You may numb your feelings to protect yourself, but in actuality you’re just driving your pain deeper into your physical body.

EFT expert Annabel Fisher interviews me (Jini Patel Thompson) on her radio show, and we discuss how moving out of numbing and into courageous vulnerability is the beginning of root-level healing for both your emotional/spiritual body and your physical body.

I share stories from my own life, as well as process and share tools for you to get out of the numb zone and reconnect to your authentic self and true feelings.

We also discuss the difference between being authentic and being vulnerable, as well as the appropriate (healthy) times or situations to dwell primarily in one or the other.

Annabel intersperses our discussion with her previously-recorded interviews with two men (Brian Johnstone and Paul Zelizer) who discuss what being vulnerable means to them and what they have learned in their own process of opening their heart and sharing their full truth.

Listen to the podcast:

NOTE: We reference the work of Brene Brown a number of times, so if you missed my previous post about Brene (where you can watch her excellent videos), then just click here to check out the fabulous Brene Brown.

And to the left is the book I reference in the call (when I give the exercise with the stones). You can find it on Amazon, in either paperback form or on Kindle.

Original post October 2012. Most recently updated April 2020.