Episode 62: Rebekah Ballagh
04/23/2026
What if understanding your patterns is not the same as changing them?
In this episode, I’m joined by Rebekah Ballagh, a counsellor, somatic and nervous system coach, and author, to explore the gap between insight and real change. The place where the mind understands, but the body does not yet feel safe enough to follow.
Rebekah shares her experience with panic and illness, and how it revealed the limits of purely cognitive tools. We talk about intellectualising as a form of protection, and explore parts work through the lens of Internal Family Systems, especially the tension between the part that wants to heal and the part that resists.
We also look at the swing between anxiety and freeze, and how patterns that look like avoidance or laziness are often rooted in survival. From there, we unpack somatic practices, what actually works, and why regulation is not about being calm, but about building capacity to stay with what is real.
If you have ever felt stuck despite doing all the work, this conversation offers a more compassionate and embodied way forward.
About In This Body: Conversations with leading experts about the importance of embodiment in living an authentic life. In This Body asks the important questions: How does connecting to your body change your life? How will connecting to your body allow you to love better and live more authentically? And how does connecting to your body change the trajectory of our shared world?
In this episode:
3:53 What Being In Your Body Means
9:45 When Therapy Training Helps And Hurts
16:17 Working With The Intellectualiser
21:00 Parts Work And IFS Made Simple
29:50 Somatics Online And Lost Nuance
39:41 Pendulation Titration And Minimum Dose
47:23 Nothing Is Broken In You
49:16 Closing Reflections And Inbody Invitation
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