Araucaria

The Golem legend, a clay guardian shaped in sixteenth-century Prague to protect people, is also a story about each of us. In this episode I look at the parts of us that once formed to keep us safe: the vigilance, the self-sufficiency, the control. They are not the problem. They are guardians, brought to life for an important reason.

Drawing on my work with children and adults after difficult experiences, and on Peter Levine's somatic approach, I ask what these inner guardians need. Not shaming or criticism, but to have their effort seen, and then the question they have been waiting for: do you still have to stand guard? The episode includes a short somatic invitation, so you can feel the ground under your feet and the difference between a threat and the memory of one.

Safety doesn't begin in the mind, it begins in the body. In this episode I look at what it actually means to feel safe: not as a concept, but as a state we can sense in our breath, our shoulders, our nervous system.

Drawing on polyvagal theory, the work of Stephen Porges, Bessel van der Kolk, and Pat Ogden, I talk about neuroception, the way our nervous system reads safety and threat before conscious thought catches up. About co-regulation: how one calm body can help settle another. And about why being seen and heard isn't a luxury, but a foundation. The episode includes simple somatic invitations so you can come back to the experience itself, not only the words about it.

In the previous episode, we talked about belonging – about how important it is to have your place in the world and in relationships. Today I'm looking at what makes that place truly ours.

This episode is about boundaries – physical, emotional, relational. About how the body tells us "yes" and "no" before we manage to name it. About how closeness can be safe when we are rooted in ourselves. This is a story about how boundaries are not about shutting ourselves off, but a path to meeting. With another person. And with ourselves.

In the first episode, we delve into belonging – one of the deepest human needs.
How do we know that we "belong"? What stories convey (or don't convey) this feeling to us? What can we tell children – and ourselves – to feel rooted or seen?

Here you will find:

• stories and reflections from therapeutic practice,
• the language of psychology and metaphors,
• exercises and questions you can ask yourself or your loved ones.