THE RIPPLE EFFECT PODCAST EPISODES

LATEST EPISODE

December 27, 2025

Module 4: Episode 2 – A Life in Motion: Hannah Hedrick on Sustainable Self-Care, Joy, and Living Well

In this final episode of 2025, Aimée sits down with 86-year-old movement teacher Hannah Hedrick, whose seven decades of teaching have shaped generations of students. Hannah shares the rituals, rhythms, and gentle practices that have allowed her to remain grounded, joyful, and deeply connected through the changing seasons of her life.

Together, they explore:

  • How movement evolves as we age

  • Common misunderstandings about self-care

  • Gentle practices that support nervous system regulation

  • Grounding rituals for stressful or demanding seasons

  • Ways to cultivate steadiness, presence, and joy over time

  • Reflections on aging, longevity, and living well

This conversation is for anyone feeling stretched thin, craving calm, or seeking inspiration from someone who has lived a life anchored in intention, care, and service.

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts

💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

🌐 Connect with Us

🌸 Website: www.therippleeffect.io
📸 Instagram: @rippleeffect.teachers
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🔗 Linktree: linktr.ee/rippleeffect.teachers

SEASON 1: Module 1

Pilot Episode: Welcome to The Ripple Effect: Helping Teachers Thrive

The Ripple Effect is a podcast dedicated to helping educators reconnect with themselves, protect their energy, and create thriving classrooms.

In this pilot episode, host Aimee Donoho—educator, therapist, and advocate for teacher wellness—shares the story of how The Ripple Effect began. Born from the Aloha Connect program. This podcast was inspired by in-depth conversations with teachers and the realization that educator wellness must be addressed differently.

Why This Podcast Exists:

  • Post-pandemic education is different. Teacher stress is different.

  • We cannot offer our students safety, empathy, and presence if we don’t experience those things ourselves.

  • Caring for ourselves as educators isn’t selfish—it’s the foundation for everything we do.

What You’ll Hear in the Pilot:

  • How the Aloha Connect lunch-and-learn sessions brought teachers together for connection, learning, and laughter

  • Why nervous system awareness matters in teaching

  • The Four S’s (safe, seen, soothed, secure) and how they apply to educators

  • How small acts of self-regulation can transform school culture

Monthly Podcast Structure:
Each month will focus on one theme—such as Awareness, Grace, Gratitude, or Renewal—and feature:

  1. Solo reflection from Aimee introducing the theme

  2. Expert interview bringing science-based strategies

  3. Real teacher’s story

  4. Cultural/community perspective

Signature Question: Who was the teacher who made you feel seen, valued, or capable—and what would you say to them today?

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts
💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

Module 1: Episode 1 – What Is Emotional Awareness and Why It Matters

In this episode, we explore emotional self-awareness—what it is, why it matters for educators, and how it connects to the nervous system. You’ll learn practical strategies for tuning into your body’s cues so you can respond with presence, empathy, and clarity.

💡 Tool of the Week: The 3-Minute Daily Check-In – a quick way to build awareness and reset throughout your day.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

🎧 Listen to the Episode on Spotify

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Additional Tools:

Module 1: Episode 2 – Seeing with the Witness: Self-Awareness and Compassion in the Classroom, with Special Guest Martha White MA, LMHC-NCC-Licensed Mental Health Counselor & Founder of Keala Kea Counseling

Martha White, clinician and mindfulness educator, introduces “The Witness”—a powerful concept for noticing without reacting. We explore how nervous system awareness and compassion work together to create safer, more responsive classrooms.

💡 Bonus: Practice a 1-minute Witness meditation during the episode.
 🔗 Includes a link to Martha's article "The Witness" and more resources on her website.

🎧 Listen to the Episode on Spotify

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Module 1: Episode 3 – Tide, Time, and Turtles: Self-Awareness through the Lens of Nature, with Special Guest Laura Jim

Science teacher and sea turtle researcher Laura Jim shares how the rhythms of the ocean helped her reconnect with herself during a season of burnout. Through nature, photography, and presence, she offers a grounded model of self-awareness in action.

🌊 Reflection prompts included: Ocean Awareness, Nature as Regulator.
 📸 Follow Laura on Instagram: @laurajimphotography

🎧 Listen to the Episode on Spotify

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Module 1: Episode 4 – Roots & Resilience – What Forests Teach Us About Ourselves, with Special Guest Kumu Kuwalu

Join host Aimee Donoho in conversation with cultural practitioner and kumu hula, Kumu Kuwalu. In this episode, they explore the power of ecological awareness, cultural wisdom, and nervous system grounding for educators. Kumu shares how hula and land-based practices have helped students reconnect to themselves and how educators can apply these principles in the classroom.

Includes:

  • Grounding breath practice guided by Kumu

  • Reflections on teaching through cultural identity and community care

  • A featured video clip: Forests as reflections of our societies

  • 3 reflection prompts for classroom and personal use

🎧 Listen to the Episode on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Episode on Apple Podcasts

SEASON 1: Module 2

Module 2: Episode I – The Science of Grace in Teaching: How Self-Compassion Protects Teachers from Burnout

Teaching is beautifully human—and often messy. Mistakes, misunderstandings, and overwhelming days are part of the work.
Without grace, these moments can spiral into self-criticism and burnout. With grace, we create space for forgiveness, renewal, and authentic connection.

In this solo episode, Aimee Donoho explores the science and practice of grace—drawing from psychology, neuroscience, and lived classroom experience. You’ll learn why grace matters for educators, how it supports nervous-system regulation and resilience, and two simple practices you can begin using right away.

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts
💌 Subscribe for updates & resource

Module 2: Episode 2 – The Heart of Teaching: Grace, Connection, and Loving Every Student with Jo Piltz

In this episode of The Ripple Effect: Helping Teachers Thrive, host Aimee Donoho sits down with beloved educator Jo Piltz, who spent more than three decades teaching English and History at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy.

Known for her calm strength and deep compassion, Jo shares how teaching became her calling—and how grace guided her through both joy and challenge. She reflects on what it means to love every student, even those who are hardest to reach, and how presence—not perfection—is the true foundation of meaningful teaching.

The Heart of Teaching invites educators to rediscover the power of connection, compassion, and resilience in the classroom.

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts
💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

Module 2: Episode 3 – Grace as a Compass: Navigating Burnout and Boundaries with Compassion — A Conversation with Britta Eskey

Britta Eskey is the author of Initiations in Love, a spiritual memoir that explores transformation through life’s sacred rites of passage, and the host of the Initiations in Love podcast. She co-founded COR (Latin for “Heart”), a personal growth organization that has been serving individuals and communities for over 25 years.

COR offers transformational workshops, leadership trainings, and coaching programs — both in-person and online — that help people reconnect with their essential goodness and live from their deepest values. Its mission is to empower people to become skillful, embodied leaders who can compassionately guide others while living with courage, clarity, and heart.

Britta is a certified Compassion Cultivation Teacher, and one of the developers and instructors of the Cultivating the Heart course at Stanford University’s CCARE. 

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts
💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

Resources Mentioned

Module 2: Episode 4 – Grace as Inclusion: Seeing Every Student in Their Wholeness

A conversation with Dr. Alain Sykes

In this insightful conversation, Dr. Alain Sykes invites us to rethink what grace truly means in education.

Grace isn’t passive—it’s a courageous act of inclusion, presence, and dignity that allows us to see every student in their wholeness.

Together, we explore how educators can honor differences, hold boundaries, and create spaces where both teachers and students feel seen and valued.

From practical insights on collaboration and classroom culture to reflections on self-grace and community care, this episode offers a grounding reminder: belonging begins with how we show up for one another.

In this episode:

  • What grace looks like in diverse classrooms

  • How to balance compassion with healthy boundaries

  • Ways to foster inclusion without burnout

  • The connection between grace, presence, and belonging

Whether you’re a teacher, counselor, or school leader, this conversation will leave you inspired to lead with curiosity, courage, and care.

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts
💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

Resource Mentioned

  • Download the Grace Resource PDF for reflection prompts, journaling tools, and a link to Dr. Sykes’ Substack (subscriber access): alainsykes.substack.com.


SEASON 1: Module 3

Module 3: Episode 1 – The Science of Gratitude: How Appreciation Rewires the Nervous System

Gratitude isn’t just a nice idea — it’s a powerful form of neural training. In this solo episode, Aimée Donoho explores the science of how gratitude reshapes the brain, strengthens resilience, and helps teachers and caretakers stay grounded in connection and joy.

Drawing on research from UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and Harvard Health Publishing, Aimée shares her own daily gratitude ritual and the tangible benefits of practicing for just 2–5 minutes a day. You’ll also learn simple ways to weave gratitude into your classroom, relationships, and family traditions — including a collaborative Gratitude Tree activity you can start today.

Key Takeaway: Gratitude doesn’t erase difficulty - it reframes it.

It reminds us we’re part of something bigger.

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts
💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

Module 3: Episode 2 – Gratitude and Regulation: Rewiring Stress into Connection

What if gratitude could do more than make us feel good—what if it could rewire the way we respond to stress?

In this conversation, host Aimée Donoho speaks with Dr. Hayley Watson, clinical psychologist, author, and founder/CEO of Open Parachute, a mental health program created to support MTSS in schools. about

Drawing on more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Watson explains how gratitude supports nervous system regulation and emotional resilience in schools. She delivers insights on how awareness, connection, and gratitude can help educators move from survival mode to a state of calm leadership—creating classrooms where both teachers and students feel safe and supported.

In this episode:

  • How gratitude shifts the brain and body toward calm

  • Why emotional safety for teachers drives student well-being

  • Practical ways to use gratitude for regulation and reflection

  • How guided conversations foster belonging and resilience

Learn more about Dr. Watson’s work and her bookFinding the Words: Empowering Struggling Students through Guided Conversations at openparachuteschools.com.

More about Dr. Hayley Watson

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts
💌 Subscribe for updates & resource

Module 3: Episode 3 – Gratitude in Action - Leading with Heart

In this episode, Aimée Donoho talks with longtime educator and district specialist Alana Haitsuka Fernandez about how gratitude can shape leadership, strengthen relationships, and sustain educators through challenging seasons. With 30 years in Hawai‘i’s public schools, Alana shares stories of connection, creativity, and the “extra moments” that defined her teaching journey — from mentoring students to building the Teen College Counselors program now replicated across West Hawai‘i.

Together, they explore how noticing what’s good, valuing community, and saying yes to meaningful opportunities help educators find balance and renewed purpose. Alana reminds us that gratitude isn’t just a feeling — it’s a way of moving through the world with presence, service, and heart.

Key themes:

• Teaching as a calling

• Gratitude as a lens for resilience

• Relationships at the center of learning

• The power of small “extra” moments

• Creativity and courage in education

• Sustaining yourself through hard seasons

Memorable insight:

“I don’t remember the grading or the paperwork — I remember the magical moments with students.”

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts
💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

Module 3: Episode 4 – Living in Gratitude: A Conversation with Gokul Krishnan

In the episode, we explore gratitude not as a task, but as a way of being.

Dr. Gokul Krishnan, author of Gratitude - State of Being: A Transformative Guide to Living Fully, joins me for a powerful conversation about how gratitude can reshape our inner world, support our nervous system, and transform the way we show up as educators.

Together, we look beyond surface-level thankfulness and step into the deeper layers of awareness, embodiment, and connection that allow gratitude to live inside us - not just on the page.

What We Explore in This Episode

• How gratitude becomes a state of being, not a checklist

• The deeper “layers” or states of gratitude

• How awareness shifts us from scarcity to enoughness

• Embodiment: what gratitude feels like in the body

• Practices for teachers who are overwhelmed or burned out

• How gratitude strengthens classroom presence and co-regulation

• The relational and communal dimensions of gratitude

• What changes in our teaching when we live from gratitude

• A small, doable practice to bring gratitude into your day today

Why This Matters for Educators

Gratitude isn’t about pretending things are fine.

It’s about finding a steadier place to stand inside the real  complexity of  teaching.

When educators live in gratitude — not forced positivity, not  performance — it supports:

• nervous system regulation

• emotional resilience

• the capacity to respond rather than react

• stronger relationships with students

• a calmer, clearer internal rhythm

This episode offers a grounded, science-informed, heart-centered look at how gratitude can support teachers from the  inside out.

About Dr. Gokul Krishnan

Dr. Krishnan’s work invites readers into a deeper understanding of gratitude as a transformative inner state that shapes how we teach, lead, and live. Recognized by Forbes as one of the “16 Healthcare Innovators You Should Know,” he is the creator of Maker Therapy, a pioneering initiative supporting pediatric patients and families, and recipient of the White House Honorary Maker Award. Gokul has also led global neuroinclusion programs at Google, designing environments where everyone feels valued and empowered.

His work, featured on NPR, CBS, and Fast Company, blends behavioral science with deep compassion to foster connection and well-being. In his book Gratitude: States of Being, Gokul shares insights drawn from his global journey, professional experience, and the powerful stories of those he has met along the way. He believes gratitude is the spark that lights the way—even in the darkest times.

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts

Gratitude – States of Being: A Transformative Guide to Living Fully

💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

Module 4: Episode 1 – Holidays & Self-Care – Rest, Rituals, and Reflection

December carries a unique kind of weight for educators - emotional, physical, sensory, and relational.

In this gentle solo episode, Aimée offers a grounding message for teachers who are tired, stretched thin, or simply ready for a pause.

This episode is an invitation to treat rest not as a luxury, but as meaningful work - the kind of work that restores the nervous system, refills what has been depleted, and reconnects us to our humanity.

This Episode Covers:

• A soft recap of Awareness, Grace, and Gratitude

• Why repetition in the podcast is intentional and integrative

• Seeing teachers as professionals who already hold this wisdom

• The emotional and sensory weight of December

• Aimée’s personal plan for slowing down

• Three friends sharing their own holiday self-care practices

• A gentle reminder about boundaries during the holidays

Why It Matters

• Rest is not earned - it’s necessary

• Rest is part of emotional regulation

• Rest strengthens presence and clarity

• Rest prepares teachers for the new year with steadiness instead of depletion

Reflection Questions for Listeners

• What can I put down for now?

• What needs my attention?

• What no longer needs my energy?

• Where can I soften my expectations of myself?

• What ritual helps me return to myself?

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Spotify

🎧 Listen to the Pilot on Apple Podcasts

💌 Subscribe for updates & resources

🌐 Connect with Us

🌸 Website: www.therippleeffect.io
📸 Instagram: @rippleeffect.teachers
💙 Facebook: The Ripple Effect Podcast
🔗 Linktree: linktr.ee/rippleeffect.teachers