Trauma & The Feminine Experience with Kimberly Ann Johnson (EP#210)

By Sophia Richmond-Manno

17/10/2023

3 min read

Tahnee sits down with the formidable and incredibly inspiring, Kimberly Ann Johnson, for a raw and potent chat about the feminine experience. The women explore the role of archetypal rites of passage; birth, menarche, menopause, death, and the unique, nuanced and powerful technology that female physiology inherently embodies.

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Tahnee sits down with the formidable and incredibly inspiring, Kimberly Ann Johnson, for a raw and potent chat about the feminine experience. The women explore the role of archetypal rites of passage; birth, menarche, menopause, death, and the unique, nuanced and powerful technology that female physiology inherently embodies.

Informed by her work as a Sexological Bodyworker, Somatic Experiencing practitioner, author, yoga teacher, mother and postpartum advocate, Kimberly speaks with true reverence for the cyclic nature of womanhood, expressing that the faculty of listening, witnessing and holding space for the processes that are forever unfurling themselves within the body, mind and spirit of women is one of the most nurturing acts that women can offer both themselves and others.

When we give our deep attention to the beauty, wildness and non linear nature of the feminine experience we agree to a rebellion against the rigid societal structures that feel as though they are designed to keep women confined to an existence that is far too small for the raw force of their intrinsic nature.

Kimberly shares her work with people in trauma, defining trauma as the outcome of an incomplete cycle, an event that because it has gone unwitnessed and unacknowledged in its full, lingers as injury in the body and psyche. Here we are introduced to the profound impact of circle work, of sitting in the presence of and holding space for the buoyancy and the dullness that colour the spectrum of human experience.

As Kimberly speaks she allows herself to feel and express emotion as it arises, her voice at times choked by the acknowledgement of grief, joy, love and despair, and it is truly freeing to receive. The courage of heart, the embodiment of all she teaches and practices is a breath of fresh air, a humbling gesture of solidarity to the part in all of us that longs to feel safe within the full scope of our somatic experience.

I loved this one, I hope you do too.

Image of woman kneeling stretched forward on the sand at sunrise.

"Now we've commercialised the functions that neighbours and family used to have. So, now you've got to hire someone to help you with breastfeeding rather than gathering your aunts around who might have each breastfed a couple of kids and just having them talk about that experience and being around it. Now, it's something that you measure and you have your baby measured before and after they eat and you run after the problem that might not even be a problem. And maybe it is, but this lens of just say real victimhood that seems to pervade the female experience right now."

- Kimberly Ann Johnson.

Kimberly & Tahnee discuss:

Kimberly's origin story.
Community and what women really need postpartum.
The power of witnessing and circle work.
Feminine trauma, what it is and how it presents in the body.
Archetypal rites of passage.
Menopause & not giving a f#ck.
Kimberly's work with Stephen Jenkinson and the value of wisdom and eldership in our society.

Who is Kimberly Ann Johnson ?

Kimberly Ann Johnson is a Sexological Bodyworker, Somatic Experiencing practitioner, yoga teacher, postpartum advocate, and single mom. Working hands-on in integrative women’s health and trauma recovery for more than a decade, she helps women heal from birth injuries, gynecological surgeries, and sexual boundary violations. Kimberly is the author of the Call of the Wild: How We Heal Trauma, Awaken Our Own Power, and Use It for Good, as well as the early mothering classic The Fourth Trimester, and is the host of the Sex Birth Trauma podcast.

Resource guide

Guest Links
Kimberly's Website.
Kimberly's Instagram.
Kimberly's Facebook.
Kimberly's YouTube.
Kimberly's Linkedin.

Mentioned In This Episode
Mother Circle Online Course
Kimberly's Books
Second Spring Book - Kate Codrington
Jane Hardwicke Collings Website
Jane Hardwicke Collings Four Seasons Journey
Jane Hardwicke Collings Autumn Woman Harvest Queen Workshop
Uma Dinsmore-Tuli Yoga Nidra

Connect With Us
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