Wired Divergent: Nervous System Regulation & Mental Health for Neurodivergent Brains

This is a 5-minute movement practice for autistic and AuDHD adults, a gentle follow-along for the end of the day. If your body has been holding tension since the morning, from sitting or from masking around other people all day, this practice is for loosening some of that. This isn't a workout or a stretch routine. I offer some easy options, shaking out your hands, rolling your shoulders, some slo...

Interrupting can go wrong for autistic and AuDHD adults in two very different ways, and the usual advice to just speak up only helps with one of them. In this episode I go through why a thought can vanish the moment someone cuts in, why jumping into a group conversation might not work for a lot of us, and what I've tried for both. I describe the two different situations involved with this idea, an...

This is a 10-minute tracking practice for autistic and AuDHD adults, built for anyone who has tried somatics (noticing body sensations) or mindfulness and come out more dysregulated than when they started. If sitting down to watch your thoughts or scan your body for sensations has ever left you feeling worse, this is another way in, another way to try this out. I guide you through noticing a serie...

Autistic unmasking is a healthy thing, and it can still get you read as a jerk, intimidating, or angry when you never meant any of that. In this episode I talk about what happens when you unmask as an autistic or AuDHD adult and other people misread your intention. A lot of us hear the same words from other people. Intense. Blunt. Too direct. Intimidating. I get into how that connects to the way a...

This is a 10-minute grounding reset for autistic and AuDHD adults, a follow-along practice for after a long day of masking. If you've masked all day at work, at an event, or out running errands, and you've come home depleted, in a crash or a shutdown, this practice is for that thing. I guide you through settling in and then a gentle check-in with a few places masking tends to leave tension. You ca...

I've taken a lot of courses on nervous system regulation, and most of them left out autistic and AuDHD brains with alexithymia and low interoception. And never a very clear idea about what so-called "regulation" truly even means. In this episode I talk through how I build my own "regulation" system, one that fits the way my brain actually works and doesn't involve trying to figure out what is regu...

This is a 10-minute regulation practice for autistic and AuDHD adults that uses a chosen passion as the resource. If you're generally worn down and looking for a reset, bringing your interest to mind on purpose can do some of that work for you. You don't need to be doing the interest to get something from it, so this one suits the days when you can't get to your passion, and you're welcome to hold...

Autistic burnout is hard enough, and a lot of us add a second layer on top of it, performing recovery for other people while we're still deep in it. I talk through why that extra masking happens and what makes it possible to stop. The performance looks like telling people (even the professionals!) you're getting better on the schedule they expect and saying you're fine to get out of a conversation...

This is a 10-minute grounding practice for autistic and AuDHD adults, made for the end of a day with heavy masking in it. If you're home now and still revved up, or just completely worn out, this is the one for you. I walk you through bringing a place to mind where nothing is asked of you, with no small talk, no performance, no masking, and no alternate version of yourself to keep running. It work...

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) can hit hard and fast over something you didn't even want, and knowing it makes no sense doesn't slow it down or stop the darn thing. I talk through my own RSD as an AuDHD adult and the decisions I've made to keep it from costing me as much. RSD works like a voice that tells you a person, a group, or the whole world is singling you out and rejecting you, even wh...

This is a five-minute regulation practice for autistic and AuDHD adults who are stuck in functional freeze. It's for those times when your body feels rooted to the couch or the bed and getting up feels like too much. You can do the whole thing without getting up, and every step is optional, so you can skip or change anything that doesn't fit. I guide you through a few small points of contact and s...

Someone once told me I was playing a character when I taught my dance fitness classes, and I said that was totally me up there. Unmasking in autism and AuDHD assumes you already know where your mask is, and a lot of autistic adults do not, so this episode is about finding it and about what happens when people still read you wrong. In the first part I go through what autistic masking actually cover...

This is a 10-minute guided nervous system regulation practice for autistic and AuDHD adults, and you build the whole thing yourself. I walk you through making up a calm place one small detail at a time, and there's no wrong version of it. Supports very visual imaginations or aphantasia, and everything in between. CHAPTERS 0:00 Safety note and what this practice does 2:45 Settling into where you ac...

Being misunderstood as an autistic or AuDHD adult can set off something that feels a lot like rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), and about half the time I don't even catch it happening until hours or days later. In this episode I get into why that delay happens and what I do about it. I get into why I think being misunderstood can register as a rejection when you're autistic or AuDHD, and why a...

This is a five minute resourcing practice that uses one of your special interests as the resource. If you've spent years being told your special interest is a distraction, this one goes the other way. It's wonderful, regulating, a source of joy... it's no distraction and is highly valuable to our lives. Resourcing is a self-care practice where you bring something good to mind on purpose and pay at...

If you're in autistic burnout recovery, you might have run into the worry that getting better just means putting the mask back on. That worry is pretty valid, and this episode is about the parts of it you get some choice over. Real recovery from autistic burnout usually points toward some kind of life that allows for a more unmasked version of you, and the two big variables there are capacity and...

This is a fifteen minute body double session I made for winding down at the end of the day. Press play, pick one small evening task, and we'll work through it at the same time. Body doubling gives a lot of neurodivergent adults the co-regulation and gentle accountability we need to actually start and finish a task. I kept the energy low on purpose in this one because I built it for the end of the...

So many confidence videos tell you to take up space because you deserve it, and almost none of them mention that safety in doing that isn't the same for all of us. Which is so important for those of us who are part of marginalized populations (neurodivergent ones being one of them). Add any other, layer more on, and safety is even more of a thing to consider. In this episode I talk about how to de...

In this week's Regulation Practice, I am guiding you through a short "permission to move" exercise designed for those times when you are feeling restless, or prickly with energy, or holding onto pent-up energy that you want to let go of. We will explore various stimming motions (like shaking your hands, rolling your shoulders, tapping, and rocking) to gently release that energy and help regulate y...

Monotropic flow can be one of the best parts of an autistic or ADHD or AuDHD brain, we are unmasked in JOY! Really ferocious joy. But it can also be the reason you come up for air hours later feeling wrecked. What?! In this episode I get into what monotropism actually is, why the monotropic split (something we experience in neuronormative "life") can push you toward burnout, and what I do about it...

In this episode, I guide you through a sensory orientation practice designed to act as a reset when life feels overwhelming. If you are experiencing that disconnected, far-away feeling where the space around you does not seem real, this practice uses your senses one at a time to help bring your attention back into the present room or space. This is an educational self-care episode, not therapy or...

High masking autistic and ADHD burnout can show up like it arrived from nowhere, with no warning that you were heading there. Oof. In this episode I look at why that early signal often goes missing, and what low interoception has to do with it. A lot of us run a constant neuro-normative performance, the masking, for most of our waking hours, often for safety. When your interoception runs low, the...

This is a brief resourcing exercise based on the Community Resilience Model (CRM) concept of a "resource" for nervous system regulation. This educational self-care practice focuses on bringing a positive, steady resource to mind to help you gently refocus and reset your nervous system. What to expect in this episode Introduction to resourcing: A guided exercise to bring a positive person, place, p...

Inertia makes task switching super difficult. You can see the thing you need to do, you actually want to do it, and your body responds like it's completely out of reach. In this episode I get into what's happening underneath autistic inertia, and what helps once you know which kind of stuck you're in making the transition (or task switching) difficult. Plenty of us autistics named this thing in ou...

I cover a guided neurodivergent somatic practice designed specifically for when you cannot read your internal body signals. I offer alternatives to emotional labeling by using external temperature, physical pressure, and neutral feedback. I walk through a short self-care exercise that avoids the demand to identify complex emotions. I explain how to use your hands, jaw, chest, and feet and other me...