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.
Ana is delivering a war testimony of exile that reframes belonging as a bodily, ancestral, and political condition—not a social one.
This is not a story about moving countries.
It is a story about what happens to identity, nervous system, dignity, and spatial entitlement when belonging is violently withdrawn.
She is naming something rarely articulated with this precision:
Unbelonging is ...
Collective rage is not chaos. It is not pathology. It is not the problem.
In this episode of Exiled and Rising, Ana Mael explores collective rage as a natural, embodied response to injustice, moral injury, and tyranny. Drawing from somatic trauma work, ancestral memory, and political psychology, Ana reframes rage as a sign of moral health—not something to suppress, spiritualize, or neutr...
Tyranny does not begin with tanks or laws. It begins with denouncement— it is a political weapon.
In this episode of Exiled and Rising, Ana Mael examines how patriarchy and tyranny use denouncement to silence truth, exile dissenters, and maintain control. Drawing from somatic trauma therapy, political psychology, and global protest movements in the United States and Iran, Ana explores ho...
Wasteland speaks to the seasons of life when everything falls apart:
when we are e...
The Body Is Where God Speaks. In this episode of Exiled & Rising, Ana Mael — somatic experiencing therapist for trauma recovery and ancestral healing — explores what it truly means to decolonize prayer.
For centuries, prayer was shaped by systems of domination — religions that demanded obedience, erased Indigenous and ancestral practices, and taught that the Divine could only be reac...
In this episode of Exiled & Rising, Ana offers a Winter Solstice teaching on withdrawal — not as avoidance, pathology, or failure, but as a biological and nervous-system necessity.
For most of human history, withdrawal was respected.
People retreated in winter, in grief, in illness, and in times of transition.
Reduced contact, reduced visibility, and solitude were understood as forms...
She Stopped Shrinking. They Called Her a Bitch. Ana Mael explores how patriarchal conditioning has shaped generations of women to silence their power, shrink their brilliance, and confuse survival with love. In this episode, somatic therapist and writer Ana Mael traces the evolution of feminine suppression—from the witch hunts that burned women for their wisdom, to the modern emotional b...
What does that mean? Resilience says: you got through it, amazing, keep going.
Accountability says: you shouldn’t have had to “get through it” like that in the first place.
Resilience puts the work on the survivor.
Accountability puts the work on the relationship / family / community / system.
So when people call you strong and stop there, they are choosing resilience over a...
Ana Mael explores why trauma teaches us to stay silent, and how reclaiming your voice becomes the first act of healing.
What happens when your body believes that asking for help will hurt someone else?
In this episode of Exiled & Rising, somatic experiencing therapist Ana Mael unpacks one of the most devastating trauma responses — the fear of being a burden. She explores how childh...
The Insult That Silences Your Truth. In this episode of Exiled and Rising, Ana Mael delivers a rare, political critique of the “strong archytpe” narrative that dominates Western psychology and social media.
Speaking as both a trauma therapist and a survivor of the Balkan wars and genocide of the 1990s, Ana exposes how the language of resilience often conceals collective avoi...
Some people enter a room and look for the best seat.
Others enter and look for the exits.
If you know where every door, window, and fire escape is before you even sit down—this piece is for you.
I call it being a Trauma James Bond: the body that survived danger so long, it still thinks the mission isn’t over.
It’s a love letter and a gentle tease for everyone who has ever felt “too alert...
In this pivotal episode, Ana Mael — trauma therapist, nervous-system specialist, and survivor of the Balkan wars — takes listeners into one of the most misunderstood trauma states: Resignation Syndrome.
Ana Mael names what few have dared to: Resignation Syndrome — the global epidemic of nervous-system collapse that hides behind resilience culture.
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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
A survivor’s nervous system toggles between collapse and compulsion; healing begins by honoring both protectors and learning to pause in micro-doses.
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Get the Book: The Trauma We Don't Talk About https://amzn.to/41SjKKL
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Ana’s new Exiled & Rising episode — one of her most intimate and practical teachings on relational healing.
Ana teaches that true healing begins when others stop denying your reality and simply stay — seeing, listening, and acknowledging without defense or blame.
Healing requires acknowledgment, not fixing.
Ana distills trauma-informed relationa...
The burden wound begins in childhood. Being treated as “too much” or “a burden” by parents creates a deep, embodied wound. The imprint becomes identity. This is not just a passing experience but attaches to the child’s developing sense of self, carried into adulthood. The body remembers. Shame and burden are felt in the soma, even when never spoken aloud. The wound repeats. It shapes adu...
Ana dismantles the myth that shame is self-generated. She frames shame as something imposed from the outside—by abusers, toxic environments, and systems of oppression—and then internalized by the survivor.
Buy Book: The Trauma We Don't Talk About https://amzn.to/41SjKKL
Want to go deeper? Check the link below for Ana’s somatic course on healing intimacy and learning to safely open, r...
Spiritual bypass as complicity. She names how “stay i...
From scanning to sanctuary: A guided re-meeting with your own eyes as the first safe place after exile. Somatic Healing.
Somatic Programs for Trauma Recovery: https://exiledandrising.mykajabi.com/
Buy Book: The Trauma We Don't Talk About https://amzn.to/41SjKKL
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https://exiledandrising.castos.com/donate?_gl=1*143ufxc*_gcl_au*NDc5MTE5Mj...
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
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