Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul podcast artwork

PODCAST · health

Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

Are you feeling overwhelmed, disconnected from your body, or stuck in cycles of stress and trauma? Healing Her Story is here to guide you from feeling lost, isolated, and exhausted to feeling empowered, grounded, and deeply connected to yourself.This transformative podcast dives into trauma recovery, somatic healing, creativity, and the profound wisdom of trauma-informed menstrual cycle awareness. Each episode offers practical tools, inspiring stories of resilience, and insightful conversations to help you reconnect with your body, break free from societal expectations, and align with your natural rhythms.If you're ready to shift from surviving to thriving, join us as we illuminate the path toward healing, empowerment, and wholeness. It’s time to rewrite your story and embrace the life you deserve.Start your healing journey today with Healing Her Story—a podcast created for women, by

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  1. 119

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | The Dark Moon vs the New Moon: What No One Talks About & Why It Matters

    Most people have heard of the new moon, but the dark moon? That's a different invitation entirely. In this episode, Riva draws an important distinction between these two often-confused phases and makes a case for why the dark moon deserves its own honoring. As we move through eclipse season in Leo, this quiet, liminal space between cycles is asking something simple of us, and something most of us rarely give ourselves permission to do - just be.In this episode, you'll explore:🌑 The difference between the dark moon and the new moon — and why the distinction matters🌑 How our culture has lost the skill of presence — and why that's not entirely our fault🌑 The Harvard research on mind-wandering and why nearly half of our waking hours are spent somewhere other than the present moment🌑 Why distraction is a wise and beautiful coping strategy, and how to meet yourself with grace around it🌑 What presence actually felt like on a walk by the river — and what it might feel like for youAnd so much more.Your invitation this week:Can you give yourself one or two days before the new moon to simply be? Not reflecting on what has passed, not planning for what is ahead, just present with what is here right now. Notice what might come up. Notice what might softens.Resources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼 Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation for Rest & Restoration — this week's Insight Timer meditation to support you in dropping into presence and stillness during the dark moonSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  2. 118

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Premenstrual Phase & the Waning Moon: The Science of Refinement & Creative Completion

    The waning moon is here, and with it comes one of the most underrated invitations of the entire cycle. As we come off the Aquarius full moon and close out our mini-series on creativity and the cycles, this week Riva explores what it actually means to refine, complete, and consciously let go, and why this phase of the lunar and menstrual cycle is biologically designed for exactly that.Through the metaphor of metal refinement, the science of the premenstrual brain, and her own real-time experience finishing a painting that had been sitting in the corner of her living room for months, Riva offers a grounded and practical lens for working with this often overlooked phase of the cycle.In this episode, you'll explore:🌘 Why the waning moon and premenstrual phase are the most powerful time for refinement, editing, and completion in your creative practice🌘 The metal refinement metaphor  and what it teaches us about what our creative work needs to become what it was always meant to be🌘 The science behind the premenstrual brain: how the drop in progesterone activates the prefrontal cortex, sharpening focus, analysis, and discernment🌘How completing projects builds deep trust in yourself and your creative process🌘 What creative chaos is, why it shows up during this phase, and a simple tool to contain it without losing the ideasand so much more.Your invitation this week:Look at what is unfinished. Is there a project that only needs a little more work to be complete? Is there something that has been sitting in the corner, literally or metaphorically, waiting for you to return to it? This is your week. And if there is something that no longer feels alive, give yourself permission to release it. Not everything needs to be finished. Some things need to be composted.Resources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼🌸 Join Riva's Monthly Women's Circle — Sacramento — three spots remaining in the founding group; next gathering Friday, August 14th, timed perfectly with the new moon in Leo and total solar eclipse📩 Book Your Somatic Assessment & Care Planning Session — two slots available this week; the first step into working more deeply with RivaSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  3. 117

    (REPLAY) Creativity as Medicine: What Happens When We Finally Share Our Truth with Leah Morris

    This week's Healing Her Story episode is a replay, and it is arriving at exactly the right time.As Riva has been moving through Leo season exploring themes of courage, creativity, and being seen, this conversation with her dear friend and transformational coach Leah Morris felt like it was made for this moment.Leah kept her self-portrait paintings in a closet for nearly twenty years.Not because they were not beautiful. But because she believed she was too much. That her emotional expression was a burden. That her art was too personal to be shared.But this carries profound wisdom about what happens when we finally let our truth be seen.In this episode Riva and Leah explore:How childhood emotional caretaking shaped Leah's relationship with self-expression and why she spent years believing her feelings were too muchThe moment a stranger saw her hidden paintings and cried and what that revealed about the power of authentic creative expressionHow two EMDR sessions shifted everything and led to the breakthrough belief that she gets to decide how much space she takes upWhat happened when she finally shared her art with the people closest to her and how their reactions taught her that other people's responses are not hers to carryWhy framing her paintings felt like giving them boundaries and how that mirrors the work of protecting what we create before sending it into the worldThe connection between secure attachment and creativity and why the ability to take creative risks requires a felt sense of safety firstHow motherhood has become the ultimate creative act and what her daughter Eden witnessed by being present at the exhibitWhat Leah would say to every woman afraid to share her voice or her gifts — love yourself harder, and know that the fear was never yours to begin withThis episode is a love letter to every woman with something beautiful still hidden in the closet.Connect with Leah Morris:liferemade.com @leahemorrisVlogLeah's Book - The Integrity SessionsSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  4. 116

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Full Moon in Leo: Your Creative & Menstrual Cycle Peak — Here's How to Work With It

    This week's Healing Her Story episode tunes into the energy of the full moon in Leo -- and the timing could not be more perfect.The sun just entered Leo. The full moon is at its peak. And as we have been exploring this cycle, this is exactly the moment where everything shifts from intention into expression.But this carries profound wisdom about what the full moon is actually asking of you creatively.If you have been following along since the new moon, you planted a seed. You chose a project, an intention, a creative focus. This is the week it starts to take form.In this episode Riva explores the culminating energy of the full moon and what it means for your creative practice and menstrual cycle. This is no longer about dreaming or planning. This is about showing up and doing your part.She covers:Why the full moon is where the rubber meets the road and how to channel the amplified energy into pure expressionHow to pick one thread that runs through everything when you have too many creative desires to choose fromSharing and being seen -- why the full moon is an invitation to put what you have been creating out into the worldWhat happened in Dr. Tavina's writing circle and why writing with no agenda for 20 minutes can be surprisingly nourishing and freeingA special invitation for women local to Sacramento — Riva's women's circle is welcoming three new members and the next meeting is Friday August 14thIf something has been building in you this cycle, this is your sign to let it move.Resources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼 Learn More About Riva's Monthly Women's Circle Dr. Tavina Lynn's Writing Circle Somatic Meditation for Feeling More ConfidentSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  5. 115

    The Fear of Being Seen: Why Your Nervous System Was Wired to Hide

    This week's Healing Her Story episode steps into one of the most charged threads of Leo season.Being seen.Not just on a stage or in a spotlight. But in the everyday moments where we hold back our opinions, our photos, our ideas, our truest selves.But this carries profound wisdom about why so many women find it so hard to show up and what the research actually says about it.In this solo episode, Riva opens with data that stops you in your tracks. Forty four percent of women report fear of public speaking. Fifty nine percent say fear of online backlash makes them less likely to share their opinions. Fifty four percent are less likely to share photos of themselves online.Over half of women are hiding. And it is not a mindset problem.Riva explores the evolutionary and biological roots of this fear, including why the same brain regions that activate during physical pain also light up during social rejection. She unpacks why the nervous system was literally designed to keep us hidden, and why that once kept us alive.She covers:The statistics on women and visibility and why the gap between men and women is significantWhy being seen triggers a survival response rooted in the oldest parts of the nervous systemPolyvagal theory and why women freeze, fawn, or go quiet in the exact moment they are invited to show upImposter syndrome and why it shows up more in women than in menRiva's personal journey with being seen from performance art and numbing, to studio art critiques and wearing a menstrual cycle dress in front of her classThree practical tools to begin building capacity for the discomfort of visibilityThis episode is not about pushing through the fear. It is about understanding where it lives in your body and slowly, gently learning to stay with it.Resources to Support You This Week:🌹🤲🏼 Somatic Meditation for Feeling More ConfidentWhat is Somatic Breathwork?Sources:Public Speaking Statistics — Teleprompter.com — public speaking anxiety gender gap (44% women vs. 37% men), sourced from NIH data30+ Revealing Fear of Public Speaking Statistics — Crown Counseling — glossophobia/specific phobia rates by gender (12.2% women vs. 5.8% men)Gendered Inequalities in Online Harms: Fear, Safety Work, and Online Participation — ScienceDirect — online expression gap (23% of women vs. 40% of men comfortable expressing political views online)Gendered Inequalities in Online Harms (preprint) — arXiv — fear of backlash reducing sharing (59% less likely to share opinions, 54% less likely to share photos); origins of that fear (37% of women cite a female friend's experience)Nearly Half of Gen Z and Millennial Women Fear Being Judged — Principal Foundation via PR Newswire — fear of judgment silencing disclosure (45% of women vs. 33% of men)Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  6. 114

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | How to Work With Waxing Moon Energy for Your Creative Practice & Menstrual Cycle

    This week's Healing Her Story episode continues the Leo season mini series on creativity -- exploring how the lunar and menstrual cycle can inform the way we create, what we focus on, and the energy we bring to it.This phase is associated with the season of spring. Rebirth. Fresh starts. New beginnings. And there is so much creative potential available right now.But this carries profound wisdom about what this tender, emerging energy actually needs from us.In this episode Riva introduces the three P's for your creative practice during the waxing moon and follicular phase.Planning -- blocking time, gathering supplies, mapping out the month, and getting clear on what you actually want to createProtecting -- why sharing your creative work too soon can invite the inner critic in before the idea has had a chance to take root, and how to be intentional about who you share with and whenPacing -- why doing too much too soon during this rising energy phase leads to burnout before you even reach ovulation, and how to nourish yourself back to center before pushing forwardRiva also shares her own personal creative recommitment this cycle, including her dance practice, a painting waiting on big canvases, a song in progress, and the childlike pull toward possibility that spring always brings.If you tend to surge forward and crash before the full moon, this episode is for you.Resources to Support You This Week 🤲🏼🌹🧘 Somatic Meditation for Patience & Anxiety Relief — this week's trauma-informed somatic meditation on Insight Timer to support you in pacing yourself through the waxing moon✍️ Dr. Tavina Lynn's Writing Circle — a free community writing circle meeting every second Sunday, a beautiful way to create accountability in your creative practice🌀 Synchronize — Menstrual Cycle Coaching — Riva's four-month menstrual cycle coaching program for women ready to go deeper with their cycle awareness and reclaim every phaseSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  7. 113

    Somatic Healing & Conscious Breathing: How Breathwork Rewires Trauma with Dr. Colleen Quinn, Author of Essence Merging

    This week's Healing Her Story episode welcomes a guest whose healing journey took her from traditional psychology into the depths of breathwork, somatic healing, and spiritual transformation.Dr. Colleen Quinn is a transpersonal psychologist, breathwork practitioner, and author of Essence Merging -- a book that traces her path from health crisis to profound awakening and the discovery that love is the primary healer.But this carries profound wisdom about what becomes possible when we stop trying to think our way through trauma and start breathing our way through it.Riva opens up about her own synchronicities while reading Colleen's book, including deep connections to her breathwork practice and her recent studies on in utero wounds. This conversation felt destined.In this episode Riva and Colleen explore:How a health crisis became a doorway into breathwork and energetic healing after traditional psychology reached its limitsThe difference between fast paced and slow paced breathwork and why slower circular integrated breathing creates a safer, deeper healing environment for traumaHow breathwork activates DMT in the pineal gland lighting up the brain in ways similar to plant medicine experiencesWhy the body stores emotional energy for decades and how conscious breathing creates the conditions to finally release itThe concept of essence merging and surrender and why true surrender means detaching from the ego to fully merge with the present momentCollective awakening and what we are moving through right now and why love is the only true healer for physical, mental, and emotional painPractical ways to begin exploring conscious breathing even outside of a formal breathwork sessionThis episode is for anyone who has done the talk therapy, read the books, and is ready to go somewhere deeper.Connect with Dr. Colleen Quinn:WebsiteSelf Therapy BookColleen’s YouTubeColleen’s Book: Essence MergingSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  8. 112

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Leo Season & the New Moon: Aligning Creativity With Your Menstrual Cycle

    The new moon is here, and so is a new focus. As we slowly close out Cancer season and welcome the energy of Leo next week, this week's Cycle Sync episode marks the beginning of a brand-new creative arc. Over the coming weeks, we'll be exploring how to work with each phase of the lunar and menstrual cycle to support and deepen your creative practice.In this episode, Riva shares real-time reflections from her own bleeding time, including a spontaneous visit to a contemporary art museum, what she discovered reading Her Blood Is Gold, and how indigenous perspectives on the menstrual cycle reframe the bleeding time not as a period of fragility, but as a time of profound psychic power and creative potency.In this episode, you'll explore:How the new moon and bleeding time are a powerful entry point for your creative practiceWhat indigenous traditions understood about women's psychic power during menstruationWhy the bleeding time is a time of retreating and potency, not just restHow to begin (or recommit to) a creative practice in alignment with your cycleThree practical ways to work with new moon and bleeding time energy for creativity this weekResources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼📖 Her Blood Is Gold — the book Riva references in this episode on menstrual cycle wisdom and the psychic potency of the bleeding time🎙️ The Menstrual Cycle & the Moon — Healing Her Story Podcast — a deeper dive into the connection between your cycle and the lunar cycle🗺️ The Cycle Support Map — Riva's $4.95 PDF guide to working with every phase of your menstrual cycle, plus weekly trauma-informed somatic meditations delivered to your inbox for one full cycleSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  9. 111

    Why We're Starving for Community and Why the Village We're Missing Is the Cure with Laura Ambrosio, founder of Aspen & Elder

    In this episode, Riva sits down with Laura Ambrosio, founder of Aspen & Elder, to talk about what it really takes to build community in a culture that often rewards isolation. Laura shares the personal story behind her work, including her own childhood experience of navigating shame and confusion after abuse, and how that search for safety and belonging eventually led her to years of travel and self-discovery. She opens up about the contrast between individualistic Western culture and the collective, reciprocal community she experienced abroad, and how that shaped her vision for Aspen & Elder.The conversation moves into what authentic friendship actually requires: showing up as the friend you want to have, having the hard conversations, and resisting the pull of "artificial intimacy" that social media offers instead of real connection. Laura also shares how embracing her feminine and manifestor energy (rather than pushing through in a masculine, hustle-driven way) has changed how she's building this next chapter, including asking for help with things like grant writing instead of trying to do it all alone.Key Topics DiscussedLaura's early experience of feeling misunderstood in a religious household, and how that shaped her search for belongingHer personal healing journey and how it led her to years of travelWhat she learned abroad, particularly contrasting Brazilian community culture with American "bootstraps" individualismWhy she built Aspen & Elder: intergenerational connection, humanizing people across political and religious linesThe real cost of "artificial intimacy" and social media on friendshipWhat it actually looks like to become the kind of friend you want to haveHow conflict, handled well, can deepen a relationship (including in marriage)Leading Aspen & Elder through her feminine and manifestor energy in human designWhat's next: renovating a vacant Sacramento building into a community art hub and space for female entrepreneursResources & Links🤲🏼🌹Learn more about Aspen & ElderSupport the Kickstarter to open Aspen & Elder Community Wellness SpaceConnect with Laura on InstagramSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  10. 110

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Premenstrual Self-Care: How to Work With the Waning Moon & Your Nervous System

    The waning moon is here, and your body already knows it. In this final episode of our Cancer season self-care mini series, Riva explores the premenstrual phase through the lens of nervous system science, cyclical wisdom, and honest, practical self-care. If you've ever felt irritable, overstimulated, or just done during this time of the month, this episode will give you the language and the permission to understand why.In this episode, you'll explore:Why the female nervous system has less capacity for stress and stimulation during the premenstrual and waning moon phaseWhat the window of presence is and how it shifts throughout your cycleHow resisting your body's natural downshift creates friction, dis-ease, and burnout — and what to do insteadThe rule of re — a simple Mercury retrograde framework that applies beautifully to the waning moonPractical self-care rituals for this phase: scheduling less, nourishing meals, bodywork, breathwork, and nestingWhy your menstruation time is a built-in monthly health report and how the waning moon is your opportunity to prepareHow to think of this phase as your inner autumn and what that reframe can unlockReady to go deeper?If this episode resonated and you're ready to truly understand and work with your menstrual cycle, Synchronize is Riva's four-month menstrual cycle coaching program designed to help you reclaim every phase of your cycle, including this one. Click here to learn moreSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  11. 109

    Breaking Family Cycles: How Childhood Shapes Our Adult Relationships with Amanda Hill, LMHC

    This week's Healing Her Story episode welcomes a guest whose work lives at the intersection of attachment, parenting, and generational healing.Amanda Hill is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and founder of Connections of Hope. With nearly twenty years of experience as a psychotherapist, she has spent her career helping individuals and families create meaningful, lasting change.But this carries profound wisdom about where so many of our adult relationship patterns actually begin.Amanda opens up about her own experience growing up the fifth of six children in a loving but overwhelmed family, and how that shaped her own attachment style. In this episode, Riva and Amanda explore how the family dynamics we grew up in continue to show up in our relationships, our boundaries, and our sense of safety, decades later.They cover:How different attachment styles develop and why they follow us into adulthoodAuthoritative parenting versus permissive and authoritarian styles and why firm boundaries paired with genuine listening matter so muchWhy permissive parenting can leave children feeling unsafe even when it comes from a place of loveThe real responsibility of parenting and why so many people underestimate its lifelong impactPractical strategies for breaking unhelpful family cycles including journaling, therapy, and processing unresolved feelings with parentsScreen time, presence, and connection including simple practices for staying truly present with the people you loveIf you have ever wondered why certain patterns keep repeating in your relationships, this conversation will help you understand where they began, and how to begin shifting them.Connect with Amanda Hill:WebsitePodcastBook: Making Sense of Dysfunction: How to Heal, Take Control and Move Forward Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  12. 108

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Full Moon & Ovulation: How to Care for Yourself at Peak Energy

    This week's Healing Her Story episode tunes into the energy of the full moon, landing on the rare day when the episode airs right alongside the actual peak.As Cancer season continues, the focus for these Monday episodes remains on care. And today's invitations apply just as much to this full moon as they do to your inner summer, your ovulation time.But this carries profound wisdom about how to work with peak energy rather than against it.The full moon is a time of fullness. The light is at its peak. And in the menstrual cycle, estrogen is at its peak too. In this episode, Riva shares three invitations for moving through this intensified energy with more support and intention.She covers:Creative expression — why getting what is inside of you outside of you, through art, cooking, movement, or making, is one of the most healing things you can do during this phaseConnection — discerning what nourishes you right now, whether that is a solo date, deep rest, or a long dinner with a friend who actually fills you upTaking action — why the full moon has a way of making things undeniable, and why now might be the time to finally move on what you have been overthinkingRiva closes with an invitation to celebrate yourself this week, drawing on the trauma-informed concept of resourcing, acknowledging what is already going well as a way to build confidence and create space for more positive change.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You, This Week 🤲🏼🌹Somatic Body Scan for Self-Love and Body AppreciationThis simple practice invites you to pause, breathe, and reconnect with your body in a gentle and trauma-informed way.Listen hereSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  13. 107

    Why Women Are Exhausted: The Price of Carrying Care in a World That Doesn't Value It

    This week's Healing Her Story episode opens a new cycle with a focus on care. What it costs. Who provides it. And why so many women are running on empty.Riva revisits a conversation she started on the show last year, this time with a deeper understanding, not just intellectually, but in her own body and nervous system.But this carries profound wisdom about what happens when an entire society fails to value the work that holds it together.In this episode, Riva breaks down the staggering economic reality of unpaid care work in America, the racial disparities within that data, and why care work remains one of the most undervalued forms of labor in the world. She explores the biological truth that oxytocin, not dopamine, is the primary regulator of the female nervous system, and why so many women are not receiving the reciprocal connection their bodies actually need to thrive.She also gets personal, sharing her own ongoing search for answers through the Western medical system, and why so many women leave talk therapy feeling like it simply wasn't built for them.In this episode Riva explores:The real dollar value of unpaid care work and why the numbers look different across raceWhy care work is the most essential industry in the world and remains chronically underpaidThe biological need for oxytocin in the female nervous system and why dopamine-driven productivity culture leaves women depletedWhy your rage, anxiety, and exhaustion are not problems to fix but intelligent responses to an oppressive systemWhat it actually means to receive care rather than only give itThis episode closes with three questions Riva invites you to sit with: do you see your caregiving as valuable, do you feel obligated to care for others at the expense of yourself, and is it easier to show up for others than for yourself.Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  14. 106

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Stop Pushing Too Hard Too Fast: Waxing Moon Self-Care for a Sustainable Cycle

    This week's Healing Her Story episode tunes into the energy of the waxing moon and the follicular phase, one of the most tender and misunderstood windows of the cycle.This is a transitional energy. Estrogen is rising. The light is returning. And so often, this is exactly where women push too hard too fast, burning out before they even reach ovulation.But this carries profound wisdom about how to move through this phase with care instead of force.In this episode, Riva explores what the waxing moon is actually for. Not maximum output, but grounded, sustainable momentum. She shares her own evolving practices, including slow strength training, morning nourishment, and why progesterone loves steadiness and consistency.She covers:Why grounding matters most during this rising energy and how to find what actually grounds youWhy this is the perfect time to explore something new without the pressure of committing yetWhy HIIT and intense cardio aren't always the answer here and what gentle, joyful movement can offer insteadA simple anchor question for Cancer season — how can you tend to yourself the way you tend to everyone elseIf you have ever crashed right before ovulation and wondered why, this episode will help you understand what your body actually needed.A Special OfferingRiva also shares a new menstrual cycle coaching package called Synchronize, with two spots available at the pilot rate through August. The next step is booking a Somatic Assessment and Care Planning Session to explore if this is the right fit for you. Book HereSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  15. 105

    Living Beyond the Box: Creativity, Multiplicity & Self-Expression with Dr. Tavina Lynn

    This week's Healing Her Story episode welcomes a guest whose life refuses to fit inside a single box.Dr. Tavina Lynn holds a PhD in Chemistry and teaches at Sacramento City College. She is also a writer, a dancer, a creative visionary. And for years, she believed she had to choose between these parts of herself.But this carries profound wisdom about what becomes possible when we stop choosing.Riva and Tavina met at a mural project, and the instant connection that followed set the stage for this conversation. In honor of Gemini season, this episode explores multiplicity, duality, and what it means to be more than one thing.They cover:Growing up in chaos and finding structure through learning and how that shaped Tavina's relationship to curiosityThe internal pressure to choose between science and art and the misery that came from forcing herself into chemistry aloneHow COVID became an unexpected reset that reconnected her to her multifaceted selfWhy rigid, linear systems no longer serve everyone and how the breakdown of those systems creates space for something more fluidThe real cost of suppressing parts of yourself to belong and why true belonging starts with accepting yourself firstCreative life force energy and what it feels like to be danced by the dance instead of controlling itThis episode is an invitation to stop asking which version of you is allowed to show up, and start asking what becomes possible when all of you does.Connect with Dr. Tavina Lynn:SubstackTavina’s Book: STILL in My Mother’s Womb: A Daughter’s Healing Experience Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  16. 104

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | How to Actually Care for Yourself at the New Moon

    The new moon is here — and so is a new focus for our Cycle Sync episodes. This week, Riva introduces the themes of Cancer season as a guiding lens for the cycles ahead, with one central question at the heart of it all: how do we actually care for ourselves?This episode is an invitation to move away from rigid, one-size-fits-all self-care and toward something more fluid, personal, and cyclically aware. Riva shares how the new moon and menstruating phase call us toward lower energy, inward focus, and genuine rest — and what it practically looks like to create, prioritize, and protect that rest in a busy life.In This EpisodeIntroducing Cancer season and its themes of care: self-care, community care, and deeper nurturanceHow Riva's own self-care shifts between structured seasons and spacious onesThe new moon and menstruating phase: what to expect energetically and how to work with itA practical strategy for protecting rest using your calendarWhat rest actually means — and why Netflix might not be cutting itRestorative movement ideas for the new moon phaseAlone time vs. social recharging: how to discern what you actually needWhy there is no universal prescription for self-care — and why that's a good thingReady to go deeper? Download the Cycle Support Map — your guide to tracking and working with your cycle week by week.Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  17. 103

    Between Worlds: Biracial Identity, Immigrant Guilt, and Self-Worth with Serena Arora, Author of UNBOUND

    What happens when you spend your life navigating between worlds?In this Gemini season conversation, I sit down with bestselling author, yoga therapist, and Ayurvedic practitioner Serena Arora to explore the complexities of identity, belonging, family legacy, and self-worth.Drawing from her memoir, UNBOUND: An Immigrant Daughter's Journey of Reckoning, Unraveling Shame, and Reclaiming Her Worth, Serena shares her experience growing up as a biracial, first-generation immigrant in Canada and the unique challenges of living between cultures, expectations, and identities.Together, we explore the concept of immigrant guilt, the often unspoken pressure many children of immigrants carry to succeed, achieve, and honor the sacrifices of previous generations. We discuss how family stories shape our sense of self, how generational patterns can quietly influence our lives, and what it takes to reclaim our worth outside of inherited expectations.This conversation also weaves through themes of duality and polarity, making it a fitting exploration for Gemini season. From navigating multiple cultural identities to balancing resilience with softness, Serena offers wisdom on embracing the both/and nature of being human.We also discuss maternal lineage, the ripple effects of healing, and the powerful responsibility many women feel to break cycles and create a different path for future generations.If you've ever felt caught between expectations and authenticity, belonging and individuality, or who you were taught to be and who you truly are, this episode is for you.About Serena AroraSerena Arora is a bestselling author, yoga therapist, Ayurvedic health practitioner, and educator. Through her writing, teaching, and mentorship, she helps women reconnect with themselves, challenge inherited expectations, and cultivate more authentic and meaningful lives.Her memoir, UNBOUND: An Immigrant Daughter's Journey of Reckoning, Unraveling Shame, and Reclaiming Her Worth, explores the intersections of family, culture, identity, and healing.Resources MentionedUNBOUND: An Immigrant Daughter's Journey of Reckoning, Unraveling Shame, and Reclaiming Her Worth by Serena AroraAyurvedaYoga TherapyConnect with SerenaWebsiteInstagramSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  18. 102

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | The Duality of the Waning Moon: Rest, Momentum, and Healing

    This week's Healing Her Story episode attunes to the energy of the waning moon --- one of the most misunderstood transitions in the lunar cycle.Because this phase is not just about slowing down.But this carries profound wisdom about what the waning moon is actually asking for -- and why it looks different for every woman.In this episode, Riva explores the duality of the waning moon and luteal phase through the lens of Gemini season. This is a bridge phase. Not fully yang. Not fully yin. And that in-between quality is exactly what makes it so rich.She covers:Why some women still feel momentum during this phase and how to channel that energy wisely into completion and preparationThe nesting impulse -- closing loops, clearing space and tending to your future selfWhy connection becomes deeply regulating during this time and what the female nervous system actually needsThe other side of the duality -- slowing down, saying no, and leaning into rest when the body asks for itWhy your experience of this phase may look completely different from cycle to cycle and from woman to womanThe deeper invitation this week -- not to follow a formula, but to pause and sense what you actually needThis episode is a reminder that cycle syncing is about so much more than productivity. It is about embodying a different way of being entirely.Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  19. 101

    Why Your Nervous System Responds Better to Curiosity Than Criticism

    This week's Healing Her Story episode explores something that doesn't get talked about enough in healing spaces.Curiosity.Not as a personality trait. As a biological necessity.In this solo episode, Riva shares one of the most fundamental shifts she made in her own healing journey -- from relentless self-judgment to genuine curiosity. And why that shift changed everything. Not just emotionally. Biologically.She opens up about the years she spent trying to force change. Meditating more, scrolling less, thinking more positively, losing weight -- all at the same time. And how every time she fell short, the inner critic got louder. The loop got tighter. And the change she so desperately wanted never came.It wasn't until she discovered trauma-informed care that she understood why.Judgment creates unsafety in the nervous system. And an unsafe nervous system cannot change.In this episode she explores:Why everything your system does is a protective strategy and not a personal failingHow curiosity literally primes the brain to form new neural pathways and learnThe dopamine connection and why curious people tolerate uncertainty and discomfort betterWhy safety has to come before curiosity and the somatic practices that create that foundationHow to begin shifting from "what is wrong with me" to "I wonder why this is happening" -- and what that tiny shift does inside your bodyIf you have ever felt stuck in the loop of trying hard, falling short, and judging yourself for it -- this episode will finally help you understand why. And what to do instead.Resources to Support You This Week:Free Trauma Recovery Mini Course -- Three foundational pillars of trauma recovery with short somatic practices to help your nervous system move toward regulation and safety.Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  20. 100

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | The Duality of the Full Moon: Celebration, Intensity, and Healing

    This week's Healing Her Story episode explores one of the most complex and beautiful phases of the lunar cycle: the Full Moon.And the conversation today is not just about releasing what no longer serves you.It is about holding both.But this carries profound wisdom about what the full moon is actually illuminating -- and why we move past the sweetest part too quickly.In this episode, Riva explores the duality of the full moon through the lens of Gemini season. The fullness of this phase can spotlight the places in your life that are genuinely coming together. Projects completing. Intentions manifesting. Growth that has been quietly happening for months suddenly visible.And it can also bring into sharp focus the things that are not working. The patterns. The relationships. The ways of being that can no longer be ignored.In this episode Riva explores:Why the full moon is a time of celebration and culmination not just releaseHow to hold intensity and joy at the same time without making one side wrongWhy allowing both experiences to coexist actually softens the nervous system and creates more space for beautyThe connection between the full moon, the heart, and inner summer in the menstrual cycleWhat emotional flexibility actually looks like and how it reduces friction in daily lifeIf life has felt very full lately, this episode will help you understand why. And how to move through it with more grace.Donation-Based Somatic Meditations to Support You This Week 🤲🏼🌹Two practices this week. One to tend to the intensity. One to honor the celebration.Softening Meditation For Tension Relief & GroundingSomatic Meditation for Feeling More Confident Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  21. 99

    Rewire Your Brain: Neuroplasticity, Breathwork & the Power of New Pathways

    This week's Healing Her Story episode dives deep into one of the most empowering truths in healing:Your brain can change.If you have ever felt stuck in the same thought patterns, the same ways of being, the same old stories -- this episode is for you.In this solo episode, Riva explores how all or nothing thinking creates friction in our lives and bodies, and why the female experience is far too nuanced to fit into a neat little box. She introduces the science of neuroplasticity — the brain's ability to form new pathways — and what it actually takes to create lasting change.Spoiler: it is not just thinking differently.She covers:Why your brain walks the most familiar trail even when that trail causes painHow breathwork supports neuroplasticity and why consistent practice matters more than one powerful experienceMetaplasticity and psychedelics -- the critical window that opens after a plant medicine experience and why integration is where the real healing happensWhy talk therapy alone often is not enough and what somatic work and altered states offer insteadAwe and wonder as a pathway to new neural connections and simple ways to access that this Gemini seasonThis episode will change how you think about thinking.Resources Mentioned:How to Change Your Mind -- Netflix documentary series exploring the science and lived experience of psychedelics and neuroplasticity.Learn More About Microdosing -- A deeper dive into microdosing for healing and personal growth.Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  22. 98

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Push & Pause: Finding Balance in The Waxing Moon & Your Inner Spring

    This week's Healing Her Story episode explores one of the most misunderstood phases of the lunar and menstrual cycle: the waxing moon and inner spring.Online, this phase gets painted as go-go-go. Maximum productivity. Intense workouts. Non-stop socializing.But every time Riva pushed hard through her inner spring, she burned out before ovulation.In this episode, she shares what a year of tracking and living in her own body taught her about what this phase is actually asking for. Yes there is action. Yes there is growth. And there is also something most cycle content never talks about.Restoration.She introduces the simple framework she now lives by: push days and pause days. Forward momentum and returning to yourself. Not forcing. Not collapsing. Just staying in rhythm.If you have ever wondered why you feel depleted before ovulation even arrives, this episode is for you.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You, This Week 🤲🏼🌹Sit and Be With It — A 15-Minute Daily Somatic PracticeThis simple practice invites you to pause, breathe, and reconnect with your body in a gentle and trauma-informed way.Listen here: Somatic Meditation To Find Your CenterSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  23. 97

    **BONUS EPISODE** Low-Tox Living, Fertility, and the Hidden Impact of Plastics with Alisha Lee, Co-Founder of Nudge Eco Store

    What if the products we use every single day are quietly impacting our hormones, fertility, nervous systems, and the health of our planet?In this grounded and eye-opening conversation, Riva sits down with Alisha, founder of Sacramento-based Nudge Eco Store, to explore the hidden impact of plastics, the realities of low-tox living, and why sustainable living doesn’t have to mean perfection.Alisha shares the deeply personal story that led her to create Nudge after experiencing pregnancy losses and beginning to question the environmental toxins surrounding everyday life. Together, we explore the connection between plastics and hormonal health, the overwhelm many people feel around sustainability, and how small, intentional changes can create meaningful ripple effects over time.We also discuss:🌎 The hidden plastics in common household products🌎 Low-tox swaps that are actually practical🌎 The connection between environmental toxins and infertility🌎 Why convenience culture disconnects us from ourselves and the earthand so much more.Whether you’re deeply immersed in sustainability or just beginning to ask questions, this conversation offers compassionate, grounded guidance for living with more intention.Connect with Alisha & Nudge Eco Store🌹🤲🏼Instagram:@nudge.eco.storeWebsite:Nudge Eco StoreVisit Nudge Eco Store:2131 K St.Sacramento, CASend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  24. 96

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | The Both/And of the New Moon: Where Endings Meet Beginnings

    In this week's Cycle Sync, Riva guides you into the tender, layered energy of the new moon in Taurus as we close the chapter of Taurus season and cross the threshold into Gemini season. Drawing on cyclical wisdom, menstrual cycle awareness, and the both/and philosophy at the heart of Gemini's dual nature, this episode invites you to honor what's beginning and what's ending — at the same time.You'll explore why the new moon isn't only a beginning but also a sacred ending, how to work with the dance between resting and nesting, and practical rituals for closing loops while planting new seeds. Whether you're feeling low energy, called to declutter, or ready to dream into what's next, this episode offers permission to hold it all.In This Episode✨A recap of Taurus season: the elements miniseries, the senses solo episode, the boudoir conversation with Wren Morrow, and a bonus eco-consciousness episode dropping Friday✨ The shift from Taurus's grounded, body-based energy into Gemini's ethereal, mental-based energy✨Why the new moon is both a beginning and an ending — and how cyclical wisdom holds this polarityand moreResources Mentioned🌹🤲🏼Cycle Support Map — Your guide to the energies, themes, and self-care practices for each phase of your cycle. Just $4.95.Mira Hormone Tracking Device How to Feel Safe in Your Body (A Somatic Approach Using Your Senses) - In this solo episode, Riva offers a simple yet highly effective practice for creating a felt sense of safetyReferenced ResearchHelfrich-Förster, C. et al. (2021). Women temporarily synchronize their menstrual cycles with the luminance and gravimetric cycles of the Moon. Science Advances. — On the intermittent synchronization of menstrual cycles with lunar phases.Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) — On holding the dialectic and both/and thinking, developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan.Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  25. 95

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Waning Moon, Metal Element, PMS Wisdom

    The waning moon is here, and with it comes the medicine of the metal element — the energy of refining, releasing, and returning to what truly matters. In this final episode of the elements miniseries, we explore the premenstrual or luteal phase of the cycle as a time of sacred clarity, honest reassessment, and yes — grief.If you've ever felt like your premenstrual self wants to "burn it all down," this episode is for you. We reframe PMS symptoms as messages from your body, explore the science behind why your nervous system feels so much more sensitive during this phase, and discover how the metal element teaches us to distill our lives down to the essence — like a pearl.We also sit with grief, the emotion of metal, and explore how to make active space for the losses, disappointments, and unfulfilled visions that this phase often surfaces.In this episode:🍂 Why the late luteal phase makes us more emotionally sensitive (and the hormonal science behind it)🍂 The "superpower" of the premenstrual filter — and how to use it wisely🍂The pearl metaphor: refining your life down to what's most essential🍂 Grief as the emotion of the metal element🍂 Honoring the disappointment of an unfulfilled cycleDonation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You This Week🤲🏼🌹Somatic Breathing to Hear Your Body's WisdomSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  26. 94

    Religious Trauma & the Body: Reclaiming Sensuality and Self-Trust with Wren Morrow, Boudoir Photographer

    This week's Healing Her Story episode welcomes a guest whose work lives at the intersection of the body, pleasure, and reclamation.Wren Morrow is a boudoir and erotic adventure photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. And her path to this work is anything but linear.But this carries profound wisdom about what happens when we are taught from a young age that our bodies are the problem.Wren grew up steeped in purity culture and religious dogma in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In that world, desire was dangerous. The body was something to be managed. And self-trust was replaced with a constant question: is this God's will or mine?In this episode, Riva and Wren explore the long journey from that environment to one of radical reclamation. Wren shares how leaving the church, moving across the country, and finding healing in the natural landscape of the Olympic Peninsula slowly began to return her to herself.They explore:The difference between sensuality and sexuality and why Wren's photography invites clients into authentic felt experience rather than performanceWhat purity culture actually does to the nervous system and how those patterns of self-distrust can be unlearnedHow patriarchal systems create scarcity around gender and sexuality and what it looks like to reclaim your own autonomy from within thatThis episode is for every woman who has ever been told her desire was too much. Connect with Wren Morrow:Wren is a boudoir and erotic adventure photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. Instagram: @wrenmorrowSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  27. 93

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Grounding, Stability, & The Earth Element

    This week we're attuning to the Earth element — the brief, easy-to-miss phase that arrives just after the full moon and just after ovulation. Its medicine is grounding. In this episode, I explore the science of earthing, how grounding may help shift your nervous system out of fight-or-flight and into rest and repair, and how to create real stability in your body and your life through grounding practices and daily anchors. In a world that feels increasingly unstable, the Earth element offers us a simple but powerful question: how do we create steadiness within ourselves?In this episode:🌏 What the "secret phase" is and where it falls in your cycle🌏 The Earth element's core invitation: how to find steadiness in instability🌏 The science of grounding: what earthing is, how it works, and what the research shows🌏 How grounding may shift your nervous system from fight-or-flight into rest and repair🌏 Why routine creates real stability — and how to build daily anchorsResearch referenced:Chevalier et al., research on earthing, inflammation, sleep, and cortisol regulationMenigoz et al. (2020), Integrative and lifestyle medicine strategies should include Earthing (grounding)Studies on grounding and improvements in heart rate variability, parasympathetic activation, and sleep qualityResources to Support You This Week🤲🏼🌹Yin Yoga practice inspired by the elementsQigong practice inspired by the elementsSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  28. 92

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power | Full Moon & Fire Element | Passion, Anger & Heart-Led Expression

    This week's Healing Her Story episode is a bonus episode, arriving at just the right moment.The full moon lands on a Friday. Aries energy is still moving through the collective. And before we step into the quieter, more hidden phase ahead, this is our moment to honor the fire.This is the third episode in Riva's mini-series on the elements.But this carries profound wisdom about what fire really means for women and what happens when we lose access to it.In this episode, Riva reflects on her own complicated relationship with fire and the moment she realized passion was the very first word that came through when she sat with this element. She explores how fire shows up across the cycle, in the full moon, in summer, in ovulation, and why that aliveness, that radiance, that desire to be felt and seen, is so often misread in women.Labeled as too much. As bossy. As controlling.While that same energy in others gets called ambition.Riva also speaks to the dual nature of fire. How it can be warm, comforting, and life-giving. And how, when left untended, it can become reactive and overwhelming. She shares what she has learned this past year about tending her own fire around ovulation, and why sometimes what the heart needs most is not more output.It is more space.This episode is an invitation to notice where your fire feels alive, where it feels like too much, and what your heart might actually be asking for underneath it all.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You This Weekend 🤲🏼🌹Somatic Body Scan for Self-Love and Body AppreciationSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  29. 91

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power | Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Waxing Moon & Wood Element | Rooted & Flexible

    This week, we are tuning into the waxing moon. A phase of expansion, momentum, and rising energy.And while this can feel exciting and motivating…it’s also where many of us unconsciously override our bodies.We feel the energy building.We want to do more, create more, move faster.And without grounding, we can easily slip out of alignment.This is also the second episode in our Taurus season mini-series, where we’re exploring the elements connected to each phase of the cycle.This week, we are working with the wood element—a phase that corresponds with: 🌿 Spring in nature 🌿 The follicular (pre-ovulatory) phase in the body 🌿 The energy of new growth and expansionBut this phase is not just about growth.It’s about supported, sustainable growth.Because growth without roots…without flexibility…without support…becomes destabilizing.In this episode, Riva explores:🌘 Why waxing moon energy can lead to overextension🌘 The connection between the wood element, spring, and the follicular phase🌘 What trees can teach us about grounded expansion🌘 Why flexibility is a form of nervous system safety🌘 The science behind adaptability and regulation in the body🌘 How to recognize when growth is becoming too forceful🌘 Simple ways to stay rooted while your energy risesThere’s also a reflection on how trees develop strength over time—through both rooting and adaptive structure—and how this mirrors our own nervous system capacity.Because true regulation isn’t rigidity. It’s flexible stability—the ability to respond, adjust, and return to center.🌿 Your invitation this week:Slow down enough to notice where you are pushing.And ask yourself what it would feel like to soften, root, and grow with support.🤲🏼🌹Trauma Informed-Donation Based Somatic Meditation to Support you This week: Softening Meditation For Tension Relief & GroundingSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  30. 90

    How to Feel Safe in Your Body (A Somatic Approach Using Your Senses)

    If you’ve been trying to think your way into feeling safe in your body…this episode invites you somewhere else.Because safety doesn’t live in thought.It lives in the body.Through the senses.Through what you are actually experiencing right now.And for many of us, the healing journey begins here:realizing we cannot outthink biology.In this episode, Riva explores how the nervous system is constantly scanning for cues of safety or danger through the senses—what you see, hear, feel, smell, and taste—and why the body will always trust that information over mindset or affirmations.She guides you through a simple somatic practice to reconnect with the present moment, soften the system, and notice what safety actually feels like in real time.Along the way, she also names something important:that we don’t always live in safe environments—and still, there are small moments of regulation that matter deeply for the body.This is not about forcing safety.It’s about learning how to notice it.One sense at a time.🤲🏼🌹Donation Based Trauma Informed MeditationCreating Your Felt Sense of SafetySend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  31. 89

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | New Moon & The Element of Water: Emotional Healing + Nervous System Regulation

    If you’ve been trying to think your way into feeling safe in your body… this episode will gently shift something for you.Because safety is not created in the mind. It is created through the senses. Through what your body is actually experiencing in real time.And in Taurus season—a season of slowness, embodiment, and the senses—this becomes even more important.We are not here to override the body.We are here to listen to it.Through the quiet intelligence of the nervous system.Because your body is always scanning.Always gathering information.Always asking: am I safe here?And it already knows the answer—before you ever think it.In this episode, Riva shares:Why safety is a nervous system state, not a mindset practiceHow your senses shape your experience of safety more than thoughts doThe science of neuroception and how your body reads your environmentWhy affirmations like “I am safe” can fall short without embodimentA guided sensory practice to regulate and ground your system in real timeHow the nervous system responds to sight, sound, touch, smell, and tasteWhy your body will always believe sensory input over positive thinkingThe role of glimmer moments and micro-safety in unstable environmentsHow nature acts as a co-regulator for the nervous systemA gentle reminder that healing is not bypassing reality—it’s meeting itHealing is not about forcing calm.It is about noticing what is already here.One breath.One sense.One moment at a time.🌕 Resources mentioned:Magic of the Eye Digital Calendar (Taurus season + moon tracking)Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  32. 88

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Stop Consuming, Start Integrating: The Key to Real Change

    If you’ve been doing the work—therapy, coaching, courses, podcasts…and still find yourself repeating the same patterns—this episode is for you.Because the issue isn’t that you’re not trying hard enough…it’s that you may be missing the most essential step in the healing process:integration.We live in a world that constantly invites us to consume—information, content, experiences, even healing itself.But without slowing down to actually embody what we’ve learned,it’s easy to stay stuck in cycles that feel all too familiar.In this episode, Riva shares:Why insight alone doesn’t create lasting changeThe difference between consuming healing and integrating itHow overconsumption can lead to burnout and repeating patternsWhat integration actually means (in simple, embodied terms)A personal story from my recent time unplugged in natureHow presence and the nervous system play a role in real transformationA gentle, grounded way to begin integrating your own experiencesMaybe healing isn’t about doing more but about letting what you’ve already received actually change you.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Meditation to Support You This Week:🤲🏼🌹Trauma-Informed Body Scan - 15-minute daily somatic practice Self Directed Integration TipsSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  33. 87

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power | Your Weekly Cycle Sync | The Most Overlooked Phase of the Cycle (And Why It Matters)

    This week, we’re tuning into the waning phase of the cycle—one of the most overlooked, yet most powerful phases for healing, reflection, and release.If you’ve ever struggled to slow down, let go, or sit in the unknown… this episode will help you understand why.Through the lens of the nervous system, feminine cycles, and the natural rhythm of life and death, we explore why endings feel so uncomfortable.This isn’t just about the moon or the menstrual cycle.This is about your relationship to rest, aging, loss, and change.And what becomes possible when you stop resisting them?DONATION-BASED TRAUMA-INFORMED MEDITATION TO SUPPORT YOU THIS WEEK:🤲🏼🌹**NEW** Menstrual Cycle Journey to Meet Your Inner Crone (Trauma Informed)Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  34. 86

    5 Things a Trauma-Informed Therapist Would Never Say

    This week's Healing Her Story episode is a fiery one, intentionally timed with Aries season.Over the years, Riva has heard things said in therapeutic spaces that stopped her in her tracks. Things said in places that are supposed to be safe. Places where people go to heal.But this carries profound wisdom about what truly trauma-informed care looks and feels like.In this episode, Riva shares 5 phrases that have no place in trauma-informed healing, drawing from her own lived experience, her work supporting women, and the research that backs it all up.She covers:"You're just sensitive" and why dismissal activates the nervous system's threat response"You should..." and why prescribing someone's healing path undermines lasting change"Just let it go" and why the body cannot be forced to release before it feels safeInterpreting your spiritual or psychedelic experience and why meaning must come from withinToxic positivity and why rushing past pain is its own form of invalidationIf something has ever felt off in a therapeutic space but you couldn't name why,  this episode will give you the language.Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  35. 85

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | The Biggest Misunderstanding About Full Moon Energy

    This week's Healing Her Story episode tunes into the energy of the Full Moon in Aries season, and gently challenges one of the most common misconceptions in cyclical living.The full moon is not a light switch. It doesn't just turn on and off.It builds. It peaks. It releases gradually. And if you've been feeling the intensity this week, in yourself or in the people around you, that makes complete sense.But this carries profound wisdom about what the full moon is actually for.So much of the conversation around the full moon focuses on release and letting go. And while that has its place, Riva believes there is a huge missed opportunity in that framing.The full moon is first and foremost about illumination. About what comes into the light. And one of the most overlooked invitations of this phase is not release at all, it's celebration.In this episode, Riva explores why constantly focusing on what needs to be fixed, released, or improved can actually keep us stuck. She draws on trauma-informed practices like pendulation and titration to explain why the nervous system needs both, touching into the pain, and returning to what is already working.Because healing is not just about what's broken. It's also about honoring what is growing.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You, This Week 🤲🏼🌹Somatic Meditation for Feeling More ConfidentThis simple practice invites you to pause, breathe, and reconnect with your body in a gentle and trauma-informed way. For Insight Timer Premium Users OnlyListen here: https://insig.ht/IG3VWE4SoWb?utm_source=copy_link&utm_medium=contentSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  36. 84

    Why Women Are Dismissed in Perimenopause (And How to Advocate for Yourself) with Dana Culp from Thrive Midlife Medicine

    This week's episode steps into one of the most under-discussed chapters of a woman's life: perimenopause, the hormonal shift that arrives long before menopause, and that medicine has largely ignored.The first signs rarely come with a warning. Anxiety out of nowhere. Sleep that won't come. Brain fog. Weight changes. And a healthcare system that responds with dismissal.But this phase carries profound wisdom, and it deserves real, evidence-based care.Dana Culp, DNP, founded Thrive Midlife Medicine after visiting four providers and still not getting the care she needed, despite 25 years in healthcare herself. She knew women deserved better.In this episode, Riva and Dana cover what's really happening hormonally, why estrogen's fluctuations affect everything from mood to libido, and why symptoms in your 30s are valid. They bust the myth that hormone therapy causes cancer and talk about what to actually ask your provider.This is the conversation women have been waiting for.Connect with Dana Culp & Thrive Midlife Medicine:Not sure if what you're experiencing is perimenopause? Start here — Dana's perimenopause quiz takes just a few minutes and gives you real clarity: thrivemidlifemed.com/perimenopausequizWebsite: thrivemidlifemed.comInstagram: instagram.com/thrivemidlifemedFacebook: facebook.com/thrivemidlifemedLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/thrive-midlife-medicineSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  37. 83

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Spring Energy and the Waxing Moon: Moving Forward Without Burnout

    This week’s Cycle Sync episode explores the energy of the Waxing Moon, a phase of the lunar cycle associated with momentum, growth, and new beginnings.This particular waxing moon arrives alongside several powerful shifts:Spring in the Northern HemisphereMercury moving directThe beginning of Aries seasonTogether, these influences bring a noticeable surge of fresh energy and forward momentum.  But with that momentum can also come pressure to move too fast, do too much, and push ourselves toward burnout.In this episode, Riva explores the art of pacing — learning how to build momentum in a way that supports your nervous system, healing journey, and natural rhythms.Drawing from her own lived experience with workaholism, addiction recovery, trauma-informed somatic healing, and menstrual cycle awareness, Riva shares why this phase of the cycle can feel activating — and how to work with that energy in a way that is sustainable rather than overwhelming.Instead of rushing ahead, the Waxing Moon invites us to find our “Goldilocks pace” — not too fast, not too slow, but just right.Resources to Explore This Week: 🤲🏼🌹Mira Hormone Tracking DeviceLearn more here:https://shop.miracare.com/Cycle Support MapIf you’re ready to begin working more intentionally with your cycle, Riva created a simple guide called the Cycle Support Map.Download the Cycle Support Map here:https://rivajeanpaul.simplero.com/cart/246478-Cycle-Support-MapSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  38. 82

    Why Patriarchal Spirituality Teaches Us to Leave the Body (And Why That’s Hurting Us) with Cynthia Abulafia

    Many spiritual traditions teach us to transcend the body.To rise above sensation.To witness instead of feel.To go “up and out.”But what if that very move is why so many women feel spiritually informed… yet internally disconnected?In this Aries season conversation, I sit down with Cynthia Abulafia, author of Embodying the Goddess, to explore the cost of spirituality that excludes the body — and the feminine path of returning “down and in.”Many non-dual or transcendence-based traditions emphasize:Rising above the bodyDetaching from emotionEscaping identificationThese practices can be meaningful.But what they don't always teach is how to go down and in.  And for women especially, that absence matters.  Because when spirituality prioritizes ascent without descent, the body becomes secondary — sometimes even suspect.This isn’t anti-spiritual.  It’s a restoration of the feminine current within spirituality, and seeing the body is not an obstacle to awakening, but as the doorway.Connect with Cynthia:Follow Her on YouTubeOrder Her Book - Embodying the Goddess Visit Her WebsiteFollow Her on SubstackSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  39. 81

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | The Dark Moon Phase Explained: Why Slowing Down Is Essential for Your Nervous System

    This week’s Cycle Sync episode explores one of the most overlooked yet powerful phases of the lunar cycle: the Dark Moon.Just before the New Moon arrives, the moon disappears from the night sky for several nights. No light is reflected back to us. From the outside, it looks like there is no moon at all.But this quiet phase carries profound wisdom.The Dark Moon invites us to pause, reflect, and reconnect with ourselves before the next cycle begins. In a culture that constantly pushes productivity, movement, and achievement, this phase reminds us that rest and stillness are not weaknesses — they are essential for nervous system regulation and sustainable living.In this episode, Riva explores the deeper meaning of the Dark Moon and shares a simple framework for working with this phase using the acronym P.A.U.S.E.This practice can help you move into the upcoming New Moon and Spring Equinox with greater clarity, alignment, and ease.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You, This Week🤲🏼🌹Sit and Be With It — A 15-Minute Daily Somatic PracticeThis simple practice invites you to pause, breathe, and reconnect with your body in a gentle and trauma-informed way. **For Insight Timer Premium Users Only**Listen here:https://insig.ht/rjUzwn5MJXbSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    (REPLAY) Yoga Nidra & The Creative Brain: Why Deep Rest Unlocks Vision with Jill Weston, "The Stress Whisperer"

    What if the doorway to your next creative vision isn’t effort……but deep rest?In this replay conversation, I sit down with Jill — known as “The Stress Whisperer” — to explore the subtle, powerful practice of Yoga Nidra and the brain states that allow insight, healing, and creativity to emerge naturally.Most of us spend our days in beta brainwave activity — focused, thinking, planning.Useful? Absolutely.But creative breakthroughs, metaphysical insight, and deep nervous system repair don’t arise from mental effort alone.They emerge in slower brainwave states — particularly alpha and theta — where the mind softens and the body leads.If you feel creatively blocked…If your intuition feels distant…If you’re craving a more embodied spiritual experience…You may not need more information.You may need access to a different state of consciousness.Yoga Nidra reminds us that vision doesn’t come from pushing harder.It comes from entering the quiet space where life is already movingVisit Jill's WebsiteConnect with Jill on InstagramPractice Yoga Nidra with Jill on Insight TimerSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Feeling Drained Lately? The Waning Moon, Eclipse Season & Your Body’s Need for Space

    Have you been feeling more tired, emotional, or reflective lately?You’re not alone.This week we’re moving through the waning moon, the phase of the lunar cycle associated with release, reflection, and refinement. But this isn’t just any waning moon. We’ve just moved through the second eclipse of this eclipse season, and eclipses often accelerate change — bringing hidden patterns or relationship dynamics into the light.On top of that, we’re also navigating Mercury retrograde, a time traditionally associated with delays, miscommunications, and an overall slowing down of life’s pace.From a cyclical perspective, the waning moon mirrors autumn in the seasonal cycle and the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Research shows that during the luteal phase, rising progesterone can increase emotional sensitivity and introspection — supporting a natural process of reflection and evaluation before the next cycle begins.In other words, if you’re feeling the pull to slow down, create space, or let things go, your body may simply be following its natural rhythm.In this episode, we explore how the waning moon invites us to refine what truly matters, release what no longer resonates, and consciously create space before the next cycle begins.Because as we move toward the Spring Equinox and the next New Moon, energy will begin rising again — and life will naturally start filling up.The question is:What do you actually want to make space for?And what might be ready to be released?Trauma-Informed Donation-Based Meditation to Support You This Week🤲🏼🌹Somatic Breathing to Hear Your Body's WisdomSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Full Moon Eclipse | How to Regulate Yourself During Intense Seasons”

    This week, we attune to a Full Moon eclipse — a time often associated with culmination, acceleration, and unexpected change.If life feels intense right now, you’re not imagining it.Eclipses can bring endings, shifts, and emotional material to the surface. And during heightened seasons like this, the nervous system needs something specific:Care.In this episode, Riva explores the Full Moon through the lens of the Mother archetype and the reparenting journey — especially for those who didn’t receive consistent emotional support growing up.You’ll learn:How self-compassion impacts cortisol and nervous system regulationThe magic of offfering ourselves warmth and creating internal safetyThe difference between self-mothering and martyrdomHow to meet grief, anger, and overwhelm with presenceResearch shows that self-compassion practices increase emotional resilience and heart rate variability while reducing stress reactivity.If eclipse season has stirred grief, exhaustion, or pressure, this episode offers a grounded reminder:You don’t need to harden to survive intensity.You can learn to hold yourself through it.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You This Week 🤲🏼🌹Somatic Meditation & Welcome PracticeSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    (REPLAY) How to Use Writing as a Tool for Emotional Healing with Mari Candela

    In this conversation, Riva and Mari explore how poetry and journaling can help you process emotions, integrate difficult experiences, and reconnect with parts of yourself that may have gone quiet.Mari shares her healing journey, and how writing became a structured way to access feelings she couldn’t speak out loud - and what happened when she lost that ability.In this episode, you’ll learn:Why writing can feel safer than verbal processingHow poetry bypasses overthinking and connects you to the bodyHow putting language to emotion helps the brain organize overwhelming experiencesSimple ways to begin using writing as a healing practiceStudies on expressive writing show improvements in emotional regulation, immune function, and stress resilience. When we give our experiences language, we create containment — and containment creates safety.If you’ve ever struggled to name what you’re feeling, this episode offers a practical and gentle starting point.Connect with Mari Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  44. 76

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Waxing Moon Expansion: Why Growth Feels Overwhelming (and What Actually Supports It)

    This week, we attune to the Waxing Moon — a phase of expansion, momentum, and visible growth.If life has been speeding up…If more opportunities are arriving…If things you’ve been calling in are finally showing up…And you feel both excited and overwhelmed…You’re not doing it wrong.In this episode, Riva explores the hidden truth about growth: expansion without support can create overwhelm.Drawing from polyvagal theory, attachment research, neuroscience, and nature, she explains:Why overwhelm often isn’t a sign of incapability — but insufficient infrastructureHow hyper-independence forms as a trauma responseWhat the brain teaches us about sustainable growthWhy co-regulation and perceived support directly impact cortisol and stress resilienceThis episode is especially for the high-functioning woman who can handle everything… but doesn’t want to keep carrying it alone.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You This Week 🤲🏼🌹Sensing The Support - 5-Minute Daily Somatic PracticeSensing The Support - 15 Minute Daily Somatic PracticeSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    (RE-RECORDED) The Creative Cycle: A Feminine Framework for Sustainable Creativity

    If you’ve ever started a creative project with excitement…only to abandon it weeks later…If you’ve felt inspired one month and completely dry the next…If you’ve wondered whether you’re inconsistent, unfocused, or just “not disciplined enough”…This episode will reframe everything.In today’s conversation, Riva shares a feminine, cyclical approach to creativity — one rooted in nervous system wisdom, menstrual cycle awareness, and the natural rhythms of nature.Because creativity was never meant to be linear.And when we try to force ourselves to create the same way every day, burnout isn’t a character flaw — it’s a rhythm problem.In this episode, you’ll learn the 4 Phases of the Creative Cycle and how to work with them instead of against them:Riva also shares her personal journey of rediscovering her artistic voice and learning how slowing down actually helped her create more.Whether you consider yourself an artist, hobbyist, entrepreneur, or simply someone longing to reconnect with your creative energy, this framework offers a grounded, practical roadmap.🤲🏼🌹 ResourcesThe Cycle Support MapIf this episode resonated and you want deeper support aligning your creativity, healing, and nervous system with your menstrual cycle…The Cycle Support Map is a practical guide to understanding your inner seasons and working with them intentionally.Inside you’ll learn:What each phase of your cycle supportsWhen to rest, initiate, share, or completeHow to reduce burnout and increase sustainable flowHow to sync creativity, healing work, and self-care with your bodyYou can access the Cycle Support Map hereSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | A Quiet Beginning: Rest, Rhythm, and the New Moon Eclipse

    This episode marks the beginning of Season Two of the Healing Her Story Podcast, intentionally aligned with the New Moon Eclipse and the threshold of Lunar New Year.Rather than rushing into change, this episode invites a different approach to beginning—one rooted in listening, rest, and honoring the body’s natural timing.If you’ve already been pushing hard this year…If your nervous system feels tired before the year has truly begun…If you’re sensing that something needs to shift, but you’re not sure how—This conversation is for you.In this episode, we explore:😴 Why January and February aren’t meant to feel like full “go time”😴 How eclipse seasons act as course correctors rather than accelerators😴 The wisdom of winter, rest, and quiet beginnings😴 Why working with cycles creates more ease than pushing against themThis episode also introduces the seasonal rhythm of Season Two, where each moon cycle aligns with the natural energies of the seasons and the zodiac—beginning with Pisces season, a time of water, emotion, imagination, and mysticism.Resources MentionedThe Chani App – for understanding how lunar cycles and eclipses land in your personal chartThe Cycle Support Map – a simple, one-page guide to working with the four phases of the moon, the seasons, and the menstrual cycle, including weekly somatic meditation remindersAs always, you’re invited to move at your own pace.May you settle into your unique rhythm and expressionSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

  47. 73

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | The Waning Moon & the Art of Letting Go (Without Forcing It)

    This week, we’re attuning to the energy of the waning moon, and more specifically, the last quarter moon—a brief but potent moment in the lunar cycle that invites an exhale.While the full moon often gets named as a time for release, this episode explores why true letting go tends to happen more naturally during the waning phase, when the nervous system has space to soften and settle.Using seasonal imagery, nervous system research, and lived experience, we explore why:Release can’t be forcedLetting go happens in its own time and waySelf-judgment often creates more stress than the original problemGentleness and self-compassion actually support emotional processingIf last week illuminated something for you—an emotion, a pattern, a habit, or a relationship—this episode offers a grounded, compassionate way to meet that awareness without rushing, fixing, or pushing yourself to change.This phase of the cycle is about making room, not demanding resolution.In this episode, we explore:Why the waning moon is aligned with letting goHow the nervous system releases through safety, not urgencyThe role of self-compassion in emotional processingHow pressure and self-criticism add unnecessary frictionWhy tenderness is often a sign of transition, not failureTo support you during this phase, I’ve also shared a few gentle, donation-based, trauma-informed somatic meditations on Insight Timer, designed to help you slow down, soften pressure, and support your nervous system during the waning moon.DONATION BASED TRAUMA INFORMED SOMATIC MEDITATIONS TO SUPPORT YOU THIS WEEK 🤲🏼🌹Sit and Be With It - 15-Minute Daily Somatic PracticeCreating Your Felt Sense of SafetySoftening Meditation For Tension Relief & GroundingSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Big Feelings Under the Full Moon (and Why That’s Not a Problem)

    In this week’s episode, we’re attuning to the energy of the full moon—a time of culmination, illumination, and emotional intensity.The full moon marks the peak of the lunar cycle. What has been building over the past few weeks—or even months—often rises to the surface here. With that can come heightened emotions, especially in times of collective stress and uncertainty.In this episode, we explore how emotions like anger, frustration, rage, grief, fear, and sadness are not something to get rid of or bypass—but something to listen to, honor, and move through the body.Drawing from trauma-informed somatic work, nervous system science, and cyclical wisdom, this conversation invites you to consider emotion as energy in motion—energy that was never meant to stay stuck inside.You’ll hear reflections on:🌕 Why the full moon can amplify emotional experiences🌕 How collective stress impacts the nervous system and emotional regulation🌕 The cost of suppressing anger, frustration, and grief🌕 Why expression is essential for healing and nervous system completion🌕 How unexpressed emotions often come out sideways🌕 Healthy, embodied outlets for emotional release that don’t harm you or othersDonation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditations to Support You This Week 🤲🏼🌹Somatic Meditation To Find Your CenterSit and Be With It - 15-minute daily somatic practiceSomatic Meditation for Feeling More Confident Real Food for Fertility Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    Moon Phases & Feminine Power - Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Waxing Moon Explained: Energy, Themes, and How to Work With It

    The waxing moon is a phase of growth, momentum, and becoming—but for many of us, building energy can feel overwhelming, especially if our nervous systems are already stretched thin.In this episode, we explore what the waxing moon actually represents and how to work with this rising energy in a way that is gentle, embodied, and sustainable. Rather than pushing or forcing forward movement, this conversation invites you to attune to nature’s pace and your own inner rhythms.Using the symbolism of trees and the element of wood, we reflect on how growth happens slowly and steadily—rooting down even as we reach upward. We also explore themes of protection, boundaries, and how ideas, desires, and intentions begin to take physical form during this phase of the lunar cycle.Whether you’re feeling momentum building or noticing subtle shifts beneath the surface, this episode offers grounded reflections and practical guidance to help you move forward without overriding your body.In this episode, we explore:🌳 The symbolism of trees, the element of wood, and slow, resilient progress🌳 How protection and boundaries can support expansion rather than block it🌳 A reflective tool for understanding where the moon is landing in your own chartDonation-Based Trauma-Informed Meditations to Support You This Week🤲🏼🌹Softening Meditation For Tension Relief & GroundingSomatic Meditation For Patience & Anxiety ReliefTrauma-Informed Body Scan - 15-minute daily somatic practice Chani App Send us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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    Moon Phases & Feminine Power - Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Burnout, Winter, and the New Moon: Why Your Body Needs Rest Right Now

    In this week’s Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync, we attune to the New Moon—the first New Moon of the calendar year.As January slowly comes to a close, this moment invites us to listen rather than rush, to rest rather than push. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are still in winter—a season that mirrors the New Moon’s quiet, inward, yin energy.This episode is a reminder that this is not the time for big decisions or bold action. Instead, it’s a powerful opportunity to slow down, unplug from external noise, and reconnect with what you truly desire—beneath the “shoulds,” expectations, and pressure to perform.We explore:🌑 Why winter and the New Moon are deeply connected energetically🌑 How darkness supports clarity, creativity, and nervous system regulation🌑 Why rest is essential for insight, healing, and sustainable growth🌑 How to honor your body, energy, and emotions during this phaseYou’ll also learn why you may notice more stars during the New Moon, how reduced stimulation supports deeper listening, and why the “seeds” of your hopes and intentions are often planted in moments of stillness rather than action.Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditations on Insight Timer to Support You This Week🤲🏼🌹Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation For Rest & RestorationNew Moon Somatic Breathwork MeditationSomatic Breathing to Hear Your Body's WisdomReady to go deeper?!Click here to download our new Cycle Support MapSend us Fan Mail Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcastSubscribe so you never miss an episode. Email [email protected] or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Are you feeling overwhelmed, disconnected from your body, or stuck in cycles of stress and trauma? Healing Her Story is here to guide you from feeling lost, isolated, and exhausted to feeling empowered, grounded, and deeply connected to yourself.This transformative podcast dives into trauma recovery, somatic healing, creativity, and the profound wisdom of trauma-informed menstrual cycle awareness. Each episode offers practical tools, inspiring stories of resilience, and insightful conversations to help you reconnect with your body, break free from societal expectations, and align with your natural rhythms.If you're ready to shift from surviving to thriving, join us as we illuminate the path toward healing, empowerment, and wholeness. It’s time to rewrite your story and embrace the life you deserve.Start your healing journey today with Healing Her Story—a podcast created for women, by

HOSTED BY

Riva Jean-Paul

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul have?

Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul currently has 50 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul about?

Are you feeling overwhelmed, disconnected from your body, or stuck in cycles of stress and trauma? Healing Her Story is here to guide you from feeling lost, isolated, and exhausted to feeling empowered, grounded, and deeply connected to yourself.This transformative podcast dives into trauma...

How often does Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul release new episodes?

Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul has 50 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

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You can listen to Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul?

Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul is created and hosted by Riva Jean-Paul.
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