In this episode, Lisa shares community updates—including her upcoming Omega retreat, new Patreon offerings, and a free trauma‑informed restorative yoga class—before diving into the mind‑body foundations that make intentional weight loss safe and sustainable. She reflects on validating research about trauma‑informed weightlifting, explores how conscious input reshapes our relationship with discomfort, and reads powerful real‑time shifts from a friend practicing breathwork, posture awareness, and internal safety. Lisa unpacks pendulum swings around boundaries, spiritual fitness, and gym confidence, and she illustrates how practices like cold exposure, saunas, and mindful movement build resilience when approached with titration and choice. Throughout, she emphasizes safety, agency, and embodied presence as the groundwork for the intentional weight‑loss guidance coming next.

Topics Include:

• Trauma‑Informed Strength

• Real‑Time Mind‑Body Shifts Through Practice

• Pendulum Swings, Boundaries, and Spiritual Fitness

• Conscious Effort, Agency, and the Work Ahead

[0:51] Lisa announces upcoming community offerings: the Omega Institute retreat (July 12–17) with a free one‑hour coaching session for anyone who registers before May 15; a free live trauma‑informed restorative yoga practice on May 14 focused on cultivating bodily safety and mind–body union; and the launch of her Patreon, where the $25 tier includes a monthly live call, the $10 tier offers extra behind‑the‑scenes content, and the $5 tier supports the podcast as an energy exchange.

[9:55] Lisa shares that she is currently in a doctoral program in trauma‑informed practice and leadership, and she describes how her coursework—especially a class on bottom‑up, somatic interventions—deepens and validates everything she teaches. She reflects on an assigned research article on “trauma‑informed weightlifting,” noting how the findings mirror her lived experience of strength training as a pathway to empowerment and healing. She emphasizes how affirming it feels to see academic research catching up to what she has known in her body for years.

[15:28] Lisa shares a text exchange with “Bob,” who applies the Solo Series tools and sees real‑time shifts—reframing high involvement/low attachment, correcting years of “backwards” breathing shaped by the male gaze, improving posture, easing digestive discomfort, and meeting fear with love—showing how consistent, embodied practice creates tangible change. 

[35:15] Lisa highlights how building safety, competence, and agency in the gym transforms strength training into an empowering, trauma‑informed practice that reinforces confidence and embodied trust. Lisa shows how reframing conscious inputs shifts discomfort into choice and safety, creating the conditions for sustainable, self‑directed change.

[45:31] Lisa explains that stress isn’t one‑size‑fits‑all—what your body can handle changes depending on your season of life, your responsibilities, your energy, and your unique biology. She highlights that sustainable change comes from noticing those shifts and adjusting your expectations accordingly, instead of forcing yourself to operate the same way in every season. 

[1:08:29] Lisa positions intentional weight loss as the next phase of the Solo Series, emphasizing that upcoming episodes will translate all the groundwork—safety, agency, conscious input, and emotional regulation—into clear, trauma‑informed guidance for sustainable change.

Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this solo episode, Lisa invites listeners into a deeper exploration of how we relate to discomfort—whether it shows up as sweat, strain, self‑judgment, or the instinct to contract under stress. Through stories from the gym and trauma‑informed insights on titration, conscious input, and nervous‑system safety, she shows how movement becomes a living laboratory for practicing presence, nuance, and “high involvement, low attachment.” This conversation sets the stage for the more concrete intentional‑weight‑loss guidance coming next. 

Topics Include:

• Rewriting the Relationship With Discomfort

• Exercise as a Practice of Embodied Safety

• Biology of Courage

• Finding the Middle Ground

[2:22] Lisa opens the episode by inviting listeners to join her on July 12–17 at the Omega Institute, encouraging anyone drawn to this work to register and experience the retreat with her and her guest instructors.

[3:18] Lisa reframes her once‑insecure relationship with sweating as purposeful and athletic, and she explains that stress is adaptive; treating exercise as healthy acute stress while practicing high involvement, low attachment so she can work hard, stay safe, and build sustainable resilience in movement and intentional weight loss.

[13:36] Lisa shows how bringing a playful at the gym shifts her entire physiology, explaining that the stories she tells herself during movement determine whether her body feels pressured or safe, and that conscious input makes hard work feel lighter, sustainable, and regulated. 

[16:28] Lisa highlights how self‑judgment becomes an “inner predator” during movement, and she practices discipline as an act of courage and presence rather than shame, choosing compassionate attention and taking responsibility for both her physical actions and the narratives she tells herself so she can work hard while staying emotionally safe. 

[20:00] Lisa notices how her body can swing from healthy alertness into unnecessary hypervigilance during movement, and she practices focusing without excess tension by relaxing the areas not involved in the exercise—allowing discomfort where it belongs while preventing added contraction everywhere else. 

[23:49] Lisa practices directing discomfort only to the muscles she’s intentionally working while relaxing the rest of her body, using posture and conscious input to stay highly involved in the effort but lightly attached to the outcome—embodying safety, strength, and chosen discomfort through both targeted tension and expansive, empowering body language. 

[29:28] Lisa practices titration by meeting discomfort in gradual, manageable doses so she stays present rather than overwhelmed, training herself to inhabit the balanced “in‑between” instead of swinging to familiar extremes.

[34:12] Lisa rejects both diet and anti‑diet extremes and embraces weight loss as a spiritual, embodied journey—pairing fierce and tender self‑compassion, grounding her choices in genuine care, taking responsibility for emotional and physical actions, and drawing on her 150‑pound transformation to build agency, alignment, and sustainable change.

[57:39] Lisa uses a driving metaphor to show that intentional weight loss requires active agency rather than waiting for change to happen on its own.

[1:08:41] Lisa wraps up this episode by reminding  listeners that everything she has been teaching around discomfort, safety, agency, and conscious input is preparing them for the upcoming “how‑to” guidance on intentional weight loss.

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Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this solo episode, Lisa dives into what it really means to create personal peace and pursue intentional weight loss from the inside out. From there, she unpacks the concept of fluid identity, reminding listeners that preferences around food, movement, and lifestyle are meant to evolve and shouldn’t define who we believe ourselves to be. The heart of the episode centers on High Involvement, Low Attachment (HILA), a framework for showing up fully for your goals while staying grounded, gentle, and flexible. It’s the art of being both alert and relaxed at the same time. Lisa closes by explaining why healing your relationship with food requires both inner work and consistent, aligned daily choices. 

Topics Include:

• Fluid Identity

• HILA

• Energy Regulation & Overstimulation

• Mind–Body Connection in Movement

[0:32] Lisa opens the episode with what she intends to be the final episode of a seven-part sidebar discussion within the Solo Series, which covers topics like the internalized male gaze and posture. She announces that the podcast is now available in video format on Spotify and YouTube. She reflects on her choice not to wear makeup for the recording, seeing it as a sign of feeling safer and more comfortable in her body.

[2:26] Lisa dedicates the episode to a late former client, wanting to honor his memory and the work they did together. She introduces the core concept he coined: "You have to create your own matrix." Lisa explains that we cannot escape the matrix of our social context and animal brain. She shares her own past false belief that she was an "exception to the rule" and unaffected by others. Lisa explains that to achieve peace, one needs to have power, one must be present to make choices aligned with their values. This is the essence of designing one's matrix.

[15:41] Lisa connects the idea of designing your own matrix with staying non‑attached to others’ choices, using a story about closing her eyes during workouts to illustrate the difference between dissociating from discomfort and intentionally tuning inward to deepen mind‑body connection.

[21:19] Lisa explains that the body is a fluid system of energy, using her shifting relationship with music and food to show how identifying with fixed preferences creates unnecessary conflict and encourages embracing the changing sensations and tastes as part of intuitive, present‑moment living. 

[31:48] Lisa explains HILA as a way to stay committed to meaningful goals without slipping into rigidity, pairing the seriousness of personal responsibility with a gentle, relaxed approach that prevents stress and tension from taking over. 

[41:30] Lisa explains that healing chronic pain relies on gentle acceptance, but healing food and weight issues requires pairing that same compassion with active, consistent engagement—integrating inner work into daily choices rather than compartmentalizing it into isolated practices like meditation. 

[1:00:27] Lisa explains that emotional work alone doesn’t create weight loss, emphasizing that the body still responds to caloric intake, and that intentional change requires pairing compassion and inner healing with conscious, disciplined daily food choices. 

Join Us on Patreon!

Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this solo episode, Lisa discusses the future of her Patreon community, which will feature more personal, vulnerable content about her journey and the podcast creation process. She reflects on past body image struggles and explores non-attachment, using examples to illustrate focusing on oneself rather than judging others. Lisa introduces the athlete's mindset which is defined by focus, discipline, and integrity as a tool for personal growth. This mindset involves treating the body as an instrument, not an ornament, to bypass the "internalized male gaze" and focus on internal performance. She emphasizes being present, where mental energy is divided by distractions. She connects presence to personal power and inner peace, using mindfulness as a practical tool for achieving this state. 

Topics Include:

• Non‑Attachment and Judgment

• The Athlete’s Mindset

• Embodiment Practices for Safety & Self‑Trust

• Reclaiming Personal Peace and Power

[0:32] Lisa opens the episode by discussing the two paths she envisions for the Patreon account. as a place to share them. She plans on sharing more vulnerable, personal details and stories that have been coming up for her and documenting her experience of creating the podcast, including the emotional challenges and coping mechanisms she's using. She notes that creating the podcast forces her to confront and process past pain, grief, and sadness.

[9:11] Lisa revisits the client judging a woman in a sports bra at the gym and reframes the issue as alignment and personal peace, urging non-attachment to others’ value-aligned choices, distinguishing everyday disagreements from abuse.  

[18:40] Lisa frames the athlete’s mindset as a practice of focus, discipline, integrity, and presence. She encourages listeners to treat the body as an instrument rather than an ornament, stay rooted in internal performance, and move through life with attention on personal growth instead of comparison, judgment, or the external gaze.

[31:39] Lisa uses Arnold Schwarzenegger as an example of embodied focus. She highlights how his success came from being fully present in the moment, prioritizing the mind‑muscle connection, and staying locked in on internal execution rather than future rewards, external validation, or distraction.

[38:56] Lisa introduces “lock in” as a simple but powerful cue to bring the body, mind, and attention fully into the present moment and to help shift out of distraction, fragmented consciousness, and external focus, and into grounded presence, intentional effort, and embodied self‑trust.reathing as a simple, body-based way to communicate safety to the system while doing something intense or vulnerable. 

[43:38] Lisa describes fragmented consciousness as the divided attention created by constant self‑monitoring, distraction, and the internalized external gaze—explaining how this split drains energy, weakens embodiment, and pulls people out of presence, ultimately disconnecting them from personal power and inner peace. 

[46:23] Lisa explains that lasting peace is reclaimed by first reclaiming presence through showing how mindfulness, sensory awareness, breath, and simple grounding cues help draw attention out of distraction and back into the body, where personal power, safety, and inner calm can be accessed and practiced. 

[51:05] Lisa closes the episode by weaving together the themes of presence, power, and peace by offering reflection on how these practices lay the groundwork for deeper embodiment and intentional change. 

Join Us on Patreon!

Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this solo episode, Lisa explores authenticity and safety while sharing her personal story as part of the podcast, addresses privilege and fragmented consciousness with concrete examples, and offers mindfulness, breathing, visualization, and mind-muscle practices for workouts and daily life. She reflects on social capital tied to weight loss, how to care selectively about others’ opinions using values-based filters, and how judgments reveal inner states. Lisa shares how she overcame chronic left-sided hip/lower-back pain through interoception, emotional processing, and tension release. 

Topics Include:

• Privilege Awareness

• Overcoming Distractions

• Self Regulation

• Mindfulness as a Practice

[0:33] Lisa begins this episode with a few announcements. She announces the opening of registration for the retreat on July 12-17, 2026, at the Omega Institute. Lisa shares that as she continues to record the solo series episodes, she feels pulled to share more of her personal story. While feeling nervous about sharing more personal stories in an open forum, she has made the decision to start a Patreon account as a place to share them. 

[5:45] Lisa talks about the distraction she feels as she records video episodes but feels committed to continue to do so. As a way to support herself through this discomfort, she shares the items and clothing she has as a way to support herself in her discomfort and authenticity.  

[11:19] Lisa discusses privilege as the experience of not having to think about certain things. She explains that privilege can mean moving through the world without constantly scanning the social environment for judgment or safety, and she connects that to both race and body size. Lisa shares a simple example of white privilege such as being able to easily find a bandage that matches her skin tone, and then names the thin privilege she noticed after weight loss like wearing a hair tie on her wrist and eating without people making assumptions.

[17:49] Lisa discusses Brene Brown’s idea around how to stop caring what people think about you and how you just get to be intentional about how much you care and who you give your attention to. She uses this as a filter for feedback and judgment through her own values. Lisa points out that caring is human and wired into us, but discernment is a skill that can be practiced.

[27:59] Lisa discusses different breathing tools she’s been using to stay present during workouts when it would be easy to get distracted. She talks about breathing only through her nose, even during cardio, and noticing that it turns into a mindfulness practice because she has to stay so focused and feels less stressed. She then highlights the power of the exhale because she can feel her nervous system regulate in real time when she stops holding her breath or trying to be “quiet.” Lisa frames breathing as a simple, body-based way to communicate safety to the system while doing something intense or vulnerable. 

[1:01:58] Lisa wraps up the episode by discussing mindfulness as a practical, moment-to-moment skill of bringing your attention back to what’s happening inside you—your breath, your body, and your direct experience. Lisa also highlights that mindfulness isn’t just meditation—it’s learning to notice where you unconsciously hold tension (shoulders, grip, toes, hip, etc.) and practicing releasing it, which can become a lifestyle of interoception and self-regulation. 

Join us on Patreon!

Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this solo episode, Lisa weaves together ideas from recent episodes around the internalized male gaze, social identity, privilege and oppression, and the “animal brain” to explore why we feel so self‑conscious and how to feel safer in our bodies. She explains why this inner work is essential for intentional weight loss. Drawing on personal stories from the gym, yoga class, and a crowded airport, Lisa shares a practical, mindfulness‑based way to work through the fear of being judged. At the heart of the practice is learning to treat focus like a muscle that can be strengthened over time. Lisa offers simple tools like closing her eyes, imagining a protective bubble, and intentionally putting herself in visible situations to retrain her brain. The bigger goal is reclaiming your power by prioritizing how you feel over what others think—because their opinions are truly none of your business. 

Topics Include:

• Self‑consciousness

• Internalized gaze

• Nervous system regulation

• Reclaiming personal power

[1:29] Lisa explains that the goal of this episode is to share methods for managing the "animal brain" in social contexts to feel safe in one's body, which is presented as the foundation for intentional weight loss. She clarifies that preoccupation with others' perceptions is not about weight but about an innate "animal brain" response to navigate social hierarchies and feel safe. She explains that one must take responsibility for managing this part of the brain to avoid a life of distraction and disconnection from self.

[3:20] Lisa talks about how she previously rejected internalized norms tied to the “curriculum of girlhood” and now lives more consciously within the social context she once denied. She emphasizes returning attention to self rather than remaining lost in others’ judgments. Lisa recounts returning to New York gyms after weight loss and preoccupation with others’ perceptions, including from former schoolmates and a past crush. She notes how she had to keep redirecting her attention from external gaze to her body and workout to maintain presence and safety. Lisa encourages a gentle, loving return to the present whenever distraction occurs.

[21:52] Lisa explains that the gym is a controlled social container for practicing returning attention to the body and that any exercise can be a mind–body practice with mindful awareness. She talks about how distraction undermines performance and increases injury risk, especially under heavy loads. 

[26:37] Lisa talks about how yoga’s purpose is presence; ego and self-conscious thoughts disrupt balance and focus. She explains how movement serves as gradual, trauma-informed exposure to tolerating discomfort and returning attention to the body. Lisa explains that exercise is a practical mindfulness and exposure tool to reclaim presence and bodily safety in social contexts.

[33:13] Lisa describes how she focuses on muscles, breath, sweat, and internal cues to heal disconnection and dissociation. Lisa shares how she uses an indestructible bubble visualization to feel safe during workouts and stressful situations in life. 

[1:18:49] She wraps up the episode by explaining that these are the tools she used and continues to use to stay mindful and present in her body and are necessary for the foundation of safety needed to successfully engage in intentional weight loss. 

Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this solo episode, Lisa reflects on the complex relationship between identity, body image, and authenticity as she reads her essay about developing humor and personality as a survival strategy. Lisa explores how weight loss, shifting social responses, and global awakening experiences sparked an identity crisis that expanded into a deeper understanding of privilege, oppression, and the social context that shapes how bodies are perceived. Lisa examines the intoxicating pull of external validation, the grief of benefiting from appearance, and the lifelong practice of returning to embodied safety and self‑connection.

Topics Include:

• Persona vs. Authentic Self

• Privilege and Oppression

• External Validation

• Self Connection

[6:29] Lisa shares her Common App essay which focuses on her weight and personality. She describes her weight as her only flaw and the source of disrespect and impatience with herself. To compensate for not physically fitting in, Lisa cultivated a personality, using humor as her confidence. She reflects that her struggles with weight forced her to develop her inner self. Lisa recalls reading the essay years ago and viewing it through the lens of codependency and people-pleasing, a kind of persona created from a feeling of being unsafe. She used humor as a performance because she felt she couldn't be her authentic self due to her body. She concludes the essay with her valuing the person she became.

[15:37] Lisa describes her time on Semester at Sea as the first time she entered a new social environment as a "thin person” and she wasn't receiving the same constant praise she previously had on campus for losing weight. She describes this confusing experience where her role in society felt like it was changing, but she couldn't articulate what was happening.

[20:26] Lisa now understands this confusion was due to the world responding to her differently and her responding to the world differently. Lisa explains how her eyes were opening to the social context in general, leading to a crisis about how the world works. Her inability to process this existential crisis manifested physically as the origin of her IBS symptoms. 

[25:43] Lisa describes this period in her life where she became acutely aware of societal issues like racism, sexism, and poverty for the first time. She emphasized how her perception of the world had changed. Sociology 101 introduced her to the concepts of privilege and oppression. She noted that while the class discussed race, gender, and sexual orientation, the lens of body size was her own connection, allowing her to put the dots together.

[43:51] Lisa shared a memory of walking down the street and being ignored by a man passing by and she began reflecting on when she began defining herself by how others saw her. She explained that the goal is not to swing the pendulum from being negatively judged to being positively judged but to be seen for who you truly are.

[52:13] Lisa explains that to feel safe in one's body as it is, one must be connected to that body and spiritual being. Lisa issued an invitation for listeners to self-reflect on how much mental "real estate" the preoccupation with others' thoughts takes up in their daily lives.

[59:46] She wraps up the episode with an invitation to let the current discussion "settle and marinate" and consider their own position as a person with an "animal brain in a social context," living within constructs of privilege and oppression.

*The views of podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of Lisa Schlosberg or Out of the Cave, LLC.

Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this solo episode, Lisa takes a deeper, more personal look at the internalized male gaze, embodied safety, and what intentional weight loss can mean through a trauma‑informed lens. She starts with a gentle check‑in about having too much coffee and uses that moment to explore the feelings she pushed aside and how choosing connection helped her regulate instead of leaning on old coping habits. From there, she talks about how denial, dissociation, and building her self‑worth outside of appearance shaped the way she handled body‑based judgments, while also being honest about the real social changes she noticed after losing weight. She reads from a 2014 essay that traces her shift from denial to hyper‑awareness, the cultural experiences that challenged Western beauty standards, and the toll perfectionism took on her. To wrap up, Lisa introduces the ideas of egosyntonic and egodystonic thoughts to help listeners understand those inner conflicts around body‑focused thinking, highlighting awareness, space, and embodied safety as key parts of healing.

Topics Include:

• Internalized Male Gaze

• Embodied Safety

• Social Dynamics

• Egosyntonic vs. Egodystonic Thoughts

[0:32] Lisa begins by noticing she crossed her personal limit on coffee, practicing non-judgmental, compassionate curiosity about the behavior. She connects over-caffeination to an anxiety-provoking event she suppressed due to context, illustrating how coping can mask root emotions. She identifies her need for connection and support rather than substances and texts her best friend to schedule a call to process the event together.

[10:50] Lisa introduces the concept "trauma work is slow," explaining that healing from chronic societal trauma is a gradual process unlike a diet. She clarifies her stance on others' judgment of her body, explaining that she built her self-worth on character, not appearance, as a defense mechanism when she was in a larger body. She acknowledges that losing weight made it safer to engage with social constructs.

[37:35] Lisa reads an essay she wrote in 2014 during Semester at Sea, a period that served as intense exposure therapy for her eating disorder following her significant weight loss and tummy tuck. The essay details her 150-pound weight loss journey, which was initially prompted by physical pain and practical difficulties.

[1:07:50] Post-weight loss, Lisa realized her happiness stemmed from societal validation, not self-acceptance, leading to an obsessive cycle of never feeling good enough. After reading the essay, Lisa explains the weight loss journey woke her up from a state of being disconnected from her body, a profound psychological shift that is the origin of Out of the Cave.

[1:11:56] Lisa introduces the psychological concepts of egosyntonic (behaviors in harmony with one's self-image) and egodystonic (behaviors conflicting with one's self-concept). She explains that her own compulsive thoughts about bodies post-weight loss felt intensely egodystonic, which was a positive factor in her healing as it allowed her to separate herself from those thoughts. 

[1:20:22] Lisa wraps this episode by encouraging listeners to examine if their body image thoughts are egosyntonic or egodystonic, noting that recognizing these thoughts as conditioned can create distance and aid healing. She notes this is the second episode on the topic and a third will follow to bring all the concepts together.

*The views of podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of Lisa Schlosberg or Out of the Cave, LLC.

Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this chapter, Lisa explores how body image, trauma, and the internalized outsider gaze pull us out of our bodies and into self‑objectification. She unpacks how fat phobia, the male gaze, and chronic shallow breathing keep the nervous system in fight‑or‑flight, blocking sustainable change. Drawing on somatic research and her own history of dissociation as protection, Lisa shows why healing begins with coming back inside through breath and interoceptive awareness. The episode closes with a grounding practice to shift from “How do I look” to “How do I feel,” the first step toward embodied change. 

Topics Include:

• Nervous System Safety

• Breathwork for Safety

• Internalized Outsider Gaze

• Coming Home to the Body

[0:20] Lisa begins the episode by announcing that registration for the next OOTC Retreat at the Omega Institute scheduled for July 12–17, 2026 is open. Lisa apologizes for the potentially lower sound quality as she is traveling and recording without her microphone. She frames this as a deliberate choice to prioritize "messy action" and consistency over perfection. 

[4:50] Revisiting the “Devil’s Snare” metaphor, Lisa emphasizes that healing isn’t about pushing harder—it’s about learning how to breathe and soften back into the body. She introduces a quote taught by Caroline Lee Dewey: "We don't learn how to push. We learn how to breathe." Highlighting that healing and coming back into one's body is about breathing and release, not pushing and control.

[8:08] Lisa examines how internalized fear of fatness often shows up as shallow breathing, especially discomfort with the belly expanding during a deep, diaphragmatic inhale. She explains that feeling safe in one's body is presented as a necessary prerequisite for intentional and sustainable weight loss. If a person's breathing pattern is constantly signaling danger, it undermines the foundation required for healthy, lasting change.

[18:42] Citing somatic therapist Ailey Jolie from Instagram, Lisa explains the internalized male gaze and that internalized objectification lives in the nervous system, manifesting in micro-adjustments the body makes before conscious awareness. Referencing Iris Marion Young's essay "Throwing Like a Girl," Lisa describes how women learn to move with "inhibited intentionality," taking up less space and moving tentatively, as if always being watched. Lisa also discusses research by Barbara Fredrickson and Tommy-Ann Roberts on "self-objectification," where girls adopt an observer's perspective on their bodies, measurably impairing the ability to feel internal bodily states like hunger or heartbeat.

[45:24] Lisa shares her disconnection to the trauma of her younger sister's death when she was five and how she coped with using food. She explains that denial, disconnection, and dissociation became her primary defense mechanisms and sent her the message that the world was safe despite her weight. 

[1:09:09] Lisa wraps this episode up by inviting listeners to practice re‑centering through two anchors: deep breathing and replacing “How do I look?” with “How do I feel?” She emphasizes that mindful breathing is a skill that must be practiced to come back inside the body and become aware of what is happening within oneself.

*The views of podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of Lisa Schlosberg or Out of the Cave, LLC.

Embody Peace With Food: A Revolutionary Holistic Approach - Omega Institute: July 12-17, 2026

LISA IS NOW ACCEPTING: One-on-One Clients!

⁠Purchase the OOTC book of 50 Journal Prompts⁠

⁠Leave Questions and Feedback for Lisa via OOTC Pod Feedback Form ⁠

Email Lisa: ⁠[email protected]⁠

⁠Out of the Cave Merch⁠ - For 10% off use code SCHLOS10

Lisa’s Socials: Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠

In this episode, Lisa opens with the reminder that real, sustainable change begins not in urgency, panic, or the frantic rush to “fix” your body, but in the quiet, embodied willingness to be exactly where you are. She invites listeners to step out of the urgency of weight‑loss pressure and into the felt safety that makes transformation possible—safety in your breath, in your body, and in the present moment. Lisa unpacks why panic tightens the system, why urgency blocks clarity, and why the path forward only reveals itself when you stop fighting the moment you’re in. Drawing on lived experience, nervous‑system science, and a three‑level coaching framework, she guides listeners toward releasing the fear‑driven chase for change so one can finally see the exit, the path, and the next right step from a grounded, regulated place. 

Topics Include:

• Releasing Panic

• Emotional Safety

• Framework for Success

• Community

[1:55] Lisa shifts the conversation from theoretical groundwork to the "core conversation" of intentional weight loss, specifically focusing on the physiological components of radical acceptance and non-attachment. Lisa emphasizes moving beyond intellectual understanding. The goal is to "embody it until you habituate to it." Lisa explains that safety and acceptance must be felt physiologically to be effective.

[3:50] Lisa uses the Harry Potter scene involving Devil's Snare to illustrate the body's response to discomfort.

• Panic: Struggling and fighting (like Ron) causes the plant to constrict tighter, meeting fear with fear causes physiological contraction and worsens symptoms.

• Relaxation: Relaxing and "trying on the energy of relaxation" (like Hermione and Harry) causes the plant to release, helping the body to feel safe.

[8:35] Lisa applies this to her experience with IBS and chronic pain. Realizing that panic was fueling her physical contraction, she utilized the mantra: "You are uncomfortable, you are not unsafe." The urgency to lose weight is compared to being trapped in a burning room. Panicking and screaming "I have to get out" only adds fuel to the fire and blocks the exit. 

[25:52] Lisa outlines the three levels required for success:

1. Emotional Sobriety: Learning to feel feelings without using food as a drug.

2. Mind-Body Connection: Connecting with food and the body intuitively.

3. Intentional Weight Loss: This step should only be pursued after the groundwork of levels 1 and 2 is complete. Attempting Level 3 prematurely leads to the cycle of failure.

[37:25] For those who react to their reflection as if they are a "predator," Lisa recommends her Mirror Work Challenge to build the capacity to bear witness to one's own body. Lisa addresses facing fears (like wearing a swimsuit in public), one should not throw themselves into the deep end and dissociate. Instead, she urges taking fetus steps to stay in a learning zone rather than a danger zone. She encourages to imagine how one would move, breathe, and exist if they already felt safe, and to start embodying those physical behaviors now. 

[1:06:06] Lisa argues that individual work is not enough because humans have an "animal brain in a social context."- Quoting "grief cannot be metabolized in isolation," she emphasizes that healing requires safe relationships and the brain needs to learn there are people who can see, love, and accept you without judgment.

*The views of podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of Lisa Schlosberg or Out of the Cave, LLC.

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