What if falling apart isn’t failure, but the very gateway to freedom and wholeness? In this episode, I sit down with yoga therapist, writer, and educator Michelle Furey, whose personal and professional journey will challenge the way you think about healing, trauma, and authenticity.
Michelle has spent over 15 years specializing in trauma and complex trauma, working at the intersection of yoga therapy and mental health. After years in pediatric psychiatry at a major hospital, she made a bold leap - leaving the security of institutional life to step into her private practice, her creative gifts, and her own deeper healing journey.
Michelle shares how trauma - both "big T" and "small t" — shapes our nervous systems and our lives, often in ways we don’t fully realize. We unpack what makes complex trauma different and why most of us are carrying invisible relational wounds that deserve attention and care.
Michelle reveals how her own intentional 10-day "falling apart" - meditating, hiking, crying, soaking, connecting - became a profound act of self-compassion, allowing her to soften, release old shame, and come home to herself at a cellular level. Along the way, we discuss the critical role of creativity in trauma healing - from playfulness with bubble wands to art, writing, and self-expression - as a way of reawakening joy and integration.
This conversation isn’t just for yoga teachers or therapists. It’s for anyone who is tired of holding it all together. It’s for anyone ready to lean into their own healing path, embrace their quirks, their humanity, and their joy - and begin to show up authentically, even when it feels messy or scary.
Michelle reminds us that healing is rarely linear. It’s cyclical, layered, and alive. Sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is to stop resisting, allow ourselves to fall apart gently, and trust that this process itself is what makes us whole.
You can learn more about Michelle’s work, pre-order her forthcoming book Yoga Therapy for Complex Trauma, and learn more at Rhythms Yoga Training.
If you’re ready to stop striving for perfection and start reclaiming your wholeness, this episode is for you.
Related episode suggestion:
The Art of Deep Rest – Breaking Free Through Stillness
Get Your Soul's Unique Blueprint at annmariegrace.com/unique
Join the conversation in the Breaking Free, Coming Back to Me Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/breakingfreecomingbacktome