The Hole Shebang

Medical gaslighting is what happens when a woman names her pain and is told it is probably nothing. In this episode of The Hole Shebang, pelvic health physiotherapist Kristen Parise sits down with writer and TEDx speaker Kayla Branstetter, whose new book Don't Be an Athena: Women's Stories of Surviving Medical Misogyny collects true stories of abortion, birth and infertility, three of the most pol...

You have done the work. The books, the affirmations, the years of talking it through. So why does the same pattern keep running. In this episode of The Hole Shebang, Kristen Parise sits down with Ramona Kossowan, Canada's first certified Gentle Trauma Release practitioner, to explain why so much healing stays stuck in the head and never reaches the body. They get into what trauma actually is, why...

Building muscle in menopause is not only possible, it might be the single most important thing a woman can do for the next 30 years of her life. In this episode of The Hole Shebang, Kristen Parise sits down again with muscle scientist Stuart Phillips, PhD to unpack what really happens to a woman's muscle through perimenopause and menopause, how much protein women actually need and why lifting weig...

You have been told there is nothing else to try for your pelvic pain. Dr. Alopi Patel is the reason that sentence is wrong. She is a dual board certified anesthesiologist and interventional pain physician based in New York, a Fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, certified in lifestyle medicine, co-author of the Pelvic Pain Journal, and one half of The Female Pain Docs with her part...

Pain is not always mechanical. Sometimes it starts on your plate. Julie Daniluk, RHN, NNCP, the anti-inflammatory nutritionist, four-time bestselling author, and longtime resident nutritionist on The Marilyn Denis Show, joins Kristen to connect blood sugar, hormones, and inflammation to the bladder, bowel, and pelvic symptoms women are so often told to live with. After a contaminated meal in Thail...

Why does sleep fall apart in midlife, and why does nobody seem able to explain it? Dr. Woganee Filate, respirologist, sleep medicine physician, and co-founder of Lume Women + Health, joins Kristen to break down the four reasons women stop sleeping during perimenopause and menopause, the sleep disorders that go undiagnosed, and what actually works to fix it. What You Will Learn The four buckets beh...

Sexual coercion is the missing piece in almost every conversation about painful sex, low desire and sexual dysfunction, and in Part Two of this conversation Dr. Jordin Wiggins names it without flinching. Jordin is a Naturopathic Doctor, author of The Pink Canary and host of the globally ranked Pleasure Principles podcast, and she has spent more than 12 years helping women reclaim pleasure, health...

The clitoris was mapped from cadaver sections in 1998, imaged on MRI in 2005, its nerve fibres counted in 2023 and its full nerve network mapped in 3D for the first time in March 2026. In this episode, occupational therapist and Cliterate model creator Anita Brown-Major joins Kristen to talk about what all of that actually means for your body, your pleasure and your clinical care. Anita has spent...

Sex after menopause is not a joke and vaginal dryness is not just an inconvenience you have to live with. In this episode of The Hole Shebang Podcast, Kristen Parise sits down with Shirley Weir, founder of Menopause Chicks, Amazon bestselling author of Mokita: How to Navigate Perimenopause With Confidence and Ease, and one of Canada's most recognized voices in midlife women's health. Shirley share...

Fatigue that persists despite adequate sleep is one of the most common and most dismissed complaints in women's healthcare. In this episode, pelvic health physiotherapist Kristen Parise sits down with Dr. Margot Lattanzi, a board certified naturopathic doctor in Toronto and creator of the Hormone Cornerstone Method, to explore why standard bloodwork often misses the hormones driving chronic fatigu...

PMDD: 30 Years of Misdiagnosis and How to Break the Cycle One in 20 menstruating people lives with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and the average time to diagnosis is still 20 years. For Heather Hendrie, it was 30. Heather is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, wilderness therapist and creator of the Awfully Hilarious anthology series, a collection of books using humour to break stigma aroun...

Pelvic Floor Basics: Why Kegels Are Only Half the Story with Lauren Ohayon If you have been doing your Kegels faithfully and still feel disconnected from your pelvic floor, still leaking, still in pain, or completely unsure what your pelvic floor is actually doing, this episode is what you have been waiting for. Lauren Ohayon is the creator of Restore Your Core, a globally recognized movement meth...

Pelvic Floor Fitness: Why Kegels Alone Will Never Be Enough Pelvic floor exercises are about far more than squeezing. In this episode of The Hole Shebang Podcast, Kristen Parise sits down with Kim Vopni, The Vagina Coach, to talk about why standard Kegel protocols fall short and what a comprehensive approach to pelvic floor fitness actually looks like. Kim is a certified fitness professional, meno...

Sex After Prostate Cancer: Hope and Rehab Sex after prostate cancer is one of the most common concerns men face after treatment, yet it remains one of the least addressed. In this episode of The Hole Shebang Podcast, Kristen Parise sits down with cognitive psychologist and sexuality educator Victoria Cullen, founder of A Touchy Subject, to talk about what really happens to sexual function after a...

f you've had a cesarean birth, whether it was recent or decades ago, this episode will change how you think about your scar and your recovery. Registered massage therapist Nicole Nifo joins Kristen Parise to break down what actually happens to your body during a C section, why your scar affects far more than what you see on the surface and how specialized scar therapy can restore function at any s...

In this episode of The Hole Shebang, Kristen sits down with Chloe Lewis, a women's health physiotherapist with 12 years of clinical experience working within the UK's National Health Service. Chloe holds an MSc in Women's Health and is currently completing a PhD investigating resistance training during the menopause transition. Alongside her clinical and academic work, she teaches, speaks, and cre...

Michelle Gauvreau is a certified nutrition coach, fitness instructor, published writer, product developer, public speaker, and trusted television nutrition correspondent with nearly two decades of experience in the health and fitness industry. She began her career as Assistant Editor at RK Publishing for MuscleMag and Oxygen Magazine, later serving as Advertising Director and health writer with In...

Dr. Dolores Fernandez never planned to specialize in menopause. She opened her naturopathic practice with dreams of treating fertility patients, but menopause kept walking through her door. Today, she's a NAMS Certified Menopause Practitioner, founder of IRIS vulva care products, and a passionate advocate for destigmatizing conversations about vaginal health. What You'll Learn In this episode, we...

If you're experiencing brain fog, unexplained weight gain, crushing fatigue, or night sweats during perimenopause, this episode will help you understand what's actually happening in your body—and what you can do about it. Daphne Kostova is a certified holistic nutritionist, registered natural nutrition clinical practitioner, and hormone balancing coach who specializes in helping women over 40 rest...

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in women, yet most women don't realize that menopause itself is now recognized as a cardiovascular risk factor. In this episode, Dr. Daiana Castleman returns to The Hole Shebang to break down what's really happening to women's hearts during midlife—and the sex-specific risk factors that standard screening tools completely miss. What You'll Le...

What does proactive relationship care actually look like? In this conversation, Dr. Jessica O'Reilly breaks down the simple daily practices that prevent relationship breakdown and explains how cancer survivors can rebuild intimacy when bodies and identities have fundamentally changed. What You'll Learn: Why relationship quality (not just having a partner) is what impacts cardiovascular health, men...

Episode Overview Natalia, founder of Dott, joins the podcast to discuss why clitoral vibration should be considered healthcare for menopause—not just pleasure. As an industrial designer who experienced Premature Ovarian Insufficiency in her thirties, Natalia breaks down the physiology of estrogen loss, decreased blood flow to pelvic tissues, and how vibration therapy supports tissue health, natura...

Dr. Jordin Wiggins is a naturopathic doctor, author of The Pink Canary , host of The Pleasure Principles podcast, and an intimacy coach for high-achieving women. Her journey into women's sexual health started in grade 10 with debilitating pelvic pain that felt like "somebody was shoving a knife in between my vagina and my rectum." Doctors dismissed her pain as psychological, offering antidepressan...

When cancer treatment forces you into menopause overnight, the experience is drastically different from natural menopause. Your hormones don't gradually decline—they stop. And the symptoms? They hit hard and fast. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ashley Chauvin, a Naturopathic Doctor and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner who has built her practice around cancer survivorship and menopaus...

Why Muscle Is Your Longevity Organ with Barbara Birke When your body stops responding to the same old strategies, it's not because you're broken—it's because your hormones are changing, and your body needs something different now. Barbara Birke is a German sports scientist and nutritionist who specializes in supporting women through perimenopause, menopause, and beyond. She studied sports science...