Spaces Between

2025 was a challenging year for me. Balancing motherhood, my career, taking care of myself, and my relationship felt like A LOT. While also watching and feeling into the suffering and pain of all that is unraveling in the world…felt debilitating at times. I decided to close out the year with a plant medicine journey, with a very specific intention to take ownership of my shadow, and things that felt out of alignment in my life. The Universe (AKA Spirit) served me up quite a challenging ceremony, that I was unbelievably grateful for.

Fenix is Gina's ceremonial guide with plant medicine, an artist, energy healer, and dear friend. They discuss Fenix's personal healing journey including her battle with breast cancer, the search for her birth family, and her deep work with plant medicine, particularly Ayahuasca. Fenix shares her experiences of moving from victimhood to a state of awe and curiosity, emphasizing the importance of feeling, intuition, and being present. They explore the themes of perfectionism, self-love, compassion, and forgiveness. Rebirth through lived experience, not theory or surface-level healing. Remembering one's true nature after profound loss, rupture, or abandonment.Healing is non-linear and often initiated through crisis rather than choice.Listening to the body as an intelligence, not something to override or fix.Grief is a teacher and initiator, not something to "get over."Spiritual bypassing and performative wellness culture.Healing requires slowing down, presence, and deep honesty.Healing happens in relationship — with self, with others, our ancestors, and with the Earth.The importance of creating safe containers for transformation.Healing emerges from integration, not perfection.The feminine as embodied wisdom, not gender.Trauma is acknowledged as stored in the nervous system, not just memory.True restoration involves grief, anger, love, and joy — all welcomed.This conversation is less about becoming "better" and more about coming home to yourself.

Bestselling author and spiritual teacher Rebecca Campbell and I sit down to explore the themes of her latest book, Your Soul Had a Dream – Your Life is It. Together, we dive into the sacred journey of healing the mother line, the experience of awakening, and the profound initiations of motherhood. We reflect on how grief, rage, and joy are all part of life’s initiatory process, and how avoiding pain also numbs us to life’s ecstasy. Rebecca shares how we are collectively being called by the Great Mother Earth to wake up, heal ancestral trauma, and attune our nervous systems to the rhythm of the Earth. Amid what she calls “rebirthing times,” we discuss how embracing the sacred in everything — even in the descent — can guide us through personal and collective transformation. This is a conversation about deep feeling, sacred reconnection, and navigating the birth of a new humanity.

Themes in this personal episode: ginaminardi.com ginaminardi.substack.com

In this conversation, I sit down with my friend Jenna K., to discuss her ceremonies with MDMA and psilocybin. We discussed her "Why?" and this space of pain and trauma living in her body - that she couldn't quite access for over a decade with other modalities. It led Jenna to want to explore on a deeper level with plant medicine, to heal what was held in her body for so many years. Themes within the discussion:

After being a therapist for over a decade and being committed to my personal therapy for years... I decided it was time for me to heal on a deeper level. Every bit of my intuitive being knew that I needed to heal trauma and imprints from life on a cellular level. To show up as a better partner and mother, but most importantly... healing the relationship with myself. What I learned is that talking through our problems only goes so far and we must tap into the body to truly heal trauma. Themes in this episode:

I’ve been thinking a lot about individual and collective shadow. How do we keep our hearts open during dark times? We all must become closely acquainted with our shadow or dark side. Each of us has a dual nature: we are light (conscious) and dark (unconscious). The dark side of our personality—the “other,” the shadow side—is made up of what we think is our primitive, primal, negative impulses—our “existential kink.” Our existential kink also drives the dark or negative repeating patterns in our life: always choosing the abusive partner or boss, settling for less, thinking that we’re undeserving, not worthy. But it also is the source of our greatest power. I do a deep dive into Carolyn Elliot’s book, Existential Kink, which offers a truth-telling guide for bringing our shadow into the light. Inviting us to make conscious the unconscious, Elliott asks us to own the subconscious pleasure we get from the stuck, painful patterns of our existence.

The predominant theme for me in 2023 was transitioning to becoming a mother and how that impacted all areas of my life. The most profound initiation, unraveling of my old self, and opening to the fiercest love that I’ve ever experienced. The deep vulnerability in that. The expansion and contraction of my heart from current world affairs and the climate crisis. To a deep commitment to keeping my heart open to all of it.

“Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake. Human kindness can be found in all groups, even those which as a whole it would be easy to condemn.” The salvation of man is through love and in love.” -Viktor E. Frankl Humanity feels like it is on a precipice and that we are in the eye of the storm collectively. I understand that humanity has experienced 200,000+ years of war, but these times feel particularly charged right now. In this episode I talk about: Whether or not humanity can ever live in a peaceful way, or if it is naive to even ask that question?Is part of being human, being violent on some level? Whether that means violence with our thoughts, speech, energy, and behaviors?My thoughts on "evil" and I discuss my feelings on darkness in the individual and collective. The need for each of us to heal our own inner wars which become outer wars.How can we all soften and live more from our hearts versus ego righteousness, pain, and reactivityLove is the answer to our evolutionI believe the alternative is going to be catastrophic globally

I sit down with Psychotherapist and Journey Clinical KAP provider, Holly Forman. We discuss Holly’s decision to have a home birth, the balance of preparation and surrender, and ultimately birthing a new version of yourself. We discuss:

In this episode back, after an almost 9 month hiatus from podcasting, I explore my experience birthing a human. The big tears of overwhelm and joy shed in the postpartum period, as well as my feelings around the often bullshit narratives around motherhood. In this episode I explore:

I decided to write this episode on the very last leg of my third trimester in pregnancy . I have had the most illuminating experience of what living in the “Spaces Between” in life really means. It is a potent energetic space which is both awe inspiring and completely overwhelming. To fully surrender to the unknown or attempt to control how you think life is going to unfold. The only life experience that I can compare it to - is the passing of my mother at 17 years old. It is impossible to know or intellectually understand the full magnitude of a major life transition. All of us humans have gone through them in birth, death, marriage, divorce, illness, etc. It is my intention in this episode to open up a conversation of how to approach these life situations with more presence, mindfulness, and ability to feel into these spaces. Versus our society which tends to shy away and avoid the large tidal waves of emotions that come with them.

In this episode I sit down and have a conversation with my personal couples therapist, Christine Mourad, who is one of the most skilled and brilliant therapists I have worked with. It's been some time since my last episode, "I See You In Me", but I have not stopped pondering the necessity of creating safety, empathy, and compassion in our personal relationships which extends outward in society. We cover:

Recently I have been thinking about the deep divide in the U.S. After my last interview with Dr. You and our discussion of feeling rage, sadness, and hopelessness during these times... I decided I needed to look at how I contribute to the divide. In my interview with Dr. You, I brought up how I believe that self compassion, and compassion in general, are the missing links to the evolution of this country. In this talk, I reference three brilliant female psychologists, who have done their own research on the benefits of engaging in self compassion to create a more compassionate world. In this talk I explore: Practical tools and applications for self-compassion practices in your life.

Today I am honored to be sitting down with Dr. Whitney You, a high risk OBGYN. I brought her on to discuss the overturn of Roe V. Wade, but it became a much larger conversation of what freedom, sanctuary, and security mean in America right now. Dr. You was planning on taking her children to the local 4th of July parade at Highland Park, where the most recent mass shooting took place. Dr. You and her family ended up in a mandated shelter in place, as the authorities were looking for the shooter outside of her neighborhood. In her words, "I just felt really defeated and tired. And scared. I just wanted to keep my kids safe. And at this point - I don't trust that the government is going to do that. So you get into, 'Well what do I need to do to keep my kids safe? I don't have the answer.' As a parent and a mother - not having that answer is a very helpless feeling." Discussion Points:

Are you feeling the intensity of these times in America? The collective rage, grief, and disbelief of this regressive and dark moment in this country? I wrote this episode on what it means to take "Exquisite Risks" in your life, a week before the overturning of Roe V. Wade. At first, I didn't see the connection...but now I see how inextricably interwoven they are. In this episode I talk about:

At any moment, the decision you make can change the course of your life forever. And once you make a decision the universe will either conspire to make it happen... or maybe it won't... if you believe that some things are predetermined or fated for you. Gina talks about her struggle and indecision of becoming a mother. She has felt the social and biological pressure, and doesn't feel that society offers any affirming reference points (in a positive way), if you choose not to be a mother or actually can't have kids. Women are often perceived as cold, heartless, or something "is wrong with them if they don't want a traditional family." Gina talks about the path of surrender and opening to neutrality around this topic for her. She realizes through all of it, that it is more about a deep and loving relationship with herself, regardless if she has children or not. And that sometimes the design of our life is quite often out of our hands.

What if you could see the divine in everyone and know it to be true in yourself? That it is not just reserved for "gurus", "spiritual or religious teachers", and those who claim they operate at a "higher level of consciousness." Gina goes into her experience at a 5 day workshop at Esalen, with channeler and intuitive, Paul Selig. Gina was blown away by the experience and the level of love she felt for herself and fellow human beings. A restored sense of hope about the future of our world, left Gina wanting to share this deep experience with everyone. Paul was born in New York City, attended NYU and received his master’s from Yale. A spiritual experience in 1987 left him clairvoyant. With 9 acclaimed channeled books in print, Paul is considered one of the foremost contributors to the field. He serves on the faculty of The Kripalu Center and the Esalen Institute. Also a noted playwright and educator, he served on the faculty of NYU for over 25 years. He also directed the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College for many years and now serves on the college’s Board of Trustees.

This episode is about the power of taking action in your life, living with intention, and following your intuition. Rachel and Gina talk about: