The Feel Better Every Day Podcast

With ADHD, with AuDHD, with trauma, our nervous systems can really struggle with rest. It can feel unsafe to rest.Why do I share how hard I find rest this while extoling the virtues of rest? Because it’s STILL an advanced practice for me. The whole point of this podcast is to show the gap, sometimes gulf, between what we – as self-care and Self care professionals – want to be doing and are actually doing. Especially with trauma histories and the hypervigilance that comes with having needed to survive. And AuDHD and ADHD where endless cycles of burnout eventually teach us how to honour our sensitive nervous systems.It doesn’t have to take you the decades it’s taken me!Everyone (and I’ve interviewed neuroscientists, other therapists, somatic therapists, energy workers and coaches, nutritional therapists, choreographers, artists and more) knows what would help us. We just need to give ourselves permission to make the necessary changes. For me, that’s constantly taking more and more off my plate and becoming more strategic (and actually getting MORE done while feeling better about it all!) by paying closer attention to my own nervous system and energies.I hope that you’ll gift yourself some extra breathing space over the holidays. Begin to ponder ways in which you can build in sustainable changes for a more restful, easier, more peaceful and joyful 2026.I’ve shared loads of resources to support you (and myself!) over the decades and you can access some here (including some research on rest) as well as listening to Tracy Otsuka (am imagining that the 43% of ADHDers with excellent mental health are better at prioritising rest. I know my mental health has improved along with my capacity for more rest), Caroline Shole Arewu and others share some of their tools to support prioritising rest.Enjoy the episode and let me know what you’re going to do to rest more today, this week, this month and in the New Year!le grá (with love),EveCHAPTERS0:00 – Why rest feels so difficult2:55 – AuDHD, ADHD, trauma and nervous system safety4:02 – Different ways of resting5:27 – Productivity, pressure and burnout8:25 – Rest, holidays and emotional release11:37 – When rest feels unsafe to the nervous system13:59 – Learning to love a sensitive nervous system16:24 – Collective care, boundaries and co-regulationFULL TRANSCRIPTDo you struggle to take time to rest, to give yourself a break, to take things off your plate? It can be especially challenging with trauma histories, with AuDHD (autism and ADHD) with ADHD.It’s especially important to pay attention to your nervous system and make sure that you are getting enough rest, because we’re mammals, just like my little role model here, Meadbh.Cats don’t feel guilty about all the snoozes, all the rest, it enables them to play harder, to climb, to do other things, but we humans, we are in a world which doesn’t encourage rest. It encourages us to think we need all sorts of things we don’t necessarily need.Welcome to Episode 90 of the Feel Better Every Day Podcast.I’ve talked and written about rest a lot and there’ll be links...

A Polyvagal-informed approach to the seasonal energies for trauma, AuDHD and ADHDFeeling the weight of the darkest days? In this episode of the Feel Better Every Day Podcast,I’m sharing gentle, nervous system-friendly rituals to help you honour the seasonal energies of Yule (Winter Solstice) while healing your trauma and befriending your AuDHD or ADHD brain.Discover how to:✨ Use a Yule log tradition for releasing and renewal✨ Navigate seasonal overwhelm with polyvagal-informed practices✨ Honour both the darkness and the returning light✨ Set intentions that actually feel good for your nervous system✨ Create community connection on your own termsWhether you’re struggling with the season or finding joy in it, this episode welcomes all your feelings and offers practical ways to thrive through winter’s longest night.🔗 Free resources and show notes📖 Get the book: 365 Ways to Feel Better: Self-care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing💌 Join the Sole to Soul Circle for deeper dives, exclusive content and instant access to the whole archive🎙️ New episodes every Tuesday – listen on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts#WinterSolstice #Yule #TraumaHealing #AuDHD #ADHD #PolyvagalTheory #NervousSystemHealing #SelfCare #NeurodivergentSupportWishing you the coolest of Yules! 🕯️LINKSListen to Purr! Hiss! Freeze! Episode 48 of the Feel Better Every Day Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Watch and read full transcript hereFind out more about how embodied journalling can help you hereCHAPTERS(0:00) Honouring the darkness and welcoming renewal(0:57) Trusting your nervous system and honouring your needs(2:05) Introducing Episode 89(3:38) Yule log ritual(5:38) Embodied journalling and self-acceptance(7:03) Collective care and community intentions(8:39) Free newsletter and polyvagal-informed gratitude practice(10:31) Book, coaching and other resources(11:04) Closing message and thanksFULL TRANSCRIPTHow do you feel about the dark nights and long [I meant SHORTER 😊] days? You may be loving it, you may be feeling a bit hopeless, and this week we’re looking at ways in which you can celebrate your winter solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere by honouring the darkness, the cold, potentially the hopelessness, and also remembering the renewal, the hope, the deep roots growing underground even when it feels like there’s nothing happening on the surface.Trusting your nervous system, giving yourself permission to go to events that feel good for you and avoid potential sensory overload or make up for it by having quiet days after, just really honouring how you feel, whether it’s through trauma, through ADHD, through autism, honouring what you need.With it being the longest night in terms of darkness in this part of the world, it can feel a bit hopeless. If it feels good for you, I encourage you to connect with that, dipping the...

Do you feel overwhelmed not just by your own intense feelings but by everyone else’s too? This episode will help you honour and appreciate your sensitive nervous system.I (Eve Menezes Cunningham, author, columnist, trauma therapist, senior accredited supervisor, coach, trauma survivor and AuDHDer) share practical strategies for managing hyper empathy which is common with ADHD, autism, AuDHD and trauma histories.I encourage you to create protected silence in your life, from daily meditation to weekly 12-hour mini retreats, explaining why this isn’t indulgent but can be especially helpful for sensitive nervous systems.Using my Feel. Love. Heal. framework, I guide you through:Creating buffer time and space for yourself (Feel)Accepting your sensitivity as a superpower (Love)Building community support for your needs (Heal)Perfect for trauma survivors, AuDHDers, autistic people and ADHDers (and those who identify highly sensitive people or empaths) and anyone who finds themselves absorbing everyone else’s emotions and energy.Le grá (with love),EveResources mentioned:Tracy Otsuka (ADHD for Smart Ass Women) and Episode 86 for our interviewAlice Tew & Carly Radford episodeThe Sole to Soul Circle365 Ways to Feel Better bookTopics: hyper empathy, ADHD, autism, AuDHD, trauma recovery, sensitivity, boundaries, nervous system regulation, self-careChapters(0:00) Overwhelmed by everyone else’s feelings(1:00) Honouring your extra-sensitive nervous system(2:30) When boundaries collapse under sensory overload(3:05) The Feel. Love. Heal. framework and creating space for silence(4:39) When life gets “too peopley”(8:17) Sensitivity as a superpower (when you protect it)(10:33) Healing through community and collective care(12:20) Imagining your future self with stronger boundariesLinksTracy Otsuka: Episode 86Too Sensitive? Too Much? Says Who? Episode 78 with Alice Tew and Carly Radford Shadow Work with Black Cats and Sharks: Episode 71 Be More Cat: Episode 70 Love your inner Smelly Cat this Bealtaine and beyond Episode 56 Cattitude: Purr! Hiss! Freeze! Episode 48 Sole to Soul Circle membership (just €8/month): https://selfcarecoaching.net/sole-to-soul-circle/Book: 365 Ways to Feel Better https://selfcarecoaching.net/book/FULL TRANSCRIPTDo you ever feel overwhelmed not just by your own intense feelings but seemingly everyone else’s feelings?This episode, Episode 88 of the Feel Better Every Day Podcast, is for you. You can access show notes and everything else via thefeelbettereverydaypodcast.com You can subscribe wherever you want to subscribe and you

Get your free weekly journal prompts and more hereWatch here or listen here or wherever you get your podcastsDance movement psychotherapist Gwen Williams joins me (trauma therapist, AuDHDer, senior accredited supervisor, coach, author and columnist etc, Eve) to discuss how she combines yoga therapy, dance, art, and psychotherapy to help people reconnect with their bodies and heal.Gwen shares her journey from yoga therapy training (while pregnant!) to completing her MA in dance movement psychotherapy, plus her exhibition “Reclaiming the Wild Body.” She offers practical insights on movement practices for ADHD and neurodivergent brains, explaining why gentle, slow practices work best when your mind moves at a million miles an hour.Perfect for anyone interested in somatic healing, trauma recovery, creative therapy, or finding movement practices that actually work for neurodivergent nervous systems.Find Gwen: Website: gwen-williams.com Instagram: @movement_art_therapyTopics covered: ADHD, dance movement psychotherapy, yoga therapy, somatic practices, neurodiversity, creative healing, embodimentle grá (with love),EveChapters(0:00) Introduction to Gwen Williams(0:53) Reconnecting after yoga therapy training 14 years ago(2:09) Gwen’s evolving body-based and creative work(3:57) Reclaiming the Wild Body exhibition(5:12) Neurodiversity, ADHD and creative practice(7:14) Where to find Gwen online(7:48) Exploring Eve’s Feel. Love. Heal. framework (9:22) Gwen’s essential Feel self-care(11:05) Ideal and essential Love Self care(14:49) Designing life around slower somatic practice(16:22) Heal collective care: community, dance and co-regulation(18:03) Reclaiming the Wild Body workshops(19:20) Earth body, social body and transpersonal body(21:02) Vegan chat and episode planning(22:57) Where to find Gwen (recap)(23:23) Closing credits and resourcesFULL TRANSCRIPTWelcome to episode 87 of the Feel Better Every Day Podcast. Today’s guest is the delightful Gwen Williams. We trained together as yoga therapists for mental health and it was so lovely to catch up with her for this episode and reconnect.She’s since become a psychotherapist and she is combining art and her psychotherapy and yoga and movement and just all around delightfulness. If you’re in Bristol check her out and online obviously also you can gain a lot from her amazing presence in the world. I hope you enjoy the episode and let me know how you get on.Welcome Gwen, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me Eve, it’s really nice to be here. It’s so funny because I met you like we used to sit together a lot in the yoga therapy training we did with the Minded Institute and you were pregnant at the time and you like I couldn’t believe that I was struggling because it was a lot.It was amazing but it was a lot and there you were and now finding out how old your son your first son is it’s like wow like you say it’s a huge mark of time but yeah it’s gorgeous seeing what you’ve been doing with the work and how it’s evolved for you and it looks so beautiful in the video. Do you want to say a little bit more about how it has evolved for you, where people can find...

Welcome to the Feel Better Every Day Podcast! Today I’m thrilled to share my conversation with Tracy Otsuka, host of the ADHD for Smart Ass Women podcast and author of the book by the same name.Get your free weekly journal prompts and more hereTracy was one of the first voices I discovered on my own ADHD journey, and her strengths-based, neuro-affirming approach has been truly transformative. She’s a former lawyer who boldly celebrates the brilliance often overlooked in ADHD while being refreshingly honest about the challenges.In this episode, we explore:Why ADHD is an identity problem, not just a productivity issueExercise supporting and sometimes replacing medication for managing symptomsThe power of finding your “sweet spot” where executive function challenges disappearRevenge Bedtime Procrastination and the most creative solution I’ve come acrossThe 43% of ADHDers with excellent mental health that nobody talks aboutWhether you’re newly diagnosed, long-time ADH or supporting someone who is, this conversation is full of practical wisdom and hope. Enjoy!Chapters0:00 – Introduction to Tracy Otsuka and her work2:51 – Personal impact of Tracy’s podcast and book4:02 – Finding Tracy and her programmes4:41 – ADHD as an identity problem and building on strengths5:46 – Ideal self-care practices6:19 – Exercise and medication experiences8:13 – Morning routines and dopamine11:26 – Reading, hyperfocus, and slow dopamine12:13 – Gardening, tapping, and somatic practices13:12 – Sleep and managing bedtime resistance (Revenge Bedtime Procrastination)15:20 – Strategies for easier evening routines18:55 – Advice for younger self and understanding ADHD21:07 – Self-expertise and navigating medications23:42 – Following interests and creating meaningful work24:51 – Music, piano, cello, and doing things your way26:25 – Singing, family, and supporting creativity27:29 – How you can find TracyFULL TRANSCRIPTI can’t wait to introduce today’s guest. She’s someone who has helped me enormously on my own ADHD and now AuDHD journey. Hers was one of the first podcasts I found when I started going down that rabbit hole.The very fantabulous Tracey Otsuka, host of the ADHD for Smart Ass Women podcast and author of the book ADHD for Smart Ass Women.Her podcast is really working with the brilliance that is often overlooked with ADHD. She’s very bold, very dynamic, former lawyer, and really confident, honest about the challenges, honest about the disabling aspects, but really it’s probably one of the most strengths-based neuro-affirming approaches I’ve heard.And I just love her guests. She is wanting to draw awareness to the 43% of ADHDers with excellent mental health. So I hope you enjoy our interview.I’m really looking forward to talking to her. And I hope that without any kind of toxic positivity, without any negating of the struggles, you too will be able to own your challenges, know that you deserve support for your challenges and make space for your brilliance. Let me know what you think.Welcome to Episode 85 of the Feel Better Every Day Podcast. Every Tuesday, I share new episodes helping trauma survivors, ADHDers and AuDHDers take better care of yourself, create a life you don’t need to retreat from, and help build a world in which everyone feels safe, welcome, and loved, able to thrive. So literally working with your nervous system, your energy, and it’s a very holistic approach.You can subscribe if you haven’t already, and you’re very welcome to share. I do a lot of free content because I know not everyone can afford...