Take A Breath

Polly Warren
  • 4.6 (31)
  • HEALTH & FITNESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

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. Not by escaping your life, because that’s totally unrealistic, but by meeting it differently. So when you're ready, let’s take a breath together… 

  1. 4D AGO

    Thursday Thoughts - Self Doubt

    On this week's Thursday Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about something every single one of us experiences at some point…self-doubt. We discuss why it’s so common and why it stops us speaking up, going for things, or trusting ourselves fully. We also share some of the things that have genuinely helped us quiet our inner critic and build more self-trust over time. Because life is far too short to spend it constantly second-guessing yourself, shrinking yourself, or waiting until you feel “ready.” We hope you 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 you're breathing right now. Download my energising 5 Minute Morning Practice to get your day started in the best way possible. To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to:  https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace Email me at:  info@pollywarren.com https://www.pollywarren.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

    32 min

  2. 5D AGO

    Healing, Grief & Trusting Yourself: Carly’s Story

    In this episode of Take a Breath, I’m joined by my lovely friend Carly for a deeply honest conversation about her journey through breast cancer and everything that came with it.   Nearly three years ago, Carly was diagnosed with breast cancer and advised to undergo a mastectomy and radiotherapy. Instead, she chose a very different path,  one that focused on radically changing her lifestyle. And of course, it wasn’t easy. We talk openly about the reality of what that looked like day-to-day, cutting out sugar, preparing everything from scratch, trying to reduce toxins, learning to slow down, and turning inward through meditation. During this time, Carly also lost her mum to cancer, while continuing to navigate her own diagnosis and the fear and uncertainty that came with it. At one stage, the cancer spread, yet Carly continued to trust the path she was on and doubled down on caring for her body and mind in a completely different way. Now, two years later, after recent scans, doctors could find no trace of cancer. This episode is not about telling anyone what they should or shouldn’t do medically, and Carly’s experience is uniquely her own. But it is a powerful conversation about trust, intuition, resilience, lifestyle, emotional wellbeing, and the incredible connection between mind and body. We talk about: Carly’s diagnosis and the emotions that followedWhy she chose a different routeThe intense lifestyle changes she madeStress, grief, and the nervous systemMeditation and emotional healingLearning to trust herselfWhat this experience taught her about lifeIt’s a raw, moving, hopeful conversation and one I know so many of you will take something meaningful from. 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 you're breathing right now. Download my energising 5 Minute Morning Practice to get your day started in the best way possible. To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to:  https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace Email me at:  info@pollywarren.com https://www.pollywarren.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

    55 min

  3. MAY 7

    Thursday Thoughts - Small Steps When Noone's Watching

    On this week's Thursday's Thoughts, Lucy and I are talking about the small, unglamorous steps that we take when nobody’s watching, that ultimately get us to where we want to go. For example, I talks about the tiny, seemingly insignificant physio exercises I'm doing every day to help heal from my knee operation - it would be easy to feel like they weren’t doing anything, but I'm trusting the process, showing up every day, knowing that they will pay off eventually. So if there’s something you’d like to do, remember that it’s those baby steps you take that nobody else sees that are actually having the biggest impact of all. 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 you're breathing right now. Download my energising 5 Minute Morning Practice to get your day started in the best way possible. To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to:  https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace Email me at:  info@pollywarren.com https://www.pollywarren.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

    30 min

  4. MAY 5

    You Keep Saying You’ll Do Something for You… But You Keep Choosing Everything Else First

    You know the phrases…  “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” “Put your oxygen mask on first.” But here’s the real question… Are you actually doing it? Or are you still giving your time, energy, and attention to everyone else…  and hoping you’ll get a moment for yourself somewhere down the line? In this episode, I’m sharing a very honest reflection, one that’s come from being forced to slow down after surgery, and what it’s helped me realise about what I thought was self-care… versus what actually supports your nervous system. ✨ In this episode, I also explore:  Why knowing you should prioritise yourself isn’t the same as actually doing it  The hidden ways you might be “pushing” under the guise of self-care  What your nervous system really needs to feel calm and supported  Why one-off self-care (like holidays or occasional treats) isn’t enough  The power of small, consistent moments to reset and reconnect  A simple 3-step approach to start showing up for yourself dailyTo claim your FREE month's membership for The Inner Space (offer ends at end of May 2026) email INNER SPACE to info@pollywarren.com  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 you're breathing right now. Download my energising 5 Minute Morning Practice to get your day started in the best way possible. To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to:  https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace Email me at:  info@pollywarren.com https://www.pollywarren.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

    26 min

  5. APR 30

    Thursday Thoughts - It's All an Inside Job

    On today’s Thursday's Thoughts, Lucy and I are exploring the idea that ‘it’s all an inside job.’ Your inner world shapes how you experience everything around you, and your outer world becomes a reflection of what’s happening within.  When you start to notice your thoughts, and how you’re really feeling, something shifts. You respond to life differently with more awareness and often more calm and compassion. In this episode, we share some of the simple tools that have helped us navigate our own inner worlds. We hope you find something useful in here. Love Polly & Lucy xx 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 you're breathing right now. Download my energising 5 Minute Morning Practice to get your day started in the best way possible. To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to:  https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace Email me at:  info@pollywarren.com https://www.pollywarren.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

    29 min

  6. APR 28

    It's Ok to Not Be OK

    In this episode, I open up about how I’ve been navigating the emotional ups and downs of recovery after knee surgery. I share a recent wobble I experienced, and why learning to feel your emotions, rather than push them away, is such an important part of moving through difficult moments. It’s not about getting stuck in how you feel, but allowing those emotions to move through you with awareness and compassion. I also talk about the power of a good cry (something we often underestimate), and the simple, supportive ways we can gently shift heavy or stuck energy when it shows up. If you’ve been telling yourself you’re “fine” when you’re really not, I hope my  reflections remind you there’s another way. 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 you're breathing right now. Download my energising 5 Minute Morning Practice to get your day started in the best way possible. To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to:  https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace Email me at:  info@pollywarren.com https://www.pollywarren.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

    23 min

  7. APR 23

    Thursday Thoughts - Not Living in the Past

    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 happened 3 weeks or 10 years ago probably isn't serving you. So...if you find yourself spending a little too much time ruminating over that time you made a tit of yourself at last year's Christmas party, it might be time to let that go; and instead, start thinking more about the present moment, and your exciting future. 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 you're breathing right now. Download my energising 5 Minute Morning Practice to get your day started in the best way possible. To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to:  https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace Email me at:  info@pollywarren.com https://www.pollywarren.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

    20 min

  8. APR 16

    Thursday Thoughts - Brainwash Yourself

    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 limiting beliefs forever. It’s simply a matter of choosing a different, more empowering belief, and reinforcing that new one in the same way you reinforce the negative ones. Ultimately, a belief is just a thought you think over and over and over again - so…it’s time to start paying attention to the stories on repeat in your monkey mind. We sincerely hope that 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 you're breathing right now. Download my energising 5 Minute Morning Practice to get your day started in the best way possible. To find out more about my membership The Inner Space go to:  https://www.pollywarren.com/theinnerspace Email me at:  info@pollywarren.com https://www.pollywarren.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pollywarrencoaching/

    32 min
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4.6
out of 5
31 Ratings

About

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. Not by escaping your life, because that’s totally unrealistic, but by meeting it differently. So when you're ready, let’s take a breath together… 

Information

  • Creator
    Polly Warren
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    319
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Take A Breath
  • Show Website
    Take A Breath

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