When Teresa Hobbs was left bed-bound after a minor fender bender, she couldn’t be near a computer, read a book, or even receive a phone call without blacking out. Her world had shrunk to staring at the texture on her ceiling, searching for shapes to comfort her.
This is a story about what happens when you stop fighting your symptoms and start listening to the mechanism behind them—when you realize that the brain can get stuck on a loop, perpetuating danger signals long after the threat is gone.
It’s about learning to dance with panic, to accept the unacceptable, and to discover that healing isn’t about eliminating intensity—it’s about expanding your capacity to be with it.
Episode Overview
In this conversation, I sit down with Teresa Hobbs, a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach, Pain Reprocessing Therapy Practitioner, and Safe and Sound Protocol Provider from Utah.
Teresa walks us through her decades-long journey with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), from early warning signs in her twenties to a catastrophic nervous system crash in 2014 that left her bed-bound for years.
We explore the shame of being told her illness was “in her head,” the relentless pursuit of fixing herself, and the pivotal moment when she learned to stop trying so hard.
Teresa shares the neuroplastic understanding that chronic symptoms are often the brain’s stuck danger signals, and introduces practical tools like somatic tracking for rewiring.
We discuss codependency, attachment, the window of tolerance, and why the most radical act of healing is often simply accepting yourself where you are—without judgment.
What You’ll Discover
* The fender bender that fractured her nervous system and left her bedbound for years.
* Why her brain would black out from reading, phone calls, or even positive daydreams.
* The painful experience of family members labeling her illness as “getting a payoff” or “all in her head.”
* How trying too hard to heal—five hours of meditation a day, rigid protocols—actually impeded her recovery.
* The liberating invitation: “You don’t have to work so hard to heal.”
* Understanding neuroplastic symptoms: how the brain perpetuates danger signals long after the initial trigger.
* Somatic tracking: meeting sensations with curiosity and non-judgment.
* Why pain reprocessing therapy works best when symptoms are between a 1 and 5—and when to just take the medication.
* The connection between codependency, attachment disruption, and chronic illness.
* How learning to tolerate panic transformed her life—and gave her the courage to live fully.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction & The Big Question of the Podcast
02:00 - Welcoming Teresa Hobbs from Utah
04:00 - The Early Warning Signs: Fatigue in 2003
06:00 - The Fender Bender That Fractured Her Nervous System
08:00 - Bedbound and Blacking Out: The Most Terrifying Period
10:00 - Family Members Who Said It Was “All in Her Head”
12:00 - The Fixing Mindset: Five Hours of Meditation a Day
14:00 - “You Don’t Have to Work So Hard to Heal” — A Pivot Point
16:00 - Moving Out of Her Parents’ House and Into Healing
18:00 - Physical Stressors: Cavitation Surgery and Upper Cervical Chiropractic
20:00 - The Last Piece: Panic and Learning to Stop Avoiding
22:00 - Dancing with Panic: “I Dared It to Get as Big as It Needed to Get”
25:00 - Codependency and Chronic Illness: “I’m Not Okay Unless You’re Okay”
28:00 - Neuroplastic Symptoms: How the Brain Gets Stuck on Danger Signals
30:00 - Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Somatic Tracking
33:00 - The Safe and Sound Protocol: Training the Ear to Hear Safety
35:00 - Expanding the Window of Tolerance: Healing as Capacity Building
38:00 - Who Has Her Illness Invited Teresa to Become?
40:00 - Teresa’s Coaching, Groups, and Resources
Guest Information & Links
Connect with Teresa Hobbs:
* Website: www.monarchintegrativecoaching.com
* YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@monarchintegrativestudio
* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monarchintegrativecoaching
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monarchintegrativestudio
* Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@almostawakenedpodcast
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