Sobriety, Breathwork, and Reclaiming Indigenous Roots with Ariana Fotinakis

In this warm and wide-ranging conversation, Taryn Strong sits down with coach, breathwork facilitator, and Decolonize and Rize Co-founder Ariana Fotinakis — a woman whose truly integrated healing journey weaves together sobriety, burnout recovery, cultural reclamation, and nervous system awareness.

Ariana shares the quiet but pivotal mirror moment that led her to get sober after a decade of drinking and substance use. She expounds upon years of trading alcohol for fitness and work, and the breathwork session six years into her sobriety that she now considers the true beginning of her recovery. Ariana also opens up about growing up as the daughter of a Sixties Scoop survivor, carrying internalized shame and what it has meant, and still means, to reclaim her roots and find belonging on her own terms.

Ariana's powerful conviction that healing our nervous systems and healing our world are not separate endeavors, and that gentleness, not intensity, is often the most radical and lasting path forward for our individual, collective, and global recovery.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Getting sober after 10 years of drinking and substance use — without hitting a dramatic rock bottom
• The mirror moment — really seeing yourself and knowing something has to change
• Trading alcohol for fitness and work — and how cross-addiction and escapism can quietly shift forms
• Burnout as a turning point and the body's wisdom in forcing us to slow down
• The first breathwork experience that cracked open everything numbed and unfelt
• Why gentle, nervous-system-informed breathwork can be more transformative than intense sessions
• Being the daughter of a Sixties Scoop survivor — what that history means personally, physically, and relationally
• Growing up disconnected from Indigenous identity— internalizing shame in the absence of culture or representation
• The ongoing journey of cultural reclamation — finding community, returning to the land, being led by willingness
• Belonging vs. assimilation — why true belonging never asks you to leave parts of yourself behind
• The Seven Generations principle and how it invites slowness, intention, and long-horizon thinking
• Bridging nervous system healing with social and systemic change — and the tensions that can emerge
• "Hard on systems, soft on people" — a framework for creating change without replicating harm
• Ariana's June 30th workshop in SHE RECOVERS Foundation’s Inclusive Recovery Training: Anti-Racist Spaces of Belonging Series — Decolonizing Recovery: Belonging with Body, Land & Community with Ariana Fotinakis
  
  

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Ariana Fotinakis: coaching, breathwork, and more
• Decolonize and Rize: programs and resources for individuals, teams, and organizations
• Follow Ariana on Instagram: @arianafotinakis 
• June 30 - SHE RECOVERS Foundation’s Inclusive Recovery Training: Anti-Racist Spaces of Belonging — Decolonizing Recovery: Belonging with Body, Land & Community with Ariana Fotinakis (sign up for newsletter for more details soon!)

ABOUT ARIANA

Ariana Fotinakis (she/her) is the Co-founder of Decolonize and Rize, a trauma-responsive coach, breathwork facilitator, and devoted advocate for decolonized well-being. With Anishinaabe (Aamjiwnaang) and Greek ancestry and as the daughter of a Sixties Scoop survivor, she is deeply committed to reclaiming her roots and supporting others on their journeys of healing and transformation. For over a decade, Ariana has worked with hundreds of individuals and organizations globally, offering a grounded and compassionate approach to personal and collective change. Her work integrates nervous system awareness, cultural reclamation, and systemic change, creating spaces where people and teams can build resilience, deepen self-awareness, and cultivate sustainable well-being.

ABOUT SHE RECOVERS® Foundation 

We are a non-profit public charity and a global grassroots movement serving more than 325,000 women and non-binary individuals in or seeking recovery from life challenges including mental health issues, trauma, and substance use. SHE RECOVERS is dedicated to redefining recovery, inspiring hope, ending stigma, and empowering women to increase their recovery capital, heal themselves, and help other women to do the same.

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