Awaken Your Wise Woman

How do you find the strength to go on after trauma and abuse? Learn how one woman did it in this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman as host Elizabeth Cush welcomes Kimberly Bell, author of “The Epitome of Kimmy: Accept & Embrace It All.”

“I can break generational curses and taboos that I was raised with.”
— Kimberly Bell

If you experienced trauma as a child—whether physical, sexual or emotional abuse; neglect, or abandonment—it can often feel hard to survive, much less thrive, long into adulthood. The loss, the pain, the grief can feel like too much to bear and keep us from the joys of life. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Healing is within reach. In this episode of the Awaken Your Wise Woman podcast, host Elizabeth Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Annapolis, Md., and a mid-life women’s life coach, welcomes Kimberly Bell, author, inspirational speaker, minister and mentor for an intimate discussion of how she overcome her beginnings and found a path to resilience.

You can find all the recources and link for this and every episode here.

If everyone around you denies it, did it really happen? Find out in this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman as host Elizabeth Cush welcomes Lynn Crook, author of “False Memories: The Deception That Silenced Millions.”

In 1991, Lynn Crook sued her parents for damages after she recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse by her father. At the time, believing media reports, most of her community insisted that her memories were false. But a key memory study was flawed, and the judge found in her favor. In this episode of the Awaken Your Wise Woman podcast, host Elizabeth Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Annapolis, Md., and a mid-life women’s life coach, welcomes Lynn Crook for a talk about her experiences; her book, “False Memories: The Deception That Silenced Millions;” and the importance of speaking your truth.

“There's essentially no corroboration for claims that memories like mine are false.”
— Lynn Crook

You can find the full show notes and resources mentioned for this and all the episodes here.

Welcome the new year with this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, and join host Elizabeth Cush in a centering meditation.

It’s a new year! January, as you might remember, gets its name from the two-faced Roman god Janus, who could look back at the old year and forward at the new. That makes it a perfect time to take stock of our lives and release those things that no longer serve us so we can move into the future without unnecessary burdens. In this episode of the Awaken Your Wise Woman podcast, host Biz Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Annapolis, Md., and a life coach for highly sensitive women, talks about the New Year and how you can help shape the podcast in the months ahead. She also leads a guided centering meditation designed to help you get grounded; cleanse and nourish yourself; shed unwanted habits and embrace the new you.

You can find the full show notes for this and every episode here.

If you have an unhealthy relationship with food, listen to this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman as host Elizabeth Cush welcomes holistic nutritionist Ali Shapiro for a conversation about emotional eating.

“I really think food is inviting you into deeper healing, physically, emotionally, and on the soul level.”
— Ali Shapiro

At the end of a tough day, do you curl up on the sofa with a book and a bag of chips? Does a confrontation send you on a search for chocolate, cake or a hot fudge sundae? Do you celebrate with a special meal—and maybe a second helping? What can you do if you turn to food at times when you wish you didn’t? Or wished you didn’t overdo it? In this episode of the Awaken Your Wise Woman podcast, host Elizabeth Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Annapolis, Md., and a mid-life women’s life coach, welcomes Ali Shapiro, MSOD, CHCC, a holistic nutritionist and host of the podcast Insatiable for a talk about food and emotional eating. Listen to their insights about food and eating and health at midlife and how to make a truce with food and bring it all into better balance.

You can find the full show notes and Ali's links here.

https://www.elizabethcushcoaching.com/awaken-your-wise-woman-podcast 

If you’ve reached midlife, you know that your body has changed. So has your partner’s. For one, things don’t work the same way they did in your younger days. How has that affected your sex life? And if your sex life isn’t great for one or both of you, how has that affected your relationship? And what can you do about it? In this episode of the Awaken Your Wise Woman podcast, host Elizabeth Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Annapolis, Md., and a mid-life women’s life coach, welcomes Dr. Deb Shine Valentine, a licensed clinical psychotherapist and a certified sex therapist for an open and unencumbered discussion about sex and intimacy as we grow older. They talk about challenges to physical intimacy that midlife couples face and how to address them in order to have a closer and more fulfilling relationship on every level at any age.

“You can tell your partner how to load the dishwasher. How come you can’t tell them what to do sexually?”
— Heather England

You can find the full show notes and links to all the episodes here.

What do you know about “parts” work? If you listen regularly to Awaken Your Wise Woman, you’ll be familiar with Internal Family Systems (IFS). If you’re a new listener, this episode will open you to new possibilities. Host Biz Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Annapolis, Md., and a life coach for highly sensitive women, recently attended the IFS conference, where she was trained in a variety of techniques for using IFS to help therapy and coaching clients get in touch with all their parts and create the compassionate and understanding relationships with those parts that lead to healing. Listen as she shares her experience and insights into this information-packed program.

“This is your opportunity to help you bring your body, your soul, yourself, your parts into the work to find a deeper level of healing, of understanding, of compassion, of curiosity, and to the next part of your journey.” — Biz Cush

You can find the full show notes for this and every episode here.

Do you feel like if you suffer enough, the world around you will get better? In this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, host Elizabeth Cush talks with Deb Shine Valentine, PhD, about thriving while you work to change the world.

“It's a very fine line between saving and centering … whether it's a community or an individual.”
— Deb Shine Valentine

You can find the full show notes here.

None of us live in a vacuum. We live in families, in communities. In this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, host Elizabeth Cush talks with Catherine Quiring about healing systemic harms—for ourselves and the world.

We often talk about how our early family live has shaped how we think, feel and react to life. But what about the bigger systems we’re raised within—religion, for example, or the culture where we live. What is their impact? And how can we heal the wounds they might cause us? In this episode of the Awaken Your Wise Woman podcast, host Elizabeth Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Annapolis, Md., and a mid-life women’s life coach, welcomes Catherine Quiring, a fellow therapist and coach in Florida, for a discussion of the how our belief systems shape us and the world around us. They talk about the need for empathy and how breaking free from systems that burden us can help us get back to ourselves and our values—and maybe make a better world.

“We need to acknowledge the harm—and that's actually really healing for both sides, if we allow it.”
— Catherine Quiring

Find the full show notes and other episodes here.

Are your relationships changing as you reach mid-life? In this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, host Elizabeth Cush talks about our friendships and how they may change as we move through the healing process and grow into our authentic selves.

“Sometimes friendships and partners and our acquaintances shift and change over the years.”

—Biz Cush

You can find the full show notes and links to resources to all the spisodes here.

Welcome back! In this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, host Elizabeth Cush talks about lessons learned about sensitivity during the hiatus. Listen to find out what’s in store in this exciting new season of the podcast—and what you can learn from listening to Biz and her guests.

“The world needs more sensitive people showing up fully, especially sensitive women."

 — Biz Cush

You can find the full show notes and all the AYWW episodes here!

I’m so excited because the Sensitive Strong and Unstoppable: Group for Women Who Feel it All starts in one week!

This group has been my dream for a long time, and I can feel the powerful energy of sensitive women coming together as I sit here writing this. It’s as if my heart is expanding with the divine energy I know we’ll be creating.

If you haven’t booked a call yet, and you’re curious, or have been considering joining like-minded, sensitive women from all over, it’s time to schedule your free-30-minute call with me.

There’s only a short time left to hold your spot for this first round of the group—at an amazingly affordable price. 

We’re meeting on every other Monday at 12-1:30pmET beginning September 25^th.  Just a couple weeks away!

The 30-minute calls are an opportunity to answer any questions you have, for me to get to know your sensitive soul, and to make sure this group is right for you.

Feeling on the fence? Why not book a call?

I’d love for you explore with me and other sensitive women:

• Our HSP strengths and struggles
• IFS + Sensitive Parts work
• Mindfulness + Meditation
• Boundaries + Self-care
• Self-compassion practice

I would love to have you be a part of this. I can feel it’s your turn to shine...Join me!

Book a call and let’s talk.

If you’re a highly sensitive person (HSP), chances are you have trouble finding your voice—and that can cause a lot of anxiety. In this episode of AYWW, host Elizabeth Cush welcomes back psychotherapist April Snow, who talks about how you can learn to trust your voice, set healthy boundaries and speak up for your needs.

“We start to doubt ourselves. We start to silence that inner wisdom, that intuition.”
— April Snow

Click the link to find out more about this episode and the group for highly sensitive women.

Season 3 of the podcast is winding down. And season 4 is gearing up!

In this episode Biz Cush talks about her upcoming coaching group for highly sensitive women, and the topics for season 4.

You can find the full show notes here.

Or sign up for more information about the group here.

If the hot weather has kept you at home for the past months, this replay of an episode from 2021 and  Woman Worriers is for you. Host Elizabeth Cush provides a change of scenery with a mindful beach walk visualization.

“Doing a little visualization might be a nice change of scenery, even if it’s just in your mind.” — Elizabeth Cush

You can find all the epsiodes for the podcast here.

And if you want to know more about the group for highly sensitive women click here!

• Elizabeth’s coaching website

• Sensitive, Strong, and Unstoppable: Group Coaching For Women Who Feel It All

• Are You Highly Sensitive? Quiz

• Sign up for Biz’s Newsletter

• Biz’s Blog

• Guided meditations on Insight Timer

• Progression Counseling

This is a replay of an interview with Rebecca from 2021 (Woman Worriers episode 141)

Do you wince a little when you get out of the shower and look in the mirror? Listen to this week’s episode of Woman Worriers, as host Elizabeth Cush welcomes Rebecca Scritchfield, a dietitian, exercise physiologist and author of Body Kindness: Transform your health from inside out and never say diet again. 

“People cannot hate themselves healthy—and shame doesn’t make anyone healthier.”

— Rebecca Scritchfield

You can find this and all the AYWW episodes here- https://www.elizabethcushcoaching.com/awaken-your-wise-woman-podcast 

If your anxiety keeps you awake at night, listen to this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman. Host Elizabeth Cush interviews insomnia and anxiety specialist Yishan Xu, Ph.D., who shares some eye-opening information about sleep and mental health.

“We really just need to listen to our body, understand what our body needs.” 

— Dr. Yishan Xu

You can find the full show notes, and an affiliate link and coupon code for Dr. Xu's Insomnia Course here-

http://www.elizabethcushcoaching.com/podcast-all-awaken-your-wise-woman/sleep-and-mental-health

It’s time to take a break. In this episode of the Awaken Your Wise Woman, host Elizabeth Cush talks about taking a summer break from the podcast—and why you might want to give yourself a break, too.

“So many of us are programmed to just keep going—doing, doing, doing.” — Biz Cush

You can find this and all the AYWW episodes here.

How often do you give yourself permission to rest? If your answer is “not very,” listen in on this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, as host Elizabeth Cush and Jordan Maney talk about the importance of stepping away from it all.

“Do I want to betray myself over and over and over again by not communicating [my needs]?”
— Jordan Maney

Yu can fnd the resoucres and show notes for all the episodes here.

If you have a hard time speaking up for yourself, listen in on this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, as host Elizabeth Cush talks with Acharya Shunya about her new book, Roar Like a Goddess: Every Woman's Guide to Becoming Unapologetically Powerful, Prosperous, and Peaceful.

“I hope that all of our listeners understand that the universe wants them to be empowered.”
— Acharya Shunya

You can find the full show notes and resources for #19 and all episodes here- https://www.elizabethcushcoaching.com/awaken-your-wise-woman-podcast

Does your inner critic point out all the reasons why you shouldn’t do something? Does your perfectionist chime in in agreement? If so, you may find yourself missing out—or pushing yourself harder and harder. Ultimately you wind up feeling unfulfilled and/or overwhelmed. Many women struggle with their perfectionism and their inner critic. They find it hard to take care of themselves—or even to be kind to themselves. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. In this episode of Awaken Your Wise Woman, host Biz Cush, LCPC, a licensed professional therapist, founder of Progression Counseling in Annapolis, Md., and a mid-life women’s life coach, looks at the inner critic, perfectionism and lack of self-care through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS), otherwise known as “parts work.” She explains the role of each and shares insights from her own personal journey and explains how you can use a practice of self-compassion to calm those parts and create a better relationship with yourself.

“Our inner critic and perfectionist parts interplay in such dramatic ways that sometimes we don't even recognize what's happening.” — Biz Cush

Find the full show notes and resources for this and every episode here.