Love & Light Confessionals

At its best this is excellent consumer advocacy for the wellness industry. Her analysis is generally thorough and much needed and the episodes are strongest when they are rich with examples and research. Sometimes, however, the shift in tone can be jarring as she slips into a more gossipy and less journalistic voice. Like listening to that oversharing friend who starts lots of sentences with “I wasn’t going to talk about this but…”. These rare lapses – such as the episodes on The Sisterhood and the Conspirituality podcast – can feel under-argued and thin with evidence. Even the anecdotal evidence can be a single incident from which she launches an entire premise. It seems there is a good amount of personal resentment or jealousy at play that is not sufficiently acknowledged when the host takes on subjects close to home like queerness in the female wellness world. Or the supposedly problematically authoritative tone of white, male podcasters (who, it turns out, ignored her attempts at an interview once), all of which is interrogated in the abstract, unpacking their takes on the concept of privilege itself more than any errors in their arguments. Beyond the inconsistency in tone, the show can also feel a bit whiney and wimpy. I wish she would be more judicious with words like ‘trauma’ and ‘abuse’. Cumulatively, it starts to sound as if the world is full of potential victims rather than people of agency. A technical gripe: I hope she gets a better microphone. Her voice is already on the wispy side. The lack of bottom end and harsh sibilants are fatiguing. Criticisms aside, I’m very glad to have found this. And happy that there are more voices like hers popping up to counter program the hype.

Some interesting insights but also some blatant biases and flat out wrong information on some topics. For example, the whole diatribe on raw milk is just flat out wrong. For some reason she failed to mention that way more people get very ill from eating raw lettuce every year compared to raw milk. Not to mention her information on plant vs animal protein is just flat out wrong. She claims they are equal in availability and says that the fact that plant protein is not a good source of protein has been debunked yet mentions no studies or deeper analysis of that. We are just supposed to take her word for it. Horrific analysis all around in this podcast so be wary.

This podcast is so thoughtful and well researched. Katya brings a clear, grounded and well-informed and perspective to wellness topics that are often polarized or riddled with misinformation. As someone who tries to navigate the field of wellness with care and intention, I deeply appreciate what Katya is offering!

Such a great podcast, especially if you are in the woo-sphere / yoga world.