What if changing your life was as simple as changing your habits?

In this powerful episode, host Holly McNeill sits down with Dr. Tamsin Astor—Chief Habit Scientist, neuroscientist, yoga teacher, and Ayurvedic coach—to explore how Eastern wisdom and Western neuroscience converge to help us take back control of our minds, our behaviors, and ultimately, our lives. Tamsin shares her journey from academic burnout and caregiving exhaustion to personal transformation through intentional daily rituals.

Key takeaways include:

• Why habits—not willpower—shape your destiny
• How to create space between thought and reaction
• Tools to rewire your brain through repetition and mindfulness
• The power of community in building lasting change

If you're tired of feeling stuck and ready to reclaim your freedom, this conversation is the reset you’ve been waiting for.

Follow Dr. Tamsin Astor:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamsin-astor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tamsinastor/?hl=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTHI3qRvXap3I8HjAzPnfjw

Follow Holly McNeill:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollymcneill/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollymcneillofficial/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hollymcneillofficial/

Step into a space where the noise quiets and presence takes center stage. 🎙️ Pay Attention is a weekly podcast (Wednesdays at 10am PST / 1pm EST) hosted by Holly McNeill — an architect turned teacher and spiritual guide who has spent decades weaving together neuroscience 🧠, psychology 📚, Buddhism 🪷, and spirituality 🌌.

This is more than a podcast — it’s a guide to living with awareness, compassion, and freedom. Inside each episode, you’ll discover:
✨ Practical insights into how the mind works
✨ Tools to break free from patterns that keep you stuck
✨ Practices to create space for real transformation
✨ Deep wisdom from special guests and kindred spirits

Holly’s journey — balancing career, single motherhood, and inner exploration — has led her to the heart of what it means to live with clarity and purpose. Now she’s sharing that wisdom with you.

🌟 Join us each week to slow down, breathe deeply, and uncover what lies beyond the chaos. It’s time to truly Pay Attention. 🌿

What if the key to solving global poverty starts with truly listening?

In this powerful episode, Holly McNeill sits down with Gretchen Villegas, a global development executive and “social impact architect,” whose journey began as a Peace Corps volunteer in South America and led to decades of transformative work across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Gretchen shares what it means to build trust, empower communities, and design solutions that actually work—by paying attention to what people truly need.

Key takeaways:

• Why empowerment begins with listening, not assuming
• The overlooked power of community in the world’s poorest regions
• The current state of global aid and why new approaches are urgently needed
• How corporations, nonprofits, and individuals can meaningfully raise impact
• What each of us can do—through intention, choices, and small actions—to be catalysts for change

This conversation is a heartfelt reminder that we’re all connected—and that hope, compassion, and intention can lead us toward a more equitable world.

Connect with Gretchen:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretchenvillegassocialimpact/

Connect with host Holly McNeill:
Instagram: @hollymcneillofficial
Website: https://www.hollymcneill.com

What if your chronic pain isn’t just physical — but deeply connected to your thoughts, emotions, and energy field?

In this episode of Pay Attention, Holly McNeill sits down with Debora Wayne, founder of the International Chronic Pain Institute® and creator of the revolutionary HighSpeed Healing® method. After a spiritual awakening on her closet floor at 28, Debora began a journey that led her to heal herself and eventually thousands of others struggling with chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and other “mystery symptoms.”

Together, they explore:

• How unprocessed emotions, buried beliefs, and stuck energy can cause physical pain
• The science and spirituality of the biofield and quantum healing
• The connection between thoughts, illness, and the body’s messages
• Why the body does keep the score — but can also return you to peace and vitality
• How to break the cycle of pain without pills, wine, or constant distraction

🌟 Stay tuned until the end for a powerful, guided HighSpeed Healing® session with Debora that you can experience right from home. Let this episode be your invitation to finally feel like yourself again.

📌 Free Resources from Debora Wayne
🎁 Healing Bundle: https://www.internationalcpi.com/gift
📷 Instagram: @deborawayne1
🌐 Website: https://internationalcpi.com

📌 Connect with Host Holly McNeill
📷 Instagram: @hollymcneillofficial
🌐 Website: https://www.hollymcneill.com

What if recurring dreams held the key to understanding who we truly are—and what we’re here to do?

In this follow-up to their first conversation on dream tending, host Holly McNeill invites dream tender and therapist Valerie Johns back for a raw and revealing live dream tending session.

If you’ve ever wondered who Holly really is beyond the mic, this is the episode. It’s raw, unpolished, and deeply personal—and through the process, Holly learns more than she expected.

Together, Holly and Valerie explore:

• How live dream tending can reveal hidden wisdom within recurring dreams
• Why dreams often uncover unresolved identity, self-worth, and the longing for mentorship
• How the ego loses control in the dream state—and why that matters for personal growth
• How some dreams come from the collective unconscious, calling us to healing and action in the world

This isn’t just a conversation—it’s a vulnerable, transformative experience that invites listeners to tend their own inner landscapes with curiosity and care.

✨ Haven’t listened to Part 1 yet? Go back and start there for Valerie’s full introduction and insights into dream tending.

Connect with Valerie Johns:
🌐 valeriejohns.com
📷 Ihttps://www.instagram.com/valeriejohnsla/
🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-johns-66155216/

What if your dreams weren’t random at all—but meaningful messages from the deepest parts of you?

In this two-part episode of Pay Attention, Holly McNeill sits down with dream tender and therapist Valerie Johns for a profound, soul-stirring conversation about how your dreams can support emotional healing, personal clarity, and spiritual growth.

Unlike traditional dream interpretation, Valerie’s approach to dream tending invites you to form a relationship with your dreams—to listen, explore, and allow the subconscious to speak. She explains how some dreams come not just from the personal psyche, but from the collective unconscious, offering insight into what the world is asking of us and how we’re being called to act.

Together, Holly and Valerie explore:

• Why we forget our dreams (and how to start remembering them)
• How to engage with dream images as living, healing messengers
• Why recurring dreams and nightmares are actually calls for attention, not fear
• How the ego has no control in the dream world—and doesn’t like it
• What skeptics often miss about the transformative power of dreaming

Whether you’re spiritually curious or cautiously skeptical, this episode invites you to soften, look within, and start listening to what your dreams are trying to tell you—about your healing, your purpose, and your place in a world that needs your full presence.

✨ Stay tuned for Part 2 of this powerful conversation, featuring Valerie’s live dream tending session with Holly you won’t want to miss.

Connect with Valerie Johns:
🌐 valeriejohns.com
📷 Ihttps://www.instagram.com/valeriejohnsla/
🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-johns-66155216/

In this episode of Pay Attention, host Holly McNeill chats with Jay Moon Fields, a leading educator, coach and author. She stops by the show to discuss her Hey Wait framework, which teaches people how to honor their emotional experiences and share them authentically, helping them to break free from the cycles of overthinking, people-pleasing, and self-doubt.

Following last week’s conversation about trauma and body-based healing, this episode of Pay Attention moves us into the next essential layer: reclaiming pleasure.

Holly sits down with Dr. Laurie Mintz—licensed psychologist, sex educator, and author of Becoming Cliterate—to explore how cultural conditioning, religious messaging, and gender norms have created a world where women’s pleasure is minimized, misunderstood, or steeped in shame.

With honesty and clarity, Dr. Mintz breaks down the “orgasm gap,” the taboo around masturbation, and why so many women feel disconnected from their own bodies. She also shares practical, science-backed tools for cultivating sexual confidence and embracing self-touch as a powerful form of self-care.

This episode is both liberating and grounding—a reminder that pleasure isn’t indulgent, it’s essential. And as Dr. Mintz powerfully states: pleasure is your human right.

Includes candid personal stories, myth-busting insight, and empowering reflections on what it means to truly know and honor your body.

Connect with Dr. Laurie:

https://www.drlauriemintz.com/

https://www.instagram.com/drlauriemintz/

https://www.facebook.com/DrLaurieMintz/

Becoming Cliterate Book

A Tired Woman’s Guide To Passionate Sex

More about Dr. Laurie:

Dr. Laurie Mintz is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Florida teaching Human Sexuality to hundreds of undergraduates yearly. She has published over 60 scholarly works and authored two popular press books: Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters and How to Get It and A Tired Woman’s Guide to Passionate Sex. Mintz is a licensed psychologist and certified sex therapist in private practice. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, indicating her work has had a positive national influence on the field of psychology. In 2023, she was named one of Forbes “50 over 50” women innovators.