Sarah Baldwin
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.
3d ago
You’ll learn about the importance of consistency in reparenting your parts, why this process is about relationship-building, and how to find love for the protective parts of you that are often responsible for challenging behaviors or patterns. When you do this work, without having an agenda, it’s possible to feel self-love in a way that lasts and transforms every area of your life. Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction [01:12] You can’t “talk” yourself into self-love [05:00] An overview of Parts Work (Internal Family Systems) [12:37] An explanation of how to reparent your younger parts [19:15] The importance of building trust with your parts [21:39] Loving both your vulnerable and protective parts [35:31] The integration process and making your parts whole with you [38:26] Question 1: Deciphering if choices come from truth or trauma [49:33] Question 2: Parts work when you’ve disconnected from memories [56:51] Question 3: The root of being self-critical about our bodies Build a toolbox for regulation inside Nervous System Essentials: Ready to make tangible shifts in your life? Sarah’s introductory course, Nervous System Essentials, will teach you how to regulate your nervous system and get into the driver’s seat of your experience, so that you can move through life with more ease, calm, and presence. Click below to learn more: bit.ly/sp-nse Take Sarah ’ s FREE Quiz: Feeling stuck in your life? Not sure where to start with somatic healing? Sarah’s free quiz, “What’s Keeping You Stuck,” will equip you with free tools and a personalized guide to better understand your nervous system specific to you. Click below to get started: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-quiz Connect with Sarah on: Email Community - bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Submit a Question: sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Quotes: “We have to fall in love with all parts of ourselves; not just some of the parts of ourselves, all parts of ourselves.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:16:45] “Whatever part that you’re working [with] is going to need something really different.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:30:49] “We have to teach our parts what love is if they didn’t fully get to receive it.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:33:01] “Everything you feel is a truth to a version of you, it just might not be a truth to adult you.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:40:56]
Dec 9
Drawing on parts work and nervous system science, she explains how striving, control, burnout, micromanaging, and difficulty slowing down are often signs that old survival strategies are running the show. This episode will give you a tangible path toward embodied leadership, so that you can lead from your most authentic self and build more capacity for rest, joy, and fulfillment. Episode Highlights: [00:00] Introduction [01:05] Tackling the belief that success requires sacrificing a full life [03:10] Signs you are leading from dysregulation [05:59] What embodied, regulated leadership looks like [08:21] Why we might lead from dysregulation and protective parts [12:03] Key protective parts that might be running the show [18:02] How our nervous systems impact those around us [19:43] The power of nervous system regulation in leadership [22:04] Accessing your adult self as the foundation for change [24:15] Inviting protective parts into collaboration [26:52] Practical steps for rest, nourishment, and building capacity [29:52] Question 1: Staying regulated with dysregulated clients [36:00] Question 2: Working with parts that feel undeserving [42:06] Question 3: Understanding triggers around client cancellations 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 receives access to limited-time pricing: https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlist Connect with Sarah on: Email Community - bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Download Sarah’s FREE Workbook: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-workbook Submit a Question: sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Quotes: “If you want the highest level of success as a leader, the state of your nervous system is the most important thing to focus on.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:00:43] “If you find yourself having a really imbalanced life, that is a clue that you're likely leading from dysregulation and protective parts.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:04:26] “When you're dysregulated, your full brain isn't working, which means you don't have access to [your] highest levels of creativity, critical thinking, and, of course, feeling good in your bodies. So the more regulated you are, the more regulated everybody around you becomes.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:21:13] “It is our thriving that allows others to thrive.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:39:05] “Every single person, I believe, is a leader in some particular way. – And the more you regulate your nervous system and reparent your parts, the more you lead from your wholeness, the more you help the world heal, and the more, most importantly, you enjoy the process.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:47:42]
Dec 2
She breaks down the core elements of intimacy, including vulnerability, presence, play, touch, and verbal connection, and shows how each one can become inhibited when childhood environments did not allow those needs to be expressed safely. This episode offers a compassionate, practical path forward by reconnecting with the walled-off parts of ourselves, taking small steps toward openness, and learning to differentiate past fears from present-day safety. Episode Highlights: [00:00] Intro [01:30] Intimacy as a primal human need [04:33] Why intimacy feels difficult and is rooted in early attachment [11:25] Siloing ourselves as a way to avoid the pain of being fully seen [17:56] Complaining, withdrawing, or avoiding as protector responses to vulnerability. [23:26] Intimacy is being fully ourselves and deeply witnessed [26:28] Key forms of intimacy and how childhood environments inhibit them [32:12] Your nervous system applies past experiences to adult relationships [34:00] Why we choose partners who mirror or caregiver’s traits [38:57] Reconnecting with walled-off parts to build inner intimacy [42:05] Taking small, tolerable steps toward intimacy with a safe partner [46:12] Seeing a partner’s inhibited intimacy with compassion [47:50] Question 1 - How our protectors misinterpret healthy partners as unsafe [1:00:03] Question 2 - Differentiating adult needs from younger parts seeking reassurance [1:10:46] Question 3 - Healing low sexual desire shaped by 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 receives access to limited-time pricing: https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlist Connect with Sarah on: Email Community - bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Take Sarah’s FREE Quiz: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-quiz Submit a Question: sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Quotes: “If someone only gets 25% of me, or a portion of me, and then they choose they don't want me, or they don't want to be in my life, I can tolerate that because they haven't witnessed or experienced all of me.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:11:51] “The result of being siloed is that no one actually ever fully knows you. And one of the primary places that we will silo ourselves, or feel inhibited in being in our fullness, is [in] our romantic relationship.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:16:39] “Complaining is a form of self-protection.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:18:07] “The thing that we all want, perhaps the most, in a romantic relationship is to be deeply seen.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:22:36] “We all pick partners that mirror for us the good qualities of our childhood caregivers and also the not-so-good qualities of our childhood caregivers.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:34:02] “Sexual pleasure is simply the embodied practice of intimacy.” — Sarah Baldwin [01:15:40]
Nov 25
Sarah explains how experiences of chaos, misattunement, and trauma leave the nervous system feeling unsafe, and how control becomes a brilliant survival strategy. She delves into the more subtle versions of control that go unnoticed because they look “responsible” on the surface, and what is actually needed to begin relaxing your grip. She also explores how regulating the nervous system and connecting with our adult self changes our relationship to our homes, bodies, partners, work, and timelines, and why true surrender is never about “just let go,” but about having somewhere safe inside to land. Join Sarah for tangible tools to experience your life with more freedom and ease. Episode Highlights: [01:49] Everyday examples of control that often go unnoticed [04:13] Why lacking internal safety puts the nervous system into “autopilot” [06:19] Sarah’s personal story of over-achievement and OCD as forms of control [09:30] The link between controlling our environment and trying to manage internal chaos [12:00] Discover the obvious and subtle ways people try to self-control [14:15] How controlling behaviors show up in relationships [17:50] The ways in which we try to control our purpose [20:01] Tools to help you let go and actually surrender [28:00] Question 1 - Overcoming chaos as a new parent [34:15] Question 2 - Rescuing others as a means of avoidance [37:15] Question 3 - Health anxiety and the nervous system 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 receives access to limited-time pricing: https://bit.ly/sp-nyns-waitlist Connect with Sarah on: Email Community - bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Take the FREE Quiz: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-quiz Submit a Question: sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Quotes: “The level of protection that [the nervous system] will do, in terms of controlling, will be dependent on the level of out of control we experience inside.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:06:33] “I cannot let go if I don’t have safety inside, so what we have to do is to create internal safety. We do this through regulation of our nervous system.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:20:39] “Your external world is a representation of your internal world.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:21:24] “We have to show, not tell, our nervous system and our protective parts that it is safe to let go. It is safe to surrender.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:22:37]
Nov 18
Drawing on attachment, parts work, and Polyvagal Theory, Sarah breaks down why romantic relationships often become the most powerful containers for our healing. She explores how conflict, rupture, and repair invite us to meet the last of our unresolved pain, differentiate old wounds from present-day needs, and open with vulnerability rather than protection. With practical guidance on regulation, communication, and navigating tough conversations, she shows how turning toward discomfort can deepen intimacy instead of threatening it. Listen in to learn how to make sense of these patterns and how healthy repair can become a pathway to more ease, authenticity, and connection in your relationships. Episode Highlights: [01:26] How deeper intimacy activates old attachment wounds [05:12] Why unresolved pain arises in our closest relationships [11:00] Romantic relationships are a container for healing and resolution [15:10] Why relationships feel easy at first and harder with closeness [17:12] What happens when conflict triggers a protective part [21:30] What healthy rupture and repair look like in childhood [24:31] Common protective responses like blaming or fawning [26:33] Why repair deepens intimacy and builds ease [30:11] What did rupture represent for you in childhood? [32:51] The ways many of us attempt to repair [36:40] Steps for healthy repair after rupture [42:50] Question 1 - Forgiving ourselves for past relational harm [48:27] Question 2 - The healing process in unsafe environments [53:19] Question 3 - The connection between Polyvagal Theory and Parts Work Take Sarah’s FREE Quiz: Feeling stuck in your life? Not sure where to start with somatic healing? Sarah’s free quiz, “What’s Keeping You Stuck,” will equip you with free tools and a personalized guide to better understand your nervous system specific to you. Click below to get started: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-quiz Connect with Sarah on: bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Download the FREE workbook: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-workbook Submit a Question: sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Quotes: “In many ways, one of the biggest purposes of a romantic relationship is so that it can provide the conditions necessary for us to come into our wholeness.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:07:11] “If you're somebody that tends to jump from relationship to relationship, or from friendship to friendship when things get hard, thinking, ‘If I just find a friend who gets me more, if I just find a relationship that is more aligned,’ you’re going to be on that adventure forever.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:16:19] “When we can do this brave thing and go towards this experience of tough conversations and make it different, it brings the most beautiful healing to the past and a deepening of a relationship, and our system begins to see that ‘I can be all of me and still be loved.’” — Sarah Baldwin [0:28:20] “Your needs are not too much. Your partner's needs aren't too much.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:32:38] “You cannot repair when you're in dysregulation.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:38:05] “If we're in disconnection with someone we care about, what do we really want? We want to feel loved by them, and we want to love them.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:40:33] “Ruptures are a natural, normal part of relationships, and the outcome of a relationship has nothing to do with the amount of ruptures that you experience or arguments or fights. ” — Sarah Baldwin [0:41:48]
Nov 11
Real transformation begins not with willpower but with a felt sense of internal safety. Drawing on Polyvagal Theory, Somatic Experiencing, and Parts Work, Sarah shares tangible tools to help you shift from survival mode to genuine ease. Join Sarah to discover how regulation transforms not only your mindset but your entire lived experience, one safe, grounded moment at a time. Episode Highlights: [00:00] The connection between dysregulation and negativity [02:11] Understanding the six states of the nervous system [04:13] Why the nervous system is hardwired for survival [06:26] Neuroception and your orientation to the world [09:58] Your nervous system shapes your thinking [15:14] Working with your parts to find more ease and inner peace [25:44] Somatic tools to begin orienting toward the positive [35:45] Question 1: Understanding what regulation really means. [44:16] Question 2: Why feedback triggers negative responses. [52:34] Question 3: Healing the scarcity mindset surrounding money. Now Enrolling - Join Sarah’s 10-week Program: Enjoying the podcast and want to go even deeper into somatic healing? Sarah’s 10-week program, You Make Sense, will guide you through tangible tools to address your nervous system, relationships, younger parts, purpose, boundaries, grief, and more! Use code YMSPODCAST100 to claim $100 off for a limited time: https://bit.ly/sp-yms Connect with Sarah on: Email Community - bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Take the FREE Quiz for More Somatic Tools: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-quiz Submit a Question sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Quotes: “All human beings as a whole are negatively inclined creatures.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:04:14] “The more that we heal, the more our systems see that we are safe, and when it sees it is safe, we naturally begin [to] orient more towards the positive.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:09:28] “When you come into partnership, it is very common that the protective parts that we have, we project onto our partner.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:19:37] “Life is hard enough as it is. So, when we have all this unresolved stuff, like every human on the planet, it just makes life hard, and when we are just responding to what is, life is filled with so much more ease.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:51:08] “It is not biological for anything in nature to want to be meek. It wants to be the full expression of itself. Everything wants that.” — Sarah Baldwin [0:56:06]
Nov 4
You’ll learn why grief isn’t just about death or heartbreak; it’s woven into every transition we experience. Whether it’s aging, changing relationships, or healing from the pain of our childhood, Sarah offers a compassionate roadmap to help you meet your grief with safety, embodiment, and compassion. Episode Highlights [00:00] What grief really is, and why everything in nature experiences it [02:32] Why humans resist grief more than any other species [06:30] Our culture avoids endings and celebrates beginnings [08:22] The link between safety, surrender, and emotional processing [10:46] How grief shows up in everyday transitions (marriage, growth, aging) [17:30] Why unresolved trauma keeps us stuck in survival [25:25] How protective parts keep us from experiencing grief [31:47] Sarah’s story of losing her dog Jerry, and finding love through grief [34:54] Somatic steps to gently access your grief without overwhelm [37:33] How to titrate, pendulate, and discharge emotion safely [41:51] Question 1 - Grieving estrangement from our family of origin [45:37] Question 2 - How do I stop getting overwhelmed by grief? [50:10] Question 3 - The healing process and finding others on this journey RSVP for Sarah’s FREE Live Training: Ready to take the next step on your healing journey? Nervous System Starter Kit is a free, 75-minute live training to help you regulate your nervous system, understand your attachment style from a somatic lens, and get into the driver’s seat of your experience. Click below to save your spot (replay available for a limited time): YouTube: https://bit.ly/yt-nssk Spotify/Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/sp-nssk Connect with Sarah on: Email Community (YouTube): bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletter Email Community (Apple/Spotify): bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Free Quiz: YouTube: https://bit.ly/yms-yt-quiz Spotify/Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-quiz Quotes: “So much of our suffering isn’t about grief itself, it’s about our resistance to grief.” - Sarah Baldwin [0:01:46] “The bigger the love, the bigger the grief. Great love means great grief.” - Sarah Baldwin [0:32:14] “Grief is aliveness. It is the result of your bravery in living and loving fully.” - Sarah Baldwin [0:34:23]
Oct 28
Do you find yourself using things to cope like doom scrolling, eating late at night, or drinking in excess? If so, you’re not alone. This episode unpacks the science behind why we numb and engage in “bad” habits. Whether it’s excessive social media, food, sex, alcohol, or work, these are all intelligent survival responses to unresolved trauma or pain. You’ll learn how to tell the difference between coping strategies and regulating resources, why you can’t just “stop” addictive behaviors, and the steps to begin bringing regulation to your nervous system. Sarah also shares her personal journey of healing from OCD, over-eating, and workaholism, proving that true freedom comes from befriending — not battling — your nervous system and protective parts. Episode Highlights [00:00] The truth about coping strategies, and why we all use them [02:11] The role trauma plays in our need to numb [03:12] Why shame perpetuates the coping cycle [05:27] How society normalizes certain numbing behaviors [09:29] You can’t just “stop” a coping behavior [10:52] Coping strategies from a Parts Work lens [15:54] Why battling your protective parts never works [21:04] How to replace coping with regulating resources [24:48] Question 1 - Why quitting smoking can feel worse before it feels better [30:24] Question 2 - Why does my addiction cause more dysregulation? [43:28] Question 3 - Am I using coffee to regulate or cope? RSVP for Sarah’s FREE Live Training: Ready to take the next step on your healing journey? Nervous System Starter Kit is a free, 75-minute live training to help you regulate your nervous system, understand your attachment style from a somatic lens, and get into the driver’s seat of your experience. Click below to save your spot (replay available for a limited time): YouTube: https://bit.ly/yt-nssk Spotify/Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/sp-nssk Connect with Sarah on: Email Community (YouTube): bit.ly/yms-yt-newsletter Email Community (Apple/Spotify): bit.ly/yms-sp-newsletter Instagram — instagram.com/sarahbcoaching Website — sarahbaldwincoaching.com Free Quiz: YouTube: https://bit.ly/yms-yt-quiz Spotify/Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/yms-sp-quiz Submit a Question: sarahbaldwin1.typeform.com/podcast Quotes: “You can’t battle a protector. They will always win because they love your vulnerable part too much to stop.” - Sarah Baldwin [0:14:14] “Forward doesn’t always look like forward in healing. Sometimes it looks like finally facing what’s been waiting to be held.” - Sarah Baldwin [0:29:47]