Ep 198. Meeting the Deeper Parts of You, with Spiritual Therapist Laurie NouchkaEp 198. Meeting the Deeper Parts of You, with Spiritual Therapist Laurie Nouchka
Behind The Smile with Ash Butterss
Therapist and spiritual guide Laurie Nouchka talks with host Ash Butterss about repeating patterns, Internal Family Systems, and learning to feel difficult emotions safely. Their conversation touches on intuition, nervous system regulation and simple daily practices that support a more honest, alcohol-free life.
57:21•25 Oct 2026
Meeting Your Inner Parts: Laurie Nouchka on Healing Beyond Self-Awareness
Episode Overview
- Insight into your patterns is helpful, but real change often comes from listening to what sits beneath them, especially younger parts that feel sad, alone or afraid.
- Protective parts like anger or overworking are trying to keep you safe, and can soften when they feel seen rather than pushed away.
- Building nervous system safety means learning to sit with body sensations instead of numbing them with substances, screens or constant activity.
- Intuition grows stronger as you practise quietening external noise, tending to fearful parts and noticing what feels expansive versus contracted.
- Simple daily anchors such as time in nature, swimming and intentional solitude can support ongoing emotional and spiritual recovery.
“We need to feel it to heal it.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation between host Ash Butterss and spiritual therapist Laurie Nouchka offers a grounded, human take on healing that goes far beyond insight alone. Laurie shares how a painful breakup in her mid-twenties, and the story of feeling "not enough" that followed, pushed her into years of repeating the same relationship patterns.
Rather than gloss over it, she talks honestly about numbing with nights out, struggling to sleep alone, and the panic that lived in her body. Her story will resonate with anyone who’s ever tried to outrun discomfort with alcohol, work, or constant busyness.
From life drawing classes in Melbourne with a surfy teacher blasting Eddie Vedder, to sweaty Bikram sessions that led into yoga philosophy, Laurie describes how movement, creativity and spiritual practice opened her to a sense of something greater. Yet she admits that despite all the yoga highs, her human patterns stayed stubbornly the same until she met Internal Family Systems therapy.
Laurie breaks down IFS in simple language, showing how "protector" parts like anger often sit on top of deeper feelings such as loneliness and sadness. She and Ash discuss how many people are terrified of feeling anything, reaching for drinks, phones or vapes rather than sit with the body’s sensations.
As Laurie puts it, "we need to feel it to heal it." They also talk about intuition, self-trust and nervous system safety, with Laurie favouring quiet time in nature, cold swims and daily rituals over dramatic fixes. Her three non-negotiables – water, nature, and time alone – show how simple practices can support a life that feels more authentic and free.
If you’ve ever thought, "I understand my patterns, so why am I still repeating them?", this gentle yet direct chat might be the nudge to look beneath the surface and meet the deeper parts of you with a bit more curiosity and care.
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