Wellness with Juanita Podcast

Most of us would gladly trade unlimited time, money, energy – complete freedom! – for the life we currently have. Beyond even “the grass is always greener,” as a society we tend to think more (of everything) is "good” and view the limitations and constraints in our lives as “bad” things.  Inspired by David Epstein’s recent book, “ Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better ,” I talk about...

With my birthday coming up this month, I’ve been reflecting on where I was just before my 40th birthday seven years ago. It was worlds apart from where I find myself today. Rather than judging or blaming that old version of me, I’ve come to understand that I needed to start right where I was, as difficult, despairing and despondent a place it was.  So many of us are waiting for inspiration to stri...

Today I share some reflections and introspection around recent encounters with ego – my own and others. It looks great “on paper” and sounds wonderful to want more connection and community, but how do we do it in actual practice? with actual people? How do we accept, allow, and/or move through our differences (and see past our egos), in order to get to what really matters? Today’s take-away is a p...

It’s easy enough to remain calm, feel resourced, and even resourceful when life is sailing along smoothly, but what do we do when it’s not? How do we protect our peace when it’s most threatened? Listen as I talk about how to check in with ourselves when we are feeling vulnerable, how we can change old patterns and behaviors that no longer work for us, and remember who we are. First, as human being...

Today I get really real – honest, vulnerable and raw – with how I’ve been navigating a heavy, difficult, bit of a bummer, worried and anxiety-filled few weeks. I know I’m not the only one, and that fact encouraged me to go for it and really share how I’ve been falling into old habits, thought-patterns and tendencies myself. As fragile, finite, limited humans we are constantly facing the same quest...

Happy New Year! This year I chose “trust” as my one word. One of my first and favorite teachers, Sharon Salzberg has said, “Sometimes we need to just do the best we can and then trust in an unfolding.”  The end of last year brought a supreme blessing from the Universe in my professional life, but it also brought a much more sensitive, compassionate and open-hearted presence overall for me personal...

While Lisa Tokunaga originally trained in Reiki and is passionate about the power of crystals, her work is now primarily focused on facilitating quantum healing experiences. Her passion is helping others reconnect with their strengths, purpose, and wisdom.  We invite you to start the new year off by listening to our discussion about the many different paths to healing. What possibilities might ope...

Join me as I take a look back at the year of the snake and what that means to me. How and where did transformation occur in my world? I pontificate about how important it is to believe in ourselves, take risks, keep trying, put in consistent effort… and then trust in an unfolding. The themes of slowing down, stillness and silence have guided me throughout the year. It feels like they’ve come full...

Gretchen Miura is a mindfulness meditation teacher, grief care facilitator, and dear friend. In her work with Lighthouse Circle, a grief support group she runs with Sarah Furuya, she creates and holds open spaces and opportunities to share our stories and experiences about it.  Even if you haven’t lost anyone close to you yet, grief is something we all experience throughout our lives. Grieving for...

Today I talk about the power of positivity in counterbalancing the negativity bias we all have to some extent. While learning to stay on alert and be vigilant against danger helped our ancestors survive and evolve, it remains a prominent feature of our modern day brains and can cause us to feel chronically on edge, anxious and stressed.  In addition to our biology, we are facing a lot of truly dan...

Today I talk with fellow health and wellness coach and friend, DeDe Spicher, about transformation, change, and the power sharing our stories have in sustaining hope, joy and strength–even in the most challenging of times. DeDe’s experience with bariatric (weight loss) surgery was the first step of many on her remarkable personal journey from patient to coach. As she found new ways of being in the...

Today I get real, deep, and personal as I explore the tender space I find myself in lately: finding forgiveness for the younger versions of me that didn’t always make the best and brightest decisions in life. While obviously all of those past versions of me got me to where I am today (and that’s pretty great!), I find myself wondering at the “whys” of how I started down the unhealthy paths that he...

Join me as I speak with Jennifer Schrappe, a licensed professional clinical counselor based in Ohio about internal family systems. Originally created by Dr Richard Schwartz, within the framework of IFS, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is to get to know all of our parts and realize there are “no bad parts.” They all have their purpose and reason for existing in the way that they do....

Join me as I explore the interplay between:  our expectations (for ourselves, others, our circumstances) the gap between them and reality (and what we do with that discrepancy) how our mindset shapes and frames it all.  I’m curious to hear what your thoughts are on how these three interact with each other! Feel free to leave a comment on whatever platform you’re listening to or send me a DM on my...

I was delighted to be able to chat with Michelle Pietrzak-Wegner about the slow life: yoga, nature, what she calls various “slow practices,” and how getting in touch with our physical body helps us rediscover and reconnect with ourselves in deeply profound ways. Originally from the US and based in Tokyo, Michelle is a licensed somatic-based psychotherapist, Certified International Yoga Therapist,...

Today I talk about fierce self-compassion and specifically, how it has helped to shape the course of my own journey. Even when I didn’t quite realize it at the time, both tender and fierce self-compassion were working together like a beautiful yin yang symbol supporting my path to change, growth and healing.  For all the doubters out there, fierce self-compassion shows us that compassion is not we...

Today I’m joined by Marci Kobayashi, a writer, teacher, and business owner based in Hiroshima, Japan. Marci is the author of Finding Yoyu: The Japanese Compass for Navigating Overwhelm and Cultivating Abundance in 7 Key Areas of Life and is currently working on a memoir about caregiving for her father-in-law with Alzheimer’s. Her writing blends personal storytelling with practical insight, offerin...

Listen in as I dispel some of the most common myths and misconceptions about self-compassion, explain the three basic elements, and dive in deeper to discuss how tender self-compassion forms the fundamental basis from which we best initiate personal transformation. When we learn how to accept ourselves just as we are (flaws and all), we open up the pathway to create meaningful, lasting change in o...

In this episode I talk about how we are hard-wired to avoid pain. While this is a great evolutionary feature for us in the physical world – we don’t have to find out the hard way that fire hurts each and every time – when it comes to our inner world, that avoidance does not usually have the best end results. After sharing some personal stories of what I have found to be true in being able to deal...

Today I do my best to share my experience, thoughts, and reflections from my five day, silent, at-home retreat. It was A LOT. All around. A lot of meditating. A lot of being. A lot of nothing. A lot of time. A lot of silence. A lot of me. It was hard — because life is hard. It was also full of love and deep appreciation and gratitude and joy and wonder and beauty.  Coming to you live from the grea...

Life is hard. Our modern day lives are complex. We exist in an infinite universe, bound by finite time and physical limits. It’s the most natural and human thing in the world to get lost in our thoughts, day-to-day struggles, worries, social media, and endless To Do lists. Reflecting on our deepest values—what truly matters in life—isn’t something we often make time for.  But when we do , if we ca...

In this episode I talk about “the gremlins:” limiting beliefs, negative self-talk, self-doubt and all of those little whispers in our minds that somehow we just aren’t quite good enough. While the gremlins are unique to each of us, dependent upon things like our upbringing, cultural norms or taboos, or even specific incidents or traumas we may have faced, we all have them. It’s important to recogn...

Join me as I explore what it means to honestly love ourselves – and how that has a ripple effect out into the world. I argue that self-care is not selfish, self-indulgent or self-absorbed. I talk about the differences between self-soothing, self-care, and self-love. What is involved in truly loving ourselves? And loving ourselves through all of it — not only when life is good and we feel happy, bu...

After our “look back” last time, today I talk about how that process evolves as we look ahead to the new year. By utilizing insights from the past year, we can identify lessons, themes, and patterns that have emerged. This kind of deep introspection may not always be easy, but the natural slower, subdued, rhythm of winter and the reflective energy of the New Year create the perfect opportunity—if...

Happy New Year! Sending us all warmest wishes for a happy, healthy 2025 as we continue to learn, love, and live along our individual paths. In today’s bonus episode, I take a look back at the past year to some of my achievements and accomplishments as an important part of the process of change and growth. Taking periodic intentional looks back helps us to recognize that the small, consistent steps...