Welcome! To become a client visit catiaholm.com or call/text 956-249-7930

In this episode, we explore endurance sport as a path to healing, not just performance, and how long efforts rewire our response to fear, shame, and overwhelm. Marisa Garcia shares tools from triathlon and trauma-informed coaching to help us find control inside chaos and know when to pause.

• Endurance movement as moving meditation and trauma repair
• Open-water swim strategies for panic, boundaries, and control
• Rewriting old shame through steady, present miles
• Hydration and fueling as mental health tools on course
• Evolving from finishing to racing and back to joy
• Burnout, identity, and healthy retirement from goals
• How grit in sport transfers to family, conflict, and work
• Practical first steps for choosing an achievable race

*In the show we touch on Ironman distances. We were a little off! Here are the accurate ones:

Swim

• Distance: 1.2 miles (1.9 km)
• Usually in open water: lake, river, or ocean

Bike

• Distance: 56 miles (90 km)
• On paved roads or highway loops

Run

• Distance: 13.1 miles (21.1 km)
• That’s a half marathon to finish

Total Distance: 70.3 miles (113 km)

Participants usually have 8.5 hours to complete the race, with individual cut-off times for each segment.

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If Couch Time with Cat has been meaningful to you, it would mean so much if you'd subscribe, rate, and leave a review. It helps others find us and it grows this community of care. And if you know someone who needs a little light right now, send them this episode. Remind them they're not alone.
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Show Guest:

Marisa Garcia is a Certified Conscious Parenting Coach, Neurodiversity-Informed Mentor, a Level 3 IFS Practitioner and a systems and industrial engineer.

Her personal healing journey has led her to explore and integrate a range of therapeutic modalities, all rooted in compassion and clarity. Today, she supports individuals and families in deepening their connection to themselves and each other through a heart-centered, trauma-informed lens.

Marisa is also a lifelong learner, a mother navigating neurodiversity, a wife, an athlete, and an artist—all of which inform her rich and relatable approach to healing.

Connect with Marisa at marisagmtz@gmail.com
or follow her on Instagram at @cons.cious.ly

Support the show

Couch Time with Cat isn’t therapy—it’s real conversation designed to support your journey alongside any personal or professional help you're receiving. If you're in emotional crisis or need immediate support, please get in touch with a professional or reach out to a 24/7 helpline like:

• US: 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
• UK: Samaritans at 116 123
• Australia: Lifeline at 13 11 14
• Or find local resources through findahelpline.com

You’re not alone. Let’s take this one honest conversation at a time.

Follow the show and share it with someone who’s ready for healing, hope, and a more empowered way forward.

Show hosted by:

Catia Hernandez Holm, LMFT-A

Supervised by Susan Gonzales, LMFT-S, LPC-S

You can connect with Catia at couchtimewithcat.com

and

To become a client visit- catiaholm.com

To become a client visit catiaholm.com or call 956-249-7930.

Show guest:

Dr. Paulina S. Flasch is an Associate Professor of Professional Counseling at Texas State University, where she teaches in the Marriage, Couple, and Family track and co-leads the Trauma and Interpersonal Violence Research Lab. Her work centers on trauma, intimate partner violence, and interpersonal violence, with a growing focus on Jewish identity and the lived experiences of antisemitism.

Dr. Flasch is also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), and the founder of Flasch Counseling and Consulting, where she offers consulting and speaking engagements rooted in compassion, research, and real-world insight.

Learn more or connect with Dr. Flasch:

🔗 TXST Faculty Profile

🔗 LinkedIn

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Resources:

• Texas State Masters Program’s Community Counseling and Wellness Center
• Hope Alliance (Williamson County)
• SAFE Austin (Travis County)
• Hays Caldwell Women’s Center (Hays & Caldwell Counties)
• Legal Support:
• •Travis County Law Library & Self-Help Center
• •Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid -Austin
• •The Travis County Attorney's Office
• University of Texas Domestic Violence Law Clinic
• https://law.utexas.edu/clinics/domestic-violence/
• https://law.utexas.edu/clinics/information-for-the-public/
• •Austin Police Department - Victim Services Division
• •Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas
• TexasLawHelp.org
• Lawyer Referral Service of Central Texas
• State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral Service

Support the show

Couch Time with Cat isn’t therapy—it’s real conversation designed to support your journey alongside any personal or professional help you're receiving. If you're in emotional crisis or need immediate support, please get in touch with a professional or reach out to a 24/7 helpline like:

• US: 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
• UK: Samaritans at 116 123
• Australia: Lifeline at 13 11 14
• Or find local resources through findahelpline.com

You’re not alone. Let’s take this one honest conversation at a time.

Follow the show and share it with someone who’s ready for healing, hope, and a more empowered way forward.

Show hosted by:

Catia Hernandez Holm, LMFT-A

Supervised by Susan Gonzales, LMFT-S, LPC-S

You can connect with Catia at couchtimewithcat.com

and

To become a client visit- catiaholm.com

To become a client visit catiaholm.com or call 956-249-7930

We question the belief that value equals output and explore how rest—scientific, emotional, creative, and social—restores the mind, body, and spirit. We share stories, micro‑practices, and rituals that make slowing down feel possible without guilt.

• culture of productivity and the cost of pushing through
• personal burnout story as a turning point
• brain science of sleep, memory and creativity
• nervous system basics and why rest heals
• expanding rest beyond sleep: emotional, creative, social
• how family messages shape rest guilt
• signs of soul‑tired and early warning cues
• micro‑rests and simple daily rituals that stick
• community support that makes rest safer
• visualization, resources and a gentle weekly prompt

Write down one way you can invite more rest into your life. Not as a reward, but as a piece of nourishment for yourself.

If you’re struggling with this, feel free to reach out to me at 956-249-7930. You can leave an anonymous question by calling, voicemail, or voice memo, and I’ll answer it on the show.

If Couch Time with Cat has been meaningful to you, it would mean so much if you’d subscribe, rate, and leave a review. It helps others find us and it grows this community of care.

And if you know someone who needs a little light right now, send them this episode. Remind them they’re not alone.

Support the show

Couch Time with Cat isn’t therapy—it’s real conversation designed to support your journey alongside any personal or professional help you're receiving. If you're in emotional crisis or need immediate support, please get in touch with a professional or reach out to a 24/7 helpline like:

• US: 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
• UK: Samaritans at 116 123
• Australia: Lifeline at 13 11 14
• Or find local resources through findahelpline.com

You’re not alone. Let’s take this one honest conversation at a time.

Follow the show and share it with someone who’s ready for healing, hope, and a more empowered way forward.

Show hosted by:

Catia Hernandez Holm, LMFT-A

Supervised by Susan Gonzales, LMFT-S, LPC-S

You can connect with Catia at couchtimewithcat.com

and

To become a client visit- catiaholm.com