Holy Rebels Podcast

There's a moment when you realize waiting has started to cost you something. The old pattern still works, technically. But something in your chest knows the window is closing.
In this first episode of an eight-part series, Nina Hirlaender OFS introduces The Soul's Eight Thresholds of Transformation—a framework drawn from the Celtic Wheel of the Year that maps the inner seasons every seeker moves through. This episode explores Imbolc, the threshold of awakening: that quiet moment when change has already decided to arrive, even though nothing on the surface looks different yet. Nina takes you inside the stone circle at Stonehenge at sunrise, shares the wisdom of Teresa of Avila on humility and self-knowledge, and offers a grounded five-minute practice to help you take a step toward what's trying to begin in you.
This is also a personal invitation. After fifteen years of guiding pilgrims through England's sacred landscapes, Nina announces that May 2026 will be the final Celtic Shamanism in England pilgrimage. If you've felt the pull toward this journey, the window is open—for now.

What You'll Learn:
The subtle signs you're ready to begin something new
Why routines that used to work now feel too small
Why waiting for perfect clarity or trying to fix everything at once keeps you stuck
What happens when you step inside Stonehenge at sunrise
How Teresa of Avila's teaching on humility unlocks real momentum toward one clear decision and the relief of finally starting
A five-minute truth-check practice to create a clean inner starting point
Why clarity comes after you start—and how to give yourself permission to begin before you feel ready

Your Next Steps:
Explore the final Celtic Shamanism in England Pilgrimage — May 23–June 2, 2026 >> https://dancingspirittours.com/journeys/england/
Book a 15-min video call with Nina >> https://calendly.com/nina-hirlaender/15min

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Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
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Part 4 of a 4-week Advent series released every Sunday.
There comes a point in the spiritual journey where effort quietly runs out.
Where striving no longer works.
Where something in you longs not for improvement, but for rest.
If you’ve ever felt like love was something you had to earn—through goodness, productivity, spirituality, or self-control—this final Advent episode is for you.
Welcome to the fourth week of Advent on the Holy Rebels Podcast, where we make space for grounded spiritual practices, nervous system awareness, and the deep wisdom of the Christian mystical tradition.
This week is all about Love.
Not romantic love.
Not approval.
Not love as a reward.
But the love you don’t have to earn—the love you can rest in.
Nina Hirlaender OFS brings together Franciscan spirituality, mystical theology, and psychology to explore Love not as a feeling we chase, but as the ground of being itself—the presence that holds when joy rises and falls, when faith feels strong or thin.
Across the contemplative tradition, love is not something added to life after we get it right. It is the deeper reality already giving itself to us—before achievement, before repair, before worthiness. This episode traces how Advent has been gently leading us here all along: from trusting, to resting, to tasting… into abiding. 
What you’ll take away from this episode:
the meaning of Love as the fourth and final theme of Advent
why love is not a wage, reward, or outcome—but a given
the difference between original sin and original grace—and why it matters
why receiving love can feel unsafe when the nervous system is burned out
a practical re-script for the belief “If I’m good enough, then I’ll be loved”
how love takes flesh in ordinary life—boundaries, giving, receiving, and rest
Love isn’t something you rise up to. It’s something you lean back into. It is already here—beneath the noise, beneath the effort, steady as your breath.
Advent doesn’t end by asking you to try harder or become better. It ends by inviting you to rest in what has been holding you all along.
Press play to enter the final week of Advent with more spaciousness, more honesty, and a deeper trust in the love that does not withdraw. 
This is the love you don’t have to earn.
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If Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.
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Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
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Part 3 of a 4-week Advent series released every Sunday
Joy is everywhere in the culture — sold, studied, optimized, hashtagged — and yet so many people feel flat, numb, or quietly exhausted instead of joyful. If you’ve ever wondered why joy feels harder to trust than it should, this episode is for you.
Welcome to the third week of Advent on the Holy Rebels Podcast, where we make space for grounded spiritual practices, nervous system awareness, and the deep wisdom of the Christian mystical tradition.
This week is all about Joy.
Not forced positivity.
But a joy you can trust — the kind that doesn’t disappear when life gets hard.
Nina Hirlaender OFS brings together Franciscan spirituality, psychology, and neuroscience to explore why modern culture struggles with joy, and why Advent offers a radically different invitation. This is Gaudete Sunday — the moment when the tradition calls us to rejoice in the middle of waiting, not after everything is resolved. 

What you’ll take away from this episode:
why joy is not the same thing as happiness, and why chasing happiness often backfires 
how loneliness, exhaustion, and pressure to “be happy” block our capacity for joy
what psychology and neuroscience reveal about joy as a body-based, relational state
the meaning of Gaudete Sunday and why joy appears in the middle of Advent
the five most common obstacles to joy
a simple Advent candle practice to help joy arrive gently, without forcing
Joy is the felt experience of connection — to love, to meaning, to God, to your own deepest self. It can coexist with grief, uncertainty, fatigue, and unfinished stories.
Advent doesn’t ask you to pretend you feel joyful. It invites you to discover a joy that can live inside what is unresolved.
Press play to enter Week Three of Advent with more honesty, more spaciousness, and a deeper trust in the quiet joy that is already arriving.
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If Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.
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Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
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Part 2 of a 4-week Advent series released every Sunday.
Life doesn’t slow down during the holidays just because you want it to. The emails keep coming, the world keeps moving, and your mind keeps spinning—even as something in you longs for quiet.
If that’s been your experience this year, this week’s episode is where you’ll find grounded support.
Welcome to Week Two of Advent on the Holy Rebels Podcast, where we make space for spiritual honesty, nervous-system awareness, and practical ways to anchor yourself when life refuses to cooperate.
This week is all about Peace.
Not the version that waits for silence.
The version that becomes possible even while everything around you stays loud.
Nina Hirlaender OFS brings together the mystical meaning of Advent with psychology-based practices around nervous system regulation, emotional overload, and the inner orientation that allows peace to rise from within.
St Clare of Assisi accompanies us, offering a real examples of what peace looked like in moments that were anything but calm.
What you'll take away from this episode:
what the second week of Advent symbolizes historically and spiritually
the difference between calm (a state) and peace (an orientation of the soul)
how stress pulls you away from presence—and how to interrupt that pattern
what Clare of Assisi’s courage reveals about inner steadiness
how to identify your “peace threshold” when life feels unmanageable
a simple practice to help your nervous system settle
how to begin Week Two with alignment rather than pressure
Peace isn't the absence of noise.
Peace is the awareness that God is present inside what hasn’t resolved yet.
It grows through noticing, returning, and softening what has been clenched for too long.
Press play to enter the second week of Advent with a steadier center, a calmer body, and a deeper experience of presence.
Support the show
Rate, Review & Follow
If Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.
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“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”
And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.
Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
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Part 1 of a 4-week Advent series released every Sunday.
There’s a moment at the beginning of Advent when something in you finally exhales. A small but real sense of relief that you don’t have to be fully “ready” to begin again.
If you’ve been carrying more than you want to admit — the anxiety, the uncertainty, the subtle fear that the future is shrinking instead of opening — this episode is where you’ll feel held.
Welcome to the first week of Advent on the Holy Rebels Podcast, where we make space for grounded spiritual practices, nervous system awareness, and the quiet wisdom of the Christian mystical tradition.
This week is all about Hope. Not the kind you manufacture. The kind that returns when your body feels safe enough to imagine possibility again.
Nina Hirlaender OFS brings together the deeper spiritual meaning of Advent with what psychology now understands about future orientation, resilience, and the nervous system. 
St Francis and St Clare of Assisi walk with us as guides, offering a way of living that stays steady even when life feels uncertain.
What you’ll take away from this episode:
the meaning of Advent as “arrival” and why it begins in the dark
why so many people today feel disconnected from the future
how hope actually forms — through goals, pathways, and agency
what Francis and Clare can teach you about trusting the next step
a simple embodied practice to help your system calm and re-open
how to begin Advent with clarity instead of pressure
Hope isn’t a mood. It’s a nervous-system shift.
It returns slowly, through safety, honesty, and the gentle willingness to soften what’s been clenched for too long.
Press play to begin the season with space around your heart and steadiness in your body.

Support the show
Rate, Review & Follow
If Holy Rebels has helped you practise your spirituality in real life, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick rating and review? Your review helps new listeners decide to press play.
Not sure what to write? Try one sentence:
“Holy Rebels helps me ________.”
And hit Follow so new episodes show up automatically in your feed.
Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
Connect: Instagram | Facebook