The Shadow Side with Safrianna

Safrianna Lughna
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Mental Health

Hey there, I'm Safrianna Lughna, LCPC, MS, aka the Queer-Spirit Guide, and I've created this podcast for those of you brave enough to walk in the shadows with me. In my travels through spiritual and self-improvement spaces, I've found too many personal development spaces are drowning in toxic positivity. They'll tell you to "just think positive" and "focus on gratitude" while completely ignoring the shadows that are actually running the show beneath the surface. I'm here to offer something different. As a public school educator and trauma therapist turned transformational mentor, I've witnessed firsthand how true healing happens not by avoiding our shadows, but by turning toward them with curiosity and compassion. The Shadow Side is where we dive into all those uncomfortable, messy parts of our existence that most people are too afraid to talk about – generational trauma, social justice, spiritual awakening, authentic relationships, and collective consciousness, for example. Each episode offers a judgment-free space to explore these shadows through either my solo reflections or conversations with guests who aren't afraid to get real. You'll hear from disruptive leaders, healers, and visionaries who are challenging the status quo and creating authentic paths forward. Together, we'll unpack the toxic systems we live within while discovering how to liberate ourselves and support collective healing. I don't offer quick fixes or simplified solutions. I acknowledge the complexity of being human while providing practical insights for navigating it all. Whether I'm examining current events through a shadow work lens, breaking down spiritual concepts without the bypassing, or interviewing guests about their personal journeys through darkness to light, you'll find discussions that validate your experiences while expanding your perspective. Some episodes feature deep dives into specific topics like cultural appropriation, religious trauma, or the shadow side of wellness culture. Others explore personal practices for shadow integration, helping you develop your own relationship with your darker aspects. I occasionally pull cards from intuitive decks to provide insight for the collective energy we're moving through, and I'm always transparent about my own ongoing journey. This podcast is for you if: You're tired of surface-level spiritual content that avoids the hard stuff You want to explore the intersection of mental health, spirituality, and social justice You're navigating your own healing journey and need guidance without toxic positivity You're seeking authentic community that embraces both shadow and light You believe personal transformation and collective liberation are interconnected New episodes drop biweekly, with special bonus content for those who support the show. You can connect with me on socials by visiting https://livinglunas.com/socials, or join the conversation on YouTube where you'll find the video versions of these episodes and more in-depth resources. Visit Safrianna.com or LivingLUNAs.com to learn about working with me directly through mentorship programs, courses, and community offerings designed to support your journey through the shadows to authentic wholeness. The shadows aren't something to fear—they're portals to our most profound healing, our deepest wisdom, and our most authentic self-expression. I believe you're here because some part of you knows this truth already. Together, we'll navigate the darkness, find the gems hidden within it, and emerge more whole than we've ever been. Are you ready to illuminate what others keep hidden in the dark? Subscribe now and join me on this journey into The Shadow Side.

  1. Sep 24

    Post-Traumatic Confidence with Lawrence C Harris

    Guest contact: Website: lawrencecharris.com Social media (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram): Lawrence C. Empowers Business/speaking inquiries: lawrence@lawrencecharris.com Host contact: Website: https://Safrianna.com Email: Guide@Safrianna.com --- In this episode of The Shadow Side, host Safrianna Lughna sits down with public speaker, author, and mental health advocate Lawrence C. Harris to explore what it means to build post-traumatic confidence. Lawrence, who began his advocacy work at just 15 after experiencing childhood bullying and an abusive household, shares the real story of hitting bottom before rebuilding himself one small action at a time. The conversation moves through therapy as a tool (not a stigma), the difference between accountability and self-blame, and how codependency can quietly show up in relationships, hobbies, and habits. Lawrence and Safrianna dig into how technology and social media have added new layers of trauma and bullying for younger generations, from AI-generated deepfakes to the psychological whiplash of doomscrolling. This episode is a grounded, practical conversation for anyone who has experienced trauma, low self-worth, or bullying and is looking for real steps toward rebuilding confidence and identity on their own terms.

    Post-Traumatic Confidence with Lawrence C Harris

  2. Sep 10

    Befriending Our Fear

    Kari's Contact Info: kari@karihurd.com | https://www.karihurd.com/ Connect with Safrianna Lughna, LCPC, MS: https://Safrianna.com/ --- In this episode of The Shadow Side, Safrianna Lughna is joined by Kari Hurd, creator of the Personal Infrastructure Framework, for a conversation about befriending fear. Kari, a former high school teacher of 25 years, spent eight years building a framework around six pillars — role clarity, decision filters, time and energy, communication and boundaries, feedback and refinement loops, and navigating challenging seasons — that shape how fear operates beneath the surface of daily life. Together, Safrianna and Kari trace how fear shows up in the roles people play for others, the decisions they second-guess, the calendars they overfill, and the boundaries they hesitate to voice. They talk about the specific fear of being judged not by strangers but by the people who already know an older version of you, and what it takes to let that identity shift anyway. The conversation also has plenty of practical reflection: how awareness of a fear pattern is only the first step, and redesigning the relationship to that fear is the harder, ongoing work.

    Befriending Our Fear

  3. Aug 20

    Who Does the Binary Really Serve

    Content Warning: This episode discusses anti-trans discrimination, suicide, suicide attempts, mental-health impacts of discrimination, and systemic oppression. Who Does the Binary Really Serve? In this solo episode of The Shadow Side with Safrianna, Safrianna Lughna explores the question: Who does the gender binary really serve? Looking beyond the familiar categories of man and woman, Safrianna examines how rigid gender roles have been shaped by colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, and systems of power and control. She reflects on the existence of gender-diverse traditions across cultures and considers what happens when humanity is reduced to two prescribed boxes. She also addresses the real-world consequences of anti-trans legislation and misinformation, including the mental-health impacts of discrimination and the ways rigid gender expectations harm cisgender people as well as trans and non-binary people. Safrianna connects these patterns to her work as a therapist, educator, and the Queer-Spirit Guide, while reflecting on her own evolving relationship with gender and identity. Through personal stories and reflections from two non-binary contributors, Harmony and Len, the episode ultimately turns toward authenticity, autonomy, compassion, and the freedom to become more fully ourselves. The deeper question isn't simply whether there are two boxes or not. It's what happens when we stop believing everyone has to fit inside them. --- Gender, Transgender & Non-Binary Research Williams Institute — U.S. Transgender Population Estimates Williams Institute: How Many Adults and Youth Identify as Transgender in the United States? The Trevor Project — 2025 U.S. National Survey Trans Legislation Tracker World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) — Standards of Care, Version 8 Endocrine Society — Gender Dysphoria/Gender Incongruence Clinical Practice Guideline American Psychiatric Association — Gender Dysphoria Resources PubMed — “Two-Spirit Identity in a Time of Gender Fluidity” “Developing Resources for American Indian/Alaska Native Transgender and Two-Spirit Youth” — National Library of Medicine Alicia Carroll, Indiscipline: Reading Collaboratively Written Native American Autobiography Jessica Hinchy — Gender, Family, and Colonial Governance in Nineteenth-Century North India UNESCO — Gender Stereotypes in Education UNESCO — Teachers' Attitudes on Gender and Student Experiences 2024 Meta-analysis of Children's Gender Stereotypes About STEM and Verbal Abilities Organizations Mentioned in the Episode ⦁ The Trevor Project — LGBTQ+ youth crisis support, education and research. ⦁ Trans Lifeline — Peer support and resources for transgender people. ⦁ National Center for Transgender Equality — Advocacy, policy information and transgender rights resources. ⦁ Human Rights Campaign — LGBTQ+ civil rights research, advocacy and education. ⦁ GLAAD — LGBTQ+ media advocacy, education and research. ⦁ Williams Institute — Independent legal and policy research on sexual orientation and gender identity.

    Who Does the Binary Really Serve

  4. Aug 6

    The Cost of the Closet with Shanti Joy Gold

    Connect with Shanti Joy Gold at: https://shantijoygold.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanti-joy-gold/ https://www.instagram.com/shantijoygold Host contact: Website: https://Safrianna.com Email: Guide@Safrianna.com --- What does it truly cost to hide parts of yourself? In this powerful conversation, Shanti Joy Gold and I explore the emotional, relational, and professional impact of living "in the closet"—not only in the traditional sense, but in all the ways we conceal our authentic selves to gain acceptance, avoid conflict, or meet others' expectations. Together, we discuss how fear, shame, and people-pleasing can quietly shape our lives, the hidden toll of living behind a carefully constructed identity, and what it takes to step into authenticity with courage. Shanti shares insights from her personal journey and her work helping others reconnect with who they truly are, offering practical wisdom for anyone seeking greater freedom, self-trust, and purpose. Whether you've ever felt pressured to fit in, stay silent, or become someone you thought you had to be, this episode is an invitation to consider what authenticity can make possible when you're willing to stop hiding. We talk about: - The hidden cost of suppressing your authentic self - Breaking free from fear, shame, and people-pleasing - Building self-trust through honest self-reflection - Authentic leadership and living with purpose - Choosing freedom over performance Listen in for a lovely conversation between two queer professionals, whether you're LGBTQIA+ yourself or have hidden in some other kind of closet, whether that be masking, hiding your gifts, or any place you felt you had to hide.

    The Cost of the Closet with Shanti Joy Gold

  5. Jul 23

    Recovery as a Redesign with Jeanne Foot

    Guest: Jeanne Foote, Founder & Director, The Recovery Concierge Website: https://therecoveryconcierge.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therecoveryconcierge Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serenity_gal/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeanne_foot Email: info@therecoveryconcierge.com Jeanne's podcast: Naturally High Host contact: Website: https://Safrianna.com Email: Guide@Safrianna.com --- In this episode of The Shadow Side, Safrianna Lughna sits down with Jeanne Foote — an internationally certified addiction counsellor, founder and director of The Recovery Concierge, and host of the Naturally High podcast — for a conversation about what recovery looks like when it's treated not as a return to normal, but as a full redesign of life. Jeanne has walked her own recovery path for 35 years. She opens up about a hard truth many people in recovery know intimately: you can hit every marker of "success" — stay abstinent, look put together, keep functioning — and still be quietly unraveling underneath. For Jeanne, that meant years of feeling frozen in her own body, unable to look at herself in the mirror, while her life looked picture-perfect from the outside. Together, Safrianna and Jeanne unpack addiction as a coping mechanism rather than a character flaw — one shaped by nervous system dysregulation, early attachment wounds, and the pressure to trade authenticity for connection. They talk about why shame so often backfires, deepening the very cycles it's meant to interrupt, and why talk therapy alone often isn't enough for those carrying complex trauma. Listeners will also hear Jeanne's concept of "floors and ceilings" — a practical, compassionate approach to staying consistent without needing to be perfect — along with why nutrition, sleep, and somatic awareness are foundational (not optional) parts of healing. This episode is an invitation to stop white-knuckling your way through recovery and start asking a bigger question: not just how do I stop, but what am I building instead?

    Recovery as a Redesign with Jeanne Foot

  6. Jul 9

    Extractive Empowerment with Kim Romain

    Connect with Kim Romain at: https://KimRomain.com Connect with Safrianna Lughna, LCPC, MS: https://Safrianna.com --- In Episode 28 of The Shadow Side with Safrianna, host Safrianna Lughna is joined by Kim Romain — life and business alchemist and former host of The Empowered and Embodied Show — for a candid conversation about extractive empowerment: the ways self-development and personal growth work can quietly become another form of avoidance, consumerism, or spiritual bypassing. Together they explore what it looks like to get stuck in an endless loop of self-knowledge without integration — the Dunning-Kruger trap of mistaking cognitive insight for actual embodied change. They unpack the difference between healing that moves us forward and healing that becomes a way to escape collective responsibility, examine "good vibes culture" and spiritual bypassing as forms of disconnection from real justice work, and name how consumerism can masquerade as empowerment when self-development starts requiring more buying rather than more integration. The conversation also touches on core wounds, the concept of being "healed and healing" rather than fully done with our work, and the idea that true empowerment is reciprocal and collaborative rather than hierarchical or extractive. Kim and Safrianna close with a shared call to listen to your own truth, stay in real conversation with other humans, and resist the pressure to constantly chase the next goalpost of self-improvement.

    Extractive Empowerment with Kim Romain

  7. Jun 25

    Becoming Who You Really Are with Deb Porter

    Guest Deb Porter — Founder, HOLD Website: https://www.hearingoutlifedrama.comCollaborative Resource Becoming Who I Really Am — A free identity exploration guide for 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals navigating identity change. No email required. https://www.hearingoutlifedrama.com/identity-exploration-guideHost Safrianna Lughna, LCPC, MS — The Queer-Spirit Guide Website: https://Safrianna.com Email: Guide@Safrianna.com Podcast hub: https://the-shadow-side-with-safrianna.captivate.fm/listen --- In this episode of The Shadow Side with Safrianna, Safrianna sits down with Deb Porter, founder of HOLD — a confidential, judgment-free listening service — to explore what it really means to become who you are. Deb brings a unique perspective to the conversation: a former United Methodist pastor who walked away from her ministry when a family member came out, unwilling to stay in a role that would have required her to say no to love. Together, Safrianna and Deb unpack the layered process of identity exploration, with a particular focus on 2SLGBTQIA+ experiences. They discuss the courage it takes to come out in today's world, the particular grief that can accompany later-in-life identity shifts, and the exhausting weight of masking and code-switching. The conversation moves through what it means to truly listen — and why most of us were never actually taught how — and into the nuances of allyship: knowing when you don't have the lived experience, and going to find people who do. Deb and Safrianna also share vulnerably from their own lives — Safrianna on coming out as polyamorous and the spectrum of family responses, Deb on challenging her own father's harmful words and the grief of a family member never feeling safe enough to bring their partner to gatherings. The episode closes with an invitation toward permission — permission to evolve, to keep questioning, to stop explaining yourself to people who haven't done their own self-love work yet. Safrianna and Deb also introduce their collaborative free resource, Becoming Who I Really Am, an identity exploration guide created specifically for 2SLGBTQIA+ people navigating identity change.

    Becoming Who You Really Are with Deb Porter

  8. Jun 11

    Illness as a Portal with Whitney Shook

    Illness as a Portal features a conversation between Safrianna and Whitney Shook, holistic nutritionist specializing in Hashimoto's and complex chronic illness, about what it means to approach health and healing with softness rather than rigidity. This episode explores why strict, protocol-heavy approaches to healing often backfire — creating stress, shame, and orthorexic patterns that compound the very symptoms people are trying to resolve. Whitney and Safrianna examine the energetic and emotional roots of autoimmune disease, tracing much of it back to unmet needs for love, safety, and self-worth — while being careful not to place blame on people for conditions that often originate in childhood trauma and systemic neglect. They discuss the medical system's history of dismissing chronic illness, particularly for women and those with complex presentations, and how that dismissal mirrors earlier experiences of being unseen or unheard. The conversation moves through the concept of illness as identity, the grief cycle that often mirrors the chronic illness experience, and the ways perfectionism around healing can become its own trap. Safrianna shares her own fibromyalgia diagnosis and her practice of reading body sensations as messages — symptoms as portals into what parts of herself need attention. Whitney introduces her "zoom in, zoom out" framework as a tool for releasing hyper-fixation and returning to a broader, more compassionate view of the healing timeline. Both affirm that healing is non-linear, multimodal, and deeply personal — and that the most powerful shift available is turning inward with gentleness rather than chasing external fixes. Learn more about Whitney and her work at: https://www.instagram.com/whitneyshook/

    Illness as a Portal with Whitney Shook
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Ratings & Reviews

About

Hey there, I'm Safrianna Lughna, LCPC, MS, aka the Queer-Spirit Guide, and I've created this podcast for those of you brave enough to walk in the shadows with me. In my travels through spiritual and self-improvement spaces, I've found too many personal development spaces are drowning in toxic positivity. They'll tell you to "just think positive" and "focus on gratitude" while completely ignoring the shadows that are actually running the show beneath the surface. I'm here to offer something different. As a public school educator and trauma therapist turned transformational mentor, I've witnessed firsthand how true healing happens not by avoiding our shadows, but by turning toward them with curiosity and compassion. The Shadow Side is where we dive into all those uncomfortable, messy parts of our existence that most people are too afraid to talk about – generational trauma, social justice, spiritual awakening, authentic relationships, and collective consciousness, for example. Each episode offers a judgment-free space to explore these shadows through either my solo reflections or conversations with guests who aren't afraid to get real. You'll hear from disruptive leaders, healers, and visionaries who are challenging the status quo and creating authentic paths forward. Together, we'll unpack the toxic systems we live within while discovering how to liberate ourselves and support collective healing. I don't offer quick fixes or simplified solutions. I acknowledge the complexity of being human while providing practical insights for navigating it all. Whether I'm examining current events through a shadow work lens, breaking down spiritual concepts without the bypassing, or interviewing guests about their personal journeys through darkness to light, you'll find discussions that validate your experiences while expanding your perspective. Some episodes feature deep dives into specific topics like cultural appropriation, religious trauma, or the shadow side of wellness culture. Others explore personal practices for shadow integration, helping you develop your own relationship with your darker aspects. I occasionally pull cards from intuitive decks to provide insight for the collective energy we're moving through, and I'm always transparent about my own ongoing journey. This podcast is for you if: You're tired of surface-level spiritual content that avoids the hard stuff You want to explore the intersection of mental health, spirituality, and social justice You're navigating your own healing journey and need guidance without toxic positivity You're seeking authentic community that embraces both shadow and light You believe personal transformation and collective liberation are interconnected New episodes drop biweekly, with special bonus content for those who support the show. You can connect with me on socials by visiting https://livinglunas.com/socials, or join the conversation on YouTube where you'll find the video versions of these episodes and more in-depth resources. Visit Safrianna.com or LivingLUNAs.com to learn about working with me directly through mentorship programs, courses, and community offerings designed to support your journey through the shadows to authentic wholeness. The shadows aren't something to fear—they're portals to our most profound healing, our deepest wisdom, and our most authentic self-expression. I believe you're here because some part of you knows this truth already. Together, we'll navigate the darkness, find the gems hidden within it, and emerge more whole than we've ever been. Are you ready to illuminate what others keep hidden in the dark? Subscribe now and join me on this journey into The Shadow Side.

Information

  • Creator
    Safrianna Lughna
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Safrianna Lughna
  • Show Website
    The Shadow Side with Safrianna