She's Not Broken

In this episode of our What No One Told Me series, I sit down with birth doula, craniosacral therapist, and midwifery student Carol Anne Lesser to explore what true birth support really looks like. Together, we talk about the role of a doula, how our nervous system influences labor and birth, why feeling safe matters, and the balance between surrender and empowerment throughout the birth experience.

We also explore how birth shapes the postpartum season, the role of craniosacral therapy for mothers and babies, and why reconnecting with our bodies often begins by slowing down in a world that constantly asks us to push harder.

Whether you're preparing for your first birth, reflecting on a past experience, or simply curious about the incredible wisdom of the female body, my hope is that this conversation leaves you feeling more informed, more empowered, and more connected to yourself.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Transformed by Birth — Britta Bushnell, PhD
• Birthing from Within — Pam England & Rob Horowitz
• The First Forty Days — Heng Ou, Amely Greeven & Marisa Belger

Connect with Carol Anne

• Carol Anne Lesser's Website: Birth Doula & Craniosacral for Babies, Moms, & Everyone
• Carol Anne's Substack:Sexy as a Mother | Substack

In this episode of our What No One Told Me series, I sit down with licensed clinical social worker and EMDR therapist Callie to unpack trauma through a compassionate, easy-to-understand lens. Together, we explore what trauma actually is, how it impacts the brain and nervous system, what EMDR therapy is, and why healing is about so much more than simply "getting over it."

Trauma is a word we hear often, but many of us don't fully understand what it is, how it affects us, or why experiences from years ago can continue shaping the way we think, feel, and react today.

Whether you're curious about therapy, wondering why certain patterns keep showing up in your life, or simply wanting to understand yourself with more compassion, this conversation is for you.

Resources Mentioned:

Callie's Website: Missoula, Montana EMDR TherapistEMDR International Association Home | EMDR PractitionersDissociation Made Simple by Jamie Marich

Books Recommended by Callie

• My Grandmother's Hands — Resmaa Menakem
• It Didn't Start with You — Mark Wolynn
• Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving — Pete Walker
• Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma — Peter A. Levine
• What My Bones Know — Stephanie Foo

• The Complex PTSD Workbook — Dr. Arielle Schwartz

What if so many of the symptoms we experience aren't signs that our bodies are failing us—but signals that they're trying to communicate with us?

In this episode of our What No One Told Me series, I sit down with chiropractor and mother Dr. Liz Walker to explore the incredible relationship between the nervous system, stress, movement, and the body's innate ability to heal.

While our conversation begins with chiropractic care, it quickly expands into something much bigger. Together, we discuss how chronic stress affects the body, why regulation matters, the role of fascia and movement, and what it means to work with our bodies instead of constantly feeling like we're fighting against them.

Rather than asking, "What's wrong with me?" we explore a different question:

"What might my body be trying to tell me?"

Whether you're curious about chiropractic care, fascinated by the nervous system, or simply longing to better understand your body, this conversation invites you to become more curious, more connected, and more compassionate toward yourself.

Because maybe your body has never been working against you.

Maybe it's been trying to protect you all along.

Learn MoreWomen’s Health & Family Chiropractor in Missoula | Primal PracticePrimal Practice Chiropractic – InstagramDr. Liz Walker –Instagram

Why are so many women embarrassed to ask questions about their own bodies?

In this episode, I sit down with pelvic health physical therapist Alyssa Schock, DPT, Cert.DN, for a conversation about vaginas, pelvic health, and all of the things women have quietly wondered about but haven't always felt comfortable saying out loud.

We talk about how history and culture have shaped the way women understand—and sometimes disconnect from—these parts of our bodies, where shame and silence come from, and what gets lost when women don't have safe spaces to ask questions.

We also get into the things women actually want to know: vaginal odor and discharge, painful sex, leaking urine, pelvic pain, bowel and bladder concerns, prolapse, sexual health, pregnancy and postpartum, and the changes that continue through perimenopause, menopause, and aging.

But this conversation isn't about giving women another list of things to fix.

It's about replacing embarrassment with understanding.

Alyssa shares what decades of listening to women's stories have taught her about pelvic health, why so many women believe they're the only ones experiencing something, and what can change when a woman finally feels safe enough to ask the question she's been afraid to ask.

Because maybe we were never supposed to know everything about our bodies on our own. But we should be able to talk about them.

Connect with Alyssa:
Every Woman Project: Every Woman ProjectInspire Physical Therapy: Inspire Physical Therapy and Wellness | Missoula, MT

Once we understand hormones, there’s a bigger question to ask: what influences them?

In Part Two of my conversation with Dr. Christine White-Deeble, we zoom out from individual hormones and look at the whole woman—and the world she’s living in.

We talk about stress and the nervous system, sleep, nutrition, movement, relationships, environment, genetics, medications, different seasons of life, and the enormous mental and physical load many women are carrying. We also explore the loss of support and community around women, the pressure to “do it all,” and what happens when symptoms become something we simply learn to live with.

We also have a nuanced conversation about birth control, medication, hormone therapy, and why caring for our health doesn’t have to become a choice between “natural” and conventional medicine.

This episode isn’t about blaming every symptom on stress or finding one root cause for every hormonal issue. It’s an invitation to get curious about the bigger picture—to stop asking only, “How do I make this symptom go away?” and begin asking, “What might my body need me to pay attention to?”

Because sometimes understanding our bodies begins with recognizing that they don’t exist separately from the lives we’re asking them to live.

Hormones are talked about constantly, but how many of us were ever actually taught what they do and how they affect us?

In Part One of this two-part conversation, I sit down with Dr. Christine White-Deeble to build the foundation so many women never received. We talk about what hormones actually are, how they work together, and how they shift throughout puberty, our menstrual years, pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause.

We also explore what’s common versus what may be worth paying attention to, why women seek support for their hormones, and the different options available when something feels off—from lifestyle and integrative approaches to medication and hormone therapy.

This isn’t about giving you another list of things to “fix” about your body. It’s about finally understanding the body you’ve been living in all along—and having more information and agency when making decisions about your health.

In this episode of She Is Not Broken, Shelby sits down with somatic practitioner and sexological bodyworker Prairie Wolfe for a conversation about what it means to come home to your body—and why learning to listen may be one of the first steps toward reclaiming your agency.

So many of us have spent years learning to override the signals our body is sending us. We question what we feel, push past discomfort, disconnect from our own yes and no, and look outside ourselves for someone else to tell us what is right. Over time, it can become difficult to even recognize the language our body is speaking.

Together, Shelby and Prairie, explore how trauma, motherhood, relationships, religion, culture, and the expectations placed on women can shape the way we relate to our bodies. They talk about the difference between making choices from conditioning and making them from genuine agency, how the body communicates safety, discomfort, desire, boundaries, and connection, and what it can look like to rebuild trust after years of ignoring or questioning those signals.

They also explore intimacy both within sex and outside of it, how disconnection can turn us into performers or observers of our bodies instead of allowing us to fully experience them, and the importance of discernment in healing spaces that ask us to become vulnerable.

This conversation is an invitation to get curious about the relationship you have with your own body. Not to make it another thing you need to master, but to begin learning its language, listening to what it has been communicating, and discovering what it feels like to make choices from a deeper sense of connection, trust, and agency.

Connect With Prairie

Website: [INSERT WEBSITE]

Instagram: [INSERT INSTAGRAM]

Planning for the Fourth Trimester — Postpartum Support Classes Hosted by Prairie

Books Mentioned in This Episode

Call of the Wild — Kimberly Ann JohnsonThe Wheel of Consent — Betty MartinCome As You Are— Emily Nagoski

In this episode of She Is Not Broken, Shelby sits down with her sister Mattie Allred, a breathwork and somatic practitioner, for a conversation about what happens when we become disconnected from the experience of being alive in our own bodies.

Together, they explore why chronic stress, trauma, motherhood, and years of overriding ourselves can leave us living almost entirely from our minds—and what begins to return when the body finally feels safe enough to soften. Play. Curiosity. Creativity. Movement. Emotion. Stillness. Joy. The parts of us that can seem frivolous when there is so much to get done, but may actually tell us something important about how safe and present we feel in our lives.

They also talk about the difference between understanding healing intellectually and actually experiencing it, why we can know all the “right” things and still feel disconnected from ourselves, and how simple practices like breath, movement, curiosity, and noticing the body can help us begin to come back.

This isn't a conversation about escaping your responsibilities or creating a life with less to carry. It's about learning how to actually be here for the life you're already living—and remembering that the playful, expressive, curious parts of you aren't gone. They may just be waiting for enough safety to come back.

Book Reference:

Call of the Wild by Kimberly Ann Johnson

Motherhood changes our bodies, but it also changes the way we relate to them. And in a season when so many women are being told to “bounce back,” movement can easily become another place where we feel like we aren’t doing enough.

In this conversation with Jen Foleker, owner of FIT4MOM Missoula, we talk about finding a different relationship with movement after motherhood—one that isn’t centered around getting your old body back. We explore how our reasons for exercising can change, what movement gives us beyond physical results, and how we can have goals for our bodies without treating them like problems that need to be fixed.

We also talk about something moms need just as much as movement: other moms. Jen shares what she’s witnessed when women are given a space to show up with the babies, toddlers, snacks, interruptions, and messiness of real life—and how fitness can become a doorway into friendship, belonging, and feeling like yourself again.

This conversation is a reminder that taking care of your body doesn’t have to come from wanting to change it. Sometimes movement can simply be one of the ways we care for the woman living inside it.

Connect With Jen
Instagram: @fit4mom_missoula
Website: Fitness For Moms - FIT4MOM® Missoula

In this conversation with professional dancer, heels instructor, and mom Alissa Tucker, we explore how movement became less about performance and more about presence. We talk about why movement can feel so vulnerable, how shame quietly shapes the way women experience their bodies, and how culture often confuses sensuality with sexuality.

We also explore how motherhood changes our relationship with our bodies, the difference between confidence and performance, and what it looks like to model self-care, self-expression, and self-acceptance for the next generation.

Whether it's dancing in a studio, dancing in your kitchen, or simply learning to feel at home in your own body again, this episode is an invitation to see movement not as something you do to change yourself, but as a way of reconnecting with who you've always been.