Wandering Into Wellness

Ed Stafford - No Man Is An Island

You can imagine Ed might have been talking about himself at one time when he says, "I find tough guys quite comical". From a conventional rugby playing, beer drinking, macho-man-adventurer kind of background, Ed Stafford has come a long way.

Through his treks up the Amazon and most crucially his solitary time whilst making the TV show "Naked & Marooned", he got to spend a lot of time disassembling and reconstructing his identity.

A year or so after filming, Ed suffered a complete mental breakdown, something he discusses quite candidly in his writing. We chatted through the struggles of isolation with Ed, and his tools to bring mental fortitude even in the toughest of times. He makes it seem so simple. So, um, perhaps it is...?

Thanks to Nuzest Nutrition (Ed is an Ambassador for the lovely nutrition brand, as are we) for hooking us up for this delicious chat. Grab a cuppa and cosy up for this one, and thank Ed who's gone there so you don't have to....even though you probably should!

Laura Kehoe - How To Solve "This System of Bullshittery" , Tackling The Climate Crisis

Laura Kehoe believes in innate human soundness. But she also see the systems we've created that allow psychopaths to reign, and that reward behaviours of domination and control.

 

In this revealing conversation you'll start to see how simple the switch is. How much we have to have faith in human kindness. But how having that faith isn't enough now. That it's decisive action that needs to be taken. And yes that means personal change. But now more than ever it means shouting from the rooftops to our political representatives. That THEY need to enact change. That it must be RADICAL. And that we will support them throughout.

 

Go and find more out about Laura and follow her @laurajkehoe on Twitter and get chatting to her - also log onto 400trees.org - where you can be a REAL changemaker - Laura set this program up when she realised that if each person alive today planted 400 trees, the world would be back to where it was before "we invented the axe". Time to get active people.

Eliane Zimmerman - Essential Oils During COVID

Eliane is the ACTUAL aromatherapy expert we've been waiting for.  Practicing for over 30 years now - she was talking essential oils before the berlin wall came down.  So when you hear her recommendations - this is not a half assed influencer with a 2 day weekend course in the topic.  This lady has written more than 10 books on essential oils and their various applications - from immunity to female hormonal health.   She now devotes her time to teaching the teachers - lecturing in the chemistry of aromas. We wanted to bend her ear on the very hip and happening topic of immune system wellbeing - how to assist it, how to top it up, and what to do when the world and this lockdown winter gives you the full ocean of the blues.

Maya Duncan - Dispelling Your Fear Of Food

Maya Duncan is an old soul in a new way. By the tender age of 19, she has already been down a long path with health. Having come through some serious struggles with eating disorders in her early teens, through a supportive family environment and many hours spent in self analysis during therapy she has developed a toolkit and a mature attitude to her food habits that hasn't involved leaving her love of food behind.

 

Growing up in Hong Kong, and with a food writer for a mum, her early life saw her in a good relationship to food, but when uprooted to come to live back in Ireland, Maya suffered the all too common schoolyard bullying that was intensified due to her 'alien' origin and her strict routine as a dancer, and this allowed her diet to spiral and take an unhealthy turn. We discuss the environment for teenagers now and the landscape of challenges that they face, along with Maya's fiercely determined path to recovery. Her story is truly uplifting and her words will hopefully provide some support to those going through their own struggles to stay in right relationship with food.

Layla Nua Nua - Birthing A Mother - The Fourth Trimester

From her own journey in birth, Layla experienced the support given by a post partum doula, almost without even knowing it was happening. After leaving the German maternity system where this care is offered to mothers as a standard practice, and coming home to Ireland to have her third baby, she felt the other side of neonatal care with a degree of shock, recognising the trauma that can be experienced in the birth process and the profound change that was occurring to her as a mother, even at her third birth, and how this aspect of maternity care simply wasn't on offer here. And so with her grounding as a TCM practitioner, Layla has embraced the void and now offers the care that she noticed in its absence during her birth experience.

Join us as we talk all things birth, and open up the conversation to this vital, yet unrecognised phase of maternal care - the Fourth Trimester.

Now Draw Focus To Your Vision

How much do we really look after our eyes? No not the cosmetic alterations, not the billion dollar industries that put our eyes front and centre in the world of aesthetic beauty. We mean the ACTUAL eyes. The fine muscles in and around the eyes rarely get the attention they need. Taking in billions of images every second and coping with light and shade, a constellation of colour imagery AND trying to read the expressions of the humans we come into contact with - our eyes are put to the test daily, and with little reward. They're even working when we sleep! So take this 25 minutes to put the focus back on your eye health, toning the structures with simple eye yoga movements and a nutritional and herbal protocols that will preserve your vision AND help you get a little eye lift for those too tired peepers. Enjoy!

Jamie Heaslip - Peeling Back The Layers

"I’ve very little advice for you. Be yourself, everyone else is taken!" - goes one of the lines from his open (and very candid) letter to his younger self. And that's exactly how he is, WHO he is, and honestly the energy from him is magnetic.

 

Seeing Jamie in this new role, generates a real sense of pride, not just in his personal evolution and transformation - it's a validation for the resilience and and potential in the human spirit.  Having witnessed his early exit from International Rugby, it was like seeing one of the sons of Ireland, flame extinguished, and dreams dashed on the rocks. But no longer. Jamie is more than the captain and strategist that we know from the rugby pitch, his professional and personal life have blossomed since his sporting career ended, and we got a chance to touch on these less public sides to Jamie's character.

 

This is a fun one - Finn was looking forward to having the chats with Jamie for about the past two years...and he didn't disappoint!! Stay tuned for the quickfire questions at the end for a giggle!

Elaine Barry - The Pelvic Floor Show

In our first podcast back post lockdown from Covid 19 we got to speak ( whilst socially distancing so allow us any sound issues please) to the women’s health whizz that is Elaine Barry.

Elaine is one of the physio day the Milltown Health Clinic here in Ireland and specialises in an up and coming area of women’s health: internal pelvic floor work. When lydia was pregnant she went to try out this type of physio and found it an invaluable tool in understanding how to teach her body to relax and open in preparation for the birthing process and has been singing its praises to her pregnant clients ever since.

Elaine explains to us the myriad functions of the pelvic floor and why it is so vital to have not only an understanding of but also a connection to this vital area of our bodies. We look at the fears many of us hold around working with this area and the worries women have about the trauma it can receive during birth and the subsequent lack of function in the postpartum period.

Elaine is so warm and relatable and clearly really cares about the women she works with and we are just so happy to be able to demystify what goes on during a pelvic floor physio session so that more and more people will avail of this amazing service.

Grab a cup of tea , Listen in and spread the word please: let’s start a pelvic floor empowerment revolution 🙏

If you want to know more please contact Elaine @elainebarryphysio Or call the team at Milltown Physiotherapy Clinic who we are very grateful to for loaning us their lovely space to record in .

Encircling Birth with Aisling Jackson

On a short trip across to us from her new homeland in New Zealand, Aisling Jackson (Browne - heehee!) stopped in to chat with us regarding all things birth.  

 

Aisling's transition to hosting women's circles seems as natural to her as breathing is to most of us.  With what seems like a ready made ability to play this role of creating space and hosting women in this time of vulnerability, growth and transformation.  Helping women to face up to the shift in their identity, to owning and honouring their new reality, and inhabiting motherhood in a truly powerful and graceful way.

 

We really enjoyed this casual chat where we dove into the birth experience from so many angles.  Aisling's attitudes highlight a really progressive approach to the practice of mindful motherhood, and it was really exciting to engage with a woman like her who is so open to sharing her own experience and really walks the walk in her own mothering experience.

Lydia And Finn's 20 Question get...a little Awkward!!

Challenging questions prompt tricky true feelings, and in the spirit of Wandering, we don't seek to disguise these, instead delving into those feelings, that discomfort that comes, and work through the awkward moments. FYI this video was recorded pre-COVID, summer 2019 :)