Emma Johnston and Eleanor Mann | “The Whole Family Nervous System”: Help Families Regulate, Play and Thrive
Show Notes:
If you work with parents who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated, this is their reset: one simple framework you can share to help them quickly shift the dynamics at home.
Today’s episode is your go-to guide for helping parents understand the ‘whole family nervous system’—the hidden, powerful connection that influences how parents and kids react to stress.
Lynn is joined by Emma Johnston and Eleanor Mann, founders of The Reconnected, who have supported over 100,000 families in moving from tension and reactivity to connection and ease. Their approach blends breathwork, nervous system regulation, and play therapy, offering practical tools you can pass on to your clients for immediate and lasting change.
✨Episode Highlights:
- A child’s ability to self-regulate is directly tied to their caregivers’ nervous system state.
- Breathwork can help release stored stress and expand capacity for calm, connected responses.
- Children’s primary healing tool is play — the caregiver’s role is to be present and attuned while they express themselves.
- Old reaction patterns come from past experiences; but self-regulation can break these patterns.
- A supportive community is a powerful catalyst for sustained family change.
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To learn more visit: InstituteforBirthHealing.com
About Today’s Speakers:
Emma Johnston and Eleanor Mann are the founders of The Reconnected, a global community of over one hundred thousand families. They are dedicated to supporting parents to consciously transform their lives. Since launching their signature course, Reconnected Parenting, in 2019, they have positively impacted thousands of families, guiding them towards more fulfilling and intentional parenting experiences.
As experts in Breathwork and Play Therapy, they advocate for a modern, authentic, and values-driven approach to parenting.
Emma is a Breathwork Practitioner, Yoga Teacher, and mother of five young children.
Eleanor is a Counsellor, Breathwork Practitioner, Play Therapist, and mother of five in their teens and young adult years.
Website: https://thereconnected.com/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Reconnected-Parenting-Healing-Nervous-Regulation/dp/1401996973
Love Dr. Rachael! She is such a gem in the Metro Detroit area. She was my pelvic floor PT during my first pregnancy and postpartum and inspired me to pursue pelvic health certification (coming from an Ortho PT clinic). I’m now working through Holistic Treatment of the Pregnant and Postpartum Body.
Thank you so much for this presentation…I am an osteopath and also trained in SER (love love Upledger!)…the piece about ‘freeze’ related to transgenerational trauma was very informative and a reminder to look further…I have had a client who lost a baby and when I treated her she felt she needed to give birth to this child…and then went back several lives and saw that she had also lost a baby many lives prior! This relieved her of some stress…so every piece of the puzzle counts…keep the nuggets coming, so appreciative! Best, Judith
Great interview, Lynn and Susanne, for pushing us beyond “hands on, hands in”, confirming our need as therapists, for wide, grounded personal presence for our clients to feel safe and then willing to bring forth those physical/emotional/transgenerational, traumas/beliefs that lead to more complete healing and return to function. Appreciate the shout out, and listened delightfully to two of my favorite teachers and mentors. All of this was gold!