Josh TrentIdentity Transformation Architect and award winning Host of the Wellness + Wisdom Podcast—a decade-strong show with over 750 episodes and 15M downloads.

Heal your birth trauma #podcast

15 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this podcast episode, host Josh Trent interviews Ayla Cuenca, a holistic birth guide, doula, and self‑described "birth trauma alchemist." Ayla explains how traumatic, highly medicalized births can become a hidden family narrative that is passed down through generations. She describes how women may unconsciously repeat the birth experiences of their mothers, aunts, or sisters in order to maintain a sense of belonging, even when those experiences conflict with their own ideal birth vision. The conversation introduces the concept of "alchemy" as a transformative healing process for birth trauma, suggesting that processing and integrating these unprocessed experiences can break the cycle and allow new, healthier birth stories to emerge. The discussion is reflective and empathetic, focusing on the emotional weight of unprocessed trauma and the potential for conscious healing.

Chapters

Knocking women out, dragging babies out, like, this is not it. That experience has nowhere to offload. It has nowhere to process. Everything that that parent didn't process is now the child's to bear. This is what becomes birth trauma.
Ayla Cuenca is a holistic birth guide, doula, and birth trauma alchemist.
Say a woman has, you know, her mother experienced a deeply traumatic, highly medicalized birth, and so did the aunt or the older sister, right? It's become a family story. She might create this idea or this vision of her perfect birth, but in order to stay in that belonging with the women of her family, she has to repeat what they've lived because the need to be connected to your mother is so much more important than the ideal birth experience. It's totally unconscious.
What do you believe alchemy truly is when it relates to birth trauma healing?
Well,