In This Body

What if psychedelic healing is not just about the experience, but about what your body can actually integrate?
In this episode, Ailey sits down with Valeria, a counselling psychologist and depth practitioner, to explore the realities of psychedelic assisted therapy beyond the hype. We name the parts often left out of the conversation, including harm, power, and the complexity of what comes after.
We talk about harm reduction in a practical way, from dose and physiology to the importance of the guide’s worldview in shaping the experience. We also explore the gaps in training that continue to surface, especially around consent, somatics, and relational dynamics.
Ailey shares her own experience with MDMA assisted therapy, including the question of whether we can fully consent to something that may fundamentally change us.
We also look at integration as the real work, and why the period after a journey can be one of deep vulnerability without the right support.
If you are curious about psychedelic work, or navigating a meaningful experience, this conversation offers a more grounded and honest perspective.
In this episode:
0:00 Safety Notice And Show Premise
7:58 Psychedelics Can Heal And Harm
16:08 Sexuality Consent And Guide Vetting
20:53 Why Ritual Changes The Journey
29:32 The Consent Paradox In Practice
40:15 Power Individualism And The Guru Trap
52:57 Integration Takeaways Book And Closing
You can read the full transcript here.
A note: Ailey shares this conversation not as a recommendation but as information. Psychedelics carry real risks, psychological, physical, legal, and aren’t appropriate for everyone. If this is a path you’re interested in, please approach it with care, do your research, and seek appropriate support. This isn’t medical advice or advocating for psychedelic usage. These substances remain illegal in most countries; this is just one perspective in a much larger conversation.
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What if understanding your patterns is not the same as changing them?
In this episode, I’m joined by Rebekah Ballagh, a counsellor, somatic and nervous system coach, and author, to explore the gap between insight and real change. The place where the mind understands, but the body does not yet feel safe enough to follow.
Rebekah shares her experience with panic and illness, and how it revealed the limits of purely cognitive tools. We talk about intellectualising as a form of protection, and explore parts work through the lens of Internal Family Systems, especially the tension between the part that wants to heal and the part that resists.
We also look at the swing between anxiety and freeze, and how patterns that look like avoidance or laziness are often rooted in survival. From there, we unpack somatic practices, what actually works, and why regulation is not about being calm, but about building capacity to stay with what is real.
If you have ever felt stuck despite doing all the work, this conversation offers a more compassionate and embodied way forward.
In this episode:
3:53 What Being In Your Body Means 
9:45 When Therapy Training Helps And Hurts
16:17 Working With The Intellectualiser
21:00 Parts Work And IFS Made Simple
29:50 Somatics Online And Lost Nuance
39:41 Pendulation Titration And Minimum Dose 
47:23 Nothing Is Broken In You
49:16 Closing Reflections And Inbody Invitation
You can read the full transcript here.
Learn more about Ailey Jolie:
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Alcohol can look like the problem, until you notice what it was solving. 
In this episode, Ailey is joined by writer and speaker Laura McKowen, founder of The Luckiest Club and author of We Are The Luckiest, for a conversation that begins with sobriety and opens into something deeper. Embodiment, shame, appetite, and the hidden intelligence behind the ways we cope.
We explore how alcohol can both numb and, at times, create access to sensation when the body feels out of reach. From there, we look at the quiet triangle many people live inside, moving between substances, food, and relationships in search of safety.
We talk about cross addiction and why removing the substance does not remove what is underneath. And we move into the tender terrain of relationships, where emotional sobriety asks how we stay connected without losing ourselves.
We also touch on writing as a tool for healing, and how giving language to our experience can support deeper integration.
If you are exploring sobriety, patterns of coping, or what it means to come back into relationship with yourself, this conversation offers a compassionate place to land.
In this episode: 
1:32 What Embodiment Means Here
7:39 The Story Behind We Are The Luckiest
18:07 Writing As A Way Back
23:09 Addiction And Embodiment Intertwined
32:57 Desire Shame And Addiction Language
41:25 Cross Addiction And Emotional Sobriety
You can read the full transcript here.
Learn more about Ailey Jolie:
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What if coming home to your body feels unfamiliar because you were taught to see it as something outside of you?
In this episode, Ailey sits down with somatic educator, author, and artist Abigail Rose Clarke to explore what embodiment actually is beneath the noise. Not a concept to master, but a practice of curiosity, presence, and relationship rooted in lived sensation.
We talk about what pulls us away from ourselves, from objectification to self surveillance, and the cultural belief that the body is something to fix. Abigail offers a powerful reframe: the body is not against you, the body is you.
From there, we expand into ecosomatics, exploring how connection deepens when we remember we are part of a larger living system. Through breath, sensation, and the senses, she offers grounded ways to return to the body.
We also challenge the consumer driven version of wellness and the idea that embodiment is about optimisation. Instead, this conversation invites a more relational and collective approach to being human.
If you are longing to feel more connected to yourself in a real and lasting way, this conversation offers a place to begin.
In this episode:
0:00 Welcome To In This Body
8:20 Returning Home After Disconnection
15:45 Ecosomatics And Earth As Home
24:01 Senses As A Way Back
33:42 Why Embodiment Is Political
37:06 From Self Optimisation To Liberation
40:08 The GROWL Method Explained
45:55 A Daily Grounding Practise
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What if Botox is not just changing how you look, but how you feel and connect?
In this episode, Ailey explores the quiet bind many women live inside, where beauty culture tells you your body is a problem to fix, and wellness culture tells you it is something to optimise. Both can sound supportive, yet both can pull you away from your lived experience.
Using Botox as an entry point, we look at research on facial feedback, emotional processing, and how expression shapes connection. She also shares clinical insights from somatic work, where micro expressions and co regulation are central to how we relate.
From there, we move into real life. Dating, friendships, and early attachment, exploring how reduced facial responsiveness may impact how we read and feel with one another. We also touch on objectification, interoception, and how self monitoring can distance you from your body long before any intervention.
This conversation invites you to step out of the cycle of fixing and into something quieter and more honest. Learning to listen. Learning to feel. Learning to be in your body.
In this episode:
0:00 Welcome To In This Body
2:25 The Beauty And Wellness Bind
9:54 Facial Feedback In Therapy
16:16 When Symptom Relief Hides Danger
18:47 The Research On Emotion And Botox
30:14 Objectification Cuts Interoception
35:34 Wellness Culture Rebrands Self Surveillance
40:51 Leaving The Loop Through Presence

Learn more about Ailey Jolie:
Find: Website
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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]