Episode 59
“Are you a self-proclaimed people pleaser? Do you have a hard time setting boundaries? Or maybe you set boundaries and then you find yourself overwhelmed with panic, migraine pain in your body? It feels just really scary and uncomfortable. That’s what we’re gonna be talking about today, the trauma response of Fawn.
Fawn is a behavioral adaptation. It’s a reaction to those physiological stress responses that go on inside of the body. It’s often referred to as people pleasing, and it can be misinterpreted as a personality, but Fawn is reflexive, it’s protective, it’s adaptive.”
-Elisabeth Kristof, Podcast Co-Host, Founder of NeuroSomatic Intelligence Certification and Founder of Brain-Based Wellness
This episode opens with Elisabeth brilliantly explaining how the Fawn Trauma Response develops in early childhood. We bet that light bulbs will be going off in your head as you gain clarity about how behavior patterns like people- pleasing and setting boundaries can get baked into an adult life.
If you identify as someone who over gives, is a perfectionist or workaholic, people pleases, cycles through harmful relationships and has a hard time setting boundaries then we’re here to tell you that you’re not weak or bad. Your brain and body have been stuck in Fawn because they are trying to keep you safe, trying to protect you. Now that your life has changed, your system needs new tools to create safety.
Good news is that there is hope for change with NSI tools and community along with a hefty dose of self-compassion in the Brain-Based Wellness site.
Episode highlights to look forward to:
- Jennifer shares an eye-opening story about a 15 month old baby going from Freeze to Fawn
- Elisabeth shares her personal history of Fawn and how it led to harmful work and intimate relationships
- Jennifer describes how having our boundaries broken over many years due to Fawning can lead to inflammation and disease.
- Learn the ways we repattern Fawn in our daily lives and how it increases the threat level in our body
- Why speaking our Truth can lead us deeper into Fawning
- Jennifer discusses how Fawning can be passed down through generations
- Where Fawning shows up in the body and how to rewire it
- We discuss sexual Fawning
- Jennifer shares about her personal experience with sexual Fawning as someone who also has sexual trauma and how it can be re-traumatizing
- Elisabeth explains the importance of cultivating safety in our bodies so that we can become aware of our desires and then be able to express them in healthy ways
- How Fawning moves from being adaptive and protective into being harmful to our bodies and relationships
Listen to The Fawn Response episode HERE
Listen to more Trauma Rewired episodes by clicking HERE