
Dr. Terry Real | Healing Intergenerational Trauma Through Our Relationships
Point of Relation with Thomas Huebl
Transforming Relationships Through Mindfulness and Presence
This chapter explores the idea of relationships as a spiritual practice, focusing on the significance of mindfulness and presence in our interactions. It addresses how past traumas shape emotional responses and encourages listeners to cultivate awareness and intentionality for healthier connections.
Thomas is joined by Terry Real, an acclaimed family therapist, bestselling author, and the founder of The Relational Life Institute. Terry shares insights from his years of work with couples and families struggling to repair their relationships, and how practicing what he calls “Relational Mindfulness” is a game-changer for anyone whose past traumas are negatively impacting their current connections.
As Terry explains, the work of relationships is not day-by-day; it’s moment-to-moment. And in each challenging moment, we have a choice: give in to our knee-jerk reactions and maladaptive trauma responses, or take a step back so that a more mature part of ourselves can emerge.
When we choose presence, collaboration, and interdependence over reactivity, conflict, and toxic individualism, we don’t just heal ourselves and our relationships—we stop the flow of intergenerational trauma in its tracks, and this dynamic shift becomes a part of our legacy.
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Dr. Terry Real has been a practicing family therapist for more than thirty years, and his work has been featured on many major news outlets, TV shows, and in numerous academic publications. His most recent book Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship, is a New York Times Bestseller. Terry founded the Relational Life Institute (RLI), which is dedicated to teaching the general public how to live relational lives and to teaching mental health professionals the practice of Relational Life Therapy.
Connect with Dr. Real here: 👉 https://terryreal.com
Thomas Hübl, PhD, is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator who works within the complexity of systems and cultural change, integrating the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Since the early 2000s, he has led large-scale events and courses on the healing of collective trauma.
In addition to Attuned, he is the author of Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds. He has served as an advisor and guest faculty for universities and organizations, as a coach for CEOs and organizational leaders, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Website: https://thomashuebl.com/Facebook: https://facebook.com/Thomas.Huebl.Sangha/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomashuebl/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ThomasHuebl YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thomashuebl
✨ Order Thomas Hübl’s new book, “Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma–And Our World” here:
👉 https://www.attunedbook.com/
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Mentioned in this episode:
Collective Trauma Summit 2025
✨ Join us at the 7th annual Collective Trauma Summit, a FREE 7-day online gathering with embodied practices, guided reflection, powerful interviews, and live events, guided by Thomas and over 40 expert leaders in trauma-healing, embodiment, somatics, and social change. Speakers include Dr. Richard Schwartz, Prentis Hemphill, Cheryl Strayed, Francis Weller, Gabby Bernstein, Rick Hanson, Sonya Renee Taylor, and many more. This year, we’ve partnered with mission-driven organizations, including the Internal Family Systems Institute, the Embodiment Institute, Poetry Unbound, and more, to help you deepen your understanding of trauma and see how healing can become a force for transformation in your life, your community, and the world. We hope to see you there!