WholeHearted Living
A space to root back into your wholeness and remember who you truly are. Each episode blends ancient wisdom and modern science, soulful conversation and grounded practice, to guide you home to yourself.
Here, we dismantle outdated paradigms of hustle, perfection, and “not enough”, and instead explore what it means to live, lead, and create from worthiness, belonging, and alignment with nature’s rhythms.
From embodied self-worth to nervous system healing, from identity work to soul-led leadership, The Wholehearted Living Podcast invites you to pause, breathe, and return to the ground beneath all growth: you are already whole.
New episodes every Thursday.
At the Wholehearted Living Podcast, our conversations don’t end here. To keep journeying together, visit www.whlinstitute.com to explore free resources, join our newsletter, or step into one of our programs.
And if you loved this episode, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review, it helps spread this movement of wholehearted living.
With a heartful of gratitude,
Debs
WholeHearted Living
S02 EP06 | Your Body Keeps Score: Understanding Trauma Responses
What if the patterns keeping you stuck, the overworking, the people-pleasing, the numbing, the constant busyness, aren't character flaws, but intelligent survival strategies?
In this episode, we're diving into Stage 2 of the WholeHearted Technique: Understanding Your Trauma Responses. This is where everything starts to make sense. Where you finally see why you react the way you do, why you can't seem to stop certain patterns, and why your nervous system feels stuck in survival mode.
But this isn't just theory. This is deeply personal.
In this episode, I'm sharing my own story of discovering the fawn response, something I was never taught in all my years of training as a counsellor.
Because here's the truth: You can't outrun your trauma responses. You can only integrate them.
In this episode, you'll discover:
✨ The four trauma responses and how to recognise yours
✨ Why your nervous system is stuck in survival mode
✨ How overworking, people-pleasing, numbing, and hypervigilance are trauma responses
✨ The fawn response—the one most therapists aren't taught
✨ Why recognising your patterns can activate the urge to run
✨ How to make aligned choices from love, not trauma reactions from fear
✨ Practical somatic practices to help your body finally feel safe
✨ How to complete the stress cycle and discharge stuck energy
✨ The difference between running away and running toward yourself
This episode is for you if:
- You're exhausted from patterns you can't seem to break
- You recognise yourself as a people-pleaser, overworker, or perfectionist
- You feel stuck in survival mode and don't know how to get out
- You're feeling the urge to blow up your life and start over
- You want to understand why you react the way you do
- You're ready to help your nervous system know it's safe
Your trauma responses kept you alive. They are not flaws. They are evidence of your resilience.
But what once kept you safe is now keeping you stuck.
And it's time to help your body know: You're safe now. You can choose differently.
This is sacre
Subscribe & Review:
If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe to the WholeHearted Living Podcast so you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Thursday.
And if you're feeling generous, leave a review and share what's landing for you. Your words help other seekers find this work.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing wholeness. Thank you for having the courage to tell yourself the truth.
Please do share this podcast far and wide to help us reach as many people as possible.
And as our gift to you, Debs has created the Rooted in Wholeness- a collection of grounding practices, journal prompts, and reflections that go deeper into season two's theme of Wholeness and Belonging. It’s completely free, and you can sign up to receive it online at www.whlinstitute.com.
And if you'd like to gift Debs a personal thank you, you can Buy Me A Coffee here, knowing it will fuel many more moments of inspiration.
Thank you for listening, supporting, and most of all, for walking this path of wholehearted living with us.