(This episode was recorded before 2025’s “Summer of Love” & only contains spoilers for old seasons of #LoveIslandUK and #LoveIslandUSA)

How do humans biologically build attachment? How do popular reality shows (ab)use mammalian attachment to create dramatic moments for entertainment? What happens to our nervous systems as viewers when we watch? What are the narratives that #LoveIsland perpetuates? Who benefits when the collective believes those narratives? In what ways are reality TV shows and their viewership a high demand group? Can we collectively imagine something more liberated?

Kristyn with a Why chats with Jamie and Jason- two of her besties from high school about Secure attachment and Love Island.

0: Intro to episode

9:00: Intro to Jamie and Jason

12:51: Secure Attachment and Contact Nutrition Overview

29:00: Consent, and Contact Nutrition in Love Island

1:02:00: Suicidality, Racism, Patriarchy, and Casa Amor

1:27:45: Favorite Moments on Love Island, and Predictions for upcoming season

1:42:45: Love Village and The Boyfriend as “less culty” Love Island alternatives

1:52:36: Outro

Follow the podcast on Substack or Instagram!

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Grateful for all the learning and inspiration alluded to in today’s episode:

Carmen Spagnola’s Numinous Network for more on Secure attachment and Contact Nutrition, her Numinous Podcast on Fascism, & previous episodes with me here and here.

Alexandra Stein’s book: Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems

Timothy Snyder’s Book: On Tyranny

“The Boyfriend” as the antidote to Love Island

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)

Kevin Carlow (Music and sound editing)

This episode marks the podcast’s one year anniversary and to celebrate we are going to give plants some “main character energy”

What might emerge if we proceeded as though plants could grow us just as much as we grow them? In what ways can Cannabis be a competent protector, and a companion for practicing consent in times of collapse? How is the Cannabis industry “just like the Handmaid’s Tale” (which is to say it is actually just like slavery)?

Kristyn with a Why chats with her colleague, friend, and “garden witch” Kirsten about how working with plants can subvert the hyperindividualistic, human-centric narratives that are all-too-common in popular stories, and what can happen when we accept their invitation to grapple with the “cracks in the wall” they reveal to us.

0: Introduction/Episode Overview

9:56: Meet Kirsten

31:22: Cannabis, Consent, Compassionate Witnessing, Collapse, Camp Followers

56:16: Patriarchy in the Cannabis Industry

1:08:04: Stoner Somatics and Confronting “saviorism” with Psilocybin

1:15:00: Outro, seeds for future pods and your own home garden!

Follow Kirsten on Instagram @tendingnettles

Check out her seeds at https://www.goodseedhempgarden.com/

Follow the podcast on Substack & Instagram!

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Grateful for all the learning and inspiration in today’s episode:

Carmen Spagnola’s Numinous Network and Numinous podcast on Collapse

Friday Things with Stacey Lee Kong: Adriana Smith

Sophie Strand’s books: “The Madonna Secret” and “Body is a Doorway”

Naomi Klein

Cannabis as a “Camp Follower” in Dale Pendell’s Pharmako/Poeia

Rat Park: How cages create addiction

Liberation with Rev. angel Kyodo williams

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)

Kevin Carlow (Music and sound editing)

This entire episode, not to be listened to while driving, is a guided meditation provided to help listeners practice radical rest, connection, and creativity.

In this mini-season, Kristyn discusses {Dream Productions} and offers a guided meditation practice she has done with her kids for over a year titled “Dream Place.”

Follow me on Substack to read the transcript for this meditation

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Grateful for all the learning and inspiration in today’s episode:

Carmen Spagnola’s Numinous Network

Tricia Hersey- “Nap Ministry”

Audre Lorde

Dra Rocio Rosales Mesa

adrienne maree brown

toi smith

People’s Oracle-Dayna Lynn Nuckolls

Liberation with Rev. angel Kyodo williams

Sarah Faith Gottesdiener and the Moon Studio

Chani Nicholas

Late Fragment by Raymond Carver

Bayo Akomolafe- The times are urgent, let’s slow down

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)
Kevin Carlow (Music and sound editing)

In this mini-season, Kristyn will be discussing {Dream Productions} and offering a guided meditation practice she has done with her kids for over a year titled “Dream Place.”

This episode provides a synopsis and discussion of the 2024 animated series “Dream Productions” that takes place between the events of “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2” on Disney/Pixar.

Why do all the stories on this podcast have characters that are a personification of capitalism’s impact on the creative process? How can stories and intentional altered states of consciousness help us to connect with what matters most to us, and practice embodying it? If Riley deserves better dreams, can we also demand better stories?

In this episode, Kristyn discusses Dream Productions and the connection to the upcoming Dream Place meditation with her co-parent and partner Kevin. Kevin also provides a testimonial of his experience of Kristyn leading him through a trance journey similar to the Dream Place.

Follow me on Substack!

#dreamproductions #insideout #insideout2

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Grateful for all the learning and inspiration in today’s episode:

Carmen Spagnola’s various hypnotherapy offerings on the Numinous Network

SaffanaBanana on IG “Is this true? Who benefits from me believing this?”

Sophie Strand’s “Sexy Inventory” on Substack

Roadmap to Liberation with Rev. angel Kyodo williams

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)

Kevin Carlow (Music and sound editing)

In this season, Kristyn will be discussing {Dream Productions} and offering a guided meditation practice she has done with her kids titled “Dream Place.”

In the words of Sophie Strand, inspired by Octavia Butler, what is sexy? How can the tropes we love in stories be the roadmaps for what liberation looks like for us, here, now? How can intentional changes of consciousness be a magical practice to enable our senses to feel the presence of loved ones after they pass on?

In this episode, Kristyn shares some more context of how the vision of this podcast came to be- by watching the stories her kids loved *with* them and provides her personal reasons for this season of dreams: her desire to leave behind batons and breadcrumbs for her kids in the event she dies before they grow up.

Follow me on Substack!

—---------------------------------------------

Grateful for all the learning and inspiration in today’s episode:

Carmen Spagnola and the Numinous Network

Sophie Strand’s Substack

Roadmap to Liberation with Rev. angel Kyodo williams

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)

Kevin Carlow (Music and sound editing)

This episode does not center a particular story. It is a revisiting of a {PAST} conversation, honoring that {people are stories, too!}.

In this episode, Kristyn practices secure attachment and connects with her tattoo artist Dusty to discuss tattoos, the union of creativity and spirituality, and the practices that resourced us to leave the cult of evangelical Christianity while leaving the door open for the Numinous.

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Grateful for all the learning and inspiration alluded to in today’s episode:

Carmen Spagnola’s Numinous Network for courses on Secure attachment & ritual practices, her Podcast on Fascism, and her book “The Spirited Kitchen” for more on Yule and other “rewilded” spiritual practices.

For more companioning around leaving the high demand group of fundamentalist/evangelical Christianity, check out Tia Leving’s Instagram and Substack and Jeanna Kadlec’s “Heretic”

For more on rewilding Yeshua/Jesus, check out Sophie Strand’s books: “The Madonna Secret” and “Flowering Wand”

For more animism and mythology for troubled times, check out The Emerald Podcast

Roadmap to Liberation with Rev. angel Kyodo williams

As always:----------------------------------

Thankful for the musical inspiration for the theme song:

Hadestown by Anais Mitchell, specifically “Our Lady of the Underground” and Orpheus’ Song

“Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams

Shout out for the artistic assistance of:

Matt Schubbe (Logo)

Kevin Carlow (Music and sound editing)