Ep.59 – The Victim Label: Gaslighting, Victim Shaming, & Tone Policing for Social Control

Candice is back with another solo episode, this time asking some big questions: What is gaslighting & why is it such a thing? Why are so many people allergic to the word victim? And is spiritual dogma getting in the way of relational accountability?  The episode opens with a peek into Conspirituality - and a new book by the same name - leading into an exploration of spiritual supremacy and how/why social stigmas around victimhood have...

DD#25 – Spirituality vs. Pseudoscience w/ Barb Wesson – Part 2 of 2

dd #25 | Spirituality vs. Pseudoscience & how do we tell the diff? | Barb Wesson - Part 2 of 2I really loved this conversation!If you're a life-long seeker like me, you won't want to miss the second half of our conversation with Dr. Barb Wesson. Part 1 dropped last week, so be sure to circle back if you missed it.In Part 2 we grapple with loads of questions, including: What happens when spirituality gets hijacked? How do we make meaning...

DD#24 | Railing Against Reverence – Barb Wesson, Part 1 of 2

dd #24 | Railing Against Reverence: Spirituality (w/o the dogma), Barb Wesson - Part 1 of 2This week, Barb Wesson joins the pod to help us separate spirituality from culty dogmatics. It's a timely conversation for yours truly, as I've been struggling mightily to disentangle the two for a good long while.Both former trainers at 'the Org', Barb & Tracy go way back... so we have a lot of fun in this two-part conversation. The three of us share...

DD#23 – Running Without Running (dissociation)

dd #23 | Running w/o Running: Memory Gaps, Dissociation, & Submissive StatesThis week's drop is a longer-than-usual episode that comes with a content warning. If you find open discussion of trauma responses triggering, you may want to skip this one. Tracy & I discuss our personal history with dissociative states as a lead-in to what cult experts have to say about them. I read aloud from the work of Janja Lalich, Robert Jay Lifton, &...

DD#22 – Healthy vs. Ideal: The ‘Joy’ of (unfiltered) self-expression

dd #22 | Healthy vs. Ideal: The 'Joy' of (unfiltered) self-expressionIn this convo, Monica & I keep the conversation going (see dd #21) and end up laughing our asses off... while posing an important question to you:What were you looking for when you joined the Org and how are you now filling those needs outside of the group?PLEASE DROP YOUR ANSWERS IN THE COMMENT FEED!& listen in if you wanna; here's where we go in this episode: How...

Ep.58 – Enough Already: Marketing, Manipulation, & An MLM Escape Plan | Jennifer Rajala – Part 2

In part two with former MLM Coach, Jennifer Rajala, she shares her struggle to sustain top-tier status at Arbonne. In 2020, despite being investigated by the FTC, dozens of MLMs chose to leverage vulnerability and ramp up recruitment during a global pandemic, and Jennifer tells us why this didn't sit well with her. She also shares how the body-shaming culture at Arbonne impacted her personally, and why she decided to join the inner circle at...

DD#21 – Humble Pie Reminder re: Scope of Practice

dd #21 | A Humble-Pie Reminder re: Scope of PracticeMonica Welty & I exchange text messages from time to time, and a couple of weeks ago we were on fire... sending audio messages back and forth while laughing our arrogant and indoctrinated asses off.We'd been listening to episodes of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast. Specifically, two episodes - Don't Tell Glennon To Love Her Body and a follow-up to it with Dr. Hillary McBride... and we had...

Ep.57 – The MLM Mindset: A Former MLM Coach & Top-Tier Earner Blows The Whistle | Jennifer Rajala – Part 1

Jennifer Rajala’s TikTok page reads: “For 8 years I was deep in two MLM CULTs. I got people in, now I help them GTFO.” In part one of a two-parter, former MLM Coach, Jennifer Rajala, sits down with Candice to share her story. When Jennifer was pregnant with her second child, she left behind a career in social work to join the world of multi-level marketing. After a few years of high-minded hustle, she became a top-tier earner and was...

DD#20 – Making Room: Inclusivity & True Belonging w/ Susan McCulley

Part 2 | Making Room: Inclusivity & True Belonging w/ Susan McCulleyHere's the second half of our two-part conversation with Susan McCulley where we continue with an inquiry into how we might do movement/fitness differently.Topics covered in part two include: Honoring 'the practice' and how this can be a smokescreen for deference to leaders or the need for personal validation. How we support the individuated experience, including making room...

Ep.56 – Cult-of-One Captivity: Only I Can Save You | Emma Stevens

This week on the pod, we explore one-on-one cult dynamics with memoirist, Emma Stevens. Emma’s story begins with a peek inside of her first book - The Gathering Place: An Adoptee Story. She shares why she felt compelled to share her story of relinquishment and how the industry of adoption is problematic and ‘a little culty’ in sense that it doesn’t always serve the best interests of the children it serves. Emma describes being adopted...