The stories we tell about awakening often skip the hard parts. We’re sold fireworks and constant signs, then left alone when the ground drops out. This conversation offers a grounded map: why the first opening can feel destabilizing, how to move from ego awakening to soul initiation, and the practices that turn insight into embodied change.

Alyssa shares a candid personal story of rupture, addiction, and the early flood of synchronicities that eventually gave way to a steadier path of depth. From there, she unpacks core frameworks that make the process navigable. Carl Jung’s individuation reminds us that awareness isn’t maturity; shadow work is the ethical act of welcoming disowned parts so we can respond rather than react. Bill Plotkin’s lens clarifies the difference between expansion that excites and initiation that humbles, where belonging to body and earth replaces the chase for peak states. David Hawkins reframes emotion as gateway: grief, fear, and anger surface not to derail you but to be felt and released through presence.

You’ll also get a simple, repeatable somatic practice to move emotion without story, plus practical supports for the dark night of the soul when meaning feels far away. We explore how grief dissolves rigid identities, softens the heart, and creates the space where purpose finds you. Expect fewer hacks and more honesty: less spectacle, more substance; less striving, more listening. If you’re ready to trade hype for wholeness and root your awakening in daily life, this is your invitation to slow down, feel deeply, and let the work mature you.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with someone who needs a real map, and leave a five-star review so these conversations reach more people. Your reflections matter—what part of your awakening is asking for integration right now?

Alyssa's IG: @wildfemininerise

Work With Alyssa:

Final Shedding : Stepping into the Fire Somatic Breathwork Journey

Book a 1:1 Mentorship Session With Alyssa $165 USD

Book a 2 Hour Ancestral Healing & Reconnection Session With Alyssa $265 USD

Sedona Retreat 2026

Awakening doesn’t always feel expansive.

Often, it feels disorienting — like heightened sensitivity without a clear center.

In this episode, we explore spiritual discernment during times of awakening and transition. How to tell the difference between intuition and overwhelm, truth and projection, expansion and avoidance.

We look at why the last years have felt foggy for so many people, and what’s changing as we move into a new cycle that asks for less abstraction and more embodiment — spirituality that can actually be lived, not just understood.

You’ll hear a grounded, plain-language exploration of Neptune moving from Pisces into Aries, and what this shift asks of us: clarity, responsibility, and action that the nervous system can truly hold.

We also draw on Rudolf Steiner’s insights around balance — noticing when we drift into spiritual inflation on one side, or rigid control on the other — and how the body often knows the correction before the mind does.

This episode connects discernment to attachment patterns and boundaries, helping you sense when you’re leaving yourself, outsourcing authority, or armouring — and how to come back gently, without shame.

You’ll leave with:

• body cues for clarity

• simple questions for grounding

• practical ways to stay centered during awakening

• a steadier relationship with your own sensitivity

This is an invitation into mature spirituality — rooted, honest, and embodied.

If this supports you, consider following the show, sharing it with someone deep in their process, or leaving a review so these conversations can reach the people who need them.

Alyssa's IG: @wildfemininerise

Work With Alyssa:

Book a 1:1 Mentorship Session With Alyssa $165 USD

Book a 2 Hour Ancestral Healing & Reconnection Session With Alyssa $222 USD

Ancestral Alchemy—12 Week Immersive Journey Starting January 2026

Discount code to save $100 — BWR_100

Sedona Retreat 2026

You can also email Alyssa with any inquiries at alyssastefanson@gmail.com

Sound you can feel changes how you heal. Alyssa sat down with sound healer and world musician Gabriel Logan Braun to explore Sonic Womb, a fully improvised journey that blends voice, handpan, Ngoni, didgeridoo, harmonium, crystal bowls, and live looping to regulate the nervous system and restore a felt sense of safety. Gabriel shares his path from a teenage dark night to bhakti-inspired practice, mentorship, and a decade of offering trauma-sensitive sound therapy in recovery centres, retreat spaces, and beyond.

Together, they map the science and the soul: how slower rhythms and low frequencies support a shift from sympathetic arousal into parasympathetic ease; why alpha and theta brainwaves invite calm focus and liminal rest; and how vagus nerve activation, mindful breath, and gentle vibration reshape our stress response. We also dig into somatic release—those twitches, shivers, and waves of emotion that signal the body is completing what it once had to hold—and the role of safe containers in allowing that process to unfold.

We pair heat with rest through Primal Fire, Gabriel’s movement framework that stokes Agni with Qigong, dynamic breath work, primal locomotion, and freeform dance, then lands in Sonic Womb for integration. And we travel to Sedona’s red rock country, where ancient iron-rich formations and year-round creeks offer a natural amplifier for presence and ritual. If you’re curious to experience Gabriel’s work, start with the Sonic Womb album, the Wildfire EP, or his new hip-hop track Breaking Through the Static—and, if you feel called, explore our intimate April retreat in Sedona, where Gabriel will co-facilitate with live sound journeys.

If this conversation resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs nervous system support, and leave a five-star review so more people can find these tools. Ready to join us in Sedona or want to know if it’s a fit? Book a call through the show notes and let’s connect.

Gabriel's IG: @gabrielloganbraun

Gabriel's Music:

https://gabrielloganbraun.bandcamp.com

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCkeQ0YJnXpBXmljVL-6Nh1g

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0KQuIR2Js4Nx9vTM7NBU7J?si=UESxxAfCTO6BzJkE6h4W8g

Alyssa's IG: @wildfemininerise

Work With Alyssa:

Book a 1:1 Mentorship Session With Alyssa $165 USD

Book a 2 Hour Ancestral Healing & Reconnection Session With Alyssa $222 USD

Ancestral Alchemy—12 Week Immersive Journey Starting January 2026

Discount code to save $100 — BWR_100

Sedona Retreat 2026

You can also email Alyssa with any inquiries at alyssastefanson@gmail.com