Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of!

In this episode of The Awakening Spaces Podcast, Ashley sits down with Lauren Lowenstein, known to many as The Biotoxin Lady, to explore what’s really happening beneath the surface of chronic, unexplained illness. Lauren shares her deeply personal journey through years of neurological decline, misdiagnosis, and family-wide suffering before discovering Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) and the environmental biotoxins driving it.

Together, they unpack why it’s not “just mold,” but a complex web of biotoxins, including endotoxins and actinobacteria that are often overlooked in both medical and building conversations. This episode bridges science, lived experience, and nervous system wisdom as Lauren opens up about the toll biotoxin illness took on her marriage, her children’s health, and her own sense of self and how healing required both environmental action and deep internal regulation. This is an essential listen for anyone navigating chronic illness, building or renovating a home, or seeking a more holistic lens on health, healing, and resilience.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Visual Contrast Sensitivity (VCS) test and CIRS Cluster Symptom Chart: https://boards.com/a/zIJLT.iMxnzB
• HLA haplotype explanation resources: https://thebiotoxinlady.com/haplotypes

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Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.

Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families build and renovate homes to prevent mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. If you’re looking to build or renovate a new home, Ashley has courses to empower and one on one offerings to guide you through the whole process so you can avoid costly mistakes and enjoy the process again!

Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here.

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Lauren Lowenstein, also known as The Biotoxin Lady, is a leading CIRS coach, educator, and advocate. Through her own battle with chronic illness to diagnosis, she’s built one of the largest CIRS communities online, inspiring patients and professionals to see environmental health through a new lens. Today she’s one of the most trusted voices in the CIRS community—simplifying complex science and guiding others from survival to true recovery.

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Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of!

In this episode of The Awakening Spaces Podcast, Ashley sits down with Texas-based home inspector Matt Brading, known for his viral “It’s Not Supposed to Do That” series, for a grounded, honest conversation about what’s really happening inside our homes and why so many issues go unnoticed until they affect health.

Together, they unpack the hidden systems that quietly shape our living environments: moisture movement, pressure imbalances, HVAC design flaws, crawl spaces, sprinklers, and the overlooked maintenance issues that can snowball into serious damage. Matt shares what he notices the moment he walks into a house, why newer homes aren’t automatically healthier, and how homeowners can stay curious rather than fearful when something feels “off.”

The episode also explores how to choose a good inspector, what questions to ask, why communication matters more than credentials alone, and the simple signs every homeowner should know, like when water dripping outside your house is actually a warning signal. Ashley and Matt close with a powerful reflection on curiosity, vigilance, and paying attention to small problems before they become big ones, inside our homes and within ourselves.

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Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.

Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families reduce mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. Her clients gain homes that are not only functional and beautiful, but truly support their well-being and peace of mind.

Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here.

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Matt Brading is the owner and lead inspector of Texas Edge Home Inspections, a company he built on passion, precision, and a genuine desire to help people better understand their homes. Since founding Texas Edge in 2017, Matt has performed more than 2,000 inspections across the greater Houston area. He holds a Professional Home Inspector license, is a Certified Master Inspector, and a Licensed Wood Destroying Insect Inspector.

From the beginning, Matt’s reputation has been defined by thoroughness and outstanding customer service. His detailed inspection reports and clear communication have set the standard for what clients can expect from Texas Edge. Beyond the field, Matt continues to study advanced building science and modern construction practices, knowledge he passes along to every inspector he trains. His deep commitment to quality education and client care ensures that every inspection performed under the Texas Edge name meets the same high standard he’s become known for.

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Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of!

Electromagnetic fields are often dismissed as a secondary concern in the healthy home conversation, especially when mold feels like the obvious threat. In this episode, Ashley Spanovich invites listeners to look deeper. She explores how invisible electromagnetic fields, particularly radio frequency radiation, quietly shape our nervous systems, mitochondrial health, and ability to truly heal from mold and other chronic stressors.

Drawing from her personal health journey and professional training as an electromagnetic radiation specialist, Ashley breaks down what EMFs actually are, why current safety standards are deeply flawed, and how constant digital noise keeps the body locked in survival mode. This episode is both an education and an invitation: to become a skeptic, to ask better questions, and to reclaim your home and body as places of regulation, restoration, and clarity. If you are detoxing from mold, managing chronic symptoms, building or renovating a home, or simply feeling overstimulated and exhausted by modern life, this conversation offers grounding insight and practical next steps.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• EMF Skeptics blog post on your website: https://awakeningspaces.com/2025/05/19/emf-research-2/
• Your online shop with EMF-related products (smart meter covers, etc.): https://awakeningspaces.com/shop

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Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.

Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families build and renovate homes to prevent mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. If you’re looking to build or renovate a new home, Ashley has courses to empower and one on one offerings to guide you through the whole process so you can avoid costly mistakes and enjoy the process again!

Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of!

What actually matters when you’re trying to understand mold in your home, and how much of the fear around it is truly warranted? In this episode, Ashley sits down with John Skelly, a Council-Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant with over 20 years of experience, to unpack what most people get wrong about mold inspections, remediation, and healthy homes.

Together, they explore the difference between awareness and alarmism, why so many homes don’t need to be “burned down,” and how a calm, holistic, and phased approach can dramatically change both outcomes and nervous systems. John shares what he sees every day inside real homes, from dust reservoirs and poorly managed basements to renovation mistakes hidden behind walls, and explains how homeowners can become empowered advocates rather than overwhelmed patients. This conversation is for anyone navigating mold sensitivity, health challenges, renovations, or simply wanting to understand their home at a deeper, more responsible level.

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Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.

Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families reduce mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. Her clients gain homes that are not only functional and beautiful, but truly support their well-being and peace of mind.

Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here.

CONNECT WITH GUEST

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John Skelly is a Council-Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant (CIEC), New York State–licensed Mold Assessor, and USEPA-certified Lead and Asbestos Inspector with over 20 years of experience in the environmental health and indoor air quality industry. He is the owner of HNST Environmental and has completed more than 6,500 mold and environmental inspections, along with hundreds of asbestos surveys, for residential and commercial properties.

John specializes in comprehensive mold and indoor air quality assessments, moisture diagnostics, and the development of clear, site-specific remediation protocols. With a background that spans fieldwork, project management, and air duct system remediation, he is especially known for working with environmentally sensitive clients and for offering grounded, non-alarmist guidance rooted in building science and real-world experience.

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If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of!

This week’s episode is part personal story, part building-science wake-up call. Ashley shares a tender reflection on her dad’s legacy, her family’s roots in small-business grit, and how those early years walking construction sites shaped the work she does today. From there, she unpacks one of the biggest misconceptions she sees in renovation projects: the near-total disregard for what’s happening inside our walls.

If you’re planning a renovation, whether you’re adding a small addition or tearing your home back to studs, this episode gives you the foundational lens you need before choosing fixtures, finishes, or appliances. You’ll learn why building envelopes fail, how architects and builders often miss critical details, and what questions every homeowner should be asking to protect the longevity, comfort, and health of their home.

CHECK OUT THE CCC

send us an email at hello@awakeningspaces.com to learn more about the conscious construction container where you can become the empowered leader of your own project.

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Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.

Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families reduce mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. Her clients gain homes that are not only functional and beautiful, but truly support their well-being and peace of mind.

Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of!

In this episode, Ashley sits down with architect Kelly Grace, known online as The Non-Toxic Architect, to explore what it truly means to design homes that support human biology, emotional well-being, and long-term resilience. Kelly shares how her journey into non-toxic design began through her own family’s health challenges, and how that opened the door to deeper work with circadian biology, grounding, natural materials, and building assemblies that actually breathe.

Together they unpack the uncomfortable truth about modern code, the gaps in residential enforcement, and why so many “standard” design decisions quietly undermine the health of the people living inside. From bedroom placement and sunlight exposure, to grounding rooms, sauna design, permeability, mold prevention, and even surprising materials like granite and spray foam, this conversation is a masterclass in building homes that heal.

If you’re building, renovating, recovering from environmental illness, or simply curious about how your home shapes your biology, this episode will expand the way you see every wall, window, and beam.

CONNECT WITH ASHLEY

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Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.

Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families reduce mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. Her clients gain homes that are not only functional and beautiful, but truly support their well-being and peace of mind.

Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here.

CONNECT WITH GUEST

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Kelly Grace is the Managing Principal at Travis Price Architects based out of Washington D.C. Kelly received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Catholic University of America. After graduating, she went on to work for a construction on Capitol Hill for several years, before landing at Travis Price Architects full-time.

Kelly is dedicated to designing healthy, high-performance buildings, using non-toxic products to promote wellness and efficiency. Her firm specializes in holistic modern residential, innovative commercial and institutional architecture. Kelly and her husband Matt live in Davidsonville MD with their three children Atlas Adelyn and Roark twenty chickens and a great pup named Blue

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If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of!

In this episode, Ashley sits down with Dr. Emily Kiberd, chiropractor, functional medicine practitioner, and founder of Thyroid Strong, to explore the deep connection between autoimmune disease, mold exposure, and the environments we live in.

Emily shares her personal journey through Hashimoto’s, multiple mold remediations, and what it truly takes to rebuild health and trust after environmental illness.

Together, they unpack how to build resilience in the body, why so many women struggle with fatigue and weight loss resistance, and the misunderstood role of strength training in healing. This conversation goes beyond symptom management, it’s about reclaiming safety in your body and your space so you can thrive again.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Dr. Gabrielle Lyon (functional medicine doctor)
• Dr. Neil Nathan and Dr. Jill Crista (mold and environmental illness experts)
• Thyroid Strong program by Dr. Emily Kiberd
• Primal Trust, DNRS, and Your Daily Health app (for nervous system regulation)
• Conscious Construction Container by Awakening Spaces

CONNECT WITH ASHLEY

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Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.

Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families reduce mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. Her clients gain homes that are not only functional and beautiful, but truly support their well-being and peace of mind.

Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here.

CONNECT WITH GUEST

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Dr. Emily Kiberd, chiropractor of 18 years, mama of two, and founder of Thyroid Strong, knows firsthand what it takes to heal from mold. After five mold remediations over the last decade, she discovered that addressing mold exposure was the missing link in putting her Hashimoto’s into remission.

Now, she’s on a mission to help women heal their bodies and their homes, because it’s not a matter of if you’ll be exposed to mold, but when. The goal? To build a body so resilient that you can thrive no matter your environment.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of!

This episode invites you to slow down and bring more intention into your home this holiday season. Ashley explores the often-overlooked ways that our modern holiday habits, from twinkling LED lights to endless tech gadgets, can quietly impact our health, our nervous system, and the energetic balance of our space.

You’ll learn how to reduce EMF exposure, choose healthier lighting, and align your home with the natural rhythm of winter, a season designed for rest, reflection, and regeneration. Ashley shares simple, practical steps to create a conscious Christmas that nourishes both your body and your spirit.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Awakening Spaces Blog: EMF Research and Resources
• Episode with Cathy Cook on Dirty Electricity

CONNECT WITH ASHLEY

Instagram | Tiktok | Youtube | Website

Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.

Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families reduce mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. Her clients gain homes that are not only functional and beautiful, but truly support their well-being and peace of mind.

Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨