Getting to Know Freeze: How This Self-Protective State Shows Up in Dating, at Work, and More
Many of us know what it feels like to be stuck, wanting to move forward in life but somehow unable to. This is often an indication we’re in freeze—one of the most misunderstood forms of nervous system dysregulation. In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah breaks down the freeze response: what it is, why it happens, and how it shows up in everything from our relationships to our purpose.Freeze is not laziness or weakness, but a deeply adaptive survival response. Drawing on neuroscience and compassionate insight, Sarah offers powerful somatic tools to gently help you come out of dysregulation and into safety. If you’ve ever felt stuck in a loop of overthinking, avoidance, or self-doubt—this episode will give you a roadmap for stepping toward the life you desire.Episode Highlights:00:00 Intro00:24 Freeze & The Autonomic Nervous System03:25 Chronic Dysregulation Takes A Lot of Energy06:21 Characteristics of Freeze12:50 How We Experience Freeze In Our Relationships17:32 Tools to Heal Your Relationships22:44 How Younger Parts Show Up in Relationships25:08 How We Experience Freeze in Our Purpose 31:01 Coming Closer to Regulation36:30 Question 1 - “Why Can’t I Step Toward Dating?”41:26 Question 2 - “How Do I Get Out of a Deep State of Freeze?”47:06 Question 3 - “Why Am I Dysregulated So Often?”Join the Waitlist for Navigating Your Nervous System:Living a full, expansive life starts with nervous system regulation. If you’re looking for practical tools and support on your healing journey, you can now get on the waitlist for my upcoming 6-week LIVE program.Everyone on the waitlist will receive access to limited-time pricing:https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlistConnect with Sarah on:Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast
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How Childhood Trauma Impacts Our Present Lives
Our early childhood experiences leave a lasting imprint on how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world around us—often in ways we don’t even realize. In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah unpacks how childhood trauma can shape our nervous system, attachment style, and even our health, and why the self-protective patterns we developed early on often leave us feeling stuck in our adult lives.Using neuroscience and real-life examples, Sarah will guide you toward tangible tools to address your nervous system and come to the aid of younger parts. Whether you had loving parents who didn’t always get it right or caregivers who were harmful or dangerous, this episode will help you to heal the past and step toward your future with more ease and empowerment. Episode Highlights00:00 Intro00:15 Childhood Shapes Who You Become01:36 How Adverse Childhood Experiences Affect Our Adult Lives07:53 Understanding Adaptive Attachment Styles11:50 The Origin of Our Younger Parts16:03 How Childhood Parts Show Up in Adult Life20:22 Your Nervous System Picks Your Romantic Partners24:02 How Our Deepest Desires Become the Path to Healing31:55 Question 1 - Why Do I Feel More Activation As I Heal?36:25 Question 2 - Are My Struggles with Dating Rooted in the Past?41:11 Question 3 - Why Don’t I Feel Anything About a Past Trauma? Join the Waitlist for Navigating Your Nervous System:Living a full, expansive life starts with nervous system regulation. If you’re looking for practical tools and support on your healing journey, you can now get on the waitlist for my upcoming 6-week LIVE program.Everyone on the waitlist will receive access to limited-time pricing:https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlistConnect with Sarah on:Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast
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Getting Your Needs Met: Shifting from Codependency and Hyper-Independence to Interdependence
We all have needs. But what happens when we stop listening to them, or never learned how to in the first place? In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah gently guides us through the heart of relational healing: learning how to get our needs met.With tenderness and clarity, she unpacks how early attachment wounds shape our ability to express, feel, or even recognize our needs, leading many of us into cycles of codependency, hyper-independence, or invisible exhaustion. From the helpers who give too much to the ones who learned to stay small and silent, Sarah explores the nervous system patterns that keep us stuck in survival, disconnected from true intimacy.Through the lens of somatics and parts work, she introduces a compassionate roadmap toward interdependence: a relational experience where we can be fully ourselves and fully connected. It's not about being needy, it’s about being human.Episode Highlights00:00 Intro00:15 We All Have Needs03:25 Understanding Codependency08:42 Different Roles of Codependency12:41 Hyper-Independence20:31 Unseen and Unknown22:07 Interdependence26:10 Getting Your Needs Met39:33 Question #1 - How to Reshape the Nervous System48:08 Question #2 - Hypervigilant Younger Parts with Deep Wounding57:15 Question #3 - Loving Inquiry01:04:49 Question #4 - Young Part Bargain Get on the Waitlist for Navigating Your Nervous System:Living a full, expansive life starts with nervous system regulation! If you’re wanting practical tools and live support on your healing journey, you can now get on the waitlist for my upcoming 6-week live program.All waitlisters get access to limited-time reduced pricing. Click the link below to learn more. https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlistConnect with Sarah on:Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast
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What is Burnout? And How Do We Break the Cycle?
Burnout doesn’t happen overnight—it’s what happens when we chronically override our nervous system. In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah draws upon both Polyvagal Theory and Parts Work to explain what burnout really is, and how our protective parts often push us to keep going, even when our body is begging us to pause.Packed with tangible somatic tools, this episode will guide you toward healing through small, tolerable steps and simple lifestyle changes. If you’re experiencing burnout, please know you are not broken. This is simply a sign your system is being pushed beyond its limits, and with the right care, it’s absolutely possible to heal.Episode Highlights00:00 Intro00:40 Hierarchy of Your Autonomic Nervous System08:55 3 Primary Reasons for Burnout15:47 What We Neglect in Burnout22:07 Chronic Fatigue & Shutdown24:27 The Healing Power of Walking26:33 Building a Supportive Nighttime Routine30:11 Why Lifestyle Change Is Essential38:34 Question #1: How to Find Your Community43:31 Question #2: When Work Becomes Your Whole Life48:47 Question #3: Does Your Reaction Match the Circumstance? Get on the Waitlist for Navigating Your Nervous System:Living a full, expansive life starts with nervous system regulation! If you’re looking for practical tools and support on your healing journey, you can now get on the waitlist for my upcoming 6-week LIVE program.Everyone on the waitlist will receive access to limited-time pricing:https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlistConnect with Sarah on:Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast
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Heartbreak, Grief and Moving On Using Parts Work
Breakups aren’t just hard—they can feel completely disorienting, terrifying, or even impossible. That’s because we’re often not only grieving the end of a relationship as our adult self, we’re also navigating the pain, fear, and longing of our younger parts. In this episode of You Make Sense, we’ll explore why it can feel so difficult to leave or let go, even when we know deep down that a relationship is no longer right for us. Together, we’ll walk through how heartbreak reactivates old wounds, why love can feel confusing or even threatening to our protective parts, and how to begin creating the safety necessary to take our next right step.Episode Highlights00:00 Intro00:40 Signs It May Be Time to End a Relationship07:32 How Dysregulation Can Keep You Stuck13:36 How Do I Know If This Relationship Is Right for Me?17:03 Anchoring Into Our Adult Selves26:26 Your Partner Can’t Be a Perfect Parent to Your Parts31:21 Why It's So Hard to Let Go of a Relationship That's Ended35:14 Processing Grief41:11 Question 1 - Healing in the Midst of Grief and Dysregulation46:59 Question 2 - Accessing Healthy Aggression After Betrayal50:57 Question 3 - Why It Can Feel So Hard to LeaveDownload Sarah’s FREE Workbook:Not sure where to get started with somatic healing? Sarah created a FREE trauma-informed workbook called "How To Gain Control Over How You Feel" to help you step toward a life filled with more freedom, ease, and empowerment.Click the link below to download the workbook:https://bit.ly/yms-sp-workbookConnect with Sarah on:Email Community - https://bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sarahbcoaching/Website - https://www.sarahbaldwincoaching.com/Submit a Question: https://sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast
You Make Sense is a manual to understanding your human experience, so that you can navigate the world with freedom, ease, and empowerment. Using the latest neuroscience and trauma research, this podcast will equip you with powerful somatic tools to help you get unstuck and create the life you desire. Sarah Baldwin, SEP, is an expert in trauma resolution, attachment, parts work, and nervous system regulation. But before she was a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and trained in Polyvagal interventions, she first came to this work as someone struggling to find relief. It was through her own healing that led her to become a trained professional, now helping thousands of people across her programs, courses, and classes to do the same.
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