144: Inspire Health Podcast with Dr Jason Loken - Episode 144144: Inspire Health Podcast with Dr Jason Loken - Episode 144
UK Health Radio Podcast
Sarah Salter‑Kelly talks with Dr Jason Loken and Taya Shabazi about turning intense trauma and grief into medicine through embodiment, ritual, and compassion. The conversation touches on homicide, intuition, forgiveness, and how facing pain can open the door to genuine joy.
51:13•11 Oct 2026
Trauma as Medicine: Turning Deep Wounds into Healing with Sarah Salter‑Kelly
Episode Overview
- Leaning into heavy emotions can create more control than constantly trying to avoid them.
- Working with felt sensations in the body, movement, and ritual can help shift bound trauma energy.
- Compassion and forgiveness often arise naturally after fully acknowledging rage and pain, rather than bypassing them.
- Standard criminal justice processes rarely repair harm and may deepen trauma, so personal healing practices are crucial.
- Seeing difficult experiences as part of a larger learning journey can support a more meaningful recovery process.
“"It's like the only way out is through."”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation with trauma survivor and healer Sarah Salter‑Kelly offers a powerful look at how deep emotional pain can be turned into healing energy. The chat centres around Sarah’s book *Trauma As Medicine* and kicks off a series called “Trauma Recovery: From Surviving to Thriving” on the Inspire Health Podcast, hosted by Dr Jason Loken with co‑host Taya Shabazi.
You’ll hear Sarah share the story of her mother’s homicide, the years of grief that followed, and the unconventional ways she learned to trust her own inner authority when standard approaches fell short. Rather than shutting emotions down, Sarah talks about heading straight into the “underworld” of grief – walking barefoot in ravines, singing, crying, and using nature as a container for feelings that had nowhere else to go.
She explains how trauma often shows up as a sense of being bound or stuck, and how working with the felt sense in the body, movement, and ritual helped her reclaim that trapped energy. One of the most striking parts of the episode is Sarah’s account of developing compassion for the man who killed her mother, Peter Bright Eyes, after years of rage and avoidance.
Her experience leads into a wider discussion with Jason and Taya about forgiveness, changing perspective, and how genuine compassion can arise only after you’ve been honest with the anger and pain. The trio also touch on somatic work, ecstatic dance, and Western psychology’s tendency to miss the spiritual and embodied side of healing.
Throughout, the tone stays grounded and conversational, with practical questions like how to tell fear from intuition and why facing what scares you can actually increase your sense of control. If you’re curious about turning trauma, grief, or long‑held resentment into something that supports recovery and real joy, this episode might prompt you to ask: where could your own pain become medicine?
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