Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

This week's Healing Her Story episode answers one of the most searched questions about relationships and the menstrual cycle.Why do I always fight with my partner right before my period?In this solo episode Riva walks through all four phases of the menstrual cycle through the lens of relationships — sharing her own patterns, the research behind them, and why understanding these rhythms changes everything about how we show up with the people we love.She covers:The bleeding time — why this is a relationship with yourself first, and what happens when you skip thatThe follicular phase — why this is the most natural window for deeper connection with other women, new friendships, and more playful energy with your partnerOvulation — why emotional intimacy, heartfelt connection, and the hard conversations you've been avoiding might all belong hereThe premenstrual phase — why the rage is real, why it's often about so much more than the dishes in the sink, and why Riva actually sees this rawness as a giftShe also touches on the role of oxytocin as the female nervous system's primary regulator, why women need to cross-pollinate like we did in village life, and what it means when the premenstrual time brings things to the surface that we've been quietly carrying all cycle.Next time you get into an argument with your partner, check where you are in your cycle.Ready to go deeper with your cycle?Synchronize — Menstrual Cycle Coaching — Riva's four-month somatic menstrual cycle coaching package. A few spots remaining for 2026. The first step is booking your Somatic Assessment and Care Planning Session. 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.

This one is different.Less information, less teaching, more feeling.This bonus episode is an experiential somatic attunement practice for the Autumn Equinox, that perfect point of balance between light and dark, expansion and contraction, summer and the slowdown ahead.It is designed to be practiced along with, not just listened to. Find a comfortable place, close your eyes if that feels right, and let yourself drop in.Through breath, bilateral stimulation, and centering, this practice gently attunes you to autumn's slower pace, not by forcing, but by softening into what already knows.Most of the friction we experience in the cycle comes from our resistance to what is.Join the Monthly Attunement Call 🌹A new monthly live Zoom space, less insight, more embodied experience. More nervous system. More body.First gathering: Thursday, September 24th at 6 PM PT🔗 Click here to register 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.

This week's Healing Her Story episode explores a phase that doesn't often get its own episode.The waxing gibbous moon.That last stretch between the first quarter moon and the full moon. The anticipatory energy right before the peak. And as we move through Libra season, this phase carries a really specific invitation, to create more balance and harmony before the bloom.In this episode Riva shares three ways to work with this energy, drawing from her own very real and personal experience navigating hormonal symptoms, GI issues, headaches, and the choice to meet it all with curiosity instead of spiraling.Notice — what keeps coming up in your body, your inner world, and the world around you. Research on serendipity shows that people who are more present are significantly more likely to act on meaningful coincidences and unexpected pathways.Take it in as good information — nothing is inherently good or bad. It simply is what it is. Studies show that when we interpret challenge as information rather than threat, cortisol levels drop and our capacity for problem solving stays intact.Calibrate — this is the week to make refinements before the full bloom arrives. Readjust a routine, shift a dynamic, change how you show up somewhere. The flower is right on the edge of opening.Resources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼Somatic Breathing to Hear Your Body's Wisdom — this week's donation-based somatic meditation on Insight Timer.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.

This week's Healing Her Story episode arrives at a perfect bridge moment, between Virgo season's energy of clearing and Libra season's invitation into beauty and balance.And today's guest has spent her life living at that exact intersection.Paula Agudelo is an interior designer behind Sacred Interiors, helping women transform their homes into sanctuaries through intentional design and ritual. With 14 years in luxury interiors and two decades of metaphysical, psychological, and spiritual study, her work blends Feng Shui, the Bagua, ritual, and somatic awareness to help women create homes that mirror their truth and support who they're becoming.Her path to this work came through loss. Her father was murdered when she was nine. And somehow, in the grief that followed, she turned to art, flowers, and rearranging furniture. Beauty became her first healing practice.In this episode Riva and Paula explore:What sacred actually means and why it has nothing to do with religionWhy your home is not just where your life happens but where your life is being createdThe nine areas of the Bagua map and how each one connects to a different area of your lifeWhy clutter affects cortisol levels in women and what the science says about our environments and nervous system regulationCreating containers for grief including a 20-minute timer practice that changed everything for PaulaWhy systems are not the opposite of spirituality but the container that allows flow to happenPractical rituals for busy women that have nothing to do with Pinterest perfection, fresh flowers, a clean stove, coffee in peaceThis episode is for every woman who has ever felt like her home was holding her back instead of holding her up.Connect with Paula Agudelo:Website: sacredinteriors.design Personal site: paulaagudelo.com Book: House of Becoming — a poetry collection exploring the soul of the home and how to create sacred space for yourself Instagram: @sacredinteriors Resource: The Feng Shui Bagua 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.

Libra season is here, and with it comes one of the most meaningful invitations of the year. As we step into the waxing moon and welcome the energy of Libra, this week's Cycle Sync episode explores what balance actually means, not as a fixed point we're meant to hold perfectly, but as a constant, gentle recalibration as we move through our lives. If this year has felt intense, fast-moving, or just a little too much, this episode is for you.In this episode, you'll explore:⚖️ Why balance is not a fixed point and the beautiful walking metaphor that reframes everything⚖️ How the waxing moon and follicular phase call for tenderness and intentionality, not hustle, and the science behind why pushing through doesn't always get us there faster⚖️ Why building pause into your day is one of the most productive things you can do for your nervous system and your creativity⚖️ How play, real, agenda-free play, is essential for creativity, resilience, and emotional regulation according to research⚖️ What co-creation actually looks like in practice and how to stop trying to do it all aloneAnd more.Enjoying the show? 🌹🤲🏼We are approaching our two-year point with Healing Her Story, and this show is truly a labor of love. If these episodes have been supporting you in any way, one of the most meaningful things you can do is leave a rating and review or share this episode with a friend. That is how this show grows, and growing this show means reaching more women who need it.Thank you so much for being here. It truly means everything. 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.

This week's Healing Her Story episode touches on something that doesn't get talked about enough on the healing journey.How much are you allowing yourself to be supported?As Riva continues through Virgo season, the season of the helper, this solo episode explores what happens when service to others becomes a way of avoiding our own needs. And why so many women, especially those in caregiving roles, have never learned how to truly receive.In this episode Riva explores hyper-independence not as a personality trait but as a trauma response, one that forms when early bids for connection were met with inconsistency or unavailability. She shares her own memory of being told to brush off her feelings as a child, and how that small moment shaped the way she related to her own needs for years.She covers why we build our worth around how much we give, the research on co-regulation and why healing in relationship shifts the nervous system in seconds, why our relationships naturally begin to change as we heal, and why women especially need reciprocal connection to thrive.This episode is for every woman who gives endlessly and quietly wonders why no one ever asks how she is doing.Resources to Support You This Week:Fighting for Our Friendships by Danielle Barrard Jackson — the book anchoring Riva's women's circle, The SpiralLearn More About The Spiral — Riva's women's group in Sacramento, closing September 22ndBook Your Complimentary Get-To-Know-You CallSend 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.

This week's Healing Her Story episode arrives at a potent moment.Eclipse season is ending. A new cycle is beginning. And whatever the past several weeks stirred up in you is now ready to be honored and released.As Riva closes out Virgo season's ritual series, this episode offers three new moon practices to help you reset, restore, and prepare for the cycle ahead.Setting intentions — not just from the mind, but from the body and the heart. Riva shares the research on the default mode network and why the new moon is scientifically the perfect condition for deeper knowing to emerge.Smoke cleansing — and an honest conversation about cultural appropriation, why sourcing consciously matters, and how to honor the indigenous roots of this practice rather than bypassing them.Working with your menstrual blood — the one nobody talks about. Riva shares what emerging research is revealing about menstrual blood, why our conditioning to hide it runs so deep, and simple ways to begin coming into relationship with it if you feel called.This episode is an invitation to begin again. Slowly. With intention.Resources to Support You This Week:New Moon Somatic Breathwork Meditation — a meditation to support you in slowing down and dropping into deeper layers of yourself. Ethically Sourced Smudge Bundles — consciously sourced smoke cleansing herbs to support your ritual practiceCycle Support Map — a $4.95 PDF guide breaking down the four phases of the cycle, their connection to the seasons, and weekly somatic meditations 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.

This week's Healing Her Story episode welcomes a guest whose work carries a quality Riva noticed the moment she found her online.Spaciousness. Gentleness. Softness.Ana Uribe is a trauma therapist, compassionate inquiry practitioner, trauma-informed embodiment facilitator, and passionate advocate for plant medicine integration. Her work centers on helping people find inner safety in their bodies and nervous systems so they can heal and live with more connection, joy, and freedom.As Riva moves through Virgo season, the season of systems, this conversation arrives at exactly the right time.In this episode they explore why listening is the system, how to build structures that create flow rather than rigidity, and what it looks like to shift from systems built for survival to systems built for nourishment. They also explore why focusing on your closer concentric rings, yourself, your people, your community, may create more ripple than trying to change everything at once.This episode is a slow, spacious breath for anyone ready to build something new from the inside out.Connect with Ana Uribe:Website: ana-uribe.com Instagram: @ana_uribe_embodimentSend 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.

This week's Healing Her Story episode attunes to one of Riva's favorite phases of the entire cycle.The waning moon.And one of the biggest missed opportunities we have as women.We live in a culture that rewards producing, pushing, and performing. But the female body was never designed to operate that way all the time. During the premenstrual and waning moon phase, progesterone and estrogen decline, serotonin shifts, and the nervous system's capacity for stress significantly decreases.That is not a flaw. That is female physiology.In this episode Riva shares three rituals to honor this quieter, slower, more inward time, and the research that shows why honoring it actually matters.Honoring dying flowers — why placing wilting blooms on display during the waning moon reflects something profound back to us about our own worth in the slow seasonsYoni steaming — an ancient practice Riva has been exploring for three years, how she uses it in the days before her bleed, and the unexpected emotional releases it has supportedNesting — why the desire to declutter and tend to your space during this phase is not just in your head, backed by research showing cluttered environments elevate cortisol throughout the dayThis episode is a reminder that the waning moon deserves to be honored. Not just the bloom.Resources to Support You This Week:Yoni Steaming — Bajo Ritual — learn more about the practice Riva shares in this episodeBest Herbs for Yoni Steaming — a guide to choosing the right herbal blend for your needsTrauma-Informed Somatic Meditation for Rest and Restoration — this week's donation-based meditation on Insight Timer to support you in slowing down.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.

This week's Healing Her Story episode arrives with a phrase worth sitting with.Your body isn't a problem to optimize.Notice where that lands. Notice if something softens.As Riva moves through Virgo season she is exploring its shadow side, and one of the deepest shadow expressions of Virgo is perfectionism. The constant fixing. The constant managing. The constant reaching toward some idea of optimal that keeps moving further away.In this solo episode Riva explores what becomes possible when we stop treating our bodies like projects to be perfected and begin seeing symptoms and discomfort as messages from an intelligent system rather than problems to solve.She covers why constantly optimizing creates unsafety inside, how somatic psychology sees the body as a whole, why symptoms are actually signs your body is working, and how shifting into curiosity and experimentation can take the pressure off entirely.She closes with four reflection questions to sit with across the rest of Virgo season.This episode is for every woman who has ever felt like she was one more supplement away from finally being okay.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.

This is not just any full moon. As a full moon partial eclipse, this week carries an amplified quality of culmination, illumination, and completion.  And whatever story is beginning to unfold for you through this eclipse season may not yet be fully clear. With time, it will be. In the meantime, Riva shares four of her most meaningful full moon and ovulation rituals, grounded in menstrual cycle awareness, Traditional Chinese Medicine, manifestation practice, and the ancient art of feng shui, to help you work with this peak energy in a way that is simple, intentional, and deeply supportive.In this episode, you'll explore:🌕 Why the full moon and ovulation phase are associated with the heart and how to work with that connection somatically🌕 The tracking practice Riva uses in the three days before and after the full moon to find gratitude, trust, and clarity🌕 What scripting is, how to do it, and the surprising science behind why writing in cursive makes it a more embodied practice🌕 How feng shui connects to the full moon  and one simple ritual for inviting clarity into your home this week🌕 Why discernment is always the most important tool, especially during eclipse seasonAnd more.Resources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼📓 The Magic of I Planner — the cycle-aware planner Riva uses religiously for tracking, intention setting, and manifestation practices🌕 Magic of I Full Moon Blog Post — check back at the full moon for their dedicated full moon post📩 Book Your Somatic Assessment & Care Planning Session — ready to go deeper with your cycle awareness? This is your next step, and Synchronize pricing goes up at the end of the month🌹 Learn More About Synchronize, Riva's 4-month Somatic Menstrual Cycle Coaching Program  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.

In this episode, Riva sits down with Madison Murphy Barney, an Indigenous woman, sister, author, doula, and story-driven strategist, for a conversation that moves between public health systems, feminine leadership, doula care, and the wisdom mycelium has to offer us about staying in right relationship with ourselves, each other, and the earth. Madison shares a little bit about her new book, Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms, and what it means to lead and to heal from a place rooted in ancestral and Indigenous knowledge.In This Episode:🌹 Madison's personal story and healing journey🌹 Doula care as witnessing and accompaniment through life's thresholds —🌹 The balance of generosity and confrontation that effective doula care requires🌹 How mycelium and mushrooms show up as symbols of symbiotic relationship, mystery, and magic and an invitation to embrace wildness and creativity🌹 Bringing feminine values and earth-based wisdom into public health systems, and how public health drifted from communal, ancestral practices toward individualized medical careand so much more!Connect with Madison Murphy BarneyInstagramWebsiteSubstack: TERRACOTTAResources MentionedOur Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms by Madison Murphy BarneySend 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.

Virgo season is almost here and with it comes one of the most grounding and practical invitations of the entire year. In this episode, Riva introduces the theme for our new Virgo season mini-series: rituals and embodiment. As we move through eclipse season and step into the waxing moon, this is a moment to ask a deeper question, not just what you know about your cycle, but how you are actually living it.In this episode, you'll explore:🌿 Why ritual is one of the most powerful tools for embodying your menstrual cycle — and why we've lost touch with it as a culture🌿 What Virgo season's themes of earth, self-regeneration, and disciplined devotion have to do with your cycle awareness practice🌿 How coherence — matching what you feel on the inside with how you show up on the outside — can shift the quality of your everyday life🌿 Three simple rituals Riva uses during her follicular phase and the waxing moon to embody her cycle from the moment she starts her day🌿 Why simplicity is the secret to rituals that actually stick — and how to make them work for your real life and real capacityAnd more.Resources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼🔮 More on Virgo — What It Means to Have Virgo Placements — the CHANI article Riva references in this episode📱 The CHANI App — a beautiful tool for tracking the moon and staying connected to the astrological cycles🌸 The Follicular Phase: How to Support Your Body, Mind & Energy After Your Period — a deeper dive into the phase we're working with this week📩 Book Your Somatic Assessment & Care Planning Session — ready to go deeper with this embodiment work? This is your next stepSend 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 AroraAyurveda ABC's Connect 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.