Trauma Rewired

Food is not just fuel.
It is one of the most powerful ways your nervous system regulates stress, emotion, and survival.
In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by somatic practitioner and author Luis Mojica to explore the hidden relationship between trauma, cravings, and the nervous system.
Together, they unpack why food can become a coping strategy for unprocessed emotion, how certain foods can increase or decrease your stress response, and why cravings are not a lack of discipline—but a signal from the body.
This conversation breaks down how stimulants like sugar and caffeine can drive anxiety through adrenaline and blood sugar spikes, while heavier, processed foods can temporarily numb overwhelming emotional states—creating a cycle of activation and shutdown that many people mistake for "addiction."
You'll learn how food impacts your nervous system 24/7—often more than any therapy session—and why true healing is not about restriction, but about understanding what your body is trying to regulate.
This episode also introduces a new way of relating to food through a nervous system lens—moving beyond "healthy vs. unhealthy" into understanding foods as stimulants, depressants, or balancers that shape your emotional and physiological state.
If you've ever felt stuck, ashamed, or confused in your relationship with food, this episode will help you see your patterns through a completely new lens—one rooted in compassion, biology, and nervous system awareness.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
 
What You'll Learn:
• Why cravings are signals for unmet emotional, relational, or physical needs
• How food can activate or calm your stress response
• The connection between trauma, emotional repression, and eating patterns
• Why willpower fails and nervous system support works
• How to begin shifting your relationship with food without restriction                                                                                                                                                                     This is not about fixing your relationship with food.
It's about understanding the nervous system underneath it.                                                                                                                                                                            #traumarewired #nervoussystem #emotionaleating #traumahealing #mentalhealth
 
Chapter Markers
00:00 - Food Is Not About Eating Less. It Is About Eating Differently.
00:43 - Welcome: Food as a Portal Into the Nervous System
01:56 - Introducing Luis Mojica and the Chocolate at 4 p.m. Story
04:36 - Why Food Belongs in the Trauma Conversation
06:46 - Cravings as a Compass: The Three Unmet Needs Behind Every Food Behavior
08:07 - Why Diets Fail Without Somatics
09:21 - What Happens When You Understand What Your Cravings Actually Mean
14:33 - Food Induced Stress: How What You Eat Can Keep You in Fight or Flight
16:28 - Stimulants, Depressants, and Balancers: The Three Categories
21:55 - Seesaw Regulation: How the Body Unconsciously Alchemizes With Food
28:35 - It Is a Loop. It Was Always a Loop.
32:00 - Food Sobriety and Why Balancers Make You Feel More, Not Less
37:26 - How to Weave Balancers In Without Taking Anything Away
43:18 - The Quiet Diet: Creating Space to Actually Feel
 
Connect with Luis:
Get Luis Mojica's new book Food Therapy: A powerful deep dive into how food, trauma, and the nervous system are all connected—and how to work with your body instead of against it. https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/the-book
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holistic.life.navigation/
Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics: 
Join us inside Rewire: This is where you actually experience the practices Jennifer and Elisabeth talk about on the podcast that brought us freedom, self-attunement, a new relationship with food and our body.  rewiretrial.com
Introduction to neurosomatics for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/
Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence: https://stan.store/illuminated
Join Jennifer on Sacred Synapse to explore the intersection of neurosomatics and Psychedelic neuroscience: https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23
Support the podcast by supporting our sponsors: 
FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired
Disclaimer:
Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.
We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.
We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.
We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.
Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.
We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected].
All rights in our content are reserved.

The mother wound is not just about your mother. It is about the first nervous system that shaped yours—the earliest relational field that told you whether you were safe, wanted, and free to take up space. And it lives in the body long before it lives in the story.
In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Brooke Wolfe, somatic voice activation coach, musician of 20 years, and a dear friend of both hosts. Brooke's work lives at the intersection of nervous system safety, vocal expression, and the parts of the feminine that have been suppressed, exiled, and told they are too much. Together, they explore the mother wound as an attachment and nervous system imprint—one that shows up not just in relationships, but in how you breathe, how you move, whether you feel permission to make noise, and whether you have ever truly learned to receive.
Brooke brings a perspective that is both poetic and grounded. She shares the pelvis–throat connection as a place where early disconnection shows up physically, how the voice becomes a tool for masking rather than connecting, and how her lifelong asthma reflected a nervous system that never felt safe to exhale. She also speaks to how heroin use in her teenage years neurologically mirrored the flooding and crashing of disorganized attachment.
Elisabeth shares how emotional neglect and a mother's absence shaped a deep sense of childhood loneliness, and why co-regulation with other humans became genuinely difficult. Jennifer names the fear of her own power, the experience of moving through life in a quiet tiptoe, and the inner critic that still carries someone else's voice.
This conversation expands the mother wound beyond the personal and into the collective—naming how disconnection from the body, voice, and feminine expression is not just individual, but patterned across generations.
The episode closes on something both honest and hopeful: healing the mother wound does not always require repairing the external relationship. It requires taking your sovereignty back, learning to mother yourself, and finding the safe spaces and relationships that can hold your depth. What was ruptured in relationship must be repaired in relationship—and sometimes that begins with the earth.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
How the mother wound forms as an attachment and nervous system imprint, not a single event but a pattern

How prenatal maternal stress can shape fetal stress system development through cortisol and epigenetic mechanisms

Why birth is the first moment of separation and how birth trauma shapes early nervous system patterns

How rupture in the feminine shows up in the body, the breath, the pelvis, the throat, and the voice

Why the voice so often becomes a tool for masking rather than connecting, and how somatic voice work can change that

How disorganized attachment patterns in childhood can drive substance use and self-regulation strategies in adolescence and adulthood

Why co-regulation with other humans can feel deeply threatening and how to begin building that skill incrementally

How the inner critic often carries the voice of a primary caregiver, and what that means neurologically

What it looks like to heal the mother wound internally without requiring external repair of the relationship

Why the fertile void, the emptiness left by the wound, can become a creative source rather than something to fill

Chapter Markers
0:00 - Sending Healing Back Down the Mother Line
1:45 - Welcome: The Mother Wound as Nervous System Imprint
4:00 - Introducing Brooke Wolfe and Why This Work Called Her
7:45 - How Rupture in the Feminine Shows Up in the Body and Voice
13:00 - Birth as the First Separation and the Roots of the Wound
18:00 - Prenatal Stress, Cortisol, and How the Stress System Is Shaped Before Birth
20:00 - The Pelvis, Throat, and Diaphragm: Where Bracing Patterns Live
27:00 - Don't Take Up Space, Don't Be Too Much: The Feminine Conditioning
33:00 - Attachment, Addiction, and the Nervous System Logic Behind It All
49:00 - The Void: What Brooke's Mother Wound Actually Is, and What She Found There
55:00 - The Inner Critic as Internalized Mother Voice
1:01:00 - Healing the Mother Wound From the Inside Out
Explore Neurosomatic Voice Activation:
Liberate your voice and create somatic safety and self-attunement in the Neurosomatic Voice Activation Course with Brooke and Elisabeth: https://www.brookewolfe.com/trauma-rewired
Get 15% off with code: TRAUMAREWIRED
Brooke on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brookewolfe_/
Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics:
Capacity Gap: Free BrainBased workshop for entrepreneurs, leaders and high-performers: rewirecapacity.com

Two week trail of BrainBased membership for neurosomatic practices and nervous system rehabilitation and health: rewiretrial.com 

Introduction to NSI for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

Watch Trauma Rewired on YouTube - Subscribe here

Learn more about psychedelic neuroscience and neurosomatics on Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace  
https://www.youtube.com/@sacredsynapse-23

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired
 
Resources and Links
Oberlander, T. F., et al. (2008). Prenatal depression, NR3C1 methylation, and infant cortisol response. Epigenetics.
Weaver, I. C. G., et al. (2004). Maternal care and epigenetic regulation of stress response (animal study). Nature Neuroscience.
Seckl, J. R., & Holmes, M. C. (2007). Placental cortisol buffering and fetal stress system development. Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Yehuda, R., et al. (2016). Intergenerational effects of trauma on FKBP5 methylation. Biological Psychiatry.
O'Donnell, K. J., & Meaney, M. J. (2017). Fetal origins of mental health and stress regulation. American Journal of Psychiatry.
Sapolsky, R. M., et al. (2000). How stress hormones influence the body and brain. Endocrine Reviews.

What if healing from trauma is not just a psychological process, but a fundamentally creative one?
In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Laura Dawn, a psychedelic-informed author, researcher, and mentor who has spent more than two decades exploring how altered states can open creative pathways, support trauma recovery, and reconnect people with vision and possibility.
Laura opens by naming something most people carry but rarely say out loud: the moment someone told them they were not creative. Research by Brené Brown suggests that around 80% of people had an experience in childhood that planted a limiting belief about themselves—and for half of them, it was about creativity.
From there, the conversation expands into something much bigger: a reframing of creativity itself. Not as a talent or personality trait, but as a fundamental function of being human.
Drawing on her graduate research and the Five P's of creativity framework, Laura maps creativity onto the arc of healing. She shows how psychological flexibility—one of the strongest predictors of post-traumatic growth—is also directly linked to creative capacity. The connection between trauma, recovery, psychedelics, and creativity is not metaphorical. It is neurological.
Together, they explore how trauma narrows perception into rigid patterns, and how healing—through nervous system regulation, somatic work, and in some cases psychedelic-assisted therapy—reopens the mind to new ideas, new narratives, and new ways of being.
The conversation also challenges the culture of speed and optimization, reframing slow living as a deep psychological restructuring rather than an aesthetic. And it asks a larger question: what becomes possible, individually and collectively, when we begin to value creativity and beauty as much as we value productivity and output?
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
Why creativity is not a personality trait but a fundamental dimension of what it means to be human

How the industrial education system planted limiting beliefs about creativity that still shape adults today

The five P's of creativity framework and how it maps onto psychedelic preparation and integration

Why psychological flexibility is a predictor of both post-traumatic growth and creative achievement

How the default mode network drives self-referential rumination in trauma and addiction, and how psychedelics disrupt that loop

Why nervous system preparation before a psychedelic journey changes what becomes possible in and after the experience

The surprising connection between compassion, forgiveness, and creative capacity

Why slow living is actually a profound re-patterning of how we relate to time, not a lifestyle trend

What creativity looks like as a mechanism for healing complex trauma, not just as an outcome of it

Chapters
0:00 - The Healing Journey as a Creative Act
01:32 - Welcome and Introducing Laura Dawn
03:07 - What Is Creativity? A Word Association Game and the Limiting Beliefs We Carry
07:59 - The Five P's of Creativity and How They Map Onto the Healing Arc
17:45 - What Would the World Look Like If Artists Believed in Themselves?
21:30 - Collective Creativity, North Stars, and What We Are Actually Building Toward
26:37 - Survival Culture, Speed, and Why Slow Living Is Harder Than It Looks
33:36 - Complex Trauma, Neurodivergence, and the Creative Gifts Within the Wound
38:55 - Psychological Flexibility: The Bridge Between Trauma, Psychedelics, and Creativity
43:08 - The Hamster Wheel, the Default Mode Network, and Psychedelics as Pattern Disruptors
50:36 - Preparation, Embodiment, and Why One Good Rep Has to Be Whole-System
51:36 - Compassion, Forgiveness, and Why That Is Where Creativity Actually Comes Online
Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics 
FREE 1 Year Supply of Vitamin D + 5 Travel Packs from Athletic Greens when you use my exclusive offer: https://www.drinkag1.com/rewired

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

Two week trail of BrainBased membership for neurosomatic practices and nervous system rehabilitation and health: rewiretrial.com 

Introduction to NSI for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

Connect with Laura Dawn: livefreelaurad.com

Watch Trauma Rewired on YouTube - Subscribe here

Learn more about psychedelic neuroscience and neurosomatics on Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace  

Capacity Gap: Free BrainBased workshop for entrepreneurs, leaders and high-performers: rewirecapacity.com

In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Oren Shai, organizational psychologist, somatic executive coach, and NSI-certified practitioner, for a conversation about what happens when nervous system literacy meets the corporate world.
After years working inside large organizations, including LinkedIn, Oren kept seeing the same pattern: all the right strategies, all the right tactics, and none of the essential human work getting done.
What if the quality of your leadership isn't determined by your intelligence, experience, or decision-making frameworks—but by your nervous system's capacity to feel?
In this conversation, we explore how emotional repression, trauma patterns, and chronic stress shape leadership, team dynamics, and organizational culture—and why so many high performers are operating at a hidden cost to their health, relationships, and sense of self.
This episode is for leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and anyone who has ever found themselves doing everything "right" professionally, while feeling depleted, disconnected, or like they're holding it all together behind the scenes.
Because leadership isn't just about what you do. It's about what your nervous system can hold.
 
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
Why the quality of leadership is tied directly to nervous system capacity

Why high performers are often high performers because of trauma, not despite it

The difference between nervous system regulation as coping versus as a foundation for aligned action

Why leaders are emotionally contagious, and what that means for organizational health

What embodied leadership looks like, and why it changes everything for teams

Chapters 
0:00 - The Doorway Into the Real Conversation: Co-Founders and What Goes Unnamed
1:08 - Welcome: What Leadership Capacity Actually Requires
2:51 - Introducing Oren Shai: From the Tech World to Somatic Executive Coaching
7:10 - What Elisabeth Hears from Women Executives When No One Else Is Listening
11:43 - Organizations Have a Nervous System Too
13:31 - Leaders Are Emotionally Contagious: The Ripple Effect of Embodied Leadership
22:39 - How Oren Opens the Conversation with Leadership Teams
30:14 - Most Careers Are Fueled by Coffee and Trauma
37:25 - Why Individual Work Alone Cannot Create Organizational Change
43:45 - Slowing Down Enough to Remember What Aliveness Feels Like
51:35 - Moving From Nervous System Regulation as Coping to Capacity as a Daily Practice
57:50 - Closing Reflection: Start Close In
Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics 
 
Capacity Gap: Free BrainBased workshop for entrepreneurs, leaders and high-performers: rewirecapacity.com

Two week trail of BrainBased membership for neurosomatic practices and nervous system rehabilitation and health: rewiretrial.com 

Introduction to NSI for practitioners, coaches and therapists - The NSI foundations Bundle: https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/workshops/

Connect with Oren Shai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oshai/

Watch Trauma Rewired on YouTube - Subscribe here

Learn more about psychedelic neuroscience and neurosomatics on Sacred Synapse with Jennifer Wallace  

Disclaimer:
Trauma Rewired podcast is intended to educate and inform but does not constitute medical, psychological or other professional advice or services. Always consult a qualified medical professional about your specific circumstances before making any decisions based on what you hear. We share our experiences, explore trauma, physical reactions, mental health and disease. If you become distressed by our content, please stop listening and seek professional support when needed. Do not continue to listen if the conversations are having a negative impact on your health and well-being. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, or in mental health crisis and you are in the United States you can 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If someone's life is in danger, immediately call 911.
We do our best to stay current in research, but older episodes are always available. We don't warrant or guarantee that this podcast contains complete, accurate or up-to-date information. It's very important to talk to a medical professional about your individual needs, as we aren't responsible for any actions you take based on the information you hear in this podcast.
We invite guests onto the podcast. Please note that we don't verify the accuracy of their statements. Our organization does not endorse third-party content and the views of our guests do not necessarily represent the views of our organization. We talk about general neuro-science and nervous system health, but you are unique. These are conversations for a wide audience. They are general recommendations and you are always advised to seek personal care for your unique outputs, trauma and needs.
We are not doctors or licensed medical professionals. We are certified neuro-somatic practitioners and nervous system health/embodiment coaches. We are not your doctor or medical professional and do not know you and your unique nervous system. This podcast is not a replacement for working with a professional. The BrainBased.com site and RewireTrial.com is a membership site for general nervous system health, somatic processing and stress processing. It is not a substitute for medical care or the appropriate solution for anyone in mental health crisis.
Any examples mentioned in this podcast are for illustration purposes only. If they are based on real events, names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.
We've done our best to ensure our podcast respects the intellectual property rights of others, however if you have an issue with our content, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected].
All rights in our content are reserved.

This week on Trauma Rewired we step into a big and important conversation about how racism, historical trauma and systemic oppression impact nervous system health.
Racism is often framed as a social or ideological issue, but neuroscience tells us something deeper. Chronic exposure to discrimination functions as a persistent threat signal to the nervous system. Over time, that threat shapes stress hormones, inflammatory responses, emotional regulation and even pain perception. These are not abstract ideas. They are biological adaptations to sustained social stress.
In this episode we are joined by Lovey Bradley, a NeuroSomatic Intelligence certified practitioner, NSI community facilitator and co-facilitator of the NSI BIPOC Affinity Group. Together we explore how systemic forces shape physiology, how ancestral stress patterns can live in the body, and how chronic exposure to inequity affects both individual nervous systems and the collective nervous system of our culture.
This conversation is real and imperfect. It is one small part of a much larger dialogue. We share research, personal experience and reflections from our work in nervous system education spaces. Our intention is not to represent every perspective, but to open a thoughtful conversation about embodiment, representation, safety and the capacity to stay present with complexity.
From a neurosomatic lens, post-traumatic growth is not about bypassing trauma. It is about expanding nervous system capacity so we can remain embodied in difficult conversations, process rupture rather than avoiding it, and build the relational tolerance required for collective healing.
Topics Covered
How racism functions as a chronic threat signal that reshapes the nervous system, not just belief or behavior

What the HPA axis, cortisol, and progesterone have to do with racial stress and women's health outcomes

How suppressed expression contributes to physical disease in melanated bodies

What Resmaa Menakem's framework adds to neuro somatic approaches to racialized trauma

Why white supremacy culture traits like urgency and perfectionism map directly onto chronic stress behaviors

How the urgency to fix or regulate can itself become a form of bypassing in healing spaces

What post-traumatic growth looks like at a collective level, not just an individual one

Why witnessing state violence on social media is a genuine nervous system stressor, even for those not directly targeted

How Dr. Levy's community for melanated women came to life and what it is building toward

Chapter Markers
0:00 - Why This Conversation Had to Happen
01:57 - Welcome: Racial Trauma, the Nervous System, and Post-Traumatic Growth
07:25 - What Racial Stress Looks Like in the Body, for White and Melanated Bodies
10:44 - Post-Traumatic Growth at the Collective Level: What It Actually Requires
15:35 - The Danger of Regulating Out of Activation Before the Cycle Completes
18:09 - The Neuroscience: HPA Axis, Allostatic Load, and Chronic Racial Threat
24:27 - How Racial Stress Shows Up in Hormones, Cycles, and Women's Health
29:25 - Resmaa Menakem, White Supremacy Culture, and the Nervous System
38:42 - Dr. Levy's Community for Melanated Women and What It Is Building
41:35 - Witnessing Violence at Scale: What It Does to All Nervous Systems
49:11 - What This Work Has Made Possible: Dr. Levy on Choosing to Create a Different World
51:59 - Closing Reflection: What Post-Traumatic Growth Requires of Us Collectively
Ways to Engage with Neurosomatics:
Neurosomatic Intelligence is now enrolling : https://neurosomaticintelligence.com/nsi-certification

Join us for a two week trial of neurosomatic practices at rewiretrial.com

Free BrainBased neurosomatic workshop for entrepreneurs at rewirecapacity.com

Sacred Synapse: an educational YouTube channel founded by Jennifer Wallace that explores nervous system regulation, applied neuroscience, consciousness, and psychedelic preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence. 

Wayfinder Journal: Track nervous system patterns and support preparation and integration through Neurosomatic Intelligence.

Learn to work with Boundaries at the level of the body and nervous system at https://www.boundaryrewire.com

 
Resources:
Brave Heart, Maria Yellow Horse. "The Historical Trauma Response Among Natives and Its Relationship with Substance Abuse: A Lakota Illustration." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, vol. 35, no. 1, 2003, pp. 7–13.
Brave Heart, Maria Yellow Horse, and Eduardo Duran. "Healing the Soul Wound: Counseling with American Indians and Other Native Peoples." Teachers College Press, 1995.
DeGruy, Joy. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. Joy DeGruy Publications Inc., 2005.
Hobson, J. M., M. D. Moody, R. E. Sorge, and B. R. Goodin. "The Neurobiology of Social Stress Resulting from Racism." Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 17, no. 2, 2022, pp. 181–191.
Hicken, Margaret T., et al. "Everyday Discrimination, Chronic Stress, and Cardiovascular Health." American Journal of Epidemiology, 2014.
Geronimus, Arline T. "Weathering and the Health of African-American Women." Ethnicity & Disease, 2006.
Menakem, Resmaa. My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Central Recovery Press, 2017.
Okun, Tema. "White Supremacy Culture." Dismantling Racism Works, originally published 1999, revised 2021.
Williams, Monnica T. "Racial Trauma: Theory, Research, and Healing." American Psychologist, vol. 74, no. 1, 2019, pp. 33–42.