158: New Life Perspectives with Liz Larson and Bill McKenna - Episode 158158: New Life Perspectives with Liz Larson and Bill McKenna - Episode 158
UK Health Radio Podcast
Liz Larson and Bill McKenna talk about shame as a hidden emotional pattern that can fuel addiction, low self-worth and health issues. They share how body-focused nervous system work may help clear shame and shift long-standing patterns in mind, body and relationships.
45:15•27 Apr 2026
Hidden Shame, Heavy Emotions and Letting Go of the Patterns That Run Your Life
Episode Overview
- Shame is different from guilt: guilt is about an action, while shame is the belief “I am bad”, which can quietly shape every area of life.
- Unprocessed shame underlies many mental health issues and often drives numbing behaviours such as drinking, drug use, overeating and oversleeping.
- Shame frequently begins in childhood through teasing, religious or cultural messages and body criticism, then becomes a hidden neurological pattern.
- Perfectionism, over-giving, chronic fatigue, isolation and constant relationship conflict can all be signs that shame is running in the background.
- Body-based work on the nervous system, as used in Cognomovement, is presented as a way to delete old shame patterns so people simply no longer feel the same triggers.
“A lot of us… that feel bad drink alcohol, or smoke pot, or whatever, because I just, I don’t want to feel this way. I just need a break.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol, numbing, or constant overwhelm? This conversation on UK Health Radio’s *New Life Perspectives* with Liz Larson and Bill McKenna goes straight to the emotional basement: shame. Speaking as co-creators of the Cognomovement System and hosts of the annual Cognoconscious event, Liz and Bill unpack shame as a hidden neurological pattern that quietly shapes a person’s entire life.
They explain the crucial difference between guilt – “I did something bad” – and shame – “I am bad” – and why, as one teacher told them, the healthy “shelf life” of shame is only “about three seconds”. Anything longer starts to corrode self-worth, relationships, and even physical health.
You’ll hear how shame can show up in sneaky ways: recurring dreams of being naked in public, oversleeping, body hatred, perfectionism that feels like torture, or constant over-giving just to feel “worthy to exist on the planet”. Bill links shame directly to numbing behaviours: “A lot of us… that feel bad drink alcohol, or smoke pot, or whatever, because I just, I don’t want to feel this way.
I just need a break.” The pair describe shame as the “platform” under other heavy emotions on the David Hawkins scale – guilt, grief, fear, anger and more – draining energy and lowering awareness. Through stories from clients and their own lives, they show how early teasing, religious messages about humility, and cultural body shame can hard-wire into the nervous system and silently drive choices for decades.
Their approach is hands-on: using the body and nervous system together to “delete” patterns, rather than just trying to think differently. They even joke about “cognitive amnesia” when people forget they ever had a 10-out-of-10 problem once the pattern clears. If shame has ever fuelled your drinking, overeating, or urge to hide from life, this episode might have you asking: what if the problem isn’t who you are, but a pattern your body’s ready to release?
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