Alive & Kicking: Stories of Waking Up with Kay Eck Kay Eck

Please note: This interview contains depictions of violence and sexual abuse. Please listen with care for yourself and others.

This week's guest is BakeR Gendron, whose life took her from a small town in rural Indiana to Chicago, California and Phoenix where she served as a political activist supporting LGBTQ rights, leading a life which transcended labels. That journey took an abrupt turn toward the spiritual while tending to her dying partner as she began experiencing flashbacks of previously buried trauma. Decades of healing gave her the compassionate wisdom to serve others to develop the skills and insight to begin to heal themselves.

Intuitive reader, spiritual healer, coach and teacher, BakeR Gendron is the Director of Gateway Cottage Wellness Center in Sedona, Arizona. She has worked for decades, both privately and with groups, to empower clients to live life fully and joyously! Assisting to remove barriers to success, happiness and wellbeing, she facilitates holistic healing by integrating mind, body, and spirit. Through BakeR’s own healing journey, recovering from childhood trauma and abuse, she is inspired to teach others how to heal themselves, and to facilitate healthy change. She facilitates spiritual retreats and classes for people seeking to make major life changes and to connect with their own higher selves. 


Connect with BakeR here:
 https://www.gatewaycottagewellness.com/baker-gendron
 http://thepsychiccoach.net

An existential crisis can throw the average adult into a state of uncertainty at best and inner turmoil at worst. Kay's next guest, John Schieke, was just six years old when he started to ponder the deepest questions. As a child, he was mentally and emotionally ill-equipped to handle these queries and barely had the vocabulary to describe what he was experiencing to others. The resulting alienation and stress made him vulnerable to the substance abuse that, by the age of 18, very nearly took his life. Now sober, John shares his ongoing journey from confusion to clarity and offers hope to young people struggling with similar challenges.

In episode 41, Sarah Lindgren talks with Kay about how early trauma influenced so many of the decisions she made throughout her life. Until, that is, she became conscious of how healing can soothe the grooved patterns, opening her up to a life of greater freedom, self-compassion and wisdom. Now, she shares all that with others as a guide, teacher and leader.

Sarah is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (200 E-RYT) working to empower students in public classes, workshops, and yoga retreats. She is also a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP) and offers one-on-one apprenticeship programs.  She teaches others how to nurture themselves through grounding and embodiment practices so they can begin to truly love the lives they live.
Sarah's path of profound self-realization began while first practicing yoga as an expectant mother. She began to dig deeply into the absence of self-love and empowerment within, to understand the body-mind-spirt connection and to find new routes to healing and wholeness. 
She has and continues to study with numerous internationally recognized teachers, completing advanced trainings including Yoga to Transform Trauma, all with the intent of meeting people where they are with greater knowledge and understanding of yoga practices and philosophy.  



Learn more and connect with Sarah here:



Website Sarah-Lindgren.com
Instagram:  108.Sarah 
Facebook:  Sarah.Lindgren.Yoga



Upcoming Retreat:  https://truenaturetravels.com/retreats/yoga-iceland-sarah/

Please note: This episode contains descriptions of violence, sexual abuse, alcoholism and drug use.

In this episode of the podcast, Columbia native Catalina Osorio describes how her early life forged in her an "eat or be eaten" ethos that nearly destroyed her. She shares her journey out of the despair caused by a life of extreme violence and into the immediacy that grace grants everyone no matter what their circumstances. Her well-earned wisdom is a miracle beyond resiliency.

Catalina was born in Colombia in 1981 into a violent family, in a dangerous neighborhood in a turbulent time. She lived in continuous, extreme physical and emotional trauma, without noticing she was completely burying her past. Later, while living in Paris, after a night of heavy drinking, she was plunged into a situation that triggered a physical knowing that she had been raped. But because there was no clear evidence, there was no proof that a crime had been committed. Thus, she began to feel the terror of losing her mind. Her chaotic lifestyle continued until the responsibility, drugs, alcohol, sleeplessness and uncontrollably racing mind brought her body to severe illness and her mind to the breaking point. Depressed, suicidal and facing a possible hysterectomy to remove fibroid tumors, she heard a voice encouraging her to take a path of true healing rather than surgery.

Six years later, Catalina is living in peace and no longer allows her past to unconsciously run everything. She does not claim to be a teacher, to be enlightened or to know it all. She only knows that all of her pain has been created by a misunderstanding of what was happening. She believes we are powerful creators having a unique experience that is meant to add something to the divinely perfect tapestry of LIFE. 

You can connect with Catalina at catosga@gmail.com and her Facebook Page.

In this episode of Alive & Kicking, Lisa Stokke talks with Kay about being parented, parenting adults and the unique challenges of mothering in the age of awakening.
As founder and Executive Director of Next 7, an organization that advocates for healthy food systems, Lisa has been working to bring awareness to the importance of organic and regenerative agriculture. Previously, inspired by the lack of clean food choices for her four children, she co-founded Food Democracy Now! She works with farmers, scientists and policy leaders around the world  to increase nutrient density in food and crops.
A 20-year passion for plant medicine led her to start Temple Tree Aromatics – a company that sources sustainably wildcrafted and organic botanical essential oils and functional blends.
She lives in Boulder, CO.
For more information about Lisa and her work, visit:
Next7.org
TempleTree.co
Bionutrientinstitute.org
Instagram: @Lisa_Stokke

Born in Memphis Tennessee to a navy captain father, Valerie Iron's early life was rich with travel, culture and experience. But despite her joy for that life, a journey into the dark night of the soul brought her to the brink of despair. Throughout, her core wound of unrequited love presented itself again and again leaving her feeling utterly alone in the world. Eventually, Valerie gave herself over to healing through art and sound. But it would be a very long time before she would find the love of her life -- herself. 

Valerie Irons is an artist, sound alchemist, breathwork practitioner and kirtan wallah practicing in Sedona, AZ since 2014. She offers group and private sacred sound sessions including “Soundwave Journeys” using her Soundwave Bed™. She offers guidance along the journey of awakening through sound, breath, meditation and creativity. With deep gratitude, she is dedicated to divine healing through the arts.


Connect with Valerie and her work here:
http://www.laughingbluebutterfly.com/
http://www.valerieirons.com/