Nature Is the First Place a Trapped Woman Goes When She’s Waking Up

Many women recovering from toxic or emotionally abusive relationships find themselves drawn to nature without really knowing why. If you’re Googling things like “how to heal after emotional abuse,” “why hiking helps my anxiety,” or “how to reconnect with myself,” you’re not alone. Nature plays a powerful role in nervous system healing — and it was the beginning of my entire transformation.

Nature is the first place a trapped woman goes when she’s waking up.

Sounds dramatic, right? But think about it.
From my own experience, it was painfully true.

I spent years in an emotionally abusive relationship in my mid-20s without realizing that’s what was happening. All I knew was that I was drowning in anxiety and depression and convinced, “this is just how life is.” I was repeatedly told that I was the problem, that I needed help, that something was wrong with me.

So I got help. And it helped a little… but not enough to make any sense of the fog.

Then I stepped into nature.

At first it was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. Maybe my depression had hit a point where I didn’t fully care what happened to me, but I knew I wanted more than the life I was living. The mountains gave me something nothing else did… raw honesty I couldn’t escape.

Unfortunately, I was miserable most of the time.
I hated the cold.
The terrain was brutal.
Altitude absolutely wrecked me, especially because I later learned I had severe iron deficiency and anemia.

But despite all of that… I kept going back.

Because something wild and important was happening:
I kept making it.
I continued on and finished things other people only dreamed about starting. I began finding accomplishment, purpose, and tiny sparks of confidence I hadn’t felt in years — if ever.

And slowly, painfully, inevitably… I started waking up.

Not just to my crappy marriage, but to every relationship where I’d been shrinking myself. Friends. Coworkers. Workplaces. Social expectations. All of it.

The mountains didn’t “fix” me.
They reminded me who the f*ck I am.

What I gained out there was trust. In my body. In my instincts. In my ability to handle discomfort. In my ability to choose myself even when someone else didn’t like it.

The process was slow as hell, but it was real.
And it changed everything.

Why Women Run to Nature When They're Waking Up

A woman doesn’t go to nature because she’s outdoorsy, adventurous, or trying to reinvent herself. She goes because her body is begging for one single taste of truth — truth she can’t access in the noise of her everyday life.

Nature is the only place where the nervous system stops performing.

You can’t charm your way up a mountain.
You can’t people-please your way into oxygen.
You can’t intellectualize your way through loose scree.
You can’t negotiate with altitude.

You have to feel.
You have to listen.
You have to respond.

In nature, there’s nowhere to hide from yourself, which is exactly why so many women find freedom there first.

Because suddenly, you hear your own voice again.

Nature Was My First Teacher, But Somatic Work Helped Me Integrate It

Nature opened the door, but somatic work helped me rebuild.

Somatic healing is the inward version of what the mountains taught me:

• how to hear your body’s signals

• how to stop gaslighting yourself to keep the peace

• how to notice truth instead of ignoring it

• how to trust your instincts again and stop second guessing your intuition

• how to move away from survival mode into actual peace and self sovereignty

Women come to me not because they want “mindfulness,” but because they’re finally waking up. Their bodies are done being dismissed. They’re done being the emotional shock absorber of their relationships. They’re done contorting themselves to stay safe.

They want their sense of self back.

My approach weaves somatic experiencing, nervous system awareness, and embodied confidence-building into something practical, grounded, and powerful — exactly the way nature taught me.

If You’re Feeling That Wake-Up Pull… That’s Your Signal

If reading this lights something up in you, that little inner spark that whispers, this is me, then you’re already in the process.

You’re waking up.

And you don’t have to figure it out alone.

My 1:1 somatic coaching is where women learn to reconnect with their bodies, rebuild trust in their own voice, and walk out of the versions of their lives that were designed to keep them small.

This is for the woman who’s done being trapped.
Done performing.
Done betraying herself.
Done settling.
Done apologizing.

If you're ready to hear yourself again, and actually believe what your body has been trying to tell you, sign up for a 15 minute consultation below. Let’s talk and see if this work is the right fit for the woman you’re becoming.

Why I Ended a 12 Year Friendship, And Finally Felt Free

The irritation didn’t need fixing… it needed to be heard..

Your body will always tell you the truth your mind isn't ready to hear, but freedom begins the moment you finally listen.

It was Friday night and I was on the phone with my best friend, making small talk about funny things. But deep down, there was this pit in my stomach and a lump in my throat because I knew we were both avoiding something big.

When she started trying to make plans for next week, I wasn't actually listening at all. My brain was screaming "figure out how to get out of it! Run! Flee the building!" while my body buzzed with irritation. How had we come to this point?

She clocked it immediately - this was the 14th time I had done this that summer, and she was tired of the BS. She said something like, "I've been really trying to make an effort and you're hanging out with everyone else and I'm not invited."

My nervous system went into overdrive. I felt like I was listening to her underwater... But instead of talking my way out of it, trying to falsely reassure her, or let's call it what it is - gaslight her - I just said:

"You know what? You're right. I have been avoiding you, and I can explain more when you're not at work."

The truth is, the writing had been on the wall for this friendship for a long time. Over the past 3 years, she had become far more insecure than I'd ever known her to be. She became chaotic emotionally, and drama seemed to follow her everywhere. I was always there to pick up the pieces - even when she repeated the same patterns over and over.

Eventually, I became emotionally burned out. I couldn't even stand to be around her anymore. I was clinging to loyalty and nostalgia, hoping I didn't have to do the hard thing - the thing my body was now screaming for me to do and had become too loud to ignore.

While things looked calm on the surface, my body remembered every bit of our history - every time I had to rescue her, every repeated pattern, every moment I ignored my own needs to manage her emotions.

The breakthrough came when I realized that my body had been trying to protect me all along. That buzzing, that irritation, that pit in my stomach - it wasn't anxiety to fix. It was INFORMATION.

I decided I was done pretending, done keeping the peace, done carefully curating my responses so I didn't cause waves. Done placating for the sake of someone else's emotions.

I finally let the mask fall off and honored what my body was telling me.

She didn't like it - the thing I had feared from the beginning. But this time, I didn't care if it all fell apart because I had learned to trust my inner wisdom over external approval.

I eventually sent her a long message ending the relationship. She replied with instant anger, telling me she was essentially replacing me with her new boyfriend. And you know what? I felt... relief.

This is exactly why I created my program "Becoming Unbound." As a therapist and somatic coach, I've learned that our bodies hold incredible wisdom - they're constantly giving us information about what serves us and what doesn't.

If you're in a place where you're ignoring those gut feelings, tolerating relationships that drain you, or people-pleasing at the expense of your own well-being - I want to invite you to learn what I learned.

I'm opening up 3 more spots for my 1:1 somatic coaching, that will teach you to listen to your body's wisdom and transform your life into one that's deeply aligned and fulfilling.

Yes, it's painful at times… There still comes pangs of sadness for the realization of the truth; that she could never meet me where I was. And while that truth pains me, it is worth honoring and allowing my grief to be acknowledged when it shows up. But I am 10,000% happier and more free than I've ever felt in my entire life. And I want to help you get there too - but only if you're willing to meet me in the messy, beautiful work of becoming who you really are.