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Explore every episode of the podcast Trauma Rewired

Dive into the complete episode list for Trauma Rewired. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
Why Trauma Changes the Brain: Complex Trauma, Inflammation & Neuroplasticity07 Sep 202601:04:14

Trauma doesn't just shape your memories. It changes how your brain predicts, interprets, and responds to the world.

In this episode, Jennifer and Elisabeth sit down with clinical neuroscientist Dr. Mbemba Jabbi to explore the biology of complex trauma through the lens of neurogenetics, affective neuroscience, inflammation, and neuroplasticity. Together they unpack how early adversity reshapes emotional brain networks, why survival adaptations become deeply encoded, and what current neuroscience reveals about the connection between trauma, chronic disease, and healing.

From the anterior insula and amygdala to inflammatory biomarkers like C-reactive protein, this conversation bridges cutting-edge neuroscience with practical understanding for survivors and practitioners alike. Most importantly, it offers hope: the brain remains plastic throughout life, and healing is possible.

 

 

In This Episode
  • Why trauma is an ongoing conversation between the brain, body, and environment—not simply a past event.

  • How the brain's emotional networks continuously evaluate safety through sensory input.

  • The role of the anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala in emotional regulation and threat detection.

  • Why many trauma responses are adaptive suppressions rather than deficits.

  • How survival patterns formed during childhood often repeat throughout adulthood.

  • The relationship between chronic trauma, inflammation, and long-term physical health.

  • What C-reactive protein may reveal about the biological impact of childhood trauma.

  • Why early childhood sexual trauma produces distinct biological effects compared with other forms of adversity.

  • How genetics and environment interact to shape emotional health without determining destiny.

  • Why neuroplasticity gives us the capacity to build new patterns throughout life.

  • How nervous system training, supportive relationships, and therapeutic interventions help create lasting change.

  • Why emotions are not separate from the body—they are deeply integrated with every system involved in survival and wellbeing.

 

 

Featured in This Episode

🧠 Start your FREE two-week Rewire Trial
Learn the same neurosomatic tools discussed throughout the podcast and begin training your nervous system with live classes, expert guidance, and an extensive on-demand library.
https://www.rewiretrial.com

 

RESOURCES

 

✨ Are you ready to become the woman who can carry the vision?
Discover nervous system education, preparation, integration, and resources to support your journey at illuminatedwithjennifer.com.

 

🌿 Sacred Synapse
Explore Jennifer's educational videos on psychedelic neuroscience, preparation, integration, and harm reduction.
https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

📖 The Wayfinder Journal
A guided psychedelic preparation and integration journal designed to help you embody insight and create lasting change.
https://stan.store/illuminated

 

Connect with Us

🌐 Website
https://www.traumarewired.com

📸 Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/trauma.rewired

👥 Facebook Community
https://www.facebook.com/groups/761101225132846

 

 

Exclusive Offer

🥬 Receive a FREE bottle of AG1 with your subscription.

https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

 

 

Podcast Disclaimer

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute

medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a

qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any

decisions based on what you hear.

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and

disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek

professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are

having a negative impact on your health and well-being.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health

crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. If

someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We

don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date

information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual

needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you

hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their

statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our

guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique.

These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and

you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic

practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor

or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This

podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous

system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for

medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm

reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should

be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a

recommendation that psychedelics are appropriate for any individual. Decisionsregarding psychedelic use should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare

professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are

based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those

involved.

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm

reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should

be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a

recommendation that psychedelics are appropriate for any individual. Decisions

regarding psychedelic use should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare

professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of

others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us

at traumarewired@gmail.com

All rights in our content are reserved

 

Undiagnosed TBI: Why Brain Injuries Are Often Missed and Misunderstood31 Aug 202600:49:15

Traumatic brain injuries are incredibly common, yet many mild TBIs and concussions go unrecognized. And when the symptoms of a brain injury overlap with the effects of complex trauma, it can become difficult to understand what is actually driving changes in cognition, emotional regulation, behavior, energy, and capacity.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Amanda Smith, certified brain injury specialist, applied neurology pain and performance coach, NSI educator, and founder of Amanda's Way, to explore the intersection of traumatic brain injury and complex trauma.

Amanda shares her own experience recovering from concussion and whiplash and explains why symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, irritability, emotional reactivity, poor concentration, sleep disruption, sensory sensitivity, and reduced capacity can easily be attributed to trauma, anxiety, depression, or stress when an underlying brain injury may also be contributing.

Together, they explore how TBI can change the brain's ability to process visual, vestibular, sensory, and cognitive information; why everyday inputs can require significantly more resources after injury; and how reduced fuel and capacity can affect everything from relationships and work to emotional regulation and rehabilitation.

The conversation also examines why practitioners working with trauma and the nervous system need a foundational understanding of concussion and TBI—and why those working with brain injury populations benefit from understanding the effects of complex trauma, chronic stress, and nervous system patterns.

Rather than pushing through symptoms, recovery begins with understanding what the nervous system is actually experiencing, assessing capacity, working with the minimum effective dose, and recognizing when additional rehabilitation, referral, or collaborative care may be needed.

In This Episode
  • What traumatic brain injury and mild TBI can look like

  • Why many concussions and mild TBIs go undiagnosed

  • The overlap between TBI, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and complex trauma symptoms

  • How brain injury can affect emotional regulation, cognition, memory, vision, and behavior

  • Why irritability, withdrawal, overwhelm, and reduced capacity may emerge after concussion

  • The relationship between complex trauma and persistent post-concussion symptoms

  • Why women and other vulnerable populations may experience additional barriers to recovery

  • How TBI can increase the energetic demands placed on the brain

  • Visual, vestibular, sensory, and cognitive processing after brain injury

  • Why pushing through symptoms can create diminishing returns

  • Fuel, capacity, assessment, reassessment, and the minimum effective dose

  • How Neurosomatic Intelligence can support individualized nervous system work

  • Why practitioners need to recognize when referral or collaborative care is appropriate

  • Beginning with simple awareness of breath, energy expenditure, restoration, and capacity

  • The importance of compassion for ourselves and others when we cannot see what another nervous system has experienced

Featured in This Episode

BECOMING TBI & CONCUSSION INFORMED — LIVE WORKSHOP

If you work with the nervous system, understanding concussion and traumatic brain injury is essential. Post-concussion symptoms can present as fatigue, overwhelm, emotional reactivity, difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to sound or light, inconsistent progress, or reduced capacity for stress.

Join Amanda Smith on September 17 for Becoming TBI and Concussion Informed, a live workshop designed to help practitioners understand how a history of concussion, mild TBI, or head and neck trauma may be affecting what they observe in their clients.

Learn to ask better questions, adapt your approach, recognize when referral or collaboration is needed, and work with greater clarity and confidence.

neurosomatic.com/concussion

Amanda Smith is a certified brain injury specialist, applied neurology pain and performance coach, founder of Amanda's Way, and educator in the Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification. Her work integrates applied neurology, nervous system education, and rehabilitation to support people navigating traumatic brain injury and persistent post-concussion symptoms.

 

Offerings & Resources

START HERE — FREE NERVOUS SYSTEM TRAINING

Begin learning how to work with your nervous system with our free two-week Rewire Trial:

rewiretrial.com

NEUROSOMATIC INTELLIGENCE COACHING CERTIFICATION

Learn to work with the nervous system through an integrative framework combining applied neurology, somatics, trauma-informed education, and nervous system assessment.

neurosomaticintelligence.com

WATCH TRAUMA REWIRED ON YOUTUBE

YouTube: youtube.com/@TraumaRewired

 

EXPLORE JENNIFER'S WORK 

Explore psychedelic neuroscience, nervous system preparation and integration, neuroplasticity, and harm reduction with Jennifer on Sacred Synapse:

youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

www.illuminatedwithjennifer.com

 

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY

Connect with the Trauma Rewired community on Facebook:

facebook.com/groups/761101225132846

 

CONNECT WITH TRAUMA REWIRED

Instagram: instagram.com/trauma.rewired

Podcast Disclaimer

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a recommendation that psychedelics are appropriate for any individual. Decisions regarding psychedelic use should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved

 

The Science of Feeling Safe in Your Body: Emotional Regulation and Trauma24 Aug 202601:02:58
Episode Summary

Why do you know you're safe logically, but your body still reacts as though you're in danger?

Emotional regulation isn't about staying calm, avoiding difficult emotions, or suppressing how you feel. It's about your brain and nervous system working together to accurately interpret what's happening inside and around you so you can respond with flexibility instead of survival.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by NSI educator Matt Bush to explore the neuroscience of emotional regulation through the lens of brain integration, interoception, sensory processing, and neuroplasticity.

Together they unpack why trauma disrupts communication between key brain networks, how chronic stress creates fragmented emotional processing, and why many people remain stuck in cycles of overwhelm, shutdown, perfectionism, dissociation, binge eating, emotional flooding, or emotional numbness despite years of personal development or therapy.

The conversation also explores why emotional regulation is a trainable neurological skill, how simple nervous system practices improve brain integration, why sensory mismatch contributes to chronic stress, and how properly preparing the nervous system creates safer, more effective emotional processing—including during psychedelic experiences.

If you've ever wondered why insight alone doesn't create lasting change, why your emotions sometimes feel bigger than the situation, or why your body seems to react before your mind can catch up, this episode offers a neuroscience-based roadmap toward regulation, resilience, and post-traumatic growth.

In This Episode We Discuss
  • What emotional regulation actually is—and what it is not

  • Why emotional regulation depends on brain integration

  • The roles of the insula, anterior cingulate cortex, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex

  • How trauma disrupts communication between brain networks

  • Why chronic stress creates fragmented emotional processing

  • The relationship between interoception, proprioception, and emotional regulation

  • Sensory mismatch and its hidden impact on nervous system health

  • Emotional flooding, shutdown, perfectionism, binge eating, and dissociation

  • Why "fake it until you make it" comes with a physiological cost

  • The neuroscience behind predictive coding and emotional interpretation

  • Why emotions are physiological—not simply psychological

  • How movement, vocalization, and nervous system regulation support emotional processing

  • Brain-body integration and the limits of insight alone

  • Emotional regulation during psychedelic and peak somatic experiences

  • Building nervous system capacity through daily regulation practices

  • Practical neuroscience tools that support resilience and post-traumatic growth

 

 

Featured in This Episode

NSI Foundations Bundle

Learn the foundational neuroscience and practical nervous system tools behind everything taught inside the NeuroSomatic Intelligence Certification.

https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/foundations

 

 

Start Here

FREE 2-Week Rewire Trial

https://www.rewiretrial.com

Learn More About NeuroSomatic Intelligence

https://www.neurosomaticintelligence.com

 

 

Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@TraumaRewired

 

 

Are you ready to become the woman who can carry the vision? Discover nervous system education, preparation, integration, and resources to support your journey at 

https://illuminatedwithjennifer.com

Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace

Learn more about psychedelic neuroscience, applied neurology, Neurosomatic Intelligence, and nervous system-informed psychedelic preparation and integration through educational, harm reduction content.

https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

 

The Wayfinder Journal

A guided journal designed to help you track nervous system patterns, deepen self-awareness, and support psychedelic preparation and integration.

https://stan.store/illuminated

 

 

Connect With Us

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/trauma.rewired

Facebook Community:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/761101225132846

 

 

Exclusive Offer

FREE 1-Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from AG1

https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

 

 

Disclaimer

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear.

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuroscience and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neurosomatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. BrainBased.com and RewireTrial.com are membership sites for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. They are not substitutes for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Jennifer Wallace is also the founder of Sacred Synapse, an educational platform exploring psychedelic neuroscience, applied neurology, Neurosomatic Intelligence, and nervous system-informed psychedelic preparation and integration. Any discussion of psychedelics is provided for educational and harm reduction purposes only. Sacred Synapse does not encourage or promote illegal substance use. Psychedelic experiences carry significant psychological and physiological risks and are not appropriate for every nervous system. Always consult qualified medical professionals and follow the laws applicable where you live before making decisions related to psychedelic use.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you have any concerns regarding our content, please contact us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.



Boundaries, Attachment, and the Fear of Losing Connection17 Aug 202601:00:52

Most people think boundaries are about saying "no," protecting themselves, or keeping others at a distance. But from a nervous system perspective, boundaries are something much deeper. They are not walls that separate us from connection—they are the foundation that makes authentic connection possible.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace, Elisabeth Kristof, and returning guest Margie Faltin explore boundaries through the lens of neuroscience, attachment, co-regulation, and post-traumatic growth.

Together they examine why boundaries can feel so threatening after trauma, why receiving someone else's boundary can activate abandonment, and how early attachment experiences shape the way we relate to authenticity, conflict, and connection throughout our lives.

Whether you've struggled with people-pleasing, over-functioning, conflict avoidance, or feeling guilty for putting your needs first, this conversation offers a compassionate, science-backed framework for understanding boundaries as an expression of nervous system health rather than emotional distance.

Together they explore why boundaries become easier as nervous system capacity grows, how self-attunement changes the way we communicate our needs, why authenticity requires safety, and how learning to both set and receive boundaries creates stronger relationships, greater resilience, and lasting post-traumatic growth.

Key Takeaways
  • Why boundaries are a nervous system skill—not simply communication techniques.

  • How attachment patterns shape the way we set and receive boundaries.

  • Why receiving a boundary can feel like abandonment after trauma.

  • The neuroscience of oxytocin, co-regulation, and the "tend-and-befriend" stress response.

  • Why people-pleasing and fawning are survival adaptations rather than personality traits.

  • The difference between reactive boundaries and boundaries rooted in regulation.

  • Why self-attunement is foundational to authentic relationships.

  • How rupture and repair help build secure attachment over time.

  • Practical nervous system exercises for strengthening boundary capacity.

  • Why authentic connection requires truth—not performance, perfection, or self-abandonment.

If you've ever worried that speaking your truth would cost you love, feared disappointing others, or found yourself constantly prioritizing everyone else's needs above your own, this episode offers another perspective: healthy boundaries are not about pushing people away. They are about creating the safety, authenticity, and nervous system capacity that allow genuine connection to grow.

 

Resources

🧠 Start Your Nervous System Journey — FREE for Two Weeks
https://rewiretrial.com

🌿 NeuroSomatic Intelligence (NSI) Certification
https://neurosomaticintelligence.com

Are you ready to become the woman who can carry the vision? Discover nervous system education, preparation, integration, and resources to support your journey at illuminatedwithjennifer.com.

🎙️ Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace
https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse

🎧 Watch Trauma Rewired on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@traumarewired

📖 The Wayfinder Journal
https://stan.store/illuminated

 

 

Podcast Disclaimer

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear.

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuroscience and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified NeuroSomatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a recommendation that psychedelics are appropriate for any individual. Decisions regarding psychedelic use should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.



Sexual Fawning: When Survival Gets Mistaken for Intimacy10 Aug 202600:57:40

Why do so many trauma survivors say "yes" when every part of their body is saying "no"?

In this deeply compassionate episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by somatic educator Luis Mojica to explore one of the least understood trauma adaptations: sexual fawning.

While many people recognize fawning as people-pleasing, sexual fawning often remains hidden beneath shame, confusion, and self-blame. Together, they unpack how the nervous system can mistake compliance for safety, why intimacy can become intertwined with survival, and how early developmental experiences shape adult relationships.

You'll learn why fawning is not a personality trait but an intelligent physiological adaptation, how developmental trauma creates "over-couplings" between fear and pleasure, and why healing begins not with forcing different behaviors, but by learning to recognize the body's earliest protective signals.

This conversation also explores the relationship between attachment wounds, body boundaries, shame, freeze responses, compassion, and nervous system capacity—offering a new framework for understanding sexuality through the lens of neuroscience, somatics, and post-traumatic growth.

Whether you've experienced childhood trauma, struggle to maintain boundaries, or simply want a deeper understanding of how survival responses influence intimacy, this episode offers practical insights and profound hope for healing.

In This Episode
  • What the fawn response actually is—and why it's far more than people-pleasing
  • The difference between fawning and sexual fawning
  • How developmental trauma couples fear, shame, and arousal
  • Why sexual fawning often occurs inside loving, committed relationships
  • The physiology behind compliance, dissociation, and body boundaries
  • How freeze and fawn work together during traumatic experiences
  • Why shame is a physiological state—not a character flaw
  • Understanding over-coupling and how the nervous system learns survival
  • The difference between present danger and nervous system triggers
  • How to recognize the first body signals before a fawn response occurs
  • Why compassion can feel threatening to a traumatized nervous system
  • The relationship between chronic people-pleasing, chronic illness, and nervous system capacity
  • Practical somatic practices for interrupting the fawn response and rebuilding body trust
Start Here

If today's conversation resonated with you, these resources are a powerful next step:

🧠 The Nervous System Rewire Mini Course
Learn the foundational practices for regulating your nervous system and creating lasting change.
https://rewirecourse.com

🧠 Try Brain-Based Membership Free for Two Weeks
Join Jennifer and Elisabeth for live nervous system training.
https://rewiretrial.com

🧠 NSI Foundations
Begin understanding how applied neurology and Neurosomatic Intelligence create lasting nervous system change.
https://www.rewiretrial.com

Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

If this conversation resonated, continue exploring these related episodes:

  • Understanding the Fawn Response
  • Why Boundaries Feel Like Rejection After Trauma
  • From Shame to Self-Expression: Healing Body Boundaries After Trauma
  • Emotional Flashbacks and Complex Trauma
  • Why Being Yourself Can Feel Dangerous After Trauma
  • The Freeze Response Explained
  • Fight, Flight, Freeze & Fawn: Understanding Survival States

 

 

Are you ready to become the woman who can carry the vision? Discover nervous system education, preparation, integration, and resources to support your journey at illuminatedwithjennifer.com.

If you're interested in the intersection of neuroscience, psychedelics, interoception, and nervous system preparation, explore Jennifer's educational YouTube channel:

Sacred Synapse
https://www.youtube.com/@SacredSynapse

New videos every week exploring applied neurology, neuroplasticity, trauma physiology, and psychedelic harm reduction.

The Wayfinder Journal

Healing doesn't happen through insight alone.

The Wayfinder Journal was designed to help you develop greater self-awareness, nervous system attunement, and embodied reflection between sessions and episodes.

Explore the journal here:
https://stan.store/traumarewired

Exclusive Offer

🥬 Receive a FREE bottle of AG1 with your subscription.

https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

 

Podcast Disclaimer

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute

medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a

qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any

decisions based on what you hear.

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and

disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek

professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are

having a negative impact on your health and well-being.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health

crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. If

someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We

don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date

information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual

needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you

hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their

statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our

guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique.

These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and

you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic

practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor

or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This

podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous

system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for

medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm

reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should

be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a

recommendation that psychedelics are appropriate for any individual. Decisionsregarding psychedelic use should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare

professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are

based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those

involved.

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm

reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should

be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a

recommendation that psychedelics are appropriate for any individual. Decisions

regarding psychedelic use should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare

professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of

others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us

at traumarewired@gmail.com

All rights in our content are reserved

The Fawn Response Explained03 Aug 202600:55:04

The fawn response is one of the most common—and most misunderstood—trauma adaptations. While many people recognize it as people-pleasing, saying yes too often, or avoiding conflict, fawning is far more than a personality trait. It is a deeply wired survival response designed to preserve attachment, reduce threat, and maintain connection when the nervous system believes belonging is at risk.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the neuroscience of the fawn response, explaining why so many people learn to abandon themselves in order to maintain relationships. They examine how developmental trauma teaches children to prioritize attachment over authenticity, why boundaries can feel physically threatening, and how chronic self-sacrifice eventually disconnects us from our own needs, emotions, and body.

Jennifer also shares deeply personal reflections on her own healing journey, including how fawning shaped her relationships, her experience of people-pleasing, and her recovery after surviving a kidnapping for the purpose of sex trafficking. Together, Jennifer and Elisabeth distinguish between acute survival fawning during life-threatening events and the chronic relational fawning that quietly shapes everyday interactions, work, friendships, and intimate relationships.

The conversation also explores sexual fawning—one of the least discussed trauma adaptations—and how nervous system dysregulation can cause people to override their body's own signals in order to preserve attachment, avoid conflict, or maintain connection. They discuss why these patterns often continue inside loving relationships, how dissociation disconnects us from authentic consent, and why rebuilding trust with our own body becomes one of the most important parts of healing.

Rather than viewing fawning as weakness or codependency, Jennifer and Elisabeth invite listeners to understand it as an intelligent biological adaptation that once protected survival. Healing isn't about becoming less caring or less connected. It's about expanding nervous system capacity so connection no longer requires self-abandonment.

Key Takeaways
  • What the fawn response really is and why it is a biological survival adaptation rather than a personality trait.

  • The difference between acute survival fawning and chronic relational fawning.

  • Why people-pleasing, caretaking, and self-sacrifice are often nervous system responses rather than conscious choices.

  • How developmental trauma teaches us to choose attachment over authenticity.

  • Why boundaries often feel dangerous to the nervous system.

  • The neuroscience of attachment, co-regulation, and social survival.

  • Why connection is a regulated nervous system state—not simply an emotion.

  • How chronic fawning contributes to emotional suppression, shame, inflammation, and nervous system dysregulation.

  • How false connection develops through self-abandonment.

  • Jennifer's personal reflections on surviving kidnapping and how fawning functioned during an acute survival experience.

  • The hidden dynamics of sexual fawning and why it often persists inside loving relationships.

  • How dissociation disconnects us from our body's "yes" and "no."

  • Why emotional processing helps restore authentic boundaries and self-expression.

  • Practical ways to begin rewiring the fawn response through daily nervous system practice.

If you've ever struggled to say no, felt responsible for everyone else's emotions, or found yourself losing your voice in order to keep the peace, this episode offers a compassionate, neuroscience-informed understanding of why those patterns developed—and how they can begin to change. Healing starts by recognizing that your nervous system was protecting you. Recovery begins when your body learns that authentic connection no longer requires self-abandonment

 

Resources

🧠 Start Your Nervous System Journey — FREE for Two Weeks
https://rewiretrial.com

🌿 NeuroSomatic Intelligence (NSI) Certification
https://neurosomaticintelligence.com

 

 

Are you ready to become the woman who can carry the vision? Discover nervous system education, preparation, integration, and resources to support your journey at illuminatedwithjennifer.com.

🎙️ Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace
https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse

🎧 Watch Trauma Rewired on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@traumarewired

📖 The Wayfinder Journal
https://stan.store/illuminated

 

Disclaimer

Trauma Rewired is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological, or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear in this podcast.

We share our experiences and explore trauma, nervous system health, emotional processing, physical reactions, mental health, and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue listening if these conversations are having a negative impact on your health or well-being.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis in the United States, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. If someone's life is in immediate danger, call 911.

We do our best to stay current with scientific research, but older episodes remain available and may not reflect the latest findings. We do not warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate, or up-to-date information. It is important to consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding your individual needs, as we are not responsible for any actions taken based on the information shared in this podcast.

We occasionally invite guests to share their expertise and lived experiences. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Trauma Rewired or our organization. We do not independently verify every statement made by our guests and do not endorse third-party content.

We discuss neuroscience, nervous system regulation, and somatic health for a broad audience, but every nervous system is unique. The information shared is educational in nature and should not replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic care.

We are not physicians or licensed medical professionals. We are certified Neurosomatic practitioners, educators, and nervous system coaches. This podcast is not a substitute for working with a qualified healthcare provider who understands your individual history and needs.

Brain Based and Rewire Trial provide educational resources focused on nervous system health, stress processing, and somatic practices. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical or mental health condition and are not appropriate substitutes for emergency or crisis care.

Any examples shared throughout this podcast are for educational and illustrative purposes. When based on real events, identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a recommendation that psychedelic substances are appropriate for any individual. Decisions regarding psychedelic use should always be made in consultation with qualified healthcare professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

We strive to respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe any content infringes upon your rights, please contact us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

© Trauma Rewired. All rights reserved.

 

Why Being Yourself Can Feel Dangerous After Trauma27 Jul 202600:45:26

What if authenticity isn't a personality trait—but a sign of nervous system capacity?

Many people believe they struggle to be themselves because they lack confidence, boundaries, or self-awareness. But after trauma, authenticity can feel physiologically dangerous. When the nervous system has learned that honesty risks rejection, conflict, or abandonment, masking, performing, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and emotional editing become intelligent survival strategies.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore why authenticity is one of the clearest markers of post-traumatic growth. They unpack the neuroscience behind masking, the relationship between performance and attachment, why "little lies" often emerge from protection rather than manipulation, and how increasing nervous system capacity allows authentic self-expression without collapse or self-abandonment.

The conversation also explores how psychedelic experiences often create temporary feelings of authenticity and forgiveness—but why those insights only become lasting change through preparation, regulation, and integration.

Jennifer also shares a deeply personal reflection on self-forgiveness, relational repair, and how nervous system regulation creates the capacity to tell the truth, remain connected, and experience genuine freedom.

In This Episode, We Discuss
  • Why authenticity is a marker of nervous system health—not personality.

  • How complex trauma teaches the body that honesty can threaten attachment.

  • The neuroscience behind masking, performance, and emotional editing.

  • Why perfectionism is a survival strategy rather than a character trait.

  • The relationship between authenticity and post-traumatic growth.

  • How chronic self-suppression increases allostatic load and nervous system stress.

  • Why "little lies" often function as protective nervous system adaptations.

  • The difference between visibility and authentic expression.

  • Oversharing versus authentic vulnerability.

  • How nervous system capacity changes relationships.

  • Why psychedelic insight alone does not create lasting transformation.

  • The role of preparation and integration after psychedelic experiences.

  • Self-forgiveness as a nervous system practice rather than a mindset.

  • Why shame blocks neuroplasticity and learning.

  • Attunement, emotional processing, and authentic change.

  • Forgiveness without bypassing accountability.

  • Breaking intergenerational trauma patterns through regulation and capacity building.

 

 

Featured in This Episode

The Nervous System Rewire Course
Learn the foundational practices that help you regulate your nervous system, build self-attunement, and increase capacity through experiential exercises.

https://rewirecourse.com

 

Start Here

The Rewire Trial
Experience the Brain-Based Membership with a two-week trial.

https://rewiretrial.com

NSI Foundations Bundle
Learn the fundamentals of Neurosomatic Intelligence.

https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

Capacity Gap Workshop
Understand why capacity—not willpower—is the missing link in lasting nervous system change.

https://rewirecapacity.com

Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

Watch full video episodes and subscribe on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@traumarewired

 

Are you ready to become the woman who can carry the vision? Discover nervous system education, preparation, integration, and resources to support your journey at illuminatedwithjennifer.com. Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace

For deeper education on psychedelic neuroscience, nervous system preparation, integration, and harm reduction, visit Sacred Synapse.

https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse

 

The Wayfinder Journal

Jennifer's guided journal for nervous system awareness, reflection, and post-traumatic growth.

https://stan.store/illuminated

 

 

 

Exclusive Offer

Support your nervous system with AG1 and receive Trauma Rewired's exclusive partner offer.

https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

 

 

Disclaimer

The Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological, or other professional advice or services. The information shared by Jennifer Wallace, Elisabeth Kristof, and their guests is for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical, mental health, or healthcare advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast.

If listening to this podcast brings up significant distress, please pause the episode and seek support from a qualified mental health professional. If you are in crisis, contact your local emergency services immediately. In the United States and Canada, you can also contact or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented, neuroscience and trauma research continue to evolve. Trauma Rewired makes no guarantees regarding the completeness, reliability, or ongoing accuracy of the information shared.

The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace, Elisabeth Kristof, BrainBased, or their affiliates.

Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are educators and practitioners. Unless explicitly stated, they are not acting as licensed medical or mental health providers within the context of this podcast.

BrainBased.com, RewireTrial.com, and associated educational programs are intended for educational purposes only and are not a substitute for individualized medical or mental healthcare.

Discussions involving psychedelics are presented exclusively for educational and harm reduction purposes. Trauma Rewired does not encourage or promote illegal activity or the unsupervised use of psychedelic substances. Individuals should understand and comply with the laws applicable in their jurisdiction and consult qualified healthcare professionals before making decisions related to psychedelic therapies.

Any examples or stories shared on this podcast are for educational illustration. Names and identifying details may be changed to protect privacy.

For questions regarding podcast content, please contact:
traumarewired@gmail.com

© Trauma Rewired. All rights reserved.

 

Grief Is a Body Experience: The Neuroscience of Loss20 Jul 202601:04:09

Grief is often thought of as an emotional response to death, but grief is much more than that. It is a full-body physiological process that accompanies every meaningful loss, transition, and transformation we experience throughout life.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace, Elisabeth Kristof, and NSI Director of Operations and Continuing Education Piper Rose explore grief through the lens of neuroscience, attachment, and the nervous system. Together, they examine why grief is not something to "get over," but a biological process that reshapes our brain, body, relationships, and identity.

Whether you're grieving the loss of a loved one, a relationship, your health, a career, a version of yourself, or navigating the changes that naturally accompany healing and post-traumatic growth, this conversation offers a compassionate and science-backed framework for understanding grief as an essential part of being human.

Together, they explore why grief can feel physically painful, how our nervous system adapts to loss, why meaning-making often comes too early, and how building the capacity to stay present with grief ultimately expands our capacity for resilience, connection, and love.

Key Takeaways
  • Why grief is a biological nervous system process—not simply an emotional experience.
  • How grief reshapes the brain's predictions, physiology, and sense of identity.
  • The relationship between grief, attachment, belonging, and post-traumatic growth.
  • Why grief often shows up as fatigue, heaviness, physical pain, bracing, or shutdown.
  • How survival responses like suppression, over-functioning, and dissociation interrupt the body's natural grieving process.
  • Why growth always asks us to grieve who we once were.
  • Why meaning-making is most helpful after the body has processed loss—not before.
  • Practical ways to support grief through co-regulation, nervous system capacity, and daily "minimum effective dose" grief practice.

If you've ever been told to "move on," "look for the silver lining," or simply "stay strong," this episode offers another perspective: grief is not something to overcome. It is a deeply human process that deserves to be witnessed, supported, and experienced with compassion.

Featured in This Episode

Piper Rose
Founder of Shadowplay Coaching and Director of Operations & Continuing Education at NeuroSomatic Intelligence.

Frances Weller
Author and psychotherapist whose work on grief, ritual, and community is referenced throughout the conversation.

Kintsugi
The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, used as a metaphor for healing, resilience, and transformation.

Resources

🧠 Start Your Nervous System Journey — FREE for Two Weeks
https://rewiretrial.com

🌿 NeuroSomatic Intelligence (NSI) Certification
https://neurosomaticintelligence.com

🎧 Watch Trauma Rewired on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@traumarewired

 

Are you ready to become the woman who can carry the vision?
Discover nervous system education, preparation, integration, and resources to support your journey at illuminatedwithjennifer.com.

🎙️ Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace
https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse

📖 The Wayfinder Journal
https://stan.store/illuminated

 

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a recommendation that psychedelics are appropriate for any individual. Decisions regarding psychedelic use should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved



From Shame to Self Expression: Healing Body Boundaries After Trauma13 Jul 202600:53:13

Childhood sexual trauma doesn't end when the event is over. It can shape the nervous system for decades, influencing boundaries, shame, relationships, chronic pain, dissociation, and the way we experience safety in our own bodies.

In this deeply personal episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by NSI practitioner Lovee Bradley to explore the lasting neurophysiological effects of childhood sexual abuse and the path toward healing.

Together they discuss how early violations of body boundaries shape the developing nervous system, why freeze and dissociation become deeply ingrained survival strategies, and how those adaptations continue to influence adult relationships, emotional regulation, shame, intimacy, and self-expression.

Jennifer, Elisabeth, and Lovee also share their own lived experiences with sexual trauma, pelvic pain, chronic bracing, emotional suppression, people-pleasing, and boundary challenges while offering hope through nervous system healing and neuroplasticity.

This conversation is not about reliving trauma—it is about understanding the intelligence of survival responses and learning how to safely reconnect with your body, your voice, and your sense of self.

If you've ever struggled with shame, chronic freeze, difficulty saying no, intimacy challenges, or feeling disconnected from your own body, this episode offers both education and hope.

In This Episode We Discuss

• How childhood sexual trauma shapes nervous system development

• Why freeze is an intelligent survival response—not a personal weakness

• Dissociation, shame, and the long-term effects of developmental trauma

• How chronic muscle bracing and pelvic floor tension develop after trauma

• Sexual fawning, people-pleasing, and body boundary violations

• Emotional regulation and the lasting impact of early attachment wounds

• The relationship between shame, chronic illness, and self-abandonment

• Why boundaries often feel physically unsafe after trauma

• Rebuilding safety, self-expression, and agency through neuroplasticity and nervous system regulation

Resources 🧠 Featured in This Episode

Working with Shame: A Neurosomatic Approach for Practitioners

Learn practical tools for recognizing and re-patterning shame through a nervous system lens.

https://neurosomatic.com/shame

🎯 Start Here

FREE 2-week nervous system training:
https://www.rewiretrial.com

Learn more about Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching:
https://www.neurosomaticintelligence.com

📺 Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@TraumaRewired

🧠 Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace

Learn more about psychedelic neuroscience, applied neurology, and Neurosomatic Intelligence through educational, harm reduction content.

https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

📓 The Wayfinder Journal

A guided journal designed to help you track nervous system patterns, deepen self-awareness, and support psychedelic preparation and integration.

https://stan.store/illuminated

🤝 Connect with Us

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/trauma.rewired

Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/761101225132846

🌱 Exclusive Offer

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from AG1:

https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Disclaimer

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear.

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuroscience and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neurosomatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. BrainBased.com and RewireTrial.com are membership sites for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. They are not substitutes for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Jennifer Wallace is also the founder of Sacred Synapse, an educational platform exploring psychedelic neuroscience, applied neurology, Neurosomatic Intelligence, and nervous system-informed psychedelic preparation and integration. Any discussion of psychedelics is provided for educational and harm reduction purposes only. Sacred Synapse does not encourage or promote illegal substance use. Psychedelic experiences carry significant psychological and physiological risks and are not appropriate for every nervous system. Always consult qualified medical professionals and follow the laws applicable where you live before making decisions related to psychedelic use.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you have any concerns regarding our content, please contact us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

How Self-Compassion Changes the Brain and Rewires Shame06 Jul 202600:50:25

Shame is one of the most powerful forces shaping the nervous system. It can quietly influence how we think, relate, perform, heal, and even how we experience ourselves. Yet most approaches treat shame as something to challenge cognitively rather than something that has become embodied through years of protective adaptations.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the neuroscience of self-compassion and why it is not simply "being nice to yourself." Self-compassion is a neurobiological intervention that changes brain function, increases emotional regulation, reduces threat activation, and creates the conditions for genuine nervous system change.

Together, they unpack why shame becomes wired into the brain, how protective survival responses reinforce shame over time, and why healing requires more than insight. Through the lens of Neurosomatic Intelligence (NSI), they explain how creating safety within the nervous system allows new neural pathways to develop, making lasting transformation possible.

If you've ever struggled with perfectionism, chronic self-criticism, people-pleasing, burnout, or the feeling that you're somehow "not enough," this conversation offers both the neuroscience and the practical tools to begin rewiring those deeply learned patterns.

In This Episode
  • What shame actually is from a nervous system perspective

  • How chronic shame changes brain function and reinforces survival patterns

  • The difference between guilt, shame, and healthy accountability

  • Why self-compassion is a biological process—not positive thinking

  • How self-criticism activates threat physiology

  • The neuroscience behind safety, neuroplasticity, and emotional regulation

  • Why insight alone rarely resolves shame

  • How early attachment experiences shape lifelong self-perception

  • The relationship between self-compassion and resilience

  • Practical ways to begin rewiring shame through Neurosomatic Intelligence

  • Why shame is often an adaptive survival strategy rather than a character flaw

  • How your nervous system learns patterns of self-protection

  • Why changing your internal dialogue without changing physiology often doesn't last

  • How compassion supports neuroplasticity and nervous system regulation

  • Why healing requires increasing capacity—not forcing change

  • Small practices that help shift the nervous system toward safety and connection

 

 

  • Featured in This Episode
  • Throughout this conversation, we mention the following resources:

  • 🧠 15-Day Nervous System Rewire
  • Begin building nervous system regulation with 15 guided practices.
    https://rewirecourse.com

  • 🎁 FREE Two-Week Brain Based Trial
  • Experience Brain Based free through the Trauma Rewired community.
    https://rewiretrial.com

 

Start Here

 

🎓 Become NSI Certified

The Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification teaches applied neurology, somatics, and nervous system regulation for professionals and practitioners.

https://neurosomaticintelligence.com

 

 

 

Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

Watch full episodes and subscribe on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@traumarewired

 

 

Sacred Synapse

Interested in the neuroscience of psychedelics, neuroplasticity, and nervous system preparation?

Explore Jennifer Wallace's educational YouTube channel dedicated to evidence-informed psychedelic education and harm reduction.

https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

illuminatedwithjennifer.com

 

 

The Wayfinder Journal

Develop greater nervous system awareness through guided reflections, emotional processing prompts, and practical regulation exercises.

https://stan.store/illuminated

Exclusive Offer

FREE 1-Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from AG1

https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

 

Disclaimer

The Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological, or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear.

We share our experiences and explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health, and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue listening if these conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being.

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health or is experiencing a mental health crisis and you are in the United States, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. If someone's life is in immediate danger, call 911.

We do our best to stay current with research, but older episodes remain available. We do not warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate, or up-to-date information. It is important to speak with a qualified medical professional about your individual needs, as we are not responsible for any actions you take based on the information shared in this podcast.

We occasionally invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we do not independently verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content, and the views expressed by guests do not necessarily represent those of our organization.

We discuss neuroscience and nervous system health in general terms. Every nervous system is unique. These conversations are intended for a broad audience and provide general educational information. They are not personalized recommendations and should never replace individualized care for your specific health concerns, trauma history, or nervous system needs.

We are not physicians or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neurosomatic practitioners and nervous system health and embodiment coaches. We are not your healthcare providers, do not know your individual medical history, and this podcast is not a substitute for working with qualified professionals.

BrainBased.com and RewireTrial.com are membership platforms that provide education and practices for general nervous system health, somatic processing, and stress processing. They are not substitutes for medical care and are not appropriate interventions for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.

Discussions related to psychedelics are provided solely for educational and harm reduction purposes. Nothing shared on this podcast or through Sacred Synapse should be interpreted as medical advice, encouragement to use illegal substances, or a recommendation that psychedelics are appropriate for any individual. Decisions regarding psychedelic use should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare professionals and in accordance with applicable laws.

Any examples shared in this podcast are for illustrative purposes only. When based on real events, identifying details and names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure that our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe any content infringes upon your rights, please contact us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.



Why You Shut Down: Freeze, Flop, and Tonic Immobility Explained29 Jun 202600:54:55
S5 E48 – Why You Shut Down: Freeze, Flop, and Tonic Immobility Explained

Have you ever found yourself unable to speak during an important conversation? Staring at your computer for hours without being able to begin? Feeling emotionally numb, disconnected, or frozen even though you desperately want to move forward?

These experiences are often misunderstood as laziness, burnout, or a lack of motivation. But they may actually be signs of a nervous system that has learned survival through shutdown.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the freeze response in depth, separating several nervous system states that are often mistakenly grouped together: acute freeze, tonic immobility, flop, and functional freeze.

You'll learn why freeze is not simply "doing nothing," but an intelligent neurobiological response that helps the brain assess danger before choosing its next survival strategy. You'll also discover why tonic immobility—a last-resort survival response frequently experienced during sexual assault, childhood abuse, and combat—is fundamentally different from the brief freeze response that occurs during everyday stress.

Jennifer and Elisabeth unpack how chronic trauma can condition the nervous system to rely on freeze and shutdown long after danger has passed, creating patterns of emotional numbness, dissociation, indecision, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and difficulty accessing authentic connection.

The conversation also explores how functional freeze differs from burnout, why emotional numbness is often a loss of access rather than a loss of emotion, and how disruptions in interoception make emotional processing feel nearly impossible. Rather than encouraging people to push through or "snap out of it," they explain why nervous system healing begins with safety, precision, and what Neurosomatic Intelligence calls the Minimum Effective Dose.

Whether you're navigating your own healing journey or supporting clients as a therapist, coach, or practitioner, this episode provides a compassionate neuroscience framework for understanding why shutdown happens—and how the nervous system can gradually learn that it is safe to move, feel, and reconnect again.

In This Episode We Discuss:

• The difference between freeze, tonic immobility, flop, and functional freeze

• Why freeze is a temporary survival pause—not the end of the stress response

• How tonic immobility differs from everyday freeze and why it often follows inescapable threat

• Why survivors often experience shame after tonic immobility

• How chronic trauma patterns freeze into daily life

• Functional freeze versus burnout: understanding the differences

• How freeze affects relationships, communication, and vulnerability

• Why emotional numbness is often a protective nervous system response

• The role of interoception in emotional awareness and processing

• How trauma changes the way the brain interprets internal body sensations

• Why you cannot think your way out of freeze

• The neuroscience behind emotional blunting and dissociation

• Why high performers can live in functional freeze without realizing it

• How freeze impacts motivation, purpose, and emotional connection

• The difference between numbness and apathy

• Gentle, nervous system-informed approaches to thawing out of freeze

• Why healing begins with safety, movement, and minimum effective dose—not forcing emotional breakthroughs

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who may finally find language for an experience they've never been able to explain.

To learn more about bringing applied neurology, somatics, and nervous system education into your personal or professional practice, visit Neurosomatic Intelligence and explore the Foundations Bundle.

Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast—it helps us continue bringing evidence-informed nervous system education to more people around the world.

 Resources

🎯 Start Here

FREE 2-week nervous system training: https://www.rewiretrial.com

Learn more about Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching: https://www.neurosomaticintelligence.com

📺 Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TraumaRewired

🤝 Connect with Us

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trauma.rewired

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/761101225132846

Interested in Psychedlic Neuroscience and NSI?  Check out Sacred Synapse by Jennifer Wallace https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

🌱 Exclusive Offer

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com

All rights in our content are reserved

 

How Trauma Turns Fear Into Hustle, Overworking & Burnout; The Flight Response.22 Jun 202600:35:45

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the flight response through the lens of trauma, nervous system regulation, emotional processing, and Neurosomatic Intelligence.

The flight response doesn't always look like physically running away. More often, it shows up as chronic busyness, overworking, overtraining, perfectionism, emotional avoidance, and the inability to slow down. What many people call discipline, productivity, or high performance may actually be a nervous system mobilized for survival.

Jennifer and Elisabeth unpack how fear becomes wired into the body through developmental trauma, emotional neglect, structural trauma, and chronic stress. They explore why the nervous system learns to associate stillness with danger, how chronic flight becomes reinforced by modern culture, and why so many people feel trapped in constant motion despite desperately needing rest.

In this episode you'll learn:

• What the trauma flight response actually is
• Why stillness can feel unsafe after trauma
• How fear gets expressed through overworking, urgency, perfectionism, and burnout
• The role of interoception in emotional awareness and regulation
• Why high-functioning coping strategies often mask nervous system dysregulation
• How structural trauma and hustle culture reinforce chronic flight patterns
• Practical neurosomatic approaches for building safety, emotional tolerance, and capacity

The conversation also explores CPTSD, burnout, anxiety, emotional suppression, fear, neuroplasticity, and the relationship between nervous system regulation and emotional processing.

If you feel stuck in constant motion, struggle to rest, or find yourself disconnected from your body, emotions, and capacity for presence, this episode is for you.

Subscribe to Trauma Rewired for more conversations on trauma healing, nervous system regulation, emotional health, somatics, neuroplasticity, CPTSD, and post-traumatic growth.

 

 Resources

🎯 Start Here

FREE 2-week nervous system training: https://www.rewiretrial.com

Learn more about Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching: https://www.neurosomaticintelligence.com

📺 Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TraumaRewired

🤝 Connect with Us

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trauma.rewired

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/761101225132846

🌱 Exclusive Offer

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com

All rights in our content are reserved

 

 

The Fight Trauma Response: Suppressed Anger, Inner Critic & Nervous System Repatterning15 Jun 202600:54:13

Fight response isn't just anger or "being reactive." It's a nervous system adaptation shaped by experiences where safety, protection, repair, or authenticity were missing. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the neuroscience of the fight response, how suppressed anger turns inward as a harsh inner critic or outward as criticism and control, and why the body stays braced for threat long after the danger has passed. 

This conversation explores parentification, emotional suppression, hypervigilance, chronic stress patterns, and the hidden ways fight response impacts relationships, health, and self-trust. The hosts break down how trauma wires survival patterns into the nervous system—and how daily neuro practices can help recondition those pathways toward safety and connection.

 

You'll learn:

• Why fight response is protection, not a personality flaw

• How suppressed anger impacts the nervous system and body

• The connection between parentification and chronic fight states

• Why the inner critic is often internalized fight energy

• How nervous system patterns shape relationships and emotional reactivity

• The neuroscience of emotional suppression, stress, and survival responses🎧 Listen to more episodes of Trauma Rewired for conversations on trauma, emotional processing, nervous system healing, and post-traumatic growth.

 

🔗Resources mentioned:

 

🎯 Start Here

FREE 2-week nervous system training: https://www.rewiretrial.com

Learn more about Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching: https://www.neurosomaticintelligence.com

📺 Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TraumaRewired

🤝 Connect with Us

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trauma.rewired

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/761101225132846

🌱 Exclusive Offer

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com

All rights in our content are reserved

 

How Trauma Shapes the Brain, Body, and Nervous System08 Jun 202600:45:05

What if your chronic stress, emotional triggers, anxiety, or exhaustion are not a mindset problem, but signs that your nervous system has learned protective survival patterns? In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace explore the science of nervous system regulation and unpack a common phrase in trauma spaces: "trauma lives in the body." 

While the body plays a central role, they discuss how trauma may be more accurately understood as patterns of brain-body communication, interpretation, prediction, and response shaped through experience. Through the lens of predictive processing and applied neuroscience, they explore how the nervous system uses past experiences to anticipate safety and threat, influencing emotions, behaviors, and physical symptoms in the present. 

Together they break down the autonomic nervous system, fight and flight responses, interoception, chronic stress, and why nervous system healing is not about forcing calm or chasing a quick reset. Instead, recovery happens through small, consistent practices that help create greater flexibility, resilience, and new experiences of safety over time.

Timestamps

00:00 – Triggers and the Nervous System
02:15 – The Nervous System as the Body's Operating System
05:35 – Autonomic Nervous System and Stress Responses
08:30 – Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic States
12:05 – Nervous System States and Emotional Patterns
16:50 – Triggers as Nervous System Reset Opportunities
18:05 – The Stress Response and Survival Mode
23:25 – Trauma and Nervous System Dysregulation
28:40 – Chronic and Complex Trauma Effects
36:10 – Emotional Processing for Nervous System Healing

Topics discussed in this episode:

  • How to restore the nervous system after chronic stress and trauma

  • How nervous system regulation improves emotional resilience and physical health

  • How the autonomic nervous system works (sympathetic vs. parasympathetic explained)

  • How trauma imprints on the nervous system and keeps you in survival mode

  • How to use nervous system healing practices like breathwork, movement, and interoception

  • How to exit fight or flight safely when the danger has passed

  • How nervous system reset supports emotional processing and better decision-making

  • How to use interoception to sense, interpret, and respond to internal body signals

  • How to regulate the nervous system daily with small, consistent practices

  • How dysregulation impacts health and the steps to build lasting nervous system resilience

🔗Resources mentioned:

 

🎯 Start Here

FREE 2-week nervous system training: https://www.rewiretrial.com

Learn more about Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching: https://www.neurosomaticintelligence.com

📺 Watch More Trauma Rewired Episodes

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TraumaRewired

🤝 Connect with Us

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trauma.rewired

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/761101225132846

🌱 Exclusive Offer

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com

All rights in our content are reserved

 

When the Nervous System Rewrites Reality: Emotional Flashbacks and CPTSD31 May 202600:47:22

You are not overreacting. Your nervous system is not broken. It is doing exactly what it learned to do in environments where threat was the norm.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof close out Season Five with one of the most important and least understood concepts in complex trauma: emotional flashbacks. Not the cinematic kind, not a sudden memory of a specific event, but the quiet, whole-system state shift that can color an entire day, week, or month in dread, loneliness, shame, and the bone-deep certainty that nothing will ever be okay.

The episode opens with a reframe that changes everything: an emotional flashback is not a regression to the past. It is a real-time nervous system state that reorganizes how the brain filters reality. Perception shifts. Interpretation shifts. What feels possible shifts. And because it happens at the level of the whole predictive network, not just a single memory, it does not feel like the past. It feels like now. It feels like truth.

Elisabeth and Jennifer trace exactly how this works through the lens of neuro somatic intelligence, constructed emotion theory, and the science of predictive processing. They explain what neuro tags are and how they get activated, why the amygdala hijack model is outdated and what a more accurate understanding of emotional flashbacks actually looks like, and why calling these states irrational or disordered misses the point entirely. The nervous system is not malfunctioning. It is preparing for threat based on what it has reliably learned to expect.

Both hosts share vivid and honest personal examples. Elisabeth describes a recent subtle flashback triggered by being sick, underresourced, and feeling unsupported by her partner, and how quickly the narrative spread to her business, her relationships, and her sense of being completely alone. Jennifer shares the story of a red hummingbird feeder in her backyard that unlocked an entire somatic memory of loneliness and isolation she had not yet consciously connected to childhood.

The episode also addresses something practitioners often ask about: how to tell the difference between emotional dysregulation that needs regulating, and an emotion that needs to be felt and moved through. The answer is not a clean line but a question of capacity, flexibility, and what the nervous system can hold in that moment.

This is the final episode of Season Five and a natural bridge into Season Six, where Jennifer and Elisabeth will be expanding the lens from individual healing to collective nervous system dynamics, cultural structures, and what becomes possible when this work moves beyond the personal.

Chapters

0:00 - Emotional Flashbacks Are Not Regressions. They Are Reality Shifts.
0:38 - Welcome: Closing the Season With Emotional Flashbacks
1:59 - What Neuro Tags Are and How They Get Activated
3:43 - Why Emotional Flashbacks Are Hard to Identify, Especially at First
4:42 - Constructed Emotion Theory and How the Brain Builds Emotional Reality
6:22 - How Physiology Shifts Perception: The Whole System View
7:37 - What It Feels Like From the Inside
9:22 - When You Have Lived in Flashbacks So Long They Feel Like Reality
10:31 - Elisabeth's Recent Subtle Flashback: Sick, Underresourced, and the Narrative That Spread
12:21 - Why Emotional Flashbacks in Complex Trauma Last Days, Weeks, or Longer
14:11 - How to Start Recognizing When You Are In One
15:22 - Moving Beyond Amygdala Hijacking: A More Accurate Model
18:27 - What Modern Neuroscience Actually Says About Emotion and the Brain
21:31 - Emotional Flashbacks as Coherent State Shifts, Not System Failures
23:42 - Why Sensory Precision Matters and What Happens When It Decreases
25:38 - Implicit Memory: How the Past Lives in the Body Without a Story
29:07 - Jennifer's Story: The Red Hummingbird Feeder
30:30 - How Safety States Open New Memory Files
31:41 - The Disproportionate Feeling and the Shame That Comes With It
32:30 - The Flashback Voice Speaks in Absolutes
33:26 - What Triggers Emotional Flashbacks: Sensory Cues, Patterns, and Relational Shifts
36:15 - It Is Not Trying to Remember. It Is Trying to Prepare.
36:42 - Dysregulation vs Emotion That Needs to Be Processed: A Real Question
40:45 - Flexibility as the Key Marker of Growth
41:41 - How NSI Practices Help Shift Neuro Tags in Real Time
43:44 - Closing the Season and a Preview of Season Six



Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics 

 

Join us inside Rewire: This is where you actually experience the practices Jennifer and Elisabeth talk about on the podcast that brought us freedom, self-attunement, a new relationship with food and our body.  rewiretrial.com

 

Explore the neurosomatics of boundaries: boundaryrewire.com

 

Introduction to neurosomatics for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

 

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence: https://stan.store/illuminated

 

Join Jennifer on Sacred Synapse to explore the intersection of neurosomatics and Psychedelic neuroscience: https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

 

Support the podcast by supporting our sponsors: 

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

 

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved

 

When Social Anxiety Is Actually a Complex Trauma Response25 May 202600:48:29

Social anxiety is often framed as shyness, insecurity, or fear of judgment. But for many people living with complex trauma, social anxiety is a nervous system output shaped by chronic relational stress, sensory overwhelm, hypervigilance, masking, shame, and learned survival patterns. 

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore how complex trauma changes social engagement, why connection can feel exhausting, the role of the inner critic and toxic shame, sensory processing, nervous system overload, people pleasing, social fatigue, masking, emotional suppression, and post-traumatic growth. 

We discuss why awareness alone does not create change, how nervous system rehabilitation supports healing, and what becomes possible when safety, capacity, and authentic expression begin to grow. If social situations leave you drained, overthinking, scanning for danger, withdrawing, overperforming, or feeling exhausted afterward, this conversation offers a new lens for understanding why.

Chapters

0:00 - Social Anxiety as a Full Nervous System Output
0:36 - Welcome: Social Anxiety Through the Lens of Complex Trauma
1:30 - Elisabeth: Why She Never Identified as Having Social Anxiety
2:46 - The Post-Social Binge, the Crash, and What the Outputs Were Saying
4:03 - Jennifer: How Alcohol, Food, and Cannabis Got Her Through Social Situations
5:33 - Scanning the Room, Monitoring Everyone, and Masking It All
7:25 - What Shifting Capacity Actually Looked Like at a Recent Social Event
9:09 - Discernment vs Avoidance: Knowing Your Real Capacity
12:17 - The Neuroscience: Social Anxiety as a Protective Output
13:41 - How the Output Becomes the Input: The Spiral Loop
14:07 - Fight, Flight, Fawn, Freeze in Social Settings
16:07 - Why Masking Is Metabolically Costly
17:29 - How the Inner Critic and Toxic Shame Compound Social Anxiety
21:43 - Sensory Mismatch, Sensory Overwhelm, and Why They Drive Social Anxiety
24:39 - Why Social Environments Are Especially Demanding Sensory Spaces
26:43 - HPA Axis Dysregulation and Chronic Relational Stress
32:12 - Tired but Wired: What It Is and Why It Happens
35:28 - Post-Traumatic Growth and Increasing Relational Range
38:22 - Introvert or Trauma Response? An Important Distinction
40:31 - Micro Exposures, Recalibration, and Growth That Does Not Erase Sensitivity
41:00 - Human Design, Boundaries, and Knowing What Is Yours
43:09 - Neurodivergence, Neuro Abundance, and Social Overwhelm
43:29 - Authenticity, Expression, and Feeling Safe in Your Own Body First

 

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics 

 

Join us inside Rewire: This is where you actually experience the practices Jennifer and Elisabeth talk about on the podcast that brought us freedom, self-attunement, a new relationship with food and our body.  rewiretrial.com

 

Explore the neurosomatics of boundaries: boundaryrewire.com

 

Introduction to neurosomatics for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

 

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence: https://stan.store/illuminated

 

Join Jennifer on Sacred Synapse to explore the intersection of neurosomatics and Psychedelic neuroscience: https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

 

Support the podcast by supporting our sponsors: 

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

 

Resources and Links

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved

 

Toxic Shame: When Complex Trauma Becomes Your Identity18 May 202600:44:14

There is a difference between feeling ashamed and living inside shame. One is a passing signal. The other is the background atmosphere of an entire nervous system.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof go deep on toxic shame as the next distinguishing characteristic of complex trauma in their CPT series. This is one of the most personal episodes they have recorded. Both hosts share what shame actually sounded like at its loudest in their lives, the specific words, the body states, the loops that ran for years before they had any way to interrupt them. And they are honest about where they still meet it today.

Toxic shame in complex trauma is not just a feeling that shows up after a mistake. It is an identity state. It shifts from "I did something wrong" to "I am wrong." It shapes posture, vocal tone, breath, gaze, and the way the body interprets every social interaction as potential exposure or rejection. And because it developed in relationship, specifically in environments where expressing needs or emotions led to punishment, abandonment, or humiliation, it becomes deeply tied to every relational experience that follows.

Elisabeth and Jennifer trace the full arc of how shame develops, from the child who cannot afford to see their caregiver as unsafe and so turns the blame inward, to the adult who moves through professional and personal relationships with a chronic bracing for exposure. They cover the neurobiology in depth: what the insula, default mode network, and vagus nerve have to do with chronic shame states, why shame can both amplify and numb internal sensation at the same time, and how shame formation, the physiological pairing of emotional shame states with immune and inflammatory responses, helps explain the health outcomes seen in adverse childhood experience research.

The conversation also covers the double bind of shame in complex trauma, the trap of needing connection while also bracing for what connection has always brought. How shame drives substance use and disordered eating as regulation strategies. How systemic and cultural forces layer onto developmental shame in ways that make the pattern larger than any individual. And what post-traumatic growth actually looks like here: not confidence, not the absence of shame, but a little more space between the wave and the response, a little longer staying present in the body before the collapse happens, and gradually, relationships where being imperfect does not mean being abandoned.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

  • Why toxic shame in complex trauma shifts from an emotion into an identity state
  • How shame develops as a survival strategy when caregivers are unsafe and self-blame becomes the only available adaptation
  • Why shame is not just cognitive but embodied, showing up in posture, vocal tone, breath, gaze, and gesture
  • What shame formation is and how chronic shame states are linked to inflammation, immune dysregulation, and the health outcomes in ACE research
  • How the insula, default mode network, and vagus nerve are involved in chronic shame patterning
  • Why shame can simultaneously amplify and numb internal sensation and what that means for healing
  • The double bind of shame: needing connection while bracing against it
  • How systemic and cultural shaming layers onto developmental shame and why the nervous system cannot fully distinguish between them
  • How shame drives substance use and disordered eating as regulation strategies and why the shame-use cycle is so hard to interrupt
  • What post-traumatic growth looks like in relation to shame: not the absence of it, but increased range, flexibility, and capacity to stay present with it
  • How accountability, relational repair, and allowing others to have their own experience gradually shifts the shame pattern

 

Chapters

0:00 - The Difference Between Feeling Ashamed and Living Inside Shame
 0:33 - Welcome: Toxic Shame Through the Lens of Complex PTSD
 1:54 - What Shame Actually Is: A Whole Body Physiological Response
 2:14 - When Shame Becomes an Identity State
 3:01 - Shame in the Body: Posture, Voice, Breath, and Withdrawal
 3:34 - Systemic and Cultural Shame: When the Group Itself Is Dysregulated
 5:55 - Shame as the Emotion That Represses All Other Emotions
 7:15 - How Shame Develops in Complex Trauma: The Child Who Cannot Blame the Caregiver
 8:48 - Everything Is My Fault as a State of Being
 9:43 - Jennifer and Elisabeth Share What Shame Sounded Like at Its Loudest
 11:28 - How Shame Physically Inhibits Expression
 12:09 - The Double Bind: Needing Connection While Bracing Against It
 14:00 - The Neurobiology: Insula, Freeze, Dissociation, and No Safe Discharge
 17:31 - Large Scale Neural Patterning: DMN Loops, Reward Signaling, and Oxytocin
 18:36 - What Shame Looks Like Now for Jennifer and Elisabeth
 23:51 - Shame Formation: Inflammation, the Vagus Nerve, and ACE Research
 26:43 - The Shame and Substance Use Cycle
 30:28 - How Both Hosts Used Substances to Regulate Shame
 34:15 - Systemic Shame and the Brain's Drive for Belonging
 36:10 - What Post-Traumatic Growth Actually Looks Like With Shame
 38:51 - Relational Healing: Repair, Accountability, and Letting Someone Love You Imperfectly
 41:14 - Allowing Another Person to Have Their Experience Without Collapsing

 

Resources and Links

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved

 

Complex Trauma and the Inner Critic: Why You're So Hard on Yourself11 May 202600:45:18

Everyone has a critical inner voice. But if you grew up in an environment shaped by chronic relational stress, that voice does not just comment. It runs. It loops. It drives your body into a stress state before you have even finished the thought.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the inner critic as the next distinguishing characteristic of complex trauma in their ongoing CPT series. This is not a conversation about toxic positivity or affirmations. It is a precise, neuroscience-grounded look at why the inner critic develops, what it is actually doing in the brain and nervous system, and what it genuinely takes to loosen its grip over time.

The inner critic is a predictive safety mechanism. It developed to preempt rejection, suppress behaviors that previously led to punishment, and maintain attachment in environments where connection felt conditional. It is not your core self. It is a learned neural pattern rooted in threat detection and self-referential processing that, once formed, keeps running because it worked. Or at least, it worked enough.

Jennifer and Elisabeth trace how chronic relational stress reorganizes the default mode network around threat rather than flexible identity development, what the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex have to do with rumination and shame-based identity loops, and why children with developmental trauma learn to blame themselves for relational failures that were never their fault in the first place. They also go deep on the outward expression of the same pattern: the external critic, the person who micromanages, projects, and stays braced and guarded because the nervous system is still predicting the letdown.

Both hosts bring this into their own lived experience with real honesty. Elisabeth talks about the constant body-focused narrator that used to run during recording sessions. Jennifer shares what the inner critic sounds like when she is launching something new and putting her voice out into the world. Neither of them is pretending it is gone. They are showing what it looks like when it no longer runs the show.

The episode closes with practical, nervous system-grounded pathways for working with the inner critic, including why celebration and reward matter more than positive thinking, how oxytocin-mediated safety gradually quiets social threat monitoring, and why the most important move is not arguing with the voice but interrupting the loop at the body level first.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:
  • Why the inner critic is a predictive nervous system adaptation, not a reflection of truth or identity

  • How chronic relational stress reorganizes the default mode network around threat and self-monitoring

  • What the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex have to do with rumination and the inner critic

  • Why children with developmental trauma internalize relational failures as personal flaws

  • How perfectionism, body criticism, and post-performance crashes are all outputs of the same underlying pattern

  • What the external critic is, why it always coexists with a loud inner critic, and how to recognize it in yourself

  • Why you cannot think your way out of the inner critic loop and what actually interrupts it

  • How the ventral striatum and reward signaling can be used to reinforce new behaviors and self-expression

  • Why oxytocin-mediated safety, through connection, touch, nature, and sensory pleasure, reduces the social threat driving the critic

  • What post-traumatic growth actually looks like in relation to the inner critic: not eliminating it, but expanding capacity beyond it

Chapter Markers

0:00 - The Inner Critic as a Distinguishing Characteristic of Complex Trauma
0:58 - Welcome: What the Inner Critic Actually Is
1:49 - Jennifer and Elisabeth Share Their Own Inner Critic Experiences
4:36 - Why This Matters: Recognizing Complex Trauma in the Patterns
5:33 - The Difference Between a Normal Inner Critic and a Trauma-Amplified One
7:11 - The Neuro Biology: How the Inner Critic Develops as a Protective Pattern
8:28 - How Authenticity Becomes a Threat Signal
10:38 - The Default Mode Network and Self-Referential Rumination
13:52 - What the Growth Edge Actually Feels Like in Practice
17:05 - The Brain Science: The Default Mode Network, Medial PFC, and Posterior Cingulate
19:22 - Why Developmental Trauma Teaches Children to Blame Themselves
21:10 - How to Interrupt the Loop: Sensory Anchoring, Movement, and Tools
23:18 - Working With State to Shift the Story
24:51 - Perfectionism as an Output of the Inner Critic
28:11 - Why We Stay Stuck in the Loop Even When We Know Better
29:12 - The Ventral Striatum, Reward Signaling, and Why Celebrating Small Wins Matters
35:57 - Oxytocin, Social Safety, and Softening the Hypervigilance
39:49 - The External Critic: When the Inner Voice Gets Projected Outward
43:03 - Post-Traumatic Growth and the Inner Critic: What Actually Changes

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics   

Join us inside Rewire: This is where you actually experience the practices Jennifer and Elisabeth talk about on the podcast that brought us freedom, self-attunement, a new relationship with food and our body.  rewiretrial.com

 

Explore the neurosomatics of boundaries: boundaryrewire.com

 

Introduction to neurosomatics for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

 

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence: https://stan.store/illuminated

 

Join Jennifer on Sacred Synapse to explore the intersection of neurosomatics and Psychedelic neuroscience: https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

 

Support the podcast by supporting our sponsors: 

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved



 

Why You Leave Yourself: The Complex Trauma Pattern of Self Abandonment04 May 202600:46:10

The deepest wound in complex trauma is not emotional intensity. It is the learned loss of connection to yourself.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof open the next chapter of the CPT series by starting where the roots go deepest: self-abandonment. This is the pattern they chose to name first—and intentionally so—because when the nervous system learns that staying connected to the self is unsafe, nearly every other complex trauma response grows from that adaptation.

Self-abandonment is not a personality flaw or a lack of self-awareness. It is a body-based survival strategy. From a neurosomatic perspective, it is a state-dependent loss of interoceptive access—a patterned inhibition of internal signals that the nervous system learned in order to stay attached, stay safe, and maintain stability in the relational environment. And like every other output explored in this series, it made complete sense at the time it formed.

The conversation moves through the neuroscience of dissociation and how it is inseparable from self-abandonment, the brain regions involved, and what their altered activity actually looks like in everyday life. It explores the fawn response—including its lesser-discussed dimension of sexual fawning—and the specific pathways through which emotional neglect and parentification set the stage for chronic self-erasure. Jennifer and Elisabeth also trace how masking—whether in the context of neurodivergence, complex trauma, or systemic oppression—is another expression of the same root pattern: authenticity does not feel safe, so the self gets hidden.

But this episode does not stop at the wound. Both hosts share what the growth edge of this pattern has actually looked like for them—what building interoceptive capacity from the ground up felt like in practice—and how self-attunement, the skill of staying present with internal experience without becoming overwhelmed by it, gradually became accessible rather than threatening.

This is not a quick-fix episode. It is an honest, grounded map of one of the most pervasive and least visible patterns in complex trauma—and a clear-eyed account of what actually changes it.

 

In This Episode, You Will Learn:
  • Why self abandonment is a survival adaptation rooted in the nervous system, not a character flaw

  • How interoceptive access becomes inhibited under chronic relational threat, and what that feels like day to day

  • The neuroscience of dissociation: which brain regions are involved and how their altered activity drives functional disconnection

  • Why emotional neglect, even without overt harm, sets the stage for chronic self erasure

  • How parentification creates a nervous system template of self abandonment that persists long into adulthood

  • What fawn response is, how it operates neurologically, and why sexual fawning is a real and undernamed expression of it

  • How masking across contexts including neurodivergence, complex trauma, and racial and systemic oppression overlaps with and compounds self abandonment

  • What self attunement actually is as a nervous system skill and how it is different from insight or emotional processing alone

  • Why healing is capacity-based rather than cathartic, and what that means for pacing

  • How both hosts have rebuilt interoceptive access over time and what that process has opened up for them

Chapters

0:00 - The Deepest Wound in Complex Trauma Is Not Emotional Intensity
0:38 - Welcome: Who This Episode Is For
1:27 - Introducing the CPT Series and Why We Start With Self Abandonment
2:53 - Defining Self Abandonment as a Nervous System Output
4:21 - Pete Walker, Fawn Responses, and How the Child Learns to Attune Outward
4:47 - The Neuro Somatic View: Interoceptive Access Under Chronic Threat
6:08 - Embodiment as the Opposite of Self Abandonment
6:35 - Collective and Intergenerational Dimensions of Self Abandonment
7:55 - What Self Abandonment Looks Like in Real Life: A Case Study
9:21 - Dissociation: What It Actually Is and Why It Is Inseparable From Self Abandonment
10:42 - Brain Science: The Insula, Hippocampus, Amygdala, and Thalamus
14:35 - The Fawn Response and Sexual Fawning
18:17 - Self Attunement: The Opposite of Self Abandonment
21:06 - Rebuilding Interoception: Starting Small
27:19 - Emotional Neglect as the Root of Self Abandonment
29:13 - Parentification and the Template of Self Erasure
31:21 - Masking: Neurodivergence, Systemic Oppression, and Complex Trauma
36:19 - What Growth Has Actually Looked Like for Jennifer and Elisabeth
40:20 - Stress Bucket Dysmorphia and Learning Your Real Capacity

Resources and Links

 

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved

 

From Complex Trauma to Post-Traumatic Growth: A New Way to Understand CPTSD27 Apr 202600:45:42

You could not think your way out of the pattern. That is not a failure of insight. That is the nature of complex trauma.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof return to one of the most resonant threads in Trauma Rewired's history: complex post-traumatic stress. Several years ago they recorded a series on CPT that changed how thousands of listeners understood themselves. This is the revision. Not a replacement of what came before, but a deepening, one shaped by advances in trauma research, neuroscience, and by the hosts' own continued growth.

The reframe at the center of this episode is one that matters: complex trauma is not a disorder. It is not something wrong with you. It is a predictive nervous system pattern, an intelligent set of adaptations shaped by prolonged relational stress, often beginning in childhood, that made complete sense in the environment they were formed in. The question is not what is wrong with you. The question is what did your nervous system learn and how can it learn something new?

Elisabeth and Jennifer trace the history of CPT as a clinical concept, from Judith Hermann's early naming of what PTSD could not capture, through Pete Walker's lived experience framework, into the current neuroscience of predictive patterning, interoception, and the body as the site of both the wound and the healing. They explain why complex trauma has no single memory to point to, why it often lives in sensation and state rather than narrative, and why that means healing looks different here than it does for single-event trauma.

The episode also goes deep on something that does not get named enough in healing spaces: the trap of the healing vortex. The way that understanding complex trauma can become its own form of nervous system activation, another thing to fix, another layer to excavate, another reason the system cannot rest. Real growth, they argue, requires repetition and safety and time, but it also requires rest, play, and the gradual experience of being okay in the present moment without urgency.

This episode opens the new CPT series and previews what is coming: the inner critic, toxic shame, social anxiety, emotional flashbacks, and self-abandonment, each explored not as pathology but as nervous system strategies that once served a purpose and can now be worked with differently.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:
  • Why complex trauma is better understood as a predictive nervous system pattern than a disorder

  • The difference between CPT and PTSD and why that distinction matters for healing

  • Why there is often no single memory in complex trauma, and why the experience lives in the body instead

  • How interoception becomes disrupted in the context of chronic relational stress

  • Why the nervous system seeks familiar environments, even harmful ones, and how that perpetuates the cycle

  • How systemic and cultural trauma shapes the nervous system in the same way interpersonal trauma does

  • What neuroplasticity actually requires: repetition, safety, and time, not insight alone

  • Why pushing too hard into somatic work can backfire, and what pacing actually looks like

  • How the healing vortex keeps people stuck and what stepping out of it makes possible

  • What observer capacity is, why it is one of the most important markers of growth, and how it develops

  • A preview of the five distinguishing characteristics of CPT that will be explored throughout the series

 

 

Chapter Markers

0:00 - CPT Shows Up Most Clearly in Relationships
1:13 - Welcome: Revisiting the Complex Trauma Series
2:04 - Why We Are Updating This Framework Now
4:25 - What Complex Trauma Is and Where the Term Came From
6:19 - Judith Hermann, Pete Walker, and Why This Language Matters
7:15 - Why We Use CPT Instead of CPTSD
8:07 - The Distinguishing Patterns: How Complex Trauma Shows Up
10:16 - DSM vs ICD-11: The Diagnosis Question
11:38 - CPT vs PTSD: Different Patterns, Different Healing
13:08 - When There Is No Memory: Implicit Patterning and the Developing Brain
15:20 - CPT as a Predictive Nervous System Pattern
17:09 - The Five Distinguishing Characteristics of CPT
18:07 - Trauma Lives in the Body, Not Just the Story
20:56 - Complex Trauma Is Fundamentally Relational
22:21 - Re-Patterning Secure Attachment Through Somatics
26:35 - Embodied Presence as the Foundation
29:55 - Systemic and Cultural Trauma: This Is Not Only Individual
34:24 - Pacing, Rest, and the Healing Vortex
37:24 - The Role of Play and Pleasure in Nervous System Re-Patterning
41:18 - Building Observer Capacity: The Shift From This Is Who I Am to This Is Happening in Me
43:22 - What Is Coming in the Rest of the CPT Series

 

Resources and Links

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved

 

Food Freedom: How Your Nervous System Uses Food for Regulation20 Apr 202601:04:03

You were not failing at your diet. Your nervous system was doing exactly what it learned to do to survive.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof go deep on one of the most personal and most pervasive patterns they have both lived through: the disordered relationship with food and the body. Building on their recent conversation with Luis Mojica, this is the episode where they go further, bringing the neuroscience, the lived experience, and the practical path forward into a single, honest conversation.

Both hosts have a long history with binge eating disorder. For decades, food was the primary regulation strategy, the way the nervous system found relief from stress it had no other tools to process, the way the body found pleasure when pleasure felt dangerous, and the way a dysregulated system managed to keep functioning. They are not talking about this from the outside. They are talking about it from the other side.

The conversation moves through several layers. First, why food behaviors are regulation strategies, not character flaws, and why disordered eating works, at least until it doesn't. Then into interoception, the brain's ability to sense internal body signals, and how disrupted interoceptive awareness drives everything from not knowing you're full to being unable to feel your own emotional states. They trace how visual processing deficits can distort body image and increase stress load, how the default mode network gets locked into self-referential rumination and body obsession, and how the salience network learns to flag the body itself as a threat.

Elisabeth breaks down what is actually happening neurologically when the obsessive loop runs, why insight alone does not stop it, and what actually interrupts it: sensory anchoring, movement, proprioceptive tools, and the slow building of emotional processing capacity over time. Jennifer brings it back to the body and the breath, to shame, to the secret eating and the shame spirals that followed, and to what it actually felt like to slowly, gradually come out of that.

The episode closes with one of the most important reframes in the whole conversation: healing your relationship with food and your body is not about getting the food right. It is a portal into self-attunement, emotional processing, and relational capacity that ripples into every area of life. It is post-traumatic growth.

 

 

In This Episode, You Will Learn:
  • Why food behaviors are nervous system regulation strategies, not willpower failures

  • How the absence of early co-regulation leads to using food as a modulation tool

  • Why diets fail without somatic and nervous system support in place

  • How interoceptive deficits drive disordered eating, emotional disconnection, and body image distortion

  • How visual processing issues can compound stress load and body dysmorphia

  • What the default mode network and salience network have to do with food obsession and body rumination

  • Why psychedelics can soften rigid thought loops temporarily but cannot rewire them without nervous system preparation and integration

  • How to interrupt the rumination loop using sensory anchoring, orienting, movement, and proprioception

  • Why shame is harder to metabolize than any food behavior and how to begin working with it somatically

  • How uncoupling pleasure from shame is a critical and often overlooked part of healing the relationship with food and body

  • Why healing the food relationship is one of the deepest portals to relational health and post-traumatic growth

 

Chapter Markers

0:00 - Food as Energy, Rest, and the High Performer Trap
01:08 - Welcome: Moving From Control to Self-Attunement
03:20 - Six Years of Conversations About Food and How Far We Have Come
06:24 - Every Diet Failed. Here Is Why.
08:31 - Food Behaviors Are Regulation Strategies, Not Character Flaws
11:29 - Safety Has to Come Before Pattern Change
14:19 - Perfectionism, the Inner Critic, and Controlling Appearance as a Stress Response
15:43 - How Vision Training Changed Body Image
19:50 - Interoception: The Missing Piece in Food and Body Healing
23:56 - Physical Hunger vs Emotional Need: Learning to Tell the Difference
28:13 - Interrupting the Pattern in Real Time
30:28 - Building Emotional Processing as a Skill
36:56 - The Default Mode Network and Why the Obsessive Loop Runs
40:05 - The Salience Network: When Your Brain Learns Your Body Is a Threat
41:58 - How to Interrupt the Loop: Sensory Anchoring, Movement, and Proprioception
53:14 - Shame, Secret Eating, and How They Get Woven Together
56:12 - Uncoupling Pleasure From Shame: A Portal Back to the Body
1:01:32 - Food as One of the Deepest Portals to Post-Traumatic Growth

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics 

Join us inside Rewire: This is where you actually experience the practices Jennifer and Elisabeth talk about on the podcast that brought us freedom, self-attunement, a new relationship with food and our body.  rewiretrial.com

 

Explore the neurosomatics of boundaries: boundaryrewire.com

 

Introduction to neurosomatics for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

 

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence: https://stan.store/illuminated

 

Join Jennifer on Sacred Synapse to explore the intersection of neurosomatics and Psychedelic neuroscience: https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

 

Support the podcast by supporting our sponsors: 

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

 

Resources and Research

 

Feusner, Jamie D., et al.

"Abnormalities of Object Visual Processing in Body Dysmorphic Disorder."

Psychological Medicine, vol. 41, no. 11, 2011, pp. 2385–2397.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21557897/

 

Feusner, Jamie D., et al.

"Abnormalities of Visual Processing and Frontostriatal Systems in Body Dysmorphic Disorder."

Archives of General Psychiatry, 2010.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2853756/

 

Madsen, Sarah K., et al.

"Visual Processing in Anorexia Nervosa and Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Review."

Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2013.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3786585/

 

Dhir, S., et al.

"Parameters of Visual Processing Abnormalities in Adults with Body Dysmorphic Disorder."

PLOS ONE, 2018.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6261110/

 

​​Khalsa, Sahib S., et al.
"Interoceptive Awareness in Anorexia Nervosa: Disturbances in Body Awareness."
Biological Psychiatry, vol. 75, no. 4, 2014, pp. 275–281.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24090776/

 

Pollatos, Olga, et al.

"Reduced Perception of Bodily Signals in Anorexia Nervosa."

Eating Behaviors, vol. 9, no. 4, 2008, pp. 381–388.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18928907/

 

Jenkinson, Paul M., et al.

"Interoceptive Sensitivity and Eating Disorder Psychopathology: A Meta-Analysis."

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 92, 2018, pp. 387–397.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29935263/

 

Trauma Rewired podcast  is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. 

We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.  If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911. 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available.  We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We  invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization.

We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs. 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional.

The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis. 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved. 

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com 

All rights in our content are reserved

 

The Hidden Link Between Trauma, Food, and Your Stress Response13 Apr 202600:47:01

Food is not just fuel.
It is one of the most powerful ways your nervous system regulates stress, emotion, and survival.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by somatic practitioner and author Luis Mojica to explore the hidden relationship between trauma, cravings, and the nervous system.

Together, they unpack why food can become a coping strategy for unprocessed emotion, how certain foods can increase or decrease your stress response, and why cravings are not a lack of discipline—but a signal from the body.

This conversation breaks down how stimulants like sugar and caffeine can drive anxiety through adrenaline and blood sugar spikes, while heavier, processed foods can temporarily numb overwhelming emotional states—creating a cycle of activation and shutdown that many people mistake for "addiction."

You'll learn how food impacts your nervous system 24/7—often more than any therapy session—and why true healing is not about restriction, but about understanding what your body is trying to regulate.

This episode also introduces a new way of relating to food through a nervous system lens—moving beyond "healthy vs. unhealthy" into understanding foods as stimulants, depressants, or balancers that shape your emotional and physiological state.

If you've ever felt stuck, ashamed, or confused in your relationship with food, this episode will help you see your patterns through a completely new lens—one rooted in compassion, biology, and nervous system awareness.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

What You'll Learn:

• Why cravings are signals for unmet emotional, relational, or physical needs

• How food can activate or calm your stress response

• The connection between trauma, emotional repression, and eating patterns

• Why willpower fails and nervous system support works

• How to begin shifting your relationship with food without restriction                                                                                                                                                                     This is not about fixing your relationship with food.

It's about understanding the nervous system underneath it.                                                                                                                                                                            #traumarewired #nervoussystem #emotionaleating #traumahealing #mentalhealth

 

Chapter Markers

00:00 - Food Is Not About Eating Less. It Is About Eating Differently.
00:43 - Welcome: Food as a Portal Into the Nervous System
01:56 - Introducing Luis Mojica and the Chocolate at 4 p.m. Story
04:36 - Why Food Belongs in the Trauma Conversation
06:46 - Cravings as a Compass: The Three Unmet Needs Behind Every Food Behavior
08:07 - Why Diets Fail Without Somatics
09:21 - What Happens When You Understand What Your Cravings Actually Mean
14:33 - Food Induced Stress: How What You Eat Can Keep You in Fight or Flight
16:28 - Stimulants, Depressants, and Balancers: The Three Categories
21:55 - Seesaw Regulation: How the Body Unconsciously Alchemizes With Food
28:35 - It Is a Loop. It Was Always a Loop.
32:00 - Food Sobriety and Why Balancers Make You Feel More, Not Less
37:26 - How to Weave Balancers In Without Taking Anything Away
43:18 - The Quiet Diet: Creating Space to Actually Feel

 

Connect with Luis:

Get Luis Mojica's new book Food Therapy: A powerful deep dive into how food, trauma, and the nervous system are all connected—and how to work with your body instead of against it. https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holistic.life.navigation/

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics: 

Join us inside Rewire: This is where you actually experience the practices Jennifer and Elisabeth talk about on the podcast that brought us freedom, self-attunement, a new relationship with food and our body.  rewiretrial.com

Introduction to neurosomatics for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence: https://stan.store/illuminated

Join Jennifer on Sacred Synapse to explore the intersection of neurosomatics and Psychedelic neuroscience: https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

Support the podcast by supporting our sponsors: 

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

The Mother Wound: How It Shapes Your Relationships, Voice, and Emotional Expression06 Apr 202601:10:55

The mother wound is not just about your mother. It is about the first nervous system that shaped yours—the earliest relational field that told you whether you were safe, wanted, and free to take up space. And it lives in the body long before it lives in the story.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Brooke Wolfe, somatic voice activation coach, musician of 20 years, and a dear friend of both hosts. Brooke's work lives at the intersection of nervous system safety, vocal expression, and the parts of the feminine that have been suppressed, exiled, and told they are too much. Together, they explore the mother wound as an attachment and nervous system imprint—one that shows up not just in relationships, but in how you breathe, how you move, whether you feel permission to make noise, and whether you have ever truly learned to receive.

Brooke brings a perspective that is both poetic and grounded. She shares the pelvis–throat connection as a place where early disconnection shows up physically, how the voice becomes a tool for masking rather than connecting, and how her lifelong asthma reflected a nervous system that never felt safe to exhale. She also speaks to how heroin use in her teenage years neurologically mirrored the flooding and crashing of disorganized attachment.

Elisabeth shares how emotional neglect and a mother's absence shaped a deep sense of childhood loneliness, and why co-regulation with other humans became genuinely difficult. Jennifer names the fear of her own power, the experience of moving through life in a quiet tiptoe, and the inner critic that still carries someone else's voice.

This conversation expands the mother wound beyond the personal and into the collective—naming how disconnection from the body, voice, and feminine expression is not just individual, but patterned across generations.

The episode closes on something both honest and hopeful: healing the mother wound does not always require repairing the external relationship. It requires taking your sovereignty back, learning to mother yourself, and finding the safe spaces and relationships that can hold your depth. What was ruptured in relationship must be repaired in relationship—and sometimes that begins with the earth.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:
  • How the mother wound forms as an attachment and nervous system imprint, not a single event but a pattern

  • How prenatal maternal stress can shape fetal stress system development through cortisol and epigenetic mechanisms

  • Why birth is the first moment of separation and how birth trauma shapes early nervous system patterns

  • How rupture in the feminine shows up in the body, the breath, the pelvis, the throat, and the voice

  • Why the voice so often becomes a tool for masking rather than connecting, and how somatic voice work can change that

  • How disorganized attachment patterns in childhood can drive substance use and self-regulation strategies in adolescence and adulthood

  • Why co-regulation with other humans can feel deeply threatening and how to begin building that skill incrementally

  • How the inner critic often carries the voice of a primary caregiver, and what that means neurologically

  • What it looks like to heal the mother wound internally without requiring external repair of the relationship

  • Why the fertile void, the emptiness left by the wound, can become a creative source rather than something to fill

Chapter Markers

0:00 - Sending Healing Back Down the Mother Line
1:45 - Welcome: The Mother Wound as Nervous System Imprint
4:00 - Introducing Brooke Wolfe and Why This Work Called Her
7:45 - How Rupture in the Feminine Shows Up in the Body and Voice
13:00 - Birth as the First Separation and the Roots of the Wound
18:00 - Prenatal Stress, Cortisol, and How the Stress System Is Shaped Before Birth
20:00 - The Pelvis, Throat, and Diaphragm: Where Bracing Patterns Live
27:00 - Don't Take Up Space, Don't Be Too Much: The Feminine Conditioning
33:00 - Attachment, Addiction, and the Nervous System Logic Behind It All
49:00 - The Void: What Brooke's Mother Wound Actually Is, and What She Found There
55:00 - The Inner Critic as Internalized Mother Voice
1:01:00 - Healing the Mother Wound From the Inside Out

Explore Neurosomatic Voice Activation:

Liberate your voice and create somatic safety and self-attunement in the Neurosomatic Voice Activation Course with Brooke and Elisabeth: https://www.brookewolfe.com/trauma-rewired

Get 15% off with code: TRAUMAREWIRED

Brooke on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brookewolfe_/

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics:

 

Resources and Links

Oberlander, T. F., et al. (2008). Prenatal depression, NR3C1 methylation, and infant cortisol response. Epigenetics.

Weaver, I. C. G., et al. (2004). Maternal care and epigenetic regulation of stress response (animal study). Nature Neuroscience.

Seckl, J. R., & Holmes, M. C. (2007). Placental cortisol buffering and fetal stress system development. Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Yehuda, R., et al. (2016). Intergenerational effects of trauma on FKBP5 methylation. Biological Psychiatry.

O'Donnell, K. J., & Meaney, M. J. (2017). Fetal origins of mental health and stress regulation. American Journal of Psychiatry.

Sapolsky, R. M., et al. (2000). How stress hormones influence the body and brain. Endocrine Reviews.

 

Creativity, Trauma, and the Nervous System: Why Healing Expands What's Possible29 Mar 202600:56:46

What if healing from trauma is not just a psychological process, but a fundamentally creative one?

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Laura Dawn, a psychedelic-informed author, researcher, and mentor who has spent more than two decades exploring how altered states can open creative pathways, support trauma recovery, and reconnect people with vision and possibility.

Laura opens by naming something most people carry but rarely say out loud: the moment someone told them they were not creative. Research by Brené Brown suggests that around 80% of people had an experience in childhood that planted a limiting belief about themselves—and for half of them, it was about creativity.

From there, the conversation expands into something much bigger: a reframing of creativity itself. Not as a talent or personality trait, but as a fundamental function of being human.

Drawing on her graduate research and the Five P's of creativity framework, Laura maps creativity onto the arc of healing. She shows how psychological flexibility—one of the strongest predictors of post-traumatic growth—is also directly linked to creative capacity. The connection between trauma, recovery, psychedelics, and creativity is not metaphorical. It is neurological.

Together, they explore how trauma narrows perception into rigid patterns, and how healing—through nervous system regulation, somatic work, and in some cases psychedelic-assisted therapy—reopens the mind to new ideas, new narratives, and new ways of being.

The conversation also challenges the culture of speed and optimization, reframing slow living as a deep psychological restructuring rather than an aesthetic. And it asks a larger question: what becomes possible, individually and collectively, when we begin to value creativity and beauty as much as we value productivity and output?

In This Episode, You Will Learn:
  • Why creativity is not a personality trait but a fundamental dimension of what it means to be human

  • How the industrial education system planted limiting beliefs about creativity that still shape adults today

  • The five P's of creativity framework and how it maps onto psychedelic preparation and integration

  • Why psychological flexibility is a predictor of both post-traumatic growth and creative achievement

  • How the default mode network drives self-referential rumination in trauma and addiction, and how psychedelics disrupt that loop

  • Why nervous system preparation before a psychedelic journey changes what becomes possible in and after the experience

  • The surprising connection between compassion, forgiveness, and creative capacity

  • Why slow living is actually a profound re-patterning of how we relate to time, not a lifestyle trend

  • What creativity looks like as a mechanism for healing complex trauma, not just as an outcome of it

Chapters

0:00 - The Healing Journey as a Creative Act
01:32 - Welcome and Introducing Laura Dawn
03:07 - What Is Creativity? A Word Association Game and the Limiting Beliefs We Carry
07:59 - The Five P's of Creativity and How They Map Onto the Healing Arc
17:45 - What Would the World Look Like If Artists Believed in Themselves?
21:30 - Collective Creativity, North Stars, and What We Are Actually Building Toward
26:37 - Survival Culture, Speed, and Why Slow Living Is Harder Than It Looks
33:36 - Complex Trauma, Neurodivergence, and the Creative Gifts Within the Wound
38:55 - Psychological Flexibility: The Bridge Between Trauma, Psychedelics, and Creativity
43:08 - The Hamster Wheel, the Default Mode Network, and Psychedelics as Pattern Disruptors
50:36 - Preparation, Embodiment, and Why One Good Rep Has to Be Whole-System
51:36 - Compassion, Forgiveness, and Why That Is Where Creativity Actually Comes Online

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics 
  • FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

  • Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

  • Two week trail of BrainBased membership for neurosomatic practices and nervous system rehabilitation and health: rewiretrial.com 

  • Introduction to NSI for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

  • Connect with Laura Dawn: livefreelaurad.com

  • Watch Trauma Rewired on YouTube - Subscribe here

  • Learn more about psychedelic neuroscience and neurosomatics on Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace  

  • Capacity Gap: Free BrainBased workshop for entrepreneurs, leaders and high-performers: rewirecapacity.com



The Nervous System of Leadership: Why Strategy Isn't Enough23 Mar 202600:59:45

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Oren Shai, organizational psychologist, somatic executive coach, and NSI-certified practitioner, for a conversation about what happens when nervous system literacy meets the corporate world.

After years working inside large organizations, including LinkedIn, Oren kept seeing the same pattern: all the right strategies, all the right tactics, and none of the essential human work getting done.

What if the quality of your leadership isn't determined by your intelligence, experience, or decision-making frameworks—but by your nervous system's capacity to feel?

In this conversation, we explore how emotional repression, trauma patterns, and chronic stress shape leadership, team dynamics, and organizational culture—and why so many high performers are operating at a hidden cost to their health, relationships, and sense of self.

This episode is for leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and anyone who has ever found themselves doing everything "right" professionally, while feeling depleted, disconnected, or like they're holding it all together behind the scenes.

Because leadership isn't just about what you do.
It's about what your nervous system can hold.

 

In This Episode, You Will Learn:
  • Why the quality of leadership is tied directly to nervous system capacity

  • Why high performers are often high performers because of trauma, not despite it

  • The difference between nervous system regulation as coping versus as a foundation for aligned action

  • Why leaders are emotionally contagious, and what that means for organizational health

  • What embodied leadership looks like, and why it changes everything for teams

Chapters 

0:00 - The Doorway Into the Real Conversation: Co-Founders and What Goes Unnamed
1:08 - Welcome: What Leadership Capacity Actually Requires
2:51 - Introducing Oren Shai: From the Tech World to Somatic Executive Coaching
7:10 - What Elisabeth Hears from Women Executives When No One Else Is Listening
11:43 - Organizations Have a Nervous System Too
13:31 - Leaders Are Emotionally Contagious: The Ripple Effect of Embodied Leadership
22:39 - How Oren Opens the Conversation with Leadership Teams
30:14 - Most Careers Are Fueled by Coffee and Trauma
37:25 - Why Individual Work Alone Cannot Create Organizational Change
43:45 - Slowing Down Enough to Remember What Aliveness Feels Like
51:35 - Moving From Nervous System Regulation as Coping to Capacity as a Daily Practice
57:50 - Closing Reflection: Start Close In

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics 

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Racial Trauma and the Nervous System: How Chronic Stress Shapes Our Bodies and Culture16 Mar 202600:54:48

This week on Trauma Rewired we step into a big and important conversation about how racism, historical trauma and systemic oppression impact nervous system health.

Racism is often framed as a social or ideological issue, but neuroscience tells us something deeper. Chronic exposure to discrimination functions as a persistent threat signal to the nervous system. Over time, that threat shapes stress hormones, inflammatory responses, emotional regulation and even pain perception. These are not abstract ideas. They are biological adaptations to sustained social stress.

In this episode we are joined by Lovey Bradley, a NeuroSomatic Intelligence certified practitioner, NSI community facilitator and co-facilitator of the NSI BIPOC Affinity Group. Together we explore how systemic forces shape physiology, how ancestral stress patterns can live in the body, and how chronic exposure to inequity affects both individual nervous systems and the collective nervous system of our culture.

This conversation is real and imperfect. It is one small part of a much larger dialogue. We share research, personal experience and reflections from our work in nervous system education spaces. Our intention is not to represent every perspective, but to open a thoughtful conversation about embodiment, representation, safety and the capacity to stay present with complexity.

From a neurosomatic lens, post-traumatic growth is not about bypassing trauma. It is about expanding nervous system capacity so we can remain embodied in difficult conversations, process rupture rather than avoiding it, and build the relational tolerance required for collective healing.

Topics Covered
  • How racism functions as a chronic threat signal that reshapes the nervous system, not just belief or behavior

  • What the HPA axis, cortisol, and progesterone have to do with racial stress and women's health outcomes

  • How suppressed expression contributes to physical disease in melanated bodies

  • What Resmaa Menakem's framework adds to neuro somatic approaches to racialized trauma

  • Why white supremacy culture traits like urgency and perfectionism map directly onto chronic stress behaviors

  • How the urgency to fix or regulate can itself become a form of bypassing in healing spaces

  • What post-traumatic growth looks like at a collective level, not just an individual one

  • Why witnessing state violence on social media is a genuine nervous system stressor, even for those not directly targeted

  • How Dr. Levy's community for melanated women came to life and what it is building toward

Chapter Markers

0:00 - Why This Conversation Had to Happen
01:57 - Welcome: Racial Trauma, the Nervous System, and Post-Traumatic Growth
07:25 - What Racial Stress Looks Like in the Body, for White and Melanated Bodies
10:44 - Post-Traumatic Growth at the Collective Level: What It Actually Requires
15:35 - The Danger of Regulating Out of Activation Before the Cycle Completes
18:09 - The Neuroscience: HPA Axis, Allostatic Load, and Chronic Racial Threat
24:27 - How Racial Stress Shows Up in Hormones, Cycles, and Women's Health
29:25 - Resmaa Menakem, White Supremacy Culture, and the Nervous System
38:42 - Dr. Levy's Community for Melanated Women and What It Is Building
41:35 - Witnessing Violence at Scale: What It Does to All Nervous Systems
49:11 - What This Work Has Made Possible: Dr. Levy on Choosing to Create a Different World
51:59 - Closing Reflection: What Post-Traumatic Growth Requires of Us Collectively

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics:

 

Resources:

Brave Heart, Maria Yellow Horse. "The Historical Trauma Response Among Natives and Its Relationship with Substance Abuse: A Lakota Illustration." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, vol. 35, no. 1, 2003, pp. 7–13.

Brave Heart, Maria Yellow Horse, and Eduardo Duran. "Healing the Soul Wound: Counseling with American Indians and Other Native Peoples." Teachers College Press, 1995.

DeGruy, Joy. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. Joy DeGruy Publications Inc., 2005.

Hobson, J. M., M. D. Moody, R. E. Sorge, and B. R. Goodin. "The Neurobiology of Social Stress Resulting from Racism." Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 17, no. 2, 2022, pp. 181–191.

Hicken, Margaret T., et al. "Everyday Discrimination, Chronic Stress, and Cardiovascular Health." American Journal of Epidemiology, 2014.

Geronimus, Arline T. "Weathering and the Health of African-American Women." Ethnicity & Disease, 2006.

Menakem, Resmaa. My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Central Recovery Press, 2017.

Okun, Tema. "White Supremacy Culture." Dismantling Racism Works, originally published 1999, revised 2021.

Williams, Monnica T. "Racial Trauma: Theory, Research, and Healing." American Psychologist, vol. 74, no. 1, 2019, pp. 33–42.

  •  

 

 

The Sister Wound: How Relational Stress Shapes the Female Nervous System09 Mar 202600:56:47

The wound between women is not just interpersonal. It is neurobiological, historical, and deeply rooted in systems that were designed to divide us.

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Dr. Lovey Bradley, Msc.D., NSI certified practitioner, BrainBased facilitator, and facilitator of the NSI BIPOC Affinity Group, whose work sits at the intersection of female hormone health, nervous system regulation, and somatic approaches to trauma. Together, they go deep on one of the most underexplored dimensions of collective healing: the feminine wound, and specifically the racial fracture at its root.

Lovey shares her own experience of dissociation in a predominantly white healing space during her NCAI certification, and what that revealed about epigenetic nervous system patterns that have nothing to do with individual will and everything to do with what our bodies have inherited and learned to expect. Jennifer and Elisabeth reflect honestly on their own experiences, including what it takes for white bodied women to pause, stop fixing, and actually listen without collapsing into shame or urgency.

The conversation also traces the science behind why relational stress hits the female nervous system so hard, why oxytocin can amplify threat as much as it buffers it when relationships are unsafe, and how chronic cortisol dysregulation suppresses progesterone and drives the health outcomes so many women are navigating.

Topic Include:
  • Why the feminine wound cannot be fully healed without naming its racial roots

  • How the nervous system adapts to chronic relational threat in female coded spaces

  • What social baseline theory tells us about why disconnection between women is a physiological load, not just an emotional one

  • How early experiences of exclusion, relational aggression, and peer victimization become nervous system prediction patterns in adulthood

  • Why oxytocin amplifies relational stress when social environments are unsafe

  • How high cortisol suppresses progesterone and drives inflammation, infertility, and hormonal dysregulation

  • What it looks like for white bodied women to stay present without defaulting to shame, urgency, or over-repair

  • Why healing within cultures must precede healing across them

  • What a real path forward looks like, starting at the individual level

Chapters

0:00 - Why Racial Trauma Is the Root We Are Not Talking About
1:05 - Welcome: The Feminine Wound Through a Nervous System Lens
3:48 - Introducing Dr. Lovey Bradley and Why This Conversation Matters
7:00 - How the Sister Wound Shows Up in Friendships, Workplaces, and Healing Spaces
10:21 - Dr. Lovey's Personal Story: Dissociating in a Predominantly White Healing Space
17:11 - Social Baseline Theory and the Neurobiology of Relational Disconnection
24:54 - The Historical Root: White Women, Racial Hierarchy, and the Fractured Sisterhood
27:26 - What It Takes for White Bodied Women to Listen Without Collapsing
34:14 - Colorism, Division Within Cultures, and Where Trust Has to Begin
43:08 - Early Developmental Roots: How Relational Threat Shapes the Nervous System
46:52 - Oxytocin, Cortisol, Progesterone, and the Female Hormone Connection
49:56 - A Path Forward: Building Trust One Relationship at a Time

Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics:

 

Resources that inform this episode:

Coan, James A., Hillary S. Schaefer, and Richard J. Davidson. "Lending a Hand: Social Regulation of the Neural Response to Threat." Psychological Science, vol. 17, no. 12, 2006, pp. 1032–1039.

Crick, Nicki R., and Jennifer K. Grotpeter. "Relational Aggression, Gender, and Social-Psychological Adjustment." Child Development, vol. 66, no. 3, 1995, pp. 710–722.

Holt-Lunstad, Julianne, Timothy B. Smith, and J. Bradley Layton. "Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review." PLOS Medicine, vol. 7, no. 7, 2010, e1000316.

Miller, Jean Baker. Toward a New Psychology of Women. Beacon Press, 1976. Wellesley Centers for Women ed., 2012.

Prinstein, Mitchell J., et al. "Peer Victimization, Friendship, and the Stress Response." Development and Psychopathology, vol. 17, no. 4, 2005, pp. 1017–1038.

Rimé, Bernard. "Emotion Elicits the Social Sharing of Emotion: Theory and Empirical Review." Emotion Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 2009, pp. 60–85.

Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G., and Ahmad Abu-Akel. "The Social Salience Hypothesis of Oxytocin." Biological Psychiatry, vol. 79, no. 3, 2016, pp. 194–202.

Taylor, Shelley E., et al. "Biobehavioral Responses to Stress in Females: Tend-and-Befriend, Not Fight-or-Flight." Psychological Review, vol. 107, no. 3, 2000, pp. 411–429.

Taylor, Shelley E. "Tend and Befriend: Biobehavioral Bases of Affiliation under Stress." Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 15, no. 6, 2006, pp. 273–277.

Tedeschi, Richard G., and Lawrence G. Calhoun. "Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence." Psychological Inquiry, vol. 15, no. 1, 2004, pp. 1–18.

Uchino, Bert N. "Social Support and Health: A Review of Physiological Processes Potentially Underlying Links to Disease Outcomes." Journal of Behavioral Medicine, vol. 29, no. 4, 2006, pp. 377–387.

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Why Authenticity Feels Unsafe After Trauma (And How Capacity Changes That)02 Mar 202600:46:36

What if authenticity isn't a personality trait — but a measurable marker of nervous system capacity?

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, we explore authenticity and forgiveness through the lens of post-traumatic growth. We unpack why telling the truth can feel physiologically threatening after trauma, how masking and performance develop as protective strategies, and why forgiveness is not a mindset shift — but a capacity that grows through regulation, integration, and self-attunement.

Authenticity is not about oversharing or abandoning discernment. It's the ability to feel the truth in your body and stay connected while expressing it. That requires nervous system flexibility — not willpower.

Topics Covered:
  • Why authenticity is a marker of nervous system capacity

  • How trauma wires masking, performance, and self-editing

  • Why telling the truth can feel physiologically threatening

  • Small lies as protective regulation strategies

  • Masking, perfectionism, and increased allostatic load

  • The difference between visibility and authentic expression

  • Why psychedelic honesty is a state shift, not a skill

  • Oversharing and vulnerability hangovers as capacity issues

  • Why forcing forgiveness reinforces threat patterns

  • Self-forgiveness as a neuroplastic learning process

  • Attunement, interoception, and emotional tolerance

  • Rupture and repair as mechanisms of growth

  • Forgiveness without bypassing accountability

  • Rumination, grievance, and sympathetic dominance

  • Why post-traumatic growth reflects the capacity to hold truth and connection at the same time

Chapters:

00:00 – Authenticity as Nervous System Capacity
04:30 – Why Truth Feels Like Threat
09:45 – Masking, Performance & Conditional Safety
17:10 – Psychedelics, Peak States & Integration
23:40 – Visibility vs Authentic Expression
29:50 – Self-Forgiveness & Capacity Building
36:15 – Attunement, Shame & Neuroplasticity
41:20 – Forgiving Others Without Bypassing
47:30 – Forgiveness, Faith & Staying Connected

 

Calls to Action:

  • Neurosomatic Intelligence is now enrolling : https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/nsi-certification

  • Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. 

  • Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

  • FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired 

  • Learn to work with Boundaries at the level of the body and nervous system at https://www.boundaryrewire.com

  • Get a two-week free trial of neurosomatic training at https://rewiretrial.com

 

How Psychedelic Experiences Support Growth When the Nervous System Is Prepared and Integrated23 Feb 202600:54:52

Psychedelics are having a cultural moment. Research is promising. Stories of healing are everywhere. But here's the truth: these experiences aren't magic cures. And they aren't right for every nervous system at every time.

 

In this episode, Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace slow the conversation down. Instead of asking, "Do psychedelics heal trauma?" They explore a more grounded question: What becomes possible when psychedelic or peak somatic experiences are approached through the lens of nervous system safety, preparation, and integration?

 

If you've been curious about psychedelics, already had experiences, or feel unsure whether they're right for you, this episode offers nuance, research, and deep nervous system perspective.

Because post-traumatic growth isn't about becoming someone new.

It's about becoming more available to the life that's already waiting for you.

 

Topic Covered

  • Why psychedelics may reorganize meaning, not just reduce symptoms

  • How trauma fragments narrative and how safety allows integration

  • The science of psychological flexibility and why it predicts long-term outcomes

  • What "somatic journeying" is and why it can feel disorienting

  • The importance of preparation, titration, and facilitator trust

  • Why intensity does not equal healing

  • Psychedelics vs antidepressants in research on connectedness

  • Default Mode Network (DMN), identity rigidity, and belief updating

  • Why creativity often emerges when survival softens

  • The risks of over-reliance and "chasing the medicine"

  • Why discernment and self-trust matter more than hype

 

Chapters 

00:00 – Psychedelics Aren't Magic Cures

03:00 – Meaning-Making & Narrative Reorganization

08:58 – Psychological Flexibility & Emotional Capacity

17:00 – Preparation, Somatic Journeying & Integration

23:29 – Connectedness & Relational Repair

34:33 – Identity, Neuro Tags & the Default Mode Network

41:03 – Creativity as a Byproduct of Safety

48:14 – Discernment, Industry Hype & Self-Trust

 

Calls to Action:

  • Neurosomatic Intelligence is now enrolling : https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/nsi-certification

  • Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. 

  •  

    Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

  •  

    FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired 

  • Learn to work with Boundaries at the level of the body and nervous system at https://www.boundaryrewire.com

  • Get a two-week free trial of neurosomatic training at https://rewiretrial.com



Sources: 

 

Amada, N., et al. "The Transformative Potential of Psychedelic Experiences: A Qualitative Analysis of Meaning-Making and Narrative Reorganization." Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol. 27, no. 7–8, 2020, pp. 122–150.

 

Carhart-Harris, Robin L., et al. "Neural Correlates of the Psychedelic State as Determined by fMRI Studies with Psilocybin." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 6, 2012, pp. 2138–2143.

 

Carhart-Harris, Robin L., et al. "The Entropic Brain: A Theory of Conscious States Informed by Neuroimaging Research with Psychedelic Drugs." Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 8, 2014, article 20.

 

Carhart-Harris, Robin L., et al. "Psilocybin with Psychological Support for Treatment-Resistant Depression: Six-Month Follow-Up." Psychopharmacology, vol. 235, no. 2, 2018, pp. 399–408.

 

Davis, Alan K., Roland R. Griffiths, and Frederick S. Barrett. "Psychological Flexibility Mediates the Relations between Acute Psychedelic Effects and Subjective Decreases in Depression and Anxiety." Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, vol. 15, 2020, pp. 39–45.

 

Davis, Alan K., et al. "Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial." JAMA Psychiatry, vol. 78, no. 5, 2021, pp. 481–489.

 

Erritzoe, David, et al. "Effects of Psilocybin Therapy versus Escitalopram on Depression and Emotional Connectedness in Major Depressive Disorder." The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 384, 2021, pp. 1402–1411.

 

Griffiths, Roland R., et al. "Psilocybin Produces Substantial and Sustained Decreases in Depression and Anxiety in Patients with Life-Threatening Cancer: A Randomized Double-Blind Trial." Journal of Psychopharmacology, vol. 30, no. 12, 2016, pp. 1181–1197.

 

MacLean, Katherine A., Matthew W. Johnson, and Roland R. Griffiths. "Mystical Experiences Occasioned by the Hallucinogen Psilocybin Lead to Increases in the Personality Domain of Openness." Journal of Psychopharmacology, vol. 25, no. 11, 2011, pp. 1453–1461.

 

Watts, Rosalind, et al. "Patients' Accounts of Increased 'Connectedness' and 'Acceptance' after Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression." Journal of Humanistic Psychology, vol. 57, no. 5, 2017, pp. 520–564.

 

Weiss, B., et al. "Associations between Naturalistic Psychedelic Use, Psychological Insight, and Changes in Social Connectedness and Personality." Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, 2021, article 667987.



Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

 

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

 

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

 

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

 

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in a mental health crisis.

 

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

 

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.



The Father Wound: How Paternal Absence Shapes Attachment and the Nervous System16 Feb 202601:16:45

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof welcome author, speaker, and embodiment coach Preston Smiles for a powerful conversation on the Father Wound — and how paternal presence or absence shapes the nervous system.

Together, they explore how a father's regulation, emotional availability, and play patterns influence brain development, stress physiology, attachment, intimacy, and leadership. Drawing from both lived experience and developmental research, this episode examines the real impact of masculine containment — not through blame, but through understanding.

From childhood patterning to adult relationships, parenting, and community repair, this conversation offers grounded insight, somatic depth, and a hopeful path toward nervous system healing.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 –  Intro/The Good Boy Pattern

  • 08:00 – The Father Wound

  • 17:30 – Play and Masculine Energy

  • 33:30 – Shame and Reclaiming the Masculine

  • 52:30 – Capacity and Embodied Partnership

Key Takeaways:

  • The fatherwound isn't just emotional, it's neurological and somatic, shaping how we regulate stress, relate, and play.

  • Healthy masculine presence supports brain development through movement, physical play, safety, and co-regulation.

  • Many relational patterns come from what was never modeled, not from personal failure.

  • Healing happens through embodied experience, safe relationships, and repeated nervous system repair, not just insight.

Resources Mentioned:

Call to Action:

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Sources:

Flinn, M. V. & England, B. G. (2003). Social economics of childhood glucocorticoid stress response and health.

Laurent, H. K. et al. (2013). Synchrony of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity in parents and infants.

Feldman, R. et al. (2010). Parent–infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing.

Amato, P. R. & Gilbreth, J. G. (1999). Nonresident fathers and children's well-being.

Ellis, B. J. et al. (1999). Quality of early family relationships and timing of puberty.

Meaney, M. J. & Szyf, M. (2005). Environmental programming of stress responses through DNA methylation.

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Why Boundaries Feel Like Rejection After Trauma (And How to Rewire That)09 Feb 202601:01:27

For many people with a history of chronic stress, attachment wounds, or complex trauma, boundaries don't land as neutral information — they register in the nervous system as abandonment, threat, or loss of connection. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, we explore why that happens and what it actually takes to rewire those responses at the level that matters most: the body.

This conversation reframes boundaries not as walls, ultimatums, or communication strategies, but as a nervous system skill that emerges from regulation, capacity, and internal coherence. Together with our guest, we unpack why setting boundaries from anger can feel easier than setting them from truth, why receiving boundaries can activate shame or collapse, and how post-traumatic growth allows boundaries to become a source of safety rather than disconnection.

If you've ever understood boundaries intellectually but struggled to live them relationally, this episode offers a deeper, more compassionate lens — one rooted in neuroscience, somatics, and the lived process of healing.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, co-hosts Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Margy Feldhuhn, co-owner of Brain-Based Wellness, for a grounded, practical conversation about boundaries.

The conversation addresses why boundaries can feel threatening for people with relational or developmental trauma, how control dynamics get confused with protection, and what it looks like to set limits without shame, punishment, or power struggles. Whether you struggle to set boundaries, feel triggered by others' boundaries, or worry about being "too much," this episode offers language and perspective that supports safety rather than disconnection.

Chapters

00:00 – Intro/Why boundaries often get mislabeled as control
07:42 – Trauma, power, and the nervous system's role in boundaries
15:30 – The difference between protective limits and coercion
24:10 – Why boundaries can feel unsafe or activating
33:45 – Common boundary mistakes rooted in trauma responses
44:20 – What healthy, non-controlling boundaries actually look like

Calls to Action

👉Join us for a free NSI workshop Feb 11: Integrating the Nervous System with Precision and Purpose: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/integration-workshop/

👉Learn to work with Boundaries at the level of the body and nervous system at https://www.boundaryrewire.com

👉Get a two-week free trial of neurosomatic training at https://rewiretrial.com

Research Resources:

Taylor, S. E. et al. (2000) Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: Tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological Review, 107(3), 411–429. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.3.411

Taylor, S. E. et al. (2011) Tend and Befriend: Biobehavioral Bases of Affiliation Under Stress.Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(6), 357–362. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721411429454

Heinrichs, M. et al. (2003) Social support and oxytocin interact to suppress cortisol and subjective responses to psychosocial stress. Biological Psychiatry, 54(12), 1389–1398. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(03)00465-7

Carter, C. S. (2014) Oxytocin pathways and the evolution of human behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 17–39. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115110

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in a mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Autoimmunity and Post-Traumatic Growth: When the Body Becomes the Teacher02 Feb 202600:52:55

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, we explore autoimmune conditions through a nervous-system and psychoneuroimmunology lens—moving beyond the idea that the body is "attacking itself." Instead, we examine autoimmunity as an adaptive output of a system that has lived in chronic threat for too long.

Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof unpack how immune response, emotional expression, boundaries, trauma history, and social stress intersect at the level of physiology. Drawing on research from ACEs, chronic inflammation, the HPA axis, the inflammatory reflex, and shame-based immune activation, they explain how the brain's predictions—rather than isolated biology—shape immune behavior.

You'll hear why autoimmune conditions disproportionately affect women and marginalized communities, how emotional suppression and boundary violations translate into inflammation, and why anger, shame, and safety are biological—not just psychological—processes. The episode closes with a grounded conversation on post-traumatic growth: what it means to live in partnership with the body, retrain predictions through sensory and interoceptive work, and expand resilience alongside medical care. This is an invitation to replace self-blame with curiosity—and to see regulation, expression, and safety as central to immune health.

 

 

Timestamps
  • 00:00 – Intro: Autoimmune as protection, not self-attack

  • 08:40 – Autoimmune, ACEs, gender, and nervous system prediction

  • 21:05 – Chronic inflammation, HPA axis & the inflammatory reflex

  • 35:20 – Boundaries, anger, shame & post-traumatic growth

  • 52:00 – Closing reflections & integration

 

 

Key Takeaways
  • Autoimmune responses can be understood as nervous-system outputs shaped by prediction and chronic threat.

  • Early adversity, emotional suppression, and social stress significantly increase inflammatory load.

  • Boundaries are physiological capacities rooted in interoception and proprioception—not just communication skills.

  • Training safety, expression, and regulation can complement medical care and reduce flare frequency.

 

 

Call to Action:

 

Join us for a free NSI workshop Feb 11: Integrating the Nervous System with Precision and Purpose: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/integration-workshop/

 

Learn to work with Boundaries at the level of the body and nervous system at boundaryrewire.com

Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. 

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired 

 

Get a two-week free trial of neurosomatic training at rewiretrial.com

Resources Mentioned

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

From Survival to Learning: Why Motivation Shuts Down Under Chronic Stress26 Jan 202600:54:46

Have you ever shared an idea, been met with silence, and felt your body instantly brace like something was wrong? Or walked to your car and suddenly felt flooded by an old fear, even though nothing "new" happened? In this episode, we explore how trauma and chronic stress can shift the brain from learning mode into survival mode, shaping what we remember, how we recall it, and how safe it feels to stay curious. You will hear why memory is not a perfect recording, how present-day state influences recall, and how the nervous system can tag even subtle cues, like a pause or a tone, as danger when past experiences taught your body that silence equals disconnection.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof (founder of BrainBased.com and the Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification) and Jennifer Wallace (Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide) are joined by Matt Bush, founder of Next Level Neuro and lead educator in the NSI certification. Together, they unpack explicit vs. implicit memory, how the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex influence recall and learning, and how regulation, sensory inputs, and repetition can support integration and post-traumatic growth.

 

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 A real-life trigger: when silence, social cues, or context flips the body into survival

  • 08:00 Memory basics: explicit vs. implicit, plus episodic, semantic, emotional, and procedural memory

  • 16:00 Why memory is reconstructive: state, prediction, and sensory integration shape recall

  • 24:00 Trauma + memory: hippocampus, amygdala, and why facts fade while sensations intensify

  • 33:00 Learning after trauma: attention as a nervous system state, and why willpower is not the lever

  • 42:00 Memory reconsolidation and "windows" for updating threat charge with regulation

  • 55:00 Psychedelics, preparation, and nervous system training: capacity, safety, and integration

  • 1:07:00 Motivation, dopamine pathways, and rebuilding curiosity through safe repetition

  • 1:18:00 Closing reframes: contraction and expansion, neurodiversity, and reducing sensory "noise"

Key Takeaways:

  • Trauma can disrupt how memories are stored and recalled, especially under high stress, without it being a personal failure.

  • Memory is reconstructive, and your current nervous system state can change how both positive and negative memories feel.

  • Learning is embodied: attention, curiosity, and motivation depend on safety signals in the body, not just mindset.

  • Regulation plus recall can create opportunities to update threat charge and build new predictions over time.

  • Repetition is not just practice. It is consistent exposure to safety while doing something new.

Resources Mentioned:

 

Call to Action:

Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!

👉 For a deeper understanding of integration, join our free live 90-minute Integration Workshop on February 11, 2026, at 12 PM CT. This experiential training covers how the nervous system processes change and how to integrate it effectively.
https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/integration/

👉 You can also continue learning tools for nervous system regulation and post-traumatic growth at rewiretrial.com 

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

The Difference Between Coping and Emotional Capacity19 Jan 202600:51:00

Have you ever felt like you have done everything "right" and you still hit a stress ceiling? You have gone to therapy, set boundaries, practiced self-care, learned regulation, and yet you still find yourself snapping, shutting down, or running on empty. This episode explores what it can look like to move beyond coping and into true emotional capacity. Not a life without stress, but a wider internal ability to meet life as it is, without collapsing into burnout or disconnection.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof (founder of BrainBased.com and the Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification) and Jennifer Wallace (Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide, founder of Sacred Synapse) are joined by RaQuel Hopkins, a therapist and certified coach known for her work on capacity and adult development. Together, they unpack the difference between resilience, distress tolerance, and capacity, why "regulation" can sometimes become suppression, and how relating to emotions as data can create more choice. They also explore boundaries through the lens of self-trust, and why honoring "I do not want to" can be a meaningful step toward recovery and growth.

 

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 – Why "doing everything right" can still feel like a ceiling

  • 06:30 – What capacity means (and why it is about who you become)

  • 14:30 – Resilience vs distress tolerance vs capacity

  • 23:30 – Emotional strength, fragility, and the regulation misconception

  • 34:30 – Boundaries, self-trust, and choice vs depletion

  • 46:30 – Protective emotions, curiosity, and integration

  • 56:30 – Corporate environments, pressure, and being human at work

  • 1:03:00 – Closing reflections and where to find RaQuel

  • 1:05:30 – Listener invitation and next steps (trial + workshop)

Key Takeaways:

  • Capacity is not just "holding more." It can be about meeting life as it is and adapting without losing yourself.

  • Regulation is not the same thing as calm. It is about modulation and appropriate responsiveness.

  • Emotional strength includes feeling emotions without being defined by them. Emotions can be information, not directives.

  • A "hard no" can sometimes be a signal of depletion, not clarity. Self-trust can reduce the need to announce boundaries.

  • Protective patterns once helped you survive. Growth can start with curiosity rather than judgment.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Free live 90-minute workshop: Neurosomatic.com/Integration 

  • NSI Community: Neurosomatic.com 

  • BrainBased: BrainBased.com 

  • Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

     

  • Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

  • FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired 

Call to Action:

Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!

👉 For a deeper understanding of integration, join our free live 90-minute Integration Workshop on February 11, 2026, at 12 PM CT. This experiential training covers how the nervous system processes change and how to integrate it effectively.
https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/integration/

👉 You can also continue learning tools for nervous system regulation and post-traumatic growth at rewiretrial.com 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Post Traumatic Growth Starts With Self Attunement12 Jan 202600:55:03

What if the places we have been hurt most, our relationships, can also become the places where we grow? In this episode, we explore relational healing as a powerful driver of post-traumatic growth. Together, we unpack why safe connection can feel threatening after complex trauma, how protective patterns like fight, freeze, and fawn are intelligent adaptations (not personal failures), and why "capacity" is less about willpower and more about what your nervous system can hold in real time. You will hear how micro-moments of self attunement can reduce hypervigilance, build trust from the inside out, and turn insight into embodied change.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof (founder of BrainBased.com and the Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification) and Jennifer Wallace (Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide) are joined by Piper Rose, a Neurosomatic Relationship Coach, founder of Shadowplay Coaching, and Director of Operations and Continuing Education at NSI. Piper shares an honest, grounded look at how co-regulation, repair, and "the burden of love" can become a training ground for deeper intimacy, resilience, and self compassion.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 Intro: Why healing is relational, not just individual

  • 03:30 Meet Piper Rose and what "Neurosomatic Relationship Coaching" means

  • 08:20 Trauma, attachment wounding, and protective F responses in relationships

  • 16:10 Reframing patterns as adaptations, not defects, and finding the "gifts" inside them

  • 22:40 Neuroscience of connection: co-regulation, threat prediction, and updating the model

  • 31:30 Why safe relationships can trigger fear, emotional flashbacks, and vulnerability

  • 41:10 Self attunement, needs, and practicing repair in micro-moments

  • 49:20 Community, nature, and animals as lower-risk pathways to relational practice

  • 56:30 Closing reflections: building trust, capacity, and support beyond one relationship




Key Takeaways:

  • Relational patterns like fight, freeze, and fawn are often strategic survival adaptations, not signs you are "broken."

  • Safe connection can feel dangerous when your nervous system is trained to predict harm in intimacy.

  • "Capacity" is not just skill or knowledge. It is whether your body can access those skills under pressure.

  • Self attunement, like responding to thirst, overwhelm, or startle, builds a foundation for secure internal attachment and clearer boundaries.

  • You do not have to do relational healing alone. Support teams, community, nature, and animals can provide safe enough co-regulation while you build trust.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Free live 90-minute workshop: Neurosomatic.com/Integration 

  • NSI Community: Neurosomatic.com 

  • BrainBased: BrainBased.com

  • Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

     

  • Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

  • FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired
  • Cozolino, L. J. (2014). The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the Developing Social Brain (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company

Call to Action:

Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!

👉 For a deeper understanding of integration, join our free live 90-minute Integration Workshop on February 11, 2026, at 12 PM CT. This experiential training covers how the nervous system processes change and how to integrate it effectively.
https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/integration/

👉 You can also continue learning tools for nervous system regulation and post-traumatic growth at rewiretrial.com 



Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

What Post Traumatic Growth Really Is05 Jan 202601:00:22

Post-traumatic growth gets talked about like a mindset shift, but real change often starts somewhere else: the nervous system. In this episode, we explore why being around happy people can feel threatening, why "find the silver lining" pressure can lead to bypassing, and why growth is not the same as rushing to meaning. We also unpack the other trap: getting stuck in a healing loop that keeps re-entering the pain without creating new patterns. If you have ever felt ashamed for not "moving on" fast enough, this conversation offers a different map.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof (founder of BrainBased.com) and Jennifer Wallace (Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide) are joined by Matt Bush (Next Level Neuro, lead educator at NSI). Together, they break down what post-traumatic growth is (and is not), why connection and co-regulation are essential to healing, and how safety, repetition, and nervous system capacity create the conditions for authentic transformation.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 Why "silver lining" pressure can trigger bypassing, and why happy environments can feel unsafe

  • 06:30 What post-traumatic growth is (and what it is not), including the "toxic positivity" trap

  • 14:30 Why trauma isolates, and why relational healing and co-regulation matter for recovery

  • 23:30 Social bonding as a survival strategy: oxytocin, group rhythms, and threat reduction

  • 34:30 Discernment in community: how to titrate connection and track nervous system outputs

  • 45:00 Neuroplasticity and integration: why insight alone rarely rewires survival patterns

  • 56:00 Practical integration for practitioners: frameworks, tools, and daily repetition for change

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Post-traumatic growth is not about forcing gratitude or meaning. It often emerges after safety and capacity return to the body.

  • Trauma can make connection feel dangerous, even when connection is what the nervous system needs to heal.

  • "Good advice" can still be harmful when it is delivered before the nervous system is ready, especially around forgiveness and resilience.

  • Healing can get stuck in two loops: performative "I am fine" masking, or compulsive re-processing that repeats intensity without building new patterns.

  • Tracking outputs (sleep, digestion, pain, mood stability, compulsions) can reveal whether a practice is supporting regulation or creating more dysregulation.

Resources Mentioned:

  • RewireTrial.com: Free two-week access to live neurosomatic intelligence classes and an on-demand library of nervous system practices

  • BrainBased.com: Elisabeth's online community for applied neurology and somatic tools for behavior change, resilience, and stress processing

  • NSI Certification: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/nsi-certification/

  • Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.
  • FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

  • Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

 

Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!

👉 For a deeper understanding of integration, join our free live 90-minute Integration Workshop on February 11, 2026, at 12 PM CT. This experiential training covers how the nervous system processes change and how to integrate it effectively.
https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/integration/

 

👉 You can also continue learning tools for nervous system regulation and post-traumatic growth at rewiretrial.com 

 

Articles cited:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10941275/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10402056/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9953771/

https://taylorlab.psych.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/10/2000_Biobehavioral-responses-to-stress-in-females_tend-and-befriend.pdf

https://www.self.com/story/tend-and-befriend-response

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

What Happens When The Nervous System Opens Too Fast29 Dec 202500:48:29

You can have the most mind-blowing healing experience of your life and still find yourself right back in familiar patterns. Why? Because the nervous system defaults to what it knows. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, we explore why insight alone does not create lasting change and why the most intense healing experiences do not start in the mind, they start in the body.

Co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof, founder of BrainBased.com and the Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification, and Jennifer Wallace, Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide, unpack peak somatic experiences through a trauma-informed lens. Together, they examine how experiences like breathwork, somatic practices, and psychedelics interact with neuroplasticity, interoception, and complex trauma. They also name an often-missing piece of the conversation: these experiences are not inherently healing without preparation, capacity, and integration.

This episode offers a grounded, nuanced discussion of why peak somatic experiences can be both transformative and destabilizing, especially for nervous systems shaped by chronic stress, dissociation, or developmental trauma. Rather than promoting quick fixes or heroic doses, Elisabeth and Jennifer emphasize nervous system safety, minimum effective dose, and relational support as essential ingredients for real, embodied change.

 

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 – Why insight alone does not create change

  • 05:40 – What peak somatic experiences are and are not

  • 14:20 – Neuroplasticity, psychedelics, and the default mode network

  • 28:10 – Somatic memory, dissociation, and complex trauma

  • 44:30 – Why preparation and integration matter more than the experience itself

  • 58:45 – Risks, discernment, and trauma-informed support

  • 1:12:30 – Capacity building and minimum effective dose

  • 1:24:00 – Integration, regulation, and long-term nervous system change



Key Takeaways:

  • Peak somatic experiences amplify existing nervous system patterns rather than replacing them.

  • Neuroplasticity is neutral and requires direction, support, and integration.

  • Somatic memory often surfaces without narrative recall, especially in complex trauma.

  • Preparation and capacity determine whether an experience is healing or destabilizing.

  • Lasting change happens through consistent, embodied integration, not one-time breakthroughs.

Resources Mentioned:

Call to Action:

Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!

👉 Ready to deepen your preparation and integration work? Explore the Wayfinder Journal, a guided neurosomatic journal designed to help you notice, name, and navigate your patterns through peak somatic experiences and everyday life. LINK

👉 You can also continue learning tools for nervous system regulation and post-traumatic growth at rewiretrial.com 

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Integration Is A Nervous System Skill - Not A Mindset22 Dec 202500:51:48

Integration is often treated as something that happens after a breakthrough — once insight, therapy, or a peak somatic or psychedelic experience is complete. But what if integration is actually the skill that determines whether healing lasts at all?

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace explore integration as a nervous system process, not a mindset shift. Drawing from Neurosomatic Intelligence (NSI), lived experience, and years of trauma and integration work, they unpack why powerful insights so often fade — and why the body, not the mind, decides what sticks.

The conversation examines nervous system capacity, preparation, and neuroplasticity, explaining how survival patterns can override even profound experiences when the body isn't resourced to receive them. They discuss emotional and somatic breakthroughs, dissociation, the overlooked role of the body in psychedelic research, and why the "space after" healing experiences can feel disorienting without support.

Rather than chasing peak moments, this episode reframes healing as an embodied practice — one built through repetition, regulation, intuition, and daily nervous system support so new ways of being can truly take root.



Timestamps:

00:00 Integration as a buzzword — and why it's misunderstood
05:30 Integration as a nervous system skill, not a mindset
12:40 Why breakthroughs fade and survival patterns take over
20:15 Capacity, preparation, and why insight can overwhelm the body
28:50 Neuroplasticity, repetition, and what you get better at
38:10 Emotional breakthroughs, dissociation, and somatic journeys
48:30 Psychedelic experiences, embodiment, and what research misses
58:45 The "space after" healing — identity shifts and disorientation
1:07:30 Worthiness, intuition, and integrating truth into daily life
1:18:00 Why healing takes time — and what it means to give time space
1:25:00 Closing reflections on integration as a way of being

Key Takeaways:

  • Integration is not a cognitive process — it is how the nervous system learns to embody insight through repetition, regulation, and safety.

  • Capacity determines whether an experience lands, overwhelms, or gets overridden by survival patterns.

  • Preparation is essential for psychedelic and peak somatic experiences; without it, neuroplasticity can reinforce old patterns instead of creating change.

  • Emotional and somatic breakthroughs require nervous system skill, especially for those with dissociation or long-standing protective responses.

  • Healing often creates space before clarity — integration is choosing what fills that space next.

  • Lasting change happens slowly, through daily practice, nervous system support, and honoring intuition rather than chasing intensity.

Resources Mentioned:

  • RewireTrial.com: Free two-week access to live neurosomatic intelligence classes and an on-demand library of nervous system practices

  • BrainBased.com: Elisabeth's online community for applied neurology and somatic tools for behavior change, resilience, and stress processing

  • Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.
  • Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

Call to Action:

Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!

👉 You can also continue learning tools for nervous system regulation and post-traumatic growth at RewireTrial.com

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or 

medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

 

Feeling Again: The Nervous System Science of Grief, Shame, and Joy15 Dec 202501:09:57

When Jennifer was asked how she felt getting her cancer diagnosis, her first word was not "scared," it was "shame." If you have ever felt like your emotions are too much, or you started processing feelings only to end up in pain, fatigue, or shutdown, this second part of our emotional expression series is for you.

In part two of this essential two-part series on emotional health and post-traumatic growth, Co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof (founder of BrainBased.com) and Jennifer Wallace (Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide) are joined again by Applied Neurology Expert and NSI Educator, Matt Bush of Next Level Neuro. Building on Part 1's conversation about anger, they explore how grief, shame, and positive emotions show up in the nervous system.

You will hear real client stories where simple drills or balance work brought repressed emotions to the surface, why grief can feel like "phantom limb pain" for the brain, and how shame is intertwined with freeze responses and the inner critic. The trio shares minimum-effective-dose practices for grief, anger, and even joy, so emotional expression becomes regulating instead of destabilizing and opens the door to genuine post-traumatic growth.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 — Diagnosis, shame and "too much" emotion

  • 06:40 — When drills and bodywork unexpectedly unleash rage or tears

  • 16:20 — Emotional expression that leads to pain, migraines or shutdown

  • 24:45 — Grief as "phantom limb pain" and how loss impacts the body

  • 35:10 — Chronic pain, bracing patterns and emotional repression

  • 44:30 — Shame, freeze and the inner critic's "always and forever" story

  • 58:00 — Minimum-effective-dose grief work and nature as co-regulator

  • 1:09:30 — Making joy, pleasure and intimacy safe for the nervous system

  • 1:19:30 — Daily neurosomatic practice, post-traumatic growth and closing reflections

Key Takeaways:

  • Emotional expression can bring on protective outputs like pain, fatigue, inflammation or shutdown when the body does not yet feel safe.

  • Grief often functions like phantom limb pain: the brain must remap after a loss, which can show up in mood, immunity and body sensations.

  • Shame and freeze are tightly linked; the inner critic's absolute "I am / I'll never" language reflects threat perception, not truth.

  • Minimum-effective-dose practices for anger and grief, wrapped in front- and back-end regulation tools, help the nervous system learn that expression is safe.

  • Positive emotions such as joy, pleasure and intimacy can also feel threatening and benefit from being approached in small, titrated doses that build capacity.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Emotional Repression vs Healthy Expression, Anger (Part 1 of this series)

 

Call to Action:

Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube!

👉 Ready to ground your work in neuroscience and somatics? Start with the NSI Foundations Bundle — 3 self-paced workshops blending applied neuroscience, somatics, and trauma-informed tools: www.neurosomaticintelligence.com/foundations

👉 For deeper support this season, explore Boundary Rewire —a 5-module neurosomatic course designed to help you repattern stress responses and create boundaries that feel safe, natural, and grounded in authenticity. It's just $27 through the end of the year. boundaryrewire.com 

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Why Repressed Emotions Distort Your Reality (According to Your Nervous System)08 Dec 202500:56:05

Have you ever found yourself immediately reaching for a coping behavior like scrolling or stress eating, without even realizing what emotion triggered it? That could be a sign of emotional repression—a survival mechanism that protects you, but at a huge cost to your health and boundaries.

In part one of this essential two-part series on emotional health and post-traumatic growth, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof (founder of BrainBased.com) and Jennifer Wallace (Neurosomatic Psychedelic Preparation and Integration Guide) dive into the powerful energy of anger. They are joined by their friend and lead educator, Matt Bush, an international applied neurology expert and founder of Next Level Neuro.

This conversation explores how a lifetime of suppressed anger, tied to the fight response and complex trauma, creates a toxic internal environment, linking chronic stress to diagnoses like Stage 3 cancer. You will learn the crucial difference between conscious suppression and unconscious repression, how this shifts your entire neurological perception of the world, and what safe, structured steps you can take to begin discharging this vital energy from your body.

This episode is for anyone who struggles with quick reactivity, feeling disconnected from what they feel, or understanding the deep mind-body connection of stored emotion.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 Introduction: anger, fight response, and health diagnosis.

  • 01:37 Emotional expression & its vitality for nervous system health and reducing stress.

  • 07:06 Perceived vs. real threat and the roots of repression in childhood.

  • 16:45 Defining suppression versus repression as protective mechanisms.

  • 23:42 The neurological and physiological consequences of repression.

  • 35:34 Anger as a natural response to a boundary violation and safe release practices.

  • 42:47 The link between repressed anger, boundaries, and immune system dysfunction.

  • 48:28 Rewiring for a new homeostasis and the role of epigenetics.

Key Takeaways:

  • Emotional repression—the unconscious blocking of emotions—is a trauma-informed survival strategy that traps the nervous system in a constant state of threat response, leading to the buildup of toxic stress hormones.

  • Repression is often tied to complex post-traumatic stress, where a child's nervous system was unable to process big emotions and lacked co-regulation from caregivers, learning that emotional expression was unsafe or threatening.

  • When repressed, anger (the natural response to a boundary violation) becomes internalized, resulting in behaviors like overworking, people-pleasing, and, ultimately, immune system dysregulation (e.g., autoimmune conditions).

  • Chronic repression can alter your entire perception of the world, making everyday situations feel threatening (non-cognitive), and driving unconscious avoidance or numbing behaviors (e.g., binging, workaholism, mindless scrolling).

  • Healing involves creating a safe and structured environment (alone or with a trusted person/coach) to gradually access and discharge emotional energy, using neurosomatic intelligence tools to repattern the nervous system.

Resources Mentioned:

Subscribe on your favorite audio platform or join us on YouTube so you don't miss Part 2 next week, where we dive deeper into shame, grief, and joy! 

👉 Ready to ground your work in neuroscience and somatics? Start with the NSI Foundations Bundle — 3 self-paced workshops blending applied neuroscience, somatics, and trauma-informed tools: www.neurosomaticintelligence.com/foundations

👉 For deeper support this season, explore Boundary Rewire —a 5-module neurosomatic course designed to help you repattern stress responses and create boundaries that feel safe, natural, and grounded in authenticity. It's just $27 through the end of the year. boundaryrewire.com 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general

neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

The Childhood Pattern That Silence's Your Emotions01 Dec 202500:50:03

What if "nothing happened" in your childhood, yet you still feel numb, flooded, or stuck in people pleasing or hyper-independence? This episode explores childhood emotional neglect, an often overlooked Adverse Childhood Experience that can wire the nervous system away from felt safety, expression, and connection. We look at how a lack of attunement can shape brain function, stress responses, and adult relationships, and why naming the pattern opens a path to repair.

In this conversation, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace map out how emotional neglect shows up across attachment patterns, boundaries, and health outputs. They share trauma-informed context, lived reflections, and practical neurosomatic tools to rebuild capacity for feeling, processing, and connection without blame. 

You will learn how repression becomes protection, why hyper-independence can feel "safer" than asking for help, and where to begin with gentle, minimum-effective-dose practices to increase interoceptive awareness and co-regulation in daily life.

This episode is for anyone who grew up in a "pretty good" home yet struggles with shutdown or overwhelm, for cycle-breaking parents, and for practitioners supporting clients with complex stress patterns. You will leave with language for your experience and first steps to begin rewiring.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 Why emotional neglect is an overlooked ACE

  • 05:00 Defining emotional neglect and attunement needs in development

  • 11:00 Repression as protection and links to adult health outputs

  • 18:00 Attachment patterns, people pleasing, and hyper-independence

  • 25:00 Practicing self-compassion while breaking cycles

  • 32:00 Parenting notes: modeling emotions and co-regulation

  • 39:00 Neurosomatic tools and first steps for repair

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Emotional neglect can be subtle yet impactful, shaping nervous system patterns, attachment, and long-term health without assigning blame.

  • Repression often begins when big emotions are not met with co-regulation; later, it can appear as numbness, pain, inflammation, or compulsive coping.

  • Hyper-independence can be a protective strategy that avoids the vulnerability of asking for support.

  • Gentle, consistent practices that build interoceptive awareness and capacity help contribute to feeling safe again.

  • Modeling emotional expression and staying present are powerful ways caregivers support nervous system development.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Boundary Rewire Course: boundaryrewire.com – Repattern your nervous system for safer, more authentic boundaries.

If this conversation resonated with you, subscribe to Trauma Rewired wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a review to help more people discover trauma-informed education grounded in neuroscience.

👉 For deeper support this season, explore Boundary Rewire —a 5-module neurosomatic course designed to help you repattern stress responses and create boundaries that feel safe, natural, and grounded in authenticity. It's just $27 through the end of the year. boundaryrewire.com 

👉 You can also continue learning tools for nervous system regulation and post-traumatic growth at rewiretrial.com 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is

not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Are You Living In An Emotional Flashback Without Knowing It24 Nov 202500:56:00

What if those sudden waves of fear, shame, or despair are not "too much," but your nervous system remembering something your mind cannot see yet?

In this episode, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof, founder of the Neurosomatic Intelligence framework and the NSI Coaching Certification, and Jennifer Wallace, NSI educator and founder of Sacred Synapse, return to one of Trauma Rewired's most downloaded episodes: emotional flashbacks in complex trauma. 

Through personal stories, they explore how emotional flashbacks can shift perception, body sensations, and behavior in real time, and how NSI helps map these experiences as neurotags in the brain and body.

You will learn how to recognize emotional and somatic flashbacks, why tiny cues can create giant waves of activation, and how these states connect with emotional neglect, toxic shame, boundary struggles, and other patterns of complex trauma. Elisabeth and Jennifer share how building daily capacity and emotional processing skills has changed the frequency and intensity of their own flashbacks over time.

This episode offers a grounded, neuroscience-informed look at emotional flashbacks and post-traumatic growth. You will walk away with language to name your experience, a deeper understanding of how "state creates story," and hopeful frameworks for working with your nervous system more gently.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 – Personal Story of an Emotional Flashback

  • 00:39 – Who This Episode Is For

  • 03:08 – What an Emotional Flashback Is (NSI Definition)

  • 08:53 – The Greenbelt Experiment & Perception Shift

  • 16:22 – Somatic Flashbacks & CPTS Patterns

  • 22:18 – Holidays, Medicine Work & Intense Emotional Activation

  • 33:05 – State Creates Story

  • 45:15 – Repression, Completion & Daily Practice

  • 50:21 – Post-Traumatic Growth

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Emotional flashbacks are often somatic flashbacks, with intense body sensations and state shifts even when there is no clear narrative memory.

  • From an NSI perspective, a flashback is a neurotag activation that changes how the brain filters sensory input, which can make familiar places or people suddenly feel unsafe.

  • Emotional flashbacks in complex trauma are intertwined with toxic shame, harsh inner critics, emotional neglect, attachment wounds, and boundary struggles.

  • Behaviors like binge eating, drinking, overworking, shutdown, or chronic pain and inflammation can be protective outputs and important clues that a survival pattern has been activated.

  • Consistent neurosomatic practice, emotional processing, rest, and supportive relationships can reduce the frequency and intensity of emotional flashbacks and support long-term post-traumatic growth.

Resources Mentioned:

Call to Action:

If this conversation resonated with you, subscribe to Trauma Rewired wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a review to help more people discover trauma-informed education grounded in neuroscience.

For deeper support this season, explore Boundary Rewire—a 5-module neurosomatic course designed to help you repattern stress responses and create boundaries that feel safe, natural, and grounded in authenticity. It's just $27 through the end of the year.

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests

do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

5 Nervous-System Errors We Make Every Holiday17 Nov 202500:34:47

What if your holiday stress wasn't about what's happening now—but about what your nervous system remembers?

In this episode, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace unpack the neuroscience of the holidays, exploring how sensory cues like songs, smells, or family dynamics can reactivate old emotional patterns stored in the body. Together, they explain how neurotags—the networks of neurons linking memory, emotion, and physical response—shape our experience of the season and why this time of year can trigger emotional flashbacks or overwhelm.

You'll learn how to recognize when the past is replaying through your nervous system, how cycles like circadian and seasonal rhythms affect capacity, and why rest is a biological need—not a luxury. The conversation moves from emotional regulation and boundaries to post-traumatic growth, exploring how slowing down and honoring natural rhythms can transform holiday survival into healing and integration.

This episode offers neuroscience-backed practices to help you reclaim presence, build new associations with safety, and rewrite your nervous system's holiday story.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 – Seasonal mismatch & why holidays strain the nervous system

  • 2:43 – What are neurotags and how they shape holiday reactions

  • 6:39 – Emotional flashbacks: the body's real-time state shifts

  • 10:20 – Orientation and regulation tools for holiday triggers

  • 12:26 – Boundaries as nervous system protection

  • 18:19 – Honoring natural cycles: seasonal, menstrual, and circadian rhythms

  • 27:30 – Post-traumatic growth through rest, reflection, and integration

Key Takeaways:

  • Neurotags explain why certain holiday cues can trigger powerful emotional and physical responses.

  • Emotional flashbacks are not regressions—they're real-time nervous system shifts that can be regulated through awareness and sensory grounding.

  • Setting boundaries is a form of nervous system protection, not disconnection.

  • Seasonal, menstrual, and circadian rhythms all affect capacity—rest is a biological requirement for resilience.

  • Post-traumatic growth happens in the pauses—through rest, orientation, and compassionate self-boundaries.

Resources Mentioned:

If this conversation resonated with you, subscribe to Trauma Rewired wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a review to help more people discover trauma-informed education grounded in neuroscience.

For deeper support this season, explore Boundary Rewire—a 5-module neurosomatic course designed to help you repattern stress responses and create boundaries that feel safe, natural, and grounded in authenticity. It's just $27 through the end of the year.

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative 

impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

The Neuroscience of Grief: How the Brain Rewrites Safety and Self After Loss10 Nov 202501:05:20

What if grief isn't something to "get over," but a biological process that reshapes your sense of self, capacity, and connection?

In this episode, co-hosts Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace are joined by Piper Rose—founder of Shadowplay Coaching and Director of Operations and Continuing Education at NSI—to explore grief through the lens of neuroscience and the body.

Together, they examine how the brain and body respond to major transitions, why sensations like heaviness or ache are part of adaptive prediction, and how practices that mobilize breath, voice, and thoracic movement can support your physiology's innate ability to heal.

You'll hear why grief looks different for everyone—from action-oriented logistics to relational sharing—and how both are valid paths. The conversation moves through the concept of a minimum effective dose for grief work, the overlap between pain and emotional circuits, the role of co-regulation, and why meaning-making often comes later in the process.

Anger and sacred rage also get their space here—alongside pathways back to nourishment. 

Whether you're navigating loss, identity transitions, or the transformations that come with growth, this episode offers grounded language, body-based tools, and community-centered practices to help you fall apart, be held, and reform with greater capacity.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 — Grief as a physiological process, not a problem to fix

  • 06:30 — How the brain maps grief: interoception, prediction, pain circuits

  • 14:10 — Two grief styles: action orientation and expressive processing

  • 21:40 — Minimum-effective-dose grief practice and daily resourcing

  • 29:00 — Anger inside grief, sacred rage, and safe expression

  • 36:20 — Belonging, co-regulation, and being held by people or the earth

  • 44:15 — Timing of meaning-making and avoiding premature silver linings

  • 51:00 — Practical ways to start: personal, relational, and community supports

Key Takeaways:

  • Grief is an adaptive social-threat response that updates your body's internal maps.

  • The same networks tied to physical pain can interpret loss, which is why grief can ache.

  • People grieve differently. Action and expression are both valid pathways.

  • Small, repeatable practices help build capacity without overwhelm.

  • Co-regulation and clear support reduce isolation and soften protective patterns.

Resources Mentioned:

  • NeuroSomatic Intelligence (NSI) Foundations Bundle — Three on-demand workshops to integrate applied neuroscience and somatics into your work: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/foundations

  • BrainBased.com — Community using applied neurology and somatics: https://brainbased.com

  • Shadowplay Coaching (Piper Rose) — Relationship and grief-support coaching.

If this episode supported you, subscribe and leave a review so others can find the show. Share it with someone who could use compassionate, science-informed language for grief. 

If you're a coach, therapist, or practitioner ready to integrate applied neuroscience and somatics into your work, start with the NSI Foundations Bundle at NeurosomaticIntelligence.com/Foundations.

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their

mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Inside the Jealous Mind: What Neuroscience Reveals About Threat, Envy, and the Drive for Connection03 Nov 202500:58:34
Post Traumatic Growth vs Post Traumatic Wisdom; Emotional Processing and Female Nervous System AUDIO27 Oct 202501:01:38

Functional healing isn't about bouncing back, it's about becoming more whole. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace are joined by somatic expert Veronica Rottman, founder of Soma School, to explore what happens when post-traumatic growth deepens into post-traumatic wisdom.

Together, they unpack how healing often involves grief, identity shifts, and surrender, not just resilience and strength. You'll hear how emotions are constructed in the body, why dissociation and fawning are intelligent survival responses, and how safety is rebuilt through slow, titrated somatic experiences. We discuss how cultural narratives about "getting stronger" can overlook the body's need for modulation, rest, and relational repair.

You'll learn how capacity building is nonlinear, why co-regulation and oxytocin-based safety cues matter, and how tending to wounds rather than fixing them can transform pain into embodied wisdom.

Join us for a workshop, taking a deeper dive into Hormones, Stress and the Female Nervous System, combining applied neuroscience and somatics to support female cycles: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/female-nervous-system-workshop/

 

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 Welcome and framing: growth vs. wisdom

  • 05:30 Emotions as predictions and survival patterning

  • 14:00 Dissociation, boundaries, and identity shifts

  • 22:30 Somatic titration, oxytocin, and co-regulation practices

  • 31:00 Capacity, achievement, and health trade-offs

  • 39:30 Reframing fawn and freeze as intelligent responses

  • 47:00 Cyclical needs, rest, and redefining growth

  • 54:00 Integration, tending, and systemic context

  • 59:00 Takeaways and next steps

Key Takeaways:

  • Post-traumatic wisdom includes grief, ambiguity, and letting identities evolve, not only resilience.

  • Emotions are constructed from interoception and predictions; safety cues can update those predictions.

  • Small, consistent somatic doses help the system perceive more safety without overwhelm.

  • Fawn and freeze are adaptive; meeting them with curiosity reduces shame and supports change.

  • Capacity building is relational; co-regulation and oxytocin-supportive practices can expand what feels possible.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Soma School – founded by Veronica Rottman

  • Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification

  • Brain Based

  • The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron (via Alanis Morissette interview)

  • Peter Levine on Somatic Titration and Safety

  • Dr. Stephen Porges and the Polyvagal Perspective

  • Lisa Feldman Barrett – Theory of constructed emotion

  • Vincent Felitti – The ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study

  • Raja Selvam – Integral Somatic Psychology

Call to Action:

If this episode offered you a new perspective on healing—or gave language to something you've felt but couldn't name—share it with someone who needs to hear it. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite audio platform or tap the bell on YouTube so you never miss an episode.

If you've ever noticed your focus, energy, or emotions shift throughout your cycle, this next workshop will help you understand why. On November 13th at 12pm Central, Elisabeth Kristof

and Veronica Rottman will explore how your hormones interact with your nervous system—and how somatic tools can support you through every phase. Join live or catch the replay at https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/female-nervous-system-workshop/

 

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Self Compassion and How The Science of Kindness Changes Your Brain20 Oct 202500:50:22

In this conversation with Dr. Kristin Neff, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas and the pioneering researcher who introduced self-compassion into modern psychology, we explore why self-esteem is a fair-weather friend while self-compassion provides steady support through challenge and failure. Dr. Neff shares how her early mindfulness practice reshaped her own relationship with shame, and how research now shows that self-criticism keeps the body's threat system active while compassion engages the brain's caregiving network—reducing cortisol, inflammation, and emotional reactivity.

Together we examine the three pillars of self-compassion—mindfulness, common humanity, and kindness—and how these transform both personal healing and co-regulation. You'll learn about the concept of backdraft (why opening to care can surface old pain), the difference between tender and fierce compassion, and why caring for yourself actually strengthens motivation and performance.

If you've ever felt that being softer might make you weaker, this episode offers a science-based reframe: self-compassion is strength regulated.

Timestamps:

  • 00:00 Why self-compassion matters in trauma healing

  • 05:10 Self-compassion vs. self-esteem: stable worth vs. comparison

  • 12:30 Three components: mindfulness, common humanity, kindness

  • 20:45 Threat vs. care systems; shame, rumination, regulation

  • 29:00 "Backdraft" and pacing: minimum-effective-dose practices

  • 37:20 Tender & fierce self-compassion: soothing + boundaries

  • 46:15 Motivation myths: keeping your edge without self-attack

  • 55:00 Post-traumatic growth, wisdom, and everyday practices

Key Takeaways:

  • Self-esteem is contingent; self-compassion is unconditional. Worth isn't earned—it's acknowledged, especially when things go wrong.

  • Three pillars: notice suffering (mindfulness), remember you're not alone (common humanity), respond with support (kindness).

  • Threat vs. care: self-criticism can keep the threat system active; compassion practices can engage caregiving circuits and support regulation.

  • Expect "backdraft." Opening to care may surface old pain—go slow, titrate, choose tools that feel safe for your system.

  • Compassion supports performance. Less shame → better learning, repair, and values-aligned motivation.

Resources Mentioned:

Call to Action:

If this episode brought you clarity, comfort, or a deeper understanding of your emotional world, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite audio platform or hit the bell on YouTube so you never miss an episode.

👉 Want to learn how to rewire your nervous system, strengthen emotional regulation, and support others in doing the same?
Explore the Neurosomatic Intelligence Certification at NeurosomaticIntelligence.com.

Healing starts with integration—when your brain and body begin working together, real regulation becomes possible.

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative

impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

The Science of Feeling Safe In Your Body13 Oct 202501:02:19

"Fake it till you make it" can keep you moving, but there is a cost. When the prefrontal cortex tries to do the job of the whole brain, it burns fuel fast, cravings rise, and coping loops take over. This episode breaks down emotional regulation as a full-body, brain-wide process, not a mindset trick. Matt Bush, lead educator at the NSI certification and founder of Next Level Neuro, joins Elisabeth and Jennifer for this fascinating covnersation. You will learn how integration across interoception, proprioception, the insula, anterior cingulate, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex supports flexible, context-appropriate responses. We explore why shutdowns, flooding, or masking are often adaptations to threat, how sensory mismatch and modern screen habits compound dysregulation, and why big peak experiences without preparation can overwhelm rather than heal. Expect practical, trauma-informed ways to build capacity with minimum-effective-dose practices, daily nervous system hygiene, and a simple "emotional retrospect" journaling flow that plants new options for next time. If you have ever thought, "I know I am safe, but my body does not," this conversation offers science, compassion, and usable tools to reconnect brain and body.

 

Timestamps:

00:00 What "fake it till you make it" costs the nervous system

05:12 What emotional regulation really is and why context matters

12:30 Integration 101: body signals, brain networks, and coordination
21:45 Everyday patterns: flooding, shutdown, perfectionism, doom-scrolling

29:10 Key regions: insula, ACC, cerebellum, prefrontal cortex
36:05 Sensory mismatch, modern lifestyle, and capacity

44:20 Peak somatic experiences: preparation, risk, and integration

52:00 Building capacity: daily hygiene, minimum-effective-dose practice
58:40 The "emotional retrospect" journaling protocol
1:05:00 Individual and collective growth, closing takeaways

Key Takeaways:

  • Emotional regulation means full-spectrum access to feelings without being hijacked, not suppression.

    • Integration is a brain-body loop; accurate interoception and proprioception improve predictions and choice.

    • Sensory mismatch and chronic stress bias the system toward protection, which can look like flooding, masking, or collapse.

    • Peak intensity does not equal integration; preparation and real-time capacity building matter.

    • Small, consistent practices create new options by improving signal quality and planting novel responses.

  • Resources Mentioned:

    • RewireTrial.com - two-week free trial for live classes and on-demand neurosomatic tools

    • Neurosomatic Intelligence (NSI) Coaching Certification - ICF-accredited training for practitioners

    • Next Level Neuro - education referenced in the episode

    Call to Action:

    If this episode brought you clarity, comfort, or a deeper understanding of your emotional world, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite audio platform or hit the bell on YouTube so you never miss an episode.

    👉 Want to learn how to rewire your nervous system, strengthen emotional regulation, and support others in doing the same?
    Explore www.rewiretrial.com.

    Healing starts with integration—when your brain and body begin working together, real regulation becomes possible.

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing

and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

Trauma Isn't Just In Your Head (It's In Your Cells)06 Oct 202501:04:07

Trauma is not a single moment. It is an ongoing dialogue between your brain, body, and environment. In this conversation, Dr. Mbemba Jabbi explains how neuroplasticity and affective neuroscience help us understand protective patterns like hypervigilance, shutdown, and dissociation. We explore the roles of the insula, amygdala, and cingulate networks in sensing threat, shaping emotions, and connecting brain states with bodily signals such as heart, gut, and breath. Dr. Jabbi also discusses research that associates early childhood trauma, including sexual trauma, with higher inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein, while emphasizing that biology interacts with environment and change is possible. You will hear how sensory training, co-regulation, psychotherapy, and supportive practices may help repattern responses over time. This is a grounded, science-informed look at why survival strategies make sense in context and how compassionate, skills-based work can support nervous system health. If you or your clients live with complex developmental trauma, this episode offers language, frameworks, and first steps that respect lived experience and prioritize safety.

 

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Protective patterning and repeating environments

  • 1:00 Meet Dr. Jabbi and his research lens

  • 7:10 Brain circuits in emotion and stress

  • 13:20 Insula, interoception, and body-brain links

  • 18:00 Survival values and environmental context

  • 26:00 Adaptive suppression vs. underdevelopment

  • 40:00 Inflammation and childhood trauma (C-reactive protein)

  • 49:00 Treatment implications and tracking biomarkers

  • 56:00 Fast and slow fear pathways, behavior outputs

  • 59:50 Key takeaways for practitioners and individuals

  • 1:02:00 Repatterning for joy and post-traumatic growth

  • 1:03:30 Where to practice the tools in the community

Key Takeaways:

  • Emotions are functional survival signals that reflect whole-body states.

  • The insula, amygdala, and cingulate form networks that integrate sensory input with bodily responses.

  • Protective outputs like numbness or shutdown are learned adaptations that supported safety.

  • Studies associate early childhood trauma with elevated inflammation markers, while outcomes are shaped by environment and support.

  • Neuroplasticity means skills, relationships, and practice can help repattern responses over time.

Resources Mentioned:

  • BrainBased community: https://BrainBased.com

  • Neurosomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification (NSI)

  • Explore classes and community trial: https://rewiretrial.com

  • Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

Call to Action:

If this episode resonates, follow and review Trauma Rewired so more people can find trauma-informed education. Ready to practice the tools we discussed? Start your free trial at rewiretrial.com

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional

support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

The Emotional Block That No One Talks About29 Sep 202500:39:34

Have you ever drawn a blank when asked how you're feeling? Or maybe you experience constant inner buzzing, numbness, or anxiety without any words to describe it. You're not broken—and you're not alone. In this deeply informative and compassionately nuanced episode, Jennifer, Elizabeth, and guest Matt Bush unpack alexithymia: a common and often misunderstood trauma-related trait that involves difficulty identifying, describing, or connecting with emotions.

More than emotional "numbness," alexithymia involves disrupted communication between the body and brain, making healing feel elusive. The hosts break down the neurological roots of this trait, how it differs from emotional numbing in PTSD, and why traditional talk therapy often isn't enough. You'll learn how interoceptive training—like what's taught in NeuroSomatic Intelligence (NSI)—can help bring emotional awareness back online.

Whether you're a practitioner, trauma survivor, or someone just feeling disconnected, this conversation offers hope and concrete tools to rewire the nervous system for emotional clarity, embodiment, and relational healing.

Timestamps:

  • 0:43 – What Is Alexithymia?

  • 3:00 – Why It's Common After Trauma

  • 4:40 – The TAS-20 Scale: 3 Key Features

  • 7:00 – Lived Experience + Relationship Impact

  • 10:00 – Alexithymia vs. Emotional Numbing

  • 14:40 – Trauma's Impact on Emotional Mapping

  • 17:00 – Neurological Underpinnings (Insula, DMN, etc.)

  • 20:00 – Substance Use, Shutdowns & Coping

  • 26:00 – Functional Freeze & Stress Sensitivity

  • 30:00 – How Neuroplasticity Supports Change

  • 33:00 – NSI Tools for Rewiring Emotional Awareness

  • 36:00 – Practical Steps to Start Feeling More

  • 40:00 – Emotional Expression, Relationships & Health Outcomes

Key Takeaways:

  • Alexithymia is not a disorder but a trainable trait, often shaped by trauma and nervous system adaptations.

  • Traditional talk therapy may not fully address alexithymia due to its neurological roots—interoceptive training is key.

  • It differs from emotional numbing in PTSD; each involves distinct brain networks (e.g., DMN vs. salience network).

  • Emotional awareness isn't just about language—it starts with sensing the body.

  • Healing emotional disconnect can improve not just mental health, but physical health and relational dynamics.

Resources Mentioned:

  • NeuroSomatic Intelligence Coaching Certification
    www.rewiretrial.com

  • Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20)

  • Referenced Studies:

    • Vandervoort Meta-analysis (2013)

    • Journal of Global Health Reports (2025)

    • Gharlic & Doba (2015)

    • Brewer & Kuehnerberg (2016)

    • PTSD + Alexithymia Therapy Outcomes (2008)

 

If this episode gave you clarity, comfort, or tools for your healing, share it with someone who needs it. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite audio platform or hit the bell on YouTube so you never miss an episode.

👉 Want to learn how to rewire your nervous system and support others in doing the same?
Explore the NeuroSomatic Intelligence Certification at www.rewiretrial.com

Healing is possible—and it starts with knowing how to listen to your body.

Disclaimer:

Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.

We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.

We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.

We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and

Rewiretrail.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.

Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.

We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at traumarewired@gmail.com.

All rights in our content are reserved.

 

© My Podcast Data · Independent project · Data from Apple & Spotify