Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

Riva Jean-Paul
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Alternative Health
  • Updated Weekly

Are you feeling overwhelmed, disconnected from your body, or stuck in cycles of stress and trauma? Healing Her Story is here to guide you from feeling lost, isolated, and exhausted to feeling empowered, grounded, and deeply connected to yourself. This transformative podcast dives into trauma recovery, somatic healing, creativity, and the profound wisdom of trauma-informed menstrual cycle awareness. Each episode offers practical tools, inspiring stories of resilience, and insightful conversations to help you reconnect with your body, break free from societal expectations, and align with your natural rhythms. If you're ready to shift from surviving to thriving, join us as we illuminate the path toward healing, empowerment, and wholeness. It’s time to rewrite your story and embrace the life you deserve. Start your healing journey today with Healing Her Story—a podcast created for women, by women, who are reclaiming their power.

  1. 17h ago

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Leo Season & the New Moon: Aligning Creativity With Your Menstrual Cycle

    The new moon is here, and so is a new focus. As we slowly close out Cancer season and welcome the energy of Leo next week, this week's Cycle Sync episode marks the beginning of a brand-new creative arc. Over the coming weeks, we'll be exploring how to work with each phase of the lunar and menstrual cycle to support and deepen your creative practice. In this episode, Riva shares real-time reflections from her own bleeding time, including a spontaneous visit to a contemporary art museum, what she discovered reading Her Blood Is Gold, and how indigenous perspectives on the menstrual cycle reframe the bleeding time not as a period of fragility, but as a time of profound psychic power and creative potency. In this episode, you'll explore: How the new moon and bleeding time are a powerful entry point for your creative practiceWhat indigenous traditions understood about women's psychic power during menstruationWhy the bleeding time is a time of retreating and potency, not just restHow to begin (or recommit to) a creative practice in alignment with your cycleThree practical ways to work with new moon and bleeding time energy for creativity this weekResources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼 📖 Her Blood Is Gold — the book Riva references in this episode on menstrual cycle wisdom and the psychic potency of the bleeding time 🎙️ The Menstrual Cycle & the Moon — Healing Her Story Podcast — a deeper dive into the connection between your cycle and the lunar cycle 🗺️ The Cycle Support Map — Riva's $4.95 PDF guide to working with every phase of your menstrual cycle, plus weekly trauma-informed somatic meditations delivered to your inbox for one full cycle 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 support? Here's how to go deeper: Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

    37 min

  2. 3d ago

    Why We're Starving for Community and Why the Village We're Missing Is the Cure with Laura Ambrosio, founder of Aspen & Elder

    In this episode, Riva sits down with Laura Ambrosio, founder of Aspen & Elder, to talk about what it really takes to build community in a culture that often rewards isolation. Laura shares the personal story behind her work, including her own childhood experience of navigating shame and confusion after abuse, and how that search for safety and belonging eventually led her to years of travel and self-discovery. She opens up about the contrast between individualistic Western culture and the collective, reciprocal community she experienced abroad, and how that shaped her vision for Aspen & Elder. The conversation moves into what authentic friendship actually requires: showing up as the friend you want to have, having the hard conversations, and resisting the pull of "artificial intimacy" that social media offers instead of real connection. Laura also shares how embracing her feminine and manifestor energy (rather than pushing through in a masculine, hustle-driven way) has changed how she's building this next chapter, including asking for help with things like grant writing instead of trying to do it all alone. Key Topics Discussed Laura's early experience of feeling misunderstood in a religious household, and how that shaped her search for belongingHer personal healing journey and how it led her to years of travelWhat she learned abroad, particularly contrasting Brazilian community culture with American "bootstraps" individualismWhy she built Aspen & Elder: intergenerational connection, humanizing people across political and religious linesThe real cost of "artificial intimacy" and social media on friendshipWhat it actually looks like to become the kind of friend you want to haveHow conflict, handled well, can deepen a relationship (including in marriage)Leading Aspen & Elder through her feminine and manifestor energy in human designWhat's next: renovating a vacant Sacramento building into a community art hub and space for female entrepreneurs Resources & Links 🤲🏼🌹 Learn more about Aspen & ElderSupport the Kickstarter to open Aspen & Elder Community Wellness SpaceConnect with Laura on InstagramSend 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 support? Here's how to go deeper: Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

    1h 5m

  3. Jul 6

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Premenstrual Self-Care: How to Work With the Waning Moon & Your Nervous System

    The waning moon is here, and your body already knows it. In this final episode of our Cancer season self-care mini series, Riva explores the premenstrual phase through the lens of nervous system science, cyclical wisdom, and honest, practical self-care. If you've ever felt irritable, overstimulated, or just done during this time of the month, this episode will give you the language and the permission to understand why. In this episode, you'll explore: Why the female nervous system has less capacity for stress and stimulation during the premenstrual and waning moon phaseWhat the window of presence is and how it shifts throughout your cycleHow resisting your body's natural downshift creates friction, dis-ease, and burnout — and what to do insteadThe rule of re — a simple Mercury retrograde framework that applies beautifully to the waning moonPractical self-care rituals for this phase: scheduling less, nourishing meals, bodywork, breathwork, and nestingWhy your menstruation time is a built-in monthly health report and how the waning moon is your opportunity to prepareHow to think of this phase as your inner autumn and what that reframe can unlockReady to go deeper? If this episode resonated and you're ready to truly understand and work with your menstrual cycle, Synchronize is Riva's four-month menstrual cycle coaching program designed to help you reclaim every phase of your cycle, including this one. Click here to learn more 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 support? Here's how to go deeper: Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

    31 min

  4. Jul 3

    Breaking Family Cycles: How Childhood Shapes Our Adult Relationships with Amanda Hill, LMHC

    This week's Healing Her Story episode welcomes a guest whose work lives at the intersection of attachment, parenting, and generational healing. Amanda Hill is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and founder of Connections of Hope. With nearly twenty years of experience as a psychotherapist, she has spent her career helping individuals and families create meaningful, lasting change. But this carries profound wisdom about where so many of our adult relationship patterns actually begin. Amanda opens up about her own experience growing up the fifth of six children in a loving but overwhelmed family, and how that shaped her own attachment style. In this episode, Riva and Amanda explore how the family dynamics we grew up in continue to show up in our relationships, our boundaries, and our sense of safety, decades later. They cover: How different attachment styles develop and why they follow us into adulthood Authoritative parenting versus permissive and authoritarian styles and why firm boundaries paired with genuine listening matter so much Why permissive parenting can leave children feeling unsafe even when it comes from a place of love The real responsibility of parenting and why so many people underestimate its lifelong impact Practical strategies for breaking unhelpful family cycles including journaling, therapy, and processing unresolved feelings with parents Screen time, presence, and connection including simple practices for staying truly present with the people you love If you have ever wondered why certain patterns keep repeating in your relationships, this conversation will help you understand where they began, and how to begin shifting them. Connect with Amanda Hill: Website Podcast Book: Making Sense of Dysfunction: How to Heal, Take Control and Move Forward  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 support? Here's how to go deeper: Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

    1h 5m

  5. Jun 29

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Full Moon & Ovulation: How to Care for Yourself at Peak Energy

    This week's Healing Her Story episode tunes into the energy of the full moon, landing on the rare day when the episode airs right alongside the actual peak. As Cancer season continues, the focus for these Monday episodes remains on care. And today's invitations apply just as much to this full moon as they do to your inner summer, your ovulation time. But this carries profound wisdom about how to work with peak energy rather than against it. The full moon is a time of fullness. The light is at its peak. And in the menstrual cycle, estrogen is at its peak too. In this episode, Riva shares three invitations for moving through this intensified energy with more support and intention. She covers: Creative expression — why getting what is inside of you outside of you, through art, cooking, movement, or making, is one of the most healing things you can do during this phase Connection — discerning what nourishes you right now, whether that is a solo date, deep rest, or a long dinner with a friend who actually fills you up Taking action — why the full moon has a way of making things undeniable, and why now might be the time to finally move on what you have been overthinking Riva closes with an invitation to celebrate yourself this week, drawing on the trauma-informed concept of resourcing, acknowledging what is already going well as a way to build confidence and create space for more positive change. Donation-Based Trauma-Informed Somatic Meditation to Support You, This Week 🤲🏼🌹 Somatic Body Scan for Self-Love and Body Appreciation This simple practice invites you to pause, breathe, and reconnect with your body in a gentle and trauma-informed way. Listen here 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 support? Here's how to go deeper: Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

    19 min

  6. Jun 26

    Why Women Are Exhausted: The Price of Carrying Care in a World That Doesn't Value It

    This week's Healing Her Story episode opens a new cycle with a focus on care. What it costs. Who provides it. And why so many women are running on empty. Riva revisits a conversation she started on the show last year, this time with a deeper understanding, not just intellectually, but in her own body and nervous system. But this carries profound wisdom about what happens when an entire society fails to value the work that holds it together. In this episode, Riva breaks down the staggering economic reality of unpaid care work in America, the racial disparities within that data, and why care work remains one of the most undervalued forms of labor in the world. She explores the biological truth that oxytocin, not dopamine, is the primary regulator of the female nervous system, and why so many women are not receiving the reciprocal connection their bodies actually need to thrive. She also gets personal, sharing her own ongoing search for answers through the Western medical system, and why so many women leave talk therapy feeling like it simply wasn't built for them. In this episode Riva explores: The real dollar value of unpaid care work and why the numbers look different across race Why care work is the most essential industry in the world and remains chronically underpaid The biological need for oxytocin in the female nervous system and why dopamine-driven productivity culture leaves women depleted Why your rage, anxiety, and exhaustion are not problems to fix but intelligent responses to an oppressive system What it actually means to receive care rather than only give it This episode closes with three questions Riva invites you to sit with: do you see your caregiving as valuable, do you feel obligated to care for others at the expense of yourself, and is it easier to show up for others than for yourself. 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 support? Here's how to go deeper: Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

    33 min

  7. Jun 22

    Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Stop Pushing Too Hard Too Fast: Waxing Moon Self-Care for a Sustainable Cycle

    This week's Healing Her Story episode tunes into the energy of the waxing moon and the follicular phase, one of the most tender and misunderstood windows of the cycle. This is a transitional energy. Estrogen is rising. The light is returning. And so often, this is exactly where women push too hard too fast, burning out before they even reach ovulation. But this carries profound wisdom about how to move through this phase with care instead of force. In this episode, Riva explores what the waxing moon is actually for. Not maximum output, but grounded, sustainable momentum. She shares her own evolving practices, including slow strength training, morning nourishment, and why progesterone loves steadiness and consistency. She covers: Why grounding matters most during this rising energy and how to find what actually grounds you Why this is the perfect time to explore something new without the pressure of committing yet Why HIIT and intense cardio aren't always the answer here and what gentle, joyful movement can offer instead A simple anchor question for Cancer season — how can you tend to yourself the way you tend to everyone else If you have ever crashed right before ovulation and wondered why, this episode will help you understand what your body actually needed. A Special Offering Riva also shares a new menstrual cycle coaching package called Synchronize, with two spots available at the pilot rate through August. The next step is booking a Somatic Assessment and Care Planning Session to explore if this is the right fit for you. Book Here 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 support? Here's how to go deeper: Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

    28 min

  8. Jun 19

    Living Beyond the Box: Creativity, Multiplicity & Self-Expression with Dr. Tavina Lynn

    This week's Healing Her Story episode welcomes a guest whose life refuses to fit inside a single box. Dr. Tavina Lynn holds a PhD in Chemistry and teaches at Sacramento City College. She is also a writer, a dancer, a creative visionary. And for years, she believed she had to choose between these parts of herself. But this carries profound wisdom about what becomes possible when we stop choosing. Riva and Tavina met at a mural project, and the instant connection that followed set the stage for this conversation. In honor of Gemini season, this episode explores multiplicity, duality, and what it means to be more than one thing. They cover: Growing up in chaos and finding structure through learning and how that shaped Tavina's relationship to curiosity The internal pressure to choose between science and art and the misery that came from forcing herself into chemistry alone How COVID became an unexpected reset that reconnected her to her multifaceted self Why rigid, linear systems no longer serve everyone and how the breakdown of those systems creates space for something more fluid The real cost of suppressing parts of yourself to belong and why true belonging starts with accepting yourself first Creative life force energy and what it feels like to be danced by the dance instead of controlling it This episode is an invitation to stop asking which version of you is allowed to show up, and start asking what becomes possible when all of you does. Connect with Dr. Tavina Lynn: Substack Tavina’s Book: STILL in My Mother’s Womb: A Daughter’s Healing Experience  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 support? Here's how to go deeper: Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book HereFree Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn MoreMeditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen HereWatch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch HereFollow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

    1h 26m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Are you feeling overwhelmed, disconnected from your body, or stuck in cycles of stress and trauma? Healing Her Story is here to guide you from feeling lost, isolated, and exhausted to feeling empowered, grounded, and deeply connected to yourself. This transformative podcast dives into trauma recovery, somatic healing, creativity, and the profound wisdom of trauma-informed menstrual cycle awareness. Each episode offers practical tools, inspiring stories of resilience, and insightful conversations to help you reconnect with your body, break free from societal expectations, and align with your natural rhythms. If you're ready to shift from surviving to thriving, join us as we illuminate the path toward healing, empowerment, and wholeness. It’s time to rewrite your story and embrace the life you deserve. Start your healing journey today with Healing Her Story—a podcast created for women, by women, who are reclaiming their power.

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