Podcast Summary: Adult Child – SHITSHOW SATURDAY #171
Episode Title: What Breathe To Heal Broke Open Pt. 2
Host: Andrea
Air Date: September 27, 2025
Theme: Healing Childhood Dysfunction Through Breathwork, Somatic Practice & Parts Work
Episode Overview
This episode is a raw, vulnerable debrief from participants of the recent "Breathe to Heal" workshop, guided by Andrea and Teresa. The focus is on the impact of growing up in dysfunctional families and integrative methods—including breathwork, somatic practices, and parts work—that help individuals process codependency, trauma, addiction, and toxic shame. The conversation highlights participant journeys: from self-discovery to practical healing shifts and insights gained through this body-focused approach.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Introduction to the Workshop & Healing Approach
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[01:45] Andrea (Host): Announces the next "Breathe to Heal" round will focus on toxic shame—with sessions shifting to Saturdays for wider accessibility.
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Details the multi-modal approach:
- Breathwork: Downshifts the nervous system to create safety in the body.
- Somatic Practice: Helps move stuck or "frozen" emotions and shame.
- Parts Work: Connects with inner voices (the critic, pleaser, avoider, etc.) and helps shift their roles.
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Emphasizes the safety of the group “container”—no need to be polished or perfect, just show up “as your damn self.”
“All you have to do is show up exactly as you are, as your damn self. That's the assignment. That's the only one.”
— Andrea, [03:50]
2. Host & Facilitator Insights: Personal Reflections
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[05:15] Andrea: Shares her struggle with consistency in checking in on her “parts” and how this mirrors inconsistent parental relationships.
- Noting somatic anxiety in her legs, almost “like snakes…like the flight response.”
- Recognizes a “gatekeeper part” blocking emotional connection with other parts.
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Reflects on her growth as a facilitator—building trust in herself through completing and marketing the workshop.
“How can [my parts] trust me if I’m not consistently showing up for them? ... That inconsistency is what was modeled to me, you know, and so it makes sense.”
— Andrea, [06:01] -
[08:29] Teresa (Co-Facilitator): Shares the powerful transformations witnessed in participants—where for the first time, many connect with their inner child on a deep, tangible level.
- Stresses the full-spectrum healing when breathwork, parts work, and somatic release are combined.
“Through breath work and...parts work as well... it all coming together is like a full spectrum healing of the entire person. And it's with your breath.”
— Teresa, [08:42]
3. Participant Stories: Breakthroughs & Key Moments
Emotional Release & Inner Child Connection
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[10:00] Participant: Initially hesitant to join (“fear of committing...leading up to my son’s wedding”) but found immense value in clearing emotional baggage and using tools like conscious breathing and the Ho‘oponopono prayer.
- Recounts a pivotal 1:1 session with Teresa dealing with childhood sexual abuse, visualizing bodily sensations (“anvil on my chest...constriction in my throat...like slime”) leading to release.
- Recognizes masking behaviors developed from family pressures and describes feeling freer since her parents’ passing.
“She got me to talk about where I felt it in my body. She got me to picture it all and walk through it... I had such a release of my childhood abuse situation... It was so healing and powerful.”
— Participant, [13:00]
Awareness Bleeding Into Daily Life
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[15:33] Participant 1: Self-admittedly “the worst patient” regarding therapy assignments, but found herself doing the breathwork and noticing its effects in daily interactions.
- Becomes more aware of others’ and her own breathing patterns, especially in stressful work environments.
- Describes a moment of walking out of a tense situation, breathing deeply, and returning with calmness.
- Relays family reconnection coinciding with her personal work, attributing positive change to energy shifts.
“When I just get up and I walk out of the room... take a deep breath, and walk back in and feel a lot more relaxed.”
— Participant 1, [17:11]
Reawakening Bodily Signals & Self-Care
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[21:09] Participant 2: Realizes how “shut down” she’d become through living in a toxic relationship; breathwork helps her reconnect to bodily needs and autonomy.
- Describes efforts to do things for herself, like volunteering at a farm, despite internalized guilt.
- Compares the healing process to peeling back an onion—ongoing, with new layers being discovered.
“It's kind of like being awake. I was not as awake as I thought I was for a good while there.”
— Participant 2, [22:28]
Routine, Boundaries & Ho’oponopono Prayer
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[25:48] Participant 3: Shares improvements in sticking to commitments, using breathing checks during the day to ground herself, and how the Ho‘oponopono prayer has helped her set boundaries and process changing friendships.
“That prayer gave me exactly what I needed at that time to just...hold my boundary and acknowledge my part in it, acknowledge the lesson...and, you know, let it go.”
— Participant 3, [26:43]
Authenticity & Trauma-Informed Safety
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[28:58] Participant 4: Praises Teresa’s authentic leadership and trauma-informed approach, contrasting it favorably with other programs or facilitators who push too fast or are inadvertently retraumatizing.
- Shares that major adult life stressors (family illness, moving, partner’s mental health struggles) made the support structure of the workshop invaluable.
- Advises first-timers to embrace the “surprise” of the emotional release breathwork, describing the transformation as “almost a spiritual experience.”
“One of my great joys... was knowing what was coming for people... to see everybody do the emotional release breathwork and then come back on the screen and be, like, transformed and changed, like they had experienced something for the first time.”
— Participant 4, [33:39]
Empowerment & Ownership of Healing
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[35:09] Participant 5: Newly joined, affirms the power of empowerment and self-responsibility.
- Expresses that previous healing efforts (e.g., talk therapy) “made sense but never clicked.”
- Breathwork and parts work have allowed for a new level of control and self-ownership of the healing process.
“It's the first time I've actually felt empowered and in control of my healing... chewing [my parts] away hasn't done anything for me.”
— Participant 5, [36:30]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
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“It's always in my legs...like snakes. Electricity that I just... this anxiety that I just feel in my legs...it feels like the flight response. Right? That's what it feels like. It feels like I just want to run away from myself.”
— Andrea, [06:47] -
“You’re on a high speed highway to recovery because you're working the program all the time.”
— Participant (on Andrea’s dedication), [11:08] -
“I'm really good at wearing masks. I've done it my whole life...once my parents died, it's like this lid has been lifted off of my feelings and voice and all kinds of stuff.”
— Participant, [13:37] -
“The more I've done [emotional release breathwork], the more intense and deep and powerful...when I'm really stuck with a therapeutic question, if I do one of those breathwork sessions, it comes clear.”
— Participant 4, [34:50]
Important Timestamps
- [01:45] – Andrea introduces the Breathe to Heal workshop focus and philosophy.
- [05:15] – Andrea’s personal practice, struggles with consistency and parallels to childhood.
- [08:29] – Teresa’s reflection on full-spectrum healing and gratitude.
- [10:00-15:30] – Deeply personal participant shares: working through childhood abuse, the healing process.
- [17:11] – Participant describes applying breathwork to workplace tension.
- [21:09] – Participant discusses reconnection to body/self post-toxic relationship.
- [25:48] – Ho‘oponopono prayer as a tool for boundaries and letting go.
- [28:58] – Participant commends authentic, trauma-informed facilitation; emotional release described as “almost a spiritual experience.”
- [35:09] – New member’s empowerment in self-directed healing.
Overall Tone & Takeaways
The atmosphere is candid, supportive, and peppered with humor and expletives in Andrea’s signature style, making the work approachable and authentic. Participants echo gratitude for the facilitators, the safety of the space, and the practical tools gained. The episode is an ode to the messy, ongoing nature of healing from complex trauma—finding hope and progress through breath, body, and honest community.
For more information or to connect, find Andrea at:
Recommended listening: Start from Episode 1 for full story arcs and context.