The Widening Your Aperture Podcast
Welcome to Widening Your Aperture—a space dedicated to identity reclamation, somatic healing, and deep personal transformation.
When you’ve spent years navigating covert toxic dynamics, emotional manipulation, or relational trauma, your perspective narrows just to survive. Host Kristen Henry guides you through the process of opening that lens back up.
Combining clinical frameworks, somatic grounding practices, and raw storytelling, Widening Your Aperture breaks down the mechanics of emotional recovery and self-advocacy. From recognizing vulnerable narcissism to regulating your nervous system and executing strategic life redesigns, this podcast provides actionable wisdom for anyone ready to stop surviving and start thriving.
It’s time to break the cycle, reclaim your worth, and step unapologetically into your power.
🎙️ Subscribe and listen weekly to expand your perspective and reclaim your narrative.
Episodes
52 episodes
Unhooking from Over-Functioning, Therapized Stonewalling + Real Repair | Identity Reclamation (Ep.3)
Episode Summary:In Part 3 of the Identity Reclamation Series, Kristen Henry breaks down the hidden mechanics of over-functioning—why high achievers default to solving everyone else's problems at the expense of their own peace, and...
The Identity Audit: How to Stop Over-Functioning & Break Bad Habits | Identity Reclamation (Ep 2)
You cannot change a pattern you cannot clearly see. If you are burned out from playing the 'human shock absorber' in your relationships, this episode walks you through a low-shame Identity Audit to consciously interrupt the default behaviors dr...
Nervous System Regulation & Survival Adaptations | Identity Reclamation (Ep 1)
Are you exhausted from managing everyone else's emotions and operating through a hyper-vigilant lens? When we exist in emotionally unsafe or high-control environments, our nervous system contracts to protect us. Today, we dismantle the shame ar...
How to Get Closure When a Toxic Partner Won't Apologize (Part 4)
What does it actually look like to step out of toxic relational loops and create your own closure? In this final episode of our case study series, we arrive at the threshold of radical finality—shifting from waiting for unearned accountability ...
Passive-Aggressive Manipulation & Avoiding Accountability in Relationships (Part 3)
🎙️ What happens when direct conflict becomes too threatening to an unsafe partner’s ego? Communication moves entirely underground. We unpack the covert, passive-aggressive ways an avoidant or volatile partner maintains relational leverage, enfo...
Why Toxic Partners Escalate When You Set Boundaries: DARVO & Deflection (Part 2)
What actually happens when you ask a partner to move from theoretical safety into real-world accountability? When an unsafe partner’s self-constructed narrative meets the reality of firm boundaries, the mask doesn't just slip—it escalates.<...
Gaslighting & Love Bombing: When Real Life Meets a Digital Fantasy (Part 1)
🎙️ When a relationship relies on high-speed text declarations and grand future promises behind a screen, what happens when real life actually shows up? Today, we break down a personal case study of covert manipulation, performative intimacy, a...
You Are Enough Guided Meditation
Episode Overview: "You Are Enough" Guided MeditationIn this gentle guided meditation, I lead you through a grounding somatic and self-discovery exercise designed to explore how your nervous system responds to a powerful truth: Who you...
#43 Wide Open Aperture - Listener AMA's answered
Hey guys welcome back to another episode of Wide Open Aperture. This episode is dedicated to answering all of the AMA questions that have come in. First, Brian and I want to thank everyone that took the time to send in a question, we loved answ...
#42 Elaine Rodriguez, Rachel Kuhlen, Susan Sotnick - 'Our Kabbalah Experience: A Journey to Spiritual Growth' (Spiritual Pillar)
Today I am sharing with you a collaborative conversation with my friends Rachel Kuhlen, Susan Sotnick and Elaine Rodriguez as we share our experiences and learnings from studying and practicing Kabbalah. In season 1 I was fortunate to have Kabb...
#41 Liz Pavese - 'The Human Experience at Work' (Occupational Pillar)
Liz is a Director of Behavioral Science at Coachhub, where she marries her expertise in organizational psychology, employee experience, and organizational development to close the gap between coaching research and practice. Liz has 15 years of ...
#40 Wide Open Aperture - The Loneliness Epidemic, Meaningful Connections, Supercommunicators, Integrity/Justice/Fairness
Hey guys welcome back to a special episode of Wide Open Aperture. We had originally planned to talk about the lonliness epidemic in episode 1, but if you have listened to the previous episodes of WOA you know that we tend to be a wee bit long w...
#39 Scott Nelson - 'The Art of Balancing Life's Memories and Financial Goals' (Financial Pillar)
My StoryHi, I’m Scott and I’m the founder of Thrive Wealth Strategies, a fee only financial planning practice dedicated to helping you reach your financial goals so you and your family can enjoy a happy, comfortable life.He...
#38 Wide Open Aperture: Consistency, Humor and Levity, Collections, Dog Cuisine, Turning 50, AI in Healthcare and More!
Hey guys welcome back to another episode of Wide Open Aperture. This episode is dedicated to answering all of the AMA questions that have come in. First, Brian and I want to thank everyone that took the time to send in a question, we loved answ...
#37 Kathi Kulesza - 'Mastering Conflict Resolution' (Social Pillar)
Kathi Kulesza uses her experience in the hospitality industry where she spent three decades in management, training, customer service, loyalty, marketing, and executive leadership, to inspire her clients and audiences to get out of their own wa...
#36 Rachel Kuhlen 'Amplify Your Impact: Emotional Intelligence | Part 4/4: Empathy + Social Skills'
Bio:Rachel has 17+ years of experience leading, developing, and coaching global teams in Fortune 500 companies. Her expertise is in learning and development, where she has designed, developed, and launched multiple billion-dollar brands ...
#35 Rachel Kuhlen 'Amplify Your Impact: Emotional Intelligence | Part 3/4: Motivation)
Bio:Rachel has 17+ years of experience leading, developing, and coaching global teams in Fortune 500 companies. Her expertise is in learning and development, where she has designed, developed, and launched multiple billion-dollar brands ...
#34 Wide Open Aperture - 'Sobriety, New Years Resolutions, New Year New Me, AMA, Yung Pueblo's 'The Way Forward'
#33 Rachel Kuhlen 'Amplify Your Impact: Emotional Intelligence | Part 2/4: Self-Regulation'
Bio:Rachel has 17+ years of experience leading, developing, and coaching global teams in Fortune 500 companies. Her expertise is in learning and development, where she has designed, developed, and launched multiple billion-dollar brands ...
#32 SOLO - 'The 4 Big energy Blocks That are Holding You Back'
Hi friends, welcome to this weeks solo episode! In today’s episode, I am going to share the four big energy blocks that commonly hold us back from exploring possibilities, taking action and achieving success. The four energy blocks are rooted i...
#31 Rachel Kuhlen - 'Amplify Your Impact: Emotional Intelligence | Part 1/4: Self-Awareness'
Bio:Rachel has 17+ years of experience leading, developing, and coaching global teams in Fortune 500 companies. Her expertise is in learning and development, where she has designed, developed, and launched multiple billion-dollar brands ...
#30 SOLO - 'A Complete Guide on Conducting a Personal Yearly Review'
Hi friends, welcome to this week’s solo episode. Another year has come and gone. Hard to believe, right?! While it may seem arbitrary, the end of the calendar year presents us with an opportunity to reflect on the past year and plan for the yea...
#29 Anne Bonney - 'Ignite Your Shift: Building Resilience in the Fires of Change' (Intellectual Pillar)
ANNE BONNEY LONG BIO (@200 WORDS)Anne Bonney, CSP® is a fun, energetic international motivational keynote speakerand workshop facilitator. She is also an authority on Change Management, authorof 2 books on embracing the dis...
#28 SOLO - 'How to Create Change in your Life Using Visioning and the AIM SMART Process'
Hey friends, welcome to this week’s solo episode! In today’s episode I am going to share how to make lasting, sustainable changes in your life by creating a clear vision and then setting AIM SMART goals . In previous episodes, you defined your ...
#27 Jon Passaro - 'Forget About Passion: Micro-Engineer Your Job to Realign it With Your Values' (Occupational Pillar)
Jon Passaro is an executive and team coach based in Paris, France. He developed his no-nonsense approach to coaching with a lawyer's sensibilities in mind, based on the decade he spent working as a lawyer in top-ranked international firms and o...