The Cycles and Shadows Podcast

Holly Ransom

The Cycles and Shadows podcast is a space to dive into the depths of some of the biggest questions in life with openness, curiosity, playfulness, and vulnerability. The show explores a wide spectrum of holistic topics and tools from across space and time, so that you can feel seen and supported through the ebbs and flows of your life. You'll leave each episode with practical tools and spiritual wisdom to contemplate. Learn to embrace your cycles, shadows, and light with holistic coach, Yoga teacher, herbalist, psychology nerd, dancer, and bookworm Holly Ransom.

  1. Aug 24

    #61 - Below the Surface of Wellness w/ Empathic Esthetician Lia Elliot

    It's Eclipse season babyyyy and we're back for a delicious episode with Lia Elliot, Holistic Skincare & Wellness Specialist + Master Reiki Practitioner and owner of The Lovely Lia Skincare & Wellness in Longview, Washington. Lia is an absolute gem to listen to and I'm so grateful to have her on the pod for today's episode. We chat our own explorations of spirituality, energetic healing and sensitivity, boundaries, eclipse themes, perfectionism, self-compassion, skincare, and creative entrepreneurship. She is genuine, kind, and exceptionally open about the myriad of personal experiences that led her to share her gifts in the way she now does as a badass Esthetician weaving the depths of what it means to be well nourished as a whole (body, mind, and soul) with the literal surface level of working with the skin and body. Growing up an empath without the words or guidance to understand herself fully, Lia navigated her Christian upbringing and early life feeling deeply confused and in her own words...crazy, until she began to explore the world of the "woo" in earnest. Lia takes us through several different experiences and examples of coming to accept herself as all of who she is, despite being taught to fear or judge her depth of energetic sensitivity. She doesn't shy away from sharing the heavier aspects of feeling deeply in a deeply hurting society (and world). Which leads me to share a TW through the episode: some discussion of suicide (which is so important to talk about and a common experience. You are not alone and there are many resources I'm happy to point you toward if you or someone you love is experiencing suicidal thoughts. I love you, for real.) I especially loved our honest musings about our own processes of learning all the layers of what it means to create healthy boundaries in all relationships; particularly if you tend toward keeping the peace since you're empathic af and feel not only your own feels but theirs too. We focused a lot on personal accountability -- which ain't talked about enough in these convos cause it takes some balls to own your crap very publicly such as on a podcast hehe -- and the incredible opportunity for growth if you're used to existing around people with little or no boundaries and then find yourself triggered when healthy boundaries are set. OOP! (my own recent experience whewww)... Love me a chance to see the mirror clearly reflecting what we're projecting ;) ! (to be real though, it f*ckin hurts...but on the other side is FREEDOM) Lia's amazing. This episode is amazing. I felt so cozy and calm in her energy and can't wait for ya'll to receive her wisdom. You can connect to Lia here: Booking site: TheLovelyLia.GlossGenius.com Info: linktr.ee/thelovelylia IG and TikTok: @TheLovelyLia Facebook: @TheLovelyLiaWellness Google Business: https://share.google/YA4dSlclqeNq4IAXv and you can find me on Instagram HERE and on my website :) Love the pod? Like, rate, review, comment, and share this ish so it can reach more beautiful souls like you :)

  2. Aug 17

    #60 - Feeling into Coherence w/ Camryn Shulsinger

    THIS EPISODE IS EVERYTHING If you want to hear some REAL talk about somatics. Here's the convo. BIG SAD cause Cams audio cut off at the end but BIG JOY cause the transcript was still captured so here's the small bit you missed: "Our bodies have a really strong inherent response to certain stories. And if we can go in and simply just notice sensation, it's neutral. The purpose and the intention of going into the body is to create more safety, not to create more chaos. So I would invite everyone, if you're just getting started with this work, to invest in a somatic practitioner so that you can start to learn to meet these sensations without needing to go into the story or go into needing to feel the emotion in its entirety. Rather than needing to go in, feel and hyperanalyze everything that's present like 'I need to figure out where it's coming from. I need to figure out why or blah blah blah.' The shift is in building capacity. It really is just presence, honestly. Building presence to notice sensation. And notice. And notice. and notice. Because most of the time these sensations just need space. Space doesn't mean going online and going on Instagram and resting in bed while you're scrolling. Space means sitting and noticing sensation and staying with sensation and following sensation. Allowing the body to follow the sensation and to shape around the sensation and sound with the sensation. And it's really just about micro attunement to both the moment and what's naturally emerging in the body in each moment." and her response (also cut off) to where you can find and work with her: "I'm most active on IG. You can find me @camryn.schulsinger. Right now my sole focus is inviting women into my signature group program, which is called God Embodied. It's a 12-week somatic mystery school for God-led visionary women desiring to reclaim sovereign faith so they can build an authentic relationship with God, aka safety and provision. So that they can deepen their relationship with somatics, subtle energy, and sensuality. Building a relationship with the body that feels juicy and delicious and naturally allows pleasure to blossom from the inside out, and building a coaching business from that space. The majority of women that come into that space are already empowered as f**k. They just desire support in wielding all of that empowerment, joy for life and excitement into something that they can actually offer into a coaching space. We start September 13th. If you're a woman that already has at least one offering, I also have a high level mastermind that starts at the end of this month, where we go into deepening that one offer so it hits more women deeper. Also expanding your offer suite to allow all of your offerings to reflect what turns you the f**k on. While also getting certified as a level one somatic and energetic practitioner. So if this shit is like turning you on and you're like, yo, I wanna bring this into what I have to offer, and you have at least one offer, the miracle frequency is also something that could really support you." You can find me (Holly) on Instagram @cyclesandshadowshealing and @cyclesandshadowspod AND learn more about my upcoming one-month group program FEEL here.

  3. Aug 10

    #59 - Questioning Norms: Love, Sexuality, Money & the Freedom of Authentic Desire

    Welcome back to the show! Want to stay connected to the pod? Follow the new pod-specific IG for new episode sneak peaks, quotes, guest features and more HERE :) This week I'm joined by Melissa Fabello Ph.D, a politicized relationship coach and we get right into the juice from the jump. In this episode, we're exploring one of the most liberating questions we can ask ourselves: What if the life we've been taught to want isn't actually the life we desire? We dive into the stories we've inherited around love, relationships, sex, money, and identity; and what becomes possible when we begin to question them. Together, we unpack why topics like sex and money remain some of the most taboo conversations in our culture, how silence around these subjects often serves existing systems of power, and what it means to reclaim our own agency. We explore authentic desire, queerness, relationship structures, and the freedom that comes from realizing we don't have to live according to someone else's script. This conversation isn't about telling you what your life or relationships should look like. It's an invitation to become deeply curious about what is truly aligned for you. Whether you're navigating your sexuality, questioning long-held beliefs, exploring different relationship dynamics, or simply feeling the pull toward a more authentic way of living, this episode offers a compassionate reminder that there are many ways to build a meaningful life...and you have permission to choose your own. If this conversation resonated with you, we'd love to hear what stood out most. Share the episode with a friend, leave a review, or tag us on social media so we can continue exploring these conversations together. Melissa and I also have a beautiful upcoming workshop at Cinder & Sound Healing Studio in Rye, NH -- Tending to the Heart: A Workshop for Breakup Grief. "Join somatic practitioner and energy worker Holly Ransom and relationship coach and educator Dr. Melissa A. Fabello in a heart-fortifying workshop for holding and healing from heartbreak. Over the course of two hours, you will have the opportunity to sink into your subconscious in a powerful practice of self-forgiveness that will span movement, sound healing, self-reflection, and storytelling, allowing you to put down some of the burden that you’re carrying around your most recent heartache. Whether you’re mourning the end of a friendship, romantic partnership, or family tie, you are welcome to share your story here and accept the support of the community. Please note that this workshop is not appropriate for grief associated with death." You can save your spot in this heart-healing workshop HERE Connect with Melissa on her website and instagram Connect with me online and on instagram Thank you for being here and for your willingness to question, grow, and imagine new possibilities. We'll see you in the next episode. xoxo MUAH!

  4. Aug 3

    #58 - Mortality, Sensitivity & the Courage to Change w/ Katie of Mindful Constitution

    This episode is BY FAR one of my absolute favorites. These are the topics I wish so badly were more commonplace, and I am incredibly fulfilled knowing this hour-ish chat gets to exist in the world and give people like you the permission to ask challenging questions (maybe even without the expectation for clear answers), go to some sticky but honest places, and find community in some of the most potentially isolating choices/experiences you could make. Today I'm joined by the wonderful, hilarious: Katie Campbell!!! She's the founder of Mindful Constitution, is an integrative coach and community builder for sensitive souls, deep feelers, gentle visionaries, creatives, and the sober-curious. But more than these titles and descriptors, she's a really freakin cool, funny, easy to talk to person who makes suuuuper tough topics feel less heavy and more approachable. In this conversation we flow through discussing all kinds of lessons learned via sobriety, opting out of several societal 'norms', mentors and guides who paved the way ahead of us, spirituality, tragedy, loss, and choosing hope, agency, and faith through it all. I looooove me a yap where taboos lose some shame & secrecy and this whole episode is just that; a refreshing exploration of themes typically cast to the shadows. Katie hosts her monthly Yurt circles in Ipswich, MA and her online Sanctuary for Sensitive Souls, both of which you can learn more about on her website You can find me on Instagram, Youtube, Insight Timer, and on my Website I host in-person events and classes throughout the New Hampshire and Southern Maine Seacoast and also host online group and private coaching programs throughout the year. For aspiring spiritual entrepreneurs: Path of Purpose, doors open for the second cohort this Oct (early bird pricing tier 2 until 8/15) For folks called to holistic healing and intuitive development: Trust Your Path is accepting 2 more souls this August. Be sure to like, share, rate, and comment on the pod to keep spreading this good energy! MUAH love yas. See you next week!

  5. May 6

    #56 - Kindness Is Cool: Helping the Next Generation by Healing Ourselves w/ Carrie Penna

    On today's season 2 BONUS episode, I'm joined by all-around incredible human, Carrie Penna. For work, she is the Director of Soul Models, a Seacoast nonprofit "empowering girls to discover their authentic selves as they become mindful, confident, creative & engaged leaders." Soul Models offers after-school and summer camp programs that bring local, entrepreneurial women of all different backgrounds + expertise into rooms with middle school girls to chat, craft, learn about being a mind, body and soul and show them that their biggest dreams are 100% possible. Carrie shares the all-too-human, heartbreaking story behind her passion for creating a supportive space for young girls to connect to themselves and each other in this most crucial, sometimes catty, and super awkward phase of middle school. This is an all around feel good, uplifting episode that gets nitty gritty about how important it is for us to notice the way we treat and talk to ourselves, and how kids become a TRANSPARENT mirror to our own struggles if we don't take the time to slow down and check in with the stories we've adopted. Our self-love becomes theirs. Our self-forgiveness creates space for theirs. Our self-judgement becomes theirs too if we don't practice at shifting those stories. I share a bit about my own experience with body dysmorphia; how learning from the way my mom speaks about her appearance taught me to judge myself constantly (a result of this culture, and not any one persons fault, love you mama) And on the flip side, we chat the beauty of how just one person who can be truly present with a teenager (or any other human for that matter) can change that persons life forever by making them feel genuinely seen, heard, and acknowledged. There is nothing cooler than kindness, and Carrie's wisdom on the topic is authentic, grounded, and soooo deeply relatable. I absolutely love facilitating for this nonprofit and can't wait for ya'll to get a sneak peak into the magic too. PLUS: be sure to check out the upcoming Soul Models annual fundaiser: So(ul) Powerful this October 7th in Dover, NH And if you have kiddos or know folks with middle school girls on the Seacoast: check out the summer camp program!

    #56 - Kindness Is Cool: Helping the Next Generation by Healing Ourselves w/ Carrie Penna
  6. Apr 1

    #55 Creative Entrepreneurship: Doing Business YOUR Unique Way w/ Katy of Design & Align

    We have an absolutely fabulous episode for you today on the C&S Pod. I'm joined by the Founder of Design & Align, Katy Stevenson Bretton, to chat all about how Human Design can support you both practically and soulfully in creating an aligned business model, pricing structure, and calendar that honors your unique blueprint rather than the one-size-fits-all business advice most come across. Even if you're not a business owner yet, or never want to be, this episode touches upon universal themes of recognizing your inherent value beyond what you do for others, how people pleasing is trained into women but boundaries can set us free, growing beyond financial fears + wounds, and respecting yourself enough to listen to your own inner compass above the noise of outside opinions. Towards the end of the episode Katy uses my Human Design chart to give really concrete examples of how you can use this system to support your energetic style in biz...and we get on a really important tangent about pricing, profit, and momentum as an entrepreneur. This episode is inspirational, informative, practical and offers a ton of ways to take action right now on making your life work FOR you instead of swimming upstream. You can find Katy on Instagram at @design_align and check out her FREE resource Creative Business Clarity (I'm so excited to do this myself!) Connect with me on Instagram at @cyclesandshadowshealing

    #55 Creative Entrepreneurship: Doing Business YOUR Unique Way  w/ Katy of Design & Align

About

The Cycles and Shadows podcast is a space to dive into the depths of some of the biggest questions in life with openness, curiosity, playfulness, and vulnerability. The show explores a wide spectrum of holistic topics and tools from across space and time, so that you can feel seen and supported through the ebbs and flows of your life. You'll leave each episode with practical tools and spiritual wisdom to contemplate. Learn to embrace your cycles, shadows, and light with holistic coach, Yoga teacher, herbalist, psychology nerd, dancer, and bookworm Holly Ransom.