Goldie, founder of Chronically Connected Healing

Goldie is chosen family, y’all! It feels as if we’ve known one another for a life time because our soul connection runs deep. As I type these words, my spirit overflows with gratitude for her sacred presence in our lives (she's Auntie Goldie to our daughter Nai!). She and I met through Instagram - neither of us can remember the exact year - all we know is it’s been magic ever since. :)

I am consistently in awe of her heart - always rooting within intersectional care and healing, genuine connection, social justice work (and more) which is embodied daily. In our world of artificial intelligence and performative activism, her authenticity is refreshing; it is also a gentle reminder: we can choose to see one another - not just with our eyes, but our hearts.

Goldie is an ardent supporter of Pray with our Feet, and I have wanted to introduce you all to this amazing human for a while. Her work through Chronically Connected Healing is a gift to the collective, and deeply needed during these terrifying times.

As she uplifts in this interview: Chronically Connected Healing is a commitment to creating a space where bodies of all identities are believed, where responses to harm aren’t pathologized, and where personal and collective histories are recognized as sources of wisdom.

May you not simply read her words, but soak in their medicine.

You know, Goldie, one of the things I deeply admire about you is that your work through Chronically Connected Healing (CCH) is intersectional; on your website you write about a “20 year plus background in social justice work, meditation facilitation, somatic movement, transgenerational trauma, and focalizing.” >> Before we dive deeper into CCH, I am curious about what, in your own lived experiences, led you to such a multi-faceted approach to well-being and healing?

Thank you for that question and for having me here for this discussion. My approach to well being and healing wasn’t born from conceptual theory, but from lived necessity. As a disabled person living with complex health issues, I constantly encountered systems never built for my intersectional identity. I faced a revolving door of harm in healing spaces: medical gaslighting, inaccessible and prohibitively expensive wellness practices, and care disconnected from social truths and trauma-informed practitioners.

These experiences taught me early on that real healing doesn’t happen outside of the context of the human experience- like we so often find in mainstream care. It requires being met as a whole person- history, identity, body, community, and environment included. Healing is relational. That understanding drove me to weave together social justice, meditation, trauma response work, and embodied practices not as separate disciplines, but as interwoven ways of listening and connecting.

I had to unlearn the message that care comes from hierarchical authority, that my body was wrong, that my intuition was untrustworthy, and my identity too much. Reclaiming my presence and wisdom became inseparable from healing itself.
I discovered how our nervous system holds memory, how tension can be a love letter from a younger self who fought hard to keep us alive, and how healing often arrives in the quieter moments of a slow return to safety and trust. In setting out to reclaim authority over my care and my identity, I learned that my body is my greatest teacher and care provider.
Chronically Connected Healing grew from this reclamation. It is a commitment to creating a space where bodies of all identities are believed, where responses to harm aren’t pathologized, and where personal and collective histories are recognized as sources of wisdom.
Healing isn’t a scripted program handed down to complete. It’s an ongoing return to embodiment, dignity, agency, and connection in a world that often fragments us and compartmentalizes our struggles.

Photo via Chronically Connected Healing website

In Western culture, as we often talk about, wellness is usually uplifted as a commodity - something “we buy,” not embody in our daily lives as a set of supportive practices. But through CCH, you are showing us an alternative. For folks who are not familiar with the concept of liberatory wellness, can you share what that means, and how it is different from Westernized wellness? And in what ways does this perspective of liberatory wellness connect us to embodied healing?

This is such an important question. Thank you for asking. Liberatory wellness is a remembering. It’s a shift away from wellness as a commodity we purchase, optimize, and perform, and back toward wellness as a practice rooted in relationship- with ourselves, our communities, and the world we navigate.

Westernized wellness often centers productivity, individualism, profit, bypassing, and aesthetic outcomes. It asks us to “fix” ourselves without ever asking why so many of us are exhausted or disconnected in the first place. Liberatory wellness starts somewhere else entirely. It honors the wisdom of survival and acknowledges that our nervous systems don’t live outside of systems of harm. It asks: Who gets access? Whose bodies are believed? What happens when rest and regulation are valued as more than a tool for productivity? What does my healing and joy reclaim?

This is where embodied healing comes alive. Instead of overriding our bodies, liberatory wellness invites us back into a relationship with them. It treats symptoms not as shortcomings, but as signals- intelligent responses to stress, harm, and unsupportive environments. Embodiment allows us to feel safety as a lived experience, not a concept. It creates the natural pacing and attunement needed to tap into what our bodies are communicating they have always known. And when we slow down enough to listen, we uncover not just personal stories, but collective ones, rooting us deeper in community.

Ultimately, embodied liberatory wellness is bodily truth-telling. It’s about building trust with ourselves and each other through listening, staying present, resourced and rooted, and recognizing ourselves as wise, relational beings instead of problems and symptoms to be solved. It’s the key to unlocking what we’ve always inherently known.

We hear quite a bit about various forms of well-being from yoga to meditation, and talk therapy. But until you started studying focalizing, I was not familiar with this healing modality. Talk with us about what focalizing is and the many ways it can support us both individually (particularly as activists) and collectively?

Focalizing is one of the quietest yet most profound practices I know. It’s a gentle, body-based practice that supports us in listening to what emerges beneath words. Rather than analyzing or problem-solving, we create space for the body’s implicit knowing to unfold. We often access a subtle “felt sense”- something not yet fully formed- that carries deep insight, emotion, and direction. It is a holistic healing approach that helps center this type of attuned care. It’s a healing modality that can help people navigate trauma, stress and emotional blocks, as well as support people in deepening moments of joy and thriving.

For activists specifically, this type of support can be profoundly vital. Many of us hold unnamed grief, rage, trauma and exhaustion. Focalizing helps prevent burnout not by pushing through, but by allowing the nervous system to be witnessed and tended. It helps regulate nervous systems accustomed to constant urgency.

Image / Graphic via Chronically Connected website

Collectively, it teaches us how to stay with complexity and inhabit uncertainty without collapsing or hardening. This kind of deep listening is transformative not just for individuals. But also for movements striving to be sustainable, relational, and rooted in care.

I have been blessed to experience some beautiful focalizing sessions with you! Instead of feeling coached into solutions, you made space for me to listen to the wisdom of my own mind, body and spirit. Tell us more about your approach in sessions, and what folks can expect when working with you?

I’m so glad your sessions resonated. My approach is intentionally non-directive. I don’t believe healing comes from being coached; it comes from being met and trusting that you hold the wisdom to know what is best for you. My role is to hold a steady, attuned, and safe space where your own authority can surface without pressure or judgment.

People can expect slowness, consent, and a natural rhythm of curious exploration that moves organically. In our time together we follow what’s alive, not what we think should happen. Whether working with sensation, imagery, emotion, or simply resting in awareness, there’s no agenda to “fix” anything. Instead, we cultivate safety, curiosity, trust, and the practice of deep listening to self. It’s an opportunity to pause, to notice, to feel without rushing toward resolution. Over time, this builds capacity not just for insight, but for choice and self-direction.
While every session is unique and client-led, the rhythm is consistent: we orient to what’s present, move into deep bodily attunement, and honor the authentic flow that arises in a meditative-like state. Sessions are collaborative, consent-based, and responsive in nature. This isn’t about centering dependence; it’s about building capacity. Capacity to listen, to self-regulate, to trust one’s own timing. Over time, you rediscover your own felt sense that says, “I know what I need.”

The natural ebb and flow of a session means it's a little elusive to describe conceptually. But it's a modality that can be easily embodied in practice. The process is gentle, practices non judgment, embraces curiosity and helps deepen understanding in a manner that can continue to be integrated.

Congrats on the recent launch of your Connected Care Digital Library! I LOVE that there are so many free and accessible digital downloads available. What do you recommend people who are committed to activism & advocacy (who also hold multiple marginalized identities from race / ethnicity to disability and various gender and sexual identities) like those within our Pray with our Feet community explore for support?

Thank you for celebrating its launch! This project is deeply heartfelt and designed specifically for those of us frequently priced out of care. It’s a growing, community-forward resource that is almost entirely free.

For activists- especially those holding multiple marginalized identities- I recommend starting with the free resources designed for nervous system support. These practices aren’t about “doing more,” they’re about creating moments of contact, relief, and reconnection in the midst of demanding lives. Practices that support nervous system care and reconnection are essential when you’re constantly navigating systems that demand resilience. And, they can act as small ongoing anchors to help sustain through long haul issues that often result in burnout.

I also suggest exploring the printable Body-Based Check-In cards, if people are wanting on-the-go support, and the Care Tree Chart to help map your wellbeing anchors and community support network. For those facing exhaustion and overwhelm, the Activist Burnout Care Pack offers methods for titration and stress care. Each offering is intended for community support, so it’s really a matter of choosing what speaks to you most.

The library is a growing and living space of supplemental aids designed to be returned to again and again. Soon I’ll be adding audio downloads of embodied practices and guided meditations. So I encourage folks to check back periodically as the library grows.

Goldie, we are so thankful for all the ways you continue to show up and hold space for individual and collective healing! What is the best way for folks to stay connected - whether they want to learn more about booking a session, or keep up with your latest offerings in the store, along with blog posts?

Thank you so much for inviting me. I really appreciate all your questions. The best way to stay connected is through Chronicallyconnectedhealing.com. There you can learn more about my work, explore session offerings, read articles, and access the digital library. I also encourage everyone to visit the pricing page, which details the accessible offerings, including community member discounts, activist rates, and sliding scale options. Financial accessibility is a major pillar of my work.

People can also join my mailing list via the website for updates; new subscribers receive a discount code for their first session. And for daily connection, I’m on Instagram at @Chronically_Connected_Healing.

Thank you, again for this conversation. I’m deeply grateful for your presence, your work, and the ways you continually expand community and resources that nourish both individual and collective liberation.

Talking Care, Liberation & Community with Goldie, founder of Chronically Connected Healing

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