Return
You’re not broken. You’re just burnt out on trying to be someone you’re not.
Return is the podcast for conscious entrepreneurs, sensitive visionaries, and healers who’ve checked all the boxes—and are still wondering, “Why doesn’t this feel right?”
Hosted by Caitlan Siegenthaler, former therapist turned business energy strategist blending Human Design, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and soulful strategy.
Return isn’t about forcing yourself into someone else’s blueprint. It’s about coming home to your own.
This isn’t hustle hype or spiritual bypassing disguised as business advice. It’s honest, nuanced, often irreverent conversations for the biz owner who’s outgrown performative success and wants to build something that actually feels good.
✨ Tune in for solo episodes and guest convos that help you:
- Navigate seasons of change (without losing yourself)
- Reclaim your energy and decision-making power
- Build a business that honors your gifts and nervous system
- Explore who you really are—beneath the shoulds
Whether you’re in the midst of a pivot, healing from burnout, or finally ready to trust your intuition again,Return is your reminder that you’re not lost. You’re just on your way home.
Let’s begin.
Return
Is It Intuition or a Protective Part?
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Episode 113: Trauma, Protective Parts & How They Impact Your Intuition
You know that feeling when everyone tells you to "just trust your intuition"—but you're not actually sure what voice you're hearing?
In this final episode of the Intuition Series, we're exploring one of the biggest reasons intuitive people struggle to trust themselves: protective parts and trauma.
Because anxiety isn't intuition.
Urgency isn't intuition.
Hypervigilance isn't intuition.
They're often intelligent protective strategies that developed to keep us safe.
Drawing from Internal Family Systems (IFS), Human Design, and my own experiences with grief, trauma, and healing, we explore how protective parts can become louder than our intuitive knowing—and what it takes to reconnect with the quiet wisdom underneath.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why trauma can disconnect us from our bodies and intuitive knowing
- The role protective parts play in decision-making
- Common protective parts like the perfectionist, overworker, caretaker, avoider, and researcher
- How to distinguish intuition from anxiety, fear, and protective strategies
- Why intuition often feels quiet, clear, and grounded
- How grief, motherhood, stress, and major life transitions can impact self-trust
- Signs you're rebuilding a stronger relationship with your intuition
- The connection between Human Design, body awareness, and intuitive decision-making
You'll hear reflections on:
- My own journey rebuilding trust in my instincts after years of overriding them
- How old wounds can continue influencing present-day decisions
- The difference between seeking certainty and practicing self-trust
- Why reconnecting with intuition often requires more safety—not more information
Mentioned in this episode:
- Episode 110: Why Highly Intuitive People Stop Trusting Themselves
- Episode 111: The Therapist Edge with Natalie Deering
- Episode 112: What Human Design Says About Your Intuition
- Episode 89: What has to go? Discernment: A Virgo Season Virtue We All Need Right Now
- work with caitlan here
Produced by Caitlan Siegenthaler
Cover Art by Kiara Opara
If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend, post it to your Instagram stories, and tag me. And if you really loved it, the best thank-you is a written review on Apple Podcasts or a comment on Spotify.
That is a beautiful energetic exchange for Caitlan creating the show.