Dr. Arielle Schwartz
What if the shame you’ve carried isn’t evidence that something is wrong with you... but a protective response that developed when connection, belonging, or self-expression felt at risk?
Discover a compassionate, body-based approach for unwinding shame, thawing functional freeze, and reconnecting with the worth, vitality, and true nature that exist beneath old survival patterns.
When did you learn that some parts of you needed to hide?
Maybe you’ve done years of healing work. You understand your patterns. You can trace them back to a difficult childhood experience, a painful relationship, or a family dynamic that shaped you.
Or perhaps they evolved from your interpretation of cultural messages about worth and belonging, or even from wounds that have been carried through generations.
And still, there may be moments when you shut down, pull back, or second-guess yourself in ways that feel more dramatic than the moment calls for.
And what happens? Your voice disappears. Your confidence drains. You want to move forward, speak up, be seen, or take the next step, but something inside you freezes, folds inward, or whispers, Who do you think you are?
These experiences often make sense when viewed through the lens of shame, affirms Dr. Arielle Schwartz, an internationally recognized psychologist, trauma recovery expert, and author of numerous books on healing trauma.
Not shame as a personal flaw, but as a protective response that can develop when belonging, connection, safety, or self-expression feel threatened.
In her new 7-week live video course, Arielle will guide you through a compassionate, body-based journey to understand shame, thaw functional freeze (a trauma response where you feel emotionally numb while continuing to mechanically execute daily routines and responsibilities)...
… and reconnect with the parts of yourself that may have been hidden, silenced, rejected, or left behind.
One of Arielle’s most powerful insights is that shame is rarely the whole story. Beneath it is often what she calls an unextinguished longing — to belong, to be seen, to express yourself freely, to trust your voice, and to know your worth.
So, what if the feelings you’ve spent years trying to overcome are actually pointing toward something essential that yearns to be reclaimed?
Drawing from somatic psychology, parts work, therapeutic movement, mindfulness, and nervous system science, Arielle will help you recognize the patterns that keep shame in place and begin restoring what it has obscured: your dignity, your voice, your boundaries, and your connection to yourself.
Throughout the course, you’ll move beyond simply understanding shame intellectually and engage in guided experiential practices in every session that help you work with these patterns at the level of the body, nervous system, and emotions.
Through compassionate parts work, therapeutic movement, mindfulness exercises, and somatic tools, you’ll learn to connect with wounded aspects of yourself, recognize the protective strategies that developed around them, and respond to challenges with greater self-awareness, self-trust, and choice.
You’ll also learn Arielle’s PRESENT protocol, a practical mind-body framework that helps you recognize when old wounds are shaping your present experience, and reconnect with the capable, compassionate adult self beneath automatic survival responses.
By integrating somatic awareness, parts work, and nervous system tools, the protocol offers a clear pathway for responding to challenges with greater choice, self-trust, and resilience.
Over seven weeks, you’ll explore how attachment wounds, betrayal trauma, unmet needs, family conditioning, and functional freeze can shape your sense of self.
As these patterns begin to loosen, you may find it easier to trust yourself, speak up for yourself, and move through life without carrying the constant weight of self-doubt and self-judgment.
You may even discover that the energy you’ve spent protecting yourself from disappointment, vulnerability, or not feeling like enough can finally be used for something positive — creating, connecting, growing, and fully participating in life.
Could this be the moment you stop organizing your life around the fear that you’re not worthy… and begin returning to the wholeness, self-respect, freedom, and aliveness that have been yours all along?
During this deeply healing course, you’ll:
- Experience Loving Eyes, Repair & Rescue, Safe Place for a Part, and Team of Allies exercises that cultivate a deeper sense of inner support and belonging
- Practice Arielle’s PRESENT protocol to recognize your needs, differentiate the present from the past, and respond to yourself with greater compassion and choice
- Engage in vestibular, proprioceptive, breath-centered, and bilateral integration practices that help reconnect body, brain, and emotional experience
- Work directly with inner critics, protectors, exiled parts, and younger aspects of yourself through experiential parts work practices that foster healing and reintegration
- Discover how functional freeze, conditioned immobilization, and toxic shame can quietly shape self-doubt, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and feeling stuck
- Learn why betrayal trauma and boundary violations can leave the nervous system trapped in shame — and how to restore dignity, self-respect, and embodied confidence
- Explore the hidden connection between shame, the inner critic, and anger turned inward, while reclaiming your voice and healthy protective energy
- Explore how pre-verbal experiences, implicit memories, and early attachment wounds may continue shaping patterns of shame, disconnection, and self-protection
- Experience postural shifts that promote self-worth and help you reclaim your dignity
- And much more…
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Modules
In this 7-week transformational course, Arielle will guide you to explore how shame, self-doubt, and self-protective patterns take root in the nervous system — and discover a pathway toward greater freedom, self-trust, and emotional resilience.
Join the Livestream — or Stream Later to Watch at Your Convenience
You’ll connect with Arielle and experience her teachings through livestreaming video via any connected device. This connection is easy to use and will enhance the impact of Arielle’s transmissions. Can’t make it live? After each class, you can stream the video and audio recordings to enjoy anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Course Sessions are on 2026-08-11 1:00:00 pm.
This course will feature LIVE teachings, interactive sessions, experiential practices, and Q&A with Arielle. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to practice a compassionate, body-based approach for unwinding shame, thawing functional freeze, and reconnecting with the worth, vitality, and true nature that exist beneath old survival patterns.
Shame as Unextinguished Longing: Recognizing Hidden Trauma Responses & Building Self-Trust (2026-08-11 1:00:00 pm)
Shame, functional freeze, and conditioned immobilization are often misunderstood and unrecognized trauma responses that can quietly shape how you move through the world. In this opening session, you'll explore different perspectives on shame and learn how to distinguish healthy shame from toxic shame. Through nervous system awareness and embodied practice, you'll begin recognizing hidden patterns that contribute to self-doubt, lack of confidence, and feeling stuck, while reconnecting with your body as an intelligent guide for healing.
In this first session, you'll:
- Experience Embodied Self-Compassion - a guided practice for developing greater self-awareness and a more compassionate relationship with yourself
- Practice Respond & Regulate with pandicular movement to support nervous system regulation and compassionate self-response
- Recognize the different effects healthy shame and toxic shame have on your wellbeing
- Understand why shame can sometimes feel protective and how it functions as a trauma response
- Recognize the unextinguished longing beneath the wound and what it may reveal about your healing journey
- Explore the preverbal roots of shame and how they continue to shape patterns of self-doubt, confidence, and connection
Thawing the Freeze: Reclaiming Your Boundaries & Restoring Your Sense of Self (2026-08-18 1:00:00 pm)
This session will explore how relational wounds and betrayal trauma often involve boundary violations that can leave the nervous system stuck in patterns of shock, collapse, and shame. You'll discover how shame can emerge when connection is ruptured and learn to recognize its effects in your body, posture, and nervous system. Through experiential practices, you'll begin unwinding shame from the body and restoring a greater sense of dignity, self-respect, and embodied confidence.
In this session, you'll:
- Explore Somatic Holding Patterns and Thwarted Instinct practices to better understand how shame and functional freeze are held in the body
- Experience postural shifts that promote self-worth and help you reclaim your dignity
- Practice Embodied Boundaries, Validation, and Self-Respect techniques to support greater confidence and resilience
- Discover the compass of shame as a map for healing and reconnecting with your authentic self
- Build your somatic literacy as a reservoir of embodied wisdom and learn to recognize how nervous system states shape your body and posture
Let the Body Speak: Freeing Yourself From the Inner Critic & Reclaiming Your Voice (2026-09-01 1:00:00 pm)
This class will help you learn to differentiate from your inner critic and understand how shame can take root through early developmental experiences. You'll explore how protective energies such as anger often become turned inward, contributing to self-criticism and self-doubt. Through empowering somatic movement and conscious breathing practices, you'll begin cultivating self-protection, self-agency, and a stronger connection to your authentic voice.
In this session, you'll:
- Practice power poses, Free Your Voice, and Lion's Breath to strengthen your connection to your voice, vitality, and protective energy
- Experience Embody the Protectors - a somatic practice for cultivating healthy self-protection and self-agency
- Awaken self-energy as a source of clarity, confidence, and inner calm
- Experiment with resetting anger circuits to restore self-agency and transform anger that has been turned inward
- Learn to attend to the developmental roots of shame and recognize how they continue to shape your inner experience
Embody Self-Energy: Using the PRESENT Protocol to Cultivate Self-Compassion & Choice (2026-09-08 1:00:00 pm)
This class will focus on helping you navigate the barriers to self-love and reconnect with your capacity for self-compassion. You'll learn to recognize unmet needs, legitimize the grief that often accompanies them, and differentiate present-moment reality from past experiences of rejection. Through guided experiential practices, you'll discover how self-compassion, embodied dignity, and conscious choice can help you move beyond shame and reconnect with yourself.
In this session, you'll:
- Build self-energy using the PRESENT protocol - a practical framework for grounding, self-awareness, and present-moment choice
- Experience the PRESENT protocol as an embodied practice for reconnecting with yourself and responding to shame with greater compassion
- Compassionately attend to resentments and explore how blocking beliefs can keep you disconnected from your needs and self-worth
- Learn to recognize and honor the grief associated with unmet needs as part of the healing process
Self-Compassion Strategies: Healing Shame Cycles Through Parts Work (2026-09-15 1:00:00 pm)
This class will guide you to work with your internal system and the parts of you that may be stuck in cycles of shame, self-criticism, and disconnection. You'll explore how these inner dynamics develop and learn self-compassion practices that support healing and reintegration. Through guided experiential exercises, you'll begin cultivating a deeper sense of inner support, loving awareness, and connection with parts of yourself that may have felt unseen, rejected, or alone.
In this session, you'll:
- Engage in the Loving Eyes practice - a guided experiential exercise for cultivating unconditional care, acceptance, and connection
- Experience the Create a Safe Place for a Part exercise to support healing, regulation, and reconnection with exiled aspects of yourself
- Build your team of allies, including inner and external sources of support that strengthen self-compassion and resilience
- Explore how different parts of your internal system can perpetuate cycles of shame and learn how to interrupt those patterns with greater awareness and compassion
- Design Repair and Rescue scenarios that help restore a sense of safety, belonging, and support for parts that remain stuck in old wounds
Attending to the Implicit: Integrating Your Body & Brain to Embody Your Wholeness (2026-09-29 1:00:00 pm)
In this module, you'll return to the preverbal roots of shame and explore how implicit memories can shape patterns of self-criticism, disconnection, and feeling stuck. Through gentle vestibular, proprioceptive, and bilateral integration practices, you'll learn to work with the body's deepest layers of experience. Guided by breath-centered inquiry and somatic exploration, you'll begin connecting what your body knows with conscious awareness, supporting a greater sense of wholeness, aliveness, and integration.
In this session, you'll:
- Use movement and somatic awareness to integrate emotional, physical, and cognitive experience in support of greater self-understanding and wholeness
- Experience vestibular and proprioceptive practices that enhance your access to aliveness, embodiment, and nervous system regulation
- Engage in a breath-centered, body-dialogue practice to work compassionately with inner polarities and reconnect with your sense of wholeness
- Discover how bilateral integration practices can support communication between the right and left hemispheres of the brain
- Explore how preverbal experiences and implicit memories can contribute to patterns of shame, disconnection, and inner conflict
Claim Your Worth: Anchoring Unshakable Self-Confidence & Making Space for Joy (2026-10-06 1:00:00 pm)
Your self-worth is not dependent on your circumstances, relationships, or accomplishments. Self-worth is your birthright. In this final session, you'll deepen your felt sense of worthiness and strengthen your capacity to carry it into daily life. As the course comes to a close, you'll explore how to sustain your growth, embody greater confidence, and cultivate the resilience, hardiness, and self-trust needed to navigate life's challenges while remaining open to joy and expansion.
In this closing session, you'll:
- Experience a guided Growth Edge practice to identify what is calling you forward and what may still be standing in the way
- Explore lingering emotional and behavioral patterns that may continue to sabotage your growth, wellbeing, and self-confidence
- Discover how to make more space for joy, expansion, and possibility as you continue your healing journey
- Strengthen your capacity for hardiness, grit, and self-trust so you can continue drawing on these tools long after the course ends
- Identify the golden nuggets of your growth and create a plan for bringing them more fully into your life and relationships
SPECIAL BONUS OFFER
When you register by 2026-08-01 11:59:00 pm , you’ll receive special bonus offerings designed to complement Arielle’s transformative 7-module course — and deepen your understanding and practice even further.
Cultivating Resilience: Navigating a Stressful World With Equanimity and Balance
Video Class From Dr. Arielle Schwartz
Discover how building resilience isn't about avoiding stress, but learning how to meet it with greater confidence and balance. In this 44-minute video class with Dr. Arielle Schwartz, you'll explore gentle, intentional practices that help expand your capacity to stay steady through life's challenges. Through rhythmic movement, natural vagus nerve stimulation, and the restorative power of play, you'll strengthen your nervous system while awakening greater courage and resilience. You'll also learn how small, well-chosen moments of stress can become opportunities to build lasting emotional flexibility. By the end of the class, you'll have simple, body-based tools you can return to whenever you want to feel more grounded, centered, and at ease.
Understanding Complex PTSD
PDF Excerpt From the Book “A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD” by Dr. Arielle Schwartz
Gain practical, compassionate guidance for navigating the lasting effects of childhood trauma with this sample chapter from Dr. Arielle Schwartz's book. You'll discover accessible strategies drawn from leading therapeutic approaches to help you better understand your nervous system, emotional patterns, and healing process. As you read, you'll explore ways to gently unwind the legacy of early wounds while cultivating greater self-compassion and resilience. You'll also gain insights into how trauma shapes the body and mind, along with tools to support lasting recovery. Whether you're just beginning your healing journey or looking to deepen your understanding, this resource offers encouragement and practical support every step of the way.
Plus... you’ll receive these bonuses too!
Healing the Hidden Roots of Shame
Video Dialogue With Dr. Arielle Schwartz and Andie Bernard
Dr. Arielle Schwartz is joined by Andie Bernard, founder of the Center for Mind, Body, and Play, for a powerful conversation exploring how shame takes root in the context of childhood trauma. Together, they reveal how the tension between authenticity and attachment lies at the heart of shame, and why, as children, we often sacrifice parts of our true selves in order to preserve connection and belonging within our families of origin. You'll discover how shame is held not only in the mind, but also in the body, shaping your nervous system, emotions, and sense of self. Most importantly, you'll learn practical, compassionate steps that can help you release the burden of shame, reconnect with your authentic self, and reclaim your birthright of dignity, wholeness, and joy.
Navigating Polarities: Finding a Healing Space Within the Tension of Opposites
Video Class From Dr. Arielle Schwartz
Learn how to find greater balance by working with, rather than resisting, the inner tensions that naturally arise within your mind and body. In this 44-minute video class, you'll explore how navigating the polarities within your nervous system can help you respond to life's challenges with greater presence, flexibility, and self-awareness. Through guided reflection, you'll begin to mend inner conflicts that often shape your reactions to the world around you. You'll also experience a gentle vagal toning and mindful body-awareness practice designed to support regulation, resilience, and inner steadiness. By the end of the session, you'll have practical tools for cultivating greater equanimity, balance, and wisdom in your everyday life.
What People Are Saying About Dr. Arielle Schwartz…
Castle Rock, Colorado
Dublin, Ireland
Psychotherapist and yoga student
Boulder, Colorado
Join the Global Community
Unwinding Shame to Reclaim Your True Nature offers some of the most transformational online teachings available, within a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Dr. Arielle Schwartz will share in this powerful program.
You’ll join an international community on the leading edge of manifesting a world grounded in the principles of cooperation, harmony, and reverence for all of life.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 90-Minute Class Sessions With Dr. Arielle Schwartz
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored by and learn from Dr. Arielle Schwartz, the founder of Resilience Informed Therapy — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a livestreaming video option and will guide you through practical somatic psychology tools to heal attachment wounds, release feelings of inadequacy, and cultivate the embodied dignity that allows you to fully be yourself. Course sessions are on 2026-08-11 1:00:00 pm.
Seven Video Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the video will be available for you to stream in a high-quality format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available for you to stream. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Transcripts of Class Sessions
You’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Seven 30-Minute Interactive Group Practice Sessions
With live class attendance, there will be a 30-minute optional interactive practice session directly following each class. You’ll be placed in an intimate group with several other participants on the Zoom call to interact, share, and do additional practices to help further integrate the weekly lessons. Practice sessions are available for live attendance only and are not recorded for playback. If you’re unable to attend the calls live, the online community group allows you to connect with each other and find alternative times to interact.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
Online Community
Our exclusive online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your course materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Course, Unwinding Shame to Reclaim Your True Nature
We feel honored that Dr. Arielle Schwartz has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online course. This is a unique opportunity to interact directly with a renowned psychologist whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about transforming your relationship with shame through self-compassion, parts work, and nervous system healing so you can reclaim your voice, strengthen your boundaries, and thrive with greater confidence and ease, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind program.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your own evolution, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
If you don’t absolutely LOVE Unwinding Shame to Reclaim Your True Nature — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form on or before September 1, 2026 and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Dr. Arielle Schwartz...
Author of Somatic Psychotherapy Toolbox and founder of Innate Somatic Intelligence Trauma Therapy Approaches
Founder of The Embody Lab
Somatic therapy coach, posttraumatic resilience coach, and BWRT therapist
Author of EMDR Therapy and Adjunct Approaches with Children
Founder of Trauma Healing Accelerated
About Dr. Arielle Schwartz
EDIT
Arielle Schwartz, PhD, CCTP-II, E-RYT, is a licensed clinical psychologist, certified complex trauma professional, EMDR consultant, and Kripalu yoga teacher. She’s an internationally sought-after speaker, a leading voice in the field of trauma recovery, and the author of seven books, including The Complex PTSD Workbook... EMDR Therapy and Somatic Psychology... The Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook... and her latest, Applied Polyvagal Theory in Yoga.
As the founder of the Center for Resilience Informed Therapy®, she offers an integrative, mind-body approach to therapy that includes relational therapy, somatic psychology, EMDR Therapy, parts-work therapy, and therapeutic yoga for trauma. She specializes in applied polyvagal theory, which focuses on addressing imbalances within the autonomic nervous system that underlie most mental and physical health conditions.
Arielle provides informational mental health and wellness updates through her writing, public speaking, social media presence, and blog. She believes that the journey of trauma recovery is an awakening of the spiritual heart.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s a virtual course?
Can I still benefit from the course if I miss the live classes?
Can you tell me about the private online community group?
Are there scholarships available for this training?
Please note: Scholarship applications must be submitted before the refund deadline, as we are unable to accept applications after that point.
What’s your refund policy?
If you’re within the refund period, the deadline to receive a full refund is September 1, 2026. To request a refund, please complete this refund request form and submit your request. Qualifying refunds will be processed within five business days, and you’ll receive an email confirming the refund.
We’d also love the opportunity to address and resolve your concerns directly. If there’s anything we can assist with, please get in touch with us at [email protected] — we’re here to help!
Please note: Refund requests are not accepted after the deadline or for courses purchased with scholarship awards.
Do you have a mobile app where I can access content offline?
Yes! The Shift Network’s mobile app, Shift Companion, allows you to access your course sessions and resources directly from your phone or tablet — including the ability to download content for offline listening and viewing.
Whether you’re traveling, spending time in nature, resting away from screens, or simply wanting greater flexibility in your daily learning practice, Shift Companion helps you stay connected to the teachings that nourish and inspire you.
To get started:
- iPhone/iPad users: Download Shift Companion from the Apple App Store
- Android users: Download Shift Companion from the Google Play Store
Once installed, simply sign in using the same email address you use for your Shift Network courses.