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PODCAST

Take A Breath

A podcast for creating practical calm in the messy middle of midlife.This is your space to pause.Because life in midlife is full-on. Between work, family, menopause, and the mental load, your nervous system can easily end up in constant overdrive — leaving you feeling exhausted, reactive, and overwhelmed by even the smallest things.Each week, I’ll share my own tools, alongside honest conversations and practical nervous system support — to help you create more calm, peace, joy, and inner steadiness

health & fitness self-improvement

All Episodes

20:04

Thursday Thoughts - Not Living in the Past

Take A Breath ·

2026/04/23

On this week's Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about not living in the past. We all spend time thinking about the past — whether it's reminiscing about a lovely memory, cringing about something we said or did 5 years ago, or thinking about a relationship we're struggling to move on from. The question we want to ask is: how much time am I actually spending in the past? The truth is that what's done is done, and while we can learn lessons from the past, staying stuck on something that...

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31:54

Thursday Thoughts - Brainwash Yourself

Take A Breath ·

2026/04/16

On today’s Thursday's Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about brainwashing ourselves with beliefs that are actually going to serve us. Whether we know it or not, our lives are quietly being run by the subconscious beliefs that we hold - some of which are helping us, many of which are not. The good news is that we can choose to change our beliefs anytime we like; so if you believe that “life goes downhill once you hit 50”, or “being single makes me a loser”, you aren’t stuck with those limiti...

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20:39

Thursday Thoughts - Trusting the Process

Take A Breath ·

2026/04/09

On this week’s Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about trusting the process. I talk about my recent knee operation and how trusting the process has been has been and will be such an important part of my recovery. We explore how having faith, and choosing to believe that things are working out for you, even when it doesn’t feel like it, can really help to keep positive. Because let’s be honest… it’s easy to trust when life’s flowing. It’s a very different story when things feel slow, ...

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25:11

Thursday Thoughts - Patience

Take A Breath ·

2026/04/02

In today’s Thursday's Thoughts, Lucy and I are diving into something we all need a little more of… patience. In a world where almost everything is available at the click of a button, waiting can feel harder than ever. We’re so used to instant results that anything slower can feel frustrating. But when we allow things to unfold in their own time, they often feel even more meaningful. There’s a richness in the process that we miss when we rush straight to the outcome. Because sometimes,...

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51:23

How Light Is Affecting Your Sleep, Stress & Long-Term...

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/31

In this week’s episode of Take a Breath, I’m joined by Dr Martin Moore-Ede — one of the world’s leading experts in circadian science and the health impacts of light. After more than 40 years of research, his work reveals something most of us never even think about… how the light we’re exposed to every day could be quietly shaping how we sleep, feel, and function. If you’ve ever found yourself lying awake at night, feeling wired but exhausted… struggling to wake up in the morning… or riding th...

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31:36

Thursday Thoughts - Victimhood

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/26

On this week's Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about victimhood. We all know that person who tells the same story over and over again, blaming everything that’s wrong with their life on something that happened to them in the past. And let’s be honest, we’ve probably all done it to a greater or lesser extent. The question is: how long will we play the victim? And are these stories we keep repeating actually serving us? Of course bad things happen to us all, and of course we need to...

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36:09

Step Three to a Regulated Nervious System: Building...

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/24

In this episode, I’m taking you into the third step of regulating your nervous system — and this is where things really begin to shift. We’ve already explored awareness and regulation, but if you’ve ever felt like you’re still getting pulled into stress again and again… this is the missing piece. Today, I’m talking about capacity (how much your nervous system can actually hold) and why midlife can feel like things suddenly become “too much”, even when nothing obvious has changed. I’ll walk yo...

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27:32

Thursday Thoughts - Physical & Mental Decluttering

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/19

This week on Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about decluttering…and not just the cupboards and drawers. Because clutter isn’t always physical. Sometimes it’s the mental tabs we keep open, the emotional baggage we’re still carrying, the commitments that no longer feel like ours, or the digital noise constantly pulling at our attention. If life has been feeling a little full lately, we hope this conversation might be the gentle nudge you need to clear some space, both physically and...

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56:28

When Your Tests Are Normal… But Your Symptoms Aren’t...

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/17

This week’s episode is for anyone who has been dealing with symptoms that feel very real, very limiting, and yet every test, scan or specialist appointment seems to come back with the same answer: “You’re fine.” I’m joined by Miguel Bautista, founder of CFS Recovery, who helps people recover from chronic fatigue syndrome, long COVID and other debilitating symptoms through a nervous system and neuroplasticity-based approach. Miguel shares his own powerful story of recovery after four and a hal...

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31:27

Thursday Thoughts - Starting Small with Movement

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/12

On today's Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about moving your body, and more specifically, starting small when you’ve been injured or you’ve got out of the habit of taking exercise. Lucy and I talk about what our exercise routines look like when we’re taking it easier than usual, which can include some simple stretches or 10 minutes on a rebounder. We also touch on nasal breathing and why it’s so helpful for our overall health. The main thing to take from this conversation is that ...

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40:46

Step Two to a Regulated Nervous System: How to Come...

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/10

I’m continuing our series on how to build a more regulated nervous system. We've already explored Stage One: Awareness — learning to notice when your nervous system is calm, when stress is creeping in, and when you’ve tipped into that more activated state of anxiety or overwhelm. In this week's episode episode, I’m guiding you through Stage Two: Regulation & How to Come Back To Calm — the practical ways you can bring your nervous system back to calm once you notice it’s been activated. Be...

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27:43

Thursday Thoughts - The Amount of Good Things in Your...

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/05

On this week's Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about how the amount of good things in your life depends on your ability to notice them. With so much fear and negativity in the news right now, it’s easy for your attention to be pulled towards what feels heavy and overwhelming. That’s why being intentional about where you place your focus matters more than ever. This conversation is a gentle reminder that you can train your brain to look for more of what’s uplifting and good. It’s n...

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50:33

Embracing The Benefits of Cold Water Exposure with...

Take A Breath ·

2026/03/03

In this episode of Take a Breath, I’m joined by Wendy Heine — certified Wim Hof instructor, breathwork coach and yoga teacher. Wendy shares her journey from avoiding the cold completely to embracing it as a powerful tool for healing, particularly following her cancer diagnosis in 2021. We explore both the science and the nervous system side of cold exposure — what’s actually happening in the body, why it can lift mood and energy so quickly, and how breathwork completely changes your experie...

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31:06

Thursday Thoughts - Staying Present While Moving...

Take A Breath ·

2026/02/26

On this week's Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I talk about all manner of things including where we’re at with our goals and habits, the importance of staying present in the moment, and how crucial awareness is if we want to make any kind of change in our life. We hope you’ll find something useful in here! Love, Polly & Lucy x Download 15 Breaths to Calm Anxiety - a FREE 5 minute audio to calm you down in real time. Download The Breath Check-Up - your FREE guide to understanding how well y...

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35:43

Step One to a Regulated Nervous System: AWARENESS

Take A Breath ·

2026/02/24

In this episode of Take a Breath, I’m sharing why awareness is always the first step in nervous system regulation — and why, without it, even the best tools and techniques won’t truly stick. So many of us are living on autopilot, reacting before we even realise we’re reacting. I know this deeply, because that was me for most of my life. In this episode, I gently unpack how awareness takes us out of automatic mode, creates space, and gives us back choice — without forcing, fixing, or judging o...

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31:29

Thursday Thoughts — Breaking The Cycle Of Negativity

Take A Breath ·

2026/02/19

On this week's Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about breaking the cycle of negativity. We explore how easy it is to get caught in those negative spirals where one thought leads to another and suddenly we're knee-deep in a full-on wallow, feeling pretty rubbish about everything. We chat about how the way we feel most of the time becomes the energy we're putting out into the world — and how that energy attracts more of the same right back to us. We also share some of the practical thi...

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52:12

How to Embrace Your Second Spring — and Why Rest Is...

Take A Breath ·

2026/02/17

This week on Take a Breath, I’m joined by brilliant Kate Codrington — author, therapist, facilitator, speaker, and guide for women navigating the menopause transition. Kate is the author of Second Spring, named one of the seven best books on menopause by the New York Times, and The Perimenopause Journal (2024), described as “an essential resource” by leading endocrinologist Professor Annice Mukherjee. With over 30 years’ experience as a therapist, Kate brings psychological depth, nervous syst...

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34:00

Thursday Thoughts - The Patriarchy

Take A Breath ·

2026/02/12

On this week's Thursday's Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking all about the patriarchy. This social system that historically centres white men as the default holders of power, money, status and authority, is woven into the very fabric of society. It shows up in a million subtle - and not so subtle - ways: women playing small because they’ve been taught to be pleasing, quiet, polite and accommodating; women taking on the ‘invisible load’ of housework and kid-min; women being put down at work or...

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31:08

How to Know if Your Nervous System’s Actually...

Take A Breath ·

2026/02/10

There’s a lot of noise right now about calming your nervous system and staying regulated — and for many of us, that creates more pressure than peace. In this solo episode, I gently unpack what nervous system regulation actually means, why staying calm isn’t the goal, and how midlife and perimenopause can shift the way your system responds to stress. I also introduce a simple metaphor to help you understand what’s really going on inside your body — and why so many of us feel stuck, reactive, o...

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29:59

Thursday Thoughts - Being The Main Character in Your...

Take A Breath ·

2026/02/05

On this week's Thursday's Thoughts, Lucy and I talk about what it really means to shift out of the background and into the lead role of your own life. We chat about how easy it is, especially for women, to unconsciously slip into a supporting role, putting everyone else’s needs first, waiting for the “right time,” or playing small out of habit rather than intention. We explore how being the main character doesn’t mean being loud or dramatic. It simply means taking up space in your own life. A...

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