Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

Welcome to Jaguar Bites: new solo episodes where I break down big nervous system concepts into bite-sized pieces. Jaguar Bites are meant to clarify some of the major ideas and misconceptions in somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory, sex education, as well as the birth world. These podcast episodes are for you. They are also for anyone who you don't think will take a course or read a book; but who you really want to hear about how trauma works, how we heal from it, how the body is involved, and why it matters so much (especially right now in the world).

In this episode, Kimberly and Livia discuss Livia's latest book "The Somatic Therapy Workbook" and how it came to be during a difficult marital separation. Livia shares how writing her book was an anchor in the midst of relationship chaos, all while mothering and how to co-regulate with children at developmentally appropriate ages. Livia walks us through her ultimate decision to separate from her ex-partner as healthy self-preservation, as well as the difficulties of doing so within a family unit. Bio Livia Shapiro is a mother, long time yoga practitioner and teacher, somatic psychotherapist and author. Livia writes on the intersection of yoga, somatics, and psychology. She is the author of "The Somatic Therapy Workbook: stress-relieving exercises for strengthening the mind-body connection and sparking emotional and physical healing." Her article "Yoga-Based Body Psychotherapy" is published in the International Journal of Body Psychotherapy and is a tool for weaving yoga and psychotherapy into a seamless psychotherapeutic model. As a Somatic Psychotherapist Livia works holistically, helping women reorient and repair their nervous systems to live more vibrantly and powerfully. What They Share — Betrayal and infidelity in a marriage while mothering — How to co-regulate with children verbally and physically during crises — Separating and single parenting/co-parenting — Living with actual reality vs. desired reality — Preserving Oneself as ultimate act of Mothering What You'll Hear — Livia shares writing "The Somatic Therapy Workbook" during a life crisis — Dealing with difficult pregnancy physically and emotionally — Experiencing miscarriage as grace — Livia's "Fully incarnate" soul into body as a woman, therapist, mother, human — Blighted ovum miscarriage — Break-up of relationship with ex-partner and daughter's father — Family secrets and developmentally appropriate honesty with children — Boundaries, privacy, and protection with children — Betrayal and shock during marital crisis and mothering — Repairing after marital arguments in front of children — Spousal separation while parenting — Giving children language during difficult times — Single parenting — Co-regulation as acknowledging difficult emotions for children — Confirming realities instead of hiding for children — Lack of confirmation leading to cultism, narcissism, binary thinking — Growing up without honest conversations between parents and children — Teaching verbal and bodily ways to shake out a tense situation — Sharing space both individually and together with children — Needing individual and emotional space from children — Healing, repairing, and recalibrating from infidelity — Infidelity as a power struggle — Self-preservation within a family dynamic — Discovery trauma occurs when told of betrayal — Grieving future sibling loss with same parents as a result of separation — Difficulty accepting potentially new parents in child's life after separation — Family in-tact doesn't necessitate individual being in-tact — Kimberly's desire for marriage and leaving relationship with child's father and Brazil — Being first person in lineage to divorce — Evaluating relationship difficulty vs. needing to leave traumatic situation — Leaving unhealthy environments as necessity and self-preservation — Accepting what is true and not what wished was true — Claiming self as mother, wife (ex-wife), author — Need for Applied Psychology for all body-workers and somatic professionals — Yoga teachers as somatic practitioners — "The Somatic Therapy Workbook" for all practitioners (yoga, birth, therapists) — "The Somatic Therapy Workbook" complimenting and pairing with "Call of the Wild" Resources Website: http://ecstaticunfoldment.com/ IG: @liviashapiro Email: lgsyoga@gmail.com

In this episode, Kimberly and Marisa Meltzer discuss body image within diet culture and the politics of food. Marisa discusses her latest book, This Is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World -- and Me, which describes her relationship with food, her body, and dieiting. Feminist politics complicate how many women experience body image and dieting; additionally, food is largely cultural which further complicates how women navigate eating, weight, and their bodies within an ever-changing landscape. Kimberly and Marisa both discuss their personal experiences with their bodies and aversions to diet culture. Bio Marisa Meltzer is a journalist based in NYC. She has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Vogue, and more. She has authored How Sassy Changed My Life and Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution Music, as well as her latest book This Is Big which discusses her personal relationship with weight, the founder of Weight Watchers, and diet culture. What They Share -Personal experience regarding body image, weight, and diets -Researching Weight Watchers for This Is Big -Diet culture and food within U.S. versus other countries -Feminist conflicts with diets and weight What You'll Hear -Marisa was put on a diet at age 4 -Familial relationships with one's body and food -Experience while writing latest book This Is Big -COVID-19 pandemic influencing our relationship with weight and food -Researching Founder of Weight Watchers -Experience with Weight Watchers -Kimberly describes experience with weight -Feminism influencing weight politics -"Fat" as a descriptor not value judgment -Food in community vs. food individually -Excess of choice in food, diets, and lifestyles -Compulsive eating behavior versus normal eating -Impulses, needs, desires, and satiation -Cultural approaches to food -Approach to food as rebellious act -Relationship with parents after latest book Resources Website: https://www.marisameltzer.com/ IG: @marisameltzer

Welcome to Jaguar Bites: new solo episodes where I break down big nervous system concepts into bite-sized pieces. Jaguar Bites are meant to clarify some of the major ideas and misconceptions in somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory, sex education, as well as the birth world. These podcast episodes are for you. They are also for anyone who you don't think will take a course or read a book; but who you really want to hear about how trauma works, how we heal from it, how the body is involved, and why it matters so much (especially right now in the world).

In this episode, Kimberly and Joan discuss how to develop resiliency and gracefulness in stressful times. Joan describes the mind-body connection when experiencing stress as well as how to embody bravery through connecting with others, music, nature, exercise, and more. Resilience and bravery are learned characteristics which require embodied acts to cultivate within oneself as part of living an authentic life. Bio New York Times best-selling author,Dr. Joan Borysenko, is a world-renowned expert in stress management and mind-body medicine. Her training as a psychologist and cell biologist combined with her grace, sense of humor and ability to combine the latest neuroscience with mindfulness and personal stories, have made her a popular teacher worldwide. Enjoy this excerpt from her book, It's Not the End of the World: Developing Resilience in Times of Change. What They Share -Transforming stress to resiliency as a rite of passage -Mind-Body connection during stress -Socializing, nature, music, exercise and more for moving beyond stress -Embodied acts of bravery What You'll Hear -Transformation occurs as a rite of passage -Phases of handling stress for transformation -Learnable skills to develop more resilience -Bodies and importance of community -Tend and befriend as a stress response -Connection to other people, inner lives, and nature -Naming fear causes neo-cortex to release hormones to calm it down -Reframing fear by claiming bravery -Mind-Body as a field and its inception -Experience of being a woman at Harvard Medical School -Trauma as most severe type of stress -Trauma healed through body not mind -Stress is somatically-based and must be released through body -Writing spiritual memoir as legacy left for generations -Positive psychology versus spiritual by-passing -Creating bravery circuits through small, embodied acts -Holding onto goodness as resources in desperate times Resources Website: https://www.joanborysenko.com/about-joan/

Welcome to Jaguar Bites: new solo episodes where I break down big nervous system concepts into bite-sized pieces. Jaguar Bites are meant to clarify some of the major ideas and misconceptions in somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory, sex education, as well as the birth world. These podcast episodes are for you. They are also for anyone who you don't think will take a course or read a book; but who you really want to hear about how trauma works, how we heal from it, how the body is involved, and why it matters so much (especially right now in the world).

In this episode, Sheri and Kimberly discuss female anatomy and arousal. Sheri shares that breathing, sound, and engagement of pelvic floor muscles enhance altered states of pleasure, similar to the experience of birth. Sheri shares the importance of how understanding female anatomy enhances arousal and the sexual experience in both child-bearing and post-menopausal years. Bio Sheri Winston is a wholistic sexuality teacher, award-winning author, and medical professional. Her celebrated books Women's Anatomy of Arousal: Secret Maps to Buried Pleasure and Succulent SexCraft: Your Hands-On Guide to Erotic Play and Practice share her medical knowledge in relation to sexuality. Additionally, her Wholistic Sexuality™ curriculum has over 50 classes covering subjects such as orgasmic abundance for men and women, integral genital anatomy, expanded arousal, sex and relationship skills, and holistic sexual and women's reproductive health. What They Share Similarities between birth and sex Female anatomy during arousal Pleasure-driven sex Post-menopause sex What You'll Hear Path from midwife to sex educator Birth and sex are integrated Breath, sound, pelvic floor movement all contribute to both birth and sex Same energy takes to have sex is same energy in birth Healing trauma in pregnancy/childbearing years Importance of support in pregnancy and parenting Birth, postpartum, and breastfeeding as altered states Breastfeeding as an antidepressant Humans learned distrust of pleasure, appetites, and body knowledge, especially girls and women Female reproductive anatomy Female arousal anatomy largely ignored in medicine Uterus involvement during orgasm Women have network of structures of erectile tissue Knowing all of the parts of erectile tissue and teaching partners Pleasure-drive as reproductive evolutionary asset Erogenous matrix of structures encourages conception and birth Clitoris as jewel of the crown of pleasure network Touch and contact to feel connected and safe Create safety & connection for sexual arousal for women Most female arousal takes 30-45 minutes for full arousal Most heterosexual couples do 12 minutes of sexual activity Premature penetration limits female arousal Expanding amount of time of orgasms Sex as journey of pleasure Fear and anxiety are antidote to arousal and pleasure Labor disruptions inhibiting altered state Menopause, aging, and libido Sheri's struggle post-menopause with libido Unilateral partner sex Frequency vs. quality sex Importance of time and space for desire and arousal Taking pressure off of long-term partnerships for sex Resources Website: https://intimateartscenter.com/about/sheri-winston/

Welcome to Jaguar Bites: new solo episodes where I break down big nervous system concepts into bite-sized pieces. Jaguar Bites are meant to clarify some of the major ideas and misconceptions in somatic experiencing, polyvagal theory, sex education, as well as the birth world. These podcast episodes are for you. They are also for anyone who you don't think will take a course or read a book; but who you really want to hear about how trauma works, how we heal from it, how the body is involved, and why it matters so much (especially right now in the world).

An excerpt from the Jaguar Mother 2021 course, Metzli discusses the postpartum experience according to the Mexican Indigenous tradition in which she was raised. She describes the baño pos-parto (postpartum ceremony) as a rite of passage from birth to motherhood, where women are cared for by the community with sobada (massage), rebozo (binding), herbs, baths, and other spiritual rituals. Postpartum is a sacred time not only for the baby but for the mother as well. Bio Metztli Lopez Torres is a sobadora, doula, childbirth and lactation educator, anthropologist, feminist, mom, sister, daughter, friend, advocate of women's rights and environmentalist. Growing up in Mexico, she learned traditional ways of healing for pregnancy and postpartum, and after completing her bachelor and master degrees, began providing services during all stages of women's lives through her company Luna Mama. What They Share Metzli's personal postpartum experiences for each of her babies Details of bano-post parto (postpartum ceremony) for healing Food, bodywork, and spiritual rituals for postpartum healing What You'll Hear Being a teen mom led Metzli to work with pregnancy Metzli learned from community midwives, inter-generational teaching of midwifery and postpartum care Sobada, a style of Mexican massage learned from midwives Role of sobadora and midwives in Mexican culture Midwives considered sacred and highly respected in the community Cuarentena (first 40 days after delivery) considered a sacred time, woman needs to be taken care of Baño pos-parto as an indigenous tradition from Aztecs Temescal as a type of sweat lodge during postpartum Heat/Cold aspects of Mexican traditional medicine (drinks, food, body, etc.) Returning heat back to body after pregnancy and birth Metzli's first postpartum experience in U.S. after Mexico Conversation with husband to plan for postpartum experience while in U.S. Recommends no household chores in early postpartum, plan for finances, explain significance of postpartum time for mother and baby Postpartum ceremony Metzli does includes sobada, herbal bath with spiritual rituals, massage breasts, sweat lodge Women can do bano posparto anytime for healing Use herbs, bath, discuss birth stories to heal, ask spirit of herbs to help heal wounds from births Connection between body and spirit for healing Belly binding Healing done in community with other women Describes postpartum experience while baby was in NICU Acceptance of difficult pregnancy, birth, infancy period Gap in culture of community and postpartum care Resources website https://www.lunamama.net/form__map IG: @lunamama_services

Kimberly and Alisa discuss female biohacking as an under-researched field, leaving many women feeling that they aren't meeting society's demands. While culture largely operates according to the 24-hour cycle (circadian), the 28-day cycle (infradian) significantly impacts women's energy, productivity, and overall health. Alisa demonstrates the importance of women understanding their menstrual cycles in relation to food, fitness, and time management to sustain optimal health and vitality. Bio Alisa Vitti is a woman's hormone and functional nutrition expert and founder of FLO Living Hormone Center in Manhattan. A graduate from Johns Hopkins and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, she is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, and Harper's Bazaar. She is the author of the best-selling books WomanCode and In the Flo and the creator of MyFLO, the #1 paid period app on iTunes and the first and only period tracking and cycle syncing app. Her work helps women understand the biochemistry of their menstrual cycles in order to sustain efficiency, well-being, and overall health. What They Share Differences of hormonal cycles for males and females Prioritizing menstrual cycle's phases with life activities Benefits of female orgasm What You'll Hear Circadian, infradian, and ultradian rhythms Culture prioritizes male hormonal rhythms Male/Female brain patterns Male/Female hormonal patterns Phases of menstrual cycle which align best with responsibilities and activities Food and fitness for menstrual cycle patterns Intermittent fasting differences for men and women Reproductive education as an empowering conversation Framing first period as a scientific super-power Female orgasm as the "best biohack"