Libsyn Directory

EP 222: "The Body is a Doorway: A Memoir - A Journey Beyond Healing, Health, and the Human" with Sophie Strand

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

Release Date: 03/20/2025

EP 238: Furious or Curious - Safety and Security, Frog Farmers, and What Men Actually Need to Hear with Alison Armstrong

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Alison Armstrong, author of The Queen’s Code, about her complex work around understanding men and women. Alison has been studying the dynamics between men and women since 1991, when she discovered she was what’s called a “frog farmer:”a woman who unknowingly turns princes into frogs through culturally inherited patterns of emasculation, criticism, and control. They explore how what was once a subterranean pattern of diminishing men has become amplified in our current moment, and why nobody is fundamentally broken. Alison explains how testosterone...

EP 240: Hunting and Making God – Motherhood, Creativity, and Building a Church of Her Own with Ranier Amiel

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, the third in the Santa Fe trilogy, Kimberly speaks with Ranier Amiel, an artist, bodyworker, and single mother who is restoring a century-old church in Truchas, New Mexico, and turning it into a home, studio, and eventually a space of community and sacred inquiry. Recorded inside the church itself, their conversation moves between the balance of motherhood and creativity, the grounding power of physical labor, and what it means to hunt for and make God after losing faith in the spiritual community you were raised in. Ranier shares her vulva portraiture work, including its...

EP 239: The Image of the Wound – Emergent Teaching, Art as Alchemy, and Living Between Languages with Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Dr. Chanti Tacoronte-Perez, an artist, educator, and depth psychologist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the designer of the cover of Kimberly’s upcoming book Erotic Seasons. Part of Kimberly's Santa Fe trilogy, this conversation explores what it means to teach and live emergently: responding to what’s present rather than what’s planned. Chanti shares her doctoral work on the wound of homelandlessness as a Cuban American, and how she developed a practice of creating and living with the image of one’s wound as a daily, evolving relationship rather...

EP 238: The Body Innate – Yin Warriorship, Communal Eros, and Leading Atmospheres with Jaye Marolla

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Jaye Marolla, a bodyworker, martial artist, Qigong teacher, and founder of The Body Innate and the Yin Dojo in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They explore the integration of martial arts, bodywork, and Qigong as a path of healing and sovereignty, and what Jaye calls “yin warriorship:” a reclamation of the warrior archetype rooted in surrender, Eros, and facing one’s own mortality rather than competition or heroism. They discuss how Jaye came to open her home as a dojo, the ancient tradition of merging practice space with living space, and the energetic...

EP 237: “Sage-escence” – The Natural Menopause Movement, Shamanic Midwifery, and Birthing the Wise Woman with Jane Hardwicke Collings

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, Kimberly speaks with Jane Hardwicke Collings, a post-menopausal grandmother, former midwife, and founder of the School of Shamanic Womancraft. They explore how the lessons learned from the natural childbirth movement must now be applied to menopause, discussing what Jane calls “sage-escence,” the becoming of the wise woman. Jane shares her journey from hospital nurse to home birth midwife, how her midwifery awakened her to the patriarchy’s medicalization of women’s bodies, and why she sees a natural menopause movement emerging. They dive deep into the connections...

EP 236: The Art of Receiving and Giving - The Wheel of Consent with Dr. Betty Martin

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

Kimberly is joined by luminary thinker Dr. Betty Martin as they discuss the evolution and impact of the Wheel of Consent, a vanguard model for enthusiastic consent, asking for what you want, and living out embodied intimacy. Dr. Martin, who developed the model, shares her journey from creating the wheel through her hands-on workshops to writing a book so the wheel may reach an even larger audience, with Kimberly noting just how deep of an impact Betty’s work has had on Kimberly’s teaching and offerings. They explore the challenges of enthusiastic consent, the importance of feeling with...

EP 235: “Hold Nothing” - Radical Forgiveness, Daily Stillness, and Finding Stability with Elena Brower

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, Kimberly and Elena discuss and reflect on their life experiences through nearly two decades of knowing one another. They discuss radical forgiveness for our families of origin, the importance of stillness and meditation, children leaving the home, and menopause. They also discuss what led Elena to write her upcoming book “Hold Nothing,” which offers stories and prompts as an artful contemplative guide towards personal, daily practice for self-discovery and self-wisdom. Kimberly reads powerful excerpts aloud, and you can preorder the book in the link below. Bio Elena...

EP 235: Becoming Bilingual in Intuition and Science, Learning to Phrase New Questions, and the Socialization of Birth with Michel Odent [ENCORE]

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

Bio Michel Odent, MD, is a French obstetrician trained as a general surgeon known for his tireless research on how environmental factors present during pregnancy and birth affect babies, children, and our communities. He is the founder of the Primal Health Research Centre and authored the first articles on the initiation of lactation and the use of birthing pools. He has authored 15 books and passed on August 19, 2025. What He Shares: Why birth is an important subject not only for birth workers, but for all people interested in the future of our species. Why the period of birth is a...

EP 234: Building Intentional Community, Navigating Conflicts, and Finding Belonging with Sarah Wildeman

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

In this episode, Kimberly and Sarah Wildeman dive into the importance of community and relational support and the experiences that led each of them to prioritize community building so centrally in each of their lives. Sarah shares her journey from a communal Christian upbringing to building her own “space of welcome” as an adult. Both Kimberly and Sarah emphasize the need for practical community-building practices, balancing personal needs with community support, and the challenges of maintaining a village in today’s world. Sarah's "Our Common Life" program offers a four-month course to...

EP 233: A Creative and Curious Life after Childhood Trauma with Jamie Mustard, author of Child X

Sex Birth Trauma with Kimberly Ann Johnson

On this episode, Kimberly and, author, artist, and researcher, Jamie Mustard dive deep into Jamie’s childhood in Scientology and his healing and research quest to understand his complex childhood PTSI (Post-Traumatic Stress Injury). This conversation moves between Mustard’s autobiographical story, which features heavily in his upcoming novel Child X and graphic novel Hybred, in addition to his previous research into trauma that stemmed from a transformative experience with Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) treatment. After benefitting so deeply from the treatment, Jamie spent years researching...

More Episodes

In this episode, Kimberly and return guest Sophie Strand celebrate publishing week for Sophie’s extraordinary new book The Body is a Doorway: A Memoir: A Journey Beyond Healing, Hope, and the Human. They discuss where Sophie currently finds herself in a post-diagnosis reality and what writing the book taught her about the mysteries of illness. She emphasizes the complex power of doctor relationships and medical information on the body through the nocebo effect. Kimberly and Sophie talk through what it looks like to support someone dealing with illness day to day. Sophie shares her personal and social experiences with chronic illness, as well as the contemporary cultural pressures to intertwine identity with labels. She also highlights the role of community, creativity and bad story on diagnoses and treatments. This open-hearted conversation touches on the broader implications of health, identity, and the need for a more open and relational approach to care and self-understanding.

Bio

Sophie Strand is a poet and writer with a focus on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous projects and publications, including Spirituality & Health, Atmos, Braided Way, and Art PAPERS. She is the author of The Flowering Wand and The Madonna Secret, and the creator of the popular Substack “Make Me Good Soil.” She lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.

What They Share

The impact of a long-awaited diagnosis
The No-Cebo Effect
What we pay attention to we pray towards
The Mystery of Illness
Bad Story in Myth and Psychotherapeutic fields
Self-Diagnosis
How to tell a different stories about chronic illness
Performing Sickness to have invisible illness be more visible
How to check in with friends having a hard time/facing health challenges
End of the addiction line
Chronic Sickness as it relates to sobriety
Eco-cidal culture wants to turn everything into product
Somatic Protest
Body can’t work
The miracle of GoFund Me alongside an unaffordable health care system
History of oral culture
Orality and Literature by anthropologist Walter Ong
What is an individual?
Monotheism of Psychology
The impulse to classify is about control and fear
Prayer is another energy that might have a better idea of what I need
Vending Machine Prayer
Finding book endings that aren’t fantasies
How to separate negative from worse
How to operate with one spoon

Links

IG @cosmogyny

Substack https://sophiestrand.substack.com/

Sophie's New Book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sophie-strand/the-body-is-a-doorway-a-memoir/9780762487417/?lens=running-press

The Body is A Doorway Amazon Review page: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/?ie=UTF8&channel=glance-detail&asin=0762487410

Money and The Nervous System Sign-Up: https://kimberlyannjohnson.com/money-the-nervous-system/

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