Gone Workabout

In this episode of Gone Workabout, practical philosopher Paul Baker shares some of the highlights of his life to date, spanning Ceramics at Eton, to attempting to teach Richard Branson to fly, to the Alexander technique and beyond.

Paul has a matter of factness about him that is both refreshing and charming. As his story unfolds, it becomes clear that it is all heading in one direction - a better understanding of people and how to support both individuals and groups to live life more lightly.

About the show:

Gone Workabout is a show where host Oliver Happy talks to people who move about the things that matter most. Each conversation starts with childhood origins, and evolves organically as we explore wide-ranging topics.

About my guest:

Paul Baker is a practical philosopher who started life as an awarded Ceramicist, who then opened the UK's first hang gliding school and later to explore hypnotism and therapy on his lifelong journey to help people live more lightly. Paul is a therapist, coach and trainer. He lives in the South East of England.

• Email: Contact Paul Baker

Show mentions:

• Life as a bit of an outsider and that feeling of never really quite fitting in, then realising I didn't really want to
• Eton as a high school that has is very old, and has originated a large number of british prime ministers
• 03:00 Eton as a high school leading to Sandhurst as a military academy for officers
• 04:00 Eton hierarchy by age group and pupil / servants vs the Christian ideals underpinning the education.
• Dyslexia as a barrier to higher education and university.
• 08:15 Hang gliding as a business venture and obviously the most sensible thing you could do
• Stalling a glider as a means to surviving an almost 1000 ft drop on the first flight
• 09:45 The high school of hang gliding as a business venture
• 10:30 Learning to be an instructor being based on information in digestible chunks
• 11:20 Hang gliding as a way to empower people.
• 12:30 the best air is near the cliff and needs you to run off a cliff as fast as you can
• What feels dangerous can actually be really safe and what feels safe can be very dangerous
• You can feel safe but it doesn't mean you necessarily are. And while heading to the edge of the cliff you can actually be very safe and on the right path
• How do our feelings and our thinking relate to the world around us?
• 16:00 hang gliding moving to towing, moving to microlights
• Design principles as a source for designing hang gliding harnesses
• 18:20 the emergence of powered hang gliders
• My brother helped invent bungee jumping and the second bungy jump ever being off the golden gate bridge in san francisco
• Ending up on the evening news as being in a light aeroplane (microlights) leading to an influx in people wanting to learn
• The fundamentals of teaching people to fly light aeroplanes - understanding the risks and learning how to control them
• Teaching the marquis of Bath to fly (he wasn't a great pupil)
• Teaching Mike Oldfield and Richard Branson to fly
• Richard Branson as someone who was completely able to follow instructions, yet who is brilliant at creating businesses
• Going bust after 10 years of flight schools and taking a moment to look at what I'd learned
• 26:30 going green and doing something natural with gardening as a way to learn from mistakes
• Gardening as fighting nature and leading to an interest in Permaculture (Permanent agriculture)
• Permaculture as a methodology that looks at mimicing nature in a way that leads to growing things that are useful to us
• Related episode: From little things big things grow
• Recognising that you can't separate agriculture from people looking after land
• 31:00 Realising that everything is not linear, but is actually systemic.
• 31:30, 34:00 The Alexander technique - a study of thinking in relation to movement
• Frederick Matthias Alexander as a young Australian actor over 100 years ago, who was losing his voice, who came up with this method to study his movements when talking when reciting as a way to heal
• Book - Frederick Alexander: Man's supreme inheritance
• Book - Frederick Alexander: The use of the self
• Inhibition - the concept of receiving an experience and not doing anything immediately as a response
• Which is more important? to solve the problem or to not create the circumstances that caused the problem?
• Let's tackle problems by identifying the cause and not causing the problem in the first place.
• 37:00 mediation and conflict resolution advice - if someone says something that upsets you, only react if you think there is an advantage in doing so.
• Learning about people and how about how we can not get in each other's way
• 40:45 NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming
• Virginia Satir family therapist
• NLP growing out of an inability of great practitioners to teach others what they did. Based on an idea of people not knowing what they are doing. Leading to a modelling of their behaviour to via elimination to identifying the elements that works
• Milton Ericcson as an extraordinary therapist they studied
• John McWhorter as a Glaswegian Social Worker who used NLP to help his clients.
• Century Systems and John McWorter's work
• 44:00 DBM Developmental Behavioural Modelling as a study of human design - what do we do consciously, what do we do unconsciously?
• Hypnosis and hypnotherapy as a set of tools to help deliver hypnotherapy
• The hypnosis as an aid to help you get into the appropriate state of mind for the work you are trying to do
• 46:00 the fascinating thing about hypnotherapy
• To do anything of significance you have to do work to achieve the result
• Book - Karl Jung's Memories, dreams and reflections as an inspiration to learn more about Psychology
• Arnold Mendel and an interest in Process Work
• 51:00 the biggest problem we have is almost too much information
• Book - Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
• You can't just read a book once and get everything that is there
• 56:00 Practical philosophy as a love of wisdom and applying it to everyday life
• 57:00 we do all need to reinvent the wheel to understand what it is an why
• Designing as a way to go down to the surface and discover what it all means
• 58:00 let's make sure this life is good
• This life includes our future life in this life
• Listening and the whole listening problem.
• 01:02:00 needing to find a balance between listening to the inner voice and the voice without and knowing when to listen to each
• A fascination with the nature of reactions to what is going on in our environment. What we do changes our environment.
• 01:04:00 boiling it all down, we only really do two things in life...
• 01:06:00 life itself is a positive sum game
• Why are we finding it so difficult to work together, play together and get along together?
• 01:08:00 wouldn't it be better to create a systemic win?
• Systemic win as a choice to make a choice to build a positive sum game
• Humans are successful due to our extraordinary ability to collaborate

Logo concept by Dan Mazig of Brilliant Studio. Photo by McCall Alexander on Unsplash.

Music executive, entreprenuer and humanitarian Inma Grass provides Gone Workabout with a window into a music industry that has changed so much since the advent of downloading, iTunes and now Spotify.

Through sharing her story spanning southern Spain, to Ibiza, to America and back again, Inma shows how music has both driven her and has provided both meaning and an opportunity to give back via the Altafonte foundation.

It is rare to meet someone who has rubbed shoulders with such greats as Manu Chau, Manuel Garcia (and many others), yet remains true to the spirit of helping artists share their music beyond their borders - while getting paid fairly for it. From being credited with breaking Salsa in the 90s through to being at one point the fastest growing Spanish Hip Hop label, Inma has certainly seen it all.

From discovering a newly-arrived Seydu busking on the streets of Madrid, to helping him to a high-flying career as a percussionist and finally to supporting his Diamond Child School in his homeland Sierra Leone, Inma paints a humanist picture of the music industry and leaves you wanting to support your local indie artists.

Show mentions:

• Altafonte: https://altafonte.com
• Almashala yoga retreat, Portugal: https://almashala.com/
• Artist - Seydu: https://seydu.net
• Diamond Child Shool, Sierra Leone: https://pjhap.wordpress.com/tag/diamond-child-school/
• Artist - Kiko Veneno: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiko_Veneno
• Artist - Nano Stern: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nano_Stern
• Artist - Manuel Garcia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Garc%C3%ADa_(tenor)
• Artist - Craig Armstrong: https://www.qwant.com/music/artist/craig-armstrong

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About my guest:

Inma Grass is a Spanish-born music executive, entreprenuer and humanitarian who co-founded Altefonte - a heavyweight in the Latin music world. Interesting parents, a career in music, a lifelong practive of yoga and a husband who shares her fair share approach ensures that Inma's story to date has something for everyone.

• Altafonte: https://altafonte.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/inma-grass-420013b/

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Support the show on Patreon:

You can support Gone Workabout here: https://donate.goneworkabout.com

Book a yoga retreat at Almashala Portugal:

I highly recommend a long weekend or a week at the beautiful Almashala (https://almashala.com/) yoga retreat in an authentic Portuguese village on the coast near Lisbon. In our case, the week including delicious Italian-inspired vegan food, a wide range of yoga classes, meditations, a relaxing gong class, singalongs in the evenings, walking to the wild surf beaches nearby and a day trip to picturesque Ereceira 15 mins away. They are doing something special here and it's well worth considering as a way to rebalance and recharge your batteries.

Logo concept by Dan Mazig.

Recorded on location in beautiful Portugal, this episode of Gone Workabout features Permaculture expert Peppi Gauci. Peppi shares his story starting in Malta as a teen with wanderlust, to Australia and finally to Portugal.

He shares most importantly how following your nose can lead you to exactly the places you need to be.

In his case, to turning a plot of stony desert into a lush example of reforestation in Malta and to teaching Permaculture to help others regenerate what they find around them.

This episode is named in honour of Australian musician Paul Kelly (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kelly_(Australian_musician)) whose song by the same name inspired so many towards reconciliation with the Aboriginal people of Australia.

Topics covered:

• What is Permaculture and how does it work?
• How the concepts of Permaculture apply to all relationships in our lives
• Learn to grow sprouts at home: www.peppizenglifestyle.com
• Bahrija farm in Malta: www.bahrijaoasis.com
• An extended working holiday in Australia
• Surfing
• Yoga
• Song: Paul Kelly - From little things big things grow

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Contacting my guest:

• Peppi's Permaculture training: www.peppizenglifestyle.com
• Bahrija farm in Malta: www.bahrijaoasis.com

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Book a yoga retreat at Almashala Portugal:

I highly recommend a long weekend or a week at the beautiful Almashala (https://almashala.com/) yoga retreat in an authentic Portuguese village on the coast near Lisbon. In our case, the week including delicious Italian-inspired vegan food, a wide range of yoga classes, meditations, a relaxing gong class, singalongs in the evenings, walking to the wild surf beaches nearby and a day trip to picturesque Ereceira 15 mins away. They are doing something special here and it's well worth considering as a way to rebalance and recharge your batteries.

Social promo photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Adam from Give Kefir shares a tale of global wanderings, packing up and living in a motorhome, thoughts on Consumerism and most importantly, how he and his family found themselves giving away Kefir in Siem Reap Cambodia.

The pre-Covid tale stretches from Montana to Hawaii, includes sleeping under the stars and living in up and up U.S. suburbs and covers so many of the dilemmas inherent in modern life.

About my guest:

Adam Close is a Social Entrepreneur and with his wife, is co-founder of Give Kefir. Give Kefir is a probiotic brewery and tasting room in Siem Reap, Cambodia offering probiotic teas,water kefir, kombucha and jun.

• Give Kefir on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GIVEKefir/
• Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-close-6464386/

Show mentions:

• Angkor Wat
• Siem Reap
• Art with Hannah

Continuing the life during lockdown series, Podiatrist and Small business owner Susan Kingi of Aotearoa (New Zealand) shares just what made the Kiwi response to Covid-19 so remarkable. Specifically, the way "Team Jacinda" communicated, what the rest of us can learn from this and most importantly, that there is a Jacinda Ardern in every country if we would only elect them.

Show mentions:

1. Jacinda Ardern
2. Tangis and the Maori approach to mourning

In a life during lockdown episode, Jonathan Goodwin describes growing up in London, moving to France, the origins of RnB and of course, the English experience of lock down.

Contacting Jonathan:

• Jonathan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangoodwin1/
• Jonathan's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonnygoodz07/

Show mentions:

• Book - The meditations of Marcus Aurelius
• Music - Bob Marley, Sean Paul
• Music: Davinia Goodwin
• Inspired by Music records
• Choice radio London

Continuing the life during lockdown series, this Gone Workabout episode features Matt and Karla Bailey from Must Do Canada. They share the Canadian experience and why they are pretty happy with how their Government have handled the pandemic. How has lockdown affected their Canada-wide travel show and what have they learned from indoor life? They share how they are flexing their plans and give advice from others as we emerge from lockdown and explore the new normal.

About our guests:

Matt and Karla embody the spirit of global travel. As bloggers they have shared the experience of years spent on the road particularly in South East Asia and now as YouTubers they have shot to success with their channel Must Do Canada reaching over 400,000 views on a single video. They are wandering spirits who know the value of working hard and have a lot of experiences worth sharing.

Contacting our guests:

• Website - Must Do Canada: https://www.mustdocanada.com/
• YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M078XrAjBJQ

Show mentions:

• Canada Free Flyers: https://www.canadianfreeflyers.com/
• Matt's blog Live Limitless: https://www.livelimitless.net/
• Art with Hannah: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe0qlF7tDn2nwhBZw0XpTGg
• Curiosity Incorporated YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgclKg8oaVlkuCurCxo2hOw
• Audiobook: 10 habits for happiness: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Habits-for-Happiness-Audiobook/B082FJQYX2
• Book Trevor Noah - Born a Crime: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Born-Crime-Stories-African-Childhood/dp/1473635306

In the third in the Gone Workabout life during lockdown series, Actress, Comedian and Writer Marsha of Roma gives us an insight into the biggest covid-19 story of all - the Italian experience. From the progression of the virus south to the capital, to the lessons improv comedy teaches us about life, this episode will have you stopped dead in your tracks, laughing and smiling.

Contacting Marsha:

• Via her website: http://www.marshadesalvatore.com/
• On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marsha-de-salvatore-6a27791b/

Show mentions:

• Rome's Comedy Club: https://www.facebook.com/RomesComedyClub/

The second installment of the Gone Workabout life during lockdown series, with Travel Agent, ethical traveller and very Australian Cass Newbold of Melbourne. We cover a lot in this conversation but focus on what life has been like during the pandemic and importantly, why the highest rates of infection have been in 20-29 year old men.

Topics include:

Ethical travel, Covid-19, Elephant riding (and why not to do it), life after lockdown, Veganism, Eating Kangaroos, The travel industy and sunny Melbourne.

Show mentions:

• Roo Tuesdays
• PETA: Why we shouldn't ride elephants

The first in a Gone Workabout life during lock down series. Sonia Glez gives the España perspective on the pandemic, on lessons learned and on how the world is changing.

Sonia is a Dentist based in the UK, is originally from Madrid Spain and was until lock down a free travelling spirit. This is an uplifting, pertinent and touching episode which will bring comfort to many.

Show mentions:

- Sonia's YouTube Covid-19 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtbjby0ryXQ