Women of the Well | Women's health, done differently

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In our last episode, Peta and Thea talked about Vera's practitioner training, and why no one should have to do this work alone. This week, we're introducing you to one of the women who reminds us of that every day.

Lauren Williams has been a midwife for most of her life. She'll tell you it's part of the thread of who she is. She's worked in birth suite, led research that changed how a large hospital cares for women in early labour, and built a new model of care from the ground up. By most measures, she'd made it.

And then her body started telling her something she couldn't ignore any longer.

In this episode, Lauren sits down with Dr Peta (one of her closest friends) and Sam to talk about the moment she chose her body wisdom over the executive ladder. 

She shares what it took to walk away, what she learnt about herself as a mother, and why she now feels like she's meeting herself for the first time.

In this episode, we explore:

• Lauren's path from nursing to birth suite, research and leadership, and why she kept coming back to being "with woman"
• The moment her body said no, and what it cost to listen
• Mothering the mother – why a supported mother matters for the whole family
• What Lauren wishes every new mother understood about her nervous system and co-regulation
• Matrescence, the word we need for the transformation of becoming a mother
• Rites of passage across a woman's life, from adolescence to matrescence to perimenopause
• Burnout in midwifery, and finding a way to do this work that doesn't cost you yourself

This episode is for you if:

You're standing at a crossroads in your work or your life, and you already know the answer but you're scared to act on it. Or you're a mother who's felt stretched too thin to be present. Or you're a practitioner wondering whether there's another way to do the work you love.

About Lauren

Lauren is our midwife at Vera Wellness and a private endorsed midwife. She offers pregnancy and postnatal care, including home visits, and runs her own practice, Tapestry of Life, where you'll also find her retreats for midwives and her Matrescence Matters T-shirts. 

You can visit her website here: www.tapestryoflife.com.au

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

A quick note: this is a conversation about our practitioner training, so we're talking clinician to clinician at times. But if you're living with pelvic pain, we hope it's a comfort to hear that there are practitioners out there learning to slow down, listen and work this way.

If you've ever sat across from a woman in pain, done everything you were trained to do, and still gone home feeling it wasn't enough, we know that feeling well. 

It's why we created our Transformational Medicine program – to help practitioners meet women in pain in a whole new way, starting with themselves.

In this episode, Sam Lindsay-German sits down with Dr Peta Wright and Dr Thea Bowler as our very first Transformational Medicine cohort comes to a close.

We talk about why we built this training with women's health physiotherapist Paula Hindle, and what it felt like to finally teach the way we practise.

We also talk about why so much of the program begins with you as the clinician – your own nervous system, your body and your cycles – before it ever turns to the person in front of you.

We can't offer someone a sense of safety we haven't found in ourselves first. That's where this work starts.

In this episode, we explore:

• What we mean by transformational medicine, and the shift from fixing a symptom to listening to what it's telling you
• Why the practitioner is the medicine first – co-regulation and the therapeutic use of self
• Zooming out from the pelvis to the nervous system, a person's life and their sense of meaning
• How our first cohort's program worked – 12 weeks online, with two retreats held at Vera
• Coming back to reverence for the womb space and our cyclical nature, starting with ourselves
• The community our first cohort has built, and why you don't have to do this work alone

This episode is for you if:

You work with women with pelvic pain – as a gynaecologist, GP, physio, psychologist, naturopath, health coach or anything in between – and you sense there's more to it than what you were trained to look for.

Or you're tired of carrying the pressure to fix, and you're ready to show up differently: present, regulated and a little lighter.

For practitioners: join our next cohort

Our next Transformational Medicine cohort begins in early 2027. If this conversation stirred something in you, register your interest and we'll let you know as soon as dates are confirmed.

Graduates get a certificate of completion and can join our new membership for ongoing check-ins, case discussions and community. 

Our program is currently CPD approved with RACGP and RANZCOG: 24.5 hours with RACGP for the online program, 14.5 hours for the retreat, and 24 hours with RANZCOG.

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

Winsome was 13 when she was first put on the pill for debilitating period pain. By 16, she'd been diagnosed with endometriosis, had her first laparoscopy, and began what felt like an inevitable cycle: surgery, temporary relief, pain returns, repeat.

The diagnosis brought validation – finally, a reason for her suffering that people understood. 

But years later, facing her third surgery with the same gynecologist telling her this would be her reality forever, something shifted.

"I thought, well, no. That can't be my life. That's not living."

In this deeply honest conversation with Dr Peta Wright and physiotherapist Paula Hindle, Winsome shares her journey from feeling dismissed and powerless to discovering a completely different approach to pelvic pain. 

One that honoured her whole body, her nervous system, her story, and her power to heal.

This episode isn't about rejecting medicine or claiming there's only one right way to heal. It's about what becomes possible when we listen to the body, tend to the nervous system, and ask what pain might be communicating beneath the surface.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why Winsome felt relief when she was diagnosed with endometriosis – and what that reveals about how we validate women's pain
• What happened in her first appointment at Vera – and why the experience felt completely different from any healthcare she'd received before
• The first time Winsome actually felt her pelvic floor – and why it was both painful and empowering
• How Winsome learned to listen to pain as communication rather than seeing it as "my pain" that would never leave
• The heroine's journey: why you have to be ready for this work, and what keeps her committed even when it's hard
• What practitioners need to know about creating truly trauma-informed, holistic care from start to finish

For women navigating pelvic pain:

If Winsome's story resonates, you might be ready to explore a different approach to healing – one that treats the whole woman, not just the symptoms.

Our Heal Your Pelvic Pain program is a comprehensive 10-week online course led by Dr Peta Wright, Dr Thea Bowler, and Paula Hindle. It's an experiential, embodied approach that helps you understand your nervous system, reconnect with your body, and reclaim your power.

Learn more about Heal Your Pelvic Pain here.

For practitioners:

If you're craving a more grounded, nervous-system-led approach to pelvic pain care – one that supports your patients without burning you out – join us for Transformational Medicine: Alchemising Pain into Power.

This isn't just about learning new techniques. It's about your own embodiment, regulation, and transformation – because you can't hold space for healing if you're disconnected from your own body.

Two pathways available in 2026:

• 4-day in-person immersive retreat (17–20 April 2026)
• 12-week online program (starts 4 May 2026)

Explore the Practitioner Program here. 

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For more information about us, visit VeraWellness.com.au. 

We’d love to continue the conversation with you on Instagram @verawellness.com.au.

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

Please note: Due to technical recording issues, the audio quality varies in parts of this episode but we felt Cara's story was too important not to share. 

In this deeply moving episode, Cara shares her powerful story of living with chronic pelvic pain – and the transformation that came when someone finally listened.

For years, Cara cycled through emergency departments, scans, procedures and specialists, only to be told "there's nothing wrong" despite debilitating pain. 

The medical system left her feeling gaslit, hopeless, and deeply disconnected from her own body. She hated her body. She couldn't look in the mirror. And she believed no one would ever be able to help her.

Then everything changed.

In this honest conversation with Dr Peta Wright and Paula Hindle, Cara reflects on the turning point in her healing – and the practices that helped her reclaim safety, agency, and even love for her body.

In this episode:

• How years of medical dismissal and "normal" test results deepened Cara's pain and eroded her trust in her own body
• The moment someone finally asked about her life story – and why that question changed everything
• The embodied practices that supported Cara's nervous system regulation, from vulva gazing to yoga and meditation
• How Cara learned to choose her own tools in moments of pain rather than returning to emergency
• The beauty Cara now sees in her body, her cycle, and her life – and her message of hope for others still in the darkness

This episode is for you if:

You're living with pelvic pain and feeling alone, unheard, or stuck in cycles of medical appointments that aren't helping. 

Or if you're a practitioner who wants to understand what truly supports women on their healing journey – beyond protocols and prescriptions.

Cara's story is a testament to the power of being believed and listened to, the importance of addressing the whole person, and the courage it takes to do the deeper work of healing.

Trigger note: This episode includes discussion of medical trauma, pelvic pain, mental health challenges, and past trauma. Please listen with care.

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Find out more about our Heal Your Pelvic Pain online program here: https://courses.verawellness.com.au/heal-your-pelvic-pain.

If you're a practitioner, you can find out more and register for our upcoming Transformational Medicine Program and Retreat here:  https://www.verawellness.com.au/practitioner-program-intensive.

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

What if the disconnection you feel from your body isn't because something's wrong with you – but because you've forgotten you're divine?

In this episode, we explore the power of recognising the goddess within – not as a spiritual concept you have to strive for, but as the truth of what you already are.

We talk about why goddess energy has been suppressed, shamed, and severed from our collective consciousness – and what happens when we reclaim it. This isn't about rejecting the masculine or declaring one better than the other. It's about remembering that the feminine divine deserves reverence, and that every woman is a living expression of the goddess in all her forms.

If you've ever felt shame about your body, your cycle, your darkness, or your changing form – this conversation is an invitation to see yourself differently.

In this episode, we explore:

• The Triple Goddess: maiden, mother, and crone – and why we fear the wild woman energy of the luteal phase and menopause
• Why we're culturally trained to say "God" but feel awkward saying "Goddess" – and what that reveals about patriarchy and disconnection
• Why society celebrates only the masculine aspects of women (productivity, sameness, control) and pathologises the feminine (cyclical nature, rest, darkness, rage)
• Goddess archetypes like Kali, Saraswati, and Aphrodite – and how they teach us to embrace every facet of ourselves
• The menstrual cycle as a sacred mirror of the moon's phases – and why we shame the fullness but revere it in nature
• How women have been severed from their own sexuality – and whether we even know what true feminine sexuality is beyond the male gaze
• The power of adorning yourself, dressing as a goddess, and worshipping your own temple

Your goddess practice:

Dress as a goddess every day for 40 days. Not for anyone else – for you. Adorn yourself. Notice what shifts.

Tag us on Instagram @verawellness.com.au in your goddess pictures – we'd love to see you reclaim your divinity.

Resources mentioned:

📚 The Other Goddess by Joanna Kujawa – exploring feminine divinity and sexuality 

📚 Mary Magdalene books by Meggan Watterson – feminist theology and the sacred feminine 

📚 Sharon Blackie's books – fables, archetypes, and goddess stories 

🃏 Goddess oracle cards by various authors

Upcoming event:

Join us for a special goddess gathering with Dr Joanna Kujawa on Friday, 13 March 2026 at Vera Wellness.

🎟️ Get your tickets here and dress like a goddess. 🌿

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

A quick note: We recorded this at our practitioner event, so we're talking clinician-to-clinician in parts. But if you're navigating pelvic pain yourself, you might find it really validating to hear how we think about symptoms, nervous system states, and what actually drives lasting change.

If you're a practitioner working with pelvic pain, you've probably felt the pressure to fix, the complexity of trauma and chronic symptoms, and the frustration of treatments that don't create lasting change.

In this episode, we share the foundations of the Vera Wellness approach to pelvic pain – an evidence-informed, nervous-system-led framework that shifts care away from symptom whack-a-mole and toward genuine transformation.

Recorded live at our online practitioner event on 30 October, this conversation includes practical tools, a powerful case study, and a clear reframe that changes everything: pain isn't the problem to eliminate – it's information. 

And the nervous system is the foundation of both patient outcomes and practitioner sustainability.

If you're craving a more grounded, embodied approach to pelvic pain care – one that supports your patients without burning you out – this episode is for you.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why the nervous system is the foundation of pelvic pain care (and clinician wellbeing)
• A real patient case study – and what changed when care shifted from "fixing" to listening
• The Vera philosophy: no one is broken, and no one needs to be fixed
• Pain as information – and what happens when we replace fear with curiosity
• Polyvagal theory: nervous system states and what they look like in the consult room
• The "alarm vs fire" reframe: why conventional care often tries to silence symptoms while the deeper drivers remain
• Catastrophising, overprotection and central sensitisation – and why these matter clinically
• Co-regulation: how your tone, pace and presence shape patient safety and outcomes
• Guided regulation practices you can use immediately (including pelvic and self-compassion-based tools)
• Why paradigm-shifting care requires paradigm-shifting ways of working

For practitioners:

If today's conversation resonates, you may be feeling the same shift we're seeing across women's health – a desire for care that is more embodied, integrative and nervous-system-led.

In 2026, Dr Peta Wright, Dr Thea Bowler and holistic physiotherapist Paula Hindle are hosting Transformational Medicine: Alchemising Pain into Power with two pathways:

• 4-day in-person immersive retreat (17–20 April 2026)
• 12-week online program (starts 4 May 2026)

Explore the program here: https://www.verawellness.com.au/practitioner-program-intensive

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For more information about us, visit VeraWellness.com.au. 

We’d love to continue the conversation with you on Instagram @verawellness.com.au

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

Today’s conversation is a little different.

Dr Thea and Vera physiotherapist Paula Hindle take you inside the sauna at the end of a long clinic day – a place where their most honest reflections tend to unfold.

This episode opens a deeper look at what it really means to hold space for suffering in women’s health. 

Not with a rush to fix, but from a grounded, embodied place where practitioners learn to regulate their own nervous systems while sitting alongside their patients’ pain.

Paula and Thea explore the subtle but profound shift that happens when clinicians start listening with curiosity.

This is a conversation about attunement, presence and the reality that true transformation rarely begins with a medical intervention – it begins with being witnessed.

If you’re a practitioner who feels called toward a more heart-centred, embodied, nervous-system-led approach to pelvic pain, this episode is for you.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The art of sitting with discomfort – what happens in us as clinicians when we witness pain without immediately jumping to solutions.
• A powerful patient story and how healing unfolded when the focus shifted from pathology to nervous system understanding.
• Attunement in practice – how Paula recognised dysregulation the moment the patient walked in, and why she abandoned the “plan” to create space for grief, safety and connection.
• Letting the patient guide the process – the difference between algorithmic care and compassionate, responsive care in pelvic pain.
• Why clinicians must be regulated first – the capacity to hold another’s story is directly linked to the state of our own nervous systems.

The truth is, real healing often begins long before hands-on treatment.

It begins in the pause – the moment we sit with discomfort, listen deeply, and allow a patient’s story to unfold without rushing toward certainty or control.

When practitioners regulate themselves, the whole room changes.

Safety expands. Insight emerges.

And the patient’s own wisdom becomes a central part of the therapeutic process.

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For practitioners: Transformational Medicine – Alchemising Pain into Power 

If today’s conversation resonates, you may be feeling the same shift we’re seeing across women’s health – a desire for more embodied, integrative, nervous-system-based care.

In April 2026, Dr Peta Wright, Dr Thea Bowler and Paula Hindle will be hosting a 4-day immersive retreat and practitioner program designed to help clinicians:

• Understand their own nervous system
• Experience regulation and embodiment tools firsthand
• Learn how to attune to complexity, trauma, and pain in the clinical room
• Develop a more grounded, compassionate and effective approach to pelvic pain

You can find all the details here: https://www.verawellness.com.au/practitioner-program-intensive. 

Early bird pricing ends on 31 December 2025 and payment plans are available.

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For more information about us, visit VeraWellness.com.au. 

We’d love to continue the conversation with you on Instagram @verawellness.com.au

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

After a long pause, Women of the Well is back.

In this conversation, Dr Peta, Dr Thea and Sam sit together in a very real season of life transition – talking about menopause, ageing, endings and the one thing most of us are trying to avoid thinking about: death.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Sam’s real-time experience of perimenopause – still cycling at 51, noticing stronger bleeds, night waking and hot flushes that arrive like a clear “message” from her body.
• Listening instead of resisting – how tuning into symptoms (rather than fighting them) has helped Sam adjust her training, eating and lifestyle in ways that feel right for her.
• Why menopause isn’t just decline – the cultural story that says menopause “takes everything away” versus the reality of greater freedom, time, clarity and physical strength many women experience in midlife.
• Anxiety, mood shifts and the luteal phase – Peta and Thea share candidly about premenstrual anxiety, irritability and “existential dread”, and how naming these patterns with family helps.
• Ageing, fear and the medicalisation of menopause – a critical look at the booming “menopause industry”, the framing of oestrogen deficiency as a disease, and the idea that all women should be on hormones forever.
• Death as the unspoken backdrop – how our fear of mortality shows up in the obsession with trying to keep bodies the same, and why accepting change can soften this fear.
• Suffering, growth and feeling it all – the difference between caring for our bodies and micromanaging them, and why discomfort can be a portal to meaning and maturation rather than something to eliminate at all costs.
• From attraction to resource – shifting from needing to be sexually “attractive” to being valued for presence, wisdom, skills and contribution as we age.
• Competing, comparing and complaining – how these patterns keep us stuck in misery about our changing bodies, and what opens up when we practise acceptance instead.
• Soul, spirit and the unchanging self – returning to the part of us that doesn’t age, even as our bodies inevitably do.

A reflective invitation as you listen to this episode:

• Where are you feeling pain, discomfort or resistance right now?
• If you treated those sensations as messages rather than problems to fix, what might they be asking of you?
• How could you allow what is happening – rather than trying to control or outrun it – and see what unfolds next?

Resources mentioned:

• “The Thunder, Perfect Mind” – an ancient poem from the Nag Hammadi / Dead Sea Scrolls collection, often read as a voice of the divine feminine. 

Stay connected – the conversation doesn’t end here.

If this episode brought up reflections, questions or stories of your own menopause experience, the Women of the Well team would love to hear from you. Share your thoughts or topic requests for future episodes via email to [email protected] and let us know:

What are you noticing in your own season of change – and what might your body be trying to tell you?

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

We didn’t plan for this to happen… but when we sat down to talk, something shifted.

This week's episode is not a conversation about a particular health topic or a deep dive into hormones or cycles…

It’s an honest reflection on where we’re at, and an invitation to pause.

After more than 30 episodes, we’ve arrived at a natural winter – a moment to slow down, reassess, and honour the cycle of this podcast project.

We didn’t plan this in advance.

But when we sat down to record and felt our energy shift, we realised it was time to listen to our bodies and our inner knowing, just as we always invite you to do.

This may not be a forever goodbye… but it is a “pause for now.”

🎙️ In this final episode for now, we reflect on:

🌿 Why it’s okay to rest, and how we can honour the natural seasons and cycles of life

🌿 The truth behind why we started this podcast (and what we never wanted it to become)

🌿 How constantly striving to optimise our health can become another form of self-judgement

🌿 Why letting go, embracing stillness, and trusting our own inner knowing is the most powerful healing we can do

Whether this is a short pause or a more permanent ending, we’re so grateful you’ve been with us.

The full library of episodes will remain available, so you can return to them whenever you need support, insight, or a gentle reminder to come back to yourself.

💬 If this podcast has impacted you, we’d honestly love to hear from you. Send us a message on Instagram @verawellness.com.au or email [email protected].

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for listening.

And thank you for honouring your own rhythms, too.

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Additional resources to support you:

🧘‍♀️ Heal Your Pelvic Pain – Our live online program delivered by leading women's health experts to help you alchemise your pain, reconnect with your body, and reclaim your life.

🌕 Unlocking the Power of Your Cycle – a self-paced course to help you understand and work with the phases of your cycle for more vitality and clarity.

📖 Healing Pelvic Pain by Dr Peta Wright – A comprehensive guide on managing pelvic pain.

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

Want to ask a question or suggest a topic? Send us a text here

This week, we’re continuing the powerful conversation we started in Episode 32 about victim consciousness – and how it shows up in our lives in ways we might not expect.

But this time, we go even deeper.

Dr Peta and Sam explore the unconscious patterns that keep us stuck – from our beliefs about who we are to the stories we tell ourselves (and others) about our pain.

Together, they unpack:

🌿 Why victim, rescuer and perpetrator roles always co-exist – and how we can move beyond this triangle

🌿 The subtle ways women are taught to bond over suffering (and what to do instead)

🌿 How shame, superiority and saviour-complex behaviour keep us disempowered

🌿 Why our language matters (and how to stop casting spells like “I have to…”)

🌿 How our beliefs about our body, our past, and our identity shape our suffering

This episode isn’t about blame or denial – it’s an invitation to start recognising your own patterns and beliefs, and gently shifting them so you can experience more joy, peace, and presence.

🎧 Listen now to part 2 of this raw, transformative series – and let us know how it lands for you.

Resources mentioned:

• The Wheel of Consent by Betty Martin
• The Four Cs Practice (Don’t complain, compete, compare or criticise – from yogic tradition)
• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
• Teachings from Caroline Myss and Byron Katie

Questions and topics:

Do you have a question about this episode or a topic you want us to explore on the podcast? Send us a text (link above episode description), a message on Instagram or email us at [email protected].

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For more information about us, visit VeraWellness.com.au. 

We’d love to continue the conversation with you on Instagram @verawellness.com.au

​​To stay in the loop with every new episode of Women of the Well and gain first access to special resources and events – join our Podcast VIP Club here.

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DISCLAIMER:

This podcast is for information and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.