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Episode Highlights:
How trauma can make it hard to go after big dreams
How our big dreams can inspire healing
What is trauma?
Brain- and Body-based healing modalities
The role of feeling our feelings
The stories we tell ourselves and how to rewrite them
Neuroplasticity and the science of memory
In this episode, Analisa invites Marissa Ghavami, Iranian-American, queer artist, advocate and creator to the podcast. This is a rich and vulnerable discussion about Marissa’s experience healing from trauma, and how it has been fundamentally intertwined with their journey towards big, ambitious dreams.
Marissa and Analisa share their thoughts and experiences with “getting comfortable with the discomfort of this business,” and they engage with a wide range of questions:
How can folks healing from trauma engage with their feelings and body sensations safely–something we’re asked to do every day as actors? What’s the difference between brain-based and body-based healing modalities and practices? How does having these skills show up in our daily lives and careers?
It’s a beautiful conversation between two smart and soulful creatives—listen as they marry the ideas of trauma-informed emotional resiliency with the neuroscience behind memory and grief, and share how diving deep into these ideas is further enriched by their spiritual practices. Come back to this episode anytime you need a reminder that the stories we tell ourselves about our feelings can be rewritten!
Topic Shift Time Stamps
0:00 Analisa’s intro and invite to a 1:1 session
4:27 Welcome, Marissa!
6:19 Acknowledging the role trauma plays in taking action towards our souls’ longings
10:22 Marissa’s journey (big dreams, what got in the way, coming back to themself)
17:59 Engaging with trauma and experiencing stress as an artist
20:00 Brain- and body-based healing modalities: going beyond “just change your mindset”
25:01 Fawn responses: your “survival-brain” is a protector
28:30 “What if we allowed ourselves to feel whatever we were feeling, fully?”
33:33 Our feelings vs the stories we tell about them (and what we make them mean)
36:24 “It’s not magical thinking – it’s neuroscience!!”
38:40 Having a spiritual practice
43:51 Brain science! Memory, grief, and trauma
50:26 An example: Marissa’s current process for managing a trauma response
54:40 Post-traumatic growth – being the author of your own story
56:16 “This skill is needed for the craft of acting” - feeling deeply and creating space for healing
Soul Nourishment mentioned in this episode:
A Balancing Act is hosted by Analisa Leaming, Broadway actor + soulful coach for creatives. This season is designed to inspire performers and creatives to journey towards their dreams with more soul and less attachment to outcomes and society's definitions of success.