Trigger Warning: This episode and the poem shared include mentions of suicide, sexual assault, hospitalization, and chronic illness. Please listen with care and step away if needed.
In this powerful, poetic, and deeply embodied conversation, Lauren Zoeller is joined by entrepreneur and former client Johanna Buchweitz to explore what happens when a high-achieving woman finally lets go. Johanna opens up about the unraveling of her high-performance identity, the pain of suppressed trauma coming to the surface, and the unexpected beauty that emerged through somatic healing. Together, she and Lauren dive into what it truly means to stop performing, integrate nervous system safety, and surrender to the truth of who you are. Johanna shares how walking away from success as she knew it led to a deeper kind of wholeness—and how her healing journey birthed a poem, The Spirit of Surrender, that is now being developed into a feature film.
This episode includes a live performance of that very poem—raw, breathtaking, and soul-shifting. Whether you're navigating your own identity unraveling, learning how to sit with discomfort, or seeking safety beyond your survival patterns, this conversation is a mirror and a medicine. It’s a reminder that the most powerful love story is the one you write with yourself.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Johanna’s journey from high-achieving identity to embodied truth
- The nervous system shift that changed everything
- Why integration is the most sacred (and hardest) part of healing
- The difference between doing the work and living the work
- How suppressed trauma can surface through somatic unraveling
- The surprising role creativity and art played in Johanna’s transformation
- A full live performance of The Spirit of Surrender
- What it means to be your own savior—and stop outsourcing your safety
Quotes:
“I thought the healing happened during the coaching. But the real work started the moment I was on my own. That’s when I realized I could actually hold myself.” — Johanna Buchweitz [00:09:10]
“The biggest shift wasn’t that I found softness. It’s that I stopped making my power wrong.” — Johanna Buchweitz [00:28:45]
“There’s a difference between learning nervous system work and living it. That’s where the transformation happens.” — Lauren Zoeller [00:31:22]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Johanna Buchweitz on Instagram
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