Feel Better

What if the heaviness you're carrying isn't a personality trait — it's your nervous system asking for something different?
Clinical hypnotherapist Bec Marshall joins Charlotte to unpack hypnotherapy, the fawn response, functional freeze, and how high-functioning women can start feeling safe in their own bodies again.
If you've been pushing through, performing capable, and quietly wondering why everything feels heavier than it should, this episode of The Feel Better Podcast is for you.
Bec is a clinical hypnotherapist, trainer and nervous system educator with a rare gift for making the science of the subconscious mind feel both fascinating and genuinely useful. Together we explore hypnotherapy, nervous system regulation, and why understanding your stress response is the foundation for feeling better in your body, your motherhood, and your everyday life.
Inside this episode:
What hypnotherapy actually is (and what it isn't)
The conscious vs subconscious mind, and why willpower keeps failing you
Fight, flight, freeze and fawn — and why so many women are stuck in fawn
Functional freeze: how high-functioning women run on empty
Why feeling safe in your body is the foundation for nervous system regulation
How birth, motherhood and grief reshaped Bec's own nervous system
A simple three-step framework for moving out of stress: interrupt → anchor → practice
Why food is a signal of safety to your nervous system, not a moral test
The link between long-held emotion, trauma and chronic pain
Plus a bonus self-hypnosis practice you can come back to
If you've been searching for a gentler, more grounded approach to anxiety, burnout, perfectionism, and the quiet weight of high-functioning life — this is the conversation you didn't know you needed.
Find Bec Marshall at behypnotherapy.co.nz, and more support, tools and ways to work with me at charlottecummings.nz.
The Feel Better Podcast helps high-functioning women carry things differently. New episodes weekly.

If you’ve been wondering how to talk to your kids about war… you’re not alone.
With global conflict dominating headlines, many parents are finding themselves having conversations they never expected to have. Conversations about safety, fear, and what’s happening in the world.
In this episode, I walk you through how to talk to children about war in a way that keeps them feeling safe, informed, and emotionally steady.
You’ll learn:
What to say (and what not to say) to kids about war
How to manage your child’s fear and anxiety
Why “safety first” is the most important starting point
How to explain complex global conflict in age-appropriate ways
How to handle conversations differently for younger kids vs tweens and teens
What to do if your child has already heard things at school or online
How to set boundaries around news, social media, and exposure
How to use this moment to build resilience, emotional literacy, and critical thinking.

This isn’t about having the “perfect” conversation.

It’s about being the calm, steady place your child comes back to when the world feels uncertain.

If you’re a parent trying to support your child through scary or confusing world events, this episode will give you practical tools, language, and confidence to do that well.

🎧 Listen now and feel more equipped to have one of the hardest parenting conversations of our time.

You want to look after yourself better…
but you hate routine.
So every time you try to “get your life together,” it lasts about five days. Then you’re back to square one, telling yourself you’re the problem.
You’re not.
In this Ask Charlotte episode, I’m breaking down why the way we talk about consistency is actually setting a lot of people up to fail and what to do instead.
We cover:
Why you don’t need strict routines to take care of yourself
The difference between consistency and repetition
How to use “bursts,” themes, and menus instead of rigid habits
The real reason you’re struggling to start (and how to fix it)
How to stop comparing yourself to the 5am routine crowd
The identity shift that changes everything: “I’m someone who shows up for myself”
If you’ve ever thought
“I’m just not disciplined enough”
this episode will rewire that completely.
You don’t need to become a routine person.
You need a way of showing up that actually works for you.
Subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next.

You don’t have a relationship problem.
You have a pattern problem.
And until you see it, nothing changes.
In this Ask Charlotte episode, we’re unpacking the uncomfortable truth most couples avoid:
it’s not just them… and it’s not just you either.
It’s the dynamic you’re both creating.
If you’ve been:
Stuck in the same argument on repeat
Noticing everything your partner does wrong
Wondering how to take responsibility without blaming yourself
Trying to “fix” the relationship by analysing them
This episode will shift how you see everything.
We cover:
Why blame keeps you stuck (and shame isn’t the answer either)
The “relationship dance” that’s quietly running your interactions
How your past relationships reveal your current patterns
The hidden emotional triggers driving conflict
The one question that changes everything:
Is my behaviour moving us closer… or further away?
Because here’s the truth:
You don’t fix a relationship by diagnosing your partner.
You fix it by understanding what you’re co-creating together.
This is about clarity, not self-blame.
Ownership, not over-functioning.
And finally getting out of the loop you’ve been stuck in.
If you’ve ever thought:
“I know I’m part of this… but I don’t know how to change it”
this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen now and start breaking the pattern.
And if your relationship needs a reset but therapy feels like too much, my Give Me 10 Minutes programme walks you through exactly what to do, week by week.

You’re playing small. And if you’re honest… you already know it.

In this episode of The Feel Better Podcast, I sit down with Georgia from George Design to talk about what it really takes to stop holding yourself back and start backing yourself.

Georgia is the founder of George Design, working with businesses to clarify their brand, grow their visibility, and make smarter, braver decisions. You can find her at georgedesign.co.nz.

This is a conversation for the woman who:
​knows she’s capable of more
​has ideas she’s not acting on
​keeps waiting until she feels “ready”

We get into:
​why women underestimate themselves by years
​how to make bold decisions without certainty
​the mental load of trying to do everything “right”
​building a business alongside motherhood
​handling judgment, criticism, and other people’s opinions
​what actually moves the needle when growing something

And the shift that changes everything:
👉 stop asking what if it fails?👉 start asking what if it works?

Because staying where you are? That’s a decision too.

If you’ve been hesitating, overthinking, or quietly playing smaller than you know you could… this episode will call you forward.