In this conversation, Jenny Jimeno and David Bedrick explore the deep relationship between emotion, identity, and healing—where the body speaks, the heart remembers, and healing becomes a path of coming home to ourselves. David Bedrick is the founder of the Santa Fe Institute for Shame-Based Studies and creator of the UnShaming process. With over 30 years of experience in psychological healing, he’s helped thousands of people around the world free themselves from shame and reconnect with their wholeness. David writes for Psychology Today and is the author of three books: Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology and Revisioning Activism: Bringing Depth, Dialogue, and Diversity to Individual and Social Change. His new book is You Can’t Judge a Body by Its Cover: 17 Women’s Stories of Hunger, Body Shame and Redemption.

Together, Jenny and David reflect on how pain and chronic symptoms are not just problems to be solved, but messages carrying emotional truth. Rather than rushing to relieve discomfort, David invites us to slow down, listen, and unearth the deeper meaning behind our struggles. They speak to the way Western psychology often separates mind from body, creating a gap that many of us feel but can’t name. Through grief, not knowing, and emotional connection, we begin to mend that divide and return to something more whole. Healing becomes less about fixing and more about feeling—about honoring the unseen parts of ourselves and recognizing the intelligence in our pain.

David offers a different lens on addiction, mental health, and chronic pain—framing them not as individual failings, but as reflections of collective disconnection and cultural pressure. When we unlearn what we’ve been conditioned to believe and allow ourselves to feel fully, a quiet transformation begins. Intimacy deepens, self-understanding expands, and the distance between us begins to close. This conversation is an invitation to return—to our bodies, to our truths, and to a sense of belonging that can only be found through presence, compassion, and courageous inquiry.

Episode Resources:

Connect with David

David's Books

Jenny Substack

Jenny Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.