The Inner Compass Podcast with Vanessa Bennett cover art

The Inner Compass Podcast with Vanessa Bennett

The Inner Compass Podcast with Vanessa Bennett

By: Gamut Podcast Network
Listen for free

NEW PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY VANESSA BENNETT


Vanessa Bennett, LMFT, is a licensed depth psychotherapist, author, and facilitator known for her no-nonsense yet compassionate approach to healing. She’s the author of The Motherhood Myth and coauthor of It’s Not Me, It’s You, and the founder of Inner Compass Academy. She hosts the Inner Compass Podcast, where she explores the intersection of depth psychology, relationships, and cultural conditioning to support personal and collective liberation.

© Vanessa Bennett Hygiene & Healthy Living Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Are You Actually Healing, or Are You Trying to Become More Acceptable?

    Are You Actually Healing, or Are You Trying to Become More Acceptable?
    Jul 1 2026
    What if some of what we call healing is actually an argument with the Self?In this episode, Vanessa explores the fantasy that enough therapy, coaching, spirituality, or self-development will eventually turn us into someone without friction: endlessly patient, available, social, regulated, and easy to love. Through Jung’s ideas of persona, Self, and shadow, along with research on self-discrepancy, ACT, self-compassion, and self-concept clarity, we look at the grief of realizing the idealized self may never arrive. The invitation is not resignation, but reality contact: meeting the actual self with enough honesty and tenderness to build a life that finally fits.Take the quiz here https://www.vanessabennett.com/space-holder-quizReference Links:• Carl Jung — PersonaUse for: Persona as the social face / adaptation to society.Link: https://iaap.org/jung-analytical-psychology/short-articles-on-analytical-psychology/persona-2/Note: This supports the episode’s distinction between persona/social acceptability and deeper wholeness.• Carl Jung — ShadowUse for: Shadow as hidden or repressed parts of the personality, including not only “dark” material but also instincts, reactions, insights, and creative impulses.Link: https://www.thesap.org.uk/articles-on-jungian-psychology-2/about-analysis-and-therapy/the-shadow/Note: This supports the reframe that the shadow can include disowned sensitivity, need, rest, introversion, and unlived life.• E. Tory Higgins — Self-Discrepancy TheoryUse for: Actual self, ideal self, and ought self; different emotional effects of falling short of the ideal vs ought self.Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/19545638_Self-Discrepancy_A_Theory_Relating_Self_and_AffectNote: Original 1987 theory connecting self-discrepancy with affect.• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy / Psychological FlexibilityUse for: Acceptance as reality contact, not resignation; psychological flexibility as staying in contact with the present while moving toward values.Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3635495/Note: Useful source for ACT and psychological flexibility.• Kristin Neff — Self-CompassionUse for: Self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness as the three core components of self-compassion.Link: https://self-compassion.org/what-is-self-compassion/Note: Supports the episode’s point that acceptance without warmth can still become contempt.• D. W. Winnicott — The Capacity to Be AloneUse for: The capacity to be alone as developing through the experience of being alone in the presence of another.Link: https://pep-web.org/search/document/IJP.039.0416ANote: Supports the idea of presence without performance or agenda.• Campbell et al. — Self-Concept ClarityUse for: Self-concept clarity as clear, confident, consistent, and stable self-beliefs.Link: https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~heine/docs/1996scc.pdfNote: Original 1996 paper on self-concept clarity.• Self-Concept Clarity and Subjective Well-BeingUse for: Research linking self-concept clarity with well-being.Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10064969/Note: Helpful current/recent support for the wellbeing connection.For educational purposes only. This isn’t therapy.If you want to go deeper, check out the written companion on Substack and explore community + training at https://www.vanessaBennett.com.Additional ResourcesExplore: VanessaBennett.comBook: The Motherhood MythCommunity: Inner Compass CollectiveTraining: Inner Compass AcademyConnect with Inner CompassFollow on InstagramConnect with Vanessa Bennett:Follow on InstagramFollow on TikTokLearn more on SubstackConnect with Vanessa Bennett on LinkedInSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
  • The Sacred Was Never Separate From the Body

    The Sacred Was Never Separate From the Body
    Jun 24 2026

    If you say you want to feel more embodied, but what you really mean is “I want my body to calm down enough so I can keep functioning,” this episode is for you. Vanessa explores the body not as a problem to solve or a machine to manage, but as intelligence, using the archetype of Gaia as a map for rhythm, instinct, descent, and embodied truth. We talk about productivity culture, chronic override, interoception, allostatic load, and why the body often interrupts the life the mind keeps trying to defend. The invitation is not to transcend the body, but to become honest enough to let the body tell the truth about the life you’re actually living.

    For educational purposes only. This isn’t therapy.

    If you want to go deeper, check out the written companion on Substack and explore community + training at https://www.vanessaBennett.com.


    Additional Resources

    Explore: VanessaBennett.com

    Book: The Motherhood Myth

    Community: Inner Compass Collective

    Training: Inner Compass Academy


    Connect with Inner Compass

    Follow on Instagram

    Connect with Vanessa Bennett:


    Follow on Instagram

    Follow on TikTok

    Learn more on Substack

    Connect with Vanessa Bennett on LinkedIn


    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
  • The Burden of Consciousness: The Exhaustion of Being Self-Aware

    The Burden of Consciousness: The Exhaustion of Being Self-Aware
    Jun 15 2026

    If you can name the pattern in real time—"I’m projecting, I’m shutting down, this is my attachment stuff"—and still feel unable to stop the behavior, this episode is for you. Vanessa explores the burden of consciousness: the exhaustion of being aware when insight has outrun integration, and the nervous system hasn’t caught up to what the mind can explain. We unpack why the observer can become its own persona (or even a defense), how awareness turns into self-surveillance, and why “more insight” isn’t the solution—more capacity is. The shift is when awareness stops being something you do to yourself and becomes something you do for yourself.


    For educational purposes only. This isn’t therapy.


    If you want to go deeper, check out the written companion on Substack and explore community + training at https://www.vanessaBennett.com.


    Additional Resources

    Explore: VanessaBennett.com

    Book: The Motherhood Myth

    Community: Inner Compass Collective

    Training: Inner Compass Academy


    Connect with Inner Compass

    Follow on Instagram

    Connect with Vanessa Bennett:


    Follow on Instagram

    Follow on TikTok

    Learn more on Substack

    Connect with Vanessa Bennett on LinkedIn


    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet