Lemons and Pineapples
On the Lemons and Pineapples podcast, no-nonsense life coach & entrepreneur Emma O'Brien shares inspirational stories, tried & tested tools and amazing guest interviews to guide you on your self development journey.Learn how to shift your mindset and change your life for the better with fun and entertaining weekly episodes that will help you live on the lighter side of life.
S5 Episode 22: You’ve Had the Breakthrough. So Why Has Nothing Changed?
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You Can’t Heal Your Way Out of a Life You Refuse to Change
Lemons & Pineapples | Season 5, Episode 22
You’ve had the breakthrough. You understand the pattern. You’ve filled a journal with insights. So why does your life still look much the same?
In this episode, I’m talking about something that really irks me in the healing and spiritual space: the lack of integration. We can move from practitioner to practitioner, collecting powerful experiences and hoping the next one will finally change everything. But what happens...
S5 Episode 21: How Unresolved Grief Leaves You Feeling Unseen
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When Family Grief Leaves You Feeling Never Enough
Lemons and Pineapples | Season 5, Episode 21
Did you grow up with a parent who was physically present but emotionally miles away? Perhaps you had everything you needed materially, yet still felt unseen, unloved or unable to get their attention, no matter how hard you tried.
As children, we often make a parent’s absence mean something about us. We decide we’re not interesting enough, lovable enough or good enough and spend years trying to prove otherwise.
In t...
S5 Episode 20: What Your Pet Wants You To Know
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What Your Pets Want You to Know
Lemons & Pineapples | Season 5, Episode 20
Ever wished your pet could tell you what’s bothering them? Why they’re anxious around visitors, reluctant to do something seemingly straightforward, or unsettled when things change at home?
Our pets are part of our families, and what happens in our households affects them too.
In this episode, I’m sharing my experiences of pet constellations: how I work, the themes that have come up, and how exploring the relationship between pets and their humans...
S5 Episode 19: Understanding Anxiety; When Calm Feels Dysregulating
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Why Calm Can Feel So Dysregulating
Have you ever been enjoying a perfectly lovely moment, only for your brain to interrupt with, “Don’t get too comfortable. What if something goes wrong?”
Or perhaps life is going smoothly, but instead of enjoying it, you feel guilty because someone else is having a difficult time.
In this episode, I share my own experience of finding calm surprisingly uncomfortable and noticing how, when there’s no obvious problem, my mind starts looking for a hidden one.
From life wit...
S5 Episode 18: The Healing Paradox
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The Healing Paradox: Why Letting Go of Familiar Patterns Is So Hard
Season 5, Episode 18 | Lemons and Pineapples Podcast
You want things to change. You’re tired of people-pleasing, carrying relationships and being the person who sorts everything out. So why is it so hard to do something differently?
Sometimes, familiar suffering feels safer than unfamiliar freedom.
In this episode, I explore the healing paradox: changing a painful pattern also means letting go of the roles, habits and ways of relating you’ve built around it...
S5 Episode 17: Family Constellations Explained
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Why You Keep Repeating the Same Patterns (Even When You Know Better) | Family Constellations Explained
You know you need to set a boundary, stop people pleasing or do less of the emotional heavy lifting in your relationship. You may even know exactly what you want to do differently. So why, when the moment comes, do you fall back into the same pattern?
In this episode of Lemons and Pineapples, I explore why insight doesn’t always lead to change. We’ll look at how behaviours that frustrate you...
S5 Episode 16: Existential Drift; The Danger of Never Changing
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Existential Drift: The Danger of Never Changing
If your life continued in exactly the same way it is now, where would you be three years from today?
And would you be happy with where you ended up?
In this episode of Lemons and Pineapples, I’m talking about existential drift: that uncomfortable sense that life is passing you by while you remain stuck in the same routines, relationships, work or circumstances.
You might know what you want to change. You may even have be...
S5 Episode 15: Why You Can't Stop People Pleasing - Even When You Know Better
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Why You Can’t Stop People-Pleasing — Even When You Know Better
You know you’re people-pleasing. You can sometimes catch yourself doing it in the moment. You may even have read the books, practised setting boundaries and promised yourself you’ll stop automatically saying yes.
So why do you still find yourself managing other people’s feelings, jumping in to help and putting your own needs last?
In this episode, I explore why people-pleasing isn’t simply a bad habit or a character flaw. It’s often a...
S5 Episode 14: 5 Signs You're A Generational Cycle Breaker
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5 Signs You’re a Generational Cycle Breaker
Being the person who decides, “This stops with me,” sounds powerful, and it is. But breaking patterns that have travelled through a family for generations can also be lonely, uncomfortable and incredibly hard work.
In this episode, I explore what it really means to be a generational cycle breaker: someone who has begun to question the behaviours their family considers normal and is choosing to live, relate and respond differently.
I share five signs that this might be you:<...
S5 Episode 13: Ancestral Allegiances - Are Hidden Family Loyalties Keeping You Stuck?
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Ancestral Allegiances: Are Hidden Family Loyalties Keeping You Stuck?
What if the pattern keeping you stuck isn’t simply a bad habit or personal failing, but an unconscious expression of love and loyalty to your family system?
In this episode of Lemons and Pineapples, I explore ancestral allegiances: the hidden agreements we can make as children in order to maintain connection and belonging within our families.
These unconscious loyalties can affect how much success, happiness, love and ease we allow ourselves to experience. They might sound like:
...S5 Episode 12: How Family Constellations Can Help Heal Repeating Patterns
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Have you ever found yourself repeating the same relationship patterns, struggling with the same money issues or feeling stuck despite having done all the work?
In this episode, I’m introducing you to Family Constellations—a powerful, experiential modality that helps reveal the unconscious patterns, inherited loyalties and family dynamics that may be shaping your life.
I explain how constellations work in both group and private online settings, what happens in the mysterious “knowing field,” and why simply seeing your situation from a different perspective can create such profound shifts.<...
S5 Episode 11: How To Improve Your Intuition
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What if intuition isn’t “woo-woo” at all… but actually one of the most powerful tools you have?
In this episode, I explore what intuition really is, how it works, why so many women have lost trust in it, and how you can start strengthening your own intuitive voice again.
From pattern recognition and subconscious processing to somatic signals and nervous system regulation, this episode breaks intuition down in a grounded, practical way, without stripping away the magic.
If you’ve been second-guessing yourself, overthinking everything, or outsourcin...
S5 Episode 10: Perimenopause, Hormones & Midlife Rage
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If you’re a woman over 40 and suddenly feeling more emotional, more reactive, more… done with everything, you’re not alone.
And no, it’s not just your hormones.
Yes, perimenopause brings very real hormonal shifts. Sleep gets disrupted, moods fluctuate, your energy drops. All of that is true.
But what’s often missing from the conversation is this:
Perimenopause doesn’t just change your body.
It changes your tolerance.
The things you’ve been managing, carrying, and quietly putting up with for ye...
S5 Episode 9: How Your Inner Child Is Running Your Life
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You’re not lazy.
You’re not unmotivated.
And you’re definitely not “just overthinking it.”
But if you keep finding yourself stuck in the same patterns; procrastinating, people-pleasing, staying quiet, or getting triggered by things that shouldn’t feel like a big deal…
There’s a good chance a younger part of you is running the show.
In this episode, I’m breaking down what that actually means to have your inner child running your life in a way that’s practical, grounded, and (most importantly) so...
S5 Episode 8: How To Release Energetic Cords & Reclaim Your Power
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Cut the Cord: How to Release Energetic Ties & Reclaim Your Power
If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a loop; replaying conversations, holding onto old hurt, or feeling emotionally drained by a person or situation this episode is for you.
In today’s conversation, I’m diving into the world of energetic cord cutting: what it is, why it matters, and how it can help you finally move forward when mindset work alone just isn’t shifting things.
We explore how energetic ties form through...
S5-Episode 7: Reconnecting To Yourself Through Shamanic Soul Retrieval
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In this episode of Lemons & Pineapples, I’m talking about Shamanic Soul Retrieval; one of the most requested sessions I offer, and one of the most powerful ways to reconnect to yourself when you feel lost, disconnected, or like you’re living life on autopilot.
Soul retrieval is about reclaiming the parts of you that got pushed into the background for safety — often in response to trauma (big T or small t). It’s not about “fixing” you. It’s about bringing you back into wholeness.
In this e...
S5-Episode 6: A Powerful Framework For Real, Lasting Change
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The Andean Medicine Wheel: A Powerful Map for Real Change
In this episode of Lemons & Pineapples, I’m sharing one of the most transformative frameworks I use in my own life and with my clients: the Andean Medicine Wheel.
If you’ve ever thought:
“I know this isn’t working…”“I understand why I do this… but I can’t change it.”“Why do I keep repeating the same pattern?”This episode is for you.
The Medicine Wheel offers a grounded, cyclical map for navigating change —...
S5 Epsiode 5: The Practical Power of Shamanic Journey Work
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Three years ago, if you’d asked me whether I’d ever call myself a shamanic practitioner, I would have laughed.
And yet here we are.
In this episode, I unpack what shamanism actually is (beyond feathers and smoke), what shamanic journey work involves, and why — despite the mystical language — it’s one of the most practical healing tools I use with clients.
Shamanism is not a religion. It’s not about blind belief. At its heart, it’s a cross-cultural, nature-based philosophy rooted in right relationship — with yourself, w...
S5-Episode 4: Conscious Femininity - What The World Needs Right Now
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In this episode, I’m talking about conscious femininity; why the world needs more of it right now, where the phrase comes from (Marion Woodman, via Sharon Blackie’s If Women Rose Rooted), and what it looks like in everyday life.
We explore the difference between unconscious femininity (living “from the neck up,” outsourcing self-worth, over-adapting, over-functioning) and conscious femininity (embodied self-awareness, nervous system regulation, boundaries, cyclical living, and truth-telling with kindness).
I also unpack why this isn’t about man-bashing — conscious femininity is about ...
S5-Episode 3: Why Getting Lost in Midlife Might Be the First Step to Finding Yourself
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What if feeling lost in midlife isn’t a failure… but an invitation?
In this episode, I’m exploring something I see again and again — both in my own life and in the women I work with. That moment (often in our 40s and beyond) when we wake up and quietly think:
Is this it? Is this really how I want the rest of my life to look?
Midlife has a way of stripping things back. Our hormones shift, our tolerance drops, and suddenly the roles, relationships, and choi...
S5-Episode 2: Shedding The Old - From Snake to Fire Horse
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In this episode, I explore why change so often feels uncomfortable, slow, and frustrating, especially when we’re ready for something new but life hasn’t caught up yet.
I reflect on the transition from the Year of the Snake into the Year of the Fire Horse, and why the early part of change is often about shedding old stories before momentum arrives. Using the Andean medicine wheel, I talk about serpent energy as the first stage of transformation; where we release outdated identities, beliefs, and narratives that quietly keep us stuc...
S5-Episode 1: How To Stop Over-Functioning & Reclaim your Energy
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How to Stop Over-Functioning & Reclaim Your Energy
Are you exhausted from doing everything for everyone — at home, at work, and in your relationships?
In this episode of the Lemons & Pineapples Podcast I explore over-functioning — the hidden pattern behind burnout, resentment, and chronic over-giving. You’ll learn why so many capable, high-functioning women end up carrying the emotional, mental, and practical load, and how this pattern often starts in childhood.
I unpack how over-functioning shows up in relationships, family dynamics, and the workpl...
S4-Episode 20: Rebuilding Self-Worth After Divorce with Isabelle Ulenaers
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Divorce can feel like an ending… but what if it’s actually a portal?
In this episode, Emma O’Brien is joined by Isabelle Ulenaers—psychologist, trauma specialist, and best-selling author—who supports women through the emotional aftermath of divorce using a neuroscience-informed blend of psychology, coaching tools, EFT, EMDR, and somatic integration.
Together, we explore why the hardest part often isn’t leaving the marriage… it’s everything that follows: the identity collapse, the shame and guilt, the fear of being “the villain,” and the slow realisation that you...
S4-Episode 19: 12 Questions To Make 2026 Your Best Year Yet!
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In this episode, I’m sharing the 12 powerful reflection questions I’m personally using to make sure that 2026 is not another year on repeat.
If you’ve ever reached the end of a year thinking “Nothing really changed”, despite good intentions, this episode is for you.
I talk honestly about why 2025 felt like a Groundhog Day year for me, why internal change always comes before external results, and how clarity, self-honesty, and nervous-system-led reflection are the foundations for real transformation.
✨ The 12 Questions to Reflect On for 2026
S4-Episode 18: How To Make 2026 The Year Your Life Changes
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Have you reached the end of this year and realised… nothing has really changed?
In this episode of Lemons & Pineapples, I’m speaking directly to you if you promised yourself last year would be different — and you’re now finding yourself in the same relationship, the same financial loop, the same job, or the same patterns that have followed you for years.
If 2025 is coming to a close and you’re feeling frustrated, disappointed, or quietly asking yourself “How am I still here?” — this episode is for you.
I share honest...
S4-Episode 17: How To Stop Attracting Unavailable Partners With Dr. Ray Doktor
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In this powerful and deeply honest conversation, I'm joined by clinical psychologist, relationship coach, and bestselling author Dr. Ray Doktor to explore why so many capable, self-aware women keep finding themselves drawn to emotionally unavailable men and, more importantly, how to change that pattern at the root.
Together, we unpack the hidden beliefs, childhood conditioning, attachment dynamics, and unspoken fears that keep women over-functioning, people-pleasing, and waiting for men to meet their potential rather than their reality.
This episode goes beyond surface-level dating advice and dives into...
S4-Episode 16: How To Heal Anxious Attachment & Stop Choosing Unavailable Partners with Valerie Rubin
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If you’ve ever found yourself obsessing over texts, over-giving in relationships, or feeling painfully hooked on emotionally unavailable people, this episode is going to feel like a deep exhale.
In this conversation, I’m joined by trauma-informed somatic coach and anxious attachment specialist, Valerie Rubin. We dive into what anxious attachment actually is, why it’s not a personality flaw and how healing happens at the level of the nervous system, the body, and even ancestral lines – not just in your head.
In this episode, we talk...
S4-Episode 15: Self-Worth & The Cult Of The Unavailable Man
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In this week’s episode, we are diving deep into a relationship pattern so many brilliant, capable, beautiful women find themselves stuck in: the magnetic pull toward the emotionally unavailable man.
If you’ve ever chased crumbs, waited for the 2am “u up?” text, or convinced yourself that bare-minimum effort was “just his way,” this episode is going to land for you.
I unpack why this pattern is so common — and spoiler, it’s not because you’re broken. It’s because your attachment style, childhood wiring, and self-worth have been running th...
S4-Episode 14: How Understanding Your Attachment Style Can Change The Way You Love
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In today’s episode, we’re going down a rabbit hole I’ve been exploring deeply over the past month — a trail that started with my shamanic soul-retrieval work, moved into inner child healing, and has now led me into the world of attachment styles in romantic relationships.
If relationships feel confusing, draining, or chaotic for you… this is an episode you don’t want to miss.
I’m sharing insights from the brilliant book Attached by Amir Levine & Rachel Heller (linked in the show notes). If you...
S4 - Episode 13: Healing Your Inner Child & Re-parenting Yourself
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In this episode I’m diving into one of my favourite topics: inner child healing and how re-parenting yourself can help you reconnect to your brilliant, innate, authentic self.
We explore why so many of your current triggers, perfectionism, people-pleasing and “why am I reacting like THIS?!” moments are actually being run by a much younger version of you – and how to lovingly take back the wheel.
In this episode, I talk about:
What “inner child” actually meansWhy even a “good” childhood leaves imprintsSigns your inner child...S4-Episode 12: The Witch Wound - How Collective Trauma Keeps Women Playing Small
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In this episode I dive into the Witch Wound: the ancestral, collective trauma rooted in the Burning Times that still shapes how women show up today. If you’ve ever felt afraid to be visible, worried about being “too much”, or guilty for wanting more than the bare minimum… this one is for you.
Drawing on Celeste Larsen’s powerful book Heal the Witch Wound I explore how historic persecution of women—healers, midwives, herbalists, independent women—still echoes in our nervous systems, beliefs & behaviours.
In this episode...
S4-Episode 11: Why Women Struggle to Make Money (and How to Rewire for Wealth & Worth) with Karen Berzanski
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This conversation is a straight-talking road map for women who feel stuck around money. We unpack why so many of us unconsciously give our financial power away (hello, patriarchy + intergenerational programming), how those beliefs show up as procrastination, over-giving, perfectionism, and under-charging, and the practical tools that help you shift into wealth + worth.
Karen shares her own story—from healing trauma to paying off $13k debt—plus how EFT tapping and self-worth work change your relationship with money so you can take aligned action (without B-minus guilt).
What You’l...
S4-Episode 10: How Intergenerational Trauma Shapes Your Core Beliefs
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If you caught last week’s episode, you’ll know we talked about limiting beliefs — where they come from and how to start shifting them - you can catch that episode here.
This week, we’re taking that work a layer deeper, exploring how intergenerational trauma — the patterns, fears, and stories passed down through your family line — can quietly shape your core beliefs and keep you repeating the same loops for years, sometimes generations.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
S4-Episode 9: How to Identify and Shift your Limiting Beliefs
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In this episode, I’m diving into one of my favourite topics — limiting beliefs: what they are, where they come from, how they quietly run your life from the shadows, and most importantly, how to shift them so you can stop playing small and start moving forward with clarity and confidence.
We all have subconscious belief systems shaped by childhood experiences, family modelling, and social conditioning. These old narratives — “I’m not good enough,” “money is hard to make,” “I have to earn love” — become invisible scripts that shape our choices, relationships, and sel...
S4 Episode 8: How To Stop Over-Functioning In Relationships
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In this episode I’m talking about the over-functioner vs under-functioner dance (hat tip to Harriet Lerner).
If you’re the one who remembers the dentist appointments, carries the emotional load, and secretly reloads the dishwasher after your partner… hi, it’s us.
I share why we end up doing it, how it wrecks intimacy (and our nervous systems), and the simple moves that shift the dynamic without starting World War III.
Podcast highlights:
Spot the pattern: Real-life signs you’re over-functioning (at home and...S4-Episode 7: How to Regulate Your Nervous System & Build Resilience with HeartMath
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In this episode of Lemons and Pineapples, I dive into the fascinating world of the nervous system and why learning to regulate it is the key to building resilience, reducing stress, and reclaiming your sense of calm.
I explain the science behind the autonomic nervous system, the difference between fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest, and how modern stressors (like endless emails and work deadlines) keep us stuck in survival mode. I also share how tools from HeartMath—a science-backed system for emotional regulation—can help you shift out of stress and into...
S4-Episode 6: What HeartMath is and Why It Will Change Your Life
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Are you stuck in a cycle of stress, overthinking, and reactivity?
In this episode of the Lemons and Pineapples Podcast, I dive into the powerful science of HeartMath — a research-backed method that helps you reset your nervous system, improve focus, and show up as a calmer, more resilient version of yourself.
I share:
- How I discovered HeartMath and why it became a game changer in my own life
- The link between heart rate variability (HRV), mental health, and brain fu...
S4-Episode 5: Why Stress Is Making Your Perimenopause Worse & How To Regain Control Of Your Health
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🎙️ Season 4, Episode 5 – Why Stress Makes Perimenopause Symptoms Worse (and What You Can Do About It)
In this episode of Lemons and Pineapples, Emma O’Brien and her co-host, functional medicine health coach Sam Shrosbree, dive into the powerful connection between stress and perimenopause.
Many women in their 40s and 50s experience joint pain, hot flushes, insomnia, brain fog, weight gain, and anxiety — often chalked up to “just perimenopause.” But as Emma and Sam reveal, chronic stress and excess cortisol may be the real culprits behind worsening symptoms.
Together...
S4-Episode 4: How To Re-Calibrate Before You Burnout
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How to Re-Calibrate your mind, body and life before burnout hits.
In this episode my co-host Sam and I share the subtle - and not-so-subtle - signs that you're heading towards burnout and what you can do to course correct before everything falls apart.
If you're feeling constantly tired, reactive, disconnected or simply like your spark has left the building, this episode is your wake-up call.
In this episode:
- The sneaky early signs of burnout no one talks about
<...S4-Episode 3: Why Mindset Alone Isn't Enough
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You've done the journaling, the affirmations, the mindset shifts...so why are you still feeling stuck?
In this episode, I'm joined by functional medicine health coach Sam Shrosbree to unpack why mindset work on its own isn't enough and what's missing when progress just won't stick. Together, we explore the essential connection between mind and body, and how bringing in somatic practices can unlock real, lasting change.
This is a must-listen if you've been doing 'all the right things' but still feel overwhelmed, unfocused, or emotionally reactive. The missing...
