What if shame isn’t a flaw, but a signal that something essential in you has been pushed away? In this week’s episode, Aimee sits with David Bedrick, therapist, author of The Unshaming Way, and a passionate advocate for psychological truth-telling.
They explore how shame disconnects us from our experience, distorts our emotions, and shapes our identities from the inside out. Through somatic awareness, storytelling, and radical compassion, David invites us into the process of unshaming—not fixing ourselves, but fully witnessing and embracing the parts we've exiled.
David takes us through:
- Why shame cuts us off from empathy, truth, and genuine accountability
- How trauma and unacknowledged pain become embedded in the body
- The power of somatic language to access “unshamed experience”
- What it means to witness, rather than fix, someone in pain
- Why reclaiming emotion, desire, and personal narrative is essential to healing
- How unshaming returns us to wholeness and expands our capacity to love, feel, and act
And so much more!
David Bedrick, JD, Dipl. PW, is a teacher, counselor, and attorney. He grew up in a family marked by violence. While his father’s brutality was physical and verbal, his mother’s denial and gaslighting had its own covert power. This formative context introduced David early to the etiology of shame and instilled an urge to unshame.
Professionally, he was on the faculty for the University of Phoenix and the Process Work Institute in the U.S. and Poland, and is the founder of the Santa Fe Institute for Shame-based Studies, where he trains therapists, coaches, and healers and offers workshops for individuals to further their own personal development.
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.
His new book, The Unshaming Way, was published by North Atlantic books in November 2024.
Connect with David:
Website: https://www.davidbedrick.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david.bedrick/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DBedrick
Order The Unshaming Way: https://a.co/d/dYTwNa7
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/contributors/david-bedrick-jd-dipl-pw
Connect with Aimee:
Instagram: @aimeetakaya
Facebook: Aimee Takaya
Learn more about Aimee Takaya, Hanna Somatic Education, and The Radiance Program at www.freeyoursoma.com.