Ready Living Podcast Ep. 44: Regulating Your Nervous System Is the Ultimate Act of Rebellion

Born in Madagascar, Liva RJ’s early years were marked by tragedy, instability, and frequent moves between countries, languages, and socioeconomic realities. Hypervigilance became a way to survive and adapt.

Later, her career took her inside some of the world’s most influential institutions, from working as a journalist at Bloomberg and the Financial Times to sitting down with leaders at the World Economic Forum at Davos, before spending five years as a Malagasy diplomat heading international communications for the office of the president. At close range, she’s seen how power operates.

After surviving 9/11, she started asking what a life aligned with her deepest values, one oriented around inner peace rather than hustle-culture achievement, could look like. The answer involved a derelict 16th-century farmhouse in France’s Loire Valley that she began restoring seven years ago.

Today she hosts retreats for women who’ve lost themselves in overachievement or survival mode and realize something needs to change. The Joy Oasis offers a restorative environment without phones, social media, or the need to perform.

In this Ready Living Podcast episode, she shares how regulating one’s nervous system means having the internal resources to meet difficulty without being consumed by it. Liva describes it as “the ultimate act of rebellion.”

The interview is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.