Moving Beyond Shame

This episode explores the "information hurdle" that many survivors trip over again and again due to not ever having been taught how our brains deal with threat and trauma.  We get into the pitfalls of only ever having learned about "fight or flight," and dive into what's really going on: habitual and survival reflexive reactions aimed at keeping us alive.

We also discuss how to move ourselves from a path of shame to a path of acceptance and compassion by embracing the science.

Books that folks are encouraged to read for further exploration:
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry
The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk
The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory by Stephen Porges

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening
• 3:29 Welcome to Episode 3
• 5:40 Diving into the science: the prefrontal cortex
• 11:05 Experiencing trauma is a subcortical experience
• 13:00 The first information hurdle
• 15:18 Habitual behavior in everyday life
• 19:12 Survival reflexes
• 20:36 The problem with analyzing our reactions
• 22:03 The impact of the information hurdle: shame
• 23:23 Getting over the next hurdle
• 29:16 The Cool Ranch Example
• 32:21 The Coffee Creek Example
• 34:45 From shame to acceptance and grief
• 37:23 The Marine Example
• 39:42 A few books you ought to read