Podcast Summary: Hacking Your ADHD

Episode: ADHD-Friendly Mindfulness with Beverly Atkins
Host: William Curb
Guest: Beverly Atkins (Founder of Pauschure)
Date: September 15, 2025

Overview

In this engaging episode of Hacking Your ADHD, host William Curb welcomes Beverly Atkins, founder of Pauschure, an audio-based mindful movement platform grounded in the Feldenkrais Method. They discuss how movement-based mindfulness can serve as an ADHD-friendly alternative to traditional stillness practices, with Beverly sharing her own journey of late-life ADHD diagnosis and self-discovery. The conversation unpacks the power of novelty, the nuances of attention and self-regulation, and how practical body-based interventions can have broad effects on both mind and body—especially for neurodivergent individuals.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Beverly’s ADHD Journey and The Struggle of Overachievement

• Diagnosed with ADHD later in life, Beverly reflects on her lifelong patterns—from distractibility and insomnia in childhood to hyper-competitiveness and overachievement in her career.

• Quote:

  “Looking back on my life, it was incredibly clear that I had ADHD... I compensated for my distraction... The sad part is, looking back in life, I was always working so hard to compensate for my distraction.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 04:09)

• She describes how these patterns led to professional success but also to significant personal costs, such as burnout and unaddressed emotional needs.

2. The Breaking Point and Introduction to the Feldenkrais Method

• While working at Facebook—a dream job on paper—Beverly found herself at odds with the noisy open office culture, leading to intense stress, social friction, and physical pain.
• A back injury led her to try a “Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement” class—described as "lie on the floor, make small gentle movements"—which dramatically eased her pain (if only temporarily).
• The experience of movement as mindfulness and the importance of novelty became central to her practice.
• Quote:

  “The thing is, it’s not really about doing the movements. It’s about the attention and the curiosity and the unknowingness of what comes next. The novelty is so important.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 13:07)

3. Feldenkrais and Neuroplasticity: Movement as Mindfulness

• The Feldenkrais Method, developed by Moshe Feldenkrais (a physicist and judo master), uses mindful movement as a way to retrain the brain—well before the term "neuroplasticity" was widely recognized.
• The method’s focus on attention and shifting internal focus helps build conscious control over where one’s thoughts dwell—a key skill for ADHD-ers.
• Quote:

  "I'm not after flexible bodies. I'm after flexible brains."
  (Moshe Feldenkrais, paraphrased by Beverly Atkins, 14:39)

• Quote:

  “As you focus that attention on your shoulder, then your hip, and then you look at the whole, and you look at how they're connected, what's happening is you can't erase your old brain wiring, but you can strengthen new ones.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 14:39)

4. Personal Change, Emotional Regulation, and Building Pauschure

• Regular Feldenkrais practice not only relieved Beverly’s pain but transformed her emotional state, improved her sleep, made her a better listener, and reduced her social friction—effects she attributes to better nervous system regulation and attention control.
• Inspired by this, she became a certified practitioner and developed Pauschure to make this method more accessible, especially for neurodivergent users.
• Quote:

  “It wasn't until I started building the app and going to an ADHD therapist and realizing how much I personally changed in my nervous system... My family members were surprised how much I became a better listener.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 21:08)

5. Active vs. Still Mindfulness: Tailoring Practice for ADHD

• Beverly found that, while some Feldenkrais lessons are gentle and still, her ADHD brain needed active movement for regulation—too much stillness could be aggravating, not soothing.
• Pauschure incorporates lesson filters so users can choose "active" vs. "still" styles—a recognition of varied neurotypes.
• Quote:

  “The still lessons are super irritating to me, but the active, where you’re rolling and moving, those calm my nervous system. I think that’s likely true for—not all—but many ADHD people.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 39:23)

6. Attention, Misophonia, and Sound Sensitivity

• Addressing misophonia (sound sensitivity, common with ADHD), Beverly explains how Feldenkrais helped her build “choice” about where she places her attention, so environmental sounds are less likely to hijack her nervous system.
• Quote:

  “Instead of honing in on those chips, I could say, okay, I hear chips, and I have choice, and I can shift my focus... Those neural pathways were strengthened by doing these daily lessons.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 32:37)

7. Interpersonal Regulation, Masking, and Authenticity

• With a regulated nervous system, Beverly learned to listen better, empathize, and “regulate energy” with others—vital for authentic relationships and building genuine connections beyond masking.
• Quote:

  “It's not about putting a mask on and masking who you are. It's about regulating your nervous system to be able to connect with other people.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 30:07)

8. Accessibility Features and Lowering Barriers

• Pauschure is designed to be accessible and ADHD-friendly:
  • Active/Still lesson filters
  • 5–45 minute lessons
  • Free version with no time-limited trial or credit card required
• Quote:

  “I didn’t want to do a seven day free trial that people felt urgency to do... My nod to the ADHD community is that you won’t start being charged until it’s your choice.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 45:34)

9. Curiosity, Experimentation, and Individuality

• Beverly stresses that no method works for everyone; the key is staying curious and being the scientist of your own experience.
• Quote:

  “We are all unique and different. There’s no prescription to fixing any one person... Try different tools and be your own curious scientist.”
  (Beverly Atkins, 45:46)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “People want to work with people they like and I wasn’t super likable... I just worked really, really hard.” (Beverly, 06:14)
• “My back went out... I literally couldn’t even walk... [Feldenkrais] at the end of 45 minutes my back pain was completely gone. I was like, what is this voodoo magic?” (Beverly, 09:18)
• “You can't erase your old brain wiring, but you can strengthen new ones.” (Beverly, 14:39)
• “If a client came in really high up and I tried to be too mellow, we stayed disconnected... it’s really regulating your nervous system to match the energy of the other person.” (Beverly, 29:58)
• “It's about playing around, doing it wrong, letting your nervous system find a better way to do it. That's when the brain gets rewired.” (Beverly, 42:42)
• “If the first lesson feels boring to you, try other lessons... the teacher’s voice may be incredibly annoying to a different person. Everyone needs to find the voice that resonates for them.” (Beverly, 37:41)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:05 – Beverly introduces her ADHD journey and late diagnosis
• 06:14 – Experiences with overachievement and workplace challenges
• 09:18 – The injury and first Feldenkrais experience ("voodoo magic")
• 13:07 – The role of novelty in movement-based mindfulness
• 14:39 – How Feldenkrais rewires the brain; attention as the focus
• 19:59 – Expanding on embodied mindfulness and self-awareness
• 24:33 – On becoming a practitioner, empathy, and client stories
• 29:33 – Interpersonal regulation, masking, and authenticity
• 31:11 – Discussion of misophonia, sound sensitivity, and choice
• 36:05 – Adapting Feldenkrais for ADHD: active vs. stillness
• 41:53 – Accessibility and daily practice in the Pauschure app
• 45:34 – ADHD-friendly app design (no surprise subscriptions!)
• 45:46 – Final thoughts on curiosity, experimentation, and individuality

Final Thoughts

Beverly emphasizes self-awareness, curiosity, and personalized approaches to ADHD challenges. For those who find traditional mindfulness too still or boring, active, movement-driven practices like Feldenkrais may be a transformative tool to calm the nervous system, improve focus, and build more flexible patterns of attention and connection.

“We all have to be our own curious scientists and find the tools that work for us and respect that your history and your brain wiring is unique only to you.”
(Beverly Atkins, 45:46)

More Information

• Pauschure app and info: pauschure.com
• Show notes & transcript: hackingyouradhd.com/244
• Host contact: hackingyouradhd.com/contact

Summary prepared for listeners seeking ADHD-friendly mindfulness tools, an intro to Feldenkrais, and insights into self-regulation beyond stillness meditation.