Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused Women

(#76) Somatic Anxiety, Grief, Breathwork & My Personal Journey Finding Somatic Healing

• Rae The Somatic Coach • Episode 76

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In today's episode I'm sharing the story behind the work I do. If you're new to the podcast—or even if you've been here for a while—this is a heartfelt introduction to who I am, how I found somatic healing, and why I'm so passionate about guiding others through emotional healing, embodiment, and personal growth.

In this episode, I share:
🌿 My journey from grief and burnout to purpose and aliveness
🌿 The profound losses I experienced in grad school—and the turning point that led me to discover breathwork and somatic healing
🌿 How therapy, travel, yoga festivals, and coaching shaped my healing path
🌿 The moment I met my inner child, and how that changed everything
🌿 Why I believe in somatic work as a path to self-trust, clarity, and compassion
🌿 What I support my clients with: life transitions, ADHD, perfectionism, people-pleasing, business growth, grief, shame, and emotional overwhelm
🌿 The ways you can work with me now:

This episode is an invitation to reflect on your own path, to remember that healing is nonlinear, and to reconnect with your inner wisdom, clarity, and radiance.

📩 Sign up for the free monthly newsletter, your bi-monthly healing toolkit, delivered on the 1st and 15th of each month. 

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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is intended to inspire, educate, and support you on your personal journey. It does not substitute for professional mental health advice. I am not a psychologist or medical professional. If you are experiencing distress, mental health challenges, or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified professional.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Radiant Life Podcast. I'm your host, rae, the Somatic Coach, and I'm here to support you in healing your past, living in the present and creating your future so that you can become the most centered, embodied and happiest version of yourself. Each week, I'll be bringing you episodes to help you navigate life's challenges, ease stress and tension and learn more about holistic healing, spirituality and wellness. If you're interested in becoming the best version of yourself so that you can live the life of your dreams, then you're in the right place. Subscribe to the podcast and the monthly newsletter and follow me on Instagram and TikTok to know when new episodes are released each week. I am so happy that you've landed here. Let's dive in. Welcome back to the podcast. If you are new here, I'm Rae. I'm a somatic coach and breathwork facilitator, and if you aren't new here, welcome back. I'm so glad that you're tuning in for today's episode.

Speaker 1:

So one front desk item before we dive into today's episode is that I am hosting a retreat in the beginning of October October 2nd to October 5th and there are two spots that have been taken and four spots that are available. So this retreat is taking place in the Hudson River Valley area in New York and it is all about healing community and being in nature. So it does take place in the season of fall, of harvest season, and this is the time of release and letting go and, similar to nature, when you know all the leaves and the earth and all of the things start to die off and and get ready to for winter to kind of go into the earth. We can do that as well. So it's kind of this opportunity to release and let go. That way, when we go into winter you are feeling light and refreshed, you're starting your new year, feeling ready to take on the new year. So I'm really excited to be offering this retreat. If you have any questions, you can always send me a DM or an email and there's also information below in the show notes to check out all the information, read all about it, see if it's something that feels good for you and then, if it is, I will get. We would get on a call and we would just kind of chat and connect and make sure that it's a good fit for the. Both of us so excited to be offering this and, yeah, I hope to hear from you soon.

Speaker 1:

So for today's episode, I want to share with you a bit about my personal story and how I found somatic healing and why it is that I'm so passionate about what I do. Since rebranding the podcast and changing the name of the podcast, more people have been able to find me, and so if you are new here, amazing welcome, and I'm excited to share this episode with you. And if you aren't new here and you've been here for a while too, you might find this interesting as well, because just last night, I was teaching a breathwork and sound healing class, and at this class, there are a few different people that come each month, and one breather in particular has been coming for over a year, and I shared a little bit about my story and it really resonated with them and they actually had no idea about parts of my story, and so it was kind of this like funny moment of like oh wow, we've been doing this for a pretty long time now and we don't know all these different parts, so I think it would be nice to introduce myself more since the last time maybe, that you've tuned in, or if it's your first, or just starting to tune in now, well, amazing, so that's what our episode will be about today. Yeah, so let's dive in. So I'm Rae, I'm a somatic coach and breathwork facilitator and I am based out of Long Beach, on Long Island in New York, and I found this work, this work of somatic healing and breathwork the inner child, really on my own journey of self-discovery.

Speaker 1:

So, growing up, grew up, on Long Island, I was very, very active. I was an athletic girl. I grew up playing soccer and basketball and tennis and lacrosse and I absolutely loved it and I absolutely loved it. Even from a very young age I did struggle with anxiety. So I always felt anxiety pretty much in my body, a lot, you know shortness of breath, pressure on my chest, pressure on my shoulders Definitely challenges like mindset, wise in terms of like really believing in myself in certain avenues and really being as confident as I wanted to be. And soccer was something that really supported me and just allowing me to navigate a lot of challenges that I was experiencing internally, trying to make sense of what was going on in my life. Soccer was like such an avenue for me. It brought so much light and so much love and so much friendship and camaraderie and teamwork, and a lot of who I am today is based off of a lot of those years, although it was very challenging for me. You know, I got to travel, I got to play all over the world. I did play soccer and lacrosse in college, so that was something that was really amazing.

Speaker 1:

And then, after college, I really was feeling that and this is something I mentioned in the last episode or maybe two episodes ago but I was really feeling, um, this desire to know myself better. I felt like a lot of my identity was connected to the sport and I knew that I was struggling with anxiety for a very long time. I knew that there was just parts of me that wanted to be more confident. I wanted to know myself better. I think self-knowledge is so powerful and part of confidence, absolutely so I was really eager to kind of like hang up the cleats and go on this self-discovery journey. I did end up traveling a little bit. After college. I hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain, which is pretty cool, so I hiked that by myself for like two months and then I went to the United States. It was amazing. That's like an episode in itself. Lots of stories there.

Speaker 1:

But when I got back, I went to grad school for social work and I had gotten my undergrad in psychology and I just I knew I really wanted to help people. I just wasn't sure exactly what that would look like or what avenue that would be happening in, and I decided to do social work for a few different reasons. I really liked that it was flexible in the sense that you could work in so many different settings you could work in a hospital, you could work in a school, you could work in private practice, you could work at an agency, and so, because there were so many question marks around like which way I wanted to go, I felt like having the options would really serve me and I liked that there was the internships, like included in the experience. So I sign up to, you know, go to grad school. I'm in grad school, it's my first semester and unexpectedly I experienced like a pretty big, significant loss in my family and my dad passes away unexpectedly and three weeks later the guy that I'm dating breaks up with me and we were together for like almost three years.

Speaker 1:

So I was really down and out. I was like sad girl, grieving vibes like for a very long time. I was really really devastated. My whole life really changed. A lot of my relationships changed. I also met, like so many of my best friends. So a lot of my adult friendships formed during this time as well, which is like beautiful in a way. But also there was so much change that happened for me at this time and I was already experiencing so much anxiety and so many challenges inside in terms of my self-esteem and my confidence and knowing myself. And then this happens and it brings like everything to the surface where it was just unmanageable thing to the surface where it was just unmanageable, and so I ended up taking some time off of school.

Speaker 1:

It took me like five years to get my master's. I took my time with it, but those five years where I mean so much could happen, you know, like looking back, you just you don't know how it's all going to play out, you don't know how it's all going to come together, and then it does and you're like, oh, this makes sense and it was along this journey. So my dad passes in December of 2015. And I discover breathwork in June of 2016. So that summer I am like piecing myself back together like part by part, piecing myself back together like part, part by part, like, oh my gosh, like one, one foot in front of the other. You know, and I go to this yoga festival and at yoga festivals this is also why I'm so passionate about yoga festivals. It's like it's like, you know, camp for adults, basically like you get to go and they have these different schedules and each day is, you know, full of all these different events and you make your own schedule.

Speaker 1:

And I read the description of what breath this breathwork class entailed and it was like absolutely wild and I was like obviously I need to do this class Like this sounds like a trip, this sounds like pretty, this sounds pretty interesting. And that's exactly what I did. So I signed up for the class. There was like 100 of us in this big circle, underneath a tent, with this facilitator Her name is Erin Telford and that is who I later went on to get certified through and I had the most incredible experience. You know, I had such a big emotional release. I finally felt like my anxiety, like the volume of my anxiety and the volume of my mind was finally quiet. It's like I had connected to something else entirely and I just, I just it affected me so much that I mean it makes sense fast forward, you know, eight or nine or 10 years later.

Speaker 1:

And here I am, and this is why I facilitate the work, so, and why I'm so passionate about breathwork. So, around that time I'm still, you know, discovering breathwork. I'm driving like an hour and a half from where I live on Long Island to Brooklyn so that I can experience breathwork, because it was just, it was so powerful for me. I'm going to therapy at that time and I'm just, yeah, on this journey of like self-discovery and eventually I decide that I really want to go deeper, like I'm still not with the modalities that I was using. I want I felt like there was like more.

Speaker 1:

And I had heard about the inner child previously in a book, a Gabby Bernstein book I don't remember which one it was, but she refers to the inner child. And so, like I understood the concept but I never experienced it for myself, where it was like an embodied experience, something that was like in my life that I understood. And so one day I'm just like searching on Instagram and I'm like I wonder if there's somebody that just specializes in anxiety, like specifically anxiety. So I'm searching and I just search anxiety coach and this woman comes up and I click on her stuff and I'm like, okay, she seems like, yeah, she seems legit. So I book a session with her. It's like a break, called like a breakthrough session or something, and it was like $200. And I'm sitting in like I had my own apartment at that time. So I'm like sitting in like the basement apartment, like all the lights are off, and it was a phone call. And so she calls me for this breakthrough session and she's, it was just unbelievable, like I discovered the inner child.

Speaker 1:

I understood my anxiety in a completely new way and I was like, oh my God, this is amazing, Like this is. I need to know more about what this is. And so I immediately enrolled in becoming a coach, a somatic coach and a breathwork facilitator, and over the next two years I would really be learning and growing and building my business pretty much, as I'm also like learning everything as I was doing it. And so, as I'm building my business, I'm learning about anxiety, perfectionism, life transitions, grief, shame, just so many layers, and I really, you know, learned everything pretty transparently and I have my background in social work and psychology and so these are really the things, like academically, that made sense to me. Like, in hindsight, growing up, so many things make more sense because, you know I'm not the math girl, I'm not necessarily the science girl, but I'm definitely the people girl If you want to know something about or understand something deeper. That's what makes sense to me. And although I'm not the math girl, I'm definitely like buttoned up when it comes to my business and even just the retreat that's been fun to plan and like keep all of the expenses behind the scenes and like all of the things that go into planning a retreat. So buttoned up in that area and then, yeah, same, not like a science girl, but the most.

Speaker 1:

One of the most helpful things for me when it came to anxiety was learning about the science of anxiety and it's so funny that it clicked so much for me because, like it's not something that I'm like necessarily drawn to, so really valuable. I will probably do an episode about that in the future the science of anxiety and I have done a few in the past as well. So if you're new here, you can definitely scroll back and find some episodes around like the science of anxiety. I think it's really helpful if it's something that you are experiencing. So, yeah, these are the things like working with the deeper layers.

Speaker 1:

The inner work is what makes sense to me, working with people understanding trauma, and so it was on this journey that I learned more about myself that I ever knew was possible, because it was the deeper work and I found a lot of self-compassion for myself, a lot of self-knowing, a lot of self-trust, and I think it's those three things that really bring a sense of wholeness. They bring the sense of you've got you, you're able to take on what life is throwing at you with confidence and grace and ease. And it was such a visceral shift in my perspective from what I previously was experiencing, with anxiety and grief and shame and all of these parts, that it's now what I do today. So I really believe that you are not your parts, you are not your past, your patterns, your conditioning. I am here to really help you see yourself clearly, past the illusion of all of our past limitations, the things that we've been conditioned to believe, the conditioned responses that we've received, the expired reflections that are following us in our hologram and what we see, and really remembering who you truly are.

Speaker 1:

A lot of this work is remembering and connecting with your inner voice and your inner wisdom and what you need and what maybe was missed in past experiences neurodivergence showing up in your business, grief, shame really navigating the whole emotional landscape and making sense of the inner world so that your outer world is what? Exactly what you've created with intention and with love and with care, so that you feel safe in your experience, you feel embodied, you feel alive, connected to your joy, connected to your radiance expressed and you're able to really live your life, feeling incredible. And I believe that you have a voice and a wisdom inside of you that needs to be remembered. It just needs to be connected with access to, and that is why I'm passionate about all of the modalities that I like to incorporate Things like somatic healing coaching, breath work, parts work, flower essence, inner child work, somatic anxiety, inner child work, somatic anxiety coaching, somatic mindfulness coaching and these are the things that allow you to feel safe and connected in your mind and your body, allows you to soften into your emotions instead of avoiding them or feeling consumed by them. If you are in business or even just in your work in're nine to five you can really step into your self-leadership self-leadership in your life, in your work, your relationships, your business, your wellbeing. You can remember really what it feels like to feel really freaking good about yourself and your life and your choices, and you can create and celebrate your own version of success and create your life with intention, create it in a way that supports you and your body and your nervous system. And one piece that I'm also very passionate about, which I spoke a little bit about so far, is really getting to the root of anxiety and self-doubt and fear and, if there's a lack of self-confidence, really getting to the root of where that is stemming from not just the symptoms of those things and healing it from that place, connecting to it from that place, and that allows you to unlock your creativity, unlock your self-expression and share more of who you are in the world, your full embodied essence.

Speaker 1:

So there are a few ways that I offer these things. So I do offer individual sessions. So this is a inner alchemy breathwork session, a clarity and release somatic coaching session or a soulful business one-on-one session. There's also the return to soul retreat, which is coming up in October, and I have a new offer coming soon that I'm building behind the scenes. It's something I've never offered before and I'm really excited about it.

Speaker 1:

And I also teach at different workshops, online or in my community here on Long Island. I teach at different festivals and different events. You know everywhere and here on the podcast we can connect, and I also have a monthly newsletter that you can subscribe to. It's completely free and the link is in the show notes and that goes out to your inbox on the 1st and the 15th of every month and it's like a little like healing toolkit. So it includes journaling, practices, storytelling, updates on the podcast, updates on events, things like that.

Speaker 1:

So I really want to thank you for being here. I absolutely love podcasting, I love speaking with you, I love being in community and I love that we are building something together here. So send me a DM on Instagram I'm at raythesomaticcoach or via email hello at rachecraftcom if you want to chat about anything I've shared here. If you have any questions, if you just want to say hello, your favorite takeaway, whatever is on your heart, I love hearing from you and I love chatting with you.

Speaker 1:

Uh, yeah, and I hope that you enjoyed today's episode. I hope you have an incredible rest of your day, an incredible rest of your week, and I will talk to you soon. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. If you are moved or inspired, please share with me by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It means the world to me and I am so appreciative for your support in helping my podcast grow. If we aren't already connected on social media, head over to Instagram and TikTok and follow me at RayTheSemanticCoach. Make sure you check out the show notes of today's episode for links to freebies, opportunities to work with me and ways we can stay connected outside of the podcast. I'm so happy that you're here and I can't wait to talk with you on our next episode of the Radiant Life Podcast.