About this episode
When recovery becomes more than just staying sober — when it becomes embodied, lived, and deeply felt — everything changes. In Part 1 of this powerful two-part conversation, G-Rex and Dirty Skittles sit down with Greg Vorst and Michael Nolan to unpack addiction, inner child healing, breathwork, and what real transformation actually looks like.
Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads — a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health) and 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast) with over 2 million downloads and counting — continues its mission to normalize unfiltered conversations about mental health, trauma, and emotional survival.
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Help Us Bring This Award Home
We’re incredibly honored to share that Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads has been shortlisted for the Podcast Awards – Best Mental Health Podcast.
If this show has ever made you feel seen, less alone, or helped you understand your mental health a little better, we’d be grateful for your vote.
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Vote here:
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Winners will be announced on February 28th, 2026. Thank you for being part of this community and helping us break stigma one conversation at a time.
“You don’t have to believe everything you think.” — Greg & Michael
Episode Description
In this first half of our conversation, Greg Vorst and Michael Nolan, co-founders of Embodied Recovery in Northern California, share how their personal journeys through addiction, anxiety, trauma, and spiritual crisis led them to build a treatment center rooted in lived experience — not just theory.
Michael opens up about entering treatment at 20 and the humility of 12-step recovery. Greg shares his unexpected transition from opera singer to therapist after a failed surgery triggered years of physical and emotional suffering. Together, they unpack the wounded healer model and why authentic recovery requires more than clinical knowledge — it requires doing your own work.
We talk about codependency, emotional regulation, nervous system healing, and the Korean Taoist breathwork practice SunDo — a cornerstone of their daily lives and programming. This episode dives deep into inner child work, identity, validation, and the courage it takes to stop performing and start living.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re surviving instead of emb
