After 25 years in practice, I've noticed something consistent: when I do soul retrieval work, the most common place to find entanglement is with parents. Sometimes it's literal soul part holding. Sometimes it's outdated maps, control, codependent resourcing, or an adult child who is still being related to as if they're 12.

In this episode, I offer a different way of looking at the parent story, especially if you've already done plenty of processing and you can feel yourself looping. I'm not here to tell your heart what to do, or to insist you forgive, reconcile, or maintain contact. I'm interested in one thing: helping you relate to your parents inside your own mind in a way that stops the energy leak and returns you to your center.

We'll talk about the cultural storytelling that shaped modern expectations of mothers and fathers, how the nuclear family model intensified pressure on two imperfect humans to be everything, and why rumination can feel like it's helping while quietly keeping you on a hamster wheel. I share pragmatic reframes my guides often suggest. And I'll offer a metaphor that can be surprisingly liberating: if a well doesn't reliably give clean water, you're allowed to stop hauling your bucket there, and build connection with people who can actually meet you now.

Want to support my work and be supported by my team of guides? Check out my membership offer: https://www.patreon.com/practicalshamanism

Want more audio content from me? Check out my online academy at https://academy.handsoverheart.com/

Sound editing by Kev Young. You can reach them at kyoung.keviny@gmail.com

DISCLAIMER: The suggestions and information provided here are intended for personal growth and exploration. The content of this podcast is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or psychological treatment. Please seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition.

To learn more about me and my work, please visit my website at https://handsoverheart.com

In this episode, I explore what it really means to build resilient happiness in a world that constantly overstimulates our nervous system and pulls on our attention.

I talk about the quirky mix of human animal and eternal soul, and how our instincts, brain chemistry, and modern capitalism can team up to keep us stuck in emotional numbing, low level discontent, and addictive chemistry hits. I share how our emotional set point can narrow over time, so we end up stewing in familiar feelings like frustration, helplessness, or mild depression instead of allowing deeper emotions, like grief, to move through.

I look at how a chronically activated fight or flight response, combined with endless opportunities for distraction and quick dopamine, makes it hard to register the quieter, sustainable forms of happiness. I also talk about miswanting and hedonistic adaptation, and why chasing big spikes of chemistry through intense relationships, major purchases, or peak experiences is not a reliable path to feeling well in everyday life.

From a shamanic and practical perspective, I offer ideas for:

• Calming your nervous system and lowering your fight or flight baseline

• Noticing where you are numbing out instead of feeling what is actually present

• Letting emotions move through so your emotional matrix is not gummed up

• Recognizing when you are chasing extreme chemistry instead of true fulfillment

• Diversifying your sources of happiness so your well being is not tied to one thing

• Stacking small, attainable joys into a stable foundation of contentment

My intention is to help you understand your design with more compassion, so you can partner with both your human animal and your soul. When you address emotional numbing and nervous system overload first, it becomes much easier to feel and trust the subtle, authentic happiness that is already available in your life.

Want to support my work and be supported by my team of guides? Check out my membership offer: https://www.patreon.com/practicalshamanism

Want more audio content from me? Check out my online academy at https://academy.handsoverheart.com/

Sound editing by Kev Young. You can reach them at kyoung.keviny@gmail.com

DISCLAIMER: The suggestions and information provided here are intended for personal growth and exploration. The content of this podcast is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or psychological treatment. Please seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition.

To learn more about me and my work, please visit my website at https://handsoverheart.com

In this episode, I explore a question I've been sitting with lately: are we more affected by past life imprints or by ancestral patterns? Drawing on 25 years of shamanic practice, I talk about how past lives, ancestral lineage, family of origin, nervous system trauma, and even biochemistry all weave together to shape our current experience—and why, in my client work, the guides often take me to past life healing first, even when ancestral themes are present. My intent is to give you language and lenses to better understand where your own "stuff" may be anchored and how to choose clear, compassionate next steps on your healing path.

Want to support my work and be supported by my team of guides? Check out my membership offer: https://www.patreon.com/practicalshamanism

Want more audio content from me? Check out my online academy at https://academy.handsoverheart.com/

Sound editing by Kev Young. You can reach them at kyoung.keviny@gmail.com

DISCLAIMER: The suggestions and information provided here are intended for personal growth and exploration. The content of this podcast is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or psychological treatment. Please seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition.

To learn more about me and my work, please visit my website at https://handsoverheart.com