What if the patterns you keep repeating aren’t flaws or bad habits, but survival strategies your body learned long ago?

In this episode, I sit down with Riana Malia, a certified Neuro-Somatic practitioner whose work focuses on healing generational trauma through the unconscious mind, nervous system regulation, and trauma-informed care.

Riana shares her powerful personal story of betrayal, loss, and the promise she made to her daughter, that the cycle of trauma would end with her. Together, we explore how the body holds experiences the mind can’t always explain, and how unhealed childhood wounds can quietly shape our Relationships, choices, and sense of self well into adulthood.

We talk about why emotional regulation is the foundation of real change, how trauma responses often disguise themselves as personality traits or self-sabotage, and how Riana used quantum healing to shift lifelong pain, without having to relive every traumatic moment.

You’ll learn:

• Why certain relationship patterns keep repeating, even when you “know better”
• How trauma responses can disguise themselves as personality traits or self-sabotage 
• What somatic tools actually look like in everyday life, especially when things feel overwhelming
• The difference between emotional awareness and true embodied healing
• Why forgiveness is about reclaiming yourself, not excusing harm.
• What a practical, sustainable healing journey can look like after decades of stored trauma.
• How trauma-informed personal Growth gives your nervous system a new story to follow
• How understanding your body creates emotional safety and resilience

If you’re carrying pain you can’t quite name, or if healing has felt confusing or out of reach, this episode offers a gentler, more embodied way forward.

Your body already knows the way. It just needs your attention, patience, and care.

Much Love,

Laurie

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Connect with Riana Malia

https://rianamalia.com/

Click here to take Riana’s E.L.I. Assessment

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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.