Have you ever left a therapy session feeling unseen or unheard? For trauma survivors, that dynamic can end up repeating the very pattern that caused the harm in the first place. In this episode, Riva shares a personal story about an experience with a psychologist, then breaks down the person-centered therapeutic approach why it works for trauma survivors specifically, and why so much of modern therapy misses this piece entirely.

In This Episode

❤️‍🩹 Riva’s personal experience with a psychologist that shaped how she thinks about therapy

❤️‍🩹 What the person-centered approach actually is, and the belief at its foundation

❤️‍🩹Why trauma survivors specifically need their choice and agency handed back to them

❤️‍🩹How Western culture’s “just tell me what to do” conditioning can work against real healing

and more!

Resources
🌹 Go Deeper on Substack

Want more on this topic? Head over to Substack for a deeper, more personal dive into this teaching, including journal prompts and a guided meditation to help you work with it, not just think about it.

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:

• Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book Here
• 1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn More
• Meditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen Here
• Watch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch Here

Follow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

If you’ve ever finished your bleed and expected to feel that fresh, energized, ready-to-go feeling and instead found yourself anxious, tender, restless, or scattered, this episode is for you. The follicular phase and waxing moon have a reputation for being purely good energy. But that’s not the whole story. In this episode, Riva gets honest about the shadow side of the inner spring, what’s actually happening in the body and nervous system during this time, and three things that have genuinely helped her tend to herself here.

In this episode, you’ll explore:

🌒 Why the highlight reel version of the follicular phase doesn’t tell the whole story and why so many women feel let down by their inner spring

🌒 The connection between trauma, the nervous system, and follicular phase anxiety, and what the research actually shows about this phase for women with complicated childhoods

🌒 Three shadow aspects of the waxing moon and follicular phase: anxiety, restlessness and impatience, and scattered energy that leads to burnout before the cycle even peaks

🌒 Why rising estrogen can amplify unprocessed material from early childhood and what that means for your healing journey

🌒 Three things that have helped Riva most

And more.

Resources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼

🌿 Zoe Griffin — Acupuncture — Riva’s acupuncturist here in Sacramento; highly recommended for working with the wood element and bringing balance to this phase of your cycle

📩 Book Your Intake Call — Riva currently has space for three 1:1 clients before the end of the year; if you’re ready to go deeper with your cycle awareness, this is your next step

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:

• Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book Here
• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here
• 1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn More
• Meditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen Here
• Watch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch Here

Follow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

If you’ve been feeling unusually tired, a little flat, or like you just can’t seem to generate the energy you normally have, you are not imagining it. In this week’s Cycle Sync episode, Riva gets honest about what’s actually behind that end-of-year exhaustion, why the new moon in Libra season tends to amplify it, and three grounded, practical ways to actually restore your energy this week (not push through it).

In this episode, you’ll explore:

🌑 Why so many women are feeling depleted right now and how the new moon, autumn, and ten months of output are all converging at once

🌑 The difference between resting and actually restoring and why Netflix on the couch might not be giving your nervous system what it truly needs

🌑 The science of rest: why the female body needs more sleep than we’re typically told, and what happens to our healing when we don’t get it

🌑 What regenerative activities are and how to find the ones that actually rebuild your energy rather than just pass the time

🌑 Why this new moon and Venus retrograde season is such a powerful time to reflect, reassess, and distill down to what actually matters most

And more.

Resources to Support You This Week 🌹🤲🏼

⭐ If today’s episode resonated with you, the best way to support the show is to leave a five-star rating and review or share it with a friend. It truly makes a difference in helping this work reach more women.

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:

• Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book Here
• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here
• 1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn More
• Meditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen Here
• Watch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch Here

Follow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

The waning moon is here, and so is autumn, here in the Northern Hemisphere. And if you've been feeling the pull to slow down, let go, and move a little differently than you have been, your body and the season are telling you something worth listening to. In this episode, Riva shares three honest, grounded invitations for creating more balance during the waning moon and premenstrual phase, woven together with some real and personal updates about what letting go is looking like in her own life right now.

In this episode, you'll explore:

🍂 Why the waning moon and premenstrual phase are one of the biggest missed opportunities for balance and why our culture makes it so hard to honor them

🍂 The physiological truth about why our capacity genuinely changes during this phase, and why pushing through creates more friction than flow

🍂 What letting go actually looks like in practice, including some real changes coming to the show and why Riva is making them

🍂 How slowing down can be as simple as a slow morning, a leisurely breakfast, or brushing your teeth with a little less urgency

🍂 Why a gratitude and celebrations list is one of the most powerful tools for the premenstrual phase — and how weaving in pleasure helps regulate your nervous system during this time

And more.

Resources to Support You This Week 🤲🏼🌹

🍂 Autumn Equinox Episode — Healing Her Story Podcast — includes a somatic practice to support you in slowing down this season

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:

• Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book Here
• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here
• 1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn More
• Meditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen Here
• Watch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch Here

Follow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

This week's Healing Her Story episode welcomes a guest whose work sits right at the intersection of nervous system science, energy medicine, and radical self-love.

Veronica Kelly is a liberation strategist and EFT practitioner based in Austin, helping people move through fear and anxiety by creating safety in the body and the nervous system. Her own path — shaped by early abandonment, years of repeating the same patterns in relationships and money, and a pivotal moment watching a comedy show about her own dating life — is what led her here.

In this episode Riva and Veronica explore EFT, also known as Emotional Freedom Technique, and why it creates change that talk therapy alone often cannot reach. They also do a full guided tapping practice together, which you are welcome to tap along with.

She covers:

Why our patterns are not personal failures but biochemical responses formed in the theta brainwave state of ages zero to six

What EFT actually does — how tapping on meridian points disrupts the electrical pulse of a thought pattern and creates space for a new one

Why affirmations alone often backfire and how to use filler language that actually lands in the nervous system

The difference between thinking your way into healing and feeling your way there — why the heart generates up to 100 times more energy than the brain into your field

Why self-love starts with compassion for your defense mechanisms not by overriding them

The guided tapping practice — tap along as Riva and Veronica move through a full round on self-love, self-acceptance, and letting yourself off the hook

Safety is the special sauce of healing.

Connect with Veronica Kelly:

• HeartMath Research — the science behind the heart's electromagnetic field referenced in this episode
• Tap with Veronica on YouTube — full moon EFT ceremonies and tapping practices every month
• Follow on Instagram — find her link tree for all offerings
• 21-Day Unexpected Income Abundance Course — attune your energy to financial abundance with daily EFT
• Finally Breaking Free Summit — Veronica's free five-day online summit happening October 12th through 16th. Five days of daily tapping plus guest speakers. Recordings available for all time zones.

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:

• Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book Here
• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here
• 1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn More
• Meditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen Here
• Watch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch Here

Follow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

We are just on the tail end of the full moon, and with Libra season officially here and fall arriving at the same time, there is a lot of shifting happening all at once. This week's Cycle Sync episode is an invitation to pause, feel into where you actually are, and use this post-peak energy intentionally. Riva shares four ways to create more balance and harmony after the full moon, including one rooted in ancient elemental wisdom that just might be the most effective thing you try this week.

In this episode, you'll explore:

🌕 Why balance after the full moon isn't always about slowing down and when channeling your active energy is actually the most regulating thing you can do

🌕 The element associated with the full moon and how working with its opposite can shift your nervous system in a way that feels almost immediate

🌕 How expressive art (even just scribbling with crayons) can help you see and understand your inner experience in a way that creates real settling

🌕 The archetype of the mother and what it means to care, for yourself first, and then for the people and the world around you

🌕 A real-life story from the classroom that is a quiet reminder of how much a little care can change someone's entire experience

And more.

Ready to Go Deeper?
🌹🤲🏼

If this work is resonating and you're ready to move beyond just receiving the information, if you want the felt sense of truly living in harmony with your cycle, the next step is to book your Somatic Assessment & Care Planning Session.

This is the entry point into Synchronize, Riva's menstrual cycle coaching program, where you'll get personalized support for understanding and reclaiming every phase of your cycle. In your session, you'll share what's coming up for you, set an intention, and leave with a concrete plan, whether or not you choose to move forward into the program.

📩 Book Your Somatic Assessment & Care Planning Session

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:

• Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book Here
• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here
• 1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn More
• Meditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen Here
• Watch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch Here

Follow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

This week's Healing Her Story episode answers one of the most searched questions about relationships and the menstrual cycle.

Why do I always fight with my partner right before my period?

In this solo episode Riva walks through all four phases of the menstrual cycle through the lens of relationships — sharing her own patterns, the research behind them, and why understanding these rhythms changes everything about how we show up with the people we love.

She covers:

The bleeding time — why this is a relationship with yourself first, and what happens when you skip that

The follicular phase — why this is the most natural window for deeper connection with other women, new friendships, and more playful energy with your partner

Ovulation — why emotional intimacy, heartfelt connection, and the hard conversations you've been avoiding might all belong here

The premenstrual phase — why the rage is real, why it's often about so much more than the dishes in the sink, and why Riva actually sees this rawness as a gift

She also touches on the role of oxytocin as the female nervous system's primary regulator, why women need to cross-pollinate like we did in village life, and what it means when the premenstrual time brings things to the surface that we've been quietly carrying all cycle.

Next time you get into an argument with your partner, check where you are in your cycle.

Ready to go deeper with your cycle?

Synchronize — Menstrual Cycle Coaching — Riva's four-month somatic menstrual cycle coaching package. A few spots remaining for 2026. The first step is booking your Somatic Assessment and Care Planning Session. Book Here

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:

• Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book Here
• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here
• 1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn More
• Meditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen Here
• Watch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch Here

Follow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.

This one is different.

Less information, less teaching, more feeling.

This bonus episode is an experiential somatic attunement practice for the Autumn Equinox, that perfect point of balance between light and dark, expansion and contraction, summer and the slowdown ahead.

It is designed to be practiced along with, not just listened to. Find a comfortable place, close your eyes if that feels right, and let yourself drop in.

Through breath, bilateral stimulation, and centering, this practice gently attunes you to autumn's slower pace, not by forcing, but by softening into what already knows.

Most of the friction we experience in the cycle comes from our resistance to what is.

Join the Monthly Attunement Call 🌹

A new monthly live Zoom space, less insight, more embodied experience. More nervous system. More body.

First gathering: Thursday, September 24th at 6 PM PT

🔗 Click here to register

Send us Fan Mail

Our intro and outro song, Reclamation (Reborn), is an anthem of remembering.

This song was created as a companion for the healing journey, especially for women reclaiming their voices, their rhythms, and their belonging in a world shaped by patriarchy.

You’re invited to listen, feel, and let the music meet you wherever you are.

Looking for support? Here's how to go deeper:

• Book a Somatic Assessment: Your 75-min 1:1 virtual session to explore what your body is holding and shape a personalized care plan. Book Here
• Free Trauma Recovery Mini-Course: A self-guided intro to trauma recovery and nervous system care. Download Here
• 1:1 and Group Support: Virtual and in-person offerings. Learn More
• Meditations on Insight Timer: Guided practices for nervous system regulation. Listen Here
• Watch Reclamation: A music video and expressive arts project. Watch Here

Follow on Instagram: @healingherstorypodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Email riva@windsofchangesac.com or DM @healingherstorypodcast on Instagram.