The Summit Effect

This week on The Summit Effect, we’re getting into tarot: its history, how a deck works, and how I use it personally and alongside my work in clinic to invite reflection, explore choices, and connect with intuition. We’ll unpack the Major and Minor Arcana, the four suits, and how the imagery, question, and surrounding cards shape a reading. I’m also answering some common questions: Can tarot predi...

After being welcomed into ceremony with Grandmother’s Voice at Bronte Creek, I’ve been thinking about what it means to live in relationship with the seasons. In this episode, I explore fall through Traditional Chinese Medicine and astrology—and how both can offer questions worth asking as we move from summer toward winter. We’ll move through Libra’s call for balance, Scorpio’s deeper look inward,...

Can you be intuitive and still make bad decisions? Do you need a daily practice to stay connected? Can you drink alcohol and still be spiritual? And are those strangely accurate tarot readings on your Instagram feed actually meant for you—or is it just the algorithm? This week, I’m answering your questions and sharing some of my spiritual hot takes. We’re talking about energetic protection, religi...

Why can certain full moons and eclipses leave us feeling completely exhausted? In this episode, I explore Carolyn Myss’s concept of calling your spirit back: reclaiming the attention, time and life-force energy we continue sending toward past experiences, outdated identities and unresolved stories. I also connect this spiritual idea to what science tells us about learned protection, predictive pro...

What if the shoulder is where you feel the pain—but not necessarily where the entire problem began? Lately, I have been seeing a pattern of shoulder and upper-arm pain in clinic without an obvious injury or clear mechanical onset. When the same presentation appears multiple times, I start looking beyond the painful structure and exploring what might be happening through all three layers: the physi...

Dolly Parton once said, “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” But she didn’t just say it—she built an entire life around it. In this episode, I share the clairsentient experience she had the day before Dolly’s passing and reflect on what Dolly taught us about authenticity, purpose, generosity and creating success that makes more room for other people. In this episode: Why finding yourself m...

In this episode, I’m talking about why we might not always need another mentor, course, teacher or person telling us what to do. Sometimes the thing that actually builds confidence is getting our reps in, sitting in the discomfort of not knowing, and learning to trust our own ability to figure it out. We get into the science of self-efficacy, deliberate practice, autonomy, cognitive offloading and...

As women, we are so good at noticing. We notice what needs to be done, who needs support, who hasn’t had enough time for themselves, and how everyone around us is doing. But somewhere in all that noticing, we can forget that we need to be poured into too. In this episode: Why our definition of fun grows up with us The magic of uninterrupted time with women Why being truly listened to feels so powe...

What do sports, healing, Ted Lasso, and the nervous system have in common? More than you might think. In this episode, I unpack a conversation that has been sitting with me for weeks—a discussion about professional sports, collective emotion, and whether something can be both deeply beautiful and deeply flawed at the same time. We explore why humans have gathered around sport for thousands of year...

In this episode, we unpack the feeling of losing yourself and why “How do I find myself again?” might be the wrong question. We explore neuroplasticity, how life experiences and repeated choices shape the brain, and why the woman you were at 25 isn’t someone you need to get back to. This is a conversation about identity, the choices that build who you become, and how to stop looking in the rearvie...

In this episode, we explore what summer is actually asking of us. We unpack the science behind why we naturally feel different during the longer days, why our nervous systems crave more light, movement, and connection, and how working with the energy of the season can leave us feeling more alive instead of more exhausted. Through a personal story from a recent trip to Banff, we talk about the diff...

In this episode, we welcome the very first guest to The Summit Effect: my dear friend, Aneta Pietruszko, owner of Burlington Power Yoga Canada and co-owner of Soulfull Yoga and Wellness Retreats. Aneta's journey didn't begin in a yoga studio. It began in the corporate world, where anxiety and panic attacks became the breadcrumbs that ultimately led her toward a completely different life....

In this episode, we pull back the curtain on Reiki. What actually happens in a session? How does energy communicate? Why do some sessions feel deeply emotional while others create profound shifts in direction, purpose, and healing? I shares stories from real sessions that have stayed with me over the years, explore the role of free will in energy work, and explain why Reiki is less about being &qu...

In this episode, I introduce one of the foundational concepts behind The Summit Method: the idea that healing is not determined by what you choose, but by why you choose it. We explore the difference between operating from faith versus fear, how those two states influence every layer of healing, and why awareness may be the missing piece for so many people who feel stuck in cycles of symptoms, fru...

Have you ever felt like you know something needs to change, but you have absolutely no idea what that change is? Maybe you're feeling stuck, disconnected, frustrated, or simply aware that your current life no longer feels aligned—but every time you try to figure out your next step, you become overwhelmed by how big the change feels. In this episode, we're talking about one of the most co...

In this episode, we unpack astrology in a way that feels far less overwhelming and a lot more human. Instead of treating every moon phase like a deadline or a 24-hour portal you can “miss,” we explore astrology as a slow unfolding pattern that moves through your life in seasons. We walk through the energetic progression from Aries season into Taurus season and now into Gemini season, and how each...

In this episode, we’re diving into shadow work: what the shadow actually is, why it forms, and how it quietly influences our reactions, relationships, triggers, and patterns behind the scenes. We talk about why shadow work is not about “fixing” yourself or locking away the messy parts of who you are. Instead, it’s about understanding the pieces of yourself that were buried, suppressed, or pushed o...

In this episode, I’m sharing from a place that is very real and very present for me. After suddenly losing my dog Tucker—I’ve found myself in a space where I’m not fully in the grief, but I’m also not back to normal life. So instead of forcing an episode I wasn’t aligned with, I wanted to talk about that in-between… the pause . We unpack what it means when your body and nervous system aren’t ready...

In this episode, we dive into the science and soul of music as a healing tool. What starts as a curiosity about goosebumps from music (aka frisson) turns into a deeper conversation about the nervous system, memory, and how sound can both regulate you or keep you stuck. We explore how music is stored in the brain, why certain songs bring you back to specific moments in your life, and how your body...

In this episode, we unpack one of the biggest gaps in modern healthcare: the lack of space for subjectivity in a system built on measurement. We explore what data does incredibly well, where it starts to fall short in healing, and why your lived experience, nervous system, and intuition are forms of information that deserve to be considered. This is a conversation about science, subjectivity, and...

In this episode, we unpack a pattern I’ve been seeing more and more in sessions: the desire for certainty without participation. We talk about why readings are meant to be mirrors, not instructions, and how constantly asking “when” can actually keep you stuck. This is a conversation about nervous system familiarity, capacity, identity, and why the universe gives you breadcrumbs instead of the full...

In this episode, we unpack one of the most requested topics: signs. We break down the neuroscience behind pattern recognition, how your brain filters what matters, and how your nervous system state changes what you notice. This is a conversation about brain function and what signs really are. And how to work with signs in a way that is grounded, empowering, and rooted in self-trust rather than out...

In this episode, we look at nervous system regulation through a different lens — not as a one-size-fits-all set of tools, but as something deeply individual to your patterns. We unpack how astrology can be used in a practical way to understand how you regulate emotionally, move energy, replenish yourself, and grow — not as prediction, but as a framework for awareness. Because if you’ve ever felt l...

In this episode, Alanna discusses the complexity of fertility, pregnancy loss, and the layers that can influence conception and pregnancy. The conversation explores the role of the physical body, nervous system regulation, emotional health, and energetic experiences such as spirit babies. Through personal stories, clinical observations, and patient experiences, this episode offers a grounded persp...

In this episode, nervous system regulation is taken out of the social media trend cycle and explained through real physiology and real life. From co-regulating a screaming toddler at 5am to understanding the science behind cortisol, heart rate, digestion, and intuition, this episode breaks down what regulation actually means and why it matters. Nervous system regulation is not about being calm all...