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"What if the smartest part of your brain is the one that learned to hide?"

We start with a grounding practice to meet the body where it is, then sit with therapist and podcast host Malisa Hepner to unpack how the "golden child" mask, complex trauma, and perfectionism can quietly fracture a life—and how she pieced it back together.

In this conversation:

• Trauma as separation from self, not just "bad events"
• Why high achievers often carry hidden hypervigilance
• The spiritual awakening that felt like rewiring in real time
• Planning a suicide date—and the unexpected relief that created space to rebuild
• Launching Emotionally Unavailable podcast imperfectly on purpose
• Hospice lessons on presence when words fail
• The difference between being "healed" and living in ongoing healing

Malisa reframes tears as movement, not weakness. She offers hard-won language for the "fine while drowning" experience. And she proves that emotional availability isn't a badge—it's messy, daily practice.

Connect with Malisa Hepner here: empoweredwithmalisahepner.org

If you've ever felt like you had it together on paper but were quietly unraveling, this conversation offers tools, language, and a kinder map home.

🎧 Listen, share with someone who needs proof that imperfect is the way, and subscribe so we can keep these honest stories alive.

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🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

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The cards wouldn't shuffle. Then "Chop Wood" appeared twice. The universe was insisting on one message: transformation doesn't live in breakthroughs. It lives in what you do every single day.

In this episode:

• Why your nervous system resists simplicity (even when you crave peace)
• The real reason "just breathe" makes you roll your eyes
• Who you are when life isn't a crisis and why that scares you
• A guided somatic practice: breath, body, nervous system regulation
• Why consistent tiny practices create more change than dramatic moments

If you've ever wondered why healing feels so unsexy and repetitive, this is for you. We explore the gap between what you want (ease, flow, calm) and what your body chases (adrenaline, problems to fix, crisis to solve). Then we practice together: hand on heart, feet on ground, breath as devotion.

This episode includes a guided meditation you can return to anytime. No props needed. No perfection required. Just you, your breath, and your willingness to choose the sacred ordinary over the dramatic.

After a decade of this work, 250+ podcast episodes, and countless clients, one pattern is clear: the people who transform aren't the ones with the biggest breakthroughs they're the ones who show up to the small stuff consistently.

Keywords: nervous system regulation, daily practice, somatic healing, breathwork, trauma recovery, self-compassion, meditation, anxiety relief, emotional regulation

🎧 Like what you heard? Subscribe, share with someone who needs steadiness today, and leave a review to help others find the show.

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🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

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📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
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What if your body could trust your dreams? 

In this raw EFT tapping session, we tackle a high-stakes fear: promoting a deeply personal book while living with brain lesions, chronic pain, and the very real risk that stress could trigger relapse. 

Tapping coach Amy Vincze guides a live session that moves from 9/10 head pain to 2/10 in 45 minutes—not through bypassing fear, but by meeting it exactly where it lives in the body. 

You'll learn: 

✓ The complete tapping sequence (follow along)
 ✓ Why honest words must come before affirmations
✓ How early trauma shapes current procrastination
✓ Safety-first strategies for ambitious creative work
✓ The real-world tangle of disability benefits + visibility

This isn't about pushing through. It's about building nervous system capacity *first*, then taking one small step from that regulated place. Perfect for anyone navigating chronic illness, creative blocks, or the fear that ambition might break you.

🎥 PREFER VIDEO? Watch the full tapping demonstration on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiftOneSelf
(See the tapping points demonstrated and follow along)

CONNECT WITH AMY VINCE:
Website: https://soarwithtapping.com/
App: Soar with Tapping (160+ tapping scripts) 

If this lands for you, share it with someone who needs nervous system-friendly courage.

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🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

Slow & Steady - For when you want to slow down, feel, and practice this work alongside others in a supported space. CLICK HERE

📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
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📅 Free 20-Minute Clarity Call

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What if two minutes of breath could change the story you're living? We sit down with Rocío Aquino & Ángel Orengo to trace a path from chaos to center, through failure, forgiveness, and the everyday practices that make self-love practical. Their novel, The Orchid: The Secret Code of Modern Goddesses, isn't just a beautiful narrative; it's a field guide woven into story, where five women mirror our realities survival, perfectionism, hidden truth, anger, and longing and offer tools to move from pain to possibility.

We unpack why Orchid became their symbol: resilient, diverse, unmistakably feminine yet rooted in a surprising masculine etymology, embodying the balance our culture craves. Rocío speaks to trauma, nervous system safety, and the long road from external approval to inner harmony. Angel shares the ego's impulse to interrupt, the discipline of awareness, and the power of choosing where attention goes in a noisy world. Together they model respectful communication, mindful pauses, and a love that holds space for growth without codependency.

Expect practical takeaways: an accessible forgiveness framework, a two-minute mindful reset that actually works, mirror work to rebuild worth, and gratitude practices that shift focus from lack to sufficiency. We also explore how to navigate hard headlines without bypassing pain redirecting energy toward peace and intention while honoring reality.

The heartbeat is simple and brave: when you love yourself deeply and completely, you stop living at the mercy of externals and become the force in your own life. If this conversation sparked a tear, a laugh, or an aha, share it with someone who needs it.

Connect with Rocío Aquino & Ángel Orengo
https://www.theorchidbook.com/

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🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

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📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
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Your support keeps these honest, healing-centered conversations alive .

🎥 PREFER VIDEO? YouTube: @LiftOneSelf

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Mindfulness extends beyond being a buzzword into a practical, accessible tool for navigating life's challenges with greater ease and presence.
Alan Carroll, a public speaking coach with 50 years of spiritual practice, shares how creating space between thoughts transforms our relationship with emotions and enhances our ability to respond rather than react.

• Mindfulness lives in present time, while the ego lives in the past and future
• Creating space between thoughts allows us to observe rather than identify with our emotions
• The parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) counterbalances the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight)
• A simple breathing technique can interrupt anger patterns in just 10-12 seconds
• Daily practice of just five minutes with no expectations can begin transforming your relationship with thoughts
• Mindfulness doesn't negate human emotions but provides tools to experience them without drowning in them
• The "fifth element" of space is available to everyone, regardless of age or background
• Learning to "play the note of silence" alongside sound transforms communication

Find Alan Carrollat acamindfulyou.com or through his podcast, Mindful You, where he continues to share insights from his extensive experience training public speakers in over 60 countries.

Support the show

 READY TO GO DEEPER?
🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

Slow & Steady - For when you want to slow down, feel, and practice this work alongside others in a supported space. CLICK HERE

📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
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Your support keeps these honest, healing-centered conversations alive .

🎥 PREFER VIDEO? YouTube: @LiftOneSelf

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Amy Robeson, an Akashic Record Master teacher, explains how to access the Akashic Records and receive guidance and healing through this spiritual practice. We explore how the records contain every thought and experience from the moment of soul inception, providing a judgment-free source of wisdom tailored to each individual's journey.

• Akashic Records defined as a field of infinite possibilities containing your soul's complete history
• Different people perceive the records differently - as a library, nature, or cosmic energy
• The records provide guidance without judgment by considering your entire soul journey
• Specific, open-ended questions yield more profound insights than yes/no questions
• Betting on yourself and clearly defining intentions helps manifest desired outcomes
• Writing to your younger self can be healing and reach others who need similar healing
• Slowing down helps align mind and body, breaking illusions and creating space for clarity
• Words carry energetic frequencies that can heal both the writer and reader

Find Amy at https://theamyrobeson.com/free to access her free sacred gifts including 20+ free healings. Check out her podcast "Awakening with Amy Robison" and follow her on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram for free group readings and Akashic record classes.

Support the show

 READY TO GO DEEPER?
🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

Slow & Steady - For when you want to slow down, feel, and practice this work alongside others in a supported space. CLICK HERE

📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
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If this conversation opened something in you a breath, a tear, a recognition you can support this work here: 👉  buymeacoffee.com/liftoneself
Your support keeps these honest, healing-centered conversations alive .

🎥 PREFER VIDEO? YouTube: @LiftOneSelf

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87 days left in 2025. How did you invest your most valuable asset—your time?**

If you keep saying “I’ll do it next time” and never do, this episode is for you. We pull apart the unspoken rules keeping you small, be polite when disrespected, stay small so others feel safe, don’t ask for too much and replace them with clarity, boundaries, and self-trust you can feel in your body.

You’ll get a guided mindful reset to calm your inner critic, plus practical steps to stop performing and start living like your life is yours. We talk about naming rock bottom as orientation (not failure), setting boundaries without drama, and what changes when you finally ask: *“Is this even mine?”*

**In this episode:**
• Time audit as a reality check on what matters
• Exposing inherited rules and people-pleasing scripts
• Clarity over being “difficult” as a reframe
• Guided breath and inner coach activation
• Naming rock bottom as orientation, not failure
• Micro-steps to shift from performing to living
• Boundaries you can enforce with calm
• Choosing breakthroughs by asking “Is this even mine?”
• Choosing now over “next time” with simple actions

Rock bottom can look like heartbreak, burnout, grief, or quiet misalignment, it’s all valid data. When you claim where you are, your brain stops wasting energy on the facade and can finally help you navigate forward.

**If this opened something for you, join the LiftOneSelf community** for emotional sobriety tools, meditations, and conversations to get off autopilot.

**👉🏽 LiftOneSelf.com**

**What’s one rule you’re ready to rewrite?** Tag us on social @LiftOneSelf or drop a voice note—we read every single one.

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 READY TO GO DEEPER?
🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

Slow & Steady - For when you want to slow down, feel, and practice this work alongside others in a supported space. CLICK HERE

📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
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If this conversation opened something in you a breath, a tear, a recognition you can support this work here: 👉  buymeacoffee.com/liftoneself
Your support keeps these honest, healing-centered conversations alive .

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Bob Martin shares his remarkable journey from flunking out of college to becoming a mob lawyer and eventually a meditation teacher, illustrating how unexpected doors can open when we remain open to transformation.

• Born to immigrant parents who survived persecution in Eastern Europe
• Received a football scholarship but flunked out of college
• Worked as a prosecutor under Janet Reno during Miami's "cocaine cowboys" era
• Transitioned to defending the same mob figures he once prosecuted
• Discovered spirituality through a 72nd generation Taoist grandmaster
• Moved to North Carolina to start fresh and deepened his meditation practice
• Now teaches at Elon University and helps others find inner peace

Our nervous systems evolved for a much simpler environment with clear dangers, not today's chronic, ambiguous stressors
• Meditation helps create space between ourselves and our thoughts
• With just 10 minutes of practice daily for 2-3 weeks, we can begin breaking conditioning
• True happiness comes through service to others, not self-focus
• Both Eastern and Western spiritual traditions share core wisdom when we look beyond surface differences

Visit awiseandhappylife.com for free meditation resources, downloadable guides, and contact information. Email Bob directly at [email protected].

Support the show

 READY TO GO DEEPER?
🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

Slow & Steady - For when you want to slow down, feel, and practice this work alongside others in a supported space. CLICK HERE

📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
Book

📅 Free 20-Minute Clarity Call

💛 SUPPORT THE SHOW

If this conversation opened something in you a breath, a tear, a recognition you can support this work here: 👉  buymeacoffee.com/liftoneself
Your support keeps these honest, healing-centered conversations alive .

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Your body whispers before it shouts. And when we ignore it, the cost shows up as burnout, grief flare-ups, and a nervous system stuck on high alert.

In this episode, I open up about pushing past my limits at a social event, how it reopened the imprint of a medical crisis with someone I love, and what it taught me about capacity: it isn’t weakness, it’s bandwidth. From that honest starting point, we unpack a clearer blueprint for restoration that goes far beyond sleep.

I walk you through the seven types of rest—physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, and spiritual—and share simple, practical ways to diagnose what you’re truly missing. You’ll hear:

• how active recovery like stretching can be more replenishing than another hour on the couch
• why a five-minute break in a dim room can soothe sensory overload
• how creative rest isn’t producing but receiving beauty and awe
• what emotional rest looks like through truth-telling and safe tears
• how social rest comes through smarter boundaries and nourishing relationships
• and how spiritual rest can be found in meaning, nature, ritual, prayer, and service that fills you instead of empties you

There’s also a guided micro-practice to help you locate your exact deficit and choose one small step to restore it. The goal isn’t adding more to your plate—it’s choosing the right kind of rest so your energy refills instead of leaking.

✨  download your free ebook The 7 Types of Rest.

Support the show

 READY TO GO DEEPER?
🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

Slow & Steady - For when you want to slow down, feel, and practice this work alongside others in a supported space. CLICK HERE

📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
Book

📅 Free 20-Minute Clarity Call

💛 SUPPORT THE SHOW

If this conversation opened something in you a breath, a tear, a recognition you can support this work here: 👉  buymeacoffee.com/liftoneself
Your support keeps these honest, healing-centered conversations alive .

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Aisha Makara shares her journey from burnout to intentional living, revealing how establishing boundaries and clear communication transformed her life and creative practice. She offers profound insights on becoming a powerful creator of your own reality through intention, presence, and self-awareness.

• Moving from America to Europe revealed the extent of burnout from the "go-go-go" lifestyle
• Givers must learn to receive and establish clear boundaries to avoid depletion
• Direct communication prevents misunderstandings and unmet expectations
• We can create "heaven now" through our relationships and conscious choices
• The power of words shapes our actions, habits, and ultimately our reality
• Rejection is simply "not today" – persistence requires just one yes to succeed
• Focusing on what you have internally rather than external limitations
• Seek mentors who have accomplished what you aspire to achieve
• Practice curiosity like children do – asking questions without judgment
• Patience with yourself is essential – "Moscow wasn't built in one day"

Be kind to yourself. I'm inviting people to be more kind with themselves because the world becomes so beautiful when we learn about kindness, love, caring, safety, and security.

Find more about Aisha here https://aisha.today/

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 READY TO GO DEEPER?
🔥 Emotional Sobriety Workshop – Full nervous system regulation practices and tools to help you live in a feeling body that thinks. Click Here

Slow & Steady - For when you want to slow down, feel, and practice this work alongside others in a supported space. CLICK HERE

📞 1:1 Sessions – Work directly on your specific patterns. I specialize assisting those ready to move from managing actually living.
Book

📅 Free 20-Minute Clarity Call

💛 SUPPORT THE SHOW

If this conversation opened something in you a breath, a tear, a recognition you can support this work here: 👉  buymeacoffee.com/liftoneself
Your support keeps these honest, healing-centered conversations alive .

🎥 PREFER VIDEO? YouTube: @LiftOneSelf

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