Beyond Birth Trauma with Shannon O'Flaherty: From Burden to Brilliance

Money stress doesn't begin at the checkout. For many new and expectant parents, financial anxiety is one of the most invisible but powerful forces shaping the birth experience and early parenting journey. In this episode, Shannon O'Flaherty sits down with Ted McLyman, behavioral finance expert and former U.S. Marine Corps officer, to explore why so many people feel irrational, ashamed, or stuck when it comes to money. Ted's central insight is bold and liberating: money is not a math problem, it's a behavior problem. Drawing on decades of experience, from the Naval Academy to Wall Street to his own reinvention as a behavioral finance coach, Ted reveals why conventional financial advice fails most people, and what actually works instead. Together, Shannon and Ted explore how our money beliefs are rooted in childhood conditioning, cultural values, and emotional wiring, and how understanding your personal money temperament can unlock a completely new relationship with abundance. If financial stress has ever complicated a pregnancy, a new baby, or your sense of worth, this episode is for you.

   In this conversation, Dr. Helen Orombi shares a systems-based approach to understanding money and income growth. Rather than focusing on strategy or mindset alone, she introduces the concept of the Internal Protection System, the internal network of identity, nervous system conditioning, and protective parts that shape how much money, success, and visibility feel safe. This episode explores why capable, driven women often find themselves financially stuck despite doing everything "right," and what actually creates sustainable change. We also look at how early life experience, including birth trauma and developmental wounding, gets wired into the body long before we have words for it, and how that shapes our entire relationship with money, visibility, and worth.

What if the "disconnected" chapters of your life, were actually the precise blueprints for your greatest work? In this episode of Beyond Birth Trauma - From Burden to Brilliance we sit down with Bree Dellerson, an expert in inner alchemy who bridges the gap between the mechanistic body and the living light field and discuss with here how to Consciously Create Your Vibrational Health . Bree shares her journey from the 1990s healing scene and Montessori education to mastering acupuncture and vibrational medicine. We dive deep into the "Path to Wholeness," exploring how to transition from a "porous" state of being to a state of clear, coherent integrity.You will learn:Heart Sourcing: Why affirmations often fail and how to crystallize intentions directly from the heart’s frequency.The Geometry of Boundaries: How healthy boundaries aren't walls you build against others, but a restoration of your own internal light flow.Inner Alchemy in Action: Real-world stories of how clearing internal distortions can literally restructure your outer reality, from resolving neighbour disputes to shifting career paths.Awareness as a Needle: How to use your focus to restore your life force and achieve a complete identity shift within a year.Tune in to discover how to stop "high-vibing" and start living a life that is clear, coherent, and aligned with the music of your own heart. Free gift:  https://gift.breedellersonlac.com/shannon 

In this episode of Beyond Birth Trauma, we sit down with Devora Segall, a mother of ten, therapist, and author, to explore the invisible threads that connect our own birth stories to the way we parent today. Devora shares the touching history of her own mother’s isolated and traumatic hospital birth, an experience that sparked a generational mission to find deeper, more biological connections through nursing and attachment. We discuss how these "birth imprints" and the struggles of our mothers and grandmothers shape our own nervous systems before we even hold our first child. If you have ever felt trapped in the yelling-guilt cycle, Devora offers a lifeline. She introduces us to DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy), a powerful toolkit for moving out of "emotion mind" and into "Wise Mind." Through her personal stories, from the stress of getting a stubborn four-year-old dressed for school to managing the dynamics of a large family, she teaches us that we don't need to be perfect; we just need to be aware.In this conversation, you’ll learn:How your mother’s birth experience might be influencing your parenting style.The "DEAR MAN" technique for communicating boundaries without rupturing connection.Why "validation" is the most important step before asking a child to change their behavior.How to forgive yourself and "repair" the relationship when things go wrong.This is a heart-centered guide for any mother who wants to stop reacting from a place of past pain and start leading her family with calm, grounded confidence.

  What if the "stuck" feeling you’re experiencing today didn’t actually start with you? In this powerful solo episode of Beyond Birth Trauma, Shannon O’Flaherty dives deep into the invisible threads of our lineage, exploring how we carry up to seven generations of cellular memory and ancestral "oaths" in our bodies. When a guest's technical issues left Shannon to "wing it," she delivered a masterclass in holistic healing. You’ll learn why your birth story actually begins with your grandmother, how to use muscle testing to communicate with your subconscious, and the science of rewiring neural pathways to break cycles of shame and scarcity. Shannon also shares practical ways to connect with your ancestors for guidance and introduces her "Return to You" method for releasing emotional shock. If you feel out of alignment or are tired of repeating the same life patterns, this episode offers the roadmap to reclaim your power and move back into the flow of universal abundance.

 In this deeply honest and expansive conversation, Janet shares her journey from being the sixth child in a large Catholic family to becoming a nurse, educator, and coach navigating burnout, boundaries, and a profound spiritual re-remembering. Together, we explore how birth order, early medical experiences, religious conditioning, and people-pleasing quietly shape our nervous systems, our self-worth, and our capacity to receive life on our own terms. This episode dives into:How early “small-t” traumas create lifelong patterns of self-abandonmentThe hidden cost of being the good girl, helper, or healerBurnout as a sacred wake-up call—not a personal failureReclaiming spirituality beyond patriarchy, guilt, and rulesWhy healing doesn’t have to be hard when you’re supported and witnessed If you’re a woman in midlife feeling exhausted, disillusioned, or quietly longing for more, this conversation will help you name what’s been happening—and gently guide you back to yourself. ✨ You are not broken. ✨ You are remembering.

Born with spina bifida and shaped by early medical trauma, displacement, and nervous-system shock, Claudine Marchand’s life began at the intersection of vulnerability and resilience. In this powerful episode, Claudine traces her journey from an unconventional conception and birth in Morocco, through childhood surgeries and physical limitation, to a world-class scientific career—and eventually, a profound reckoning with the limits of mainstream medicine. With rare clarity, she weaves together neuroscience, embodied trauma, alternative medicine, indigenous wisdom, and spiritual remembrance, offering a radically integrated view of healing. This is not a story about overcoming a condition. It is a conversation about remembering who we are beyond diagnosis, conditioning, and social molds.

Waking Up to Spirit in a Very Human Life is an intimate conversation about what happens when your inner knowing begins to speak louder than logic. In this episode, we explore Eliza Wai’s journey from engineer to energy healer — the moment spirit breaks through a busy, overworked life, how intuition awakens, and what it means to live between worlds without losing your grounding. We talk about forgotten gifts, childhood conditioning, duality, claircognizance, and the courage it takes to trust what you’re sensing when it doesn’t fit the mainstream narrative. If you’ve ever felt like there’s more to who you are than the life you’ve been living — or if you’re navigating an awakening while still fully human — this episode will meet you exactly where you are. Everything you need is already inside you. This is a remembering.

 Why do so many women feel stressed, unworthy, or “not enough” when it comes to money — no matter how hard they work? In this powerful episode of Beyond Birth Trauma: From Burden to Brilliance, I am joined once again by the remarkable Dr. Helen Orombi, whose journey from Ugandan village life to earning three master’s degrees and a doctorate reveals the hidden truth about money, identity, and internalized self-worth. Together, they explore: ✨ How early money imprints shape our adult stress responses ✨ Why women inherit generational narratives of lack, fear, and over-giving ✨ The nervous system’s role in money blocks (and what actually releases them) ✨ The cultural conditioning that teaches women to play small ✨ How to shift from survival mode into a frequency of abundance If you have ever: • undercharged, over-given, or second-guessed her brilliance • struggled with money anxiety regardless of your  income • felt alone in the weight of financial stress • carried inherited stories of “not enough” this show is for you!  You’ll walk away with profound insights, somatic tools, and a radically empowering new way to relate to money, worth, and your own inner power. ? Listen now and begin to rise above your old money script.

Birth isn’t broken. The system is.And women are paying the price. In this episode, Jo Dunn, professional Doula, pulls back the curtain on the industrial maternity system and reveals what women are never told about their bodies, their power, and their births. She shares her unfiltered perspective about what’s really happening inside modern maternity care—coercion, fear-based protocols, and the erosion of informed choice. If you’ve ever felt pressured, dismissed, or scared during pregnancy or birth…this episode is your validation AND your liberation.

When Marlene Bumgarner and her husband moved to a rural plot of land in 1973, she thought of herself as simply a young mother seeking an affordable and safe place in which to raise her child.By the time she left the land nearly a decade later, she had written two books and a weekly newspaper column, served as contributing editor to a national magazine, a college instructor, and a sought-after public speaker. Her natural food store, The Morgan Hill Trading Post, was the first one in her community.

    In this episode, Steve Parker unveils the Magnetic Heart Activation, a powerful process to heal faster, release victim patterns, and reconnect to Source.. Learn how your heart’s energy field holds the key to emotional healing, spiritual awakening, and lasting transformation.

Kathryn McCullough shares her personal story of being born into trauma; having parents who needed to keep secrets and having to define the line between love and liability. 

  Episode 1 Description: Taking our experience and perceptions from childhood into our adult years can be damaging or empowering.  The choice is up to you.  Kathy is an extremely successful business woman who came from challenging beginnings, and with deep personal healing work she learned to understand what was hers and how to turn it all around so she could reach the heights that she did in her career.  She wasn’t without fear, but kept doing the work to experience all the benefits. A highly inspirational woman with amazing stories I am so happy to have her here with me today.    

In this episode we meet Shannon's 90 year old father and get insight into how important communicating openly is especially intergenerationally.

Growing up suffering from allergies and digestion issues, and working as a physical therapist, Nancy saw first hand how we can greatly impact our own bodies ability to heal. She began to explore other possibilities of understanding the root of her allergies. She was triggered when she heard me talk about The Oath of Silence and wondered how it could all be related to losing her father as a baby.

  Corinne and many women receive the calling to go deeper when they discover they are pregnant. This episdoe is about Corinne’s journey of surrendering to the Divine Plan given to her. We think we have to have it all together in pregnancy in motherhood, but if we trust our intuition and guidance from the Divine Mother, and follow her guidance, there are multidimensional and spiritual experiences we can have during childbirth. 

The Sacral Chakra is our power centre. It's where we stem from. It governs so much about how we feel and experience the world around us, and it's also about our relationships and predominantly the relationship we have with ourselves.  It's about our emotional and sensual well being.  We start to discover what being human is means for us, discovering who we are and how we experience life through our feelings.

This show is about birth, vaginas, bacteria, seeding and all things “taboo”. When is it right to trust the mainstream medical advice and when is it best to trust your intuition? What kind of birth do YOU want to have that is right for you?  How to uphold your authority in labour. Education is power! The journey into motherhood is perhaps one of the most sacred, misunderstood rites of passage a woman can experience. In this episode, Helen Shackleton shares her personal unfolding – from the power of birth and the shift in identity, to the deepening of love, the rise of intuition, and what it means to mother in a time of awakening and overwhelm.

This show is about how we are all connected to the animal kingdom all the time and why we’re not listening? Lorena shares fascinating examples of animal communication and how we can tune in and use it to help ourselves, as well as our animals heal.

How the presence of the eternal mother relates to our individual healing of the mother wound and our collective birth trauma.

Fertility requires abundant cellular energy.  It all starts from here. If we want to increase fertility health, prevent complications in pregnancy, and be healthy parents raising healthy children, we need to start thinking of preconception care more broadly.  Kindreth knows from personal experience that confronting infertility can be an exhausting and lonely journey.  She views health through the bio-psycho-social lens and supports women through acupuncture and coaching to increase their fertility health.

Because of birth trauma and subsequent abuse, Debra perceived she had to wear a Cloak of Invisibility. Having never been seen or heard she felt safest to be in the shadows.  Today she shares how that childhood perception and belief manifested in her life and what she had to overcome in order to feel at peace and succeed.  Debra offers the opportunity for people to find their voices and share their message with the world especially for people who are not seen and heard and do not feel valued. 

In this episode Kay del Vallecito, one of the most resourceful women I know, shares with us how she came to live in Peru and utilise all of her lifeskills to create an ecological home and community while raising a special child with severe birth trauma. I mean get this woman a cape! She opens up about their journey together and what she has learned.

In this episode I'm going to re-introduce myself and my story incase you are just tuning in now and talk about why having a balanced root chakra is so important to our early imprints around safety, belonging and stabiltiy.   My story: Mom as 3 months pregnant with me and started to hemmorage...her uterus was tipped. We're pretty certain she miscarried my twin sister at that point, although that information came out many many years later!   She had to lay in bed for therest of her pregnancy and stand on herheadevery hour on the hour to tip it back in place, so htat she wouldn't miscarry me.   So me, the baby, felt trapped. My spirit didn;t think it was a great idea to stay, and knowing what I know now about losing a twin, I was also grieving, which later explained a lifetime of deep sadness and loss that "technicnally" didn't really make sense.   When I finally decided to come out, a nurse panciked and tried to hold me in not permitting me to be born!  So I swallowed a lot of gunk and was very ill the first six months of my life not being able to digest anything.  It also created chronic neck problems.   The worst part was that I was not put onto my mother, but instead whisked away all ten pounds of me, jaundiced and put in an incubator for three days.  So me, the baby, felt after being trapped, then I wasn't allowed out, and then I wasn't wanted because I wasn't held and separate from my mother. And she also chose not to breastfeed me, so again lost out on that essential bonding.   This unfolding of events manifested in my central nervous system being affected, the doctors were concerned to see how that would play out. I'm fine, and only my mother would notice the ever so slight tremor I get when I'm overdoing things. It also manifested with me not trusting authority, disliking small enclosed spaces, and always wanting to be first, never feeling I could ever get enough holding. Digestive issues, until they discovered goats milk, and always extreme sensitivity to cold.   And boy did I ever walk on eggshells around my mother.     I didn't find out about the being held in and being in an incubator part until I was 37.  I went to my first Transactional Analysis class and we had to write down what our mothers were feeling when they were pregnant with us.  I wrote down something like, "Trapped, frustrated and totally alone." I had other reasons for thinking those things but Mom happened to be visiting me in England at that point and I asked her what she felt and she said the exact thing I had written on my paper.  She explained her feelings at the time.  And then she told me the rest of my birth story and I cried in her arms until I had salt trails on my face.  It explained so much about our relationship.   It's essential to ask yourslf and your mother how your birth went?  How did your entry into this world shape your sense of security?  Do you feel supported by life, or are you always on guard?   I have a pdf of birth questions to ask your mother, father, grandparents, spirit!  You can have access to this on my website: shannonbtb.com or shannonoflaherty.com   After the break I'll talk about the root chakra which is all about our Foundations of Safety.   ***   Chakras are energy vortexes shaped like spinning funnels of bioenergetic activity in 7 key areas of our bodies. We also have many secondary or mini- chakras too. The term chakra originates in India but many different cultures work with this fascinating field where physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energies all come together.  Chakras don’t just interact with each other, they also have the potential to connect us to the energetic interaction of our world and universe, connecting spirit and matter, mind and body.   Each chakra influences the organs associated with it, ligaments, muscles and veins and any other body part within it’s field.  They also affect the endocrine system, which is a network of glands and organs that produce and release hormones into the bloodstream to control many of our bodily functions.   Chakras are also strongly connected to our moods, personality, belief systems, physical and psychological evolution and spiritual journey. Basically they are an intrinsic part of our overall health and wellbeing which is why we want them to be in balance and flowing properly.   Nowhere is the chakra journey more apparent than during pregnancy as new being manifests in the mother’s body and is brought into the physical realm through the multidimensional initiation of childbirth.  Learning about the passage of the baby through pregnancy, birth and the first 6 months to 2 years of life and the significance for the baby’s foundation and birth imprint is truly empowering knowledge.   Understanding our chakras as a map for rediscovering our inner landscape and re-energising the centres that our ancestral legacy, unconscious conditioning and life experiences have closed down, helps us understand and cultivate our own energy preventing illness and a multitude of possible issues.   Our root chakra is located at the base of our spine above the perineum, below the cervix and in front of the coccyx. Basically between our front and back privies.    It is our foundation of personal power, well being and our connection to the Pachamama (Mother Earth). And just like a tree with its beautiful roots connecting it, it lets us know that we are connected and safe to grow into our highest potential.   On a literal level its about our safety, security and primal needs for survival; ie: food, shelter, safety and security.  It helps us meet our daily demands of what we need to survive. If its in balance we’ll stay self confident and out of fear.   Anatomically, it governs our bones, blood, our immune systems, the colon, rectum, vagina, lower pelvis, pelvic floor, base of spine, legs and feet. It’s domain is also the hips, our vitality, stamina, strength and energy. It also governs the sexual and birthing instinct and has the power to open the vagina to receive the sperm, to release menstrual fluid and to birth babies.   Emotionally its about feeling protected, and having strong foundations about our groundedness, stability and trust, as well as our survival and security. Our emotions and physicality go together because if our energy is out of whack, it will affect our emotions.   Mentally its about our foundation, our contentedness and connection to the earth. It holds the space for us to connect to the tribe or family we were born into even if life’s journey has pushed us in another direction.   With a balanced root chakra we’ll stay out of worry and attract all that we desire with a quiet sense of strength and confidence about us.  We’ll also be reassuring for others to be around because they’ll feel that calmness and easy going -ness about us.    The beliefs about the root chakra grounds us to the earth, its about our abundance. It’s also about our inability to let go, and all the lack, scarcity and abundance issues you may have, live here.   When its not working properly there’s a lack of vitality. When we feel vulnerable about our survival or safety, victimised by society or within our family or clan, this chakra may need some stabilising. If a woman feels unsafe and frightened, or isn’t grounded or feeling safe and secure, her labour may become slow and difficult or even stop altogether if cervical regression arises from stress.   We may have food and health issues, or feel spacey or un- grounded. We could also have problems with our bones and blood.   In Sanskrit the root chakra is called Muladhara which translates to "root of existence". It's made up of two words: mula, which means "root", and dhara, which means "flux".    The Root chakra is our foundation and beliefs related to the root are about: security, safety, anything around work, order, routine, whether you feel nurtured or if you nurture yourself, what your nutrition is like, fairness, organisation, honesty, flexibility, responsibility and health.   When you regain balance in your foundation in all of those qualities, your spirit will inspire all your own personal ways for maintaining that balance.   Some ways that root chakra issues could potentially manifest: Physically, our bones are the structure of our bodies.  They literally hold us up and without them we’d just be a big puddle of skin and organs.   Our ligaments, muscles and nervous system are all based on the bones because the bones are the core of all that we are! Bones can pertain to sacrifice and worthiness issues like not feeling supported, deserving or worthy and not trusting.   Our colons hold onto old issues like anger, resentment, fear, guilt, old abuse ad the ability to accept love.  So if you have any issues like irritable bowel, or any rectum issues like haemorrhoids (unless you’re pregnant which is common in pregnancy).  It’s all about eliminating old stuff.  All the old stuff that holds us back in life.   We may also feel frustrated because things we intellectually know, we still somehow cannot break out of our habitual patterns. Until now! Stick with me, you’ll soon learn how to grasp your destiny by the reins.   Because the root chakra also governs our feet, hips, knees and spine which is all about moving forward, standing tall and feeling secure and safe to step out into the abyss of the unknown.   So if you are constantly making excuses, that chunks down to fear. If you have an inspired moment, a real “AHA” moment, what often happe

In this episode, we dive deep into the transformative power of ritual and how it serves as a pathway to reclaiming personal sovereignty, reconnecting with nature, and realigning with our natural rhythms. Ritual is more than just a practice—it is a remembering, a way to root back into our own inner authority and intuition. Whether through daily sacred moments or full ceremonial experiences, rituals help us break free from societal conditioning, honor the wisdom of the earth, and cultivate a more intentional, empowered life. We’ll explore how integrating ritual into your life can support deep healing, self-trust, and a profound sense of belonging.Watch here: https://youtu.be/1bOsfSHvcPY  

In this episode of Beyond Birth Trauma, I'm joined by Raminyah Ingram to explore how our earliest developmental stages — from conception to childhood, and especially through the rite of passage marked by the first menstrual cycle — shape our cellular memory, beliefs, and adult behaviors. Drawing on ancient wisdom and modern understanding, Raminyah explains how everything learned in the womb and early years is called forth by the hypothalamus and expressed through the body’s hormonal systems. We also delve into how siblings raised in the same household can emerge with entirely different perceptions, due to unique maternal experiences and imprinting. This powerful conversation will change how you view childhood, womanhood, and the ancestral wisdom encoded in your very blood.    Watch Livestream Here: https://www.transformationtalkradio.com/watch.html

As a birthing doula, Sophie Kirkham talks about Healing the Vital Cycles of Birth and the impact of separation. We delve into her own journey of birthing and healing, an ongoing generational journey and experience an M-Braining tecnique for centering.   Watch Livestream Here!

In this episode, we explore how past experiences, generational conditioning, and societal influences shape our identity and impact our healing journey. Helen Orombi, an empowerment and transformational coach, shares insights on how survival-based patterns and ancestral influences can block us from stepping into our highest potential. Together, we dive into Ubuntu—“I am because we are”—as a powerful framework for transformation. Helen also shares practical tools, including EFT tapping, to release stored trauma, rewire subconscious conditioning, and step into self-mastery. To tune in live or on demand to watch Shannon and Helen's amazing conversation: http://www.transformationtalkradio.com/watch.html 

According to Dr. Claire Zammit of Woman’ Centered Coaching, the three main patterns that particularly women across the globe experience are not being good enough, fear of being alone, and being invisible.     Watch https://www.transformationtalkradio.com/watch.html 

The energy around your birth from what was going on with your ancestors - your familial baseline, your parents, when you were in utero, and actually being born followed by what environment you were born into sets up your energy blueprint. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDX9RJRJS1I 

Shannon and Dr. Pat discuss how Shannon was awakened to the healing path and how it led to her helping people uncover the mystery of their own birth trauma imprint and how it affects their lives.Watch Shannon and Dr. Pat Livestream Here!