Lifting Depression Through Compassion with Rhoda Schuling
Release Date: 03/06/2025
Khonmadi: Feeling the Heartbeat of Mother Earth, with Dr Ruby Gibson
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes, Produced by J’aime Rothbard. In this magical conversation, Dr. Ruby shares the launch of The Khonmadi Project, which was inspired by a dream. She has since discovered that Khonmadi is known to different indigenous cultures worldwide, as a term that relates to healing Mother Earth. Dr. Ruby also shares her personal and professional journey, which began at age 13. Learning about the emotional roots of physical pain, led her from massage therapy to somatic healing, and the creation of Somatic Archaeologyⓒ which considers the body a "walking library" of...
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Healing the Trauma of the Heart with Tiph Fedor
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Kevin Young. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. The spiritual journey and process of trauma healing are presented as aligned experiences that unfold together as we progress through healing into wholeness. This conversation begins with Tiph’s healing journey. A highly sensitive, empathetic child, growing up in a family where emotions were suppressed was a painful experience that led her to heroin addiction— described as a "magic bullet," it numbed Tiph’s emotions but made her life a ‘grim’ period of survival. She goes on to share how she overcame her addiction, and the...
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Finding Chronic Pain Relief in Parts Work with Terry Baranski
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Compassionate Inquiry® (CI) both aim to reconnect individuals with their core Self. Learn how understanding parts' reality' roles, and feeling into the somatic flow of Self facilitates healing. In this conversation, Terry illuminates the IFS approach, including the nature of Self, how our how parts manifest chronic pain and why addressing these internal conflicts is essential for healing. Having been trained in both CI and IFS, Terry adeptly distinguishes the two approaches’ areas of...
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Claiming Your Power in Perimenopause with Inés Zabalaga
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes & J’aime Rothbard. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. In this social-myth-busting expose, perimenopause is presented as a force that both transforms and empowers women' s relationships with their bodies, self-worth, sexuality and desirability. In this fluid conversation, three women explore multiple perspectives and experiences of menopause and trauma. Inés invites listeners to use their menopause experiences to redefine their relationships with their bodies, to reclaim pleasure, sensuality and sexuality. Their experiences contradict the outdated belief that...
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Gift with Shawn Ginwright - 2 minute listen
The Gifts of Trauma
This week's gift comes by way of Dr Shawn Ginwritght, who weighs in on how we can become solid influences for young people emerging though the challenges we as a culture and global community face in these times. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode or a gift, as over the next few months our guests have created some beautiful gifts for us to share with you! Our wish is that you may use these simple practices to deepen your integration of what was shared by Shawn Ginwright on The Gifts of Trauma Podcast. Dr G's Books:
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Moving from “What’s Wrong?” To “What’s Right?” with Dr Shawn Ginwright
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J'aime Rothbard. Young peoples' transformational stories advocate for an expansion of the current Trauma-Informed approach to include the Healing-Centered focus on empowerment, agency & holistic well-being. In this paradigm shifting conversation, Shawn shares stories of young people who transformed their lives through community support and aspirational goals. Their experiences demonstrate how being recognized as agents in their own healing process, empowered young people to dream and envision futures beyond their trauma. To support this...
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Gift Episode with Sat Dharam Kaur
The Gifts of Trauma
Sat Dharam Kaur offers these simple practices you can use to help you connect with your body and create a space in which you can deepen your experience of your own bodily, nature and spiritual connection, through presence, truth, love and divinity. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode or a gift, as over the next few months our guests have created some beautiful gifts for us to share with you! Our wish is that you may use these simple practices to deepen your integration of what was shared by Sat Dharam on The Gifts of Trauma Podcast.
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I’m All I Wanted to Be. Now What? With Sat Dharam Kaur
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Kevin Young. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. This conversation opens with Sat Dharam sharing her realization that her original life goals have been achieved, and asking herself, “What’s next?” She goes on to look forward and explore the possibilities. A therapist’s state is known to influence the client's experience and expand the potential for healing. That’s why Compassionate Inquiry® brings empathetic presence into therapeutic contexts. But if current psychological and spiritual understandings were expanded to include environmental consciousness and creative expression,...
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What Happens in Women’s Circles with Tanya Lynn
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted and Produced by J’aime Rothbard In this lively conversation, Tanya reveals why women gather in Circles and the personal growth that can happen when they do. She shares her long Circling history and what recently motivated her to train in Somatic Experiencing and integrate it into her Circle Work. Tanya also demystifies: - Sisterhood - The Mother Wound, Sister Wound and Witch Wounds - The Role of Circles - The Roles of Perimenopause and Menopause - The Wild Woman - The Council of Queens - The Grandmother Clan Join us to learn what happens in Woman’s Circles. You might...
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Longing to Belong with Cristina Bâra
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted and Produced by J’aime Rothbard The gentle conversation flows from Cristina’s personal journey to her professional role within the Compassionate Inquiry® organization to the approach’s impact on individual and group development. She highlights how Compassionate Inquiry® groups foster a sense of community and mutual support by inviting individuals to explore their emotions and experiences in the safe facilitated spaces that are essential for meaningful personal exploration. Cristina also explains: - Why the self-discovery and healing path often require us to experience our...
info_outlineInterview by Kevin Young. Produced by J'aime Rothbard.
In this deep dive into Compassion Training and Mindfulness, Rhoda openly shares how these approaches illuminated her own journey with depression. She highlights their transformative potential when applied to personal suffering in depression, and advises that they are not a cure-all. It's possible for people who take one or both forms of training to still experience depressive episodes afterwards. However, their newly developed tolerance for negative experiences often enables them to manage their episodes more effectively.
Throughout this conversation, Rhoda gently and thoughtfully explains how:
- Mindfulness practices can help individuals identify and understand their emotions
- True compassion arises from recognizing and experiencing our own and/or others’ suffering
- Tonality and word choice affects peoples’ perceptions of their experiences and emotions
- Group inquiries in Compassion Training enable people to learn from each other's experiences
- Compassion training teaches people to accept all of their emotions, including anger and sadness
Rhoda concludes this conversation by inviting us to look within ourselves and ask, “For whom do I reserve my best self?” Imagine what life would be like if we could reserve at least a portion of our best selves, for ourselves.
About Rhoda Schuling
Mindfulness & Compassion Teacher (MBCL)
In her first Mindfulness training, Rhoda was immediately taken by the simplicity of being aware in the present moment, but struggled immensely with non-judgment. Despite this, she realized there was much to gain though delving into the truth of her heart and mind, and finding an authentic way to live. Most of all, she loved discussing what it is to be human.
She began attending Buddhist retreats regularly, totaling over 150 silent days. Most were Vipassana-oriented, but some were Insight Dialogue retreats. At this time, she also started training as a teacher for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
Rhoda began working as a PhD researcher under the supervision of professor Anne Speckens (Radboudumc) and professor Willem Kuyken (Oxford University), studying the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL) as a follow-up to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in adults suffering from recurrent depression. Having experienced depression herself, and finding recurrently depressed adults one of the most inspiring target populations for compassion, she remained captivated by this research for a decade.
As a researcher, she presented at conferences on mindfulness, compassion, meditation and healthy lifestyle, including the Mind, Body Unity Conference, the International Conference on Mindfulness, the Omega Institute and Mind and Life Europe, all the while deepening her understanding of mindfulness, compassion and psychotherapy.
Rhoda teaches full MBCL courses and the MBCL Teacher-Training Program. Very occasionally, she coaches individual clients. Her passions are yoga and running, and she is currently co-authoring a book on the courage of forgiveness.
Promotional Link: If you are curious about Compassionate Inquiry® and want to learn more about training in this approach, for your own self development or for your work with your coaching or therapy clients, please explore the Compassionate Inquiry® Professional Training Program. Registrations close March 30, 2025.
Resources:
Website:
Related Links:
Note: In 2026, Rhoda will be leading an English MBCL teacher-trainer programme. If you would like to be updated on that, please message her through LinkedIn. Regular MBCL courses in English are also hosted through the MBCL-international website.
Compassion Training - Netherlands
Books:
Wherever You Go, There You Are
Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living
A Practical Guide to Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living
Poets:
Rachel Holstead | John O'Donoghue | Dana Faulds
Quotes:
"All addiction stems from this moment, when we meet our edge and we just can't stand it."
- Pema Chödrön
“It's a fragile thing
This life we lead
If I think it too
I can get over-
whelmed by the grace
by which we live
our lives
with death over our shoulders
- from Sirens (Pearl Jam)
Social Media: LinkedIn