The Hidden Reason Healing Stalls—Even When You’re Doing Everything Right with Veronique Ory
In this deeply moving episode of Field Notes, Dr. Rob Downey sits down with Veronique Ory to explore the powerful intersection of embodiment, trauma, and healing.
Veronique shares how lived experiences—especially those shaped by early life, intergenerational trauma, and unexpressed emotion—are stored in the body, influencing our health, behavior, and sense of safety long after the original events have passed.
Together, they unpack why healing isn’t about “fixing” ourselves, but about creating enough safety to let go, soften old narratives, and reconnect with the body through compassion, curiosity, movement, and presence. Blending wisdom from yoga, somatic work, psychology, and functional medicine, this conversation offers a hopeful, grounded reminder that when we learn to listen to the body—and honor both pain and joy—profound personal and collective transformation becomes possible.
Key takeaways:
Experiences and trauma are stored in the body, not just the mind.
Healing requires safety, not more effort or self-fixing.
Suppressed emotions resurface as illness, overwhelm, or reactivity.
Forgiveness releases the body—it doesn’t excuse the past.
Small embodied shifts can unlock profound healing and change.
Veronique Ory
International Yoga Guide, Author, and Intuitive Movement Teacher
Veronique Ory is an international yoga guide, author, and intuitive movement teacher known for weaving nervous system science with embodied, poetic practice. Originally from Montreal and now based in Florida, she draws from over 20 years of theatre, somatics, and storytelling to help people return to presence, vitality, and self-trust.
She is the founder of Shine™, a global membership community rooted in nervous system regulation, fasciology-informed mobility, somatic journaling, and intuitive movement sequences designed to support midlife women through transition, autoimmune challenges, inflammation patterns, and stress-driven fatigue.
Veronique has guided retreats across the world—from Costa Rica to Portugal, Greece, Italy, and Japan—and is celebrated for creating experiences that feel like a homecoming: tender, liberating, and deeply restorative. Her work is grounded in the belief that the body already knows how to heal when we learn to listen, soften, and move with intention.
Her book, Shine On & Off the Mat, explores timeless themes of slowing down, self-inquiry, emotional metabolization, and embodied devotion. Through her international retreats, the Shine™ platform, and guest teachings at Omega and beyond, Veronique’s mission is to help people reconnect with their inner rhythm and remember their innate capacity for joy, clarity, and wholeness.
Seaworthy Functional Medicine is a department of:
