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Laura | Moving Stuck Emotions & Inner Child Work

@thelaurawoodside

6.6K

followers

2817

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nervous system regulation
inner child + somatic work
what the church got wrong about women ❤️‍🩹
free resources here ⬇️

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Sharing part of our current reality with the world is scary, but I've witnessed so much support and community come from the online space, and I'm hoping to find that here.

Thank you for being here. ♥️ by @thelaurawoodside

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a month ago

“Biblical womanhood” has a birthday. And it’s younger than most of your parents. 🎂

Historian Beth Allison Barr (a lifelong Baptist, btw) spent her career tracing where these teachings actually came from — and it’s not the early church. It’s Victorian gender roles + 1970s evangelical backlash, rebranded as “God’s design.”

This series is for every woman who was handed a role instead of a self.

Part 2 drops next: the Proverbs 31 wife was a BUSINESSWOMAN.

Was “biblical womanhood” part of your upbringing? Tell me below. 👇
#deconstruction #exvangelical #biblicalwomanhood by @thelaurawoodside

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3 months ago

anxiety living in your STOMACH?

tight knot. nausea. butterflies that won't quit.

the 3-step combo that actually works:

🟣 cold water on wrists for 20 seconds (dive reflex)
🟣 slow exhale through pursed lips (like you’re blowing out a candle), count of 4 (longer than inhale)
🟣 press tongue to roof of mouth and hold (calms trigeminal nerve)

do all three together. 60 seconds total. stomach should release within 90. Rinse and repeat a few times. If that doesn’t help, try the free resource in my bio to see if one of my other tricks actually do help.

All of these signal “safety” to your brain - that’s why we call them safety signals.

your body has been telling you something's wrong. these techniques tell it: "you're safe, you can stand down.”

save this for the next stomach-anxiety moment.

#nervoussystemregulation #vagusnerve #anxietyhelp #physicalsymptomanxiety by @thelaurawoodside

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4 months ago

there is a text meant to be read out loud to someone who has already died.

the bardo thodol. it maps what you will see. clear light first. then peaceful figures. then genuinely terrifying ones.

and the instruction never changes. these are projections of your own mind. do not flee. recognize them.

i think about that one a lot. and not only about dying.

what does your mind project that you keep falling for? mine is that being needed and being loved are the same thing. 🦉

#bookofthedead #bardothodol #exvangelical by @thelaurawoodside

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4 days ago

Shawn update! Been a little quiet on that front because he's been at home, mostly fatigued and trying to rest and sleep when he can. Yay for him not being in the hospital!

It's been one week since his first chemotherapy infusion. The night of and the following day were pretty solid days for him, and the fatigue really set in on Saturday. Shawn's mom has been incredible with helping Shawn get to appointments and managing so many things (big shout out to the ex-MIL who is still part of my family ❤️ )

Kara and I both have been able to spend some extra time with him this last week, including a couple nature walks, and we've got a family game & movie night planned this weekend! 🥳🍿 maybe they'll even be game for recording a funny video or 2 🤪🤪

In case you missed it... part 2 of me & Shawn's chat on my podcast is live and available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and YouTube (comment podcast and I'll send you the link) we talk about his symptoms leading up to diagnosis, what it's been like so far and how we told our daughter. It's heavy, so be mindful of your own headspace when listening 🫶🏻 we're planning to record another episode this weekend which will be much lighter (and probably with some good laughs! 😂)

There are a few of his original art pieces that we have put on the shop (link in bio) @heldtogether.art
Kara has made a few things to add to the fundraiser too, and those will be posted this weekend ❤️

He's officially applied for disability but unsure about timing on when that's coming in. There are also a few other social services (cancer specific) he's applied for. Thankful for programs like those that do exist.

So unbelievably grateful for the community support we have received so far! Still got a bit to go on the goal, and anything at all helps 🖤

Comment "donate" and I'll send the gofund me link to your DMs ❤️

Comment "shop" and I'll send you the link to the art shop on my website

Okay that's all for now. Love you, bye! ❤️ by @thelaurawoodside

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2 days ago

Cancer comes with bills nobody warns you about. I put together a free spreadsheet with 100+ grants, funds and programs that help patients and families pay for rent, gas, copays, travel and more. It's organized by cancer type, and every row has the requirements and the link to apply.

💬 Comment RESEARCH and I'll send it to you (make sure you're following so it reaches your inbox)

📤 Send this to someone who needs it

Programs change often, so always check each one's site before you apply. Updated October 2026.

#cancersupport #cancerresources #coloncancer by @thelaurawoodside

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6 days ago

In part one of the conversation with my ex on my podcast, we talked about addiction, recovery, the lying, codependency, and other fun topics.

A few of my beliefs:
1. Addiction is a disease.
2. Recovery is possible.
3. To get clean and stay clean - changing your people, places and things is imperative to your success
4. Many neurodivergent folks who have been raw dogging life end up with an addiction to SOMETHING (or many things) because we're always chasing that dopamine.
5. Medically assisted treatment or MAT saves lives
6. Watching Shawn get off Benzos was worse than opiates

If you want to listen to the full episode, it's available at the 🔗 in my bio ♥️

Okay love you byeeeee 😘 by @thelaurawoodside

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5 days ago

early detection saves lives! Getting my labs done today so I'll be prepared for my annual physical next week. Physical health is as important as mental health. Looking forward to my visit with my therapist this afternoon because ya gorl has been riding the struggle bus mentally. But we're still alive and kicking! 😘 love you byeeeee by @thelaurawoodside

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11 days ago

A nun went on preaching tours, corrected emperors, wrote medical textbooks, and defied an interdict... in the 1100s. Why did you learn about her here and not in church? 🕯️

That question isn't rhetorical. Junia was renamed. Phoebe was retranslated. Priscilla was reordered. Hildegard didn't need any of that... her erasure was simpler. Omission. You can't cite a woman you've never heard of.

And here's the receipt that ends the debate: in 2012 the Catholic Church named her a Doctor of the Church. One of FOUR women ever. That title means her teaching is authoritative for the whole church. The institution didn't just tolerate Hildegard... it eventually certified her as everyone's teacher.

Medieval Christianity had room for her. Somehow 1987 didn't.

Series finale next week and it's the biggest one: Mary Magdalene. The smear, the pope who started it, and the Vatican correction almost nobody's pastor mentioned.

📚 Sources: Scivias · Hildegard's collected letters · 2012 canonization + Doctor of the Church proclamation · Beth Allison Barr, The Making of Biblical Womanhood

#hildegardofbingen #womenthechurcherased #exvangelical by @thelaurawoodside

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6 days ago

not just "something happens after you die."

turn by turn directions. what you will see. what will try to stop you. what to say back to it.

egypt did it. tibet did it. greece did it. medieval christians did it.

unconnected cultures. same architecture. because we do not picture dying as stopping. we picture it as traveling. and travelers get lost.

is there a death practice in your family you still do, even if you do not believe the thing behind it? 🦉

#whattheytoldyouaboutdying #deconstruction #exvangelical by @thelaurawoodside

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12 days ago

the afterlife most christians picture is from plato.

body as prison. soul as the real you. death as release. that is the phaedo, not the gospels.

two different pictures got merged over centuries and most of us were handed the merged version with no seam showing.

which is how you end up at a funeral where someone reads a resurrection text and then says he is in heaven right now. and nobody notices those are two different claims.

have you heard both at the same funeral? i have. more than once. 🦉

#religioustrauma #deconstruction #socrates by @thelaurawoodside

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14 days ago

he is not describing your soul floating up to heaven.

he is describing a corpse getting rebuilt.

1 corinthians 15. physical. bodily. and he is arguing against the people who wanted the spiritual-only version.

so where did the floating soul picture come from? next video.

which one were you actually taught in church? almost everyone says soul goes to heaven. the creeds say bodies get raised. 🦉

#religiousdeconstruction #1corinthians #paultheapostle by @thelaurawoodside

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16 days ago