Send us a text

Parenthood can be the happiest thing—and still put your relationship into survival mode. In this episode, I sit down with my husband to tell the truth about our first year: what we took for granted, what got heavy, and the tiny moments that helped us come back. 

You’ll leave with: 

• A name for the disconnection that can happen after baby
• Why “help” isn’t always doing more, and
• One small way to reconnect when you don’t have words. 

If you’re in it, you’re not alone. Subscribe, share with a new parent, and comment the part that hit you.

If any part of this resonated with you, come be part of the community. Follow + Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Rooted Exchange.

🎧 Listen + subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-exchange/id1865243283 | 📺 YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@RootedExchange | 📲 Instagram: @Rooted_Exchange

Send us a text

After birth, so many of us walk out of the hospital changed…and somehow expected to figure it out alone. The pain, the leaking, the heaviness, the quiet fear of “is this my new normal?”—and the part that hits hardest: the silence. 

Postpartum pelvic floor therapy can be the difference between guessing and having a real roadmap. In this Rooted Exchange episode, Dr. Jessica Hund (The Floor PDX) breaks down why the “six-week clearance” often doesn’t match real recovery—and how Pelvic Floor Therapy can help you reconnect to your body.

In this episode you’ll learn:

--What the pelvic floor is (and what pelvic floor PT actually looks like).

--The most common symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction (leaking, urgency, heaviness, pain, constipation).

--Why “common does not mean normal” — and when it’s time to get support.

--The ACL analogy that changes how you think about postpartum recovery timelines.

--How to vet a provider: trauma-informed care, standing assessment, privacy, and quality markers.

If you’ve been living with symptoms quietly—please hear this: common does not mean normal, and healing doesn’t expire. 

What would it change for you to have a “roadmap” postpartum?

If any part of this resonated with you, come be part of the community. Follow + Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Rooted Exchange.

🎧 Listen + subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-exchange/id1865243283 | 📺 YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@RootedExchange | 📲 Instagram: @Rooted_Exchange

Send us a text

We live in a world that encourages us to disassociate, to distract ourselves with phones, products, and noise to avoid feeling the heavy stuff. But what if the peace you are looking for requires you to stop running and finally come home to your own body?

In this episode of Rooted Exchange, Rachael sits down with  @kellyniewellness , an intuitive, ceremonialist, and embodiment facilitator whose mission is to remind you that you are your own medicine. Kelly shares her personal journey from being a "lone wolf" navigating trauma and disassociation to finding liberation through the breath and body. We move beyond the buzzwords to define what embodiment actually is: inhabiting your body according to your values.

We also tackle the old advice of "fake it till you make it." Kelly offers a powerful reframe: "Fake it till you become it." We discuss how to use your physical body to show your nervous system what safety and expansion feel like, even before your mind believes it.

Drop a comment below: Kelly asks a tough question in this episode: If you look back on your life 40 years from now, will you feel liberated? Let us know what came up for you. 👇

If any part of this resonated with you, come be part of the community. Follow + Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Rooted Exchange.

🎧 Listen + subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-exchange/id1865243283 | 📺 YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@RootedExchange | 📲 Instagram: @Rooted_Exchange

Send us a text

Common doesn’t mean normal.

If you’re navigating postpartum recovery—leaking, pain, pressure, or feeling disconnected from your body—this episode is for you.

Rachael talks with Dr. Jessica Hund (pelvic floor PT, founder of The Floor PDX) about why the 6-week clearance isn’t a real healing plan, why Kegels aren’t always the answer, and how to advocate for pelvic floor care that feels safe and trauma-informed.

🎧 Full episode coming soon on Rooted Exchange.
💬 What's one postpartum symptom you wish someone warned you about?

If any part of this resonated with you, come be part of the community. Follow + Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Rooted Exchange.

🎧 Listen + subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-exchange/id1865243283 | 📺 YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@RootedExchange | 📲 Instagram: @Rooted_Exchange

Send us a text

So much of motherhood isn’t loud.
It doesn’t show up on to-do lists.
And it rarely gets named out loud.

In this episode of Rooted Exchange, Rachael sits down with Whitney Mayer for a candid, lived-experience conversation about the invisible load — the constant mental tracking, anticipating, remembering, and emotional labor that so many women carry quietly every day.

Together, they unpack how the invisible load shows up in real life: in grocery lists and appointment scheduling, in solo parenting and uneven rhythms, in identity shifts, guilt, and the pressure to “do it all” without dropping the ball.

This isn’t a conversation about blame or fixing partners. It’s about naming the work, understanding its weight, and offering ourselves more grace in the middle of it. In this episode, we explore:

• What the “invisible load” actually looks like day to day
• How motherhood reshapes identity — often quietly and unevenly
• The difference between being productive and feeling productive
• The double bind of stay-at-home vs. working motherhood
• Why comparison and perfectionism make the load heavier
• Letting go of control, lowering expectations, and choosing presence
• Why exhaustion isn’t always something sleep can fix

This conversation is for the mom who feels tired in a way that’s hard to explain. For the one carrying the household in her head. For anyone who has ever thought, “Why does this feel so heavy?”

You’re not imagining it. And you’re not alone.

If any part of this resonated with you, come be part of the community. Follow + Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Rooted Exchange.

🎧 Listen + subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-exchange/id1865243283 | 📺 YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@RootedExchange | 📲 Instagram: @Rooted_Exchange

Send us a text

We are taught to seek healing in products and distractions, but true peace may require stripping everything away to face the silence we fear most. We are exploring the difference between "faking it" and the deep alchemy required to actually become it. Find out what happens when you stop running from the discomfort and realize that you are your own medicine.

If any part of this resonated with you, come be part of the community. Follow + Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Rooted Exchange.

🎧 Listen + subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-exchange/id1865243283 | 📺 YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@RootedExchange | 📲 Instagram: @Rooted_Exchange

Send us a text

It starts with the small things: remembering the toothpaste, anticipating the snack request, and constantly scanning the room for what could go wrong. It is the work that has no job description, but it shapes our entire lives.

In this upcoming episode of Rooted Exchange, Rachael sits down with Whitney Mayer, a veteran turned stay-at-home mom, to unpack the weight of the Invisible Load.

Here is a peek at what we are discussing:

• The Chaos: Why trying to stay productive with a toddler feels like "eating soup with a fork".

• The Identity Shift: The jarring moment of looking in the mirror and asking, "Who is she?".

• The Control Trap: Why it feels physically impossible to trust anyone else with our children.

• The CEO Mindset: Treating the home like a business where you never get to clock out.

This is a conversation for any mother who feels like she is doing everything and nothing all at the same time.

Subscribe now so you don’t miss the full episode dropping next week.

If any part of this resonated with you, come be part of the community. Follow + Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Rooted Exchange.

🎧 Listen + subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-exchange/id1865243283 | 📺 YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@RootedExchange | 📲 Instagram: @Rooted_Exchange

Send us a text

What if you didn’t need to have it all figured out to belong?

This is the beginning of Rooted Exchange, not a polished origin story, but a quiet one. Recorded in a lived-in home with laundry humming and toys on the floor, this episode is an invitation to slow down, breathe, and remember yourself.

In this opening conversation, Rachael shares the seed of why Rooted Exchange exists: a lifetime of listening, adapting, and learning how to take up just enough space, and the moment motherhood made that impossible to keep doing.

This episode is for anyone in a season of becoming.
For anyone who feels something shifting, even without the words yet.
For those who have carried more than anyone realizes, quietly.

✨ In this episode, we explore:

What happens when you’ve learned to read the room but forgotten how to belong to yourself. How motherhood (and life transitions) don’t create our voice, they reveal it. Why we were never meant to carry everything alone. The power of shared care, shared stories, and being witnessed in our becoming. What it means to come home to the body you live in.

Rooted Exchange is not about self-improvement, performance, or arriving somewhere polished. It’s a space for quiet truths, honest questions, and shared humanity — for remembering who we are beneath the roles we carry.

You don’t need the answers to be here.
This is the village we build through story.

🌿 Welcome to Rooted Exchange. Connect & Subscribe to join our village of shared care.

If any part of this resonated with you, come be part of the community. Follow + Subscribe so you don’t miss the next Rooted Exchange.

🎧 Listen + subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rooted-exchange/id1865243283 | 📺 YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/@RootedExchange | 📲 Instagram: @Rooted_Exchange