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Unravel with Elaine Clark
Unravel, hosted by Elaine Clark, explores the intersection of mental health and physical health. Through expert interviews and insightful conversations, we uncover science-backed tools and practices for well-being and personal growth.
Whether you’re seeking to cultivate resilience, challenge misconceptions, or reconnect with your innate wisdom, Unravel offers the insights and guidance to support your journey.
Science meets embodiment. Let’s explore what it means to unravel the layers—together.
Unravel with Elaine Clark
23- Coming Home to the Body After Trauma with Hala Khouri
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What happens when the body becomes a place we don’t feel safe to inhabit?
In this episode, I’m joined by Hala Khouri—author, trauma-informed yoga teacher, somatic counsellor, and co-founder of Off the Mat Into the World—for an honest conversation about trauma, anxiety, embodiment, and what it truly means to come home to the body.
Hala shares her personal story of growing up as an immigrant after fleeing war in Lebanon, how early experiences of instability and protection shaped her understanding of trauma, and why dissociation is often a brilliant survival strategy—until it becomes a limitation. Together, we explore how the body holds memory, why stillness can feel intolerable for trauma survivors, and how somatic practices can gently restore a sense of safety, agency, and trust in ourselves.
We also dive into Hala’s book Peace from Anxiety, written after her own unexpected encounter with anxiety in midlife, and how anxiety can be a powerful invitation into deeper healing rather than something to “fix” or eliminate.
This conversation weaves together lived experience, trauma science, yoga, and somatic therapy—and offers practical tools you can use right now.
In this episode, we unravel:
🧠 Why the body can feel overwhelming or unsafe after trauma
🫥 How dissociation protects us—and how to gently reconnect
🧘♀️ The difference between performing yoga and truly embodying it
🌿 How somatic experiencing reframes trauma healing
🌬️ Simple grounding and orienting practices for anxiety and panic
🌀 Why we can’t force relaxation (and what actually helps instead)
🤍 How helpers and practitioners can prevent compassion fatigue
💞 What it means to let the heart break open rather than shut down
📘 Book: Peace from Anxiety by Hala Khouri
A compassionate, body-based guide to understanding anxiety, building resilience, and staying connected amidst uncertainty.
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📩 Email: info@elaineclark.ca
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