Many spiritual traditions teach us to transcend the body.

To rise above sensation.
To witness instead of feel.
To go “up and out.”

But what if that very move is why so many women feel spiritually informed… yet internally disconnected?

In this Aries season conversation, I sit down with Cynthia Abulafia, author of Embodying the Goddess, to explore the cost of spirituality that excludes the body — and the feminine path of returning “down and in.”

Many non-dual or transcendence-based traditions emphasize:

• Rising above the body
• Detaching from emotion
• Escaping identification

These practices can be meaningful.

But what they don't always teach is how to go down and in. And for women especially, that absence matters. Because when spirituality prioritizes ascent without descent, the body becomes secondary — sometimes even suspect.

This isn’t anti-spiritual. It’s a restoration of the feminine current within spirituality, and seeing the body is not an obstacle to awakening, but as the doorway.

Connect with Cynthia:

Follow Her on YouTube

Order Her Book - Embodying the Goddess

Visit Her Website

Follow Her on Substack

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for more support or resources?

Check out these links:

• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: Begin your healing journey today.

• Website: Learn more about our services and mission.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingherstorypodcast/

• Book a Free Consultation: Connect with me for personalized support.

• Insight Timer: Join me for free meditations to help you find inner calm.

• Full Video Version: Watch the music video for "Reclamation" featured in the intro and outro podcast.

Subscribe and Stay Connected:
Make sure to subscribe to Healing Her Story so you never miss an episode! Let’s heal, grow, and rise together.


You're also welcome to reach out via email at riva@windsofchangesac.com or send us a DM on Instagram at @healingherstorypodcast

This week’s Cycle Sync episode explores one of the most overlooked yet powerful phases of the lunar cycle: the Dark Moon.

Just before the New Moon arrives, the moon disappears from the night sky for several nights. No light is reflected back to us. From the outside, it looks like there is no moon at all.

But this quiet phase carries profound wisdom.

The Dark Moon invites us to pause, reflect, and reconnect with ourselves before the next cycle begins. In a culture that constantly pushes productivity, movement, and achievement, this phase reminds us that rest and stillness are not weaknesses — they are essential for nervous system regulation and sustainable living.

In this episode, Riva explores the deeper meaning of the Dark Moon and shares a simple framework for working with this phase using the acronym P.A.U.S.E.

This practice can help you move into the upcoming New Moon and Spring Equinox with greater clarity, alignment, and ease.

Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You, This Week🤲🏼🌹

Sit and Be With It — A 15-Minute Daily Somatic Practice

This simple practice invites you to pause, breathe, and reconnect with your body in a gentle and trauma-informed way. **For Insight Timer Premium Users Only**

Listen here:
https://insig.ht/rjUzwn5MJXb

Send a text

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for more support or resources?

Check out these links:

• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: Begin your healing journey today.

• Website: Learn more about our services and mission.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingherstorypodcast/

• Book a Free Consultation: Connect with me for personalized support.

• Insight Timer: Join me for free meditations to help you find inner calm.

• Full Video Version: Watch the music video for "Reclamation" featured in the intro and outro podcast.

Subscribe and Stay Connected:
Make sure to subscribe to Healing Her Story so you never miss an episode! Let’s heal, grow, and rise together.


You're also welcome to reach out via email at riva@windsofchangesac.com or send us a DM on Instagram at @healingherstorypodcast

What if the doorway to your next creative vision isn’t effort…

…but deep rest?

In this replay conversation, I sit down with Jill — known as “The Stress Whisperer” — to explore the subtle, powerful practice of Yoga Nidra and the brain states that allow insight, healing, and creativity to emerge naturally.

Most of us spend our days in beta brainwave activity — focused, thinking, planning.

Useful? Absolutely.

But creative breakthroughs, metaphysical insight, and deep nervous system repair don’t arise from mental effort alone.

They emerge in slower brainwave states — particularly alpha and theta — where the mind softens and the body leads.

If you feel creatively blocked…
If your intuition feels distant…
If you’re craving a more embodied spiritual experience…

You may not need more information.

You may need access to a different state of consciousness.

Yoga Nidra reminds us that vision doesn’t come from pushing harder.

It comes from entering the quiet space where life is already moving

Visit Jill's Website

Connect with Jill on Instagram

Practice Yoga Nidra with Jill on Insight Timer

Send a text

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for more support or resources?

Check out these links:

• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: Begin your healing journey today.

• Website: Learn more about our services and mission.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingherstorypodcast/

• Book a Free Consultation: Connect with me for personalized support.

• Insight Timer: Join me for free meditations to help you find inner calm.

• Full Video Version: Watch the music video for "Reclamation" featured in the intro and outro podcast.

Subscribe and Stay Connected:
Make sure to subscribe to Healing Her Story so you never miss an episode! Let’s heal, grow, and rise together.


You're also welcome to reach out via email at riva@windsofchangesac.com or send us a DM on Instagram at @healingherstorypodcast

Have you been feeling more tired, emotional, or reflective lately?

You’re not alone.

This week we’re moving through the waning moon, the phase of the lunar cycle associated with release, reflection, and refinement. But this isn’t just any waning moon. We’ve just moved through the second eclipse of this eclipse season, and eclipses often accelerate change — bringing hidden patterns or relationship dynamics into the light.

On top of that, we’re also navigating Mercury retrograde, a time traditionally associated with delays, miscommunications, and an overall slowing down of life’s pace.

From a cyclical perspective, the waning moon mirrors autumn in the seasonal cycle and the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Research shows that during the luteal phase, rising progesterone can increase emotional sensitivity and introspection — supporting a natural process of reflection and evaluation before the next cycle begins.

In other words, if you’re feeling the pull to slow down, create space, or let things go, your body may simply be following its natural rhythm.

In this episode, we explore how the waning moon invites us to refine what truly matters, release what no longer resonates, and consciously create space before the next cycle begins.

Because as we move toward the Spring Equinox and the next New Moon, energy will begin rising again — and life will naturally start filling up.

The question is:

What do you actually want to make space for?

And what might be ready to be released?

Trauma-Informed Donation-Based Meditation to Support You This Week

🤲🏼🌹

Somatic Breathing to Hear Your Body's Wisdom

Send a text

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for more support or resources?

Check out these links:

• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: Begin your healing journey today.

• Website: Learn more about our services and mission.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingherstorypodcast/

• Book a Free Consultation: Connect with me for personalized support.

• Insight Timer: Join me for free meditations to help you find inner calm.

• Full Video Version: Watch the music video for "Reclamation" featured in the intro and outro podcast.

Subscribe and Stay Connected:
Make sure to subscribe to Healing Her Story so you never miss an episode! Let’s heal, grow, and rise together.


You're also welcome to reach out via email at riva@windsofchangesac.com or send us a DM on Instagram at @healingherstorypodcast

This week, we attune to a Full Moon eclipse — a time often associated with culmination, acceleration, and unexpected change.

If life feels intense right now, you’re not imagining it.

Eclipses can bring endings, shifts, and emotional material to the surface. And during heightened seasons like this, the nervous system needs something specific:

Care.

In this episode, Riva explores the Full Moon through the lens of the Mother archetype and the reparenting journey — especially for those who didn’t receive consistent emotional support growing up.

You’ll learn:

• How self-compassion impacts cortisol and nervous system regulation
• The magic of offfering ourselves warmth and creating internal safety
• The difference between self-mothering and martyrdom
• How to meet grief, anger, and overwhelm with presence

Research shows that self-compassion practices increase emotional resilience and heart rate variability while reducing stress reactivity.

If eclipse season has stirred grief, exhaustion, or pressure, this episode offers a grounded reminder:

You don’t need to harden to survive intensity.
You can learn to hold yourself through it.

Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You This Week 🤲🏼🌹

Somatic Meditation & Welcome Practice

Send a text

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for more support or resources?

Check out these links:

• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: Begin your healing journey today.

• Website: Learn more about our services and mission.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingherstorypodcast/

• Book a Free Consultation: Connect with me for personalized support.

• Insight Timer: Join me for free meditations to help you find inner calm.

• Full Video Version: Watch the music video for "Reclamation" featured in the intro and outro podcast.

Subscribe and Stay Connected:
Make sure to subscribe to Healing Her Story so you never miss an episode! Let’s heal, grow, and rise together.


You're also welcome to reach out via email at riva@windsofchangesac.com or send us a DM on Instagram at @healingherstorypodcast

In this conversation, Riva and Mari explore how poetry and journaling can help you process emotions, integrate difficult experiences, and reconnect with parts of yourself that may have gone quiet.

Mari shares her healing journey, and how writing became a structured way to access feelings she couldn’t speak out loud - and what happened when she lost that ability.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why writing can feel safer than verbal processing
• How poetry bypasses overthinking and connects you to the body
• How putting language to emotion helps the brain organize overwhelming experiences
• Simple ways to begin using writing as a healing practice

Studies on expressive writing show improvements in emotional regulation, immune function, and stress resilience. When we give our experiences language, we create containment — and containment creates safety.

If you’ve ever struggled to name what you’re feeling, this episode offers a practical and gentle starting point.

Connect with Mari

Send a text

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for more support or resources?

Check out these links:

• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: Begin your healing journey today.

• Website: Learn more about our services and mission.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingherstorypodcast/

• Book a Free Consultation: Connect with me for personalized support.

• Insight Timer: Join me for free meditations to help you find inner calm.

• Full Video Version: Watch the music video for "Reclamation" featured in the intro and outro podcast.

Subscribe and Stay Connected:
Make sure to subscribe to Healing Her Story so you never miss an episode! Let’s heal, grow, and rise together.


You're also welcome to reach out via email at riva@windsofchangesac.com or send us a DM on Instagram at @healingherstorypodcast

This week, we attune to the Waxing Moon — a phase of expansion, momentum, and visible growth.

If life has been speeding up…
If more opportunities are arriving…
If things you’ve been calling in are finally showing up…

And you feel both excited and overwhelmed…

You’re not doing it wrong.

In this episode, Riva explores the hidden truth about growth: expansion without support can create overwhelm.

Drawing from polyvagal theory, attachment research, neuroscience, and nature, she explains:

• Why overwhelm often isn’t a sign of incapability — but insufficient infrastructure
• How hyper-independence forms as a trauma response
• What the brain teaches us about sustainable growth
• Why co-regulation and perceived support directly impact cortisol and stress resilience

This episode is especially for the high-functioning woman who can handle everything… but doesn’t want to keep carrying it alone.

Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You This Week 🤲🏼🌹

Sensing The Support - 5-Minute Daily Somatic Practice

Sensing The Support - 15 Minute Daily Somatic Practice

Send a text

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for more support or resources?

Check out these links:

• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: Begin your healing journey today.

• Website: Learn more about our services and mission.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingherstorypodcast/

• Book a Free Consultation: Connect with me for personalized support.

• Insight Timer: Join me for free meditations to help you find inner calm.

• Full Video Version: Watch the music video for "Reclamation" featured in the intro and outro podcast.

Subscribe and Stay Connected:
Make sure to subscribe to Healing Her Story so you never miss an episode! Let’s heal, grow, and rise together.


You're also welcome to reach out via email at riva@windsofchangesac.com or send us a DM on Instagram at @healingherstorypodcast

If you’ve ever started a creative project with excitement…

only to abandon it weeks later…

If you’ve felt inspired one month and completely dry the next…

If you’ve wondered whether you’re inconsistent, unfocused, or just “not disciplined enough”…

This episode will reframe everything.

In today’s conversation, Riva shares a feminine, cyclical approach to creativity — one rooted in nervous system wisdom, menstrual cycle awareness, and the natural rhythms of nature.

Because creativity was never meant to be linear.

And when we try to force ourselves to create the same way every day, burnout isn’t a character flaw — it’s a rhythm problem.

In this episode, you’ll learn the 4 Phases of the Creative Cycle and how to work with them instead of against them:

Riva also shares her personal journey of rediscovering her artistic voice and learning how slowing down actually helped her create more.

Whether you consider yourself an artist, hobbyist, entrepreneur, or simply someone longing to reconnect with your creative energy, this framework offers a grounded, practical roadmap.

🤲🏼🌹 Resources

The Cycle Support Map

If this episode resonated and you want deeper support aligning your creativity, healing, and nervous system with your menstrual cycle…

The Cycle Support Map is a practical guide to understanding your inner seasons and working with them intentionally.

Inside you’ll learn:

• What each phase of your cycle supports
• When to rest, initiate, share, or complete
• How to reduce burnout and increase sustainable flow
• How to sync creativity, healing work, and self-care with your body

You can access the Cycle Support Map here

Send a text

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for more support or resources?

Check out these links:

• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: Begin your healing journey today.

• Website: Learn more about our services and mission.

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingherstorypodcast/

• Book a Free Consultation: Connect with me for personalized support.

• Insight Timer: Join me for free meditations to help you find inner calm.

• Full Video Version: Watch the music video for "Reclamation" featured in the intro and outro podcast.

Subscribe and Stay Connected:
Make sure to subscribe to Healing Her Story so you never miss an episode! Let’s heal, grow, and rise together.


You're also welcome to reach out via email at riva@windsofchangesac.com or send us a DM on Instagram at @healingherstorypodcast