An Evolving Man Podcast

Safety, Boarding School, and the Nervous System: What the Body Remembers

Piers Cross

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0:00 | 10:31

What happens to a child’s nervous system when safety is missing — not for a moment, but for years?

In this episode, Piers reflects on safety and boarding school, exploring how chronic fear, hypervigilance, and emotional suppression shape the adult nervous system long after school ends.

Drawing from lived experience, trauma psychology, and insights from neuroscientist Dr. Amy Albright, this conversation looks at:
 • Why many ex-boarders struggle to relax
 • How survival personalities form in unsafe environments
 • The link between safety, digestion, and emotional regulation
 • Why dissociation becomes a learned survival strategy
 • How healing begins by restoring safety in the body

The episode also offers simple, accessible practices to help calm the nervous system and reconnect with embodied safety — including memory, posture, breath, and imagination.

This is a compassionate, non-blaming exploration for anyone who grew up in boarding school and still feels guarded, tense, or disconnected.

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Piers is an author and a men's transformational coach and therapist who works mainly with trauma, boarding school issues, addictions and relationship problems. 

He also runs online men's groups for ex-boarders, retreats and a podcast called An Evolving Man. 

He is also the author of How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times. To purchase Piers first book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Survive-Thrive-Challenging-Times/dp/B088T5L251/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=piers+cross&qid=1609869608&sr=8-1 

For more videos please visit: http://youtube.com/pierscross 

For FB: https://www.facebook.com/pierscrosspublic 

For Piers' website and a free training How To Find Peace In Everyday Life: https://www.piers-cross.com/community 


Many blessings, 

Piers Cross 

http://piers-cross.com/