Liz Swail | Life Is Unfair, Now What? How To Heal Childhood Trauma. The Courage To Rise Above Dark Energy + Emotional Pain

Sep 27, 2022

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Ask yourself the right questions. Instead of asking yourself this unanswerable question all the time, 'Why them and not me? Why don't I have this? Why didn't I have this?' and using up all of your energy on the idea that life is just unfair ask yourself this: 'Do I want to be a victim all my life and sit around feeling sorry for myself?' Flip the switch and tell yourself, 'Okay, these were the cards that I was dealt. What can I do?' Place yourself back in the driver's seat and put that ball of empowerment back in your court. Take that kind of mentality and just run with it. You can do anything. - Liz Swail

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Wellness + Wisdom Episode 474

Entrepreneur, weightlifter, mom, wife, wellness expert and Co-Founder of Holistic Wellness Center Alive and Well, with her husband, Michael, Liz Swail explores the meaning of life, shares how to break your negative mindset and behavior cycles, why we should never rob someone of their healing process, how shroom tea helped lead Liz to a life breakthrough moment, and what is dividing families in America the most in 2022.

How can we unblock irrational fear to help us let go of past trauma?

By the end of this episode, you will have the tools to help you build the courage to rise above dark energy, build powerful connections, and better understand your purpose in life.

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Listen To Episode 474 As Liz Swail Uncovers: [1:30] Alive + Well in Austin, Texas

Liz Swail
Alive + Well | Austin, Texas
RUNGA
What we're going to explore on today's podcast: true health and wellness from the inside out.
About her business with her husband, Alive + Well, what their mission is and how they're helping people heal.
What surprised Josh the most about Alive + Well and some of their products and services he has tried already.
400 Cal Callahan | The Great Unlearn: How To Find Your Purpose & Redefine Success
How Liz and her husband, Mike, as well as other colleagues, have been so welcoming and meaningful to Josh and Carrie since moving from California to Texas.
Liz's background, her childhood, how much as has grown over the years and who she is at her core.
Josh's own struggles growing up as well with a mother who has bipolar disorder and his father leaving them.
The moment in high school as a Junior when Liz considered ending her life.

[13:00] The Power of the Question Prompt: What is The Meaning of Life?

How Liz was able to transition and leave her toxic environment behind for something better for herself.
Difficult moments for Liz even before she was born with everything telling her mother to have an abortion when she was pregnant with her at 13 years old.
What comes up for Liz today with all of the conversations surrounding pro-choice and pro-life.
Unpacking how so many people have transcended to horrible living conditions to find joy, bring love, and positively impact the world.
The Map of Consciousness Explained by David R. Hawkins
Why a low level emotion like despair has to be experienced in order to get to courage.
The moment in Liz's life when she realized that having a title and money wasn't sucess for her.
Why it's so beneficial to ask yourself question prompts + why it's okay if you don't answer them until later.
384 Shawn Stevenson | Eat Smarter: Use the Power of Food to Reboot Your Metabolism, Upgrade Your Brain, and Transform Your Life
How deep contrast is so vital to propel us to something better or some type of growth journey.
The moment Josh realized that having judgement about people with money and opportunities was actually blocking him from achieving those things as well.
Why many people who do come from money don't always have a success story because they lack awareness and values.

[21:00] Breaking Your Negative Mindset + Behavior Cycles

How to get out of victim mode by asking yourself these questions according to Liz.
Liz's personal mission to help break negative cycles such as mistrust, addiction, and poor health with empowering questions.
What Liz's childhood and observing her grandparents taught her about emotional intelligence and love.
How Liz felt lost during university, her skill sets, and what she should do with her life.
How people can change their lives around when they're born into difficult environments without direction.
Why it's so easy to blame caregivers and the people around you for your childhood environment but it's actully disempower and not the right energy to use to help you forward.
The fact that less than 1% of all disease is based on your genetics and that means you have tremendous power over your outcome.
Why our sickcare system isn't giving people the actual help that people need.
140 Unconventional Medicine – Chris Kresser

[30:00] Never Rob Someone of Their Process

Different wellness services they offer at Alive + Well to help people on their health journeys from functional medicine to vitamin shots to relaxing spa packages.
Alive + Well's mission to help people find and heal themselves if and when they are feeling lost.
277 How To Access Your Inner Coach: Christine Hassler
Why it's so important to never rob someone of their process and you cannot force them to heal; they have to do it on their own terms and when they're ready for it.
What therapies can help someone get their emotional energies unstuck and back into motion.
Her father's experience being a drug addict, his recovery process, and her amazement at the life he's living today after being addicted for over 4 decades.
Why no one is unhelpable; we can always heal and get better by setting goals, sticking to a path, and keep doing the inner work.
Josh's own struggle with food and why control is a coping mechanism for many people.
Why Alive + Well is not like other places; especially when it comes to individual attention and treating you like a person rather than a number.
What Alive + Well is doing to always focus on growing and helping people thrive with new healing methods.
How to make wellness like a fun hobby: something that you enjoy and can geek out on so that you're actually enjoying the journey.

[38:00] How Shroom Tea Helped Liz's Breakthrough

Her experience trying shroom tea for the first time while living in the Caribbean and how that helped her have a personal epiphany and boost her confidence.
462 Ben Greenfield: Should You STOP Using Plant Medicines? Wisdom on Microdosing, The Muscle of Faith + How to Grow Your Spiritual Strength
Her past practice of building another life in her mind to get away from coping with her reality at the time and sharing these made-up stories with other people until the shroom tea helped her realize that she didn't need to do that.
Josh's recent experience connecting with his grandfather with a similar tea during a men's group event.
How to be careful about plant medicine and why there's a right and a wrong way to do it.
Why the pre, post, and peri inner work process is vital to integrate a plant medicine's lessons.
The importance of not doing ceremony after a ceremony to do the real work for yourself.
Why you have to be so careful about who you attend a plant medicine ceremony with at any time.
Her thoughts about how Ayahuasca might help her father but the caution he should take when choosing where and which shaman facilities the experience.

[46:45] The Healing Spiral: Contraction & Expansion

333 Dr. Kelly Brogan | The Spiral Path: How To Own & Love Your Self
Why healing is a spiral and sometimes you will experience contraction or expansion in the process.
Unpacking Liz's recent move to Dallas with her family and the current healing spiral she is facing right now.
Her childhood habit of detaching herself from a current situation and how that is showing up now for her.
Why she thinks it's very important to cultivate discipline in life because it will show up for you all of the time once it's a habit compared to motivation.
What Liz does to manage her dark thoughts and why it's so important not to judge yourself for having those thoughts but just let them pass through you, acknowledge that they're there but not forever, and important questions to ask yourself.
How developing good habits when you're healthy and in a good mindset will help carry you when you're not in that space of wellness.
423 Ryan Duey | Ice Baths: Cold Therapy For Weight Loss, Immunity, Metabolism & Mental/Emotional Health
Why doing the cold plunge helps Liz so much when she is in a fight or flight mode.
How Dallas compares to Austin and how she's slowly warming up to their new city.
Why just simply being honest and open about personal struggles in a safe environment is so powerful for healing oneself.

[56:00] Why Outside Control Starts with Dividing Families

Gender dysphoria that our society is facing today; especially through platforms like YouTube and TikTok and the dominos that are being stacked against our youth.
453 Sky King | How To Exit The Matrix: The Psychology of Propaganda & Marketing
How to find your purpose and how you can make an impact with all of the negative mass media headlines we see day after day.
What Liz does to show up as the best version of herself that she can be for her children in order to protect and support them.
Why our children serve a purpose of reminding us what life is all about in the end.
How and why we have moved away from the importance of family because of our current society and government.
Common roots of important pieces of history including communism and the Holocaust that all started with dividing families.
Why Liz believes that we all have holes in our hearts right now that we need to fill ourselves with the love and light of spirituality, a Higher Power, or God - whatever you believe in to feel whole and help one stay grounded.
How removing God or Higher Power and spiritual beliefs plus feeding people junk food along and keeping them sick while also dividing families also leads to people being easily controlled according to Liz.

[1:05:00] Building Powerful Connection Within Ourselves and with Our Partner

How gender dysphoria and confusing children's psyche as young as four years old is priming them for the brokenness that will need to be healed as adults yet some never truly heal.
The detachment Liz faced when she was touched inappropriately by men when she was a kindergartner.
How the pursuit of sole pleasure and no connection can break down one's humanity.
379 Drew Manning | How To Be Fit After 40: Why Drew Gained 75 Pounds on Purpose (Again!)
Josh and fellow podcasters who have been addicted to porn for so long plus their journey being open about it.
The intense experience Josh had with an Ayahuasca ceremony that did not go well and he ended up absorbing a dark entity that led to a psychic break.
Paul Chek | All is God
How Josh consciously chooses to be with Carrie and their son rather than allow thoughts about porn take over his control.

[1:12:30] The Evolving Wellness Journey + Cultivating Purpose

Struggles Liz still faces today and that she is open about sharing with the world.
How Liz has learned to love herself and the gifts that she does have instead of comparing herself to other people.
What they do at Alive + Well to help people get well enough that they can step into their purpose and fully express themselves.
The different layers of Liz, the time it took to get her health to where it is today, and why wellness is a never-ending journey for all of us.
The fact that you can go in on something with a goal but you cannot be attached to the outcome and Liz explains why that is true.
Why she believes it's so important to believe in some sort of power and embrace how incredible it is that we are a moment but there is something eternal.

[1:17:45] Unblocking Irrational Fear to Let Go of Trauma

Her relationship with fear as she moves through the things that she is responsible for every day.
How her husband, Michael, has helped her alleviate the fears she never thought she would get rid of like not being supported.
Questions she asks herself to help her unpack her fears in order to heal and move past them.
How doing a holotropic breathwork experience helped her do some intense inner child work.
Why a lot of our angry emotions and behaviors come forward because of the fear we had as children.
The importance of uncovering your biggest irrational fears in order to finally not allow it to hijack your thinking and let unresloved trauma go.
How she defines wellness and what living a life well looks like to her especially after her mother passed away.

Power Quotes From The Show Embracing the Whole Journey: Good Times + Bad Times

"A society, we're in this pursuit of zero discomfort and instant gratification but without that contrast and journey we can't show up in an authentic way for other people. We can't show up in a powerful way for other people. If we can change that and allow ourselves to feel both the good and the bad, the comfort and discomfort so that we can be empowered." - Liz Swail

How to Control + Heal Fearful Thoughts

"When you're fearful of something, you can't think of anything else. It's that inner questioning of 'What's going to happen if...?' and your brain is constantly spinning and spending energy on it. It's a waste because then you can't think of anything else like creating something bigger and better. So, recognize that fear when you feel it, don't be upset about it, and ask yourself why you're feeling afraid." - Liz Swail

Get Closer to Your Inner Child with Breathwork

"What inner child ideas are coming up when you are afraid, angry, or anxious? Personally, I never understood or did inner child work until I tried holotropic breathing. I sobbed like I never did before and I could see myself at 5 and 7 being hurt by other people. That helped me to say to my inner child, 'I'm so sorry that happened to you little Liz,' and recognize how some fear had manifested in me from a very young age. When you act a certain way like snapping at your spouse it is almost always related to a fear." - Liz Swail

Links From Today's Show

About Liz Swail

Liz Swail is an entrepreneur, weightlifter, mom, wife, and wellness expert based in Austin, where her and her husband Michael run their Holistic Wellness Center Alive and Well.

Liz had a complicated journey into the health and wellness space, as growing up she experienced a turbulent home life, disordered eating, suicidal thoughts, and poverty.

Childhood: comparing the “then” and “now” of her life, touching on how she transformed her own health by making changes over time.

The benefits of giving up gluten and alcohol, and the long-term benefits that you’ll see if you invest time and effort into your weightlifting regime.

Liz balanced her strength training around her two pregnancies, and she managed to keep training right up until giving birth.

Liz says that her Christian faith plays in her life and encourages listeners to find a higher power so that they’re not the center of their own universe.