The Dark Side with Verity

Verity Jo Coonan
  • 5.0 (13)
  • SELF-IMPROVEMENT
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The Dark Side with Verity is a raw, real podcast about healing, transformation, and the moments that change everything. Hosted by Verity Coonan, founder of VIDYA Breathwork™, this show dives deep into Breathwork, somatics, and Nervous System healing. Through personal stories and expert insights, we explore grief, trauma, resilience, and the power of rewriting your story. No fluff, no sugarcoating—just real conversations about what it takes to rebuild from the inside out. Breathe deep, tune in, and step into your next chapter.

  1. 20 HRS AGO

    Discernment Is the Real Skill

    We talk a lot about depth in Breathwork, healing, and facilitation, but far less about discernment. In this episode, Verity explores why knowing when to guide, when to pause, and when to do nothing is one of the most important skills a facilitator can develop. This conversation goes beyond technique and into nervous system literacy, ethical holding, and the quiet intelligence that allows real change to happen safely. This episode is for facilitators, coaches, and practitioners who feel the responsibility of the work they hold and want to do it well. 🎧 Listen now and be sure to share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it. Connect & Train with Verity ● @verityjocoonan @vidya_certification ● Join Breathwork & healing ⁠APP @vidya.app ● Follow us on @thedarksidewithverity

    21 min

  2. 22 FEB

    When Healing Becomes a Performance

    In this episode of The Dark Side with Verity, Verity Jo Coonan explores what happens when healing stops being private and starts becoming something to perform. In a world where inner work is increasingly documented, filtered, and shared, Verity speaks to the quiet pressure to always appear healed, regulated, evolved, and self-aware and the nervous system cost of turning growth into an identity. She unpacks how healing can begin to feel like a costume that can’t be taken off, how constant self-narration interrupts integration, and why striving to “do healing right” can actually pull people further away from their bodies and their truth. Through personal reflection, lived experience, and grounded nervous-system insight, Verity shares: How healing shifted from something intimate to something performative Why embodiment and integration matter more than presentation The difference between real regulation and spiritual perfection How over-sharing can replace internal safety And why healing doesn’t owe anyone proof This episode is for anyone who feels the pressure to always respond consciously, to use the “right” language, or to be the example, even when they’re tired, messy, grieving, or human. Because healing isn’t content. It isn’t linear. And some of the most honest work happens where no one ever sees. 🎧 Listen now and be sure to share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it. Connect & Train with Verity ● @verityjocoonan @vidya_certification ● Join Breathwork & healing ⁠APP @vidya.app ● Follow us on @thedarksidewithverity

    21 min

  3. 15 FEB

    The Cost of Holding Space

    In this episode, Verity Jo Coonan explores the real cost of holding space and how that cost changes as capacity grows. Holding space is one of the most powerful skills a facilitator, coach, therapist, parent, partner, or friend can develop. But when it’s done without nervous system support, boundaries, and embodiment, it can quietly become exhausting. Verity reflects on the early years of facilitation, when holding space meant absorbing emotions, carrying stories, and needing to find ways to release after every session. She shares how this work transformed once she built real internal support and how holding space shifted from something that drained her to something that genuinely lights her up. In this conversation, Verity speaks to: Why burnout isn’t failure, it’s a capacity issue The emotional residue that often goes unspoken How the nervous system determines what can be held safely Why knowledge without embodiment isn’t sustainable And how holding space becomes energising when practitioners are truly resourced This episode is for the big-hearted humans the ones people naturally open up to, the ones who are often “the safe one,” and the ones learning how to hold others without losing themselves. Holding space isn’t about fixing or saving anyone. It’s about creating safety, presence, and sustainability for everyone involved. 🎧 Listen now and be sure to share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it. Connect & Train with Verity ● @verityjocoonan @vidya_certification ● Join Breathwork & healing ⁠APP @vidya.app ● Follow us on @thedarksidewithverity

    20 min

  4. 8 FEB

    Variation Equals Resilience: HRV, Breathwork & Nervous System Health

    Heart Rate Variability (HRV) isn’t about how deeply you breathe, it’s about rhythm, regulation, and safety in the body. In this episode, Verity Jo Coonan breaks down what HRV actually measures, why it’s one of the strongest markers of longevity and nervous system health, and how Breathwork directly influences emotional resilience and stress recovery. You’ll learn the science behind HRV, how it reflects the balance of your autonomic nervous system, and why steady, simple breathing patterns are more effective than intense techniques. Verity shares practical, trauma-informed ways to integrate HRV breathing into daily life, without tracking obsession or over complication. This episode is an invitation to build capacity, not force calm. To trust your body’s rhythm. And to remember that resilience is created through consistency, not intensity. 🎧 Listen now and be sure to share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it. Connect & Train with Verity ● @verityjocoonan @vidya_certification ● Join Breathwork & healing ⁠APP @vidya.app ● Follow us on @thedarksidewithverity

    13 min

  5. 1 FEB

    Permission to Move On: Grief, Dreams & the Breath That Holds Us

    Grief doesn’t end, it expands. In this deeply personal episode, Verity Jo Coonan shares a raw reflection on living with grief fourteen years after the death of her partner. She speaks to what it means to experience life “backwards,” how loss reshapes priorities, and why acceptance isn’t about letting go, it’s about learning to hold more. Verity shares a powerful dream that marked a turning point in her grief: imagining her partner grown, happy, and moved on, and how that dream became an unexpected moment of permission to move forward herself. This episode explores grief through the lens of the Nervous System, Breathwork, dreams, and daily practices like meditation and journaling, reminding us that healing doesn’t come from pushing pain away, but from meeting it with curiosity, compassion, and presence. If you’ve ever felt like you needed permission to move on, this episode is for you. 🎧 Listen now and be sure to share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it. Connect & Train with Verity ● @verityjocoonan @vidya_certification ● Join Breathwork & healing ⁠APP @vidya.app ● Follow us on @thedarksidewithverity

    17 min

  6. 25 JAN

    Safety Over Intensity: Why Regulation Heals More Than Peak Experiences

    In this episode, Verity Jo Coonan explores a powerful reframe in healing and Breathwork: intensity does not equal transformation, safety does. In a wellness world that often glorifies peak experiences, emotional release, and catharsis, Verity invites a slower, more honest conversation about what actually creates lasting change in the nervous system. Drawing on trauma-informed principles and real-world facilitation experience, this episode unpacks why regulation matters more than how “deep” a session feels and how integration, consistency, and daily practices are where healing is truly embodied. Inside this conversation: Why safety must come before intensity in breathwork and healing How a regulated nervous system creates sustainable transformation The difference between catharsis and integration Why grounding after intense experiences is essential How daily practices build resilience, capacity, and self-trust When intensity becomes escapism rather than healing This episode is for anyone navigating healing, breathwork, or personal growth, especially those who feel drawn to “more” but are craving stability, safety, and integration instead. Because your body already knows what safety feels like.Healing begins when you listen. 🎧 Listen now and be sure to share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it. Connect & Train with Verity ● @verityjocoonan @vidya_certification ● Join Breathwork & healing ⁠APP @vidya.app ● Follow us on @thedarksidewithverity

    17 min

  7. 18 JAN

    Certification Doesn’t Make You Safe: The Truth About Trauma-Informed Breathwork

    In this episode, Verity Jo Coonan speaks openly about one of the most important and often avoided conversations in the breathwork space: safety. - Not safety as a checkbox. - Not safety as a certification. But safety as something that is lived, embodied, and practiced. Drawing from personal experience, facilitation work, and years of holding people through deep emotional states, Verity explores why being “trauma-informed” isn’t something you learn once, it’s something you become. This conversation challenges the belief that technique equals readiness, and instead invites facilitators, coaches, and space-holders to reflect on their own nervous system, self-awareness, and capacity to truly meet another human. Inside this episode: Why certification alone doesn’t make you a safe facilitator What trauma-informed facilitation actually requires Why technique should never come before nervous-system safety How lived experience shapes real leadership and presence The human element that can’t be taught only embodied This is an honest, grounded conversation for anyone working in healing, coaching, or Breathwork and for anyone who has ever trusted another person with their vulnerability. Because transformation doesn’t happen through methods alone. It happens through presence, humility, and safety. 🎧 Listen now and be sure to share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it. Connect & Train with Verity ● @verityjocoonan @vidya_certification ● Join Breathwork & healing ⁠APP @vidya.app ● Follow us on @thedarksidewithverity

    20 min

  8. 11 JAN

    The Lighthouse Principle: Why Powerful Leaders Stop Chasing and Start Holding

    In this threshold episode of The Dark Side of Verity, Verity Jo Coonan invites you to slow down, breathe, and meet yourself in stillness. Inspired by the Lighthouse Principle, this is not a “how-to” conversation it’s an embodied reflection on leadership, boundaries, nervous system authority, and what happens when you stop chasing connection and start anchoring into yourself. Verity explores how over-explaining, over-giving, and over-availability often stem from people-pleasing and trauma responses and how self-abandonment can quietly lead to resentment, burnout, and disconnection from your own body. Through breath, lived experience, and grounded insight, she shares why safety comes from consistency, not urgency, and why the most magnetic leaders don’t move, they hold. This episode is for you if: You feel exhausted from always being available to others You’re learning to set boundaries without guilt or aggression You’re stepping into leadership, in life, relationships, or facilitation You’re ready to lead from regulation, not rescue If something softened in your body while listening, that’s your nervous system recognising safety. You don’t need to chase.You don’t need to explain.You don’t need to abandon yourself. You just need to decide if you’re ready to be the lighthouse. Ready to lead with breath? Apply for VIDYA Breathwork™ Facilitator Training (100% online) or book a 1:1 with Verity. Share this episode with a friend who needs Nervous System safety and hope. 🎧 Listen now and be sure to share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it. Connect & Train with Verity ● @verityjocoonan @vidya_certification ● Join Breathwork & healing ⁠APP @thevidyawellnessclub.app ● Follow us on @thedarksidewithverity

    18 min
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Trailer

5
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

The Dark Side with Verity is a raw, real podcast about healing, transformation, and the moments that change everything. Hosted by Verity Coonan, founder of VIDYA Breathwork™, this show dives deep into Breathwork, somatics, and Nervous System healing. Through personal stories and expert insights, we explore grief, trauma, resilience, and the power of rewriting your story. No fluff, no sugarcoating—just real conversations about what it takes to rebuild from the inside out. Breathe deep, tune in, and step into your next chapter.

Information

  • Creator
    Verity Jo Coonan
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Verity Jo Coonan
  • Show Website
    The Dark Side with Verity