Boundaries From Inner Knowing: Releasing Guilt, Over Giving And Overwhelm - by Clare Downham

COURSE

Boundaries From Inner Knowing: Releasing Guilt, Over Giving And Overwhelm

With Clare Downham

Feeling overwhelmed, burnt out or emotionally drained despite knowing better? You’re not alone. For many high achievers, boundary struggles don’t come from a lack of strength or strategy they come from an inner critic that quietly fuels guilt, people-pleasing and over-responsibility. This course offers a profound shift: boundaries aren’t something you do, they are something that arises naturally when you stop overriding your inner knowing. Through this 9-lesson journey, you’ll explore a completely different understanding of boundaries, one rooted in presence, not pressure. You’ll learn how to recognise when the voice driving your decisions is not truth, but conditioning. You’ll uncover the real reasons behind chronic overwhelm, over giving, and emotional fatigue—and discover how peace, clarity and confidence begin to return when you stop trying to manage others and start listening to yourself. Grounded in the Three Principles and nonduality, this course reveals the deeper wisdom already available to you. You don’t need to force boundaries, fix yourself, or become someone new. You’ll see how boundaries arise effortlessly when you live from your true nature; calm, clear, and already whole. You’ll walk away with: • Relief from guilt, overthinking, and emotional overload • Insight into the hidden drivers of people-pleasing and self-sacrifice • A deeper trust in your own inner clarity without needing perfect words or rigid strategies • A completely new relationship with boundaries that feels natural and sustainable This course is for anyone who feels tired of pushing, performing, or pretending and is ready to return to their own truth.


Meet your Teacher

Clare guides high-achieving professionals and business owners to break free from stress, perfectionism, and emotional overwhelm not by doing more, but by seeing differently. Her courses and coaching offer a profound shift: from inner critic to inner knowing, from burnout to calm, and from over-functioning to sustainable ease. Drawing from the Three Principles and nonduality, Clare helps people stop overriding their truth, release guilt, and reconnect with the calm clarity already within. Through deeply honest and insight-led teachings, she supports her clients to stop striving for worth and start trusting themselves again. Whether you're navigating difficult boundaries, emotional exhaustion, or the quiet pressure to hold everything together, Clare’s work offers a gentle but powerful invitation back to your true nature resilient, wise, and already enough.

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9 Days

156 students

5.0 stars

7 min / day

Authenticity

English


Lesson 1

What If You’re Not Bad At Boundaries?

What if your struggles with boundaries aren’t a personal failing but a misunderstanding? In this first lesson, we’ll challenge the belief that you need to “get better” at setting limits and begin to explore a completely different possibility: that boundaries arise naturally from inner clarity, not external pressure. If you’ve ever felt like boundaries are exhausting or guilt-inducing, this is your turning point. Boundaries don’t begin with saying “no” to others, they begin with saying “yes” to your own inner knowing.

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Lesson 2

The Inner Critic’s Hidden Hand In Boundary Confusion

Why do boundaries feel so hard to maintain, even when we know we need them? In this lesson, we reveal the hidden force that quietly shapes so many of our yeses and our silence: the inner critic. Whether it shows up as “Don’t upset them,” “You’re being selfish,” or “You should be able to handle it”. This voice erodes clarity and creates confusion. Awareness is the first step to reclaiming your energy. When you start seeing the inner critic’s voice as not you, a new kind of freedom begins.

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Lesson 3

When People Pleasing Looks Like Kindness (But Isn’t)

People pleasing can look like love, empathy, or being a “good person.” But underneath, it often stems from fear the fear of disconnection, judgment, or not being enough. In this lesson, we gently explore how people pleasing is often the inner critic in disguise and how recognizing this can free us to relate from truth instead of obligation. True compassion includes you. If you're always last on your list, it's not love. It's fear in a friendly costume.

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Lesson 4

Boundaries Are Not Barriers. They Are Flow

We’ve been taught that boundaries are firm lines or protective walls. But from an inside out perspective, boundaries are less about saying “no” and more about maintaining the integrity of the flow. When you're grounded in presence, boundaries aren't rigid—they’re responsive, alive, and attuned. Boundaries aren’t something you build. They’re something you notice. They arise naturally when you're connected to yourself.

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Lesson 5

Boundaries Begin With Self-Honesty

Many people think boundaries are about what we say to others. But the most powerful boundaries begin long before we speak. They start with the willingness to be honest with ourselves. In this lesson, we explore the subtle ways we override our own knowing and how that creates inner tension long before any external conflict appears. Before you can speak your truth, you must be willing to feel it.

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Lesson 6

The Peace Of Not Explaining Yourself

One of the most radical shifts we can make is to stop over-explaining. The need to justify our choices often comes from fear of judgment or rejection, both fuelled by the inner critic. In this lesson, we explore the power of clear, quiet boundaries and why simplicity can be more impactful than over-explaining or apologising. You don’t need to justify your truth. Clarity doesn’t require a performance.

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Lesson 7

Guilt, Discomfort, And The Truth About Pushback

So often, we mistake discomfort for doing something wrong. In this lesson, we explore how guilt, pushback from others, and inner tension are not signs of failure but indicators that we’re stepping into a new pattern. We’ll look at how the inner critic weaponizes guilt to keep us in old roles and how to meet that discomfort with awareness, not resistance. Growth often comes with discomfort but not all discomfort is a problem.

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Lesson 8

Living From Inner Knowing

This lesson begins to bring everything together. When you live from inner knowing, boundaries are no longer a strategy or a performance they arise effortlessly. There’s less second-guessing, less resentment, less emotional exhaustion. You act from presence instead of pressure. Inner knowing doesn’t shout. It doesn’t argue. But when you follow it, life gets much clearer.

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Lesson 9

Your Boundaried Life: A New Way Forward

In our final lesson, we ground everything you’ve seen into a new way of being. Boundaries aren’t a technique. They’re a natural outcome of living in alignment. You don’t have to micromanage every relationship or second-guess every yes or no. When you live from inner knowing, you experience a deep sense of peace, integrity, and freedom without the burnout. The version of you that thrives already knows how to say yes and how to say no.

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Ask your teacher

This course includes 9 community questions and 7 audio replies from Clare Downham. The community classroom and teacher audio replies are only available via the app.

9

5.0 (19)

Recent Reviews

Jules

August 21, 2025

I am deeply inspired by Claire’s teachings. Very kind and loving. I am learning to be gentle with myself. Boundaries have been an ongoing issue for decades and I never felt entitled to them. I was raised to serve as my parents used to say “ that’s what I had kids for” to serve them. So it is deeply rooted in every fibre of my being. I am a neurodivergent person and when a client asked me to jump, I don’t just jump. I do a backwards somersault twist of the high board. I am exhausted and have no choice but to learn to not give all of my energy to people. I never felt worthy enough so I people pleased myself into pretzel shapes. I am learning slowly that I am allowed to listen to my inner knowing and I do not need to explain. Thank you Claire.

Jo

July 19, 2025

Another great course, delivered beautifully & empathetically, & full of useful insights & tips. Thank you!

Lori

April 14, 2025

This course helped me so much today feeling into my body, getting honest truly,, and making a clear decision today. And yes I am re-listening again!

Ilaria

April 10, 2025

It has been helpful to me. I suffer from other people' s expectations so It helped me put myself in the right place. Thank you.

Flaminia

April 9, 2025

Wonderful, heart-warming guided journey to better inner-knowing (“NO-ing”) and trusting one’s self by listening to the body. Thank you for being vulnerable with us, your soothing and supportive voice, and sharing your wisdom.

Elaine

April 9, 2025

This course really helped me in reframing boundaries and remember tune into my body, moment by moment, to know when I need to say no. It’s inner trust, and being honest with myself in a way I never have. I’m going to re-listen to this course over and over again so that it sinks in. Thank you Clare for your wisdom and incredibly nurturing words and presence. Highly recommend this course and any that you offer. You have a beautiful spirit.

Sue

April 7, 2025

Peeling back the layers, Clare does an amazing job of finding those places that need our attention. And there are many!

Jocelyne

April 4, 2025

Clare offers a powerful and insightful course that helps with setting boundaries and dealing with our powerful inner critic who tries to intervene. It’s definitely a course to listen to again as there are several suggestions that can be implemented . Thank you Clare 🙏❤️

Nat

March 28, 2025

A gentle, empowering exploration of setting boundaries from love over fear and coming to trust and respond to our inner knowing. Thank you 😊 🙏

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