By the end of January, many people begin questioning themselves — why motivation feels harder, why consistency slips, or why the changes they were excited about already feel fragile.

In this episode of The NeuroHeir Podcast, Leanna Hunt offers a compassionate reframe: what if nothing has gone wrong, and what you’re noticing is simply how your nervous system actually works?

If you’re trying to stay with the changes you’re making while honoring your limits, your relationships, and your body’s cues, this episode offers a grounded, sustainable path forward.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why willpower fails under pressure and what your nervous system actually needs first
• How baseline frequency and acclimation shape sustainable change
• The difference between growth and self-abandonment (and how to tell when you’re crossing that line)
• Four NeuroHeir orienting points for staying with change without burning bridges
• How to integrate growth at a pace that supports safety, connection, and follow-through

💬 Have a Question You’d Like Answered on the Podcast?

If you have a question around the nervous system, healing relationships, or generational patterns, you’re invited to submit it anonymously using the link below.

There’s also an optional box you can check if you’d like to be considered for a short audio coaching conversation on a future episode.

👉 Submit your question

Connect with me:
Instagram → @aligningwithleanna

Website → leannahunt.com

Disclaimer:
Although I am a licensed Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor, The NeuroHeir℠ Podcast is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. The tools and practices I share are for educational and coaching purposes only. Every nervous system is unique, and what we discuss on this podcast should not replace your own individual therapeutic work or professional support.

The focus of this podcast is my coaching work, which centers on education, nervous system practices, and generational healing tools designed to support—not replace—your personal journey with a qualified provider.

If you are struggling with your mental health or experiencing overwhelming emotions, please seek support from a licensed professional in your area. You don’t have to do this work alone.

What if sustainable change has nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with safety?

In this episode of The NeuroHeir Podcast, Leanna explores why so many cycles of burnout, over-functioning, and “starting over” aren’t personal failures, but nervous system patterns rooted in familiarity and survival.

You’ll learn:

• Why your nervous system resists change even positive change
• How “visiting” a new way of being is part of acclimation, not failure
• The difference between forcing growth and stabilizing a new frequency
• Why expansion can feel lonely before it feels freeing
• How healing one nervous system sends an invitation (not a demand) to others

​​References

Arnsten, A. F. T. (2009). Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(6), 410–422.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2648

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W. H. Freeman.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780716728504/self-efficacy

Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. Jason Aronson.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1978-24329-000

Lieberman, M. D., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2011). Self-affirmation reduces neural responses to threat. Psychological Science, 22(1), 94–101.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610390389

McEwen, B. S. (1998). Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. New England Journal of Medicine, 338(3), 171–179.
https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199801153380307

McEwen, B. S., & Stellar, E. (1993). Stress and the individual: Mechanisms leading to disease. Archives of Internal Medicine, 153(18), 2093–2101.
https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.1993.00410180039004

Porges, S. W. (2009). The polyvagal theory: New insights into adaptive reactions of the autonomic nervous system. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, 76(Suppl 2), S86–S90.
https://doi.org/10.3949/ccjm.76.s2.17

Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.
https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393707007

Connect with me:
Instagram → @aligningwithleanna

Website → leannahunt.com

Disclaimer:
Although I am a licensed Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor, The NeuroHeir℠ Podcast is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. The tools and practices I share are for educational and coaching purposes only. Every nervous system is unique, and what we discuss on this podcast should not replace your own individual therapeutic work or professional support.

The focus of this podcast is my coaching work, which centers on education, nervous system practices, and generational healing tools designed to support—not replace—your personal journey with a qualified provider.

If you are struggling with your mental health or experiencing overwhelming emotions, please seek support from a licensed professional in your area. You don’t have to do this work alone.

What if the patterns you’re trying to heal didn’t start with you and weren’t meant to end in survival, but in choice?

In this powerful conversation, Leanna sits down with Dr. Karen Curry Parker, founder of Quantum Human Design, to explore how human design, the nervous system, and generational trauma intersect and how awareness can become a pathway to freedom rather than another label to carry.

Together, they unpack why so many cycle breakers feel disconnected from their bodies, trapped in people-pleasing or appeasement patterns, and stuck in survival mode without understanding why. Dr. Parker offers a compassionate, grounded explanation of how micro-traumas, silence, and unspoken family dynamics live in the nervous system and how human design can help us reconnect with our bodies as a compass for decision-making.

In this episode, you’ll explore:

• What human design really is and why it’s not meant to be a label
• How trauma and misalignment show up in the nervous system
• The connection between people-pleasing, appeasement, and emotional empathy
• Why silence in families isn’t neutral and how it impacts the body
• How to break generational cycles without losing compassion or self-trust
• The difference between survival and true self-connection
• What it means to live as a quantum human rooted in choice, not reaction

You may not have chosen what you inherited but you can choose what comes next.

🎧 Listen in if you’re ready to reclaim your body, your voice, and your place in the lineage.

Connect with me:
Instagram → @aligningwithleanna

Website → leannahunt.com

Disclaimer:
Although I am a licensed Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor, The NeuroHeir℠ Podcast is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. The tools and practices I share are for educational and coaching purposes only. Every nervous system is unique, and what we discuss on this podcast should not replace your own individual therapeutic work or professional support.

The focus of this podcast is my coaching work, which centers on education, nervous system practices, and generational healing tools designed to support—not replace—your personal journey with a qualified provider.

If you are struggling with your mental health or experiencing overwhelming emotions, please seek support from a licensed professional in your area. You don’t have to do this work alone.

We’re only one week into the new year, and for so many of us, the excitement of a fresh start is already tangled with overwhelm, fading motivation, and that old familiar shame spiral: “Why can’t I keep this up?”

In this episode, Leanna unpacks the truth behind why willpower always seems to crumble long before our goals do and why it has nothing to do with discipline, character, or commitment.

Instead, you’ll learn how your nervous system, your beliefs, and the pressure you inherited from previous generations shape your capacity more than any planner or resolution ever could. Through compassionate storytelling, research-backed insight, and her signature Four N’s Framework (Notice, Name, Nurture, Navigate), Leanna guides you toward a gentler, more sustainable way to begin again this year—one rooted in regulation, not pressure.

If you’re ready to set goals your body can actually hold, this episode will feel like an exhale you didn’t know you needed.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why motivation drops sharply after the first few days of January
• How stress literally shuts down the part of your brain responsible for willpower
• The beliefs that quietly sabotage your goals and how to rewrite them
• Why small goals are not “easy”… they’re regulating
• How to use the Four N’s to shift from shame into safety
• A new way to create goals your nervous system can sustainably support
• How generational patterns around pressure, survival, and worthiness influence your capacity today
  
  

If you’re craving a more compassionate, nervous-system-informed way to grow this year, this episode will help you release the pressure and rebuild from a grounded, empowered place.

You are not behind. You’re beginning.

Connect with me:
Instagram → @aligningwithleanna

Website → leannahunt.com

Disclaimer:
Although I am a licensed Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor, The NeuroHeir℠ Podcast is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. The tools and practices I share are for educational and coaching purposes only. Every nervous system is unique, and what we discuss on this podcast should not replace your own individual therapeutic work or professional support.

The focus of this podcast is my coaching work, which centers on education, nervous system practices, and generational healing tools designed to support—not replace—your personal journey with a qualified provider.

If you are struggling with your mental health or experiencing overwhelming emotions, please seek support from a licensed professional in your area. You don’t have to do this work alone.

As we stand at the threshold of a brand new year, this final episode of 2025 invites you into something deeper than resolutions or reinvention — a gentle homecoming to yourself. Throughout Season One of the NeuroHeir Podcast, we've explored silence, safety, family systems, nervous system healing, and how to consciously interrupt generational patterns. Today, we close the year with integration, softness, and a remembered sense of who you are becoming.

Inside this episode, I guide you through Meeting the Warrior and the Higher Self — a grounding New Year’s meditation designed to help you lay down what’s been heavy, honor what’s protected you, and reconnect with the version of you who leads with wisdom, intuition, and alignment. This is a practice you can return to anytime your nervous system needs spaciousness or a reminder of your wholeness.

In This Episode, You’ll Experience:

• A guided somatic meditation to release the pressure of “becoming”
• An embodied meeting with your Warrior Self — the part of you that has carried so much for so long
• A connection with your Higher Self — the calm, aligned, deeply-rooted version of you
• A visualization for closing one season and stepping consciously into the next
• Space to name what you’re ready to let go of and what you’re ready to welcome
• A reminder that legacy repair happens in small, regulated moments of choice
  
  

As we move into 2026 together, remember: you don’t have to become someone new. You’re simply returning home to yourself — breath by breath, moment by moment.

If you’re craving deeper guidance, somatic support, and a community of fellow cycle-breakers, the NeuroHeir Membership opens February 2026. Inside, we practice these tools together.

Connect with me:
Instagram → @aligningwithleanna

Website → leannahunt.com

Disclaimer:
Although I am a licensed Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor, The NeuroHeir℠ Podcast is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. The tools and practices I share are for educational and coaching purposes only. Every nervous system is unique, and what we discuss on this podcast should not replace your own individual therapeutic work or professional support.

The focus of this podcast is my coaching work, which centers on education, nervous system practices, and generational healing tools designed to support—not replace—your personal journey with a qualified provider.

If you are struggling with your mental health or experiencing overwhelming emotions, please seek support from a licensed professional in your area. You don’t have to do this work alone.

The holidays are here and while the season is filled with light and celebration, many of us also feel the familiar weight of exhaustion, pressure, and the quiet belief that rest has to be earned.

In this grounding and emotional episode, Leanna shares her own story of pushing past her limits for years, mistaking her body’s signals as weakness instead of the deep wisdom they were. She opens up about chronic fatigue, burnout, and the nervous system patterns that made slowing down feel impossible.

You’ll learn why rest can feel unsafe when your body has been living in survival mode, how stress chemistry reshapes your energy and emotions, and what the research says about the biology of repair. Leanna also guides you through a gentle, real-time Four-N Reflection—Notice, Name, Nurture, Navigate—to help your body soften, settle, and find safety again before the year comes to a close.

In this episode, you’ll explore:

• Why burnout around the holidays is so common (and not a personal failure)
• The physiology of “wired but tired,” inflammation, and chronic exhaustion
• How your nervous system sends early warnings before a full crash
• Why rest can feel unsafe and the science behind that response
• A step-by-step guided Four-N practice to help regulate in real time
• How your individual repair becomes legacy repair for future generations
  
  

If you’re moving into the holidays feeling overwhelmed, overstretched, or simply tired to your bones—this episode will help your body exhale.

Take a breath. You don’t have to earn your pause. Your repair begins here.

Research Integrity Disclaimer

This podcast draws upon evidence-based frameworks in neuroscience, attachment theory, and trauma-informed practice.
Leanna’s reflections and the 4Ns Framework are original interpretations informed by this body of research and her clinical and coaching experience.
While every effort is made to represent research accurately, the ideas shared reflect Leanna’s professional understanding and may include her own evolving interpretations.
All information is intended for educational and reflective purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or medical treatment.

Connect with me:
Instagram → @aligningwithleanna

Website → leannahunt.com

Disclaimer:
Although I am a licensed Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor, The NeuroHeir℠ Podcast is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. The tools and practices I share are for educational and coaching purposes only. Every nervous system is unique, and what we discuss on this podcast should not replace your own individual therapeutic work or professional support.

The focus of this podcast is my coaching work, which centers on education, nervous system practices, and generational healing tools designed to support—not replace—your personal journey with a qualified provider.

If you are struggling with your mental health or experiencing overwhelming emotions, please seek support from a licensed professional in your area. You don’t have to do this work alone.

This week, Leanna turns toward the next generation, the young adults navigating identity, independence, and inherited patterns of pressure. Through the lens of nervous-system science and generational healing, she explores how belonging is a body state, not a performance.

You’ll hear how family dynamics, cultural expectations, and even our biology (Yehuda et al., 2016) shape the way we seek connection, and how the 4Ns framework (Notice, Name, Nurture, Navigate) can help you shift from avoidance into authentic repair.

Whether you’re a parent learning to reconnect or a young adult setting new boundaries, this conversation will help you discover how healing can become a bridge instead of a wall.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear:

• Why so many young adults are turning toward “no contact” and what might be happening in their nervous systems
• How therapy culture sometimes emphasizes boundaries without regulation
• What Brainspotting and Polyvagal Theory teach us about attunement and co-regulation (Corrigan & Grand, 2013; Porges, 2011)
• The difference between avoidance and healing, told through a hypothetical vignette
• How inherited perfectionism and generational pressure shape belonging
• A guided 4Ns practice to reconnect with your body and younger self
• What it really means to Become a NeuroHeir™ meeting what you inherited with awareness and compassion

Referenced Research

• Yehuda, R., Daskalakis, N. P., Bierer, L. M., et al. (2016). Holocaust exposure induced intergenerational effects on FKBP5 methylation. Biological Psychiatry, 80(5), 372–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.005
• Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and Society. W. W. Norton.
• Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory. W. W. Norton.
• Corrigan, F. M., & Grand, D. (2013). Brainspotting: An overview, review, and commentary. International Journal of Psychotherapy, 17(3), 8–17.
• Schwartz, R. (2021). No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model. Sounds True.

Research Integrity Disclaimer
This podcast draws upon evidence-based frameworks in neuroscience, attachment theory, and trauma-informed practice. Leanna’s reflections and the 4Ns Framework are original interpretations informed by this body of research and her clinical and coaching experience. While every effort is made to represent research accurately, the ideas shared reflect Leanna’s professional understanding and may include her own evolving interpretations. All information is intended for educational and reflective purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or medical treatment.

Connect with me:
Instagram → @aligningwithleanna

Website → leannahunt.com

Disclaimer:
Although I am a licensed Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor, The NeuroHeir℠ Podcast is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. The tools and practices I share are for educational and coaching purposes only. Every nervous system is unique, and what we discuss on this podcast should not replace your own individual therapeutic work or professional support.

The focus of this podcast is my coaching work, which centers on education, nervous system practices, and generational healing tools designed to support—not replace—your personal journey with a qualified provider.

If you are struggling with your mental health or experiencing overwhelming emotions, please seek support from a licensed professional in your area. You don’t have to do this work alone.

Parenting isn’t just about what we say. It's about what our nervous system communicates. In this episode, Leanna shares how co-regulation, attunement, and the 4Ns can transform daily stress into connection.

You’ll hear:
✨ Why children sense our stress even when we say “I’m fine.”
✨ How age-appropriate honesty builds safety.
✨ Why “Because I said so” can disconnect and what to say instead.
✨ How the parts of us that never got repair often show up to parent.
✨ Simple ways to use the 4Ns during the holidays to stay grounded and connected.

Referenced Research

• Feldman, R. (2017). The neurobiology of human attachments. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(2), 80–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.11.007
  
  
• Lieberman, M. D., et al. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01916.x
• Main, M., & Goldwyn, R. (1998). Adult attachment scoring and classification system. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley.
  
  
• Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory. New York, NY: Norton.
  
  
• Schore, A. N. (2001). Effects of a secure attachment relationship on right brain development. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22(1-2), 7–66.
  
  
• Schwartz, R. C. (1995). Internal family systems therapy. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  
  
• Schwartz, R. C., & Sweezy, M. (2021). Internal family systems therapy (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  
  
• Siegel, D. J. (1999). The developing mind. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  
  
• Siegel, D. J. (2012). The whole-brain child. New York, NY: Random House.
  
  
• Tronick, E. (2007). The neurobehavioral and social-emotional development of infants and children. New York, NY: Norton.
  
  
• Tronick, E., & Beeghly, M. (2011). Infants’ meaning-making and mental health. American Psychologist, 66(2), 107–119. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021631
  
  

Research Integrity Disclaimer
This episode draws upon evidence-based frameworks in neuroscience, attachment theory, and trauma-informed practice. Concepts such as neuroception (Porges, 2011), biobehavioral synchrony (Feldman, 2017), rupture and repair (Tronick, 2007), affect labeling (Lieberman et al., 2007), and integration (Siegel, 1999, 2012) are described here in alignment with the published research that informs them.

All information shared is intended for educational and reflective purposes only and should not be taken as a substitute for therapy, diagnosis, or medical treatment.

Connect with me:
Instagram → @aligningwithleanna

Website → leannahunt.com

Disclaimer:
Although I am a licensed Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor, The NeuroHeir℠ Podcast is not a substitute for therapy, counseling, or medical treatment. The tools and practices I share are for educational and coaching purposes only. Every nervous system is unique, and what we discuss on this podcast should not replace your own individual therapeutic work or professional support.

The focus of this podcast is my coaching work, which centers on education, nervous system practices, and generational healing tools designed to support—not replace—your personal journey with a qualified provider.

If you are struggling with your mental health or experiencing overwhelming emotions, please seek support from a licensed professional in your area. You don’t have to do this work alone.