When the Past Shows Up in Your Relationships: Identifying Younger Parts in Romantic Partnerships
Romantic love has a way of poking at our deepest wounding. Even when life feels steady elsewhere, intimacy can trigger reactions that don’t feel like our true selves. Sarah explains that this is often the work of our parts — younger versions of ourselves that carry past trauma and coping strategies — and that these parts can show up most strongly in our closest relationships.In this episode of You Make Sense, Sarah explores how vulnerable, protective, and self-like parts shape the roles we play with partners, from caretaking to perfectionism. She shares how these patterns are often rooted in childhood experiences and why they can make intimacy feel both desirable and threatening. With somatic insights and practical tools, Sarah shows how to reparent younger parts, anchor into the adult self, and create relationships that feel authentic and safe. Episode Highlights:[00:00] Identifying the parts of us that show up in romantic relationships[01:41] How parts form through overwhelming or traumatic experiences[06:08] Why parts show up most strongly in romantic partnerships[09:51] Three categories of parts: vulnerable, protective, and self-like[10:48] How protective parts protect vulnerable parts[14:23] Self-like parts: how they mimic adult selves and feel rational[17:25] Learning to distinguish your adult self from younger parts[28:19] Tools to anchor into your adult self in relationships[29:50] Exercises to see your partner clearly and take in the good[34:21] The importance of reparenting your parts[34:51] How to repair after conflict and name adult vs. younger needs[37:48] Question 1: Working with caretaker protector parts in relationships[53:15] Question 2: Attraction challenges when seeing your partner’s child parts[01:08:07] Question 3: The role of your nervous system in letting go of long relationships RSVP to Sarah’s FREE Live Training + Q&A Series:Ready to take the next step with nervous system healing? Join Sarah for “Unlock the Life You Desire,” a 2-part somatic healing series to help you experience more joy and aliveness, and step toward the purpose that’s calling you. Click below to save your spot (limited-time replays available!):bit.ly/sp-live-training Navigating Your Nervous System is NOW ENROLLING:Wanting to work with Sarah in a live capacity? The doors are now open to her 6-week live program, Navigating Your Nervous System, designed to help you get into the driver’s seat of your experience and start feeling better on a daily basis. Click below to learn more:bit.ly/sp-nyns Connect with Sarah on:Email Community - bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoachingWebsite — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Submit a Question:sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast
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Understanding Healthy Aggression and How Unprocessed Anger Becomes Internalized
Have you ever been told you're "too nice" or found yourself saying "I'm fine" even when you're really not? For so many of us, anger can feel scary or wrong, like something we should push down or avoid entirely. But Sarah explains that there's a difference between healthy and unhealthy expressions of anger, and that healthy aggression—your natural ability to protect yourself and speak up when something isn't right—is actually essential for feeling safe and alive in your body.In this episode, Sarah explores why so many of us learned to inhibit this vital, life-force energy, often as a way to survive difficult experiences. If you've ever found yourself being chronically agreeable, struggling to set boundaries, or getting angry about small things while staying silent about the big ones, this episode is for you. You’ll learn gentle, somatic tools to reconnect with this protective energy so that you can access the full spectrum of who you are. Episode Highlights:00:30 Healthy Aggression10:45 Unhealthy Aggression17:23 Different Versions of Unhealthy Aggression21:19 What Happens When We Inhibit Healthy Aggression?24:58 How to Access Healthy Aggression38:06 Question #1 - How Do You Overcome Self-Hatred?47:15 Question #2 - Tending to a Younger Part’s Anger and Resentment56:36 Question #3 - Why Do I Get So Irritated with My Children?01:02:47 Question #4 - Releasing Stored Anger From the Jaw Join My Free Live Training + Q&A Series: Understanding how your nervous system works is the foundation for everything you want in life. If you're ready to start learning how to work with this incredible system inside you, I'm hosting a free live training series to help you expand your capacity for joy and step toward your purpose. RSVP for the two-part series: https://bit.ly/sp-live-training Connect 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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Summer Somatic Reset: Finding Your Community and Building Authentic Connection
Have you ever struggled to build or maintain meaningful friendships, felt isolated despite doing the inner work, or wondered why community can feel so hard to create? In the final episode of the Summer Somatic Reset series, Sarah explores one of the most essential yet misunderstood human needs – connection. You’ll learn how your attachment style and nervous system influence your ability to connect, and why experiences of trauma can lead to patterns of fawning, isolation, or forming unhealthy relationships. This episode will also equip you with tangible somatic tools to build your capacity for connection, recognize the types of relationships you desire, and begin cultivating community from a place of authenticity.Join Sarah to discover the power of creating internal safety and belonging to navigate social anxiety, shift inner dialogue, and find your chosen family. Episode Highlights:[00:00] Why community and safe connection are essential[01:46] How trauma impacts creating authentic connection[04:14] Sarah shares her experience of fawning and isolation[06:59] Masking, dysregulation, and misconceptions surrounding anxiety[10:34] What it means to be the ‘different one’ in your family or community[13:18] Attachment styles and how they influence connection[19:18] Examples of secure attachment and healthy connection[21:59] The healing journey and finding your chosen family[25:39] How to cultivate inner belonging and relational authenticity[28:48] Learn how to find and form the right connections for you[32:56] Reciprocity and the evolving nature of relationships[34:57] Question 1: Healing past relational wounds to form friendship and trust[41:14] Question 2: How to find an aligned community and build a chosen family[45:17] Question 3: Why it’s hard to reenter a community after healing Enter the Summer Somatic Reset Giveaway:Looking for even more tools to transform your life? For a limited time, you can get a FREE 1-hour group call with Sarah for more resources to regulate your nervous system and a chance to ask her questions live!All you have to do is rate, review, and/or subscribe to claim your spot. Click below to learn more. bit.ly/sp-podcast-giveaway Connect with Sarah on:Email Community (YouTube): bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletterEmail Community (Apple/Spotify): bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoachingWebsite — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Submit a Question:sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Summer Somatic Reset: Are They Wrong For Me? Or Is It My Nervous System?Summer Somatic Reset: High-Performance Leadership Without Engaging in Hustle CultureSummer Somatic Reset: Healing the Scarcity Wound: A Nervous System Approach toTrauma & FinancesUnderstanding Social Anxiety: Are you Actually an Introvert/Extrovert or Is It Trauma?
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Summer Somatic Reset: Healing the Scarcity Wound: A Nervous System Approach to Trauma & Finances
Many of us carry deep-seated wounds of scarcity rooted in our early attachment patterns, and without realizing it, we continue to recreate those patterns in our adult lives. In this third episode of the four-part Summer Somatic Reset series, Sarah delves into the intricate relationship between trauma, finances, and the nervous system.Through the lens of attachment theory and nervous system regulation, Sarah unpacks how anxious, avoidant, and disorganized money attachments develop and how they influence our beliefs about worth, safety, and abundance. Learn how to identify your own patterns, understand the protective role your body has played, and how to begin cultivating a secure, embodied relationship with money.Want to effectively navigate financial anxiety, expand your capacity to receive, and embrace abundance? This is the episode for you! It’s not just a money conversation; it is a pathway to healing, wholeness, and freedom. Episode Highlights:[0:00:00] Today’s focus on money and abundance.[0:01:14] Where struggles around money might originate from.[0:07:49] Attachment theory and how it relates to finances.[0:11:53] How the body protects itself from anxious attachment around money.[0:17:05] Avoidant attachment and how it develops.[0:21:17] Examples of how the body copes with avoidant attachment.[0:23:32] What it looks like to have a disorganized attachment with money.[0:25:50] What a secure relationship with money looks like.[0:31:09] Reasons why people struggle with the concept of abundance.[0:33:00] How to create a healthy relationship with money.[0:41:20] Question 1: Overcoming the body’s conditioning to wealth.[1:00:14] Question 2: The impact of attachment style on relationships.[1:07:10] Question 3: How long will the healing journey take. Enter the Summer Somatic Reset Giveaway:Looking for even more tools to transform your life? For a limited time, you can get a FREE 1-hour group call with Sarah for more resources to regulate your nervous system and a chance to ask her questions live!All you have to do is rate, review, and/or subscribe to claim your spot. Click below to learn more.bit.ly/sp-podcast-giveaway Connect with Sarah on:Email Community (YouTube): bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletterEmail Community (Apple/Spotify): bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoachingWebsite — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Submit a Question:sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Summer Somatic Reset: Are They Wrong For Me? Or Is It My Nervous System?Summer Somatic Reset: High-Performance Leadership Without Engaging in Hustle Culture
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Summer Somatic Reset: High-Performance Leadership Without Engaging in Hustle Culture
In episode two of the four-part Summer Somatic Reset series, Sarah explores how high-performing leaders can shift from leading through scarcity and fear to embodying leadership rooted in safety and abundance. She unpacks the common traits of many high achievers, how the drive to succeed often stems from survival instincts formed in childhood, the toll this can take over time, and how parts work and nervous system regulation can pave the way for sustainable leadership.Through practical somatic tools and real-life examples, Sarah offers a path to more life-giving leadership rooted in nervous system regulation, nourishment, and the steady presence of your adult self. Whether you’re leading a company or your own healing journey, this episode will help you shift from striving to thriving so you can lead without sacrificing your wellbeing! Episode Highlights:[00:00] The journey to life-giving high-performance leadership[01:25] What it looks like to be a high achiever[06:01] How striving protective parts drive high achievers[12:44] What happens when protective parts become problematic[14:17] How constant striving adversely impacts ourselves and others[18:45] Learning to lead from our adult selves, not our younger parts[22:44] How to reparent our younger parts and retrain our nervous systems[25:45] The importance of prioritizing nourishment, even when it’s challenging[32:33] Other focus areas for high achievers, like learning to rely on others[35:26] Why people are drawn to regulated leaders[40:00] Question 1: Feeling in your power and not getting derailed[45:19] Question 2: Starting, running, and sustaining a successful business[50:54] Question 3: Navigating imposter syndrome from a somatic perspective Enter the Summer Somatic Reset Giveaway:Looking for even more tools to transform your life? For a limited time, you can get a FREE 1-hour group call with Sarah for more resources to regulate your nervous system and a chance to ask her questions live! All you have to do is rate, review, and/or subscribe to claim your spot. Click below to learn more.YouTube — bit.ly/yt-podcast-giveawayApple/Spotify — bit.ly/sp-podcast-giveaway Connect with Sarah on:Email Community (YouTube) — bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletterEmail Community (Apple/Spotify) — bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletterInstagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoachingWebsite — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Submit a Question: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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