Fear is often framed as something we should push through or conquer. But in practice, the relationship with fear is usually more nuanced.

In this episode, I share reflections from a solo trip through southern Utah, including a memorable night of stargazing under the Milky Way at Cedar Breaks National Monument. The experience brought up an interesting tension between awe and instinctive caution.

From that moment, I explore a broader question: how do we grow without overwhelming ourselves?

Rather than ignoring fear or letting it run the show, there is a middle path where we can listen to our instincts, stretch beyond our comfort zone, and still maintain self-trust. This approach allows for meaningful expansion without creating the backlash that often comes from pushing too far.

• A stargazing experience that sparked reflections on fear
• Why unfamiliar environments activate our survival instincts
• The difference between healthy expansion and overwhelm
• Why pushing through fear isn't always the best strategy
• How to grow while maintaining self-trust and inner balance

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

AKA- Sacred Gardens and Echo Chambers: What We're Building With Our Attention

We're living in a time our ancestors couldn't have imagined—urban density, the internet, constant information, and a level of psychic "noisiness" that can leave even grounded people feeling subtly stressed, reactive, or strangely disoriented.

In this episode, I reflect on what's universal across lifetimes and ancestry… and what's truly unprecedented about modern life. We explore how our brains are wired for threat and drama, how echo chambers and information overload can shape our inner world, and why so many people are walking around with low-level activation that quietly impacts health, emotions, and decision-making.

I also share a shamanic lens on energetic hygiene for the modern era—less about "hostile forces" and more about protecting yourself from ambient overstimulation and other people's untrained, messy energy. If you're sensitive, empathic, or simply tired of feeling amped up by the world, this episode offers a grounded map for coming back to center.

• Universal human themes vs. modern experiences our ancestors didn't face

• Why root chakra recalibration matters when you've lived in many places (or continents)

• The gift and challenge of "choose-your-own-adventure" modern life

• How information overload + confirmation bias can distort reality

• Echo chambers, polarization, and the energetic cost of contempt and outrage

• "Head-blindness" and the disorienting feeling of not being able to orient psychically

• Parasocial connection, loneliness, and the difference between real nourishment and "receptor hits"

• Why energetic protection today is often about filtering ambient noise, not fighting enemies

• Practical reminders: calm the instincts, soothe the nervous system, and tend your energetic boundaries

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

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

I've launched a new side project I've been dreaming on for years: A Shamanic Experience. It's for those of us who feel the medicine of place — standing stones, hot springs, glaciers, deserts, and rivers — and want grounded guidance for connecting with the spirit of the land.

In this episode, I briefly introduce the new show and then play the complete introductory podcast episode so you can sample it without leaving this feed. I share why sacred travel matters to me, how I attune to different layers of a landscape, and why solo travel helps me listen more deeply. You'll hear stories from places like Ireland, Iceland, Glastonbury, Death Valley, the Yukon, and Rosslyn Chapel, along with practical ideas for letting the land teach you.

Just look for "A Shamanic Experience" or Katie Weatherup whereever you listen to podcasts. Also, check out my new Youtube channel. I have additional content that's only available there. https://www.youtube.com/@AShamanicExperience

If this speaks to you, it would help me so much to:

1. Subscribe to A Shamanic Experience

2. Download an episode

3. Leave a quick five-star review if you enjoy it

👉 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4hj4qyc
👉 Spotify: https://spotify.link/AacjtpkEEXb
👉 YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/@AShamanicExperience

Learn more about me and my work at https://handsoverheart.com

In this episode, I share my early May travels through Whitehorse and the Yukon—a journey filled with epic landscapes, mercurial weather, nourishing earth energy, and spacious moments of connection. I talk about wild horses on the Alaska Highway, turquoise rivers, hot springs, slow travel, and the subtle power of land that welcomes you in.

Along the way, I reflect on how shamanic practices like journeying to land guardians and traveling without a rigid agenda can deepen your relationship with both place and self.

Want more shamanic travel content? Stay tuned for my "A Shamanic Experience" podcast and YouTube channel, coming soon!

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 means to live in a time when so many old souls and psychically sensitive people are incarnating at once. Many of us arrive with strong, natural gifts but little training, which can leave us overwhelmed, ungrounded, or even vulnerable.

I talk about why aligning your psychic abilities matters, how to avoid leaving the "psychic door" open, and practical ways to bring discernment, boundaries, and volitional control to your sensitivity. Think of it as learning the care and feeding of your energetic body, so you can thrive in this noisy, modern world while still enjoying the magic and connection your gifts bring.

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