Honey Toast Podcast

Danielle Schleese and Briana Donaldson

Light a candle and find your inner goddess with us. Co-hosts Danielle Schleese and Briana Donaldson want to break the taboo of women’s health and wellbeing. From intimacy to parenting, women are constantly shamed for their inability to measure up to standards they never had a say in setting. On Honey Toast, these subjects find their home among incense, deep-dive conversations, and two best friends. From journal challenges to goddess calls, Briana and Danielle are always finding new ways to help you embrace your natural beauty — inside and out.

  1. 2D AGO

    Why Even Resting Feels Exhausting & The Hidden Cost of Being Self-Aware

    Why does rest still feel exhausting, even when we’re doing all the “right” things? In this episode of Honey Toast, we unpack burnout from a different angle. Not as a productivity problem, but as an identity one. We explore how being self-aware, informed, and committed to healing can quietly become another form of output, and why so many women feel overwhelmed even when they’re slowing down. This conversation is about the gap between awareness and embodiment. About why slowness can feel unsafe. About how nervous system burnout often shows up as constant motion, over-functioning, and the inability to simply land in ourselves without a role to perform. Danielle shares openly about her recent health wake-up call, nervous system dysregulation, and beginning somatic work, including a powerful first session that revealed how deeply ingrained performance and self-monitoring can be. Brianna reflects on identity shifts, pressure, and how change requires more than insight. Together, they explore why burnout isn’t a lack of resilience, but grief for the parts of us that don’t get to exist unless they’re useful. This episode is for anyone who feels tired of performing their own life, even in the name of healing. Topics we cover: • Why burnout isn’t about doing too much, but being too many things at once • The difference between awareness and embodiment • Why slowing down can feel unsafe • How healing can turn into another task • Nervous system regulation and identity loss • Performance, shame, and early survival strategies • Why consistency matters more than transformation • Asking for help and relearning rest Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome back + season pause reflections 03:00 – Life transitions, moves, and nervous system overload 07:30 – Why rest doesn’t actually feel restful 10:00 – Awareness vs embodiment 14:30 – When healing becomes another form of output 18:30 – Burnout, busyness, and the fear of stillness 22:00 – Asking for help and community support 25:30 – Creating space for nervous system regulation 28:00 – Danielle’s first somatic coaching session 33:00 – Shame, performance, and early survival patterns 36:30 – Why burnout is grief, not failure 39:00 – Integration, consistency, and closing reflections Follow the show: Instagram: @thehoneytoastpodcast Follow us personally: Danielle: @danielleschleese Brianna: @brianadonaldson If this conversation resonated, consider following the podcast, sharing the episode, or leaving a review. Your support helps these conversations reach the people who need them.

    41 min
  2. 10/28/2025

    The Bloodline Revolution: Reclaiming the Feminine Body as Sacred, Not Sanitary with Marieke Bodyn

    What if the very thing women are taught to hide holds the key to their deepest power  In this conversation with Marieke Bodyn artist philosopher midwife and cyclical living guide we unravel the centuries of shame that have buried the feminine body under patriarchy’s logic and the medical system’s quick fixes. Together we trace the lineage of womanhood through blood and soil from red tents and ancient priestesses to the modern woman’s quiet rebellion of tracking bleeding resting and listening This episode explores: • The lost initiations of the first bleed and how their absence shapes generational disconnection • The ancient practice of returning menstrual blood to the earth as nourishment and ceremony • The emotional and energetic language of cramps PMS and cyclical pain what your body is actually trying to say • How the patriarchy rebranded the sacred feminine into something messy and how women are rewriting that story through ritual • The biological poetry of maternal lineage how your grandmother’s eggs live within you • Why reclaiming cyclical living is not regression but the most radical form of evolution This is not a conversation about periods It is a conversation about power The kind that cannot be sterilized outsourced or systematized Listen if you have ever felt at war with your own body and are ready to remember that she has been on your side all along Listen on Spotify Apple and YouTube Subscribe to Honey Toast for new episodes every Tuesday Follow us on Instagram at @thehoneytoastpodcast for behind the scenes clips guest highlights and reflections Share this episode with a woman who is ready to remember the power of her own body Leave a review and tell us what part of this conversation awakened something in you

    44 min
  3. 09/09/2025

    The Fall Season of Womanhood: Silent Initiations, Loneliness, and Renewal

    Season 2 is here! Welcome back to Honey Toast Podcast. In this opening episode, we’re diving into the silent initiations women face, the unspoken identity shifts, cycles, and transformations that shape womanhood. From the epidemic of loneliness and craving for sisterhood, to the seasonal wisdom of fall as a time of release, change, and renewal, this season explores what women go through silently yet universally Expect raw conversations on:✨ Silent initiations of womanhood, from menstruation to motherhood and beyond✨ Why loneliness is so pervasive for women today, and how sisterhood heals it✨ Identity shifts and life transitions that deserve to be honored, not hidden✨ Embodiment, feminine wisdom, and the rituals that bring us back to ourselves 🌍 This season features voices from around the globe, women in birthwork, embodiment, sensuality, and ancestral traditions, all sharing what it means to live fully in the body, in community, and in connection For detailed show notes, navigate using the timestamps below: [0:00] Introduction - What to expect from season 2 [1:30] Life updates from the hosts [7:30] All of us have felt less than at some point or another [9:23] Hosts share biggest difficulty going from the first season to now [13:38] Insight on what is coming in season 2 [20:00] How this season will help women Follow us! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@honeytoastpodcast  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehoneytoastpodcast/

    25 min

Ratings & Reviews

4
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Light a candle and find your inner goddess with us. Co-hosts Danielle Schleese and Briana Donaldson want to break the taboo of women’s health and wellbeing. From intimacy to parenting, women are constantly shamed for their inability to measure up to standards they never had a say in setting. On Honey Toast, these subjects find their home among incense, deep-dive conversations, and two best friends. From journal challenges to goddess calls, Briana and Danielle are always finding new ways to help you embrace your natural beauty — inside and out.