Wandering Into Wellness

Hannah and Rachel Dare - Reaching for a Zero Waste Society

West Cork is a funny spot...full of alternative thinkers and creative energies. It’s a rare thing when these qualities come together and have the space to breathe - such is the case within a store in Bantry called Organico.

Hannah and Rachel Dare are the actual trailblazers, like no kidding - they’ve been so far ahead of the curve in curating a creative and loving, buzzy and thriving food store that is in fact the hub of their community.

We got to chat to them about how to maintain creativity and a sense of play whilst managing the rigours of a family business, how they’ve learnt to put their happiness first to the betterment of their business, and we got all nerdy about their zero waste vision - what they’re currently doing to support this initiative and their action plan for a bright future.

Check them out at www.organico.ie and @organicobantry on social channels

Coach John Kavanagh - MMA is For Everyone. Maybe.

Mixed Martial Arts brings up some strong emotions - some of us are addicted to the thrill of it, whilst for others it prompts revulsion and derision - what is the purpose of this overtly violent sport? Is there a positive role for MMA in modern society? 

We had the lucky opportunity to speak with Coach John Kavanagh, one of the world's leading proponents of the MMA discipline, and head of SBG Ireland, (home to some of Ireland's top MMA athletes, including such figures as The Notorious Conor McGregor) on his approach to the sport, the evolution of his career both as an athlete and a coach, and how he sees MMA and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training as a beneficial endeavour...maybe even for everyone..!!

Lou Horgan - Women's Words: Women's Wisdom

In this episode we dive deep into the world, words and wisdom of Dublin based Yoga teacher, active birth coach and all round women’s empowerment guru Lou Horgan.

Pretty much anyone who has ever been pregnant in Dublin and looking to attend a pregnancy yoga class has heard of Lou or been pointed in her direction. Her classes are famous for making a long lasting impact not just physically but also mentally: coaching women in how to access their own inner power so that they can face their birthing time with confidence and trust in their bodies.

Lydia and Lou both trained together in “Womb yoga therapy for all stages of womb life” with the world wide respected women’s yoga teacher Una Dinsmore Tuli a number of years ago and in this chat we discuss the importance that work has had not just for them in learning to respect their own hormonal cycles but also for the women they teach.

To say that Lou embodies her work in the way she lives her daily life is perhaps an understatement; she is a truly authentic voice in an industry that is so often these days distracted by the glittery hype of the Insta-yogi generation.

Hosting classes,workshops and teacher trainings from the Shala in her back garden: Lou helps countless women to step into their power, connect to their inner wisdom and re-member the ancient lineage of female yogis and wisdom keepers that they are connected to.

 

Lou’s recommended reading list: ‘Women’s bodies Women’s wisdom’ by Dr Christiane Northrup,

‘Alchemy of Womanhood’ by Dolores Rice

‘Yoni shanti ‘ by Uma Dinsmore Tuli

 

To find out more about Lou’s work visit her website : https://www.louyoga.com/

Diana McCauley Folk Herbalist @ Meadows In The Mountains 2018

We met Diana McCauley in the midst of all the wild going's on at Meadows In The Mountains, where a woman so grounded in homesteading, in genuine earthy wisdom that she should have seemed out of place. Except she didn't.

Just like the festival, Diana has carved her life out of the dirt through the dint of her own wit and wisdom, seeking out the necessary practical support from the world around her, from nature, and from using what seems to be her exceptionally tuned intuition as her guide.

We chat about her experience with herbs, the origin of her interest in natural parenting methods and her thoughts on the evolution of the world's attitude to managing their health.

Our conversation with her was wanderly as expected, and Diana takes it at her own pace, leaving time for reflection during our chat, allowing her thoughts to develop and take shape. She's clearly a woman who fully embraces her inner world, and it was lovely at the end of the podcast when she told us how much she enjoyed it and how surprised she was that she had so much to say!!

Master Mantak Chia - How the West Can Embrace Daosim for World Healing

Master Mantak Chia - Daoism of Energy and Organ Relationships

Master Mantak Chia - How to Cultivate Sexual Energy

Master Mantak Chia and The Uterus Orgasm

The Mushroom Man - Bill O'Dea

Some people in life are just born to do a certain thing, and so it is with Bill O'Dea, who after a career in IT, has finally begun to fulfill what must be his mission on earth: to talk about, hunt for, cook, eat and study the magical mushroom kingdom.

What you expect when you meet Bill is an earthy character, he's only just shy of wearing the mushroom hat of Paul Stamets, you can tell at a glance that he eats, sleeps and breathes his craft.

But what you don't expect is his erudite, passionate and delicate insight on the function of mushrooms in the macrocosm we all inhabit. When Bill gets his thousand yard stare, you can expect to come out the other side with a deepened understanding of why this magical kingdom means so much to him, and how they truly may be the architect of our destiny...listen with all your ears fully open - cos the mushrooms are too!

You can get hold of Bill on https://mushroomstuff.com/ or @mushroomstuff on twitter and facebook

Pushing Past Patriarchy - Seeking Unity

In this episode we were lucky to be joined by trained experts in the field of sexuality, so we could intellectually pick apart this topic without descending into emotional abstracts. And while everyone brought their own particular and disparate life experience to the table, this chat was ultimately guided by the desire to seek re-unification of the sexes in whatever shape that might take.

It was so interesting how quickly we got to talking about sex itself in all its delightfully messy glory. The exploration of consent and how sexual interactions can bring up and expose the dualistic nature of our feminine and masculine qualities with a very immediate and confronting quality, took up a large part of our conversation around patriarchy. Which really goes to show a lot of what this is all about.

We chatted through the education of kids around sex, the historical emergence of patriarchy in the west and the east and the contrasting approaches and understanding of sexuality between those two vastly different societies, also we looked at sexuality in the workplace and embracing diversity and how we can evolve our attitudes to emergent sexual identities.

We were lucky to be joined around our table by...

Caroline West - who holds a phD in Pornography and Feminism @carolinewest_ie on Twitter

Maire Ni G - a Daoist instructor who hosts workshops around feminine sexual energy practices @universalhealingtao on Insta

Aoife Martin - a trans woman and activist for trans rights @aoifemartn on Twitter

Shubhangi Karmakar - a medical student and campaigner for diversity @suitsedit on Insta