How often have you heard yourself say, “I just need to set a boundary” only to find yourself feeling guilty and then caving in, or worse you get hijacked by old fight, flight or freeze responses and don’t understand why? This is because we tend to view boundary-setting as a cognitive problem. As if the right words, the right script, the right amount of self-awareness will be enough to hold the boundary. Or we get caught in the belief that boundaries are about getting other people to change their behavior— sadly, boundaries truly are for us, not the other person.

But for anyone who has grown up in a system where your survival relied on you not having needs, caretaking others, or being “good” — which is pretty much anyone who has learned that love is conditional, that conflict is dangerous, or that their worth depends on their willingness to over-function and abandon themselves — boundary-setting is not a cognitive problem. It is a nervous system situation. And it requires a nervous system response.

Embodied Boundaries is a two-part somatic workshop series for people who are ready to move move beyond cognitive ideas about boundaries, and connect with the body and the nervous system, where we source healthy responses to boundary violations. Together, we'll explore what is happening in your nervous system when you try to set a limit, how the fight/flight/freeze/fawn responses show up in people-pleasing and codependent patterns, and how to build boundaries that come from genuine self-understanding — not fear, not guilt, and not the exhausting performance of holding something together by sheer force of will. You'll leave with somatic practices you can use in real time, a clearer felt sense of your YES and NO, and a deeper understanding of why empowered boundaries are not about defensive walls — they are the foundation of relationships in which you can be safe, connected and truly yourselves.