Episode Details

For many adoptees, our earliest experience of touch was tangled up with separation. So what does it look like to let the body be held again, with care, consent, and choice?

In this episode, Dr. Liz DeBetta and I introduce the newest member of the Un-M-Othered retreat team: Diane Maury, LMT, adoptee, licensed massage therapist, reiki practitioner, and founder of Rooted River Wellness. Diane shares her adoption story: foster care, a confidential intermediary search, DNA discoveries, and the secondary rejection so many of us know. She also shares how twenty years of bodywork became part of her own healing.

We talk about why the adoptee body needs to settle, not just open. We explain how Liz’s words, Julie’s sensing, and Diane’s settling braid together over one weekend, and why nobody at this retreat is ever put on a table they didn’t choose.

In this episode:

• 03:01 Diane’s adoption story, search, and reunion
• 12:10 How she found massage and reiki
• 15:00 The meaning behind Rooted River Wellness (and a tree with no roots)
• 20:40 How Liz and Diane met, and why she belongs in this room
• 29:00 Building capacity for safe touch
• 35:30 What Diane notices when an adoptee gets on her table
• 38:37 Reiki in plain language
• 42:11 When emotions come up during bodywork
• 44:19 How the one-on-one sessions work at the Red Poppy
• 58:52 For the person on the fence

Un-M-Othered: A Revolution in Adoptee Healing
December 4–6, 2026 · Red Poppy Center for Renewal · Highland, Michigan
Everything but travel is included: two nights on site, all meals, the film, the workshops, and a one-on-one session with Liz, Julie, or Diane. Only 9 spots left, and space for men is limited. Deposit and payment plans are available.

🔗 Reserve your spot: https://www.lizdebetta.com/un-m-othered-adoptee-healing-retreat
🔗 Diane Maury, Rooted River Wellness: https://www.instagram.com/diane.maury.lmt/
🔗 Bring Your Burden Gathering - Register here: https://www.cominghometoself.co/Bring-Your-Burden-Gathering

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