"Your life is a garden and whatever you cultivate is what springs up, and if you don't pull out certain weeds, it ends up choking out the good stuff."

My good friend, Dr. Word Smith is back for the third time. He flew into Philly, we sat down with zero agenda, and what came out was one of the most honest, layered conversations I've had on this show about relationships, childhood wounds, codependency, Buddhism, karma, and what it actually takes to change.

We get into why intimate relationships are the sharpest mirror we have for our unprocessed childhood material, and why most of us don't even have language for what we didn't receive growing up, only a feeling that something was missing. Word shares his own journey through toxic shame, perfectionism, and self-criticism, and what it looked like to actually move through it over 25 years of real inner work. We also dive into Buddhism, the concept of seed planting, why just changing your thoughts doesn't work, and why the feelings and the body have to be part of the equation.

Then we go deep into codependency, the slow, invisible way it builds, how it rewards you just enough to keep you stuck, and what it means to finally hit the wall where continuing the old way is no longer an option.
We talk about the container: what it means to have a safe space where your body knows it can finally feel, and why that safety isn't a luxury, it's the actual mechanism of change.
We close with a tease: we may be co-facilitating a retreat this fall. Stay tuned.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

• Why intimate relationships trigger us more than anything else
• The moment Word finally understood what toxic shame was
• How to trace shame back to childhood: what questions to ask yourself
• Why affirmations alone don't work, and what you're missing when you skip the feelings and body
• Buddhism, karma, and seed planting
• Codependency: a survival mechanism that stops serving you
• The perimenopause layer: why women in their 40s suddenly can't tolerate the old patterns anymore
• Self-abandonment disguised as being a good mom, wife, partner, and how to start seeing it
• The container: why your body knows when it's safe to feel, and why that space is the key to processing
• Fall retreat announcement. More details coming soon
  
  

CONTACT DR. WORD SMITH

Dr. Word Smith is an energy worker, coach, Buddhist scholar, and Chinese medicine doctor with 25 years of experience helping people with manifestation, healing, and result-based transformation. 

• Visit drwordsmithwisdom.com
• Follow on IG dr.wordsmithwisdom

**WAYS TO ENTER MY WORLD**

• When you leave a review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts and send us a screenshot of it, we'll send you a $250 credit that you can apply to anything else in my world.
• Join me in The Metamorphosis which is my 3-month, groundbreaking, flagship program to rapidly and efficiently clear the familial and ancestral trauma that is blocking you from experiencing the wealth and freedom that you desire.
• Check out my newest video on my YouTube channel What's the Inner Critic + 7-Min Breathwork to Release It
• Questions? Let's jump on a call 

CONTACT ALYSE

• YouTube @alysebreathes
• alysebreathes.com
• IG @alyse_breathes
• [email protected]