Fear Itself with Cressida Bonas

About The Episode

The guest on Fear Itself today is award-winning journalist and adventurer Jaimal Yogis. In this episode, Cressida asks Jaimal about his time spent living mindfully in a Zen Buddhist monastery, Jaimal reveals what it's really like to experience surfing the crushing Californian waves at Mavericks, and we get a glimpse into the most frightening moment of Jaimal’s life.

About The Guest 

Jaimal Yogis is an American author, producer, and screenwriter. Yogis began his career as a journalist, writing for publications like San Francisco Magazine, ESPN, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. His pieces won numerous awards and Yogis's first book, Saltwater Buddha, was internationally praised, translated into numerous languages, and turned into a feature documentary film. His second book, The Fear Project, interviews many of the world's top scientists, psychologists, and athletes about what fear is and how to live mindfully and courageously in spite of it. 

About The Host

Cressida Bonas is an actress, podcaster and writer. Cressida has had leading acting roles in a number of well known television and film productions - such as her role as Sheila Bamber in the critically acclaimed Netflix series White House Farm. Some of Cressida's other work include roles in the ITV series Dr Thorne, the film The Bye Bye Man, and in theatre productions Mrs Orwell and An Evening with Lucien Freud. Cressida writes a monthly column for the arts and culture section in The Spectator and her written work has been featured in The Telegraph, and The Mail on Sunday

Top Quotes

"Clinging to subjective ideas of who we are will make us self-obsessed to the point that where we're debilitated by fear and anxiety" - Jaimal Yogis

"You want to have a healthy fear response because you want to be able to react quickly. What you don't want is for fear to become a thing that pesters you. That's where meditation can help." - Jaimal Yogis

Resources

Follow Cressida Bonas on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cressida_bonas_/?hl=en

Follow Jaimal Yogis on instagram here:  https://www.instagram.com/jaimalyogis/?hl=en

Learn more about Jaimal’s latest children’s book, Mop Rides the Waves of Change, here. 

This podcast episode is produced by OneFinePlay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About The Episode

The guest today on the podcast is award winning journalist and BBC broadcaster, Emma Barnett. In this episode, we find out how Emma toughed it through pain so severe it's caused her to blackout, Emma elaborates on the fears surrounding her experiences with IVF, and we find out about the time she bravely fought off her friend's attacker while on holiday!

About The Guest 

Emma Barnett is a British broadcaster and journalist. Emma Barnett worked as a journalist at The Telegraph for several years where her roles included being Digital Media Editor and then Women's Editor. She then started her role as a radio host at LBC, but moved to Radio 5 Live in 2014. Emma is also a presenter on Woman's Hour On Radio 4 and, in 2019, it was announced Emma Barnett would become one of the presenters for Newsnight.

About The Host 

Cressida Bonas is an actress, podcaster and writer. Cressida has had leading acting roles in a number of well known television and film productions - such as her role as Sheila Bamber in the critically acclaimed Netflix series White House Farm. Some of Cressida's other work include roles in the ITV series Dr Thorne, the film The Bye Bye Man, and in theatre productions Mrs Orwell and An Evening with Lucien Freud. Cressida writes a monthly column for the arts and culture section in The Spectator and her written work has been featured in The Telegraph, and The Mail on Sunday

Top Quotes

"Women's health is not prioritised in the way that it should be; nor is it explained to us in the way that it should be; nor do we feel in command of the facts all the time." - Emma Barnett

"We think women and pain should go together like bread and butter but we shouldn't and don't need to. The shame stops us from talking." - Emma Barnett

Resources

Follow Cressida Bonas on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cressida_bonas_/?hl=en

Follow Emma on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/emmabarnett/?hl=en

Check out Emma’s book, Period, here

This podcast episode is produced by OneFinePlay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to season 3 of Fear Itself, the podcast where Cressida Bonas shares conversations around the concept of fear with incredible people. 

In series one and two, Cressida learnt a lot about fear from her amazing guests but, just as our fears evolve through life, the podcast evolves as well. Season 3 will develop a creatively new, exciting approach. Conversations with guests will be structured to illustrate how fear has an impact on all aspects of one’s life: your childhood, your career, and your relationships.

In the first two acts of the show, we will hear how the guest's fears as a child and fears as an adult cross pollinate - informing and defining their success, mindset, and approach to life. Then in act 3, the conversation will move from focusing on fear itself to courage - conveying that once fear has been rationalised, analysed and understood, then positivity, empowerment and courage can take centre stage. 

Cressida in her own words: “In the show, I will be having conversations with people about their personal stories around fear. In my experience fear can be motivational, but it can also hold me back and I’m curious to understand this dynamic a bit better. How does fear show up, how do people try to hide it, how can we harness it and how can we learn from it? My guests all share interesting stories on how they live with their fears, overcome their fears and sometimes even welcome their fears.”

Season 3 will be the biggest yet with guests including Richard Branson, Emma Barnett, Jamie Lang, and John Armstrong just to name a few. So please join us, this is Fear Itself.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is Sylvia Mac, Child Burn Survivor & Founder of Love Disfigure. Sylvia endured third and fourth degree burns across her body as a result of an accident when she was just three years old. The experience and her gruelling treatment left her traumatised, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression in later life as well as suicidal thoughts.

Finding that there was not much help for burn survivors, Sylvia created LoveDisfigure, a campaign to raise awareness and support for those living with disfigurement and differences. Through the campaign, she revealed a video that showed her scars and her story about the accident, with others being encouraged to do the same. She has since been actively campaigning for people with visible & hidden differences to become accepted in society. She has received a Point of Light Award for her voluntary services from Theresa May.

Sylvia says her life is dedicated to making a difference. Her incredible story has touched hearts, inspired and helped many. When asked what she thinks makes a woman fabulous and fearless, she says “When women put themselves out there to lead the way for others.”

In this episode, Sylvia talks about how she survived her burns as a child and the trauma she's gone through. We talk about how she responded to this trauma growing up and what effect it had on her at school, relationships and on her self confidence.

The fear of water is very deep rooted for Sylvia and links back to her memories of school. To overcome it she swam one of the toughest open water challenges. Sylvia wanted to show people you can face your fears and overcome anything.

We talk about her fear of speaking to an audience, the positive voice on one shoulder and the negative voice on the other, and how this fear saw her turning away from job interviews because she felt lesser then, and throwing presentations in the bin. Sylvia has bravely overcome this fear too and now speaks to Governments. I ask her how she did this, and we talk about her journey to finding self acceptance and self love.

Find out more about Sylvia and her work at Lovedisfigure.com

** This episode was recorded remotely due to Covid 19 **

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Love is what moves the sun and the other stars...

My guest this week is Dr Iain McGilchrist. A Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. He has published original articles and research papers in a wide range of publications on topics in literature, philosophy, medicine and psychiatry. He is the author of a number of books and is best-known for The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. This book is a product of 20 years of research and which I believe to be one of the most important books of our time. 

Could the problems in the modern world be influenced by an imbalance in the human brain? And how do the left and right hemispheres of our brain differ and make sense of the world?

We discuss the divided brain, and why it has such an important meaning for us today. I wanted to know whether we all have this damage to our right hemisphere, and what it means if the left side of the brain dominated the right. I questioned my response to beautiful music - is this experienced through the right hemisphere? - and we talked about the three things which make the right hemisphere stand out in its contribution to the human experience.

Because this is love itself, we also talked about the things which make a flourishing relationship, what we might call "the soul", and how we can accept both our dark side and the failures within ourselves in order to become succesfull, balance human beings.

Follow Dr Iain Mcgilchrist's work -

www.channelmcgilchrist.com

www.thedividedbrain.com

www.iainmcgilchrist.com

** This episode was recorded remotely due to Covid19 **

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The identity of my guest this week will be kept secret in order to protect her and her family. For this purpose, I will be calling my guest Jenny throughout this episode. Jenny grew up in the North West. Her Dad left when she was small and her mum, who is of South East Asian descent, raised Jenny and her 2 sisters. At 13 Jenny was groomed and trafficked by her neighbour. This abuse carried on until she was 23 when she finally managed to escape and get help. The salvation Army found her a safe house where she received after care and support. Knowing that there’s much more needed to be done for victims of trafficking, she went and qualified as a social worker and is about to study at a UK University specialising in modern slavery. Jenny says she is grateful to be alive and is now grabbing all of life’s opportunities. She is passionate about elephants, Thailand, loves cooking and can speak several languages. She loves art and writes poetry in order to lift others up. 

This episode is not sponsored, but I'd like to talk about The Anti-Slavery Collective. There are more enslaved people today than at any other point in history and, at any one time, someone is being trafficked within a mile of where you live. We often associate slavery with chains and shackles, but modern slavery is a hidden crime that is hard to detect. The Anti-Slavery Collective is an independent collective fighting against the global epidemic of modern slavery by raising awareness, convening changemakers, and highlighting the amazing work of the movement. The Anti Slavery Collective's mission is to raise awareness for modern slavery as a global epidemic. They encourage law enforcement agencies, policy makers, journalists, academics, NGOs, companies, individuals, and survivors to collaborate and share ideas on how we can fight human trafficking. There are currently 40.3 million victims of modern slavery in the world, it's a global crime that requires a global response. William Wilberforce once said, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know."

If you suspect that you or someone you’ve come across could be a victim of modern slavery and in need of help call The Salvation Army’s 24/7 confidential referral helpline on 0800 808 3733.

** This episode was recorded remotely due to Covid 19 **

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is Juno Dawson. Juno is a bestselling novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and a columnist for Attitude Magazine. Her writing has appeared in Glamour, The Pool, Dazed and the Guardian. She has also contributed to news items on BBC Women’s Hour, Front Row, ITV News, Channel 5 News, This Morning and Newsnight. She is presently adapting her 2019 novel, MEAT MARKET for television. Juno grew up in West Yorkshire, writing imaginary episodes of Doctor Who. She later turned her talent to journalism, interviewing luminaries such as Steps and Atomic Kitten, before writing a weekly serial in a Brighton newspaper. Juno writes full time and lives in Brighton. She is a part of the queer cabaret collective known as CLUB SILENCIO. In 2014 Juno became a School Role Model for the charity STONEWALL.

I loved this conversation with Juno, I'd like to have chatted with her all day. I'm so grateful she is talking about this fear because it's not spoken about enough.

We discuss how Juno became free to be who she is today, education, seeing a future for herself and how the "constant toothache" has gone. We talk about trolls, lockdown marriages, using your voice, living with a life limiting condition, anxiety and IBS, getting over embarrassment, the "imagined monster" and finding a version of your life you're happier with.

** This episode was recorded remotely due to Covid-19 **

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yomi Adegoke is a multi-award winning journalist who is currently the woman's columnist at The Guardian and the i paper. She is also co-author of the bestselling book Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible and co-curator of the anthology Loud Black Girls. Yomi is someone who is always looking for the truth and her writing reflects this. We talk about how she found her love for writing, her struggle with depression at University and how writing got her through the darkness. Yomi talks about how success and anxiety are linked and where the fear of "peaking too soon" comes from.

** This episode was recorded remotely due to Covid-19 **

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Love is kindness in action...

Donna is one of the Co-founders and facilitators of The Bridge Retreat and has been working with individuals, couples and groups for almost 30 years. 

She’s a qualified Hoffman Teacher with the Hoffman Institute UK. She then went on to become their Head of Teaching.

Donna is passionate about the subject of grief and the grieving process which she believes offers the missing link for many in their search for wholeness. This interest stemmed from her own very personal experience of ‘depression’ which she suffered from for many years and now knows to have in fact been unprocessed grief.

On The Bridge, Donna uses a variety of approaches including ancient ritual practices to support people to grieve and move on from their losses. These losses might include, divorce and separation, loss of innocence, betrayals of trust, identity issues, bereavement, missed motherhood and loss of meaning and purpose.

Donna says ‘Through allowing and supporting the natural order of the grieving process to flow, people find themselves remembering who they really are and living from this true place. When there is ‘unfinished business’ in our lives, it is very hard to move on and engage with life fully. Grieving allows us to cross the bridge from past hurts and sorrow into a place of lightness and truth.’

Her book called The Bridge will be out early 2022 and there are online courses you can find on The Bridge Retreat Website that offer support. I have done one of these courses very recently and Its one of the most amazing things I've ever done.

We talk about love being the key ingredient to joy, the inner critic, boundaries, healing in communities, love residing in fear, how we avoid heartache, unfinished business and much more..! I did an online course with Donna recently and it was one of the BEST things i've ever done... I learnt so much. A lifelong teacher. For more info about Donna and her work head to www.thebridgeretreat.com

** This episode was recorded remotely due to Covid19 **

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is Matt Haig, author of bestselling books Reasons To Stay Alive, How To Stop Time, and Notes On A Nervous Planet - which is one of my top most favourite books which sits firmly on my bedside table. His new book, The Midnight Library, is out now and is a number one Sunday Times Bestseller, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and was a BBC Two Between The Covers book club pick.

I've followed Matt and his work for some time and wanted to ask him to come on the podcast for ages, but felt nervous to reach out (the fear!) Eventually I did ask him and I was very happy when he said yes. We talk about men and mental health, the fear of losing the ones we love, addiction, uncertainty, acceptance AND one of my favourite things to talk about.... looking up at the stars and the sky.

At the beginning of this ep I talk about the charity James Place. This charity exists to save the lives of men in suicidal crisis. Suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50. The first James’ Place opened two years ago in Liverpool, the first of its kind in the UK, and has supported more than 400 men experiencing suicidal crisis, delivered by trained therapists. A new James’ Place will open in London in early 2021.

The charity was set up by Clare Milford Haven and Nick Wentworth-Stanley, my in-laws, after their twenty-one-year-old son, James, died by suicide ten days after a minor operation. James had no history of mental illness or depression and had sought urgent help for anxiety and suicidal thoughts, but didn’t find it.  

A new James Place will open in London in early 2021. You can find out more at Jamesplace.org.uk 

** This episode was recorded remotely via Zoom **

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.