Her Health Pod

What if a missing piece of your women’s healthcare team is a professional you’ve never been told about?

In this episode, we sit down with Esme Taylor-Soan, founder of Pear Exercise Physiology and Physiotherapy and Co-Director of The Women's Health Collective, and Elisha Bunch, Co-Director of The Women’s Health Collective, to explore the role of Accredited Exercise Physiologists in women’s health — and why their expertise remains under-recognised across Australia.

From pelvic health, to pregnancy, to chronic pelvic pain, to gynaecological cancer rehabilitation, perimenopause and recovery after hysterectomy, we unpack what women’s health exercise physiology can offer, where it complements physiotherapy, and why so many women are still missing out on appropriate support.

We also take a closer look at the advice women receive after hysterectomy, including long-term lifting restrictions and what the evidence actually supports. Plus, Esme and Elisha share what needs to change in clinical education, referral pathways and the broader healthcare system to ensure women receive the care they deserve.

Because symptoms women have been told to accept as normal may be treatable, rehabilitation matters at every life stage, and women deserve access to clinicians who understand their physiology.

This is a conversation about challenging outdated advice, closing the gaps in women’s healthcare, and helping women understand the support they can ask for.

We hope you enjoy!

J&E

In this episode, Jess and Emily sits down with Dr Kailey Chapman, holistic acupuncturist specialising in women’s health and fertility, to explore the intersection of traditional Chinese medicine, modern neuroscience and reproductive health.

Together, they unpack how the nervous system, chronic stress and the brain–ovary connection can influence the menstrual cycle, and what acupuncture may offer women navigating fertility challenges — including those undergoing IVF and assisted reproductive treatment. They also explore what a healthy cycle can tell us about our broader health, the symptoms women are often taught to dismiss, and how to approach cycle tracking without turning it into another optimisation project.

This is a conversation about moving beyond the numbers, understanding the body as a whole, and learning to support it without adding more pressure.

Because your body isn't the obstacle. And sometimes, the most meaningful shift isn't doing more — it's learning to listen, reconnect and create the conditions for your body to do what it's designed to do.

What if the thing standing between you and better health isn't more discipline, motivation or another wellness routine — but connection?

In this episode, Jess and Em sit down with Tayler, Miller and Sienna Kerta, the sisters behind We Are WMN and BNE Chapters, to explore the powerful role community, belonging and sisterhood play in women’s health. From creating spaces where women can genuinely meet and connect, to watching hundreds of women walk into a room as strangers and leave feeling different, they share what they've learned about loneliness, confidence and belonging.

We explore the biology of social connection, why our nervous systems are wired for other people, and how the right environment can influence the way we feel and behave. We also talk about what stops women from walking through the door in the first place — and why sometimes the thing we're waiting to feel more confident doing is exactly what could help us build confidence.

Because health isn't always something you can optimise alone. Sometimes, the most powerful intervention is finding your people. Lucky to be a lady.

Why can slowing down feel harder than pushing through?

In this episode, Jess and Emily unpack our complicated relationship with rest — from productivity, achievement and the pressure to be the woman who can handle everything, to the biology of stress, recovery and total load. We explore why rest can trigger guilt, anxiety and discomfort, how women can become so good at tolerating too much, and what happens when wellness itself becomes another thing to achieve.

Because rest isn't something you earn when everything is finished. Your body isn't a productivity machine — and sometimes slowing down is exactly what allows you to hear what it's been trying to tell you.

For decades, women’s bodies were underrepresented in research — but how amazing that this narrative is starting to change.

In this episode, we’re joined by PhD researcher and clinician Dr Meg Doohan for a conversation of two avenues.

First, we unpack the research: what women’s health science actually tells us, where the gaps still are, how to tell good evidence from “science-based” wellness marketing, and what Meg’s research into the menstrual cycle, heat stress and cognition is revealing about female physiology.

We then move to exploring what happens when reproductive healthcare intersects within the mental health population, why some of the most vulnerable women experience poorer reproductive health outcomes, and what genuine trauma-informed care can look like.

This is a conversation about the science, the gaps, and the women living in the space between the two.

Your body doesn’t exist in isolation — so why do we keep trying to understand women’s health that way?

Jess and Emily explore Her Health’s Whole-Being Framework: a way of understanding health through the relationship between physiology, the nervous system, environment and behaviour. This episode challenges the search for the one thing to fix and invites you to become more curious about the bigger system shaping how you feel.

Birth preparation is often reduced to packing a hospital bag, writing a birth plan and hoping for the best. But what if preparing your body could also help you feel more confident, informed and capable of navigating whatever birth brings?

In this episode, we chat with Shauna Browne, Women’s Health Physiotherapist at The Healthy Peach in Brisbane, about what women aren't always told about preparing for birth. Together, we unpack the role of pelvic health physiotherapy throughout pregnancy, the physical and physiological preparation that can support labour, and how understanding your body can change the way you approach birth.

We explore birth choices, pelvic floor preparation, breathing, perineal massage, labour positions, fear and the nervous system, as well as what preparation can — and can't — influence when it comes to birth outcomes and postpartum recovery.

This isn't about creating the "perfect" birth or controlling an unpredictable experience. It's about giving women the knowledge, skills and confidence to understand their bodies, participate in decisions and feel more prepared for the transition into motherhood.

We have more access to information about our bodies than ever before — sleep scores, HRV, cycle tracking, recovery metrics, supplements, blood tests and endless wellness advice. But is all this information actually helping us understand our bodies, or is it making us more afraid of getting them “wrong”?

In this episode, Jess and Emily unpack the rise of health optimisation and the pressure many women feel to constantly monitor, improve and fix themselves. They explore the difference between body awareness and body surveillance, why physiological fluctuations are normal, and how we can use data and science without losing trust in our own lived experience.

Ultimately, this is a conversation about moving from control to curiosity, optimisation to adaptation, and self-improvement to self-trust.

Love Jess & Em

There’s one part of the female body that influences bladder and bowel function, sexual health, pregnancy, birth, pain and even athletic performance — yet most women are never properly taught about it.

The pelvic floor.

For many women, pelvic health only becomes a conversation once something goes wrong: leaking, pelvic pain, prolapse, painful sex, bowel or bladder changes, or symptoms after birth. But pelvic health isn't simply a postpartum issue, and it isn't something we should only think about when we're experiencing a problem.

In this episode, we sit down with Alex Diggles, founder of Pelviology and Specialist Women's, Men's and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, to unpack what women actually need to know about their pelvic health across the lifespan. Alex brings decades of experience across gynaecological surgery, oncology, continence care, pain and high-performance sport, giving her a unique perspective on how pelvic health can change across different bodies, life stages and environments.

Together, we explore why pelvic health education is still so limited, the symptoms women are taught to accept as “normal”, and what changes from adolescence and the reproductive years through pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause and beyond.

This is a conversation about more than the pelvic floor.

It's about understanding your body earlier, recognising when something deserves attention, and challenging the idea that symptoms are not simply things women have to put up with.

Because the goal isn't to fear your body. It's to understand it.

• What the pelvic floor actually is — and why thinking of it as simply a muscle you “tighten” is so incomplete
• The bladder, bowel, sexual and musculoskeletal systems and how they interact
• The symptoms women commonly normalise or feel too embarrassed to talk about
• Pelvic health through the lifespan
• Why pelvic pain remains so misunderstood
• What evidence-based pelvic physiotherapy actually looks like
• What women should be asking for from their healthcare providers
• And perhaps most importantly, why pelvic health education should begin long before something goes wrong

If you've ever thought, “I just assumed this was normal because I'm a woman,” this episode is for you.

We've been sitting on this season for months - and it's finally here.

Season 3 kicks off with a proper catch-up: what's actually been going on with us since we last recorded (a move, a hospital presentation, a rugby team preso, a course that changed how we both think about the body), a live look at our 2026 vision board, and an honest breakdown of what this season is actually going to cover.

Spoiler: we're retiring a phrase & we need to talk about it.

This season is about handing back the information women were never given - the research gaps, the outdated language, the life-stage conversations nobody sat us down for. Evidence first, honesty always.

Get a coffee. This one's a deep dive, and it's a good one.

In this episode:

• Our unfiltered life updates from the last 6 months

• A behind-the-scenes look at our 2026 vision board

• What's new for Season 3 - and one phrase we're retiring for good

• Why "your body isn't the problem, the information was just missing" is the mission for this year