In this episode, Kate is joined by Kelly Smith, an ADHD advocate, meditation teacher, and founder of Yoga For You, to explore how meditation and mindfulness can become powerful tools for those with ADHD.

With a background in neuroscience and personal experience with ADHD, Kelly shares how short, daily practices like breathwork, grounding, journaling, and visualisation can help calm the nervous system, regulate emotions, and improve focus.

Together, we bust the myth may meditation myths and explore how just 8–12 minutes of intentionality each day can rewire the brain to reduce overstimulation, increase dopamine and GABA, calm the amygdala, and strengthen the prefrontal cortex.

Whether you're overstimulated, overwhelmed, or just unsure where to start, this conversation offers practical ways to make meditation work for your ADHD brain and your unique lifestyle.

What You’ll Learn In This Episode:

✨ The power of short, consistent meditation sessions, especially for ADHD brains

✨ The neuroscience of mindfulness: how dopamine, GABA, the amygdala, and prefrontal cortex are involved in focus, anxiety reduction, and emotional regulation

✨ How meditation helps reduce overstimulation and supports executive function

✨ The difference between intentional introspection and overthinking

✨ How grounding practices like prayer, journaling, or breathwork can build intentionality and future visioning

✨ How to find a meditation style that suits your ADHD brain e.g. visualisation, body awareness, or focused breathing

✨ Why visualising your “ideal self” can lead to subtle but powerful life changes

✨ How meditation strengthens memory, emotional control, and clarity by rewiring the brain over time

✨ Why mindfulness needs to be personal and consistent, not perfect

Timestamps:

🕒 00:48 – Kelly’s ADHD diagnosis and discovering meditation

🕒 13:36 – What meditation does to the brain

🕒 23:23 – Managing overstimulation in parenting

🕒 31:48 – Building an intentional life with ADHD

🕒 34:30 – Meditation styles that support neurodivergent minds

If you’ve ever felt too busy, distracted or overwhelmed to meditate, this episode will show you a new way. Learn how just a few mindful minutes each day can help you feel calmer, more in control, and more connected to the version of yourself you’re working toward becoming.

Find out more about Kelly and the work she does here, www.yogaforyouonline.com or find her on Instagram @yogaforyouonline.

Links and Resources:

⭐ Boosting your Self-Belief and Self-Trust after a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis is available to buy now on-demand - Click here to purchase.

⭐ Book on to the next ADHD Wellbeing Workshop all about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria - Click here to book.

⭐ If you love the podcast but want more ADHD support, get a sneak peek of my brand new book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit and pre-order it here!

⭐ Launching September! Tired of ADHD support that doesn’t get you? My new compassionate,...

🌟 My new book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit, is available to preorder here 🌟

This week, I revisit a conversation with Professor Sandra Kooij, one of the world’s leading researchers in adult ADHD, women's health, and hormones and a pioneer in understanding how ADHD manifests differently in women.

We discuss the powerful and often-overlooked link between hormones and ADHD symptoms, especially the role of oestrogen and dopamine throughout a woman’s life.

Professor Kooij shares her groundbreaking research and clinical experience, highlighting how hormonal fluctuations, such as those around menstruation, postpartum and menopause, can intensify ADHD symptoms and impact daily life, mental health, and emotional regulation.

You’ll also learn about new treatment approaches that combine hormonal and ADHD medication support and why a more collaborative, hormone-informed approach to ADHD care is so urgently needed.

✨ How hormonal changes such as PMS, postpartum, and menopause can intensify ADHD symptoms in women

✨ The link between oestrogen and dopamine, and its effect on ADHD brain function and focus

✨ Why women with ADHD may be more likely to experience earlier menopause

✨ The associated health risks, including cardiovascular issues, in women with ADHD

✨ How stimulant medications, SSRIs, and hormonal support may need adjusting during the menstrual cycle and menopausal phases

✨ What to ask your doctor about managing ADHD through hormonal transitions

✨ Why lifestyle changes may not be enough, and what comprehensive treatment can involve

✨ The urgent need for more research into the ADHD-hormone connection in women’s health

🕒 01:49 – Oestrogen and dopamine: the ADHD connection

🕒 07:02 – PMDD, ADHD and evolving treatment options

🕒 10:17 – Early menopause and ADHD

🕒 14:50 – The H3 Network: uniting psychiatry, cardiology & gynaecology

This is a must-listen episode for any woman navigating ADHD alongside hormonal shifts. Whether you're dealing with PMS, perimenopause, or postpartum challenges, or simply trying to understand your symptoms better, this episode is packed with science-backed insights and compassionate advice.

You can find out more about all the work that Sandra does here.

Links and Resources:

⭐ Boosting Hormonal and Perimenopausal Wellbeing alongside ADHD Workshop with Adele Wimsett available to buy now on-demand - Click here to purchase.

⭐ Book on the next ADHD Wellbeing Workshop - Click here to book.

⭐ If you love the podcast but want more ADHD support, get a sneak peek of my brand new book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit and pre-order it here!

⭐ Launching September! Tired of ADHD support that doesn’t get you? My new compassionate, community-first membership ditches the overwhelm by providing support aligned with YOU!

This week, Kate is joined by Dr. Kara Davey, Senior Clinical Psychologist, trauma specialist, and adult ADHD expert. Dr. Davey shares both personal and professional insights into how unresolved trauma can amplify ADHD symptoms, especially in women, and why understanding this connection is vital for healing and long-term wellbeing.

Dr. Davey discusses her own ADHD diagnosis following a stillbirth, which deeply shaped her clinical perspective. Together, we explore how trauma, especially “small t” traumas like chronic stress or emotional invalidation, can go unrecognised but significantly impact mental health and functioning.

Throughout the episode, Dr. Davey emphasises the need for trauma-informed, ADHD-aware care and the benefits of therapies like EMDR and somatic work in processing trauma.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✨ How trauma (both “big T” and “small t”) can worsen ADHD symptoms in women

✨ The emotional toll of undiagnosed ADHD and its link to complex PTSD (cPTSD)

✨ Delayed ADHD diagnosis in women, often triggered by grief or life stressors

✨ The generational impact of undiagnosed ADHD in families

✨ Why validating emotional and relational trauma is key for ADHD support

✨ How therapies like EMDR and somatic work can help process trauma

✨ The importance of ADHD-aware, trauma-informed therapy

✨ Why remote therapy offers accessible, ADHD-friendly mental health care

Timestamps:

🕒 00:09 – Exploring Trauma and ADHD

🕒 06:10 – Understanding the intersection of ADHD and Trauma

🕒 11:25 – Recognising the impact of emotional and interpersonal trauma

🕒 20:42 – Trauma treatment options: EMDR and beyond

🕒 30:53 – ADHD-friendly therapy approaches

🕒 36:43 – The power of remote therapy for neurodivergent clients

Learn more about Dr Kara Davey's ADHD work here.

Links and Resources:

⭐ Boosting Hormonal and Perimenopausal Wellbeing alongside ADHD Workshop with Adele Wimsett is available to buy now on-demand - Click here to purchase.

⭐ Book on the next ADHD Wellbeing Workshop - Click here to book.

⭐ If you love the podcast but want more ADHD support, get a sneak peek of my brand new book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit and pre-order it here!

⭐ Launching September! Tired of ADHD support that doesn’t get you? My new compassionate, community-first membership ditches the overwhelm by providing support aligned with YOU! Join the waitlist now for an exclusive founding member offer!

Find all of Kate's popular online workshops and free resources here

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