This is not a podcast for the mainstream. This is for the silenced, the cast out, and those whose stories never made the headlines. A Groundbreaking Trauma Justice Podcast from a Genocide Survivor and Somatic Therapist.
Deeply embodied, politically urgent, and spiritually grounded space led by a therapist who survived war and genocide herself. Ana Mael is not just talking about trauma—she has lived it, survived it, and now guides others through it with radical clarity and compassion.
This podcast is a revolution in trauma conversations: it moves beyond mindset tips and breathwork into trauma justice, relational repair, and systemic truth-telling. Each episode invites listeners to stop healing in isolation—and to begin naming, reclaiming, and rising from what hurt them.
Exiled and Rising is for survivors of war, systemic injustice, and complex trauma—especially those living in exile from land, identity, or community.
With raw truth and radical tenderness, Ana Mael offers unfiltered guidance on how to heal when you’ve been cut off—literally or metaphorically—from your home, safety, or sense of self and how to raise up and call for justice.
“This podcast is not about surface-level healing. We are not fluffing the feathers or shaking the crystals here.”
No glamour edits. No AI voices. Just real voice, lived experience, and trauma-focused truth.
Social and Cultural Relevance:
Ana’s work is a mirror for our time. In a global climate of rising authoritarianism, censorship, and the silencing of marginalized voices, this podcast becomes both a somatic protest and a innate act of resistance.
“If you have been silenced… Welcome.”
Ana gives voice to the body in a time when speech itself is policed. This is especially potent for:
Activists and whistleblowers
Immigrants and undocumented individuals
Survivors of trauma who were never given words for what they endured
A deep-dive podcast blending somatic healing expertise, micro-teachings, and lived survivor experience. Each episode distills trauma recovery, nervous system insights, and political consciousness into guidance that helps you reclaim power, safety, and self.
This Podcast Is a Home For:
Overfunctioning Immigrants, Exiled & Displaced – Those who overwork to prove worth
Survivors of War, Genocide, & Systemic Oppression – Healing from identity loss and rebuilding life
Refugees, Stateless, Undocumented People – Navigating erasure and exile
Children of Exiled or Immigrant Parents – Carrying generational wounds
Those Ostracized from Family or Church – For who they are, what they believe, or how they love
Those Seeking Somatic Recovery – Learning to regulate and reconnect with the body
Anyone Ready to Resist Spiritual Bypassing – And choose embodied, justice-based healing
What It Offers:
Real Stories of Survival & Healing – From Ana’s own war journals to survivor interviews
Expert Somatic & Trauma Recovery Insights – Practical tools for regulation and healing
Space for the Cast Out – Centering those excluded from mainstream healing narratives
Healing as Activism – Moving from survival to embodiment, from harm to advocacy
Radical Human Truth – With no scripts, no glamour edits, no “fixing”—only truth
Premium Membership – What You Get in the Private Community
Take your healing deeper with exclusive, high-value content:
Extended, Deep-Dive Episodes – Personal stories and expert somatic breakdowns
Therapy-Based Takeaways – Direct applications for therapy, journaling, and integration
Keynotes & Summaries – Distilled insights to anchor your healing
Full Transcripts – For reflection, accessibility, and in-depth study
Bite-Sized Somatic Lessons – Micro-practices for nervous system healing
Science of Trauma – Research-backed techniques to help reset your body’s stress response
Listener Q&A + Expert Sessions – Ask Ana your questions and receive trauma-informed answers
Ad-Free Listening – No filler, no distractions, just healing and clarity
Meet Your Host: Ana Mael
Ana Mael is a genocide and war survivor, somatic therapist, and founder of the Somatic Trauma Recovery Center. She has dedicated her life’s work to helping survivors of war, forced displacement, systemic oppression, and complex trauma reclaim their identity, dignity, and self-trust.
As a bestselling author, Ana’s book, The Trauma We Don’t Talk About, became a #1 bestseller in over 10 categories, including Mental Health, Personal Testimonies, and Memoirs.
Based in Toronto, Canada, Ana works directly with clients and educates mental health professionals and counselors on the complexities of displacement, exile, and war trauma recovery. She leads training programs, provides trauma-informed therapy, and conducts pioneering research to bridge the gap between somatic therapy and global crisis trauma care.
"From Trauma to Resilience. From Wounds to Resistance."
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for mental health treatment or doctor care and advise. Please consult your mental health and/or medical care provider for individualized care.
All content for Exiled & Rising: Trauma Recovery & Somatic Healing is the property of Ana Mael and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
This is not a podcast for the mainstream. This is for the silenced, the cast out, and those whose stories never made the headlines. A Groundbreaking Trauma Justice Podcast from a Genocide Survivor and Somatic Therapist.
Deeply embodied, politically urgent, and spiritually grounded space led by a therapist who survived war and genocide herself. Ana Mael is not just talking about trauma—she has lived it, survived it, and now guides others through it with radical clarity and compassion.
This podcast is a revolution in trauma conversations: it moves beyond mindset tips and breathwork into trauma justice, relational repair, and systemic truth-telling. Each episode invites listeners to stop healing in isolation—and to begin naming, reclaiming, and rising from what hurt them.
Exiled and Rising is for survivors of war, systemic injustice, and complex trauma—especially those living in exile from land, identity, or community.
With raw truth and radical tenderness, Ana Mael offers unfiltered guidance on how to heal when you’ve been cut off—literally or metaphorically—from your home, safety, or sense of self and how to raise up and call for justice.
“This podcast is not about surface-level healing. We are not fluffing the feathers or shaking the crystals here.”
No glamour edits. No AI voices. Just real voice, lived experience, and trauma-focused truth.
Social and Cultural Relevance:
Ana’s work is a mirror for our time. In a global climate of rising authoritarianism, censorship, and the silencing of marginalized voices, this podcast becomes both a somatic protest and a innate act of resistance.
“If you have been silenced… Welcome.”
Ana gives voice to the body in a time when speech itself is policed. This is especially potent for:
Activists and whistleblowers
Immigrants and undocumented individuals
Survivors of trauma who were never given words for what they endured
A deep-dive podcast blending somatic healing expertise, micro-teachings, and lived survivor experience. Each episode distills trauma recovery, nervous system insights, and political consciousness into guidance that helps you reclaim power, safety, and self.
This Podcast Is a Home For:
Overfunctioning Immigrants, Exiled & Displaced – Those who overwork to prove worth
Survivors of War, Genocide, & Systemic Oppression – Healing from identity loss and rebuilding life
Refugees, Stateless, Undocumented People – Navigating erasure and exile
Children of Exiled or Immigrant Parents – Carrying generational wounds
Those Ostracized from Family or Church – For who they are, what they believe, or how they love
Those Seeking Somatic Recovery – Learning to regulate and reconnect with the body
Anyone Ready to Resist Spiritual Bypassing – And choose embodied, justice-based healing
What It Offers:
Real Stories of Survival & Healing – From Ana’s own war journals to survivor interviews
Expert Somatic & Trauma Recovery Insights – Practical tools for regulation and healing
Space for the Cast Out – Centering those excluded from mainstream healing narratives
Healing as Activism – Moving from survival to embodiment, from harm to advocacy
Radical Human Truth – With no scripts, no glamour edits, no “fixing”—only truth
Premium Membership – What You Get in the Private Community
Take your healing deeper with exclusive, high-value content:
Extended, Deep-Dive Episodes – Personal stories and expert somatic breakdowns
Therapy-Based Takeaways – Direct applications for therapy, journaling, and integration
Keynotes & Summaries – Distilled insights to anchor your healing
Full Transcripts – For reflection, accessibility, and in-depth study
Bite-Sized Somatic Lessons – Micro-practices for nervous system healing
Science of Trauma – Research-backed techniques to help reset your body’s stress response
Listener Q&A + Expert Sessions – Ask Ana your questions and receive trauma-informed answers
Ad-Free Listening – No filler, no distractions, just healing and clarity
Meet Your Host: Ana Mael
Ana Mael is a genocide and war survivor, somatic therapist, and founder of the Somatic Trauma Recovery Center. She has dedicated her life’s work to helping survivors of war, forced displacement, systemic oppression, and complex trauma reclaim their identity, dignity, and self-trust.
As a bestselling author, Ana’s book, The Trauma We Don’t Talk About, became a #1 bestseller in over 10 categories, including Mental Health, Personal Testimonies, and Memoirs.
Based in Toronto, Canada, Ana works directly with clients and educates mental health professionals and counselors on the complexities of displacement, exile, and war trauma recovery. She leads training programs, provides trauma-informed therapy, and conducts pioneering research to bridge the gap between somatic therapy and global crisis trauma care.
"From Trauma to Resilience. From Wounds to Resistance."
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for mental health treatment or doctor care and advise. Please consult your mental health and/or medical care provider for individualized care.
Pleasure Is Shame: How Trauma Teaches You to Fear Joy
Ana teaches that shame around pleasure is not morality — it’s trauma. Reclaiming joy is not betrayal of your past but devotion to your life.
Ana Mael’s “Pleasure Is Shame” — one of her most layered and psychologically rich pieces, combining trauma theory, embodiment, and intergenerational survival dynamics.
ANA TEACHINGS & PROGRAMS
https://exiledandrising.mykajabi.com/store
Get the Book: The Trauma We Don't Talk About https://amzn.to/41SjKKL
❤️ Please donate
This podcast is independently run. No production teams. Fancy edits. Only a somatic education, truth & storytelling.
https://buy.stripe.com/3cscOqbbXfZp0sU7ss
_____________________________________
Core Teaching
Pleasure and shame are trauma-linked. Ana reframes pleasure not as indulgence or luxury, but as an innate human state — one that trauma disrupts. Survivors often associate pleasure with danger, humiliation, or betrayal because it was used against them or forbidden by those in power.
Abuse severs the link between aliveness and safety. When abusers punish victims for joy, sensuality, or satisfaction, the nervous system learns: pleasure = threat. What should be restorative becomes dysregulating.
Guilt replaces joy. Once shame takes root, guilt follows — not just as an emotion, but as a physiological residue. The survivor internalizes the abuser’s judgment, carrying it like “molasses” over the body, believing they can never be clean, good, or worthy again.
Somatic and Psychological Lens
Pleasure as a body-based function. Pleasure is not abstract; it’s neurochemical (dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins). When trauma teaches the body that pleasure is unsafe, these pathways constrict. The body literally stops producing or tolerating sensations of delight.
The “molasses” metaphor: Ana’s description — “as thick as molasses, the guilt and shame drips over the body” — translates an emotional imprint into somatic texture. It communicates how shame feels heavy, sticky, and inescapable.
Cycle of pleasure–punishment. Many survivors oscillate between denial and overindulgence:
Seek pleasure → feel guilt → self-punish → suppress desire → seek again. This repetition mirrors trauma’s pattern: relief, shame, punishment, freeze.
Nervous system dysregulation. The body of a survivor can’t hold high-arousal states (joy, excitement, sensuality) without tipping into anxiety or collapse. Ana implies that capacity for pleasure must be rebuilt slowly — in titrated doses of safety.
Intergenerational & Cultural Trauma
Survival guilt and inherited deprivation. She links personal trauma to collective trauma: oppressed, displaced, or war-torn communities may view pleasure as betrayal. “If I’m happy while my people suffer, I’m disloyal.” This is survival guilt disguised as morality.
Loyalty to deprivation. The phrase “loyalty to deprivation” is brilliant and brutal. It names how generations conditioned by suffering v...
This is not a podcast for the mainstream. This is for the silenced, the cast out, and those whose stories never made the headlines. A Groundbreaking Trauma Justice Podcast from a Genocide Survivor and Somatic Therapist.
Deeply embodied, politically urgent, and spiritually grounded space led by a therapist who survived war and genocide herself. Ana Mael is not just talking about trauma—she has lived it, survived it, and now guides others through it with radical clarity and compassion.
This podcast is a revolution in trauma conversations: it moves beyond mindset tips and breathwork into trauma justice, relational repair, and systemic truth-telling. Each episode invites listeners to stop healing in isolation—and to begin naming, reclaiming, and rising from what hurt them.
Exiled and Rising is for survivors of war, systemic injustice, and complex trauma—especially those living in exile from land, identity, or community.
With raw truth and radical tenderness, Ana Mael offers unfiltered guidance on how to heal when you’ve been cut off—literally or metaphorically—from your home, safety, or sense of self and how to raise up and call for justice.
“This podcast is not about surface-level healing. We are not fluffing the feathers or shaking the crystals here.”
No glamour edits. No AI voices. Just real voice, lived experience, and trauma-focused truth.
Social and Cultural Relevance:
Ana’s work is a mirror for our time. In a global climate of rising authoritarianism, censorship, and the silencing of marginalized voices, this podcast becomes both a somatic protest and a innate act of resistance.
“If you have been silenced… Welcome.”
Ana gives voice to the body in a time when speech itself is policed. This is especially potent for:
Activists and whistleblowers
Immigrants and undocumented individuals
Survivors of trauma who were never given words for what they endured
A deep-dive podcast blending somatic healing expertise, micro-teachings, and lived survivor experience. Each episode distills trauma recovery, nervous system insights, and political consciousness into guidance that helps you reclaim power, safety, and self.
This Podcast Is a Home For:
Overfunctioning Immigrants, Exiled & Displaced – Those who overwork to prove worth
Survivors of War, Genocide, & Systemic Oppression – Healing from identity loss and rebuilding life
Refugees, Stateless, Undocumented People – Navigating erasure and exile
Children of Exiled or Immigrant Parents – Carrying generational wounds
Those Ostracized from Family or Church – For who they are, what they believe, or how they love
Those Seeking Somatic Recovery – Learning to regulate and reconnect with the body
Anyone Ready to Resist Spiritual Bypassing – And choose embodied, justice-based healing
What It Offers:
Real Stories of Survival & Healing – From Ana’s own war journals to survivor interviews
Expert Somatic & Trauma Recovery Insights – Practical tools for regulation and healing
Space for the Cast Out – Centering those excluded from mainstream healing narratives
Healing as Activism – Moving from survival to embodiment, from harm to advocacy
Radical Human Truth – With no scripts, no glamour edits, no “fixing”—only truth
Premium Membership – What You Get in the Private Community
Take your healing deeper with exclusive, high-value content:
Extended, Deep-Dive Episodes – Personal stories and expert somatic breakdowns
Therapy-Based Takeaways – Direct applications for therapy, journaling, and integration
Keynotes & Summaries – Distilled insights to anchor your healing
Full Transcripts – For reflection, accessibility, and in-depth study
Bite-Sized Somatic Lessons – Micro-practices for nervous system healing
Science of Trauma – Research-backed techniques to help reset your body’s stress response
Listener Q&A + Expert Sessions – Ask Ana your questions and receive trauma-informed answers
Ad-Free Listening – No filler, no distractions, just healing and clarity
Meet Your Host: Ana Mael
Ana Mael is a genocide and war survivor, somatic therapist, and founder of the Somatic Trauma Recovery Center. She has dedicated her life’s work to helping survivors of war, forced displacement, systemic oppression, and complex trauma reclaim their identity, dignity, and self-trust.
As a bestselling author, Ana’s book, The Trauma We Don’t Talk About, became a #1 bestseller in over 10 categories, including Mental Health, Personal Testimonies, and Memoirs.
Based in Toronto, Canada, Ana works directly with clients and educates mental health professionals and counselors on the complexities of displacement, exile, and war trauma recovery. She leads training programs, provides trauma-informed therapy, and conducts pioneering research to bridge the gap between somatic therapy and global crisis trauma care.
"From Trauma to Resilience. From Wounds to Resistance."
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for mental health treatment or doctor care and advise. Please consult your mental health and/or medical care provider for individualized care.
