08/26/2026
Apparently my 75 open tabs needed another tab this morning. 😂
This one sent me down a rabbit hole. 🧠
Science Wednesday 🧠
I've been awake since 4 and at work since 5:20 this morning.
For the record, this is NOT normal for me. 😂 I'm usually here around 7 for my first patient at 8.
But for the last few weeks, there has been so much happening behind the scenes that I've been giving myself an extra couple of hours in the morning just to work through the things that need to get done.
Some things I can delegate.
And some things are simply mine to do.
So naturally, while doing ALL THE THINGS, my brain decided:
You know what we should also do? LEARN SOMETHING.
😂
Enter the Mel Robbins podcast with Dr. Sasha Hamdani talking about ADHD.
Coffee beside me. Podcast in my ears. Work in front of me. Approximately 75 tabs already open in my brain.
And as I'm listening...
Well, s**t.
So much of this has been me forever.
The inattentive pieces. The hyperactive pieces. The need to be doing something while I'm doing something else. The ideas. The jumping from one thing to another because somehow they're ALL connected in my brain.
I've been using a metaphor a lot lately that suddenly feels even more relevant.
I'm learning to stand outside the fire and let myself be warmed by it instead of being consumed by it.
Because my instinct is to jump in.
An idea? I'm in.
A problem that needs solving? I'm in.
Something that needs doing? I'll do it.
Something I want to learn more about?
Apparently I'll listen to a podcast about it at 5:30 in the morning WHILE doing everything else. 😂
I don't struggle to find the fire.
I struggle to stay out of it.
And right now I'm intentionally practicing holding my ground outside of it.
I can see everything that's happening. I can feel the urgency. I can recognize all the things I could be doing.
But I don't have to step into every flame.
I can feel the warmth and choose where my energy actually needs to go.
And naturally, while contemplating all of THAT, my fascia-loving brain opened tab #76:
What about the body?
Here's where the science gets really interesting.
There is emerging research looking at ADHD and interoception — our ability to notice and interpret signals coming from inside our bodies.
And fascia?
We now understand that fascia is far more than passive wrapping around our muscles.
Fascia is richly innervated sensory tissue.
It's involved in proprioception, nociception and the continuous stream of sensory information contributing to how we experience our bodies.
Which got me thinking about movement.
The bouncing leg.
Constantly changing positions.
Stretching.
Pacing while talking on the phone.
Getting up.
Needing to MOVE while thinking.
What if we didn't automatically see all of that movement as something that needs to be stopped?
Movement creates sensory information.
Could some of that movement be the body looking for input?
Where am I?
What am I feeling?
What do I need?
And this is where the therapist in me gets REALLY curious.
In my work, I think a lot about restriction — but I don't think of us as simply physical bodies.
We are whole beings, constantly taking in and responding to information — physical, sensory, emotional, mental and environmental.
Our experiences shape us.
We adapt.
We protect.
We compensate.
And sometimes those adaptations become patterns we continue to carry long after the circumstances around them have changed.
So when I talk about creating more freedom in the body, I'm not simply talking about making a tight piece of tissue less tight.
My clinical belief is that when we create an opportunity for restrictions to soften and patterns to change, we create more opportunity for flow — of movement, fluid, sensation and information throughout the whole system.
And sometimes what emerges isn't purely physical.
There can be movement.
Emotion.
Awareness.
A protective response.
A feeling we recognize immediately — or something we don't understand at all.
Sometimes an experience can have a much bigger story attached to it than the place where we happen to feel it in our body.
And perhaps, as some of that noise or restriction changes, we create an opportunity to hear ourselves more clearly.
Not necessarily to become still.
That's an important distinction.
The goal isn't to make a moving body stop moving.
Maybe it's to create enough space that we can begin to notice:
Why does my body want to move?
What am I sensing?
What happens when I follow it?
What happens when I don't immediately try to stop, correct or explain it?
That brings me right back to interoception.
Because maybe this isn't simply about having more freedom in our bodies.
Maybe it's about developing a deeper awareness of ourselves within them.
Can I notice the sensation before I automatically respond to it?
Can I recognize tension, pressure, pulling, restlessness, hunger, fatigue, emotion or the need to move?
Can I begin to distinguish one signal from another?
Can I become more aware of what my body is communicating rather than simply experiencing it as noise?
That is the piece that fascinates me.
And maybe the goal isn't stillness at all.
Maybe it's awareness.
Maybe it's having enough awareness to feel the impulse, understand something about what we're experiencing, and then have a little more choice in what we do next.
Now — science hat firmly ON — I want to be really clear about where the evidence ends and my curiosity begins.
There isn't research showing that fascial restrictions cause ADHD.
There isn't research showing that myofascial release treats ADHD.
And that's not what I'm suggesting.
But there is fascinating research happening around fascia as sensory tissue, interoception, proprioception and nervous-system regulation.
And there is emerging research exploring interoception in ADHD.
I'm fascinated by the space where those conversations might eventually meet.
Because maybe instead of always asking:
Why can't I just sit still?
Why can't I concentrate?
Why can't I shut my brain off?
I can get curious about something different:
What is my brain asking for?
What is my body asking for?
Maybe I don't need to close all 75 tabs.
Maybe I need to better understand why I opened them — and learn which ones actually deserve my attention.
Or, in my current language:
Which fires do I actually need to step into?
Because I don't need to extinguish the fire.
I can stand outside it.
I can feel its warmth.
And I can choose when to step in.
Although, for the record, closing approximately 47 tabs would probably still be helpful. 😂
Now back to the work I came in at 5:20 to actually accomplish...
while tab #76 remains firmly open. 🧠