Wilder Wellness Podcast

Back after being MIA for 6 weeks, Kristen opens up about experiencing burnout while growing her business. In this episode, Kristen gets candid about her patterns around burnout that she has repeated, again and again, the lessons that she has learned along the way, and states the boundaries she needs to set for herself moving forward. In this episode Kristen covers: As promised in the episode, here is a link to a free online enneagram test. Are you interested in exploring intuitive eating and looking for personalized support and community to lean on along the way? Sign up for the self-paced Wilder Wellness Intuitive Eating Course. This 11-module course will help you through each intuitive eating principle with video-based curriculum as well as an interactive workbook that includes quizzes, journal prompts, and activities to support you along the way! Learn more here!

In this personal episode, Kristen chats about her own journey to adopting intuitive eating. She dives into different phases of her own disordered eating, and common patterns and behaviors that she has experienced and that you can likely relate to. In this episode, Kristen gets candid about why viewing food as "fuel" can keep us stuck in disordered eating patterns and how the outdoors played both a positive and not-so-positive role in her recovery journey. In this episode Kristen covers: Are you interested in exploring intuitive eating and looking for personalized support and community to lean on along the way? Sign up for the self-paced Wilder Wellness Intuitive Eating Course. This 11-module course will help you through each intuitive eating principle with video-based curriculum as well as an interactive workbook that includes quizzes, journal prompts, and activities to support you along the way!

Have you ever thought about running your own adventure travel company because of the impact travel has had on your life? Or returned from a trip feeling totally inspired to make a change in your life or create something new? Travel is one of the most exciting and impactful ways we can deepen our relationship to ourselves and our world. Breanne Kiefner, founder and CEO of Root Adventures believed that travel is "the best way to connect to yourself, community and world around you is to go to a place of vulnerability. Travel allows us to strip away our preconceived notions and see the people and communities around the world through a new, less-filtered lens. Travel should be a transformative, soul-connecting, honest exploration of your deeper self." Root Adventures is an adventure travel company that focuses on creating adventures that allow you to stray from the beaten path and connect to the local culture, nature, and community in an authentic, honest way. They create itineraries custom to your dreams while ensuring sustained support to the local communities and nature. Join Kristen and Breanne as they explore:

Can't seem to shake feeling out of control around food? Do you wake up feeling remorse about what you ate the night before, only to find yourself bingeing AGIAN later in the day? You are not alone. This is actually a common cycle that impacts all of us who are prone to restricting or trying to control our food. Creating a consistent and sustainable relationship with food is not about controlling our bodies, it is about trusting them. Join Kristen as she gives talks through each step of this cycle and how we can actually interrupt it the next time it happens. In this episode Kristen covers:

There are many benefits of adopting a sustainable movement practice. Less stress, increased cardiovascular health, and feeling more connected to your body are all major benefits. However, diet culture can often make our relationship to movement more stressful because of all of the expectations and rules we have placed around it. Creating a consistent and sustainable relationship with movement is NOT about adding more structure and rules to your schedule and routine, it's actually about adopting more flexibility and freedom. Join Kristen as she gives talks through 3 mindset shifts to adopt when we are ready to engage with movement in a way that adds to your life, instead of just adding more stress. In this episode Kristen covers: Looking for more personalized support? Join the Wilder Weekend Retreat today for a three-day intensive all about healing the relationship you have with your body, building confidence, and letting go of the limiting beliefs holding you back! Sign up here!

Want to know one of the most important steps in actually cultivating positive body image and a healthy relationship with food and our bodies? One of the first and most important steps of this process is letting go of the "fantasy body" that we have created in our heads, and rejecting the idea that once we lose weight all of our troubles and issues will magically disappear. Join Kristen as she explores her own experience of letting go of the "fantasy body". She talks about how comparing herself to this "fantasy" kept her from finding joy in her current body, and how it actually held her ack from addressing a number of important issues in her life. In this episode, we talk about using the stages of grief to let go of our fantasy bodies to find joy and acceptance in our "here and now" bodies. In this episode Kristen covers:

Join Kristen as she answers listener questions all about how to navigate a busy wedding season as a guest. According to the New York Times in 2022 there will be 2.5 million weddings, which is the most in 30 years!!! For many of us, we will be attending multiple wedding celebrations this year. While weddings can be a blast, they can also come with heightened anxiety, especially when it comes to body image. In this episode Kristen covers everything from anxiety around:

What do intuitive eating and being an entrepreneur have in common? Turns out, it's a lot more than you might think. Join Kristen as she chats with Morgan Sinclair, a dietitian turned branding extraordinaire, business coach, strategist, podcast host, and international trip leader. In this conversation, Kristen and Morgan discuss what it really feels like to run your own business. They discuss everything from: Morgan Sinclair is a multi-passionate entrepreneur, which has led her to start a handful of businesses. She started Morgan Sinclair Designs when she noticed a gap in business education for weight inclusive clinicians. Her primary role is working with clinicians who develop their branding and marketing strategy and designing their website, but also led her to develop the Weight Inclusive Business Academy - an online education platform for the DIY clinicians. In addition, she co-hosts the Weight Inclusive Innovators podcast, leads food-focused trips around the world through The Eating Expedition, and is the conference co-chair for the Houston Eating Disorders Specialists. Morgan is an Enneagram Type 7, feel-your-feelings, dessert-before-dinner kinda gal and when she’s not working, she can most likely be found at a coffee shop in Houston or on her way to the airport for a weekend getaway.

Joanna talks perfectionism! In this episode, we talk all about how clinging to perfectionism can increase feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. And how we can begin to loosen our grasp on feeling like we need to be perfect all of the freaking time. In this episode, we also discuss our own relationships with perfectionism and how showing up messy or imperfectly has allowed us to show up as better therapists in our client work and business owners. We will share with you strategies we both use in our practices to help clients take the first steps towards letting go of perfectionistic habits and tendencies. Joanna is a licensed psychotherapist based in Bozeman, Montana and the owner of Root & Rise — a modern and inclusive mental wellness practice for millenials. Joanna brings her true self and inner nerd to the therapy space. She specializes in the areas of anxiety, perfectionism, self-worth, life transitions, burn out, eating disorder recovery, and is a big advocate of feeling all the feels, authenticity, self-compassion, and letting go of shame. When she's not with clients, she's either hiking, camping, skiing, climbing, making a mess in the kitchen, talking to her plants, or getting lost in fiction novels.

On this very special episode, Kristen chats with Annah, a member of the Wilder community who has spent the last two years transforming the relationship she has with her body. Annah talks about her experience in the Wilder Wellness Body Image Program, and the Women in Wild Sedona Backpacking Trip. Annah opens up about what her relationship with food and her body was like prior to diving into the work, and where she is now. On the Pod, We Discuss:

Have you been thinking about signing up for the Wilder Weekend Retreat? This episode will give you a deeper understanding of the work that we will be doing together over the course of three days. Ever been curious about running therapeutic adventure-based retreats? This episode will also touch on how Kristen began her career and the path she took along the way!

Join Kristen and her friend, and fellow therapist Ally Barnett, LCSW as they discuss intimacy, desire, and how pleasure can be a powerful tool to connect with our bodies. In this episode, we discuss how sex and sensuality can actually help you feel more at home in your body and connected to your desires in and out of the bedroom. Ally Barnett is a sex therapist who lives and works in Burlington, Vermont, and Jackson, Wyoming. Ally works with individuals who are looking to work through concerns including things like pain, shame, suppression, and control that they feel are no longer serving them when it comes to areas of intimacy. Ally works with her clients who want to express themselves more, overcome body image issues and increase sensuality, understand their desires and limitations when it comes to pleasure, help feel more connection between body and mind, and create healthy boundaries and desires around sex, sensuality, and intimacy. You can learn more about Ally and her work here. During this episode, Ally references her mentors Aimee Batuski and Ellie Montgomery who run Desire on Fire. Ally also makes a number of book references linked below: Come As You Are - Emily Nagoski Pussy - Regena Thomashauer The Body Is Not an Apology - Sonia Renee Taylor Pleasure Activism - Adrienne Marie Brown The Heart of Desire - Stella Resnick The Erotic Mind - Jack Morin

Join host Kristen Ales as she discusses the challenges of dating as someone who is struggling from disordered eating and negative body image. Kristen shares her thoughts around the dangers of putting so much focus on "happily ever after" and how blaming your body for not finding your partner is detrimental to your overall self-esteem, but also in your quest for love.

Kristen chats with Shannon Ricks, LMFT to chat about how we can begin to detach our sense of worthiness from our appearance. In this episode, we cover why comparing ourselves to other women can feel like a habit we just can shake, the dangers of putting so much emphasis on our appearance as well as tangible tools and exercises Shannon uses with her clients impacted by negative body image. Shannon Ricks, LMFT is a licensed therapist and the owner of Modern Eve, a Utah-based practice of therapists and dietitians who describe themselves as "irreverent, untucked, registered dietitians, mental health pros, body image builders, and diet culture rebels." Shannon is an eating disorder specialist who actively rebels against diet culture, and is passionate about helping people heal their relationships with food and body. Shannon loves helping others figure out their values, find their voice, and build the confidence to be heard. She helps her clients build the skills and insight to move toward self-discovery, self-acceptance, and self-love. You can learn more about Modern Eve on their website. And you MUST check out Modern Eve's incredible Instagram page.

Join Kristen and Bethany Cora Taylor as they discuss how to heal the relationship with food and your body through outdoor adventure. In this discussion you will learn why saying yes to doing the things that scare you is essential in building confidence and body trust. Here we will dive into the importance of pushing your own boundaries and capacity for discomfort in order to create momentum and change. Bethany is a Life Empowerment Nutritionist, Outdoor Community Leader, Book Author, and Snack Connoisseur. She founded Iron Soul Trailblazers to lower the barrier of entry to get more women playing outside and to ensure they are properly fed to live an everyday big life. She says women can't live full lives on empty stomachs nor can they do all the things they want to do in life without properly nourishing their bodies, so she is out in the world helping women shatter bullshit narratives around their bodies & food and getting them to play in the wild. Bethany wants women to feel like they belong outdoors, to be able to handle anything that life puts in front of them, and to understand the major importance of adequate nourishment.. even though the world tells them to "eat less and do more". She wants more women taking up space, getting stronger, and standing in their damn power. Bethany is here to be a torchbearer and to stand with an army of badass women who are creating lives they are stoked to live.

Abby Chan, MS, RDN discusses how to build a movement practice around empowerment and choice, rather than a place of punishment or in pursuit of purely aesthetic goals. Abby helps us explore how we can begin to slow down and shift our focus to how our body FEELS rather than just focusing on numbers, stats, or how our bodies look in athletic wear. Abby Chan, MS, RDN is a non-diet, weight-inclusive Registered Dietitian who specializes in helping others re-establish their relationship to food, movement. She is the co-owner of EVOLVE Flagstaff, an integrative facility that focuses on injury prevention and rehabilitation, strength training, nutrition, and meal preparation to help you do what you love, for life. When she isn’t working with patients you may find her in the gym strength coaching, teaching a yoga class, or in the cheffing it up in the kitchen. Other than work, she spends her time as an artistic director for Dark Sky Aerial. She is a movement artist who uses her love for dance and aerial arts as a form of expression and processing. When she isn’t working or creating you can find her outside on shredding trails on her mountain bike, skiing, or vanning with her pups!

Join host Kristen Ales as she discusses her personal goals for the upcoming year. We will also discuss four strategies that help you achieve your goals, AND give you the sense of freedom to change and shift them in order to best serve you! These strageteies include: 1. Creating goals that align with your values, and defining your why. 2. Focusing on the systems and daily actions of your goals. 3. Rejecting black and white thinking. 4. Creating accountability. If you are setting new goals and intentions for yourself at any time of the year, this episode is for you!

Join Kristen as she chats with co-active coach Justine Mulliez all about how we can start the New Year connected to our values and approach this year feeling present and aligned. Kristen and Justine explore how to create sustainable change that actually feels good, by listening to our body's wisdom and knowledge. Justine is an avid outdoors woman, passionate creative, recovering perfectionist, and Certified Professional Co-Active Coach. Following seven years as a freelance events producer in the European action sports industry, Justine made the shift to coaching thanks to what Brené Brown calls a spiritual awakening or really, a total breakdown. In 2019, Justine listened to her inner whispers and walked away from her career to live her life purpose by helping adventurous people gain clarity, find their voice, and reclaim their lives. Coupling her trials and tribulations as a business owner and her extensive training at the Co-Active Training Institute, Justine works predominantly with freelancers, creatives, and entrepreneurs in the outdoors industry to build sustainable businesses and live fulfilling, purpose-driven lives. When not working with clients, Justine spends her time outdoors with her partner and pup Wanaka, learning to fail at new things such as mountain biking, and connecting with folks over coffee and feelings. Justine works with clients in a variety of ways including 1:1 continuous coaching partnerships, her Community Coaching programs for a group experience, one-off deep dives with the Momentum Sessions, and a number of workshops and courses, often in collaboration with other specialists or organizations. Inspired in part by her participation in this podcast, Justine will soon be releasing a podcast of her own called Creatives in the Wild where she'll be connecting with freelancers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and other adventurous folks to chat all things business, community, and purpose. To learn more about Justine's offerings check out her website.

In this episode host Kristen Ales, MA, LPC introduces us to the Wilder Wellness podcast. Here she touches on her own wellness journey as well as the dangers of living in extremes when it comes to food and fitness. Stay tuned in 2022 for more episodes!