Something big changed between recording season two and sitting down to close it out. When I hit record for this behind-the-scenes season finale of Squats and Séances, I’m not trying to tie life up in a bow. I’m telling the truth about transition: the kind that rearranges your identity, your work, your relationships, and what you believe about spirit, energy, and the messy middle between “what was” and “what’s next”.

I share why season two unexpectedly leaned so hard into spirituality and consciousness, even though I thought this podcast would stay more rooted in physiology. Then I walk you through one of the hardest choices I’ve made: leaving a gym community I served for 10 years. If you’ve ever asked yourself “Who am I without the role I built my life around?” or “Do I still matter if I step away?”, you’ll recognize the questions that surfaced for me and the relief that came with finally listening.

On the practical side, I talk about AI automation in my IT work and what it feels like when tasks that used to take a week get compressed into hours. That shift opened space at home, where I supported my young son on the autism spectrum through months of regression and hard, scary challenges, and I reflect on what “stability for now” really means. From there, we move into boundaries with social media and the return of skinny culture in health and wellness, plus why I’m choosing body respect, strength, rest, and self-love over restriction and perfection.

If you want a season finale that blends fitness coaching reality, mental health, body positivity, mindful living, and the intersection of science and spirit, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Until the next time - stay gritty you badass!

A corporate career in Alzheimer’s care, a highway crash that stole her ability to work and walk, and a “brand name” that eventually became her legal identity. That’s just the starting line of our conversation with Jennifer Pilates, a globally known Pilates rehabilitative specialist and intuitive medium who’s built a career around true mind body spirit transformation.

We talk about what it really means to get “gritty”: going past surface-level wellness into the root of pain, fear, and disconnection. Jennifer shares how Pilates rehabilitation helped her rebuild after soft tissue damage down her spine, and how that same work unexpectedly amplified her intuitive gifts. We dig into the difference between intuition and mediumship, what it feels like to finally live in your body after years of not feeling safe, and why self-trust isn’t a slogan. It’s a practice you build through small choices, honest check-ins, and learning to sit with yourself.

Jennifer also breaks down her approach to Reiki and energy healing in plain language, including her new moon and full moon distant healing events and the way she believes healing can travel through voice. We also get into embodiment habits that actually stick: nature walks, breathwork, gratitude, ocean grounding, and treating your body like the one “racehorse” you get for life.

If you’ve been craving clarity, nervous system calm, and a grounded approach to spirituality and wellness, hit play.

To experience Jennifer’s signature mind-body-spirit distant healing, book a session or explore her on-demand wellness offerings at:

👉 JenniferPilates.com

Follow her on YouTube: @EmpoweredWithinwithJenniferPilates

And on Pinterest: @TheJenniferPilates

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HELP contribute to this growing community. Email topic ideas, suggestions for interviews, and feedback to venessa@squatsandseances.com.

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Until the next time - stay gritty you badass!

Sex is one of the only places where we can’t fake being present for long, and that’s exactly why it can transform us. I’m joined by Emma Galland, founder of Tantric Awakenings, to talk about tantra as a full-body path of self-realization and why sexuality is not a “side topic,” but a powerful life force tied to confidence, vitality, healing, and how we show up in relationship.

We get practical and honest about what changes when intimacy moves from tension to regulation. Emma breaks down how tantric sex differs from conventional sex: less urgency, more sensation, more nervous system safety, and far less obsession with a finish line. We explore orgasm vs ejaculation, why many men experience performance pressure as premature ejaculation or erection changes, and how presence, eye contact, and embodied attention can shift everything from arousal to emotional connection.

We also open up the conversation around women’s pleasure, anatomy, and consent, including why time and “massage-like” touch matter, how de-armoring can restore sensitivity, and what it looks like to reclaim pleasure after shame or trauma. Then we go there: sex magic as manifestation, using intention plus embodied pleasure to rewire fear, align the nervous system, and take bolder action toward what we want. If you’re curious about mindful sex, sexual energy, trauma healing, and intimacy coaching, this one will stay with you.

Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of mind, body, and spirit, share this with someone who needs a new lens on intimacy, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What part of this conversation challenged your current story about sex?

Emma Galland

Website: Tantric-Awakenings

Holistic and Tantric Sex, Love and Relationship Coach

Creator of the Virtilité Method

Published Author and Inspirational Speaker

https://tantric-awakenings.com/ssdm

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HELP contribute to this growing community. Email topic ideas, suggestions for interviews, and feedback to venessa@squatsandseances.com.

FIND new episodes of Squats & Séances on all major podcast platforms and the vlogcast on our YouTube channel - Squats & Séances.

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Until the next time - stay gritty you badass!

Doctors told Dr. Jonathan Locus Jr. he’d be on medication for life and on paper his career was thriving, but internally he was spiraling. That collision of success, depression, and a terrifying diagnosis sends him in the opposite direction of quick fixes: deep research into holistic healing, meditation, and the mind body spirit connection. What follows is one of the most intense stories we’ve hosted, a 24-day water fast guided by intention, reflection, and a willingness to face the hidden roots of pain.

We get specific about what fasting looked like in real life while working as a university vice president, how he built up to longer fasts, and why he now practices intermittent fasting as a steady baseline. Dr. J also shares the spiritual and psychological side: what surfaced during meditation, why forgiveness became non-negotiable, and how “find the lesson” reframed his entire healing journey. If you’re curious about autophagy, trauma-informed self-inquiry, or using stillness to hear your inner voice, this conversation delivers both meaning and mechanics.

Then we name a harder truth: the spiritual marketplace can be unsafe. We talk scams, why vulnerable seekers get targeted, and what real discernment looks like when there’s no universal accreditation for healers. That gap is exactly why he built Conscirise, a platform that vets practitioners and connects people to hypnosis, breathwork, sound therapy, meditation, fasting groups, and other supportive modalities. We also bridge science and spirituality through his work in psychometric research and behavior modeling, including a fascinating example of how bias can shape legal outcomes.

If you’ve been looking for grounded spiritual growth with practical tools, listen through the dream interpretation and active imagination segment and try it for yourself. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s navigating healing, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part of your own journey needs a clearer lesson right now?

https://www.conscirise.com/

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HELP contribute to this growing community. Email topic ideas, suggestions for interviews, and feedback to venessa@squatsandseances.com.

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Until the next time - stay gritty you badass!

In this week's episode we take a detour from the spiritual realm and dive deep into the physiology of medical aesthetics. Our discussion with Jody Work, RN and founder of Beauty Lounge Med Spa will cover an overview of the field and recommendations for treatments. We discuss commonly misunderstood industry options, even who should seek treatment and who should not. The answers may surprise you! Listen in for a practical, ethical roadmap for medical aesthetics and whole-body wellness.

https://beautyloungemed.com/

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HELP contribute to this growing community. Email topic ideas, suggestions for interviews, and feedback to venessa@squatsandseances.com.

FIND new episodes of Squats & Séances on all major podcast platforms and the vlogcast on our YouTube channel - Squats & Séances.

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Until the next time - stay gritty you badass!

What happens when a wildland firefighter, pushed to the edge by grief and burnout, discovers that changing the mind can change the body? We sit down with visionary healer and entrepreneur Thomas Wurm to unpack a life that veered from helicopter calls and heat lines into a precise, lineage-backed approach to deep healing. His story begins with a near-death moment at fifteen and accelerates through meditation, a destabilizing kundalini surge, and the unexpected clarity of NLP and mental and emotional release—where fear lifted and breath finally returned.

Thomas breaks down a clear framework: If beliefs and emotions muddy the lens, the body carries the cost. We explore how Huna and ho‘oponopono fit alongside hypnosis and timeline work, drawing on elders’ teachings to create structure, safety, and depth. You’ll hear what an eight-hour breakthrough session looks like—from mapping the mechanics of a problem to releasing root emotions and installing a detailed future—and why integration isn’t optional. Think six to twelve weeks of focused learning, boundaries, environment shifts, and a hypnotic “install” that helps the unconscious carry your new plan forward.

The conversation lands in the real world with case studies: a stubborn back pain that eased after cutting cords to a beloved house, clients experiencing detox-like changes as physiology updates, and sensitive people mislabeled as disordered who, with guidance, transform overwhelm into clear gifts. We talk about plant medicines with respect for lineage and safety, and we underline a theme that powers everything here: cause over effect. You are in charge of your mind, therefore your reality—and when you clean the channel, the body follows.

If you’re ready to move beyond “trying everything” and into precise, mind-first healing with grounded tools and ethical lineage, this episode offers a map. Subscribe for more conversations on mind, body, and spirit, share this with someone who needs hope with a plan, and leave a review to help others find the show. What belief are you ready to retire today?

mountainmindtricks@gmail.com

MountainMindMastery.com
https://www.facebook.com/thomas.wurm.56/
https://www.instagram.com/mountain_mind_mastery/

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Thomas-M.-Wurm/author/B07Z8JJ6ZHhttps://www.grassrootswildlandfirefighters.com/
https://wffoundation.org/

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HELP contribute to this growing community. Email topic ideas, suggestions for interviews, and feedback to venessa@squatsandseances.com.

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Until the next time - stay gritty you badass!

What happens when the life that once looked perfect begins to quietly undo you? We sit down with writer and movement-builder Lisa Babincsak to explore Apapacho—an ancient Nahuatl concept meaning to embrace from the soul—and why tenderness, presence, and coherence might be the most advanced form of intelligence we have. From career heights to seismic collapse, a move to Mexico, and writing that became alchemy, Lisa shares how slowing down made room for truth and how truth made room for connection.

We dig into the physics of presence and the science of co-regulation: how a steady nervous system can calm a room, why chaotic energy ramps our anxiety, and what it takes to become the person who steadies others. Mexico’s cultural fabric offers a living case study—less consumer distraction, more family and community—which contrasts sharply with Western independence that often isolates us. Lisa tells vivid stories, like gatherings where guests bring only words that matter, to show how simple rituals can shift conversations from small talk to soul talk.

We also challenge the attention economy. Algorithms are trained by our behavior, pushing shallow engagement over depth. Lisa refuses to game that system, choosing signal over noise and honesty over performance. We connect the dots between spiritual growth, psychology, leadership, and culture-building, and we talk practical anchors—Pilates as moving meditation, listening without fixing, and returning to the truth faster. If you’ve felt the ache beneath the scroll, the fatigue of pretending you’re fine, or the pull to build communities that actually hold us, this conversation names the path back to our human operating system: presence, connection, and care.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-babincsak-a63237317/?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app

https://substack.com/@lisab3819

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Until the next time - stay gritty you badass!

What if the fastest way forward is first to sit still? Our conversation with spiritual coach and master healer Cheryl Stelte begins with a startling beachside vision and unfolds into a practical blueprint for transforming stuck energy into real momentum. Cheryl shares how low, steady breathing below the navel can surface subconscious material, why building safety in the root chakra is the keystone for lasting change, and how to pair inner work with accessible movement rituals to feel stronger, clearer, and more at home in your body.

We dig into the mechanics of breath-led meditation, the science of trauma storage as sensations and emotions, and the way neuroplasticity accelerates once emotional charge is released. Cheryl explains her energy work framework—reading chakra flow without theatrics, transforming what’s already yours instead of importing “healing energy,” and returning it cleared so the nervous system can stabilize. The Five Tibetan Rites take center stage as a compact, organ-massaging sequence you can build from three to twenty-one reps, supporting sleep, lymph flow, flexibility, and everyday vitality. Power walking emerges as an underrated movement meditation that rebuilt stamina and bone density while reinforcing identity shifts that stick.

You’ll hear vivid case stories: throat and shoulder pain easing when old truths are finally voiced, hip tension releasing as a lifelong burden gets set down, and a client rediscovering excitement after decades of depression. Cheryl’s books—especially her throat chakra guide and From Blocked to Powerful—offer a workbook-style path to becoming your own energy worker with meditations and practices that meet you where you are. The throughline is clear: safety first, inner truth always, and small, consistent rituals that turn healing from a concept into a lifestyle.
https://cherylstelte.kartra.com/page/powerful-mediations

https://www.starofdivinelight.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-stelte/

https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.stelte/

https://www.instagram.com/steltecheryl/

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HELP contribute to this growing community. Email topic ideas, suggestions for interviews, and feedback to venessa@squatsandseances.com.

FIND new episodes of Squats & Séances on all major podcast platforms and the vlogcast on our YouTube channel - Squats & Séances.

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Until the next time - stay gritty you badass!