The Release Podcast

Dancing Despite The Internet Trolls, with Award-Winning Psychic Jen Abra

Imagine that you're overwhelmed and worn out, lying on the living room carpet, noticing the crumbs that need sweeping, the toys that need putting away, and the curious sensation of nearly losing your mind. And imagine that you are overcome with the sneaking sense you were meant for more….but that it would be scary, weird, and probably alienate you from a lot of people. Imagine your sneaking suspicion was that you were psychic, and that you’d fall apart completely if you didn’t start taking it seriously.
 
That’s basically what happened to Jen Abra, now known to her nearly 80,000 Instagram followers (since going viral for predicting Trump’s presidency) as the dancing medium. A Canadian, married mother of 4 who quit a decade-long career as a kindergarten teacher, Jen has learned very quickly that people confuse predictions for preferences, and that internet celebrity as a psychic medium comes at a price.
 
On today’s podcast we’re talking about how she found herself here, why she dances despite the trolls, how the predictions come to her, what she sees for the future of America & Canada...and how much control she has, over any of it.
For more on Jen Abra: https://www.instagram.com/spiritmentorjenabra/
 
For more on The Release with Poonam: www.TheReleasePodcast.com
#psychic #medium #spiritguides #awakening

Why Do So Many Adults Dread Their Birthday? with Author Tamar Hurwitz-Fleming

Do you still look forward to your birthday? Do you plan it, or have faith that someone else will do something to commemorate another year of your time on this earth? Or does it loom large like a threat, stressing you out and promising to lay bare the wastage of time?Tamar Hurwitz-Fleming is the author of “How To Have A Happy Birthday: Create Meaning, Fulfillment & Joy On Your Special Day.” After a childhood with the average balance of satisfying and disappointing birthdays herself, she realized suddenly that her insistence on celebrating a friend’s special day did not quite land. And she’s taken the time to examine why.On today’s podcast, we are looking at the origin of birthday celebrations, the original more divine intention behind it, and the way that it became so high stakes. What does your approach to your birthday reveal about you? As we age, do birthdays get tainted by the idea of aging? Or have we, on some level, always felt like a birthday celebration is an annual exercise in being forced to question whether or not we feel worthy?

Does It Matter What's Real? With Mentalist Gerard Senehi

Have you ever had the chance to see a mentalist or a magician, live? What is the line between what we cannot see, and what is an actual illusion? And how much does it matter?
 
My guest today is Gerard Senehi, known as the Experimentalist. He has been recognized as a “superstar” mentalist, featured in TV shows as diverse as the Today Show” and “Ellen, and has even performed for corporate audiences, private events and US presidents during his career. New York Magazine referred to his performance as “some sort of religious experience from the sixteenth century.
 
But Gerard is proud to say that what he does defies categorization, and he won’t discuss whether or not its real…because the point, to him…is living in the ambiguity. From a childhood in swiss boarding school to studying paranormal phenomena and psychology at Amherst college, to trying his hand as a street performer in Israel, he’s seen a lot.
 
And he wants us to consider all the things we cannot see.

Kidnap Survivor Jess Buchanan On Her Captivity With Somali Pirates, Rescue By Seal Team 6, & Why You ALWAYS Have A Choice

How much control do any of us really ever have…over anything? Kidnapping survivor Jess Buchanan has some thoughts....Is it more important to be safe in body or in mind? What does safety even mean? Jessica Buchanan had 93 days to consider questions like this while she was held captive in 2011 somewhere deep in the Somali desert. A 32 year old American schoolteacher who was working with a Danish aid organization helping teach children how to avoid being blown up by leftover landmines in rural areas….Jess had just finished up a meeting and was prepping to fly back home when the car carrying her and a coworker was ambushed by armed gunman who she would later learn were tipped off my their security for only $100,000.
 
Driven into the desert and forced to participate in a mock execution, she and her coworker soon realized her kidnappers were Somali pirates demanding $45 million dollars for her release. The good news was that she was worth more to them alive than dead; the bad news was that she spent the next 93 days entirely outdoors being moved around in the Somali desert by a gang of pirates, men who would routinely berate her, threaten to sell her to AlShabab, and hold a gun to her head. Most days she ate a tin of tuna and perhaps some canned pineapple. But the constant threat of assault paled in comparison to the fear of losing her own mind, which she realized then was the single most important thing she had ever had. 
 
Through a miscarriage she never mentioned to her captors, to the months of taking stock of every life choice she had made until the day of her kidnapping…to the night when she was saved but none other than SEAL TEAM 6 (on the direct orders of President Obama)…Jess Buchanan could never shake her belief that this was not the end.  Not only did she manage to connect with her kidnappers in ways that are now taught in classes…but she empathized with them and reach the conclusion that in fact…her kidnapping was just not personal. And thanks to a kidney infection that triggered her rescue and a husband who NEVER stopped fighting for her…she managed to do what the seals told her was the most impressive part; she survived. 
 
Life is a classroom, she says. And today she gets to live that lesson and impart it to her two children alongside the husband who helped save her…in the warmth of a life which she knows, better than any of us, was NEVER guaranteed.

Why You Should Care About No-Fault Divorce, with Amy Polacko

Most married people know very little about divorce, and prefer to keep it that way. But what they don’t know, can hurt them, and those they love. For a lifetime.
 
My guest this week learned that the hard way during her own divorce process, and in the aftermath of launching a small women’s support group that led her from her original career as an investigative reporter…to her new life as the Freedom Warrior. A certified coach and divorce specialist, Amy Polacko has dedicated herself to helping people distinguish between frustration and abuse…and determine for themselves when it becomes necessary, to take steps top get out of the marriages that they never signed up for. On today’s podcast we are talking about the labyrinth of family court that often mistakenly sides with abusers (as evidence in her book FRAMED). We are looking at the origin of and the threat to no-fault divorce, and what that would mean for our rights to escape from unhealthy situations. And we are uncovering the real implications of the push to instate Covenant Marriage; a type of legal contract so deeply restrictive….that it sounds like we might as well just assume when getting married that it means till death do you part…even if he might in fact, kill you.

Your Overwhelm Is The Goal, with Sociologist Jennifer Walters

Feeling overwhelmed by the relentless news cycle? There's a reason for that.
 
Jennifer Walter is a Swiss sociologist, podcast host (Check out The Scenic Route) & mental health advocate. She’s also a self-described rebel marshmallow, and a highly sensitive person. Grounded in sociology and a deep understanding of the structures that shape our perception of who we are, where we fit, and what is possible, she coaches clients to find the sweet spot in perspective that will help them take agency in their lives.
 
When she went viral this year….over her conclusion that in the current sociopolitical environment "our overwhelm in the point," I knew I needed to sit down with her. On this week's podcast we are looking at the playbook of disengaging citizens from their own democracy. And we are talking about how we can all manage to stay alert, without getting lost in the void.
 

The Infantilisation of Society & The Death Of Adulthood, with Author Keith Hayward

Why have we as a society gone from simply glorifying youthful looks to aiming for a consequence-free, childlike lifestyle? When was the last time you saw an ad that showed adults behaving like…adults? How did we devolve within just one generation from teens who could not wait to a driver’s license…to teens nowadays who barely register excitement over a driver’s test? Or their first set of car keys? Or apartment keys, for that matter? Professor Keith Hayward has some theories, and a lot of research to back it up. A professor of Criminology at Copenhagen University, he is also the author of "Infantilised: How Our Culture Killed Adulthood.” Hayward argues in the book that western society and media are conspiring to keeps kids less mature than in previous generations, leading to a situation where more and more of them fail (or barely even try) to graduate into the basic self-reliance that characterizes adulthood. But that’s not the worst part. It’s one thing for some folks to party forever or deliberately fail to launch. It’s quite another to imagine a society full of kid-ults who simply refuse….full stop…to ever grow up. For more on Keith Hayward and his book INFANTILISED: https://www.amazon.com/Infantilised-How-Culture-Killed-Adulthood-ebook/dp/B0CKLC3JJX

Is Our Loneliness Killing Us? With Dr. Julianne Holt Lunstad

How lonely are we...really? When does loneliness go from a signal like thirst to a problem like chronic dehydration? What will the world look like if in fact…we don’t collectively figure out how to do anything about it?
My guest today is Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a psychology and neuroscience professor at Brigham Young University, and the director of their Social Connection & Health Lab. She is also the founding scientific chair and board member for the U.S. Foundation for Social Connection and the Global Initiative on Loneliness and Connection. As the lead scientific editor for a US Surgeon General’s Advisory and Framework for a National Strategy, she is an expert not only on how loneliness affects the brain, but how it is affecting society. On this week's podcast we are talking about how it affects the body, how it affects our choices, and how collectively, those loneliness-informed choices are changing society. Are we the loneliest we’ve ever been? Are you? And without clear guidance on when it goes from normal to dangerous….how would you even really know? For more on Dr. Julianne Holt Lunstad: https://www.julianneholtlunstad.com/ 
 
For more on your host Poonam Sharma and The Release Podcast: https://poonam.info https://thereleasepodcast.com

Reclaiming The Narrative Of Womanhood with Midlife Muse Dr. Amanda Hanson (on launch day for her book MUSE)

Does a fish really need to understand that it's swimming in water? How about if that water is laced with arsenic? Does it matter what level of arsenic? How about if a woman spent her entire life for example marinating in misogyny (but I mean like low-key non-toxic levels of misogyny for the most part)? Would her accomplishments make immune? Would her beauty? Her privilege? And for how long?
My guest today is Dr. Amanda Hanson and she is known worldwide as the #midlifemuse. Her book “Muse” is out today. A leading voice both online and in the world of psychology among women, Dr Hanson blends Clinical Psychology with ancient holistic practices to encourage women to reclaim their strength and to live audaciously… with reverence for their #divinefeminineenergy. But having read it I can tell you this book is about far more than how the patriarchy hurts us all. It’s about how we can reclaim the way we were designed to see ourselves by taking a good hard look at the water we've been swimming in our entire lives.
 
Dr. Hanson is not immune to that journey herself and her experience informs her entire movement which is really transforming lives worldwide. On today's podcast we are talking about the launch of MUSE, the importance of every woman dismantling her own internalized beliefs about #womanhood and the power that we all have to become every single thing that we need. Trust me; you're going to want to read this book.
For more on The Midlife Muse: https://www.amandahanson.com
 
For more on your host Poonam Sharma and The Release Podcast: https://poonam.info
https://thereleasepodcast.com
 

Connection Versus Attunement, with Dr. Peter Salerno

Have you ever felt what seemed like a connection....only to eventually awaken to the reality that it was probably something else? There is a key difference between connection and attunement, according to this week's guest Dr. Peter Salerno.
 
Trusting your own judgement can be tricky after you’ve escaped an emotionally abusive relationship. Its about far more than just picking better the next time around. Dr. Salerno is a psychotherapist specializing in supporting people who have suffered from relationships with abusive and manipulative partners. He’s gained a wide following on social media in part because he’s willing to call out all of the ways that traditional couples counseling can make things worse if the therapist misses the true dynamic.
 
Peter’s latest book TRAUMATIC COGNITIVE DISSONANCE dives deep in to what it’s really like to escape and then heal from an abusive relationship with a disordered personality. He’s got lots of insight into handling, surviving, and making sense of emotional abuse. Not just from his clinical practice, but also, from personal experience. Because as it turns out, therapists are humans too.
 
For More on Dr. Peter Salerno:
https://www.drpetersalerno.com/
For more on The Release Podcast:
https://thereleasepodcast.com
https://www.poonam.info
 
#attunement #loveandrelationships #couplestherapy  @DrPeterSalerno  #traumabond #disorderedpersonalities