In this poignant "Say YES to Your Soul" podcast episode, host Tessa interviews Kristin Jensen, aka Kristin the Voice Witch, who shares her courageous journey of breaking away from her Mormon upbringing and exploring her own spiritual path. Despite facing pushback and criticism from her community, Kristin followed her intuition and entered into a romantic relationship with a spiritual mentor.
This decision challenged her deeply ingrained beliefs and led her to confront the disciplinary practices of the Mormon church, ultimately resulting in a faith crisis and departure from the religion. She emphasizes the importance of intuition, divine guidance, and seeking support. Kristin also discusses nervous system regulation techniques like movement and breathwork to connect with intuition.
Tessa’s Free Gift: Get access to Tessa's Roadmap to a Soul-Connected Business and her Reignition Roadmap
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About Kristin
Kristin is a professional classical singer and singing coach of over 20 years. She’s supported dozens of people in developing their singing voices and expand their capacity for self-expression.
As “Kristin the Voice Witch,” she works with women to reclaim and empower themselves through their voices, with a combination of singing, acting and life coaching. Kristin also facilitates monthly ecstatic singing circles, poetry readings, workshops, and retreats within the Dragon Rose Temple of Ecstatic Vocal Arts.
Kristin is a mother and a passionate flower gardener who loves to travel and she has a strong value of beauty.
Kristin’s Free Gift
Connect with Kristin, and receive her Free Gift, “Sacred ‘I AM’ Ritual” for aligned identity and strengths, through use of the voice. https://www.kristinthevoicewitch.com/free-gift
https://www.facebook.com/KristintheVoiceWitch/
Website: https://www.kristinthevoicewitch.com/
Kristin’s Ecstatic Wild Woman Retreat
Get in on special pricing for being a listener of the Say YES to Your Soul podcast!
Kristin has an Ecstatic Wild Woman Retreat happening this June over the Summer Solstice, and there are just a handful of spots remaining!
What: A luscious retreat for the woman who desires to love and embrace herself more deeply.
Where: Near Waldport, Oregon
Learn more here: https://www.kristinthevoicewitch.com/retreat
Kristin’s giving our listeners EARLY BIRD PRICING for as long as there are spots available. To get in on the special pricing, let Kristin know you heard it here on Say YES to Your Soul podcast, and she will extend the lower pricing to you. Save money while taking care of yourself!!
Just be sure to let her know you heard it here. You can also contact her here: Reach Out!
Alternatively, if you want to book a 1:1 call with Kristin by May 6, you will also qualify for the super fantastic early bird pricing. Here’s the link to book a call: https://kristinjensen.as.me/wildwomanretreat
* About the Host *
Tessa Lynne Alburn is a soul connection business coach, author, podcast host and explorer. Tessa believes that every woman has the ability to learn to express their true voice, be heard, and fulfill their dreams.
Her mission is to help women entrepreneurs bring their ideas and authentic feminine voices into the world, so they make a real difference and receive compensation that reflects their brilliance!
Tessa’s Free Gift: Get access to Tessa's Roadmap to a Soul-Connected Business and Say YES to Your Soul! http://www.tessafreegift.com/
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May You Say YES to Your Soul.
Tessa:
I think you’ll find this episode especially raw and real and I think it’s a great example of someone not making excuses for themselves but really using their humanity to forward their spiritual growth. Come on in and cry and laugh with us.
Tessa (:Hello there. I'm so glad you're with us for another Say YES to Your Soul episode. Today our magical guest is Kristin, the Voice Witch. And Kristin now works with women to reclaim and empower themselves through their voices with a combination of singing lessons, acting, coaching, and life coaching. Kristin also facilitates monthly ecstatic singing circles. Sounds like a lot of fun. Poetry, readings, workshops, and retreats within the Dragon Rose Temple of ecstatic Vocal Arts. Kristin is a professional classical singer with a gorgeous voice and a singing coach of, or of more than 20 years. And she's supported dozens of people in developing their singing voices and expanding their capacity for self-expression. She's also a mother and a passionate flower gardener that's very specific, right? She doesn't just garden any old thing. She is really into flowers because her values for beauty and nature, you know, are so strong. And she's actually tells me she's obsessed with beauty, which I happen to be as well. So I love that about her, the fact that we have that and we share that she also loves to travel. I want to welcome here, Kristin, to Say YES to Your Soul.
Kristin (:Thank you, Tessa. It's such an honor to be here. Yay. And so fun.
Tessa (:Yay. Yes. Very fun. Mm-Hmm.
Let's go for it.
Tessa (:You grew up as a good little Mormon girl, Kristin, and then that all changed. So take us on that journey, please.
Kristin (:Okay.
Can, can you, can you explain a little bit about that? So, everybody who's listening knows what you mean.
Kristin (:Yeah. I will do my best. so I jumped ahead a little bit. I have a DHD and I don't really think very linearly
Well, there's no need to apologize for that here.
I'm really sorry. Sorry, I'm laughing, but, uh, yeah, no, that's no good. Thank
Kristin (:You.
No bueno.
Was not super fun.
and I started journeying in spirit a little bit, and I started doing some very woo things,
Things were like, pieces were sort of falling together, and you're like, oh, yeah, now this is making sense. And you kind of were feeling it too.
Kristin (:Yes. Um,
Tessa (:Thanks for sharing that. Yeah. So there you were, and you'd had all this, you were getting all this high level stuff.
Kristin (:Yeah.
Tessa (:And then what happened? Where, what, when, what were the conflicts for you?
Kristin (:Oh gosh. Okay. Well, that came when, my guides told me that it was time to call in my partner. I opened up my heart, I put on the manifesting music, and I broadcast the message that I'm here, I'm ready. And then the man who showed up shocked me,
Was it? What?
Kristin (:He was not available.
Tessa (:Oh, dear. Yeah.
Kristin (:Yeah. It was messy. And I fell for him. And we got together and the conflict came because I took on a role, a villain that I was unexpectedly taking on and I was completely unprepared for, or at least I thought I was unprepared for. But this was the journey my soul was taking me into was this journey of going into the underworld, taking on the villain, breaking up important relationships in my life that honestly were a bit toxic, that I needed to, there needed to be adjustments in these relationships.
Tessa (:Well, why are you saying you were the villain?
Kristin (:Oh, 'cause I was other woman
Tessa (:In that situation. Okay. Yes.
Kristin (:So, and this is a definitely a villain role.
Tessa (:Mm-Hmm.
Yes. Including a faith crisis and, and transition out of Mormonism.
Tessa (:Ah, mm-Hmm.
Yeah. I didn't broadcast it super widely. but, you know, it's my story. It's what happened.
Tessa (:Yeah. So how, how did it connect to a crisis of faith for you?
Kristin (:Oh, yes. Okay. So I had been called in by my bishop, who was the clergy member that oversees a congregation and basically told that, there somebody had dropped my name in regards to an infidelity accusation, and they were calling me in for accountability. And he wanted to have a discussion with me. I felt very threatened. I decided not to re-engage with him after that point. I was terrified that I have to face a disciplinary counsel, which I don't think that I would've actually had to have faced. But I was really terrified of that. And in the process, well, that was
Tessa (:Part of the problem, right? Like they, there there was that insinuation.
Kristin (:Yes. There was a threat. Yeah. And it felt very, very, very dangerous and scary. And I believe that part of why is because in the early days of the Mormon Church, the people who came to Utah could not safely leave. There was a threat of death over them to leave. That's why when the, like the, an army came and when the soldiers left over a hundred women left with them because they could be in safety. Oh goodness. That's how it threatened these people felt and how unsafe they felt. Oh my goodness.
Tessa (:They couldn't leave. Oh, I didn't realize. Like it's been that threatening since the get go.
Kristin (:Yeah. So it was deep in my bones that if I left the faith, I would die.
Tessa (:Sure.
Kristin (:And there's also a social death associated with leaving the faith. You die to the people that are within the faith because there, because the way that they're, they have been taught about people who leave the faith. There is no room for somebody to leave the faith with their honor intact. There is, it's always a story that there is some kind of unfaithfulness or some kind of apostasy. There's always some sort of very negative reason why somebody leaves. There's never room for somebody to leave because it was the right thing for them. And that's okay.
Tessa (:And there, it sounds like there no forgiveness or mercy
Kristin (:Only if I would've gone through a very humiliating repentance process that would
Tessa (:Me, that's not mercy. Yeah.
Kristin (:It's not merciful. And in fact, what really turned a tide for me was, was I was terrified of what repercussions would be. After talking with my bishop, I went to the internet and I looked up the, unpublished but leaked version at the time of, the, of the disciplinary procedures. Mm-Hmm.
Nothing. That's right. That's all that Jesus has been about all his true teachings. And I'm so glad that you got to experience that Mm-Hmm. for yourself because this, this would've been a huge crack. You called it your shelf breaking, I think you said. Yeah. And so I now know what that is, but, uh, I'd love for you to go ahead and explain that to the listeners here.
Kristin (:So the idea is that you go through your life in, within a faith, especially a high demand faith like Mormonism is, and there are things within the faith and your life experience that do not add up. And so, because you can't reconcile the two, there's cognitive dissonance there. You put it on the shelf to be reconciled later at another time.
Tessa (:It's just a thing. Oh, that doesn't make sense. Mm-Hmm. Oh, just put that on the shelf.
Kristin (:Yeah, exactly. And the idea, you wait until like the next life when you've passed on and you're seeing God, you can ask him all the questions,
Yeah. It's really, it's like a shelf of denial. Don't look at this now. Or the ostrich shelf or you know, you could call it a million things. Yeah.
Kristin (:Yeah. The shelf of cognitive dissonance mostly. And the di of misalignment with soul
Tessa (:And yours broke. Broke and broke. And what did that mean for you internally?
Kristin (:It meant that I completely lost trust with the leadership of that institution. It meant that I realized that that institution had, was deeply corrupt. That it, that they were taking the name of Jesus in vain. That's what I realized for myself. And then
Tessa (:I think we need a deep breath there. Yeah, I do. That's big stuff.
Kristin (:Mm-Hmm.
Tessa (:Well, it makes sense. I mean, they want people to procreate so they know they're gonna be having sex. The men get to call all the shots. They have multiple, it's very polygamist.
Kristin (:They used to be. Yeah. Yeah. There's still side shoots that are not affiliated with the main faith, but yes. That is the foundation of this church.
Tessa (:So they know everybody's having sex. So it's a great weapon, a great thing that they can weaponize and use against people. Mm-Hmm. especially the women that had no power. They had nobody standing up for them
Kristin (:Mm-Hmm.
Tessa (:In that system. And they still don't,
Kristin (:Nope. No, women do not have a voice within the power structures of this church. Yeah. They're auxiliaries.
Tessa (:I'm so glad you got out of there.
Kristin (:Con, you're not
Tessa (:Building somewhere, waiting for somebody to show up and give you, you know, $35 to feed your children or something. you, you've, you really, you stepped away, you dealt with all that and a lot of, lot of terrible stuff as a result of your leaving. And even people around you, close friends, some family, you know, just, there was a lot really challenging.
Kristin (:Yeah. There was a lot of breaking out. Yeah. A lot of anxiety. A lot of people projecting onto me and a lot of, condemnation, honestly.
Tessa (:Oh yeah. Yeah. It's easy to point anger, right? Yeah.
Kristin (:Yeah. And as somebody who's neuro divergent with rejection sensitivity, that was really hard.
Tessa (:Ah, so what would, what would happen for you in that? Like when somebody would do that, when you were in feeling it as a neurodivergent person?
Kristin (:Oh, I felt it deep in my bones. Like I was being deeply rejected and I was terrified that they might have been right. That I was cutting myself off from the divine. you know, and that I wasn't worthy of receiving divine love and guidance. That that was a huge amount of the programming. There were all kinds of fear bombs that were going off inside of me as I was making my way out of this relationship with this religion.
Tessa (:So how did you do it? How did you get out of it?
Kristin (: gradually
Well, yes. I mean, it's a very scary thing to leave and you, you probably, it probably took you a long time before you really felt safe again.
Kristin (:Yeah, it did. Yeah. It took me a long time and it took, uh, really working through a lot of caring what other people thought of me and what their judgments would be. That was, I was very, very, very sensitive to that for a very long time. I still kind of am in some ways. Mm-Hmm. I don't know if that ever really leaves, but it gets better.
Tessa (:Yes. And less, a little bit less maybe. Mm-Hmm.
Yes. And about a year when I was 39, I went on this busking trip to Europe where I was singing as a street performer on the streets in a number of places. It was really great. It was hard and really fun and amazing journey. And I was guided by my intuition. I was, I was, I had a, a year before I had gone through a breakup and I received a blessing, uh where a man lays your, the hands upon your head and pronounces basically some intuitive channeling advice for you. And I was told that, that God wanted me to start developing my intuition. So I spent a year doing that. Then I got this intuitive hit to go busting through Europe. And it was on that journey that I really realized what it was to live and go within the flow of my, of my path, and to trust the path and to trust the guidance.
(:And it didn't unveil itself all at once. Like, I, I landed in London and I had five days planned out of my trip. I got there and I, I planned out the next two weeks, then I moved forward, and then I planned out another couple of weeks, and I just put out the call for people to stay with. And things just unfolded and gradually wove together. And it was a magical, beautiful journey of really following my soul and following this path that I was on. And it was like the, the guidance and inspiration started to bubble up from within me. And I learned that I could trust this inner wellspring of divinity and connection, and that's what developed. And so that was intact when I went through my faith crisis and transition. And so I leaned deeply and heavily into that because I went through some mystical trauma, not being able to trust the male aspect of God, including Jesus, in the fallout of my faith transition. And so I, and, and also including like external angels and guides, I had to learn to lean into the deepest parts of me for guidance.
Tessa (:That is amazing that you were able to do that. So you developed the skills over time, and I think that's really important for the listeners here, because I know there's so many women wanting to suddenly just unlock their intuition. There it is. And it's all working. It's all great, but it doesn't really work like that. and you had kind of extreme situation that, and circumstances that you were dealing with. So it was of the utmost importance for you to listen and find ways to hear your intuition and know the difference. what were some of the beginning tools, if you recall any of those that where you knew, oh yeah, this is in the zone.
Kristin (:Yeah. I think maybe I've always been rather intuitive, but I didn't trust it, you know, because I was taught to trust the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. Mm-Hmm.
Felt it somehow that I
Kristin (:Really felt it. Yeah. I really felt it. Like in my body, I'm like, oh, I've gotta resolve things with this man. Mm-Hmm.
Beautiful. So you kept applying it to immediate things. You weren't like just ignoring your relationships or the situations that were uncomfortable with your relationships and just like, I'm just gonna study spirituality. You
Hmm. Only if it was confused with lot of fear.
Tessa (:If it was what?
Kristin (:If it if I, if it was next in with a lot of fear?
Tessa (:Oh, okay. Yes. Yes. Mm-Hmm. And so like thoughts of fear or feelings of fear or both?
Kristin (:Yeah. Thoughts and feelings of fear. Terror. And I mean, I've been through some trauma. So fear comes up when you've been through some trauma and anxiety is a comorbidity with a DHD, so
How do you work through that? So when the fear comes up and you wanna access your intuition? Mm-Hmm.
Yeah. I take a breath, breathe as deeply as I can. it really helps to move my body to get into my body vessel rather than being in my head because I find that my brain is the part of me that likes to project and like, have the anxieties. It's just always kind of running. so when I get into my body, move my body, breathe, my body anoint my body with oils, which is something I've been doing a lot more lately, I've, or I go into, meditation doesn't always work for me because my, because of my brain, it doesn't really shut off. Mm-Hmm.
Yeah. All your other spidey senses are still going and you know, like, what do I do with all of those?
Kristin (:But like, even just going to the bathroom, being in a bath, taking a shower, being in nature, moving my body dancing, um, doing like light stretches or yoga, that always really something that gets me real, um, reconnected to my body. Mm. It's very, very helpful. And, and I've learned some breathing practices too that help me to crawl my nervous system.
Tessa (:Yeah.
Kristin (:And anything I can do to regulate is very supportive.
Well, it seems like to use that as a tool well and get something from it and not be destabilized by it in any way, or just have it as sort of a peak experience one time and not much else after that, that you really would need to be able to trust yourself.
Kristin (:Mm-Hmm.
Right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious right now, you said you use a lot of breathing exercises and I think if you could share one of your breathing exercises here today with our audience, I think they'd really love that.
Kristin (:Okay. Okay. Awesome. So this one I've learned is, um, as called the, oh gosh, what is it called? It's kind of a connecting ground. I, it's also, oh, I think it's like central core breathing or central channel breathing. That's what it is. So, okay. You just get settled and you open up your root chakra and your, the chakras in the soles of your feet, and you breathe and you send your energetic cords down into the earth, and then you breathe in pulling up the earth energy. And I personally like to do this cycle of releasing into the earth and pulling up the earth energy a few times. First at the beginning of it. And then after I've breathed in the earth energy a few times, then I like to, send it up through my crown chakra to, and I like to think of sending it to the origin of my soul.
Tessa (:Ooh, I love that.
Kristin (:Mm-Hmm,
Point. Okay. Soul. So you connecting the earth, energy, going up through you, connecting you and going up Mm-Hmm.
Yeah. And then you breathe out towards the origin of your soul, and you breathe in the cosmic energies and light, and then you breathe that down through the earth and then you breathe back up the earth energies, and this all goes through your spine. Like it's really helpful to think of it going through the spine and then out through the crown, and then in through the crown and down through the root, and just continue to cycle that I will do this. And it helps me to regulate in the most difficult of situations.
Tessa (:Hmm. Nice. Mm-Hmm.
Welcome.
Tessa (:Yeah. All right. So if you, is there anything you'd like to share with the listeners before we start wrapping things up here today from the, you know, tremendous amount of wisdom that you've gained in learning to listen to yourself and implement that? What, what is it you'd like them to know?
Kristin (:I would like to share that it's a slow process, especially if you've had a history of trusting external authority over your own authority. And to be very full of grace towards yourself. And just continue to try and trust and build trust slowly with yourself over time. And realize that like, we're human, we're going to make mistakes, we're going to falter and biff it up. And that's part of the learning process. It is supposed to be like that. And it's beautiful. There is no perfection.
Well put, thank you so much.
Kristin (:You are welcome.
Tessa (:Yeah. You made me think of like, just sort of this belief that I have. Like if we knew how to do all that and, and just be perfect, why would we be here
Yes. The, this is the teaching in the gospel of Mary Magdalene that the, the on pul for the is fully human and fully divine. And I think we sometimes forget that the fully human part is messy, and it's supposed to be, and the love just embracing and loving the mess is, is divinity within our form and within the human experience.
Tessa (:Oh, I just got this beautiful image of the weaving, you know, the light, the energy coming in through all the human bodies and the weaving of beautiful energy around the earth. And thank you. I love that. All right. How can people connect with you?
Kristin (:Well,
Tessa (:Best help them.
Kristin (:Yeah. they can find me on my website, Kristin, the voice witch.com. Uh, it's Kristin, K-R-I-S-T-I-N. Um,
Tessa (:So two I and starts with I.
Kristin (:Alright. It's okay.
But you'll be back. Yeah. Yeah. I'll be back. You have been going through major life transitions and it's amazing that you, you're here and you're glowing. You're absolutely glowing. So I know that these, um, this transition is gonna, is a big time of celebration for you. Mm-Hmm.
I do? Yeah, please. Yes. Okay. So I am leading the ecstatic wild woman retreat on the Oregon coast over the summer solstice weekend. So that's June 20th through June 23rd. Uh, we're meeting in Walport, Oregon, which is, I know, somewhere between Canon Beach and, Yas or
Tessa (:It's beautiful. Yeah.
Kristin (:It's gorgeous
Oh my gosh, yes. I'm like back on the food. I'm like, ecstatic eating. Oh my God.
Yes. I've got three spots open right now. all the spots within the the rental are full. So this would be people coming to who would take care of their own lodgings. so yeah, we've got that open and registration is open, I believe through mid-May.
Tessa (:Okay. Fantastic. So it's coming up. You've gotta get your registration in and you were, you're offering a special too to Yeah. Anyone listening to this who hears it here and Say YES to Your Soul podcast. You just tell Kristin that and are you giving the early bird pricing or something else?
Kristin (:Yes, I will be extending the early bird pricing for this community. Yes. I'm happy to do
Tessa (:That. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Course. Alright. Uh, I just wanna keep going
I know this is fun.
Tessa (:Mm-Hmm.
Tessa (:Then we can create that world a much better place.
Kristin (:Yes. Yes. And it takes enough of us doing it to get past the tipping point and then things change.
Tessa (:That's right.
Kristin (:Mm-Hmm.
Yeah. I'm so excited. Oh, we're tipping. We're tipping the scales. We're we're, we're moving it. We're moving that dial today. I know it now. Okay. Mm-Hmm.
Being here. Thank you, Tessa. This has been such a delight. Thank you.
Tessa (:Oh, you're super welcome. Alright, that's it for today's show. I wish everyone an ecstatic, well maybe if you can't get there,