Have you ever felt like you were doing everything “right” on your healing journey—only to find yourself right back in your old pain on your personal Growth journey?

Maybe you finally found a healing modality that worked. You felt grounded, regulated, even hopeful. And then one comment, one moment of disconnection, or one unexpected ending stirred something much deeper—bringing old wounds, loneliness, or abandonment back to the surface.

In this deeply personal solo episode, I’m reintroducing myself—not just as your host, but as a woman actively in the midst of her own healing.

I share openly about my recent breakup after a 3.5-year relationship, and how it activated an abandonment wound I’ve carried since childhood. Despite years of personal growth and trauma-informed work, I realized something important: healing isn’t about finding the right tool—it’s about going deeper into the body when old patterns resurface.

That realization led me back to Somatic Experiencing and Internal Family Systems (IFS)—two practices that helped me slow down, reconnect with my body, meet my protective parts with compassion, and begin rebuilding self-trust from the inside out and tend to an old abandonment wound that I’ve carried since childhood.

Because the truth is: the only way to find joy again… is to go through the pain.

In this episode, I share how nervous system regulation became the foundation for real trauma healing and helped me shift lifelong relationship patterns—how physical symptoms pointed the way forward, and how learning to stay with sensations (instead of avoiding it) expanded my capacity to feel, grieve, and eventually experience joy again.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What  somatic healing looks like in everyday life
• Why nervous system regulation is the gateway to deeper emotional healing
• How Internal Family Systems (IFS) and parts work helped me relate differently to the parts that once helped me survive
• How healing childhood trauma can restore your capacity for joy.
• Why building tolerance for physical sensations is essential to trauma recovery
• How healing after Divorce laid the foundation for healing after this breakup.
• What it means to fully grieve, feel, and slowly reconnect with yourself

If you’re navigating heartbreak, Grief, or the confusion of feeling “set back” on your healing journey, this episode is a gentle reminder: nothing is wrong with you. Healing is not linear. Your body remembers. And your pace matters.

Much Love,

Laurie

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Laurie James Laurie James, Author, Podcaster, and Somatic Relationship Coach

Hi, I'm Laurie James...a mother, divorcée, recovering caregiver turned author, somatic relationship coach, and podcaster. My podcast, Confessions of a Freebird, was inspired by my youngest of four children leaving the nest and is the sequel to my book, Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go.

My memoir is about my journey from loneliness to finding belonging during a time when I was raising four teenage daughters, my mother had a heart attack and needed care, all while my marriage began to crumble underneath me.

Now I love helping people divorce, heal, and date differently in midlife. I love blending my somatic training and coaching to help clients develop a better relationship with their bodies and nervous system. Doing so allows them to find the inner freedom to experience more happiness, joy and create the life they desire through nervous system regulation.

When I'm not coaching clients or podcasting, I can be found nurturing my free spirit by walking my adopted husky Lu, skiing, sailing, hiking, spending time with my four adult daughters, close friends or planning my next adventure.