“Maybe our symptoms aren’t mistakes to fix, but messages waiting to be heard.”
What if the parts of us we’ve labeled as broken were never problems at all?
In this conversation, Dr. David Bedrick joins Theresa and Walker to explore how shame, resistance, and even pain can be invitations into deeper awareness. They talk about the courage it takes to listen to our body’s “no,” the power of staying curious instead of corrective, and how presence becomes a path to healing.
Dr. Bedrick shares stories from decades of therapeutic work, including one woman’s profound relationship with her body’s refusal to eat, and how honoring what’s true, rather than forcing change, opens us to compassion, self-trust, and insight. The conversation touches on trauma, embodiment, and the intelligence within our symptoms—and what it really means to unshame the human experience.
What you’ll learn:
→ Why our symptoms often carry wisdom, not pathology
→ How shame disconnects us from our inner knowing
→ Practices to listen to the body’s “no” with compassion
About Dr. David Bedrick
Dr. David Bedrick is the founder of the Santa Fe Institute for Shame-Based Studies, where he teaches therapists, coaches, and healers to approach human struggle through curiosity and compassion. A counselor, teacher, and attorney, he writes for Psychology Today and is the author of The Unshaming Way, praised by Gabor Maté as “a workable, practice-based, and accessible path to divesting ourselves from shame.”
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Episode Links & Resources
🌐 Learn more about Dr. Bedrick
📖 Read Dr. Bedrick’s articles on Psychology Today
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Episode Chapters
00:00 Welcome + introduction to Dr. Bedrick
02:20 The story of “no” and inner resistance
07:44 How shame hides inside the body
12:30 Listening ethically in somatic work
18:40 Firewalking, courage, and trust
25:15 The body’s wisdom and emotional safety
33:10 Learning to hear the intelligence in symptoms
41:14 When pain becomes a teacher
46:56 Addiction, trauma, and the culture of fixing
50:17 Comfort, compassion, and being held
53:05 Healing through presence and story
01:20:57 Closing reflections + gratitude
Topics we explore in this episode include:
shame healing, trauma-informed therapy, somatic awareness, nervous system wisdom, body intelligence, self-trust, emotional healing, presence and compassion, boundaries, unshaming process, curiosity and awareness
