How 8 Minutes of Mindfulness a Day Can Rewire Your ADHD Brain with Kelly Smith

In this episode, Kate is joined by Kelly Smith, an ADHD advocate, meditation teacher, and founder of Yoga For You, to explore how meditation and mindfulness can become powerful tools for those with ADHD. With a background in neuroscience and personal experience with ADHD, Kelly shares how short, daily practices like breathwork, grounding, journaling, and visualisation can help calm the nervous system, regulate emotions, and improve focus. Together, we bust the myth may meditation myths and explore how just 8–12 minutes of intentionality each day can rewire the brain to reduce overstimulation, increase dopamine and GABA, calm the amygdala, and strengthen the prefrontal cortex. Whether you're overstimulated, overwhelmed, or just unsure where to start, this conversation offers practical ways to make meditation work for your ADHD brain and your unique lifestyle. What You’ll Learn In This Episode: ✨ The power of short, consistent meditation sessions, especially for ADHD brains ✨ The neuroscience of mindfulness: how dopamine, GABA, the amygdala, and prefrontal cortex are involved in focus, anxiety reduction, and emotional regulation ✨ How meditation helps reduce overstimulation and supports executive function ✨ The difference between intentional introspection and overthinking ✨ How grounding practices like prayer, journaling, or breathwork can build intentionality and future visioning ✨ How to find a meditation style that suits your ADHD brain e.g. visualisation, body awareness, or focused breathing ✨ Why visualising your “ideal self” can lead to subtle but powerful life changes ✨ How meditation strengthens memory, emotional control, and clarity by rewiring the brain over time ✨ Why mindfulness needs to be personal and consistent, not perfect Timestamps: 🕒 00:48 – Kelly’s ADHD diagnosis and discovering meditation 🕒 13:36 – What meditation does to the brain 🕒 23:23 – Managing overstimulation in parenting 🕒 31:48 – Building an intentional life with ADHD 🕒 34:30 – Meditation styles that support neurodivergent minds If you’ve ever felt too busy, distracted or overwhelmed to meditate, this episode will show you a new way. Learn how just a few mindful minutes each day can help you feel calmer, more in control, and more connected to the version of yourself you’re working toward becoming. Find out more about Kelly and the work she does here, www.yogaforyouonline.com or find her on Instagram @yogaforyouonline. Links and Resources: ⭐ Boosting your Self-Belief and Self-Trust after a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis is available to buy now on-demand - Click here to purchase. ⭐ Book on to the next ADHD Wellbeing Workshop all about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria - Click here to book. ⭐ If you love the podcast but want more ADHD support, get a sneak peek of my brand new book, The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Toolkit and pre-order it here! ⭐ Launching September! Tired of ADHD support that doesn’t get you? My new compassionate, community-first membership ditches the overwhelm by providing support aligned with YOU! Join the waitlist now for an exclusive founding member offer! Find all of Kate's popular online workshops and free resources here Follow the podcast on Instagram Follow Kate on Instagram Kate Moryoussef is a women's ADHD lifestyle and wellbeing coach and EFT practitioner who helps overwhelmed and unfulfilled newly diagnosed ADHD women find more calm, balance, hope, health, compassion, creativity and clarity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices