In this episode, elite rugby coach John Mitchell reflects on the personal transformation behind his evolution as a man and leader. He explores the conditioning that shaped his earlier coaching style, the violent attack that forced him to reassess his life, and why relationships and presence now sit at the centre of his leadership.

SHOW NOTES:

• how rugby, boarding school and a results-driven environment shaped his earlier leadership
• why the attack he experienced in South Africa became a major turning point
• how he moved beyond purely outcome-focused coaching towards stronger relationships
• what presence and emotional awareness bring to high-performance environments
• how his changing approach has affected coaching, intimate relationships and life outside rugby

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this episode, Craig sits down with former Springbok Leader Joe van Niekerk as he reflects on his journey from elite rugby leadership to spiritual inquiry, brotherhood, and a very different definition of strength.

The conversation explores grief, identity after sport, plant medicine, vulnerability, and why the deepest work of a man’s life may begin when the old role falls away.

SHOW NOTES:

- How losing his father at 13 shaped the fearlessness that drove his rugby career

- What happened when rugby ended and the next deeper search began 

- Why ayahuasca, retreats, and time in the jungle became part of his path 

- How he now defines masculine strength through range, balance, and truth 

- Why brotherhood, vulnerability, and relationship have become central to his life

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this episode, sex and relationship expert Carla Crivaro explains why men can find themselves wanting more sex just as their partners begin withdrawing from intimacy. 

The conversation explores sexual disconnection, emotional safety, male shame, performance pressure and the everyday behaviours that can either weaken or rebuild connection.

SHOW NOTES:

- Why a mismatch in sexual desire often reflects a much wider loss of connection

- How mental load and control can create an unhelpful mother-and-son dynamic

- Why presence, honesty and emotional discipline help a woman feel safer

- How chasing orgasm and performance can pull both partners out of intimacy

- How listening, non-sexual touch, check-ins, play and clear boundaries can rebuild closeness

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this episode, former Wales international Rhys Thomas returns for a third time to share what it was like to finally receive the call for a heart transplant after 12 years of waiting. The conversation explores fear, surrender, survival, gratitude, recovery, and how life feels when the future suddenly opens up again.

SHOW NOTES

•  what it felt like to receive the call he had waited years for 
•  how he approached the operation emotionally and mentally before going under 
•  what waking up after the transplant was like and why it felt magical 
•  how fear, survival, and uncertainty shaped the years before the operation 
•  what he has reclaimed in himself since the transplant, including joy and softness

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this episode, author and relationship coach Alison Armstrong breaks down how women often misunderstand men, and how that misunderstanding creates tension, shame, and conflict in relationships. The conversation explores respect, provision, partnership, emotional control, and the deeper pressures many men carry that women often never see.

SHOW NOTES:

- Alison’s story and turning point in how she saw men
- Respect, appreciation and what men respond to
- Purpose, provision and solving problems
- Shame, failure and the male experience
- Giving, receiving and relational balance
- Power struggles and misunderstanding in relationships
- Male self-control and emotional intensity
- Fear, anger and the “rage monster”

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this episode, highly successful entrepreneur and Bournemouth Sevens founder Dodge Woodall shares what he sees in successful men who look fine on the outside but are struggling underneath. The conversation explores money, risk, burnout, marriage, emotional awareness, and why more men need honest support before things fall apart.

SHOW NOTES:

•  Why many men with status, money, and responsibility still feel deeply lost 
•  How risk, pressure, and obsession can drive entrepreneurial success and personal cost 
•  What has helped him stay connected to his wife through years of building 
•  How his parents shaped his self-belief, discipline, and way of relating to people 
•  Why unresolved emotion eventually catches up with men in business and in life

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this episode, Craig is joined by Kayse Gehret, a healing arts practitioner and microdosing educator. During the discussion she explains how psilocybin microdosing can support nervous system regulation, emotional healing, and deeper presence. The conversation explores Casey’s personal healing journey, what microdosing actually is, and why so many men are drawn to this work when stress, pressure, and emotional armouring start taking a toll.

SHOW NOTES

-How losing her father and later developing seizures shaped her healing path 

 -What happened when she first tried psilocybin microdosing for her chronic symptoms 

 -Why many men fear softening, slowing down, and feeling more deeply 

 -How microdosing can support nervous system healing, presence, and intimacy 

 -What to consider around dosage, contraindications, and supporting practices

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this episode, Craig sits down for a second round with renowned men’s coach Traver Boehm to share his experience of a recent 49 day dark retreat.

Together they discuss what led him back into a 49-day dark retreat after a season of grief, death, and deep internal change. Traver opens up about fear, initiation, the psychological intensity of total darkness, and how the experience altered the way he works, writes, and lives.

SHOW NOTES:

- What pushed Traver to return to the dark
- Why the 49-day retreat felt like an initiation rather than an adventure
- How pain, boredom, grief, and isolation reshaped him
- The moment “one life, soul-led, all in” became his new framework for life
- What changed in his work  and way of relating after he came out

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this episode, Craig sits down with his wife Sara Carter to explore trauma, embodiment, healing, and the intelligence of the body. 

Sara shares how surviving rape, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and disconnection led her into a deep journey of somatic healing, self-trust, and learning how to listen to the body.

SHOW NOTES:

- How trauma left her numb, dissociated, and disconnected from her body 

- Why learning to feel safe again became the foundation of her healing 

- How breath, somatic practice, and authentic movement helped her reconnect with herself 

- Why women need to honor their cycles, emotions, and inner communication -

- How truth, honesty, and emotional ownership can transform relationships

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/

In this conversation, Craig sits down with a sexual energy and intimacy coach Graeme Watefield. Together they break down why so many men carry shame, silence, and confusion around sex. The discussion explores sexual energy in practical terms, how repression shows up in the lives of leader's and why breath, presence, and nervous system regulation matter in intimacy.

SHOW NOTES:

- How his own journey through compulsive porn use and early ejaculation led him into this work 

- What he means by “sexual energy” and why many men feel disconnected from it 

- How shame and repression can affect confidence, intimacy, and the way men relate 

- Why slowing down, breathing, and feeling the body can change sexual experience 

- How deeper presence can strengthen intimacy, relationships, and leadership

Season 3 is proudly sponsored by Lightside Financial Planning - a fiercely independent, Liverpool-based firm focused on clear, human conversations about money. 

Find out more at https://lightsidefp.co.uk/