In This Body

What if your body isn’t a barrier to spirituality, but the place where the sacred actually meets you. This is the heart of the conversation with spiritual teacher and retreat leader Brandon Nappi, whose work weaves together Christian mysticism, Zen practice, and somatic healing.Together, we explore a spirituality that is grounded, honest, and lived through the body. Brandon shares how his understanding of faith was transformed through contemplative practice and relationship, learning to hold both insight and belovedness at once. We name the ways body and spirit have been divided through history, and we also remember the quieter traditions that insisted on an embodied faith.This episode offers a practical, compassionate invitation to begin where sensation and breath are available, to build capacity through daily practice, and to meet discomfort without bypassing it. For anyone engaged in leadership, healing, or inner work, this conversation is a reminder that the body can be a place of refuge, devotion, and return.In this episode: 0:00 – Welcome And Embodiment Framing3:26 – Body As Home: Defining Embodiment 11:11 –  Meeting Buddhism And Somatics16:43 – Practice Grounding: Zazen And Breath22:24 – How The Body Was Split From Spirit29:27 – Slow Repair: Somatics And Unlearning32:42 – Men’s Work: From Fragility To Feeling39:34 – Why Spirit Still Matters In Somatics46:00 – The Bandage Story: Sitting With PainYou can read the transcript hereLearn more about Ailey Jolie: Find: Website Follow: Instagram Explore: Substack Experience: Insight Timer Sign up: InBodyMethod Email: [email protected] To follow along with the In This Body podcast: Follow: Instagram Find: Website Email: [email protected]

In this episode of How To Be In This Body, we explore the fawn response as an adaptive survival strategy (not a character flaw) and trace a gentle path from self-abandonment back to self-contact. Dr. Ingrid Clayton, clinical psychologist and author, brings together clinical insight, lived experience, and practical tools for building internal safety and reducing shame.Together, Ailey and Ingrid unpack how fawning develops, why danger can feel familiar, and how our bodies learn to prioritize connection over selfhood. This conversation offers compassion, language, and embodied understanding for anyone who has learned to appease in order to survive and who is ready to begin coming home to themselves.In this episode:0:00 – Embodiment And Show Welcome1:47 – Meet Dr Ingrid Clayton8:16 – Agency, Validation And Reclaiming Story16:28 – The Missing Discourse On Fawning20:26 – Codependency Versus Trauma Response23:27 – How Fawning Feels In The Body28:34 – From Self-Abandonment To Self-Contact34:57 – Fawning In The Therapy Room 41:34 – Trust Your Body’s Unique Path44:27 – Everyday Practices For RegulationYou can read the transcript hereLearn more about Ailey Jolie: Find: Website Follow: Instagram Explore: Substack Experience: Insight Timer Sign up: InBodyMethod Email: [email protected] To follow along with the In This Body podcast: Follow: Instagram Find: Website Email: [email protected]

Join Ailey Jolie for a raw and personal solo episode of How To Be In This Body. In this New Year's reflection, Ailey shares what happened when her body stopped letting her perform; a year of health crises, the real story behind her viral posts, and the decision to focus her attention on her upcoming book and course INBODY. In this episode, she explores what it means to let go of an identity built around being needed, why she's done setting goals from the neck up, and the question she's carrying into this year: how do I actually want to spend my time? This episode is for anyone in their own season of stopping, listening, or questioning what comes next. In this episode: 0:00 – Welcome and Embodiment Focus 1:16 – New Year Messaging Challenged 3:06 – Illness as Unwanted Teacher 8:15 – Writing from Inside the Body 10:31 – Calm Versus Capacity 22:31 – Stopping the Performance 26:00 – Self-Regulation Needs Co-Regulation 33:20 – Holding Less to Live More 39:20 – Capacity, Fawn Response, and NeedsYou can read the transcript hereLearn more about Ailey Jolie: Find: Website Follow: Instagram Explore: Substack Experience: Insight Timer Sign up: InBodyMethod Email: [email protected] To follow along with the In This Body podcast: Follow: Instagram Find: Website Email: [email protected]

Join Ailey Jolie for a tender and personal solo episode of In This Body, where she weaves a health update, insights from a sacred MRI, and listener questions into a nuanced meditation on embodiment. Ailey explores the delicate terrain between anxiety and intuition, the truth about hypervigilance and self-trust, and how regulation can sometimes be disguised compliance. She reflects on the role of anger as sacred information, the necessity of honoring the body’s pace, and the deep practice of meeting life without forcing it. Through her own story, she invites you to listen more deeply; to yourself, to your body, and to the spaces in between. We hope you enjoy the episode.In this episode:01:00 – Personal Journey through medical Challenges03:18 – The Importance of listening to the Body07:53 – Navigating Intuition vs. Anxiety 10:32 – Understanding Hypervigilance and Nervous System Regulation 28:29 – Navigating Disconnection and Cultural Norms 32:25 – Understanding the Threat of Embodiment Work37:16 – Distinguishing authentic Needs from Conditioning 41:08 – The Challenge of receiving Love45:06 – Authentic Regulation vs. Comliance49:15 – Reclaiming Anger without bypassingYou can read the transcript hereLearn more about Ailey Jolie:Find: WebsiteFollow: InstagramExplore: SubstackExperience: Insight TimerSign up: InBodyMethodEmail: [email protected] follow along with the In This Body podcast:Follow: InstagramFind: WebsiteEmail: [email protected] more about Ailey Jolie: Find: Website Follow: Instagram Explore: Substack Experience: Insight Timer Sign up: InBodyMethod Email: [email protected] To follow along with the In This Body podcast: Follow: Instagram Find: Website Email: [email protected]

Join Ailey Jolie and Mariel Pastor, therapist, trainer, and creator of Character Mapping, on this episode of In This Body. The conversation moves through the heart of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy; exploring how self-energy, parts work, and somatic presence can bring us into deeper peace with ourselves and with one another. Mariel shares reflections on spiritual embodiment, cultural conditioning, and the healing power of love in therapeutic spaces. Together they speak to the nuanced relationship between trauma and creativity, the sacredness of the client-clinician connection, and how healing opens us to both tenderness and aliveness. We hope you enjoy the episode.In this episode: 02:04 Understanding Internal Family Systems (IFS) 08:11 The Systemic Nature of Mind, Body, Spirit, and Culture 12:09 Navigating the Challenges of IFS 18:02 The role of Somatics in IFS Practice 26:03 The importance of Connection in Therapy 34:14 The Role of Nature in Healing 37:21 Creativity and Healing: a deep Connection 39:34 The importance of doing our own Work 443:53 Artists and the wounds of Creativity 52:09 The Nuances of Performance in TherapyYou can read the show transcript hereTo find out more about Mariel:Find: Website Follow: Instagram Learn more about Ailey Jolie:Find: WebsiteFollow: InstagramExplore: SubstackExperience: Insight TimerEmail: [email protected] follow along with the In This Body podcast:Follow: InstagramFind: WebsiteEmail: [email protected] more about Ailey Jolie: Find: Website Follow: Instagram Explore: Substack Experience: Insight Timer Sign up: InBodyMethod Email: [email protected] To follow along with the In This Body podcast: Follow: Instagram Find: Website Email: [email protected]