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Podcast

Ep. 150 The Healing Climate in Spiritual Practice (and life)

Spirit Sessions Podcast Guest for website

For the past four years, I have had the incredible good fortune to work very closely with a one-on-one mentor and therapist named Cristal Mortensen.  And today, I am so honored to share this podcast with you where I interview her. In it, we discuss what she calls "the healing climate," and why, without it, our efforts to heal ourselves and to hold space for others may work against our deepest desire. This podcast touches deep into the essence of my personal inner practice, as well as the ethos we are working each day to do our best to uphold within what we teach at The Shakti School.

In this episode you’ll hear: 

~ What the healing climate is and how it can help us 

~ Resistance and how finding ‘the spot’ within ourselves can be supportive of healing 

~ The importance of compassion and gentleness toward ourselves

~ Letting awareness be the light that shines through our uncomfortable feelings, rather than changing them

~ Our unique resources within and how we may be able to better access them

~ How these techniques can impact manifestation intentions

~ Noticing how we experience ourselves energetically and the way it can bring self-compassion

~ Being in relationship with energy

~ Join Katie and The Shakti School for the Embodied Ayurveda + Mystical Mind live in-person and virtual retreat May 6th and 7th. Live spaces are filling up fast, so register now to get in! Payment plan options available.

~ Cristal Mortensen is a trauma and nervous system specialist and Certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, in private practice for over 20 years. She helps people heal and clear unresolved trauma, attachment wounds, balance energetic, emotional and mental disequilibriums, find their way back to themselves and discover their wholeness.  Her multidimensional approach to trauma healing developed out of her own journey of healing, which began when she learned yoga and meditation at the age of 16 and henceforth dedicated her life to the path of healing.  She has healed from debilitating complex PTSD, severe anxiety and depression, addiction, disordered eating, chronic pain and physical illness and has dedicated her life to supporting others in healing from the pain of trauma and finding freedom. 

Cristal’s ability to deftly weave between and integrate the realms of the mind, emotion, physical body, subtle body, energy and spirit and bridge ordinary and non ordinary reality, along with her compassionate presence has made her unique work highly sought after.

She has practiced and studied extensively over the past 30 years with masters in the fields of trauma, attachment, somatics, meditation, breath, movement and energy healing, bringing the balance of ancient wisdom and modern science to her work.  She has developed Multidimensional Trauma Healing and Sacred Attachment work, out of the need for an approach to trauma healing that is truly effective and transformative.   Her work builds access to an organizing matrix from which inherent safety, security and an integrated mind and body can develop, creating a new template from which we can heal and our life can evolve.  Her mission is to be a guiding light for those suffering from trauma.  She believes passionately that the seeds of healing and transformation are within each of us, waiting to be discovered and activated.  You can connect with her at awarealignedawake.com

 

This episode is brought to you by PAAVANI Ayurveda. Use discount code SHAKTI15 at checkout for 15% off a one time purchase on paavaniayurveda.com

Female founded PAAVANI Ayurveda is an artisan line of small-batch, pure, organic health & skincare products formulated in Northern California. 

Handcrafted with the wisdom of Ayurveda, these gals seek to raise conscious awareness of the whole by practicing the philosophy of ahimsa or nonviolence in making their products. This means that their offerings are certified cruelty free and vegan and that PAAVANI carefully selects herbal ingredients that are sustainable, ensuring that plant medicine is abundant for future generations. 

In addition to mindful formulations, PAAVANI Ayurveda packages their products in glass to maintain the integrity of their herbal ingredients. Additionally, their labels are printed on recycled paper stock, using water-based inks that generate little to no paper waste & no harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs). 

With every purchase made with PAAVANI Ayurveda, you are supporting a female founded, small business that strives to maintain the health of not only your skin, but also our earth. 

Or Subscribe on iTunes

Learn more:

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Here’s the link to leave us reviews in iTunes.

From my heart to your screen,

Katie

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theshaktischool

TheShaktiSchool

🕯️Come join us for a free live solstice event 🕯️Come join us for a free live solstice event on Sunday 12/21 - Winter Solstice Initiation: Your Wound Is the Way. 

This is a space to:

🌑 Name what this year asked of you
🌑 Honor the wounds that shaped you
🌑 Rest the nervous system
🌑 Reclaim the medicine inside your story

Come as the healer.
Come as the one still healing.

They are not separate.

🌙 Comment DARKNESS to get the link to save your spot now.
What were your biggest soul-lessons from 2025? 👇🏼⁠
⁠
Now is the time for reflection on the most deep, heart–truth lessons learned from 2025. It’s also time for sacred seed planting for 2026. ⁠
⁠
This is the season of descent, when the invisible roots grow stronger and the unseen realms speak more clearly. ⁠
⁠Join me for a free upcoming class where I’ll be sharing about the spiritual and energetic currents of this time of year and the lessons of heartbreak, grief and rebirth. Together we will explore how the very places we feel most broken often hold the spark of our greatest awakening.⁠
⁠
Our Winter Solstice Initiation: Your Wound Is the Way is happening on December 21st (the solstice itself) from 2-3pm Eastern US Time⁠.
⁠
🌙 Comment DARKNESS to get the link and save your spot now.⁠
We would love to have you at our FREE live Winter We would love to have you at our FREE live Winter Solstice Initiation this Sunday December 21st at 2pm US Eastern time. This class is a sanctuary for anyone walking through darkness who is ready to discover the light within it. Comment DARKNESS for the link 👇🏼❄️🌑🕯️❤️‍🔥
Join us for a FREE class, Winter Solstice Initiati Join us for a FREE class, Winter Solstice Initiation: Your Wound Is the Way on December 21st at 2pm US Eastern Time. 🗝️🤲🏼🌙⁠
⁠
We will be exploring how the darkest night of the year becomes the brightest portal for healing and transformation. Join us for the Season of LIGHT. 🌟⁠
⁠
The Winter Solstice marks the longest night and the return of the light, a moment revered in feminine-form spiritual traditions and Ayurveda as a sacred threshold where deep healing becomes possible. It is the season of descent, stillness and inner illumination. A time when the invisible roots grow stronger, and the unseen realms speak more clearly.⁠
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Through feminine-form spiritual practice, Ayurvedic psychology and ritual practices aligned with this potent seasonal gateway, you’ll learn how your pain becomes your power, your teacher and your path.⁠
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This class is a sanctuary for anyone walking through darkness who is ready to discover the light within it.⁠
⁠
🌚 Comment DARKNESS for the FREE link to join us.
Raise your hand if this is you the second the days Raise your hand if this is you the second the days start getting longer again…🌞

It’s like “Okay I’ve cried, I’ve dissolved, I’ve stared into the cosmic mirror of my soul. It’s time to put on a little bronzer and do this thing!” ⚡️🔥🌑

If you’ve ever felt like the darkness of winter and the threshold of the solstice really does something to your psyche… you’re not alone.

This is the time when that tiny spark of light slowly starts returning, broadening you beyond the limits of the prior year and expanding your heart even wider.

If this is tugging at you, I invite you to join us for a free live gathering on the Winter Solstice. In this live solstice initiation I’ll guide you through…

🕯️How the Solstice teaches us to honor darkness, stillness, and the “pause between breaths”
🕯️Why your wound is not a flaw but a map, especially in this season of deep introspection
🕯️How suffering becomes spiritual compost in the winter cycle
🕯️How we can, through rituals and sacred pauses, TRULY turn this season into a time of celebration, joy and new life and light. 
🕯️The alchemy of scars becoming a mark of inner spiritual authority
🕯️How to work with the emotional currents that winter naturally surfaces
🕯️Figure-8 and spiral body practices that circulate Shakti and melt emotional contraction

✨ Comment DARKNESS for the link to save your spot. The light always returns.

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