Emancipate Your Mind

Have you ever wondered why you went along with certain things while you were active in your religion? Have you ever experienced something traumatic at church and felt like it was your own fault because you willingly participated? Do you find yourself holding yourself to religious promises you made when you were younger or feeling… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 031: Consent or Coercion? Revisiting Choices We Made When Religious

I should have known when creating a podcast on intention vs. impact that I’d also get a chance to work on making sure my intentions and impact were in alignment. I’m still learning just like all of you.  In this, take 3, of this episode, we discuss why it’s not just our intentions that matter… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 030: Intention vs. Impact

Grief has been on my mind this week as I prepare to attend my 17-year-old nephew’s funeral in Utah. In this episode, I dive into the complicated emotional roller coaster that is grief.  I hope to normalize the common experiences we all have when moving through loss and hopefully provide some language and understanding for… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 029: Understanding Grief

Today we’re diving into the practice of somatic experiencing as a way to help locate and release trauma in the body.  MindBody Mentor, Shawna Kathleen, talks about her own experience with autoimmune disease, relationship abuse, and sexual trauma and how learning to use somatic feedback from her body allowed her to begin alchemizing the pent… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 028: Somatic Experiencing and the Release of Trauma with MindBody Mentor, Shawna Kathleen

Everyone numbs emotionally from time to time when we’re overwhelmed and we’re not sure how to process what we’re experiencing. Any substance or behavior can be used as a numbing mechanism if we do it to avoid feeling difficult emotions or to avoid exploring difficult thoughts. While the we gain the benefit of escape for… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 027: Understanding Numbing Behaviors

Over the past decade, so much research has emerged showing that mindfulness, or the practice of being completely focused on the present, is not just helpful for calming our nervous systems, helping us focus, and helping us feel more satisfied with our lives, but can also help people who are healing from trauma. When we’re… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 026: Healing Trauma with Mindfulness Practice

There’s no doubt that those who are able to look at life’s challenges with hope and optimism enjoy a lot of proven benefits. They have less stress, better health, and live longer. They also are able to bounce back from life’s challenges with more resilience. However, sometimes our quest for positivity can actually be harmful.… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 025: Healthy Positivity vs. Toxic Positivity

Terina Maldonado, a public speaker, life coach, and co-author of 'Fear to Freedom', discusses the healing power of storytelling. She emphasizes how sharing our narratives fosters shame resilience and creates safe spaces for others. Terina opens up about her own experiences, the importance of consent, and the need for open dialogues around sensitive topics. She also explores the transformative role of vulnerability in personal growth and highlights recent breakthroughs in emotional healing and neuroplasticity, championing the power of shared stories to inspire societal change.

Sometimes one of the most helpful tools for healing is understanding what is going on. When we know that the grief, anger, confusion, fear, loneliness, and sense of feeling displaced are all common when you’re experiencing religious trauma, it can make it easier to be patient with ourselves throughout the experience. You may also experience… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 023: What Is Religious Trauma Syndrome?

Have you ever just lost it for no reason and caught yourself thinking, “What in the world is going on with me?” Have you ever found yourself having a full body panic attack out of the blue? Have you ever found yourself inexplicably avoiding people you used to love hanging with, but now feel unsafe… Read More »Emancipate Your Mind: 022: Trigger Warning: Understanding What Triggers Our Trauma