The Wild Soul Rising Podcast

Host Laurie Oakes talks with naturopath Dr. Kara Petrunik about high-functioning anxiety in women, how it often hides behind competence, and how it affects the nervous system, hormones, gut health, sleep, and relationships.

The episode explores practical steps for healing, including nervous system regulation, future-self journaling, simplified wellness approaches, boundary-setting, and balancing social media and optimization cultur...

In this episode, Laurie Oakes sits down with Rebecca of The Risen Sisterhood for a raw, honest conversation about the crossroads so many women find themselves at: burnout, people-pleasing, and the question of whether to stay or leave a relationship that no longer fits who they're becoming.

Laurie and...

In this episode of Wild Soul Rising, host Laurie Oakes sits down with psychotherapist Natalie Goerner to explore grief in its many forms:  sudden loss, anticipatory grief, and ambiguous loss, and why so many people rush through or suppress it.

They discuss societal and generational influences on how we handle loss, the impact of unclear communication around sickness or death (especially with children), and practical ways to su...

This week, we have Dana Maracle on the podcast, a former teacher who transitioned into energy healing and somatic practices after burnout and illness.

We discuss everything from flaws in the education system and how that impacts our emotional and mental development, conscious parenting, nervous system regulation, grief, intuition, and how energy work and accountability support real-life healing and transformation.

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In this episode, Laurie Oakes explores the pressure of trends and consumerism in wellness and spirituality, and invites listeners to go back to basics. She shares personal stories—cutting the grass, cooking, simplifying supplements, and prioritizing sleep—to show how small, mindful choices can reduce stress and restore balance.

This episode challenges comparisons, asks what a "good enough" life looks like for you, and e...

What if the reason you're exhausted, struggling with your weight, or can't sleep has nothing to do with your bloodwork and everything to do with the light you're exposed to, the water you drink, and the invisible forces around you?

In this episode, host Laurie Oakes sits d...

We've all said it. "This just isn't serving me anymore." But what if that phrase, as empowering as it sounds, is sometimes just a spiritual-sounding exit ramp from something we actually need to walk through?

In this episode, Laurie Oakes gets honest about the difference between wisdom and avoidance, and makes the case that everything you're experiencing right now is serving you, even the stuff you'd never choose. Especially that.

S...

Host Laurie Oakes explores the uncomfortable ‘void’ or messy middle of personal and spiritual growth, inviting listeners to trust divine timing rather than overworking themselves.

She offers a brief inward breathing exercise to help you discern whether to wait or take action, and encourages radical honesty with yourself about effort and accountability.

Laurie also shares her decision to shift back to using the term &lsq...

Host Laurie Oakes explores the difference between surviving and thriving, reframing survival mode and nervous system dysregulation as a necessary skill-building phase rather than only a failure. Drawing from personal stories, she outlines physical and emotional signs of prolonged stress and offers practical pathways for moving forward.

The episode balances spiritual insight with real-life action—encouraging vulnerability, res...

Host Laurie Oakes explores how the motivational energy or "why" behind personal and spiritual growth—love or fear—shapes outcomes. She explains how shifting from fear-driven goals to self-acceptance and loving intention removes pressure, improves results, and clarifies relationship and accountability dynamics.

Practical examples and tips include checking your true ‘why,’ honouring rest and flow, setting clea...

Host Laurie Oakes explores how the nervous system acts as the bridge between the ego mind and the soul, storing both trauma and lessons. She explains why regulation—not force—is the foundation for authentic spiritual growth, and why slow, consistent steps and self-parenting build internal safety.

This episode offers practical framing for high-functioning women: how small, intentional practices (like single-tasking and s...

Host Laurie Oakes reframes purpose as the soul's work of being and growing through life's challenges, not as an external role or achievement. Using a cause-and-effect metaphor, she explains why chasing outcomes blocks true purpose and how letting go and embodying emotional growth opens the way.

The episode emphasizes radical responsibility, turning knowing into doing, and how becoming a student of life naturally makes you a teacher...

Host Laurie Oakes explores how over-functioning often hides as productivity—why it develops as a survival mechanism, how it stresses the nervous system, and why rest can feel unsafe.

She offers practical awareness-based steps to stop proving and start receiving, heal relationship dynamics, and reclaim sustainable, meaningful action.

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Welcome to the Wild Soul Rising podcast with Laurie Oakes. In this episode, Laurie takes a raw, honest dive into 2025's biggest lessons: letting go of control over how others see you, learning the paradox of perspective, and practicing surrender again and again. Laurie shares personal stories, ceremony insights, and how accountability, authenticity, and community shaped her path forward.

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Host Laurie Oakes invites listeners to reframe seasonal depression as a story we tell ourselves and a chance to sit with emotions, slow down, and create cozy rituals that support mental health.

She offers practical tips—movement, getting outside, making your space a sanctuary—and an invitation to a free 14-day mindfulness challenge to shift your relationship with winter and life’s seasons.

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In this masterclass episode, Laurie Oakes explores how control and overfunctioning stem from childhood survival patterns and attachment wounds, and how those patterns show up in one-sided relationships, work, and self-worth. She explains the roots of control as a safety mechanism and outlines practical steps to identify survival strategies, nervous system conditioning, and communication styles.

The episode emphasizes vulnerability,...

Host Laurie Oakes brings Wild Soul Rising back as a space that blends real-life spirituality with honest, embodied accountability.

This isn’t about bypassing or pretending we’re “above” our human experiences. It’s about meeting them head-on with clarity, compassion, and truth.

Laurie shares her signature “three boomerang rule” for recognizing repeating lessons, explores how to set boundari...

Welcome to episode 18 of the Naked Soul podcast, where we explore the theme of 'what is wanting to die' in our lives. Through discussions, we unravel the spiritual significance behind the end of cycles, guided by the numerology of 2025 as a year of culmination. Together, we explore the universality of personal metamorphosis—the letting go of old self-concepts and life patterns to embrace fresh beginnings.

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In this episode, we explore how to recognize unhealthy dynamics and patterns of emotional abuse in relationships—whether you’re just beginning to date or you’re in a longer-term connection that doesn’t quite feel right.

Shawna shares a short but powerful experience from her life—a one-month relationship that opened her eyes to the subtle but harmful signs of emotional manipulation and abuse.

We explore...