There was no branding agency. No six-month strategy deck. No whiteboard full of sticky notes with "synergy" written on them.
Just two ADHD brains. A random Tuesday. And a joke that accidentally became everything.
The Conversation That Started It All
So there's this amazing human being in my life called Rach Cox. She runs what is probably, the best wellness festival in the UK called Om & Bass. Yoga, music, spirituality, wellness. The whole thing. She's one of those people whose brain operates on a completely different frequency to everyone else's.
She's also ADHD. Obviously.
We were chatting one day. Probably about something we were supposed to be doing but weren't. Classic. And she was talking about how her brain just... does things. The hyperfocus. The feeling everything at a thousand percent. The inability to start the thing but then doing the thing for nine hours straight once it finally kicks into gear.
And I just said it.
"Oh, that's just your ADHchi."
I don't even know where it came from. It just fell out. Like most of the best things my brain produces... completely unplanned.
But it stuck. Immediately. Because it wasn't just a clever play on words. It actually meant something.
Me and Rach during lockdown. Two ADHD brains, many 3am hyperfocus sessions, and the birth of something bigger than either of us planned.
The Lockdown That Proved Everything
To understand why Rach and I work the way we do... you need to know what happened during lockdown.
When the world shut down, Rach's festival couldn't happen. Gutting. But instead of sitting with it, we did what ADHD brains do best.
We hyperfocused.
Together, across many 3am sessions, we took Om & Bass online and launched one of the first true virtual festivals during lockdown. It wasn't a half-arsed Zoom call. It was the real thing. And it amassed over 50,000 online attendees with celebrity wellness experts like Wim Hof, Rhonda Byrne, and Kino MacGregor.
Fifty thousand people. From two ADHD brains who can't remember to eat lunch.
That's chi. That's the energy. That's what happens when you stop trying to suppress what your brain does and actually lean into it.
So What Does "Chi" Actually Mean?
In Chinese philosophy, chi (or qi) is the vital life force energy that flows through all living things. It's the energy that connects your body, your mind, and the world around you. It's not some woo-woo thing... it's a concept that's been central to Eastern philosophy for thousands of years.
It's the energy you feel when you're in flow. When everything clicks. When your brain is doing the thing it was built for and the rest of the world just... fades away.
Sound familiar?
ADHD Is Chi. Here's Why.
This is the bit that gets me properly excited. Because the more I looked into it, the more I realised... the connection between ADHD and chi isn't just a nice metaphor.
It's the same f*cking thing.
Think about it. ADHD at its core is an expression of energy. Not a deficit of attention. A different relationship with energy.
The hyperfocus? That's chi flowing uninterrupted.
The deep feeling? That's sensitivity to energy around you.
The constant motion? That's chi that hasn't found its channel yet.
And then there's the polarity. The thing nobody talks about enough. ADHD is a constant state of opposites existing at the same time...
- Hyperfocus and scattered
- Deeply feeling and completely numb
- Explosive energy and total depletion
- Brilliant ideas and zero follow-through
Know what else describes a constant dance between opposing forces?
Yin and yang. Taoism. The fundamental principle of balance in Chinese philosophy.
Or "as above, so below" from Hermeticism. The idea that everything in nature mirrors everything else. Polarity isn't a bug. It's how the universe works.
ADHD brains don't have an attention disorder. We have a polarity that most environments weren't designed to support. We wrote about this more in Why Your Brain Isn't Broken... the environment was the problem. Not you.
What This Means for the Brand
ADHchi isn't just a clever name. It's not a marketing angle.
It's a philosophy.
The entire brand is built on one idea: work with your energy, not against it. Stop trying to suppress the chaos and start designing systems that channel it. Regulation, not suppression. Flow, not force.
Every product we make is built around this. The hoodie isn't just comfortable... it's designed to remove sensory friction so your chi can flow. The desk pad isn't just a surface... it's a visual regulation tool for when your energy is scattered.
It's all connected. And it all started with a joke between two ADHD brains on a random Tuesday.
The Best Names Find You
I've learned something building this brand. The things that matter most aren't manufactured. They're not focus-grouped or A/B tested or pulled from a naming workshop.
They find you.
Usually at the worst possible time. Usually when you should be doing something else. Usually at 3am.
ADHchi found me because my brain works the way it works. And honestly? I wouldn't change that for anything.
If you want to find out what kind of chaotic energy your brain runs on, take the quiz. It takes 60 seconds. Unless you get distracted.
Rach Cox. The other ADHD brain in the room when the name was born. Go check out Om & Bass.
