#174 - Nervous System Regulation, AI & Working With Your Cycle with Orla O'Flaherty

Orla O'Flaherty is back! This time we're getting personal — nervous system regulation, hormones, and how to manage stress while you're building a business (because let's be honest, that stress is real).

We talk about why slow, steady reputation-building beats chasing follower counts, why networking still matters, and where AI genuinely helps with the practical stuff — but where it can also keep you stuck in your head and make loneliness worse if you start using it as your therapist.

Orla walks through her somatic tools — "anchors," full-body yes/no signals, and why feeling and releasing uncomfortable emotions (anger especially) beats bypassing them every time. We get into the link between anxiety and control/safety, why awareness has to come with embodiment, and then into the cycle stuff — the cortisol-progesterone relationship, how blood sugar regulation supports your stress levels, appetite, and workplace realities. And why compassion, not shame, is what actually changes behaviour.

Timestamps:
00:00 Podcast Intro Orla Returns
01:03 Being Searchable Slow Growth
03:24 Quality Followers Real Business
05:18 Redefining Businesswoman Mindset
06:51 AI Versus Human Connection
14:13 Anchors Stop Chasing
16:30 Manifestation Want Versus Need
20:42 Hypervigilance And Emotions
22:07 Anger Suppression Release
25:59 Anxiety Control And Safety
27:28 Childhood Wiring and Change
28:04 Awareness Before Bodywork
28:57 AI as Somatic Mirror
30:34 Spiritual Bypass and Fitness
32:42 Full Body Yes and No
34:42 Boredom and Routine Tension
36:50 Cyclical Structure for Women
39:28 Cycle Myths and Hormone Phases
45:10 Cortisol Blood Sugar Link
49:45 Food Basics Under Stress
52:46 Support Without Shame
55:43 Dismantling Inner Shame

Links & Resources:

• Instagram - Orla O’Flaherty here
• Apply for LeadHer business mentorship here
• Apply for NourisHer health & fitness coaching here
• Subscribe to my weekly coaching newsletter here
• Access my FREE calorie calculator here
• Connect with me on Instagram here
• Connect with me on Facebook here
• Connect with me on TikTok here
• Connect with me on YouTube here

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