From Opioids & Benzos to Healing: The Chronic Pain Story No One Talks About with Elizabeth Kipp
Shine In & Out: Where Science Meets SoulShow Notes
What if chronic pain, addiction, and self-sabotage are not random or purely physical conditions… but deeply rooted nervous system responses shaped by early life stress, trauma, and inherited survival patterns? In this powerful episode of Shine In & Out, Samantha Stoltz speaks with Elizabeth Kipp about her extraordinary journey through over 40 years of chronic pain, trauma, and addiction—and how she ultimately found healing through nervous system regulation, awareness, and integrative mind-body practices. Elizabeth shares how growing up in a highly unpredictable and emotionally unsafe environment shaped her nervous system from childhood, long before physical injury ever occurred. After a serious horse-riding accident and years of undiagnosed spinal injury, she entered a long medical journey that eventually led to decades of opioid and benzodiazepine dependence. Her turning point came when she met a physician who took a holistic approach to chronic pain and supported her through detox while introducing breathwork, meditation, qigong, and ancestral clearing. From there, Elizabeth began to understand that healing is not only about removing symptoms—but about resetting the stress response and addressing the deeper patterns stored in the nervous system. This conversation explores the idea that pain is not punishment—it is information. And when we shift from judgment to awareness, we begin to change our relationship with suffering itself. In this episode, we explore: • How early childhood stress shapes the nervous system• The connection between chronic pain, trauma, and emotional safety• Why chronic pain is defined as pain experienced 15+ days per month for 3+ months• The overlap between physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual pain• Long-term opioid and benzodiazepine use in chronic pain treatment• The gap between conventional medicine and holistic healing approaches• Why many patients feel unseen or dismissed in healthcare systems• How breathwork helps regulate and reset the nervous system• Why awareness is the first step toward changing pain patterns• The role of self-sabotage as a protective survival response• How gratitude and persistence supported long-term healing• An introduction to ancestral clearing as a healing practice• Why healing happens through safety, not force Key Themes Chronic pain • trauma healing • nervous system regulation • addiction recovery • breathwork • somatic healing • self-sabotage • ancestral trauma • emotional healing • mind-body connection • holistic health • recovery journey About the Guest Elizabeth Kipp is a Stress Management and Historical Trauma Specialist, Certified Addiction Recovery Coach, Ancestral Clearing Practitioner, and author of The Way Through Chronic Pain: Tools to Reclaim Your Healing Power. After healing from decades of chronic pain, anxiety, and addiction, she now teaches others how to reconnect with their own inner healing intelligence through nervous system regulation and integrative practices. Website: https://Elizabeth-Kipp.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizi.kipp/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethkipp/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@elizabethkipp9855Substack: https://substack.com/@sacredrebelle Free Resource – 5 Ways to Relieve Stress, Anxiety & Fear:https://bit.ly/5WaysToRelieveStress About Shine In & Out Shine In & Out explores the connection between inner healing and outer transformation through conversations on nervous system regulation, emotional wellness, trauma healing, and personal growth.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthastoltz.substack.com/subscribe
More from Shine In & Out: Where Science Meets Soul
What if the life you want begins with questioning the one you've always known? Sometimes, transformation begins when the familiar no longer feels right. For Axay Shah, a personal health crisis prompted him to reconsider the way he lived after more than four decades in the diamond and jewelry industry. That turning point led him toward a different relationship with food, nature, and his own well-being. Today, Axay is the founder of RawFoodiest.com, author of In Nature We Trust: A Raw Food Manifesto for Energy, Healing & Longevity, and a marathon runner who began running at 50. In this episode of Shine In & Out, Samantha Stoltz sits down with Axay to explore the experiences and questions that shaped his transformation. Their conversation moves beyond diet and exercise into something more universal: the courage to question familiar habits, the importance of curiosity, and the freedom to discover what works for you rather than following someone else’s blueprint. Axay also shares a simple perspective on consistency: finding joy in what you do can make it easier to keep showing up. Whether you’re considering a new project, rethinking your daily habits, or wondering what your next chapter might look like, his story offers an invitation to stop waiting for the perfect moment and begin exploring. You don’t need to adopt someone else’s lifestyle to learn from their journey. Sometimes, the most valuable lesson is learning to ask better questions about your own. In this conversation, we explore: * How a personal turning point can lead to an entirely different direction in life * Why starting before you feel completely ready can matter * The role of enjoyment in building lasting consistency * How curiosity can help you understand your own needs and preferences * Why personal growth often requires questioning the status quo * What it means to live more intentionally and reconnect with nature A question to take with you What is one area of your life where you’ve been following the familiar path without stopping to ask whether it still serves you? You don’t have to change everything at once. You can begin with a question, an experiment, or one small decision. Meet Axay Shah Axay Shah is the founder of RawFoodiest.com and author of In Nature We Trust: A Raw Food Manifesto for Energy, Healing & Longevity. He is also a poet, beekeeper, gardener, and marathon runner whose work explores raw, plant-based living and a closer relationship with nature. Explore Axay’s work: * Website: https://rawfoodiest.com * Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTC25W3Q * YouTube: https://youtube.com/@RawFoodiest * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawfoodiest/ * LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/axayshah * His published medical records: https://rawfoodiest.com/medical-proof Continue the conversation Watch the full conversation on YouTube: [Insert YouTube Link] Follow Samantha Stoltz and Shine In & Out for more conversations about authenticity, self-discovery, and creating a life that reflects who you are becoming. * Coaching & Courses: https://www.shineinandoutcoaching.com/ * Life Optimization Dashboard: https://shineinandout.com * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SammyStoltz * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shine.in.n.out Shine In & Out is a space for conversations that invite us to look inward, question what we’ve always known, and discover new possibilities for how we live. #ShineInAndOut #AxayShah #PersonalGrowth #IntentionalLiving #InNatureWeTrust
What if the version of yourself you have spent years trying to maintain was never the whole story? In this conversation on Shine In & Out, Samantha Stoltz welcomes Gabriella Byrne, a Melbourne-based writer, musician, business owner, and professional overthinker who transforms life’s complicated moments into music and writing. Under the name My Own Miracle, Gabriella creates work exploring trauma, identity, motherhood, neurodivergence, and the process of understanding who you are beneath family expectations and social conditioning. Gabriella and Samantha get honest about the experiences that can force us to reconsider everything we thought we knew about ourselves. They explore burnout, the difficulty of resting, the fear of disappointing others, and the realization that constantly putting everyone else first can come at a cost. They also discuss neurodivergence, overstimulation, and the freedom that can come from finding strategies that work with your needs instead of forcing yourself to function like everyone else. One of the most powerful themes in their conversation is the importance of approaching self-discovery slowly. Looking inward can bring difficult feelings to the surface, and meaningful change requires more than simply identifying what hurt us. It asks for curiosity, compassion, and the willingness to question the beliefs we have carried for years. Through music, writing, therapy, and connection, Gabriella has been exploring what belongs to her and what she no longer needs to carry. This conversation is a reminder that becoming yourself is not about having everything figured out. It is about learning to recognize your needs, making room for your own experiences, and treating yourself with the same understanding you so readily offer others. In this conversation, we explore: * How creativity can help transform painful experiences * The search for genuine community and belonging * Family expectations, inherited beliefs, and identity * Why perfectionism and people pleasing can lead to burnout * Learning that rest does not have to be earned * Overthinking, childhood experiences, and self-protection * Neurodivergence, overstimulation, and practical adaptations * How to explore difficult emotions without rushing the process * What meaningful support from friends and family can look like * Why self-compassion matters when you begin to change A question to sit with: How much of who you are today reflects your authentic self, and how much comes from what you learned you needed to be? Meet Gabriella Byrne Gabriella is a writer, musician, and business owner based in Melbourne. She is writing a memoir about growing up in a complicated family and releases music as My Own Miracle. Her work combines vulnerability, irreverence, and humor to explore survival, identity, healing, and the experience of becoming yourself. Follow My Own Miracle: Substack: https://substack.com/@myownmiracle Spotify: YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCAS1t-5Z5rB_YTDX8oTU-bg Instagram: @myownmiracle TikTok: @my.own.miracle Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1C36xrqjG4/?mibextid=wwXIfr Connect with Samantha Stoltz Website: https://sammystoltz.com Coaching & Courses: https://www.shineinandoutcoaching.com/ Life Optimization Dashboard: https://shineinandout.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shine.in.n.out TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sammy.stoltz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthaarcherstoltz/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samantha.stoltz.16 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SammyStoltz Shine In & Out explores authenticity, personal growth, and the inner work that helps us live with greater awareness and intention. If this conversation spoke to you, share it with someone who may need the reminder that they are allowed to discover who they are, on their own terms. #ShineInAndOut #GabriellaByrne #MyOwnMiracle #SamanthaStoltz #SelfDiscovery #PersonalGrowth #Neurodivergence #AuthenticLiving
What if finding yourself was never about becoming someone new, but about returning to the part of you that was always there? In this episode of Shine In & Out, Samantha Stoltz sits down with Serena Arora, yoga therapist, Ayurvedic health practitioner, and #1 international bestselling author of Unbound, for a deeply personal conversation about identity, conditioning, intuition, healing, and what it means to become truly unbound. Born in Canada to a Chinese mother and Indian father, Serena spent much of her life navigating cultural expectations, identity, achievement, relationships, and the pressure to fit into versions of herself that did not always feel authentic. Through decades of personal exploration, yoga, Ayurveda, nature, and inner work, she eventually realized that the answer she had been searching for outside herself had been within her all along. Together, Samantha and Serena explore what happens when we begin peeling back the layers of conditioning and learn to listen to the wisdom already living within us. From immigrant guilt and generational expectations to burnout, perfectionism, intuition, feminine wisdom, and the process of unbinding, this conversation asks a powerful question: Who are you beneath everything you were taught to be? ✨ In This Episode: • Serena’s nonlinear journey toward finding herself• Searching outside yourself for answers that already exist within• Cultural identity and growing up between worlds• Immigrant expectations and the weight of “immiguilt”• Letting go of the need to control your parents’ journey• Why success on paper does not always equal soul fulfillment• The bird and fish metaphor for love, compatibility, and living authentically• Recognizing when your environment no longer nourishes you• Ayurveda as a way of understanding yourself and living in harmony with nature• Burnout, overgiving, and learning to replenish yourself• Reconnecting with creativity, freedom, intuition, and feminine wisdom• Why trust begins with small decisions• The difference between knowing your intuition and actually practicing it• Generational fear and reconnecting with embodied wisdom• Nature, stillness, and the return to our humanity• Why perfectionism and people pleasing can become forms of self binding• What it means to become unbound• Parenting, projection, and allowing children to become who they are• Learning to see your body as a teammate rather than an obstacle• Why healing happens in the pause• Learning to have an ongoing conversation with your body 🎙️ Chapters (00:47) Welcome to Shine In & Out (02:21) Serena’s Nonlinear Journey (06:43) Finding the Answer Within (09:17) Success on Paper vs. Soul Fulfillment (11:29) Unbinding Identity and Letting Go of Immigrant Guilt (16:11) The Journey Never Ends (18:54) Understanding Our Parents and Generational Expectations (21:39) Letting Emotions Move Through You (24:30) The Bird and Fish: When Love Meets Different Paths (29:54) Listening to the Soul Tug (31:05) The Internal Tug of War (33:00) Finding the Environment Where You Can Bloom (35:07) Ayurveda, Yoga, and Coming Back to Yourself (38:13) The Feminine Waters and the Need for Nourishment (42:12) Burnout and Learning to Replenish Yourself (47:11) Learning to Trust Yourself (52:04) Rebuilding Your Relationship With Intuition (56:05) Embodied Feminine Wisdom (58:50) Nature, Stillness, and Becoming Human Again (1:04:27) Coming Back to Nature (1:07:29) Allowing Yourself to Have Seasons (1:10:24) Perfectionism, People Pleasing, and Becoming Unbound (1:15:24) Parenting, Projection, and Letting Children Fly (1:17:09) Healing Happens in the Pause (1:20:17) Learning the Language of Your Body (1:23:37) Science, Ayurveda, and the Future of Human Wellbeing (1:25:13) Final Reflections 🎙️ About Serena Arora Serena Arora is a yoga therapist, Ayurvedic health practitioner, and the #1 international bestselling author of Unbound. Born in Canada to a Chinese mother and Indian father, Serena’s work explores cultural identity, g
What if you understand exactly what is keeping you stuck, but still can't seem to change it? In this conversation, Samantha Stoltz sits down with Mary Ann Robbat to explore the deeper patterns that can shape our choices, relationships, confidence, purpose, and sense of fulfillment. Mary Ann works with successful, self aware women who have built meaningful lives but still feel stuck in one area. She calls these deeper patterns origin patterns, the beliefs and behaviors that can develop early in life and continue influencing us long after we have become conscious of them. Together, Samantha and Mary Ann explore why awareness alone isn’t always enough to create change. They talk about people pleasing, self care, intuition, purpose, boundaries, comparison, fulfillment, and what happens when we begin questioning the patterns we have been living from. Mary Ann also shares her own journey from having what looked like a successful life on the outside to realizing that something deeper was missing. Through that process, she learned to reconnect with herself, trust her intuition, and create a life that felt more aligned with who she was becoming. One of the central ideas in this conversation is simple: You can recreate your life at any moment. But doing so often means becoming willing to see the patterns that have been keeping you where you are. Mary Ann’s Reveal, Release, Rewire, Rise approach offers a way to begin that process by identifying the pattern, releasing what no longer serves you, creating a new internal imprint, and stepping into a different possibility. In This Conversation • Why success doesn’t always lead to fulfillment• How childhood experiences can shape adult patterns• The connection between people pleasing and self abandonment• Why intuition can signal that something needs to change• Learning to make conscious choices for yourself• Why growth can create friction• Why awareness alone may not be enough• How origin patterns can keep us stuck• Mary Ann’s Reveal, Release, Rewire, Rise framework• What becomes possible when you begin living from a new pattern A Question to Sit With What pattern might be influencing your life today without you realizing it? And what could change if you were willing to see it clearly? About Mary Ann Robbat Mary Ann Robbat works with successful, self aware women who want to understand the deeper patterns influencing the areas of life where they still feel stuck. Her work focuses on helping people recognize their origin patterns and create greater freedom, choice, and fulfillment. Connect With Mary Ann Website: maryannrobbat.comInstagram: @maryannrobbatFacebook: Center for Lifelong HappinessFind Your Origin Pattern: FindYourOriginPattern.com Connect With Samantha Stoltz Website: shineinandoutcoaching.comLife Optimization Dashboard: shineinandout.comInstagram: @shine.in.n.outTikTok: @sammy.stoltzYouTube: @SammyStoltz If this conversation resonated with you, consider sharing it with someone who may be ready to look beneath the surface of what is keeping them stuck. #ShineInAndOut #MaryAnnRobbat #SamanthaStoltz #PersonalGrowth #SelfDiscovery #InnerWork #PersonalTransformation #SelfAwareness #Purpose #AuthenticLiving
What if personal style isn't really about clothes? What if the way you dress can reveal something about your identity, your confidence, your beliefs, and even your relationship with being seen? In this episode of Shine In & Out, Samantha Stoltz sits down with NYC-based fashion stylist and image consultant JenniLee, whose more than 20 years of experience have taken her behind the scenes of stages, shoots, sets, and major publications. JenniLee has dressed celebrities and musicians including Rashida Jones, Scarlett Johansson, and Lana Condor, and has styled for Harper’s Bazaar, Rolling Stone, and Bloomingdale’s. Today, her work focuses on helping creative and ambitious women navigate major transitions, from career pivots and reinvention to stepping into greater visibility. But this conversation goes much deeper than fashion. JenniLee shares why she believes what you wear is never just fabric. It can become part of the relationship between identity, self-perception, and how we move through the world. Samantha and JenniLee explore the stories we attach to clothing, the desire to belong, the fear of being seen, and what happens when we begin questioning the rules we have unconsciously inherited about how we are supposed to look. They also explore JenniLee’s signature SPARK framework, beginning with self-exploration and asking deeper questions about why we make the style choices we make. In This Conversation • Why getting dressed can be about much more than appearance• How clothing can influence confidence and self-perception• The connection between personal style and identity• Why belonging can influence what we choose to wear• What happens when we become afraid of being seen• How personal beliefs shape our relationship with clothing• JenniLee’s SPARK framework and the importance of self-exploration• Why “More Styling, Less Shopping” can change the way you approach your closet• Dressing through career changes, reinvention, and new seasons of life• How intentional style can help us express who we are becoming At its heart, this is a conversation about becoming more conscious of the person you’re already expressing. Your closet can hold old identities, old expectations, old rules, and old versions of yourself. But it can also become a place to experiment. To play. To reconnect. To become visible again. And sometimes, transformation starts with something as simple as getting dressed differently. About JenniLee JenniLee is a NYC-based fashion stylist and image consultant with more than 20 years of experience working with celebrities, musicians, creative professionals, and everyday women. Her philosophy, “More Styling, Less Shopping,” focuses on helping clients dress from the inside out rather than trying to solve personal style through buying more clothes. Through her signature SPARK framework, JenniLee helps clients explore their relationship with style, identity, perception, and personal transformation. Connect With JenniLee 🌐 Website: https://www.jennileestylist.consulting/ ✨ Take the Style Quiz: https://www.jennileestylist.consulting/quiz 📸 Instagram: @JenniLeeStylist 🛍️ ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/shop/jennileestylist?tab=latest Connect With Samantha Stoltz 🌐 Coaching & Courses: https://www.shineinandoutcoaching.com/ 🌐 Life Optimization Dashboard: https://shineinandout.com 📸 Instagram: @shine.in.n.out 🎵 TikTok: @sammy.stoltz 💼 LinkedIn: Samantha Stoltz 📺 YouTube: Sammy Stoltz A Question To Sit With What does your style say about who you are, and does it still reflect who you’re becoming? If this conversation made you look at your closet, your identity, or your relationship with being seen differently, share your thoughts below. Shine In & Out is about exploring the inner and outer work of becoming more fully yourself.