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NiamhPadma

Holistic health coaching.

09/06/2026

I’m allowing
myself
more space for
meditation recently after sitting
for six hours
during a training on a
Friday afternoon and
realising:
I could not for the life of me sit still.

I realised… I’m addicted to the mini dopamine hits all of these little tasks give me!

Dopamine governs motivation, memory, attention and emotional regulation. It’s the brain’s way of saying this matters, go get it.

When I challenged myself to notice when the distractions and urges to chase dopamine arose during meditation, I could feel myself coming back to the present moment with even more intention and focus than the first time around.

I have felt deeper emotional processing, genuine insights, and a calm, grounded existence, rather than frantically running through the days and ending up frayed at the edges.

I don’t know about you, but I know I for sure don’t need another supplement or habit stack.

What my active brain needs is time to sit still, and remember it doesn’t need to outsource its calm.

This Friday 12th June at 07:00 U.K. time, I’m starting a 30-day silent meditation challenge.

30 minutes, every single day.

This isn’t a guided meditation, there will be no teacher or facilitator.

Just you, your breath, and your body in stillness. It’s also completely free. I’m doing it anyway so you might as well join. ;)

comment 30 for the details.

Save this and read the full piece over on substack:
Tales of a Highly Functioning Dopamine Addict

X

15/05/2026

Settling the body matters because in a world where we have stimulation from multiple sources in any given moment, the act of settling imprints focus that stays when the mind is overloaded.

The majority of people that come to my breathwork sessions aren’t there to relax.

It can be a long term output, but that’s not the usual, immediate response.

They are there to activate and generate usable energy in their system to build creative momentum and mental clarity.

A kind of energy that is only stabilised with intentional practice.

Other practices that activate this energy are dynamic movements or walking in the fresh air.

By intentionally carving out time to increase your breathing quality, your diaphragm responds by descending fully, meaning your rib cage expands laterally, and the accessory muscles (the ones in your neck and shoulders) stop overworking.

This shifts the posture entirely from one of threat with a hunched over back, into one of safety with rolled back shoulders.

The quality of your breath therefore shapes the quality of your thinking through this somatic response, amongst many other factors.

We will learn and practice breathing techniques together on The Recovery Advantage Retreat this September.

A container for you to activate, channel and recover.

Details are all in the link in my bio.

14/05/2026

What would you add? 🥹

This trend made me think about how the practice of gratitude wins every single time. And how that little inner voice of our younger self inside our heads CAN be loud if we make space to hear it.
🤍

11/05/2026

Join a different kind of reset – one that blends focused work with real recovery, set by the river in Porto.

Days begin and end with a digital detoxing, while afternoons flow through structured deep work sessions. Around this, there’s time for journaling, yoga, breathwork, and moments to unwind in the spa.

The intention is simple: to leave with more capacity than you arrived with, real momentum in your work, and a system you can take with you.

Scroll to find out more and comment ‘Recovery’ for full details.

23/04/2026

Conversations.
The difficult ones.
The sexy ones.
The “boring” ones.
They’re all part of the human experience.
The more of them we have.
The more connected we feel.
Whether those conversations are about Pokémon and vegan diets (which are boring according to this article), Portuguese language idioms, or raw and vulnerable enough to make you feel like you have no skin. 😬
The science is out.
And we can’t argue with that.
Let’s have more conversations.

I just shared a little more insight on difficult conversations over on substack. Go have a read if you’re interested. 😘

21/04/2026

I’m about to share something I don’t usually talk about.

For six years, I didn’t have a menstrual cycle.

At 21, I was given the contraceptive implant as a birth control solution, with the best of intentions.

So when my period stopped, I was told it was normal.
“All part of the side effects.”

Little old me was happy, of course.
No period = no monthly pesky visitor.
Fine by me.

Until a trip to Mexico made me realise otherwise.

Something in me knew I needed to get back in tune with my cycle.

So I had the implant removed in the UK, and spent the next 14 months doing acupuncture, changing my nutrition, taking countless supplements, not drinking alcohol… doing everything I could to regulate my cycle.

Then one morning, I woke up and she had arrived.

Since that day, I’ve been eternally grateful for that rich red blood.

But the journey didn’t stop there. (When does it ever?)

A year and a half later, I was diagnosed with PCOS because of the irregularity of my cycle, which fluctuated between 28 and 84 days.

I refused to let it take over my existence.

So I ate in alignment with where I “should” have been in a regular cycle.
I exercised differently throughout the month.
I didn’t let the diagnosis define me.

Until, eventually, my cycle regulated again.

Every single month, she arrived around day 28 (give or take a day or two).

And now, when she’s late, I know my body is asking me to pay attention.

Last month, for example, was one of those months…

I had the massages. I meditated. I slept eight hours a night.
I did all the classic “wellness girly” practices.

Nada.

Until one night, I danced all night in the club. Celebrated a friend’s birthday. Sexy’d my ass off dancing.

And the next morning, she arrived like: HEY, WASSUP HELLO.

So I’m sharing this with all the wellness girlies out there:

Sometimes the most restorative, nurturing thing you can give your body isn’t another routine…

IT’S DANCING SO HARD WITH YOUR FRIENDS THEY TURN YOU ON

That’s the real nervous system work.

09/04/2026

Hands up if you’ve ever bonded over creating a questionable ‘mug’ in a pottery workshop…. 🙋🏽‍♀️

Some thoughts today about wonky mugs and safe sisterhood.

If you read to the end, and something I shared resonates with you, the link in my bio has all the details to join our women’s gathering this Sunday 12th of April in Lisbon.

I feel you.

🤍

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