Guest Liz Albanis — Senior Yoga Teacher, Yoga Therapist, and Trauma-Informed Health & Wellness Coach Episode Summary In this reflective and deeply personal episode of Spiritual Friction: A Space for Deep Feelers, Laurel LeMohn sits down with yoga therapist and trauma-informed health & wellness coach Liz Albanis for There's Nothing Wrong With You: Trauma, Yoga, and Healing Your Nervous System. Together, they explore trauma, nervous system regulation, yoga, grief, embodied healing, addiction recovery, the vagus nerve, and what it means to come home to your body when everything has told you something is wrong with it. Liz has survived childhood sexual assault, two devastating house fires, miscarriage, the loss of her mother, and a 15-year smoking habit she couldn't shake—until she walked into her first hot yoga class. She wasn't looking for transformation. She thought she was simply going to a hot yoga class to burn some calories. What she found instead was her nervous system beginning, slowly and quietly, to regulate for the first time. Together, Laurel and Liz explore what it means to hold space for others—and for ourselves—without pushing, without forcing, and without believing healing requires us to become someone different than we are. "Their conversation honors the body as a place of truth, not a problem to be solved." And it returns, again and again, to one quiet, steady message: There is nothing wrong with you. What We Explore in This Episode Why no two bodies move the same way—and how skeletal variation changes the way we think about healing, yoga, and painWhat it means to grow up believing you're "not trying hard enough"The relief of discovering there was never anything wrong with youHow yoga became a pathway out of addiction and into nervous system regulationThe second house fire that re-traumatized Liz—and what followedInvitational language, sacred containers, and the gift of offering choiceThe vagus nerve, tremoring, fascia, and what happens when the body is finally allowed to releaseWhy our thoughts are not complete realityTrauma-informed yoga, embodied healing, and creating safety through choiceWhat Liz would say to little Liz—and to anyone walking a lonely path today Key Quotes "Yoga poses are like penicillin—one may be medicine for you, but poison to your neighbor." "I think a lot of people don't get that—even if you've gone through the same thing, because of our biology and our past experiences, we're going to have a different reaction." "There's nothing wrong with you." "You've been through a lot for a child. Keep trying. Ignore those who tell you there's something wrong with you. You are not alone in this experience—but your experience is completely unique." "Yoga saved me." "I don't think that's an exaggeration." Why This Conversation Matters So many of us have spent years believing we simply aren't trying hard enough. That everyone else can do the thing we can't. That there's something fundamentally wrong with the way we're built. Liz's story—of being told she was "dumb," that there was something "wrong" with her, and that she might as well stop trying—is also a story of slowly, imperfectly, and tenderly finding her way back to Self. Not by fixing herself. But by finally being met where she was. If you've ever thought: "I should be able to handle this on my own." If you've ever wondered whether your nervous system is responding exactly as it was designed to after trauma... Or questioned why you're still carrying something everyone else seems to have moved beyond... This conversation is for you. About the Guest Liz Albanis is a senior yoga teacher of nearly 14 years, yoga therapist, and trauma-informed health & wellness coach based in Canberra, Australia. Her work focuses on trauma-informed healing, nervous system regulation, embodied recovery, and making yoga accessible for every body. She trained through the Biomedical Institute of Yoga and Meditation (BIOME) and is registered with Yoga Australia. Liz's work is shaped by both advanced training and lived experience—including surviving childhood trauma, two house fires, miscarriage, the loss of her mother, and years of believing there was something wrong with her. Website: https://www.lizalbaniswellness.com.au/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizalbaniswellnessau/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lizalbaniswellnessau Podcast: Yoga for Trauma: The Inner Fire of Yoga About the Host Laurel LeMohn is a trauma therapist, somatic wellness coach, founder of SoulBody Wellness, and host of Spiritual Friction: A Space for Deep Feelers—a podcast exploring healing, trauma, nervous system regulation, spirituality, and what it means to be human through heartfelt, reflective conversation. Her integrative approach weaves together trauma-informed care, narrative therapy, somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, and spirituality to create grounded, compassionate spaces for healing and meaningful connection. Explore more episodes, resources, and future conversations at: https://www.soulbodywellness.health/ Community & Support If this conversation stirred something in you, you're warmly invited to join our free online community gathering on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 6:00 PM PT—a space to slow down, connect, and be held in community. Some conversations invite reflection. Others invite us into deeper work. If you're seeking individualized support, I offer virtual trauma-informed psychotherapy for adults throughout California and Washington through Redwood Coast Psychotherapy. Learn more: https://www.redwoodcoastpsychotherapy.com/ Stories held with care. Disclaimer Spiritual Friction: A Space for Deep Feelers is a storytelling and educational podcast and is not a substitute for medical or mental health care. Listening does not establish a therapeutic relationship. If you are in distress, please seek support from a qualified mental health professional or your local emergency services.
