If you live with an autoimmune condition, you are probably familiar with how a stressful event can quickly create an uptick in your symptoms. And with many stressful events over the last year, it seems everyone is operating from a heightened, vigilant state. The connection between our mind and our gut is often a topic on this podcast, but this episode gets more into how our lived experiences affect this connection over time. In this episode, Erin sits down with Victoria Albina to discuss how traumatic experiences have a downstream effect on our bodily systems, why this occurs and what you can do to come down from this heightened state and heal.

Victoria Albina (she/her) is a Certified Life Coach and Breathwork Meditation Guide with a passion for helping women realize that they are their own best healers, so they can break free from codependency, perfectionism and people-pleasing and reclaim their joy.

She is a UCSF-trained Family Nurse Practitioner, has a Masters degree in Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health and a BA in Latin American Studies from Oberlin College. Victoria has been working in health & wellness for over 20 years and lives on occupied Lenape territory in New York’s Hudson Valley.

In this episode:

-Why Erin appreciates practitioners who take a multifaceted approach to health [1:55]

-Introduction to Victoria Albina [6:54]

-Nerding out on Polyvagal Theory: the three branches, and how your body reads the signals of your mind [9:53]

-The cascading effects that occur in the body when in fight or flight [11:07]

-The parasympathetic state and how your nervous system learns what is safe and unsafe [12:26]

-Why humans tend to lean towards ventral vagal, or to social connection, and what happens when our social connections are not met [16:41]

-Collective trauma and why we might respond differently [18:09]

-“Health-ziety” and how we can get locked into patterns that no longer serve us [20:30]

-Acceptance: the first step towards taking aligned action [23:11]

-How somatic healing helps to release patterns we no longer need [28:59]

-Inner child healing and allowing yourself to move through emotion [32:35]

-Benefits and limitations to talk therapy [36:04]

-The trend of needing to “fix” yourself [37:06]

-Using breathwork for healing [38:42]

-Codependency versus Interdependence [46:46]

-Examples of “martyr energy” and what it says about us [49:17]

-Overcoming codependency [56:21]

Resources mentioned:

Organifi supplement powder (enter code FUNK for 20% off your order) https://www.organifi.com/FUNK/

BioKult Boosted probiotic supplement (3/9/21: NEW CODE! save 15% off your entire order with code FUNK15) https://www.bio-kult.com/bio-kult-boosted/p9

The Funk’tional Nutrition Academy™ https://www.erinholthealth.com/mentorship

The Carb Compatibility Project™ (next round starts in May) https://www.erinholthealth.com/carb-compatibility-project

Victoria Albina’s website https://victoriaalbina.com/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=funktionalnutrition&utm_campaign=interview

Listen to Victoria’s podcast, Feminist Wellness https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feminist-wellness/id1454980022

Free meditations on codependency and perfectionism https://victoriaalbina.com/free-meditations-2

Follow Erin on Insta https://www.instagram.com/the.funktional.nutritionist/

Follow Victoria on Insta https://www.instagram.com/victoriaalbinawellness/

Related episodes:

123: Creating Your Morning Ritual https://www.thefunktionalnutritionist.com/podcast/123-creating-your-morning-ritual

96: Breathwork for Resiliency with Robert van der Heyden https://www.thefunktionalnutritionist.com/podcast/96-breathwork-resiliency-robert-van-der-heyden