The Vitalist Numb Is a Feeling: How to Work with the Emotions You Can’t Name with Coach Micheline Green (013)
In this episode of The Vitalist, master life coach Micheline Green invites us into the complex terrain of true transformation. Drawing from over two decades of experience, including her early work investigating child abuse and her training in Integral Coaching, Micheline reveals what it really takes to shift deeply embedded patterns.
Together, we explore:
Why real change happens beneath the psychological immune system How fear shows up in disguise: as rage, anxiety, depression, or numbness The role of the “loving witness” in releasing trapped emotion Autonomic signatures beyond fight, flight, or freeze
Micheline also shares her personal story of how her unprocessed childhood rage and belief that she “wasn’t smart enough” became a portal into her own healing, and how we each carry patterns we think we’re hiding (but aren’t).
HIGHLIGHTS
Micheline opens up about investigating generational abuse at 23 and how motherhood forced her to face her own inherited parenting patterns. (1:40) Micheline introduces Integral Theory and how subtle shifts, not grand gestures, spark deep transformation by meeting people where fear is stored. (6:10)
Micheline shares where she begins when addressing the whole human: not with a goal, but with a topic. (8:06)
Fear wears many masks: anxiety, rage, numbness. Micheline helps us decode its signature in our body and reframe it as a wise teacher. (10:09) Using Dr. Robert Kegan’s "competing commitments," Micheline shows how the very thing holding us back might hold the key to unlocking forward movement. (11:27)
“Numb is a feeling too.” We explore why disconnection from the body is often protection and how Micheline uses her own somatic awareness to sense what clients can’t yet name. (13:21) From the "accomplished prairie dog" to the "devoted heart compass," Micheline shares how imagery become doorways unlocking deep unconscious patterning. (14:22) Micheline reflects on her belief of “I’m not smart enough” and how unprocessed childhood rage revealed itself during her coach training. (17:11) We talk about the shame of big emotions and what changes when a loving witness helps you stay present instead of suppress. (19:40)
Beyond fight, flight, or freeze lies a more nuanced map. Micheline explores Gabriel Kram’s Neurobiology of Connection and states like appease, accommodate, and collapse. (25:19)
Want to control your kids, your partner, politics, or the food system? Micheline guides us through a powerful hand exercise to soften that grip. (27:50)
RESOURCES
Connect With Micheline Green
The Neurobiology of Connection by Gabriel Kram
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