Innerswim Podcast | For Highly Sensitive + Intuitive Women

What does it mean to feel deeply nourished as a highly sensitive woman? Join Jaylyn and guest Alley Biniarz, the writer behind Slow Down, Digest, for a gentle conversation about slow living, herbalism and coming home to your body.

With autumn as our backdrop and oats as our herbal guide, we explore the invitation to soften, listen to our needs and make nourishment part of everyday life. Alley shares her relationship with oat straw and milky oats, while we reflect on nervous system care, cyclical living and the pressure to keep giving when we feel depleted.

In this episode, we explore:

An invitation for sensitive, intuitive women to slow down, receive care and reconnect with the simple things that sustain us.

CONNECT WITH ALLEY

HERB SOURCING

Canada:

USA:

New Zealand:

EXPLORE INNERSWIM

Happy autumn equinox. Today's episode welcomes us into the darker side of the seasonal wheel - a time of release, slowing down, and taking stock. I'll introduce some of the energetic themes of this time (and encourage you to tune into your own) and share a ritual to try this autumn.

Some of the themes covered include: 

We'll talk autumnal energies, letting go, connecting with ancestors, and so much more. If you enjoy this episode, feel free to leave a comment, or take 3 seconds to rate the show - thank you!

And if you want to go deeper, visit innerswim.com to learn more about my monthly membership container and working 1:1 together. 

What if your breath could help you access emotions, subconscious patterns, and parts of yourself that feel difficult to reach through the conscious mind alone?

In this episode of the Innerswim Podcast, Jaylyn speaks with Megan Ashton, founder of Unity Breathwork and an advocate for greater safety and trauma-informed care within the breathwork industry.

Megan shares how her personal journey through bulimia, emotional numbing, toxic relationships, and an overwhelming plant medicine experience eventually led her to conscious connected breathwork. She explains how this powerful breathing practice helped her reconnect with her inner child, process long-held emotions, and begin relating to herself with greater freedom and compassion.

This conversation is a compassionate introduction to breathwork for anyone interested in nervous system healing, emotional processing, or reconnecting with the body’s innate wisdom.

Your breath has been with you through every moment of your life. Perhaps it can also become one of your greatest tools for remembering who you truly are.

Learn more about Megan’s breathwork sessions, trauma-informed facilitator training, and healing retreats through the links below.

Subscribe to the Innerswim Podcast for more conversations about nervous system healing, embodiment, spirituality, sensitivity, and the journey back to your authentic self.

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Access the "GBPD" Global Professional Breathwork Alliance: https://breathworkalliance.com/

Visit Megan's website: https://unitybreathwork.com/

Learn more about Megan's upcoming breathwork retreat: https://unitybreathwork.com/breathwork-retreat/

With Love,

What if your exhaustion isn’t caused by a lack of sleep, but by living out of alignment with who you are and what you’re here to express?

In Part 3 of this three part series on exhaustion, Jaylyn explores soul-level exhaustion: the emotional and spiritual depletion that can arise when self-doubt, social conditioning, obligation, and “shoulds” pull you away from your authentic self and deeper purpose. You’ll discover why this form of burnout can leave you feeling lost, listless, and disconnected, and how to distinguish the natural resistance that accompanies growth from the heavy drag of going against yourself.

Jaylyn also guides you through a gentle two part inner child reflection and journaling ritual to help you reconnect with joy, rediscover what energizes you, and begin listening to your inner wisdom again. If you’re a sensitive, spiritually curious woman feeling unfulfilled or exhausted by a life that no longer feels like yours, this episode offers a compassionate path back to purpose, self-trust, and soul alignment.

Do you feel emotionally exhausted after socializing, overwhelmed by other people’s moods, or disconnected from your own needs? In part two of this three-part series on different types of exhaustion, Jaylyn explores energetic exhaustion and why highly sensitive people and empaths can feel so depleted even when they are getting enough sleep.

Drawing from her own experience as a highly sensitive person, Jaylyn shares how absorbing the emotions of others can contribute to people-pleasing, anxiety, unclear boundaries, and a gradual loss of connection with yourself. She also offers a compassionate way to understand your sensitivity as a meaningful part of who you are, rather than something you need to overcome.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to recognize the signs of emotional and energetic exhaustion

If you have been feeling overwhelmed, energetically flat, or unsure where other people’s needs end and yours begin, this episode will help you gently reconnect with yourself.

Ready for a deeper reset? Download The Rest Ritual, a free 21-minute guided yoga nidra created for highly sensitive women who want to feel more grounded, rested, and connected.

Try it for free at https://innerswim.com/ritual

Next week, the series concludes with part three: the exhaustion that comes from knowing your soul’s purpose and going against it anyway.

With Love,

What happens when you’re tired but keep asking your body to push through?

In Part 1 of this three part series on exhaustion and rest, we explore the physical exhaustion that can arise when we repeatedly override the body’s natural rhythms. Ignoring fatigue, tension, and moving through hormonal or seasonal changes as if our energy should remain constant...

Over time, this disconnection can leave us feeling depleted, tense and unable to truly settle.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• What it means to live in a state of physical override

If you’ve been experiencing fatigue, burnout or disconnection from your body’s needs, this episode offers a welcoming place to begin listening to your inner rhythms again.

Download your free Yoga Nidra Rest Ritual at innerswim.com/ritual and give yourself permission to rest before you reach depletion.

With Love,

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical care.

What happens when the life that looks safe on paper no longer feels true in your body?

In the first-ever guest episode of the Innerswim Podcast, Jaylyn sits down with Serena Arora: bestselling author of Unbound, Ayurvedic health practitioner, certified yoga therapist, retreat leader and international speaker.

Born in Canada to an Indian father and Chinese mother, Serena shares her nonlinear journey of untangling herself from cultural conditioning, generational expectations, people-pleasing and the pressure to follow a path that never fully felt like her own.

Together, Jaylyn and Serena explore:

• The inner conflict between intuition and obligation

This is a heartfelt conversation about immigrant daughterhood, ancestral healing, burnout, belonging, feminine wisdom and the courage it takes to become the woman you have always known yourself to be.

If you have ever felt caught between who you were expected to become and who you truly are, this episode is for you.

CONNECT WITH SERENA

Learn more about Serena and her work:

Read Serena’s bestselling memoir, Unbound:

Join Serena for Living Unbound: Ayurvedic Self-Care for Women - a 30-day online program and in-person Costa Rica retreat created for women ready to restore their energy, reconnect with their bodies and build sustainable self-care through Ayurveda, therapeutic yoga, embodiment and community.

The full experience runs October 1-November 8, 2026, with the Costa Rica retreat taking place October 22-26. Early-bird pricing ends August 15, 2026.

Affiliate disclosure: Serena has offered me a referral commission for each listener who enrolls in Living Unbound and mentions my name, Jaylyn Bernachi, when signing up. If this experience feels aligned for you, explore the details below, and thank you for mentioning my name when registering!

Learn more and reserve your place:

Follow Serena on Instagram:

If this conversation resonates, follow the Innerswim Podcast and share this episode with a woman who may need to hear it.

Begin your day by turning inward and listening to the wisdom of your menstrual cycle.

This guided Morning Cycle Sync-Up Meditation invites you to pause before moving into the demands of the day and notice what is happening within your body, energy and inner world. 

Through gentle awareness and intuitive reflection, this practice will help you connect with your current menstrual-cycle phase, recognize what your body may be asking for and choose an intention that honours your energy today.

Return to this meditation throughout your cycle to deepen your relationship with your changing energy, emotions, needs and natural rhythms. No matter which phase you’re in, this is an opportunity to begin your morning feeling more grounded, connected and supported.

✨ This meditation comes from the Innerswim Sanctuary, a growing membership space of guided meditations, yoga practices, energy sessions and resources for tending to your inner world. Learn more and join the Innerswim Sanctuary at innerswim.com/sanctuary

What is the spiritual meaning of menstruating under a full moon or new moon?

In this episode, we explore the relationship between the menstrual cycle and the lunar cycle, and what your bleeding time may reveal about your energy, emotions, inner world and personal season of transformation.

Bleeding under a particular moon phase does not mean you are more spiritual, more aligned or doing your cycle “correctly.” There is no moon phase under which you should menstruate. While the full and new moons carry symbolic meanings, the deeper invitation is to notice how you feel during the moon phase you're currently aligned with.

In this episode, you’ll explore:

The spiritual symbolism of bleeding under a full moon

The spiritual symbolism of bleeding under a new moon

Why every menstrual and moon-cycle pairing can hold wisdom

Three rituals for connecting your womb cycle with the lunar cycle

This episode was adapted from an original article on the Innerswim blog and is shared here as a spoken reflection for those who prefer to listen.

✨ To continue exploring menstrual-cycle awareness, womb wisdom and cyclical living, join the Innerswim Sanctuary at innerswim.com/sanctuary

You can also join the Cycle Literacy Live Workshop on July 23 innerswim.com/workshops

What if your menstrual cycle could become a guide to your energy, intuition, needs, and inner truth?

In this episode of Innerswim, we explore menstrual cycle awareness as a practice of reconnecting with your inner rhythm and learning to recognize the different energies moving through you. Cycle awareness can help you understand what you need, what you desire, and what your body and inner world may be asking of you.

We’ll explore the womb as an energetic powerhouse, a little moon within, and menstruation as a profound time of release, renewal, and energetic rebirth. You’ll discover how honouring your cyclical nature can deepen self-trust, strengthen your intuition, and empower you to become your own energy healer.

This episode is for highly sensitive and intuitive women who want to feel more connected to their bodies, womb wisdom, feminine energy, and natural rhythms.

✨ Continue your journey inside the Innerswim Sanctuary, a membership space for highly sensitive and intuitive women. Together, we explore womb rhythms, energy healing, somatic practices, live sessions, guided rituals, and more.

Learn more and join at innerswim.com/sanctuary

With Love,