Podcast · Learning

Trauma Rewired

by Elisabeth Kristof & Jennifer Wallace · English · Learning

The podcast where neuroscience becomes a pathway to greater capacity, deeper connection, and expanded possibility.

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 55 min
Latest: 4 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

4 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

We Are Shaping Each Other: The Science of Co-Regulation

Co-regulation has become almost synonymous with calm: the steady voice, the safe person, the nervous system that helps another nervous system settle. But what if that definition is far too small? We are always co-regulating. The question is: what are we organizing around? In the Season 6 premiere of Trauma Rewired , Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof welcome back applied neurology expert Matt Bush to explore what actually happens when nervous systems interact. Eye contact can prime neural networks involved in learning. The presence of someone we trust can change the brain's response to…

Play episode WhatsApp Download

Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S5 · E60 · 28 Sep 2026 · 55 min

Why Safety Matters More Than Intensity in Psychedelic Healing

Peak somatic experiences can create profound shifts in awareness, emotion, and perception—but intensity alone does not create healing. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore why preparation, nervous system capacity, and integration matter far more than the intensity of any psychedelic or peak somatic experience. Through the lens of Neurosomatic Intelligence (NSI), they explain how psychedelics influence neuroplasticity, emotional processing, interoception, and implicit memory while also addressing the often-overlooked risks for individuals living…
S5 · E60 · 21 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

Why Post-Traumatic Growth Requires Nervous System Reorganization

*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-68a73dcf-4c38-8326-821b-000c1c4d216f-2" data-turn-id-container= "request-68a73dcf-4c38-8326-821b-000c1c4d216f-2" data-testid= "conversation-turn-30" data-turn="assistant"> Post-traumatic growth is often described as finding meaning after adversity, but insight alone does not reorganize a nervous system that is still predicting threat. In this episode,…
S5 · E59 · 14 Sep 2026 · 53 min

How Trauma Creates High Achievers: Fight Response, Perfectionism & Burnout

Success can become a survival strategy when the nervous system learns that achievement equals safety. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by entrepreneur and Brain Based partner Margy Feldhun to explore how unresolved trauma can drive perfectionism, relentless productivity, emotional repression, and eventual burnout. Together, they unpack why so many high achievers feel successful on the outside while feeling disconnected, numb, or chronically stressed on the inside. You'll learn how the fight response can masquerade as ambition, why emotional…
S5 · E58 · 7 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

Why Trauma Changes the Brain: Complex Trauma, Inflammation & Neuroplasticity

Trauma doesn't just shape your memories. It changes how your brain predicts, interprets, and responds to the world. In this episode, Jennifer and Elisabeth sit down with clinical neuroscientist Dr. Mbemba Jabbi to explore the biology of complex trauma through the lens of neurogenetics, affective neuroscience, inflammation, and neuroplasticity. Together they unpack how early adversity reshapes emotional brain networks, why survival adaptations become deeply encoded, and what current neuroscience reveals about the connection between trauma, chronic disease, and healing. From the anterior…
S5 · E57 · 31 Aug 2026 · 49 min

Undiagnosed TBI: Why Brain Injuries Are Often Missed and Misunderstood

Traumatic brain injuries are incredibly common, yet many mild TBIs and concussions go unrecognized. And when the symptoms of a brain injury overlap with the effects of complex trauma, it can become difficult to understand what is actually driving changes in cognition, emotional regulation, behavior, energy, and capacity. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by Amanda Smith, certified brain injury specialist, applied neurology pain and performance coach, NSI educator, and founder of Amanda's Way, to explore the intersection of traumatic brain…
S5 · E56 · 24 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

The Science of Feeling Safe in Your Body: Emotional Regulation and Trauma

Episode Summary Why do you know you're safe logically, but your body still reacts as though you're in danger? Emotional regulation isn't about staying calm, avoiding difficult emotions, or suppressing how you feel. It's about your brain and nervous system working together to accurately interpret what's happening inside and around you so you can respond with flexibility instead of survival. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by NSI educator Matt Bush to explore the neuroscience of emotional regulation through the lens of brain integration,…
S5 · E55 · 17 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

Boundaries, Attachment, and the Fear of Losing Connection

Most people think boundaries are about saying "no," protecting themselves, or keeping others at a distance. But from a nervous system perspective, boundaries are something much deeper. They are not walls that separate us from connection—they are the foundation that makes authentic connection possible. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace, Elisabeth Kristof, and returning guest Margie Faltin explore boundaries through the lens of neuroscience, attachment, co-regulation, and post-traumatic growth. Together they examine why boundaries can feel so threatening after trauma, why receiving someone…
S5 · E54 · 10 Aug 2026 · 58 min

Sexual Fawning: When Survival Gets Mistaken for Intimacy

Why do so many trauma survivors say "yes" when every part of their body is saying "no"? In this deeply compassionate episode of Trauma Rewired , Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by somatic educator Luis Mojica to explore one of the least understood trauma adaptations: sexual fawning . While many people recognize fawning as people-pleasing, sexual fawning often remains hidden beneath shame, confusion, and self-blame. Together, they unpack how the nervous system can mistake compliance for safety, why intimacy can become intertwined with survival, and how early developmental…
S5 · E53 · 3 Aug 2026 · 55 min

The Fawn Response Explained

The fawn response is one of the most common—and most misunderstood—trauma adaptations. While many people recognize it as people-pleasing, saying yes too often, or avoiding conflict, fawning is far more than a personality trait. It is a deeply wired survival response designed to preserve attachment, reduce threat, and maintain connection when the nervous system believes belonging is at risk. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the neuroscience of the fawn response, explaining why so many people learn to abandon themselves in order to maintain…
S5 · E52 · 27 Jul 2026 · 45 min

Why Being Yourself Can Feel Dangerous After Trauma

What if authenticity isn't a personality trait—but a sign of nervous system capacity? Many people believe they struggle to be themselves because they lack confidence, boundaries, or self-awareness. But after trauma, authenticity can feel physiologically dangerous. When the nervous system has learned that honesty risks rejection, conflict, or abandonment, masking, performing, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and emotional editing become intelligent survival strategies. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore why authenticity is one of the clearest…
S5 · E51 · 20 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

Grief Is a Body Experience: The Neuroscience of Loss

Grief is often thought of as an emotional response to death, but grief is much more than that. It is a full-body physiological process that accompanies every meaningful loss, transition, and transformation we experience throughout life. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace, Elisabeth Kristof, and NSI Director of Operations and Continuing Education Piper Rose explore grief through the lens of neuroscience, attachment, and the nervous system. Together, they examine why grief is not something to "get over," but a biological process that reshapes our brain, body, relationships, and identity.…
S5 · E50 · 13 Jul 2026 · 53 min

From Shame to Self Expression: Healing Body Boundaries After Trauma

Childhood sexual trauma doesn't end when the event is over. It can shape the nervous system for decades, influencing boundaries, shame, relationships, chronic pain, dissociation, and the way we experience safety in our own bodies. In this deeply personal episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof are joined by NSI practitioner Lovee Bradley to explore the lasting neurophysiological effects of childhood sexual abuse and the path toward healing. Together they discuss how early violations of body boundaries shape the developing nervous system, why freeze and dissociation become deeply…
S5 · E49 · 6 Jul 2026 · 50 min

How Self-Compassion Changes the Brain and Rewires Shame

Shame is one of the most powerful forces shaping the nervous system. It can quietly influence how we think, relate, perform, heal, and even how we experience ourselves. Yet most approaches treat shame as something to challenge cognitively rather than something that has become embodied through years of protective adaptations. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the neuroscience of self-compassion and why it is not simply "being nice to yourself." Self-compassion is a neurobiological intervention that changes brain function, increases emotional…
S5 · E48 · 29 Jun 2026 · 55 min

Why You Shut Down: Freeze, Flop, and Tonic Immobility Explained

S5 E48 – Why You Shut Down: Freeze, Flop, and Tonic Immobility Explained Have you ever found yourself unable to speak during an important conversation? Staring at your computer for hours without being able to begin? Feeling emotionally numb, disconnected, or frozen even though you desperately want to move forward? These experiences are often misunderstood as laziness, burnout, or a lack of motivation. But they may actually be signs of a nervous system that has learned survival through shutdown. In this episode of Trauma Rewired , Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the freeze…
S5 · E47 · 22 Jun 2026 · 36 min

How Trauma Turns Fear Into Hustle, Overworking & Burnout; The Flight Response.

In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the flight response through the lens of trauma, nervous system regulation, emotional processing, and Neurosomatic Intelligence. The flight response doesn't always look like physically running away. More often, it shows up as chronic busyness, overworking, overtraining, perfectionism, emotional avoidance, and the inability to slow down. What many people call discipline, productivity, or high performance may actually be a nervous system mobilized for survival. Jennifer and Elisabeth unpack how fear becomes wired…
S5 · E46 · 15 Jun 2026 · 54 min

The Fight Trauma Response: Suppressed Anger, Inner Critic & Nervous System Repatterning

Fight response isn't just anger or "being reactive." It's a nervous system adaptation shaped by experiences where safety, protection, repair, or authenticity were missing. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the neuroscience of the fight response, how suppressed anger turns inward as a harsh inner critic or outward as criticism and control, and why the body stays braced for threat long after the danger has passed. This conversation explores parentification, emotional suppression, hypervigilance, chronic stress patterns, and the hidden ways fight…
S5 · E45 · 8 Jun 2026 · 45 min

How Trauma Shapes the Brain, Body, and Nervous System

What if your chronic stress, emotional triggers, anxiety, or exhaustion are not a mindset problem, but signs that your nervous system has learned protective survival patterns? In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Elisabeth Kristof and Jennifer Wallace explore the science of nervous system regulation and unpack a common phrase in trauma spaces: "trauma lives in the body." While the body plays a central role, they discuss how trauma may be more accurately understood as patterns of brain-body communication, interpretation, prediction, and response shaped through experience. Through the lens of…
S5 · E44 · 31 May 2026 · 47 min

When the Nervous System Rewrites Reality: Emotional Flashbacks and CPTSD

You are not overreacting. Your nervous system is not broken. It is doing exactly what it learned to do in environments where threat was the norm. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof close out Season Five with one of the most important and least understood concepts in complex trauma: emotional flashbacks. Not the cinematic kind, not a sudden memory of a specific event, but the quiet, whole-system state shift that can color an entire day, week, or month in dread, loneliness, shame, and the bone-deep certainty that nothing will ever be okay. The episode opens with a reframe…
S5 · E43 · 25 May 2026 · 48 min

When Social Anxiety Is Actually a Complex Trauma Response

Social anxiety is often framed as shyness, insecurity, or fear of judgment. But for many people living with complex trauma, social anxiety is a nervous system output shaped by chronic relational stress, sensory overwhelm, hypervigilance, masking, shame, and learned survival patterns. In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore how complex trauma changes social engagement, why connection can feel exhausting, the role of the inner critic and toxic shame, sensory processing, nervous system overload, people pleasing, social fatigue, masking, emotional…
S5 · E42 · 18 May 2026 · 44 min

Toxic Shame: When Complex Trauma Becomes Your Identity

There is a difference between feeling ashamed and living inside shame. One is a passing signal. The other is the background atmosphere of an entire nervous system. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof go deep on toxic shame as the next distinguishing characteristic of complex trauma in their CPT series. This is one of the most personal episodes they have recorded. Both hosts share what shame actually sounded like at its loudest in their lives, the specific words, the body states, the loops that ran for years before they had any way to interrupt them. And they are honest…
S5 · E41 · 11 May 2026 · 45 min

Complex Trauma and the Inner Critic: Why You're So Hard on Yourself

Everyone has a critical inner voice. But if you grew up in an environment shaped by chronic relational stress, that voice does not just comment. It runs. It loops. It drives your body into a stress state before you have even finished the thought. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the inner critic as the next distinguishing characteristic of complex trauma in their ongoing CPT series. This is not a conversation about toxic positivity or affirmations. It is a precise, neuroscience-grounded look at why the inner critic develops, what it is actually doing in the…
S5 · E40 · 4 May 2026 · 46 min

Why You Leave Yourself: The Complex Trauma Pattern of Self Abandonment

The deepest wound in complex trauma is not emotional intensity. It is the learned loss of connection to yourself. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof open the next chapter of the CPT series by starting where the roots go deepest: self-abandonment. This is the pattern they chose to name first—and intentionally so—because when the nervous system learns that staying connected to the self is unsafe, nearly every other complex trauma response grows from that adaptation. Self-abandonment is not a personality flaw or a lack of self-awareness. It is a body-based survival…
S5 · E39 · 27 Apr 2026 · 46 min

From Complex Trauma to Post-Traumatic Growth: A New Way to Understand CPTSD

You could not think your way out of the pattern. That is not a failure of insight. That is the nature of complex trauma. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof return to one of the most resonant threads in Trauma Rewired's history: complex post-traumatic stress. Several years ago they recorded a series on CPT that changed how thousands of listeners understood themselves. This is the revision. Not a replacement of what came before, but a deepening, one shaped by advances in trauma research, neuroscience, and by the hosts' own continued growth. The reframe at the center of…
S5 · E38 · 20 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

Food Freedom: How Your Nervous System Uses Food for Regulation

You were not failing at your diet. Your nervous system was doing exactly what it learned to do to survive. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof go deep on one of the most personal and most pervasive patterns they have both lived through: the disordered relationship with food and the body. Building on their recent conversation with Luis Mojica, this is the episode where they go further, bringing the neuroscience, the lived experience, and the practical path forward into a single, honest conversation. Both hosts have a long history with binge eating disorder. For decades,…
S5 · E37 · 13 Apr 2026 · 47 min

The Hidden Link Between Trauma, Food, and Your Stress Response

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…
S5 · E36 · 6 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 11 min

The Mother Wound: How It Shapes Your Relationships, Voice, and Emotional Expression

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…
S5 · E35 · 29 Mar 2026 · 57 min

Creativity, Trauma, and the Nervous System: Why Healing Expands What's Possible

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…
S5 · E34 · 23 Mar 2026 · 1 hr

The Nervous System of Leadership: Why Strategy Isn't Enough

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…
S5 · E33 · 16 Mar 2026 · 55 min

Racial Trauma and the Nervous System: How Chronic Stress Shapes Our Bodies and Culture

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…

About Trauma Rewired

The podcast where neuroscience becomes a pathway to greater capacity, deeper connection, and expanded possibility.

Trauma Rewired is a English learning podcast from Elisabeth Kristof & Jennifer Wallace. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Elisabeth Kristof & Jennifer Wallace
Language: English
Category: Learning
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 55 min
Latest episode: 4 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1537602643
Rights: @2020

RSS feed Apple Podcasts

More English learning 6

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.