Confessions of a Freebird - Midlife, Divorce, Heal, and Date Differently with Somatic Experiencing, Empty Nest, Well-Being, H

Laurie James - Podcaster, Author, Somatic Practitioner and Coach
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Are you somewhere in the middle of your life wondering — is this all there is? Maybe you've spent decades putting everyone else first. Maybe you're navigating divorce, empty nesting, loss, or the quiet ache of a life that no longer fits. Maybe you're ready for something more — you are stuck and don't know how to get there yet. This is "the" podcast for "that". Confessions of a Freebird is a space for people in midlife who are done surviving and ready to live again. Three times a month, host Laurie James — author of Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go, certified somatic practitioner, coach, mother of four, divorcée, and recovering caregiver — brings you honest conversations and embodied tools for the journey back to yourself. Expect raw personal reflections, expert conversations, and somatic coaching strategies covering everything from divorce strategies, grief, trauma healing, and anger to sex, dating again, finances, caregiving, and reinvention. Because the people who need this podcast aren't looking for toxic positivity — they're looking for someone who gets it. Every episode is an invitation to stop managing and start feeling. To stop performing fine and start living freely. To come home to yourself through attuning to the body — and design a life that fits who you actually are now, not who you were twenty years ago or who someone else told you to be. Whether you're in the thick of the sandwich generation, starting over after loss or divorce, or quietly dreaming of your next chapter — you're in the right place. Confessions of a Freebird. Your midlife permission slip to evolve, heal, and fall in love with your life all over again. Because the most important relationship you'll ever have is the one you have with yourself. XO, Laurie  Connect with me: www.laurieejames.com  My Free "Beginner's Guide to Somatic Healing" https://laurieejames.myflodesk.com/bgtsh Purchase my book, Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go, https://www.laurieejames.com/book  IG: https://www.instagram.com/laurie.james/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurie.james.79219754

  1. 3d ago

    How Chronic Stress Can Take a Toll And What You Can Do Today

    A year and a half after my divorce was finalized, I ended up in the hospital, and none of the tests could explain why. It took two hospital visits and a year of somatic healing to understand what had happened: my body had shut down from stress. The trauma stored in my body and nervous system was never going to show up on a medical chart. As a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, I'm sharing this story in full for the first time, including the unexpected turn my emotional healing after divorce took. In this episode, I share: Why chronic stress symptoms in women can build for decades before the body forces a stopWhat somatic therapy gave me that talk therapy couldn't, and the kind of healing only the body can doHow to become a human being, not a human doing, when your worth has always come from productivityWhy a regulated nervous system isn't about staying calm, and what itreal regulation looks like instead How to gradually expand your window of tolerance so your body can handle more activation and rest more deeplyThe first of three Somatic Experiencing exercises, and what it does that your thinking mind can'tWhat pendulation looks like in practice, and how long to stay with a hard sensation before moving onWhy healing alone takes longer, and what co-regulation offers your nervous system that solitudeself-healing can'tHow to find a compassionate witness when a practitioner isn't within reachThe root of my childhood roottrauma I finally found beneath my lifelong longing for a partner and how I care for herThree easy Somatic Experiencing exercises, and what it does that your thinking mind can'tYour body has been carrying everything you couldn't. This story is an invitation to let it start setting some of that down. Much love and freedom, Laurie Free Resources Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me. Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing” Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise Want to try somatic work for free? Download my somatic exercises on Insight Timer and start reconnecting with your body today. Connect with me: Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99 Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go Website Instagram Substack Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email *********************** DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

  2. Sep 24

    How to Befriend your Anger To Find New Ways to Work with It with Zach Brittle

    Why do you keep reacting the same way in conflict, even after all the work you've done? You've been to therapy. You've read the books. You know what a healthy relationship is supposed to look like. And still, when things get tense, you snap, shut down, or give in. If that's you, this conversation is for you. My guest is Zach Brittle, a certified Gottman therapist, Relational Life Therapist, host of Marriage Therapy Radio, and author of two relationship guides. We talk about the Gottman predictors of divorce, where Terry Real's Relational Life Therapy (RLT) picks up, and what sobriety and relationships taught Zach about anger in marriage.  In this episode, you'll learn: The question Zach asks himself when anger takes over, and how it shifts the story from the inside out (think parts work)Why getting sober didn't end his anger and resentment, and what recovery turned out to be aboutThe difference between emotional sobriety and white-knuckling it, and why the same test applies to your relationshipsThe Four Horsemen (criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling) and how to tell when they're working against youWhy contempt is the single biggest predictor of divorceHow defensiveness in relationships becomes useful once you check whether the threat is realThe Brussels sprouts lesson that turns criticism into a request your partner can actually hearWhat Zach advises when a defensive partner can't or won't show up as an adultWhy kids need healthy parents more than parents who stay together, and what staying in an unhappy marriage teaches themWhether you're working on your marriage or healing from one, this conversation will help you understand your reactions and choose new ones. Much love and freedom, Laurie Free Resources Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me. Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing” Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise Want to try somatic work for free? Download my somatic exercises on Insight Timer and start reconnecting with your body today. Connect with me: Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99 Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go Website Instagram Substack Connect with Zach: Website Substack Instagram Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email *********************** DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

  3. Sep 17

    How to Reclaim Self-Trust After a Midlife Career Change with Johanna Danaher

    Who are you once your career title no longer defines you? The team meetings. The decades of being known by peers, subordinates, and bosses who knew the old you. The social interaction and the productivity you're wired for. Like a lot of midlife women and men, you've built the career, raised the kids, and been the one everyone counts on — and now the role that organized your days is ending. You expected relief. What showed up instead was excitement, grief, and fear, all at once. All three are valid. But left unexamined, they can keep you stuck. The identity crisis that follows a midlife career change is what happens when the thing holding it together ends — and the fear underneath it rarely survives a close look. Today I'm joined by Johanna Danaher — mindset, life, and leadership coach, founder of Anchor to Aspire, and former senior director of career growth at Pfizer after more than two decades in HR. We take the excitement, the grief, and the fear one at a time, and get into nervous system regulation, asking for help, and how to stop people-pleasing once you can see where the habit started. In this episode, you'll learn: The three feelings that arrived at once when Johanna left Pfizer — and what each one asked of herWhy grief after a long career has no timeline and can't be scheduled awayHow she memorialized 25 years of work so she could finally set it downWhat she wrote about first, and the second question that made the exercise usefulThe specific fear underneath her midlife transition, and why failure had nothing to do with itHow the body reads uncertainty as danger — and what you can do to recognize it and move through itThe two-part practice for when fear shows up physicallyHow helper energy turns into people-pleasing, and the one shift that keeps it from becoming burnoutThe new perspective on "you can't pour from an empty cup" that stopped Johanna mid-sentenceThe one question you need to answer to redefine success on your own termsWhether you're a year into a midlife reinvention, or still inside the role and already wondering who you'll be without it — this conversation gives you a way to hold the grief, the fear, and the excitement all at once. Much love and freedom, Laurie Free Resources Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me. Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing” Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise Want to try somatic work for free? Download my somatic exercises on Insight Timer and start reconnecting with your body today. Connect with me: Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99 Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go Website Instagram Substack Connect with Johanna: Website LinkedIn Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email *********************** DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

  4. Sep 3

    Why Childhood Trauma and Attachment Wounds Decide Who You Choose - Part 3 of The Rise of Misogyny Series

    Have you been in a misogynistic relationship for years without ever naming it? You might have called it a difficult marriage, a controlling husband, a spiteful partner or "just a complicated dynamic." Maybe you're only now able to say the word misogyny out loud. If so, this episode is for you. What most people don't realize is that the recent rise in misogyny didn't start with an election or a headline. Researchers tracked the pattern building for nearly two years before it reached the mainstream — quietly moving into ordinary marriages long before anyone had a name for it. In this solo episode, I walk through the rise in misogyny, why your nervous system chooses the partners it chooses, and the specific steps that support healing afterward. You'll learn: Why the rise in misogyny didn't start with a headline — and how long researchers tracked the pattern before it went mainstreamHow childhood trauma and old attachment wounds teach your nervous system what to accept in a partner, long before you ever meet themHow early conditioning determines who you choose as a partnerWhat happens in your body during the fawn response — and why it develops as a survival strategyHow psychological abuse predicts PTSD more often than physical abuse, based on the researchWhy boundary setting can start with something as small as rescheduling a dinner when you're tiredHow body awareness practices — a hand on your chest, noticing your feet on the floor — help regulate the nervous system after it activatesWhat parts work, or Internal Family Systems, reveals about the specific roles different parts of you took on to keep you safeThe difference between your essential self and your social self, and how to find your way back to who you were meant to beHow self-trust rebuilds through small, repeated actions — like saying a true statement in a low-stakes conversationIf you're looking for more self-trust, want to find your essential self, or are working through trauma and divorce recovery, this conversation walks you through the rise in misogyny, why you chose the partner you chose, and what it takes to heal — starting with your own nervous system. Much love and freedom, Laurie Free Resources Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me. Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing” Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise Want to try somatic work for free? Download my somatic exercises on Insight Timer and start reconnecting with your body today. Connect with me: If you're local to the South Bay, join me at Harmony Yoga in Hermosa Beach for a four-week somatic and yoga course — Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. starting September 3rd. Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99 Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go Website Instagram Substack Revisit my past conversations with Kate: Listen to part one of my conversation with Kate on The Divorce Survival Guide podcast here. Episode 228 Is it Time to Leave: How do I know if Divorce is the right choice for me Feel Safe Again in Love: How Somatic Healing Supports Secure Relationships Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email *********************** DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

  5. Aug 27

    The Rise of Misogyny in Midlife and What You Need to Know with Kate Anthony

    Nearly half of all women in the U.S. have experienced psychological aggression from a partner — gaslighting, isolation, coercive control. Most never call it abuse. They call it a difficult marriage, a controlling husband, a complicated dynamic or a spiteful partner. If you've spent years second-guessing your own memory, wondering if it counts because he never hit you — this episode is for you. I'm joined by Kate Anthony — certified high conflict divorce coach, host of The Divorce Survival Guide podcast, and author of The D Word: Making the Ultimate Decision About Your Marriage. We talk about why emotional abuse leaves deeper, longer-lasting harm than physical abuse(PTSD), the psychological framework that separates a coercive controller from a narcissist, and the specific work each of us did to rebuild self-trust before dating again. You'll learn: Why women describe psychological abuse as "a difficult marriage" — and what changes when you name it as abuseThe signs of emotional abuse that leave no bruises, no police report, no evidence a family court will acceptWhy psychological abuse predicts PTSD in women more strongly than physical abuse doesHow gaslighting in relationships is designed to make you question your own sanityThe difference between protection and control — why a controlling husband is never just a "communication problem"The dark tetrad: the four personality traits every woman should know how to recognizeWhy family court professionals aren't required to complete domestic abuse training — and how that gap affects you and your kidsHow your own healing work helps you spot red flags early if you date againWhat it looks like when a partner deliberately, deceptively builds your sense of safetyHow to date after divorce without shutting every new connection out to stay safeWhether you're still inside a marriage trying to find the words for what's happening, or years out and learning to trust yourself again — this conversation gives you the language and the framework to see it clearly. Much love and freedom, Laurie Free Resources Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me. Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing” Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise Connect with me: Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99 Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go Website Instagram Substack Connect with Kate: Website Instagram Podcast Grab Kate's book, The D Word,  This episode is part two — listen to part one of my conversation with Kate on The Divorce Survival Guide podcast here. Want to go deeper on the dark tetrad? Here's an article that talks about what Kate references in this episode. Revisit my past conversations with Kate: Is it Time to Leave: How do I know if Divorce is the right choice for me Feel Safe Again in Love: How Somatic Healing Supports Secure Relationships Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email *********************** DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

  6. Aug 20

    How to Accept Yourself When Your Body Won't Do What It Used To with Harmony Slater

    Have you spent years — maybe decades — building a yoga practice or physical discipline, only to reach a point where your body simply won't cooperate the way it used to? If the one thing that once grounded you, defined you, and kept you regulated is starting to slip away — this episode is going to meet you exactly where you are. My guest is Harmony Slater — one of fewer than 20 people in the world to hold the highest level Ashtanga yoga certification, earned through 15 years of immersive training in India. A certified mastery coach and breathwork trainer, Harmony has spent over 25 years helping women navigate midlife transitions, identity shifts, and the particular grief that comes when the body you've relied on starts to change. In this conversation we go deep on why the intense physical practices so many women depend on eventually stop working — and what becomes possible when they do. We explore how the nervous system learns to stay regulated under stress, why body awareness matters more than any pose you can hold, and why the present moment is the only place real choice actually lives. This one is for the high achievers, the disciplined movers, the women who built their identity around what their bodies could do — and who are now being asked to find themselves somewhere new. In this episode, you'll learn: Why your yoga practice was always about more than flexibility — and how it was quietly training your nervous system to stay regulated under discomfortWhat happens to your sense of self when the body you've relied on for control and accomplishment stops responding the way it used toThe difference between living as a human being versus a human doing — and why high achievers struggle most with this shiftWhy your thoughts aren't where you'll find the truth — and why Harmony points you to the heart and body insteadHow midlife women return to nervous system regulation without an hour and a half on the matA hand-on-heart breathing exercise you can try while you listen — a gentle way to feel into your own body awareness right nowWhy the present moment is the only place you can make a real choice — and how tracking breath and sensation gets you thereHow a two-minute breathing practice can bring your nervous system back into regulation on even the hardest daysWhat coming home to yourself actually asks of you — and why it's simpler than you thinkWhether your yoga practice, running routine, or physical identity is falling away in midlife — this conversation gives you something more portable and more permanent than any pose: a way back to yourself through breath, body, and the quiet wisdom of the present moment. Much love and freedom, Laurie Free Resources Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me. Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing” Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise Want to try somatic work for free? Download my somatic exercises on Insight Timer and start reconnecting with your body today. Connect with me: If you're local to the South Bay, join me at Harmony Yoga in Hermosa Beach for a four-week somatic and yoga course — Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. starting September 3rd. Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99 Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go Website Instagram Substack Connect with Harmony: Website Instagram Want a simple way to settle your nervous system between meetings, in the car, or before bed? Download Harmony's FREE Breathwork Practice For Stress-Reduction and use it anywhere you need to find calm. Harmony mentioned the research coming out of the HeartMath Institute on heart consciousness. If you want to look into it yourself, you can find them here. Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email *********************** DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

  7. Aug 13

    Life After Divorce: How to Make Room for Grief And Joy While You Rebuild Your Identity with S.C. Perot

    What if joy wasn't something you had to wait for  — but something you could actually adopt into your life? If you're rebuilding after divorce or navigating a recent loss and are quietly wondering whether you're allowed to feel good again while you're still grieving — this episode is for you. Most of us treat grief and joy as opposites, as if one has to end before the other can begin. My guest today gently dismantles that idea. Her argument is the reverse: your capacity for joy grows in direct proportion to the pain you've allowed yourself to experience. So the question isn't how to get past the grief — it's how to hold both at the same time. My guest is SC Perot. A Stanford Law graduate, Vanderbilt adjunct faculty member, and author of Styles of Joy. After the pandemic, a divorce, and a career shift that dismantled the life she'd planned, SC took a grief sabbatical that led her to 17 Harry Styles concerts across five countries in ten months — and to an entirely new understanding of what joy can look like after loss.  In this conversation we explore the identity loss that quietly lives inside divorce grief, why escapism only works when it runs alongside doing the inner work, and the Japanese concept of borrowed views — a practice for turning jealousy into genuine delight in other people's good news. SC also shares her four-part CAPS framework for making joy a skill you build through repetition, and lays out what life after divorce can look like when you stop settling for just okay. In this episode, you'll learn: Why SC says the opposite of joyful is jealousy — and how you can catch envy before it takes holdWhat a grief break is, and how to tell it apart from bypassing your painHow happy music became part of SC’s healing journey — and what it means to build a new soundtrack for a new lifeWhy sitting fully inside divorce grief expands your capacity for joyHow the doctrine of borrowed views lets you adopt other people's joy as your ownHow an abundance mindset replaces the scarcity story that someone else's good news means less for youThe 4-part CAPS framework — cultivate, adopt, protect, and spread — and which part trips people up mostHow SC's body told her it was time for a career pivot before her mind caught upWhy collective joy counteracts lonely grief — and where to find it without a concert ticketHow the three circles of connection — intimate, relational, and communal — protect you from loneliness after divorce or anytime.Whether you're deep in divorce recovery or simply carrying more than you expected this season — this conversation offers something rare: a concrete, compassionate path back to more joyful living and feeling like yourself again. Much love and freedom, Laurie Free Resources Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me. Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing” Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise Connect with me: Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99 Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go Website Instagram Substack Want to try somatic work for free? Download my somatic exercises on Insight Timer and start reconnecting with your body today. If you're local to the South Bay, join me at Harmony Yoga in Hermosa Beach for a four-week somatic and yoga course — Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. starting September 3rd. Connect with SC: Website Substack Instagram Grab your copy of Styles of Joy wherever books are sold — or listen to the audiobook, narrated by SC herself, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email *********************** DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

  8. Jul 30

    Rebuilding Trust After Betrayal: 3 Signs Your Partner Is in Real Recovery with Tyler and Brannon Patrick, The Therapy Brothers

    What do you do with a relationship after a shocking truth comes out?  If you're the betrayed partner making the therapy appointments, reading the books alone, and wondering whether the person across from you is actually changing — this episode is for you. What most people don't realize is that the day you found out wasn't the beginning of the problem. The patterns of behavior that led to betrayal started long before that moment. And the real question isn't just why did this happen and how do I fix it — it's how do you both heal from betrayal trauma, and how do you know whether your relationship can survive it? My guests are Brannon Patrick, LCSW, and Tyler Patrick, LMFT — brothers, licensed therapists, and hosts of the Therapy Brothers podcast. Between them they bring more than 40 years of experience in addiction and trauma work, and across more than 500 call-in episodes they've sat with real people in real time navigating betrayal, shame, and the long road back. In this episode we go deep on what your body needs in the immediate aftermath of discovery, why sobriety and real recovery are not the same thing, and the three specific signs Brannon and Tyler look for when assessing whether a relationship can genuinely be repaired. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the patterns behind betrayal started long before discovery — and what that changes about the repair processWhat to do when your whole system goes into shock and you can't think straightHow grounding, breathwork, and somatic healing help refill an emotional tank running on emptyWhy no major decision is worth making when you're at an eight out of ten — and what to do instead while you return to a fiveWhy the hurt partner often ends up overfunctioning — and how it quietly affects the relationship dynamicWhat shame resilience actually sounds like in a conversation, and why it's the skill that makes real honesty possibleHow to tell the difference between a partner doing the work for themselves versus performing it for youWhy rigorous honesty isn't the same as confessing every detail — and how anxiety can disguise itself as transparencyThe 3 signs Brannon and Tyler watch for when someone is genuinely in recoveryHow to be vulnerable in small ways when rebuilding trust after infidelity or betrayal still terrifies youWhether you're standing at the crossroads of betrayal or deep in the process of infidelity recovery, this conversation will give you a clearer lens — and a little more ground under your feet. Cheers to more love and freedom, Laurie Click here to learn more about my Somatic/Yoga course with Harmony Yoga Click here to purchase my “Nervous System Regulation Starter Kit” it’s $29.99 Click here to purchase my book: Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go Free Resources Click here to schedule a FREE inquiry call with me. Click here for my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Somatic Healing” Click here for my FREE Core Values Exercise Connect with me: Website Instagram Connect with Brannon & Tyler: Website Instagram YouTube Listen to Brannon and Tyler's weekly call-in show: The Therapy Brothers Podcast  Please leave me feedback. I cannot respond so if you'd like me to respond, please leave your email *********************** DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL, MEDICAL OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED THERAPIST IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL WITH RESPECT TO ANY MEDICAL ISSUE OR PROBLEM.

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Are you somewhere in the middle of your life wondering — is this all there is? Maybe you've spent decades putting everyone else first. Maybe you're navigating divorce, empty nesting, loss, or the quiet ache of a life that no longer fits. Maybe you're ready for something more — you are stuck and don't know how to get there yet. This is "the" podcast for "that". Confessions of a Freebird is a space for people in midlife who are done surviving and ready to live again. Three times a month, host Laurie James — author of Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go, certified somatic practitioner, coach, mother of four, divorcée, and recovering caregiver — brings you honest conversations and embodied tools for the journey back to yourself. Expect raw personal reflections, expert conversations, and somatic coaching strategies covering everything from divorce strategies, grief, trauma healing, and anger to sex, dating again, finances, caregiving, and reinvention. Because the people who need this podcast aren't looking for toxic positivity — they're looking for someone who gets it. Every episode is an invitation to stop managing and start feeling. To stop performing fine and start living freely. To come home to yourself through attuning to the body — and design a life that fits who you actually are now, not who you were twenty years ago or who someone else told you to be. Whether you're in the thick of the sandwich generation, starting over after loss or divorce, or quietly dreaming of your next chapter — you're in the right place. Confessions of a Freebird. Your midlife permission slip to evolve, heal, and fall in love with your life all over again. Because the most important relationship you'll ever have is the one you have with yourself. XO, Laurie  Connect with me: www.laurieejames.com  My Free "Beginner's Guide to Somatic Healing" https://laurieejames.myflodesk.com/bgtsh Purchase my book, Sandwiched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go, https://www.laurieejames.com/book  IG: https://www.instagram.com/laurie.james/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurie.james.79219754

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