Poema Podcast

Therapist and author Aundi Kolber joins me today. Aundi is also a trauma survivor, and in this episode she shares her personal story of growing up with an alcoholic parent, difficult relationships with a parent and how this has impacted her spirituality, her career and her own parenting.  Aundi explores in depth the concept of 'Trying Softer' and what it can mean for us. She shares some fascinating neurological insights into how our mind and body are not just connected, but one, and how they interact with our spirituality. Then she explains how all three of these areas can impact our mental health. Aundi also shares the common problems she encounters as a therapist and shares the key lessons she's learned, and we also discuss the unique mental health challenges of being a mother.  Aundi has so much wisdom and experience around mental health, recovering from trauma and how this impacts our personal and spiritual journeys, this is well worth a listen. Her book, 'Try Softer', is available for pre-order now.

Author, speaker, disability advocate and trauma survivor Stephanie Tait is my guest today. Stephanie has a challenging, discomforting and yet inspiring story. Stephanie is a trauma survivor in active treatment for C-PTSD, and also has lyme disease which remained undiagnosed through her childhood well into adulthood.  The response from much of the evangelical church, who wished to hide the suffering, not speak or accept the truth about the unanswered prayers and struggles Stephanie was enduring, had huge implications for her life and her spiritual journey. Stephanie shares this story, and explains what she believes is sorely lacking in our trending conversations around Christianity – to partner sound theology and practice with the unashamed acceptance of struggle in the present tense. This is a raw, honest and challenging conversation, from a voice all of us need to hear.  To read the story in more detail, you can also read Stephanie's book 'The View From Rock Bottom', available now.

**Trigger Warning: Sexual abuse, harassment, physical abuse** Mary DeMuth, author, speaker and advocate, is my guest today as we explore and discuss the very real issue of sexual abuse and harassment within the church, as she discusses in her new book 'Me Too'. Mary speaks with great candor and empathy about her own experiences with sexual abuse and the depth of this problem in the Christian church today. In our conversation, and in her new book 'We Too', she encourages the church she loves to rise up and face the very real evil of sexual abuse and harassment, and shares practical steps churches and pastoral teams can take to confront and deal with this effectively in their own communities and to end this evil going forward. We discuss the impact abuse can have on its victims and how to effectively deal with these consequences. We also explore what the Bible says to the sexually exploited, what harms and what empowers those who have been traumatized by abuse, and how Jesus provides us a relational framewor

Today author, podcaster and coach Kevin Garcia is my guest. In this episode we explore how tarot readings can help  us deepen our relationship and connections not just to Jesus and the divine, but also our truest selves.  Kevin unpacks some of the myths and misunderstandings around tarot and explains how he has used it to deepen his faith and his spirituality, to examine and build a deeper connection to himself. Kevin explores how our we need to engage with our imaginations more in order to grow both spiritually and personally, and we overlap into grief, encountering lost loved ones, transcendent experiences and much much more.  Kevin has so much wisdom and insight into the spiritual journey and discovering our truest selves. This conversation was hugely transformative for me personally, and I'd highly recommend both this episode and Kevin's work. 

My beloved friend Jessica Kantrowitz joins me on the podcast for the first time. Jessica is a prolific writer, and her first book 'The Long Night' just went to pre-order! Today we talk about her book and the creative process behind the it, and about depression and mental health, before moving into another topic Jessica - the enneagram. Jessica unpacks with great insight what the enneagram is, what it means, and how we can understand it better. We explore our own 'numbers' and see just how accurate the enneagram can be, what it can tell us about ourselves, and how it can help us in work and relationships.  This was such a fun podcast to record, and I know you're gonna really enjoy it. And if you want more insight to the enneagram, it's definitely worth a listen! (Pre-Order Jessica’s book now, right here)

Author Christine Sine joins me today, to talk about the divine nature of creativity. We discuss how to find joy in creativity, how the divine intended creativity to be fun, to be an adventure - and how we can explore this in all aspects of life, as well as our art.  Christine shares how her creativity has deepened her spiritual journey and helped her to see a side to the divine which has a sense of fun, mischief, adventure and pure joy - creating for its own sake, for the joy of creating. She also explores how the creative process can be therapeutic, and improve our mental and emotional health. Christine argues as we explore this side of the divine we find it more in ourselves, and this helps our own creativity and connection to the divine, ourselves, and the divine creation we are part of.  Christine has so much wisdom, on creativity, the divine journey and so much more. Her book 'The Gift of Wonder' is available now wherever books are sold.

I'm delighted to welcome back author Shawn Smucker to the podcast today. Shawn has written and published several books, and his latest novel 'Light from Distant Stars' has just been released.  Today we discuss the novel, the message of the book and the creative process of writing a novel. We also explore the challenges and the experience of writing a novel, as opposed to a non-fiction book, how our creativity and stories we tell there often reflect parts of our own journey, and how the process of writing and creating can change us.  Shawn always speaks with such incredible wisdom and experience on writing and the creative process, and there's lessons here for all of us involved in the act of creating art. 'Lights From Distant Stars' is available now wherever books are sold.

I'm delighted to welcome back my beloved friend Brandan Robertson this week. Brandan is a pastor, author and advocate for LGBTQ inclusion in culture and spiritual communities, and today we talk about his most recent book,  'The Gospel Of Inclusion'.  We discuss his examination and interpretation of Biblical passages often used to condemn homosexuality, and how these have been misunderstood and taken out of context - and what their original meaning probably was. We also explore how we can build more inclusive spiritual communities, what true inclusion really means, and why it's at the heart of the message of Jesus.  Brandan has so much wisdom and insight, and is doing such great work. His book, 'The Gospel Of Inclusion' is available now!

My friend Felicity Morse returns to the show today. She's an author, life coach and former journalist. Today she shares a bit of her own story, and how she found freedom and a healthier life more in tune with who she really was. She talks about some of the common issues she encounters in life coaching and how we can overcome them - issues of fear, shame, identity, relationships and vocation, and shares some experiences, practices and lessons she's learned about how we can engage with these issues in a healthy way, and have better mental and emotional health.  Felicity has great insight, wisdom and compassion, and is such fun to talk to, I know you're gonna love this episode. 

Today my friend Sarah Heath returns to the show, in an episode recorded live in her home. In this episode we talk about what it means to live a truly authentic life, and how that impacts our relationships with ourselves, with others, and with God. Sarah shares some lessons and challenges she's explored which have helped her connect better with her trueset self, and live a life more true to who she is. These included giving up social media for a full week (or more), looking at yourself in the mirror and loving who you are, practicing mindfulness and reminding yourself of those who love you, who you know you can trust and will be there when you need them. Sarah shares how these challenges impacted he and what he life looks like having explored these challenges. And finds she is living a more honest life, more herself than ever before. And she believes these challenges can do the same for all of us. ***** You can explore more of these in Sarah's latest book - 'The Authenticity Challenge: 21 Days To A More Co

Author Alia Joy joins me on the podcast today, to share her powerful story. It's a story of grief, loss, illness, mental health and weakness - but also a story of love, joy and transformation. It's a story of how things don't always work out how we want, they don't always end well, and life isn't always easy - but of how these experiences and stories don't take us away from the divine, but actually draw us closer.  Alia shares her story with great courage and honesty, and it's truly inspirational. It's a story of glorious weakness. 

Today I'm joined by Maria Francesca French, teacher of things Christian and post Christian and faith futurist. Maria is director of Hatchery LA and runs the No More Circles project.  In this episode we explore how what spiritual community looks like needs to change and evolve in the 21st century, the problems with the very concept of belief, as well as the issue of fundamentalism in both conservative and progressive Christianity. We discuss how we can find healthy spiritual community and how we need to not just change the how of belief, but ditch the idea of belief itself, and adopt what Maria calls a 'transcendent' approach.  Maria has so much wisdom, insight, knowledge and personal experience of these topics, and hers is a voice worth paying attention to. Take a listen!

Today I'm joined by author and pastor Marc Alan Schelske, to discuss the purpose and and power of our emotions.  We discuss how emotions are a God given gift, a source of wisdom and guidance - not something to be avoided. We explore examples of Jesus demonstrating emotions, both positive and negative, and what they can teach us about leaning into our emotions. We also explore what recent research into our how brains work tells us about our emotions, and their purpose and meaning. And finally we examine how we can pay more attention to our emotions, our behaviour and our bodies to understand what's really going in inside of us, and take practical action.   

Becky Castle Miller returns to the show today, and we discuss, in essence, the basic humanity of Jesus. We explore the journey of Jesus through the lens of his own emotional and mental health.  Becky and I explore several stories of Jesus where he experiences grief, loss, trauma, doubt and fear. The loss of Lazarus, the loss of his earthly father, the social stigma he likely faced growing up, even from members of his own family - and how this impacted Jesus. We look at the human side of familiar stories, and find that as we do, it completely switches them on their head and brings them alive. As Becky and I explore discuss the human Jesus, we find that it's his essential humanity which makes him divine.

Last weekend author, speaker, advocate, and prophet Rachel Held Evans, passed away. Rachel's life had an immense impact on so many lives, in so many ways, and her passing has left a hole in so many of our lives.  Today, Becky Castle Miller, whose own journey into writing and pastoral ministry was directly down to Rachel, and who became one of my friends indirectly because of Rachel, joins me on the show. We each reflect on our own memories of Rachel, how she impacted our journey, and consider her wider impact on the world and her legacy. We also explore the process of grieving, the hopeful and encouraging messages which have come in this process, how we can grieve in a healthy way - and we end on sharing our own #becauseofRHE stories - talking about how Rachel's life and legacy will impact our own lives and work going forward.  This episode is intended as a tribute, to honour Rachel's life and work, to celebrate her accomplishments, and reflect on what we can learn from her tragically short life, as we go

Today I'm joined by pastor and author Charles Stone, and we discuss the practice of mindfulness, from both a neurological and a spiritual perspective - a practice Charles calls 'Holy Noticing'.  Charles shares his own story into exploring the neuroscience of mindfulness and it's benefits both to our daily lives and our spiritual journey, and how the practice of 'Holy noticing' can make us more compassionate, Jesus-like people, as well as aid our physical and mental health. Finally, he shares with us an example of his 'Breathe' technique for more helpful mindfulness meditation, and what the real practical and spiritual benefits of 'Holy Noticing' can be. 

**Trigger warning: Sexual abuse, purity culture** My friend Lisa Mickey joins me on the show today, and we explore and discuss purity culture - the idea of sexual abstinence before marriage - and sexual ethics within the evangelical Christian church. We explore the hugely damaging emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual consequences of this culture over  the last two decades, and the damage it's done to each of us and others, and what it means to explore our sexuality in a healthy way, how to deconstruct and reconstruct our sexuality, and have a healthy sexual identity which walks hand in hand with our spiritual journey.   

**Trigger Warning - Emotional, Physical, Sexual & Spiritual Abuse** I'm delighted to welcome my friend Jayla Damaris to the show this week. Jayla shares her powerful, traumatic, painful story of growing up in conservative evangelical Christianity, abuse she suffered as a child, breaking free to build a new life. And then, finding herself rejected and abused spiritually, emotionally and physically by her husband - and recovering from this and beginning life again. This is a story of courage, a story about breaking free from an abusive past and the worst of patriarchy and evangelical Christianity. It's a long but much needed story, with a lot of lessons for all of us.  You can support Jayla as she tries to raise funds to go back to Canada, at her Go Fund Me here:  https://www.gofundme.com/gh8ge-get-jayla-back-to-toronto      

Pastor & author Brandon Carleton joins me today, and shares his powerful story of deconstruction and reconstruction - with a very unique perspective. Brandon left traditional church, but still felt a call to explore spiritual community. So he  planted a church with his wife, but a church with a difference.  Unlike other pastors, Brandon actually tells his members not to come if it's not for them. He puts no obligation, no guilt, no commitment on people to attend - instead of prioritising the good of the church, he prioritises people's individual journey, their needs, their welfare, over that of the church itself. The church exists to serve its members, not the other way around.  Brandon and I discuss our own experiences of traditional evangelical Christianity and church, and find shared lessons from our respective journeys of deconstruction and reconstruction, and facing mental illness. We also discuss the humanity of Jesus, and what that tells us about his divine nature - and we find that there may wel

Today my dear friend, LGBTQ activist and blogger Steve Doran, appears on the show. He shares the story of his experiences as an LGBTQ Christian in the evangelical church.  We hear how he moved from a more traditional perspective even as an LGBTQ man himself, to becoming an advocate for more LGBTQ inclusion both in the church and in our wider culture. Steve courageously shares his coming out story, the painful experiences he has in parts of the church. We discuss how it affected his emotional and mental health, and how he came to find a new, inclusive faith community which accepts him as he is.  Steve is now doing great advocate work and writes regularly on LGBTQ inclusion, and has a powerful story.