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You are listening to the Navigating Adult ADHD podcast with your ADHD coach and expert, Xena. Hello, my friend. Welcome back to Navigating Adult adhd. Oh my gosh. I am so happy to be here with you all today. Why? Because I have heard from a lot of you podcast listeners over this last week and I just love that. Just knowing that you're listening and you know, the things that resonate with you. Somebody actually shared with me today how they listen with their daughter and their daughter also has ADHD and she loves it when I giggle and I was like, I giggle. Oh wait, there it is. I didn't even know that I did that. And yeah, I just thought that was super cute. So thank you for sharing the podcast. Love. I always appreciate that. And if you are enjoying it, I would love to for you to leave a rating and a review and tell us what you are loving and enjoying about the podcast. It does help more of our community, other people with ADHD to find us. So I really appreciate it every time you guys do that, every time you share the love with me. Thank you. Because I also get the dopamine boost and I love me some dopamine. One other thing I wanted to mention, I don't even know if I have mentioned it, is that way back at the beginning of this year and I'm talking 2025, I, I had a new website go live. Navigating adult adhd.com and on the front page there, there are four, I think free resources that you can access. We've got like, I've got a PDF, we've got a checklist, we've got a, a guide, we've got a video, like just different things to support you on your navigating ADHD journey, right? So wanted to mention that. Go and check them out. So today we are talking about two very simple tools that I gotta admit. Like when people tell me these things, when people say things like, oh, just, just go walk it off or like take a deep breath, right? When people say shit like that to me, I get pretty pissed. I roll my eyes, I get annoyed, I'm like, whatever, right? That just doesn't help. But here's the thing, my friend. The two things that I am going to share with you today have actually helped me hugely. Like when I think about the compound interest, when I think about how far I have come, when I think about how long I've been practicing these two things and using these two things, I think so much has changed, especially when it comes to emotional regulation, experiencing More calm, being more regulated and less, less dysregulated. Man, that was a sentence. So I just want to start out by saying, yeah, these two things kind of annoy me and piss me off a little bit. But I'm not going to give you a lecture today about why you should use these two things, okay? And don't worry, I'm going to share them in a minute. Right? Because us ADHDers, we don't need any more shoulds. I'm not going to tell you why you should do these things. Instead, I'm going to share my own experience. I am going to share the huge and really life changing ways that these two things have helped me. I'm going to share the science, the actual science behind these two things that explains like, what they do and how powerful they actually are. Right? Especially when it comes to emotional regulation, to getting ourselves out of the fight or flight state and being able to experience more calm, more ease, more joy in our lives. Okay? Let's be honest, we all want that, right? And I'm also going to share with you how you can sneak these two things into your day without having to add any more to your to do list. Okay. How we can just make them super easy, super simple, super fun, like very doable without you needing to find, magically find more hours in the day. Because let's be honest, like we've all got enough on our plates, right? So you ready? So the first one, the first, I'm gonna call it a tool because the way I use it and the way it has helped and changed my life is like literally like a life changing tool. Okay? But the first one is walking. Okay, stick with me for a minute. Like let me just give you a bit of background. Okay? So walking, especially in nature and getting sunshine where possible, right? Walking helps us to boost dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Right? That's a fancy way of saying adrenaline, right? However, those are the three things that us ADHD is, have got a little bit less of happening in the brain. So when we can increase the levels of that, it helps us to feel better and to be able to get our brain to function and do what we need and want it to do, right? So straight away we help our brain produce more of those brain chemicals simply by going for a walk. Okay. Especially when we're walking in nature. Being out in nature, like any green space, like it could be just at a park, right? Just a green area, a park with some trees, like it could be. Yeah, you're on the beach, it could be that you're in the mountains, wherever you are, right? But even just like, walking around, like the farm, right? When we're in nature, it helps us to lower our cortisol levels. And cortisol is like the stress hormone, right? So it helps us to lower the stress that our body's experiencing. And it's proven to help with our attention, all right? To help us with focus and attention, right? If any of you have experienced emdr, right? It's a type of therapy, rapid eye movement therapy. It was actually discovered whilst out walking. Because when we are walking, we are rapidly moving our eyes and like, scanning and looking at lots of different things, right? So there is this very therapeutic thing that actually happens when we're out walking. Now, movement also helps to regulate, right? And us ADHDers, we like the word regulate. We need some more of that, right? Movement, right? Going for a walk helps to regulate our nervous system. You can kind of think of it like shaking off stress, you know, when like, a dog gets out of, like, the pool or wherever he's been swimming, right? He gets out and he, like, shakes it off, right? It's the same for us when we go for a walk, right? Any form of, like, moving our body that we enjoy, but specifically walking, right? We're shaking off that stress. Now, the sunlight also helps to, like, you know, trigger the vitamin D production, which helps with our circadian rhythm, right? So getting sunlight helps our bodies when it comes to sleeping. Circadian rhythm is all about, like, our sleep cycles. So it can really help us with better sleep, right? Sunlight helps with the production again, of dopamine, of serotonin. It helps us with, like, focus. So there are so many incredible benefits. So I like to paint a word picture because, like most of us, we're very visual, right? And we like. We like to be able to see it. So I kind of think of it like going for a walk is kind of like clearing out my browser tabs. I don't know about you, but I often have, like, I could probably have sort of 10 to 15, sometimes even 20 browser tabs open that I'd like. I feel like I need them all, and I'm using them. All, right? But going for a walk is kind of like clearing out those browser tabs. You're not closing all of them, but you're closing enough just to make things work way better, all right? Much quicker, much more streamlined. There is so much research out there that says if you go for a walk, you are reducing stress, right? The research shows and proves that when we go for a walk, when we get out of our environment and we just move our body, right, we are reducing stress. And what it does is brings about the parasympathetic nervous system response, which I'm going to actually explain and talk a little bit more about shortly. Okay. But what it does is, like, takes us out of that fight or flight place and puts us back into what's called, like, the rest and digest state, where we, like, our bodies can be, like, more calm, we can be more regulated, right? So going for a walk, right, reduces stress, right? It will induce that parasympathetic nervous system response, meaning, again, that you can, like, calm your body down, calm yourself down, and help to regulate your emotions. Okay? But the tricky thing with this, right, is that society has really designed a world where we all sit in these, like, concrete boxes, like office buildings. We stare at a screen all day, right? And we use a car to drive to and from. So there's like, not a lot of moving our body. Whereas, like, rewind. Not that far back before, you know, we all had cars and we all had to work in office buildings, right? There was a lot of, like, natural movement that we would do. I'm actually going to share an example about how when I lived in London and I didn't have a car and you used public transport, I had to walk everywhere. It was actually very good. But again, society has unfortunately kind of been designed in this way in which we don't get a lot of movement in our day and we actually have less and less walking than we used to have. But again, the research clearly shows that when we do get outside, especially if we can get out into those green spaces and out in nature, when we do go for a walk, it helps us to regulate. It helps us to de stress, to process our emotions, to power up our brain so that we've got, you know, improved attention and improved focus. So, on a personal note, I have shared this before on the podcast many times, right? I walk every single day, and I walk 10,000 steps a day, sometimes more than that. But that's like what I aim for is 10,000. Now, I am not by any means saying that you should start doing that, that you need to do 10,000 a day. No, no, no, no, no. So back it up, okay? But I started doing this, I think it was roughly back In June of 2023, I want to say. My partner and I had just been on the Gold coast and where we were staying was about like a 10, 15 minute walk to kind of the hub or heart of the city and the beach and all of that. And so, like, we were walking everywhere, and so it just. I started kind of paying attention to it because I'd been thinking about it and I'd been doing a lot more, you know, kind of paying attention to the steps, but I wasn't doing it consistently every day, okay? Now, don't worry about the word consistently at all. Like, chuck that shit out the window, okay? However, I was on this holiday, we were, like, doing at least 10,000 every day. And then I was like, okay, cool. I feel pretty good. I feel, you know, of course I'm on holiday. I'm gonna feel good. But then I was like, I want to keep this going when I go home, right? And so I just did. I just keep doing it. And then I ordered this little fitness tracking band thing, and, you know, I started literally tracking the steps. But here's what I have noticed, okay? I now handle stress way better. In fact, I get much less stressed, okay? I don't have nearly as much stress as I used to have. I also experience more regulation. I am in a regulated state way more often than I am in a dysregulated state, and it definitely used to be the other way around, okay? So that means I now experience way more calm, more ease, and I'm better able to deal with challenging things when they do arise, right? Because, of course, life happens all the time. So I get way less overwhelmed, and I spend a lot less time in the fight or flight state, okay? I now find being able to notice when I am dysregulated, like, way easier. I'll often notice it when I am out walking, right? When I have that space and I'm able to regulate my emotions and come back down to that calm place to a regulated state way easier now, okay? And here's one of the funny things. Like, I now want to walk. Like, I never thought I'd be, like, wanting to get out of bed and go for a walk in the morning, right? Like, wanting to start my day that way. But I know I feel so much better for it. And so my brain's just, like, trying to now want to do it even when I don't feel like it, even when I'm tired, I'm like, no, no, no. I still want to do it because I know how much it's going to help, right? I'm way more balanced. And that is a word that I don't think anyone would have ever associated with me a few years ago, right? But I Am way more balanced, right? My mood has improved so much. Way more optimistic, way more positive. Not all the time, of course. Like, I've got a brain that still gets hijacked 100%, right? But way more balanced, right? My mood is way more level, meaning I spend less time feeling all over the place, right? Pre diagnosis, a number of years ago, I felt like I was just all over the place. That was something I would be saying. I feel like I'm all over the place. And like, that was just how I would have described most of my days, right? And I attribute so much of these things I've just shared with you to this simple and regular habit of walking, of getting out of my environment and walking. I even like to walk in the rain. I ordered myself a fancy raincoat. By fancy, I mean, it wasn't that expensive, but I just think it's fancy. It's bright blue, like electric blue, right? Love me some dopamine colors, right? But I just love to now walk even when I don't feel like it because of how much it has helped me and continues to help me in my life. Okay? So a morning walk with some sunlight quite literally sets me up for a really good day. And it helps me to avoid, like, the doom scroll. The way I used to start my day, it was like I just like wake up and kind of roll around, not want to get out of bed, grab my phone, start scrolling. And now I just literally just like when the alarm goes off, get up, get dressed, get out the door, right? It's just such a different way to start my day that has set me up for so much success. I also use walking, right, like I said, as a tool. I will use it after a hard task or after, like an emotional moment when I need a bit of a reset. Like, I talk about a dopamine connector effectively, like when I finish in my office, right? I typically work like 8 to 4 kind of office hours, right? In, at home, in my office. And when I go from like work mode into like household home, you know, helping with the kids mode, right. I will go for a walk in between. So when I finish it, like 4ish, I'll just go for a walk. And it's like a dopamine connector. It helps me to rebuild my. My dopamine, my serotonin, my norepinephrine, right? It helps me to unwind from the day, helps me to regulate. Like, it helps to sort of set me up to like, go back into the house and be in this different role and be, you Know, doing these other things that I need to be doing and, you know, connecting with the family, etc. Like, it just really helps me to connect between those things. Right. I also, like, like I said, it doesn't have to be 10,000 a day, right? The 10,000 that I do a day, right. It doesn't have to be like that at all. I also just, like, pace around the backyard in between coaching calls, in between appointments. Like, I will just literally, like, walk around in my socks on the grass. Don't. I probably recommend taking the socks off when you can, but it's been cold lately. Right. I'll do that. I will also like to make it super simple and super easy. Right. Here are some other things that I do that I want to invite you to do or play with. Right. I will, like, walk while I wait. So for example, when I go see my chiropractor, I will walk in the. In. In her room. Once I go into the room and she's like, in a different room and I'm just, like, waiting for her, I will walk circles around her chiropractic table, right? Or sometimes what I've done has been like, if there's no one else in the waiting room, like, I will just walk in and out from the waiting room and then come back down into the. The appointment room and like, walk a circle and then go back out and come. Literally just walking around and I'm just like, hey, I'm just getting my steps in and they're like, oh, good. And sometimes, like, somebody might chat to me on reception or whatever. Like, they just don't even care. Nobody cares, right? I have walked at the airport before, like, many times. So when in the airport when you're waiting for your flight, you know, you've got, like, so much waiting around in an airport because you need to get there early and all of that. Like, literally, I just walk around when we're at the boarding gate, I'm like, walking around all of the people. There's so much to look at. All these people. It's so interesting, right? Walking around the airport terminal just, like, wandering. Like, you get a ton of steps in, right? When I'm at the doctor's office waiting for the doctor, I'll be like, hey, I'm just going to walk around out front here, like, where they can see me through the window. Can you just, like, yell when the doctor's ready? Because doctor's always late, right? So I'm just like, pacing around right? When I have a break, especially if I've Been sitting all day, right? I actually did it right before I recorded this podcast because I'd been sitting all morning and then I was like, I actually want to go for a walk before I record this kind of like, again, it's like that dopamine connector between having coached my clients to coming here to like, chat with you and record the this podcast. I was like, I'm just gonna go for a walk. It's like literally a six minute block. I was like, it's just six minutes. I'll just do that, right? Go around the block, come back and it's just when I have a break, it's so good to instead of be sitting again, like, get up and move my body. I know I'm not gonna feel like it. Like, typically I don't always feel like it, but I just know how good I feel, so I just do it, right? So when I lived in London, this was so fascinating to me. Like, when I lived in London, right, Had no car, walked literally everywhere. You walk to the supermarket, you walk to the corner store, you walk to the train station, catch the train, and then you walk from the train station to your job, right? Like, you walk everywhere and then like you're walking through the beautiful big parks that they've got there. Like even at the weekends, like on the weekends, I could easily rack up 20, 25,000 steps because you're walking all over the city, like looking at these different places, all these different things, right? Walking a lot because you get lost. That happened heaps, right? But one of the things I know now, like, as I have reflected on this, is how that compounded over time. So initially, London was terrible and awful. And then when I sought help and I got coaching and like started to like, turn things around and experience something completely different, I was like walking even more. And over time that that compounded. I didn't realize it, but how much it helped to improve my mood, right to the point where I actually loved London. And it was like one of the best times of my life. Like, you know, on the other side of the world, like not knowing a lot of people, but just really getting to know myself and having this incredible time. My mood improved, right? My sleep improved. It was wild because I remember I started to need less sleep, right? So many things just were way easier. Like being regulated not in a fight or flight state, just I spent. I experienced so much more of that. And this is way before I even knew I had adhd, right? So again, walking is something you can sneak in, right? You don't Actually need more time. You can just sneak it in, right? Like, literally, when the jug is boiling, I will just walk laps around the kitchen counter. I don't care. Like, I'll just walk laps around the kitchen counter when the jug is boiling. And another example of this is, like, going to the supermarket. And rather than getting, like, a little trolley, if I've only got, like, a few items, I'll just carry a basket, right? Because it's just like, a little bit of weight. It's just a little bit harder, right? Just like something simple that is, like, actually impacting the amount of movement and exercise and physical activity that I'm doing, right? Sometimes I'll just walk up and down the stairs. We've got some stairs in our house. And I'll just walk up and up and down. I'm just twice instead of once, right? Just those silly little things. Like, you know, we've heard that one before. Like, take the. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Like, when we are intentional about this, it's surprising how much additional movement we can get and how many extra steps we can actually get in our day. And that's why I love to track it personally, right? And if you're like, me and you, like, you like to have a little bit of competition, if you like to track things and kind of know what's happening, then you can literally just like, if you've got your phone with you, your phone will count your steps for you. You can get fitness bands that are cheap. Like, mine was like, I don't know, 50, 60 bucks, really cheap, right? And it's not like I deliberately have one of those ones that doesn't get the whole phone call, texts, connect to your phone thing. Because I was like, I don't need no more distractions, that's for sure. Right? I literally just use it for steps. It also does, like, sleep and heart rate and stuff, but that's it. I just want the steps. So it just. Even if you, like, figure out what you're doing now, so say you're doing, like, prior to tracking this, like, when I first started looking, I was only doing like two to two and a half thousand a day on average. Because I'd sit in my office most of the time, right? But, like, when I first started, I was like, okay, cool. So I want to go from that to, like, five, right? Like, I don't necessarily encourage you to double it, but, like, just increase it. Like, add another thousand. See if you can hit that and kind of keep doing that for a few days and Then like, okay, what if we like add another thousand to it? Like go from like three to 4,000, like I just found that tracking element. Because our brains often get, get motivated by that novelty and that competition, right? And then it's like our creativity comes into it or mind. Sure does when it comes to like, well, how can I get some steps in today when like, I'm not going to have as much time to be able to walk or what have you. It's like literally, like I said, doing laps around the kitchen counter when the jug's boiling and shit like that, right? So it does really, like, you can get it to appeal to the ADHD pretty quickly. @ least I found that and I hope you do too. But like I said, it annoys me, right? It annoys me how much it helps to reduce stress, right? We don't know if it's walking, right? It annoys me how much it helps to regulate emotions, how much it can improve your mood. But really, honestly, my friend, it is that simple. Annoyingly so. Right? All right, so let's talk about the second one. So the second tool, the second simple thing that has been life changing for me is breathing. Okay? Now wait, wait, wait, wait. Before you slap me through your phone, right, reach through and slap me. Because, look, I'll be honest, when my partner says to me, just breathe, right? What do I want to do? I want to slap him. Okay, hear me out for a second, okay? When we are dysregulated, we're in fight or flight, okay? And what happens? We start breathing quicker, breathing shallower, meaning we don't go very deep with our breath into our belly, right? Like it just at the top there. And that when we're doing that, like when we're breathing quicker and shallower, that sends this message up to our brain that says, yo, we're in danger. Shit's hit the fan. Okay? And this makes functioning as an adult, right? Whether it be working, parenting, all the things we gotta do, so much harder, okay? When we're in the survival mode, our brain is simply trying to survive, not thrive. No, it thinks, hey, we're in danger, hence the rapid breathing. Okay? So using a breathing to communicate to the brain that we are not in a life or death situation is super simple, super easy to do and can make a world of difference. Okay? So let me give you an example from last night. Yes, I always have an example. So last night I got an email about 8 o' clock at night, right? And to be fair, I should not be checking my emails at 8 o' clock at night, But I do, right? I'm sitting in bed, 8 o' clock at night, and I read this email and I get dysregulated, right? This email is just like a real basic email, but there was something in it that I was like, oh, my God, I forgot to do that. That's so important, Barbara, right? I'm immediately dysregulated. Now, in that moment, right? My brain did not know the difference between reading an email in my warm, cozy bed and being chased down the street by a lion that had escaped the zoo, okay? My brain did not know the difference between those two things. My brain thought, this is life or death, right? So what did I do to communicate to my brain, yo, this is not life or death. Okay? I'm. Okay, we can calm down. What did I do? I used one of my favorite, my all time favorite breathing tools. Okay, why is it my favorite? Because one, there's science behind it and I love me some science, right? And two, because of how many times this tool has helped me, all right? And that is called the Physiological psi, okay? And if you're a fan of like Andrew Huberman and the Human Lab podcast, he talks about it and uses it all of the time, right? And there's actually a clip I'll link to it in the show notes of him talking about the science behind it. I think he was interviewed on another podcast and this was like little five minute clip where he demonstrates it, talks about the science behind it. And I'm always sending that to people when I teach this tool. Okay? So the physiological sigh is effectively creating a sigh, right? Getting your body to sigh through breathing, right? You know, when you go right like that, that is a sigh, okay? You can't do that when you're in danger, right? Like if you are literally being chased down the street by this lion who's escaped the zoo, you can't just sigh, okay? Your body can't do it because all of your. Your breath is being used so rapidly. You just can't do it, okay? So when we do that, when we recreate that, we're communicating, yo, we're not in danger. Take it down a notch. It's okay. Calm down. Okay? So what we do in order to use the physiological sign is we do a double inhale followed by a long exhale. So we do an inhale through the nose, preferably, right? And we do a long inhale with a little bit of air on top. So it goes. That probably sounded kind of creepy because I just like breathed into the into the microphone. But again, it's that, like, you do a long inhale through the nose, and then you want to get a little bit more air again through the nose on top of that. So you inhale just a little bit more, and then you do a long exhale out through the mouth and you're wanting to sigh the air out. Okay? So it's hopefully not as creepy that time. She knew it was coming. Okay. But again, I want to encourage you to do this, like, do it safely and responsibly. Like, if you're somebody who can get lightheaded, preferably sitting down, or, like, with some cushions around you. Okay? Be safe. Don't do it in the car when you're driving if you've never done it before. And you know you're prone to that kind of thing, so be careful of that. But again, double inhale, long exhale, and watch the clip. I'll link to it in the show notes here of this and the science and how to do it so that you see it in action. Okay? But again, what we're doing is we're tapping into that parasympathetic nervous system. I talked about this before, right. Which is the rest and digest. Okay, so let me explain that a little bit more. If you think about, like, our nervous system, our automatic nervous system has two branches, okay? Two different branches. So branch one, the sympathetic nervous system, right? This is our fight or flight. Right? Sympathetic fight or flight. So it gets activated during stress, anxiety, panic, overwhelm, right? Or when I get an email, 8 o' clock@ night, and I go, oh, my God, I've forgotten something. Right? And what happens when you're in that sympathetic nervous system? Right. Fight or flight state, Your heart rate speeds up, your breathing increases. Right. Take short, sharp, quick breaths, right? Your muscles get tense, your body is getting ready to react. Yeah. Your body is like, getting ready to fight or run or freeze or whatever you need to do. Okay? So the other branch is called the parasympathetic nervous system, right? This is the rest and digest mode. This is where we want to spend more time. Right? It's where we slow things down, where our heart rate is slower, where our breathing is longer and deeper and slower, where our muscles are more relaxed. Right? And it brings our body back to that calm, safe state, right? Where we feel safe. Okay? So when we intentionally slow our breathing, right. Especially when we use a long exhale, right. We signal to our body, hey, it's okay. We're safe. We are not in danger. We are safe. Right? And so what does that do? It activates that parasympathetic nervous system, helps us to calm down, like, especially physically and emotionally, right? Calm ourselves down, right? So another way you can do this is simply breathe out for longer than you breathe in. So sometimes I will use this where I will, like, count in for three and then out for five, right? And again, you're recreating that same thing where we're breathing out for longer than we breathe in. So there are multiple studies, right? Multiple research studies that show how slow breathing improves our heart rate, it reduces stress, and it helps to regulate our emotions, right? And we want more regulation, right? So again, if you were to think of it like your body has got two different modes, right? One's like a superhero. Superhero, right? Ready to fight danger, like the fight or flight. And then the other is like a cozy, warm blanket that just helps you to chill out and feel safe, right? That's the rest and digest. So when your breathing slows down, right? Like if you say, for example, if you're blowing bubbles, right, or pretending to blow up a balloon, right, Your body switches to the cozy blanket mode, right? It's telling your brain, hey, we're safe. It's okay. You can relax now. So actually, when it comes to kids and helping them to regulate, right? Getting them to blow bubbles and don't worry about the kids, like, we can do this shit as adults. Trust me. I've literally just ordered a bunch of balloons and a bunch of little bubble kits, individual ones, to create little, like, emotional regulation packs. That's a whole nother episode, okay? But my point is, right, we can use blowing bubbles for our kids or for ourselves and having balloons and blowing air into a balloon, right? Again, to help communicate to our brain and body, hey, it's okay. We're safe. We can come out of this, you know, fight or flight place. So breathing is a lot like having a remote control for your nervous system, right? But the trouble is, most of us forget we're holding it. We're holding it all the time, okay? So here are some examples of when I use this, right? When I am doing something scary, like if I'm speaking on a stage, I always get nervous before I get go on a stage. Like, always, right? If I'm speaking in front of a group of people, doesn't matter the size. Like, I always get nervous if I'm going live on a webinar. I did one a couple of weeks ago with ADHD New Zealand, and they were like, I don't know, over 100 people registered, right? Still get, like, nervous ahead of that. Like, might get anxious. Right. I use the physiological side. I use these breathing techniques before I do that and sometimes even during. Right? I also use it, like, during or after a heated conversation with my partner. Okay. So when I'm able to slow my breathing down, it helps me to widen the gap between reacting and responding. Right. And being more deliberate in what I want to do there. Right? Now, here's the thing, right? We're talking about breathing. We're breathing all day, every day, right? We can do this anytime, anywhere. Driving in the car, right? In a work meeting, in a toilet cubicle, right? Like, the amount of times I go into a toilet cubicle somewhere and just. Right, do my breathing. Like, literally, I do that, right? It doesn't actually require any time from us, but it does help us to create time. Mm. So when my brain is on fire, right? My breath is the fire extinguisher. And if I can get out and go for a walk and be in nature at the same time, that's powerful, right? It feels like too easy to work. I get that. Right? I know, but it's like flipping the switch in your nervous system, right? One deep breath doesn't fix everything, but it does open the door. It does start the ball rolling. Right? So why do these things work for ADHD brains? Because ADHD is a nervous system regulation issue, right? We have. We experience a lot of time dysregulated, right? That is when our nervous system is dysregulated, right? It's not an attention problem. It's a nervous system problem regulation issue, okay? And also, these two tools, right, Regulate the foundation, right? And when the foundation is calmer, the symptoms are so much easier to manage, right? When we use these two things, we get access to thriving because we spend so much more time in a regulated state, okay? Now, I'm not saying that walking and breathing replace medication or therapy or coaching, but instead, they amplify the benefits, right? I think that these are two of the most powerful tools that I have on my tool belt, right? And I still roll my eyes when someone says, just go for a walk, right? Like, or just breathe, right? I roll my eyes, but I roll them while I put on my shoes or I roll them while I, like, take a deep breath, right? These two things, they're free, they're fast, they're available anywhere, which makes them annoying. Annoying and kind of magical. All right, my friend, play with these this week, and I would love to hear what you discover. Come and share with me. Come and hang out on Instagram Navigating Adult adhd. All right. Huge love. Take care out there, my friend. I'll speak to you next week. Hey friend, if you want some more help navigating and thriving with ADHD and some help applying everything that you're learning here on the podcast, then head over to our website, navigating adultadhd.com.
Host: Xena Jones
Date: April 7, 2025
In this episode, Xena Jones, ADHD coach and the voice behind "Navigating Adult ADHD," shares two deceptively simple strategies that have made a transformative impact on her ADHD: walking and focused breathing. She candidly discusses her initial skepticism about such basic advice, dives into the neuroscience and research behind these tools, and provides practical (and sneaky) ways to integrate them into daily life—without overwhelming your to-do list. The tone is down-to-earth, funny, and encouraging, focusing on empowerment and real, lived experience.
Quote:
"I still roll my eyes when someone says, just go for a walk, right? Or just breathe, right? I roll my eyes, but I roll them while I put on my shoes or I roll them while I, like, take a deep breath, right? These two things, they’re free, they’re fast, they’re available anywhere, which makes them annoying. Annoying and kind of magical." (45:12)
For further resources, free guides, and support, Xena invites listeners to visit navigatingadultadhd.com and connect on Instagram @NavigatingAdultADHD.