facing infertility, miscarriages, health limitations, and perfectionism to deciding it...

In this episode I invite an inspiring mentor in feminine leadership and Christian faith, Nina Petruzzo, to discuss the process of descending from the mind into the wisdom held in the body and heart. This allows one to fully embody their true feminine essence. Nina brings her experience of studying the body-mind connection as a dancer, occupational therapist, and yoga teacher to help men and women...

In this episode, I invite Ganel-Lyn Condie (author of her newest book "The Stewardship Principle") to discuss her current lived experience as a new "empty-nester." She shares in her signature style of vulnerability and humorous reflection about her challenges in adult parenting, how she has intentionally prepared for this life transition, where she has found growth, joy, as well as struggle, and h...

In this episode, I share how the musical, "Wicked", and the lyrics to the song, "Defying Gravity", mirror some of my lived experience in learning to trust my intuition when my path felt "less traveled." I also discuss the science behind why some of us choose to ignore our intuition in favor of "fitting in" or being accepted by systems because our autonomic nervous systems are wired for connection...

In this episode, I invite Heidi Tucker, an award winning author and motivational speaker, to bravely share her own growth work around her chronic illness struggle with vertigo. Heidi humbly and vulnerably allows me to guide her through concepts of how life gives us opportunities for personal evolution through what are called "soul lessons." Find yourself smack in the middle of Heidi's own personal...

In this episode I interview Dr. Brad Reedy, a seasoned therapist who wrote the book, "The Audacity to Be You: Learning to Love your Horrible Rotten Self." We explore together the conditions needed for each of us to do our own work and to have the ability to show up as ourselves in relationships. Brad talks about 2 opposing parenting styles that raise us up toward either fear of or courage to find...

The stage has been set by Intuition and Leadership Coach Emily Baker and I in the previous episode, "Divine Union Part I". We have taken you on a journey into the physical, mental, emotional, and energetic bodies that interplay in our healing processes and how connecting to the intangible energy body is valuable when seeking wholeness. In the previous episode, Emily introduced us to her "staircase...

Have your ever felt that the science of energetics (the balance of divine feminine and masculine energies) is too intangible for you to connect or understand? In this podcast, I invite Emily Baker, an Intuition and Leadership Life Coach, to discuss with us her “staircase model”. This model combines science, psychology, and energetics in an effort to show a predictable pattern of how energy expands...

So many of us have rituals of healing that connect us to Nature such as gardening, hiking, and even sitting under trees. Have you ever wondered why? In this podcast, I invite two women, ShaIyn Kessler and Heidi Broadbent, whom I believe to hold great wisdom, to share their journey of healing through nature. We get raw and real about past struggles and how nature has provided resiliency, wisdom, a...

We all know there is inherent trauma in the loss of a physical parent, but have you ever considered the wounding caused by the loss of a spiritual parent? In this podcast I am excited to introduce Krystal Barnes, an educator on Divine Feminine who has made it her mission to trace the feminine aspect of God in biblical text, mythologies, and histories to show that there has always been a mother, or...

This holiday season I have been pondering an unexpected teacher, "the donkey," that has been speaking to me from my Christmas Nativity manger scene with symbolic truths that are for all of us as we go on the journey toward greater love and connection with our divine self. The donkey brings us messages of humility, peace, and service under the heaviest of loads as well as needed to untie yourself f...

So excited to share this conversation with Allyson Chavez, a prosperity and success coach for ambitious God-centered women, who teaches women to lead with their feminine and leverage the power of their minds so they can lay down the struggle in pursuit of love and success. Allyson shares her authentic experience in personal excavation to rise above her limiting beliefs to move from personal strugg...

For several months I have been gathering up courage to talk to you about a very personal topic, Human Sexuality. Why would a therapist struggle to talk about something that is such a big part of all our lives? I explore my own indoctrination around sexuality and how owning my divine sexuality has been perhaps the most important and most difficult part of my healing journey. In this episode, I cand...

You likely can identify when stuck in fear, shame, and overwhelm. However, you may struggle to identify the root of this emotional state and how to shift out of it. In this episode, I will discuss the common plight that is self-sabotage. Then we'll go further into how you move out of these states into higher levels of consciousness that allows for personal growth and expansion. We will discuss top...

Using a model of human growth and development, we explore the journey of moving towards something called, "Oneness." Each of us is a unique Self with gifts, talents, and purpose that only we can individually bring to the world. Through the process of differentiation, you can learn how to show up as your unique Self even while being part of larger systems that may not always celebrate our uniquenes...

In this episode I invite you to some recent "shadow work" I have been doing of owning my disowned parts of self including ways of I have betrayed my wants, needs, and even my uniqueness. Self-Betrayal is common for all of us that experience caregivers, systems, and mindsets that tell us that we need to perform, deny our wants and needs, or play small in order to feel loved and connected to a tribe...

Do you ever feel like you and your spouse are missing cues with each other to connect and wondering why that connection seems to happen elsewhere but not where you desire it most? I invite you to a conversation between my husband and I on this very topic. Mike and I both use tool of "preparation" to create safe space for those with whom interact in work environments and in this episode we share ho...

Women are constantly bombarded with messages that they are either "too much" or "not enough." In this episode, I have the privilege of interviewing photographer, Lynette Smith, who is doing powerful healing work with women using her craft, professional photography. Lynette tells us about an exciting worldwide project called “40 over 40” that she has brought to my hometown of Wenatchee, WA and why...