Episode 170: Unbroken: The Stories Our Bodies Carry

What if your body isn’t broken, and the symptoms you’ve been fighting are actually trying to tell you something?

Physician, author, and educator Dr. Karyn Shanks joins Giving Pain Purpose for a powerful conversation about chronic illness, trauma, the nervous system, and what it means to stop seeing ourselves as problems that need to be fixed.

Together, Dr. Shanks and Lyndsay explore how our experiences can shape the way our bodies respond to the world, why creating a sense of safety matters, and how curiosity and self-compassion can change the way we approach healing. They unpack the frustration of living with symptoms that don’t always come with clear answers and the emotional toll of feeling disconnected from—or even betrayed by—your own body.

Dr. Shanks shares her holistic perspective on healing, bringing together science, psychology, and lived experience to challenge the belief that illness means something within us has failed.

At the heart of this conversation is a powerful shift in perspective: instead of constantly asking, “What’s wrong with me?” what happens when we begin asking, “What is my body trying to tell me?”

For anyone living with chronic illness, navigating trauma, or searching for answers after feeling dismissed or defeated, this episode is a reminder that you are more than your symptoms, and healing may begin when you stop fighting your body and start listening to it.