Reclamation Radio with Kelly Brogan MD

You don’t need to hit rock bottom to change everything.

In this episode, I sit down with James Swanwick for a grounded, honest conversation about alcohol-free living and why so many thoughtful, high-functioning people are quietly questioning their drinking. We talk about the cultural moment we’re in, the limits of traditional recovery models, and why white-knuckling never leads to freedom.

I share my own path away from social drinking and what surprised me most about the shift.
Mindful sobriety isn’t about deprivation; it’s about choosing a life that actually feels good to live.

This episode is for anyone who is sober-curious, questioning the role of alcohol in their life, or looking for a more humane, sustainable approach to change. If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s another way, without labels, shame, or rock bottom, this conversation opens up a new perspective.

Learn more about his programs here.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction
[06:02] Why addiction often runs on a push-pull dynamic that quietly drains energy and agency
[09:38] How the cultural shift away from alcohol is emerging first in younger generations
[11:54] What happens when “normal” drinking erodes health and relationships
[12:47] The moment a casual drinker realizes alcohol is costing more than it gives
[28:10] Why traditional recovery models often miss high-functioning, gray-area drinkers
[30:45] How identity labels can freeze growth instead of supporting real change
[46:12] Why focusing on desire creates more lasting change than focusing on restraint
[56:58] How an alcohol-free life can feel expansive rather than restrictive

👉🏻 Want to start a podcast like this one? Book your free podcast planning call here.

Resources Mentioned:

Clear by James Swanwick | Book or Audiobook
The Sober Truth by Lance Dodes | Book or Audiobook
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders | Website
Rat Park: How a rat paradise changed the narrative of addiction. by Gage, S. H., & Sumnall, H. R. | Article
Randomized controlled trial of harm reduction treatment for alcohol (HaRTA) for people experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder by Susan E. et al. | Article

Connect with James:

Alcohol Free Lifestyle | Website
Swanwick Sleep | Website
James Swanwick | Wikipedia
James Swanwick | Instagram

Find more from Kelly:

YouTube: Reclamation Radio with Kelly Brogan, MD
Instagram: @kellybroganmd
Website: kellybroganmd.com
Join Kelly's monthly membership, Vital Life Project here.
Get Kelly’s new book The Reclaimed Woman here.

You can head to lotuswei.com and use the code Kelly15 for 15% off.

Go to juvent.com and use code KELLY300 at checkout to get $300 off your purchase.

If you feel the need to always speak your opinions, you might be “addicted” to seeking the attention of others.

In this episode, I unpack one of the most charged questions I hear: how to tell whether you’re self abandoning or actually accepting reality. There are subtle ways codependency shows up, even in people who think they’re being calm, spiritual, or evolved… especially when silence becomes a strategy.

Over-speaking and under-speaking, and how both can be driven by the same nervous system impulse, are two common patterns I see again and again. We talk about anxious attachment, avoidant tendencies, and the “giving to get” dynamic that drains your sense of self.

You’ll also hear why trying to get someone else to see your perspective often costs more than it gives, and how real boundaries begin with knowing what you want, not managing how others live their lives. This conversation is for anyone tired of performing self-control while feeling internally split, and ready to build self-trust that doesn’t depend on being understood.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction
[01:02] The difference between self-abandonment and letting others live their lives
[02:14] Why “giving to get” turns both silence and speaking up into self-betrayal
[03:21] The subtle ways codependency hides inside helping, supporting, or being reasonable
[04:28] What’s really happening when you need someone else to see your perspective
[05:46] How anxious attachment drives over-explaining without meeting your actual needs
[07:12] When withdrawal and invisibility start to look like maturity while eroding self-trust
[09:03] How to recognize when your voice is coming from control instead of self-attunement
[11:01] Why real boundaries start with knowing what you want, not managing others

👉🏻 Want to start a podcast like this one? Book your free podcast planning call here.

Find more from Kelly:

Instagram: @kellybroganmd
Website: kellybroganmd.com
Join Kelly's monthly membership, Vital Life Project here.
Get Kelly’s new book The Reclaimed Woman here.

What if the man you’re chasing isn’t your type… he’s your father, unfinished?

In this episode I share a powerful somatic practice rooted in family constellations that helps disentangle the father wound from adult intimacy. If you’ve struggled with codependent relationships, anxious-avoidant dynamics, or an almost magnetic pull toward emotionally unavailable men, this episode is for you.

Most importantly, I introduce a way to mature the internal father, integrating both shadow and strength, so your nervous system no longer confuses longing with love. This is about reclaiming agency, restoring emotional safety, and relating from adult self-possession rather than unconscious repair.

If you’re ready to stop reenacting the past and start choosing from clarity, this episode opens a new door.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction
[01:08] Why attraction to unavailable men can feel obsessive, and how Eros pulls you toward unresolved wounds
[02:14] How romantic partners become stand-ins for the father, and why projection creates suffering
[03:05] How the father wound shows up as embodied unsafety rather than a story or diagnosis
[03:52] What it means to create safety by maturing the internal father instead of fixing men
[05:04] How a simple family constellations practice works through the body as truth
[07:02] What you notice when you place father and partner side by side, and why discomfort matters
[09:03] Why saying “you are not my father” releases trapped relational energy
[11:02] How separating father from partner opens the possibility of adult, sovereign love

👉🏻 Want to start a podcast like this one? Book your free podcast planning call here.

Find more from Kelly:

Instagram: @kellybroganmd
Website: kellybroganmd.com
Join Kelly's monthly membership, Vital Life Project here.
Get Kelly’s new book The Reclaimed Woman here.

Go to the Juvent Store and use code KELLY300 at checkout to get $300 off your purchase.

Learn more about Kelly's Relaxed Woman System here.

I didn’t think Dr. Joe Dispenza’s work applied to me — then his event cracked open an entirely new understanding of healing.

What if the breakthrough you’re chasing doesn’t come from digging into your past, but from stepping into the future version of you who already made the shift?

In this conversation with Dr. Joe Dispenza, I share what happened when I attended one of his in-person retreats. I went in assuming I wasn’t the target audience. I already felt “healthy.” But watching people transform without revisiting old wounds or tracing root causes cracked something open for me. Some changed in a single meditation. These weeklong immersions push people past the point where they normally stop, creating measurable shifts in their brains and bodies.

We talk about why people stay stuck, the role of victim consciousness and secondary gain, and the emotional patterns behind health issues, money struggles, and relationship loops. And then we dive into abundance — the topic Joe resisted teaching — and why it’s really an issue of identity, not circumstance.

Because once you understand how your internal state shapes your external world, the entire map of healing changes.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction
[07:14] Why one long meditation can upend the belief that healing requires visiting your past
[08:38] What shifts when a weeklong immersive pushes you past your usual stopping point
[21:14] Why Joe rejects the “guru effect” and keeps the transformation off himself
[25:47] How volunteers and coherence groups expose the real engine behind this work
[39:04] The moment Joe finally agreed to teach abundance after years of resisting
[41:29] Why expanding abundance beyond money reshapes daily life
[49:02] The traits that keep sick or financially struggling people locked in survival mode
[50:35] How dropping excuses and worst-case thinking becomes the pivot to abundance
[59:03] What opens when you feel your future before it arrives

👉🏻 Want to start a podcast like this one? Book your free podcast planning call here.

Resources Mentioned:

Believing, Behaving, Becoming Abundance with Dr. Joe Dispenza | Course

Connect with Dr. Joe Dispenza:

Instagram: @drjoedispenza
Website: drjoedispenza.com
YouTube: @drjoedispenza

Watch Stories of Transformation with Dr. Joe Dispenza. Real people. Real change. Real stories of what happened when they applied the work.

Find more from Kelly:

Instagram: @kellybroganmd
Website: kellybroganmd.com
Join Kelly's monthly membership, Vital Life Project here.
Get Kelly’s new book The Reclaimed Woman here.

Go to juvent.com and use code KELLY300 at checkout to get $300 off your purchase.

What if the very practices you’re using to “heal your nervous system” are actually keeping you stuck in freeze?

In this episode I sit down with Irene Lyon, one of the most nuanced voices in the trauma healing and nervous system regulation space. Irene has spent decades studying somatic education, somatic experiencing, and early developmental trauma, and what she brings to this conversation is discernment… something sorely missing in today’s wellness culture.

We explore the shadow side of popular practices like cold plunging, meditation, and cathartic trauma release, and why more sensation doesn’t always mean more safety. We talk about freeze response, pre-verbal and developmental trauma, and how well-meaning “trauma hacks” shared online can actually destabilize sensitive nervous systems.

This is a conversation for those who feel they’ve “done all the right things” but still don’t feel settled inside themselves. It’s also for clinicians, parents, and seekers who want to understand what true embodiment looks like—beyond trends, performative regulation, and spiritual bypassing.

My hope is that this episode offers a long exhale, and a return to what is simple, humane, and honest about healing.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction
[16:12] Why many chronic symptoms are nervous system survival patterns, not separate diseases
[25:18] How trauma-release methods fail when a person can’t feel interoception
[36:41] Why early and pre-verbal trauma requires a different path to safety and regulation
[44:07] What goes wrong when meditation, catharsis, or pelvic work are done too soon
[46:52] How meditation can reinforce shutdown instead of presence
[53:24] Why cold plunging and breathwork can trigger freeze or collapse
[1:10:36] How incomplete survival responses turn into freeze, collapse, and chronic illness
[1:24:11] What must be in place before emotional or sensation-based healing

👉🏻 Want to start a podcast like this one? Book your free podcast planning call here.

Resources Mentioned:

Andrew Huberman | Website
Andrew Huberman Control Your Vagus Nerve to Improve Mood, Alertness & Neuroplasticity | YouTube
Stephen W. Porges Vagus Theory | Website
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine | Book
Somatic Experiencing | Website
David Berceli Trauma Release Exercises | Website
Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert | Book or Audiobook
Feldenkrais Method | Website
EMDR Therapy | Website
Vipassana Meditation | Website
Spontaneous Healing by Andrew Weil | Book or Audiobook
Progressive Muscle Relaxation | Website

Learn more about Irene's 21-Day Nervous System Tune Up here.

Connect with Irene:

Irene Lyon | Website
Irene Lyon | YouTube
Irene Lyon | Facebook
Irene Lyon | Instagram

Find more from Kelly:

Instagram: @kellybroganmd
Website: kellybroganmd.com
Join Kelly's monthly membership, Vital Life Project here.
Get Kelly’s new book The Reclaimed Woman here.

Go to the Juvent Store and use code KELLY300 at checkout to get $300 off your purchase.
You can head to lotuswei.com and use the code Kelly15 for 15% off.