In this episode, I’m sharing my experience of being diagnosed with fibromyalgia in early 2024 and reflecting on what it means to live with an invisible chronic illness. So much of modern life is built around visibility,  sharing images, documenting our lives online, and yet the most profound experiences often happen in places no one else can see. Living with chronic pain, brain fog and fatigue has made me think deeply about what visibility actually means, and about the strange tension between a culture that expects us to perform wellness and the reality of bodies that don’t always cooperate.

I talk about the long path that led to my diagnosis, beginning with an accident at the end of 2020 and years of symptoms that I initially explained away as recovery from surgeries and medication. Over time it became clear that something deeper was happening in my nervous system, and that my relationship to work, energy and daily life was changing in ways I couldn’t ignore. Learning to pace my energy has been one of the biggest shifts, as well as navigating the shame that can arise when chronic illness collides with cultural narratives about productivity, work and what a successful life is supposed to look like.

This episode is also about grief - the grief of changing identities, altered expectations and futures that look different from what we imagined. At the same time, it’s been an invitation to become curious about health in a deeper way: to learn about the nervous system, trauma, sleep, and the small everyday choices that help me care for my body with more compassion. My hope is that sharing this story might help others feel a little less alone, especially if they’re navigating illness that the world can’t easily see.

You are welcome to join the spring season of Soft Monday sessions over here: https://griefmagic.com/blessings/

Love,

Yarrow

In this episode of the Grief Magic podcast, I reflect on the relationship between grief and the changing seasons.

As spring returns, we explore what happens in nature during winter dormancy and how the quiet preparation of plants and trees mirrors many human emotional processes.

The episode introduces gentle practices for connecting with nature, including seasonal observation, small acts of ecological care, and growing flowers such as cosmos and sweet peas.

Rather than expecting nature to “heal” grief, this conversation invites us to experience the natural world as a quiet companion through cycles of loss and renewal.

You are welcome to join the spring season of Soft Monday sessions over here: https://griefmagic.com/blessings/

Love,

Yarrow

In this episode, I explore the idea of romantic friendship and the many ways humans create intimacy outside traditional relationship structures. I talk about how the nuclear family seems to lose its hold as a primary way of relating and about the ways in which not being able to form a traditional family can still feel like a loss. 

Whether you are queer or not, as always I hope that this episode feels validating to your beautiful, unique way of being in the world and forming relationships that actually work for you. 

You are welcome to join the spring season of Soft Monday sessions over here: https://griefmagic.com/blessings/

Love,

Yarrow

In this beautiful conversation with Skylar Rose we talk about aging, identity shifts, and the quiet, often unacknowledged grief that can accompany transitions like career changes, menopause, empty nests, or letting go of versions of ourselves that no longer fit. Skylar speaks beautifully about what it means to cross these thresholds with intention, and about the importance of feeling held as we move from one chapter of life into another.

What stayed with me most is Skylar’s description of midlife as a kind of unveiling. The coping mechanisms and expectations we once relied on can begin to fall away, inviting us into a deeper relationship with ourselves. We speak about the possibility that can emerge in this time of life, the courage to live more truthfully, to release external approval, and to imagine new ways of being. It’s a gentle, thoughtful conversation about aging, grief, possibility, and the beauty of allowing our lives to hold many truths at once.

Skylar Liberty Rose is a meditation teacher and pro-aging advocate who helps midlife women embrace aging with confidence and purpose. Her work has reached thousands of women worldwide, inspiring deep transformation. Through her signature Elevations — personalized guided meditations for life transitions and goals — Skylar offers tailored support that delivers tangible results. Her clients move beyond ageist stereotypes, challenge anti-aging culture, and step into purposeful, empowered change. https://www.skylarlibertyrose.com

You are welcome to join the spring season of Soft Monday sessions over here: https://griefmagic.com/blessings/

Love,

Yarrow

In this episode of the Grief Magic podcast, I reflect on what it means to live with limited capacity in a culture that constantly demands more.

Looking at historical shifts in work patterns, the rise of the 24 hour information cycle, and the impact of recent UK policies around disability and employment, this episode explores how feelings of exhaustion and overwhelm are often structural rather than personal.

I also reflect on how industrialisation shaped modern ideas of productivity and worth, and how these ideas continue to influence how we judge ourselves today. As always my hope is that listening makes you feel less alone and that you know you are beautiful and worthy regardless of what you produce. 

You are welcome to join the spring season of Soft Monday sessions over here: https://griefmagic.com/blessings/

Love,

Yarrow

In this episode, I’m exploring journaling, narrative psychology, and the idea of romanticising everyday life.

This winter I returned to journaling in a more visual way and began noticing how colour, collage and imagery can reveal emotional patterns that text alone sometimes hides.

From there I became curious about narrative psychology, the idea that we understand our lives through the stories we tell about our experiences. Research suggests that consciously revisiting and reshaping these narratives can support healing, especially for trauma survivors and neurodivergent people.

I also reflect on a recent conversation about romance and how I realised that I want to be romantic with everyone I love, not only in the context of partnership.

You can join our free monthly sessions here: https://griefmagic.com/free-monthly-spark-sessions/

Love,

Yarrow

In this episode, I’m sharing more practical reflections on making friends as an adult after a more waffly episode last week. Friendships or the lack of feeling really known can bring up grief, awkwardness, hope, and so much longing. I wanted to offer a few grounded ideas for building connection in ways that feel sustainable, especially if you’re neurodivergent, sensitive, queer, living with disability, or simply navigating a changing season of life.

We explore:

• Doing an honest assessment of what actually makes you feel connected

• Creating space to be yourself and to unmask gently

• Joining spaces where you feel welcomed and where your way of relating is understood

• Spending time in nature as a relational practice, noticing who is there, watching the seasons, and becoming intimate with the landscape

• Hosting the spaces you wish existed, online or offline

If friendship has felt hard lately, I hope this episode leaves you feeling less alone, and more resourced to take one small step toward the kind of companionship you want.

You are also welcome to join our weekly sessions, the self-study Grief Glimmers course or my free monthly Spark sessions over at https://griefmagic.com/

Love,

Yarrow

In this episode, I’m talking about loneliness, the lingering impact of lockdown, and what it can feel like to make friends as an adult.

So many of us experience loneliness at least sometimes, especially in a world shaped by social media, remote work, changing friendships, and the long imprint of the pandemic.

I reflect on how disability, chronic illness, and neurodivergence can make conventional social scripts harder to follow, and how our nervous systems can hold both a need for connection and a need for solititude.

I also share a little about moving to Scotland without an established social network, and what helped me slowly rebuild connection in ways that actually felt good.

Here is the sign up for the decluttering fundraiser workshop I mentioned: https://griefmagic.com/spring-cocoon/

Love,

Yarrow

In this episode, I’m in conversation with trauma-informed somatic practitioner and educator Darshana Avila about the relationship between grief, pleasure, and aliveness.

We explore how pain and joy are not opposites, but part of the same spectrum of being human. Darshana shares how her work has evolved from sacred sexuality and body-based healing into a broader exploration of what she calls “erotic wholeness” — not limited to sex, but rooted in life force, creativity, grief, connection and presence.

We talk about:

• How grief and pleasure can coexist

• The idea of eros as aliveness rather than performance

• The role of community and ritual in grief

• Moving beyond binary ideas of “good” and “bad” emotions

• Trauma-informed ways of relating to ourselves

Darshana Avila is a trauma-informed somatic educator, practitioner and international speaker who helps people reconnect with the most essential aspects of themselves — their truth, their desires, and their capacity for profound pleasure and power. 

Known for her grounded, candid, and relational approach, she bridges the worlds of erotic embodiment, trauma healing and self actualization.

Darshana’s work has been featured on Netflix’s Sex, Love & goop, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and numerous leading podcasts.

darshanaavila.com 

instagram.com/darshana_avila

youtube.com/@darshana-avila

linkedin.com/in/darshana-avila

You can join monthly Spark sessions with Yarrow over here: https://griefmagic.com/free-monthly-spark-sessions/

Thank you for listening!

Love,

Yarrow

In this gentle solo episode, I’m sharing some thoughts about how I’ve slowly shaped my home into a place that feels like a cocoon, somewhere to truly rest.

I talk about why cocooning begins with decluttering rather than buying more, how choosing a simple colour landscape (for me, green and pink) creates visual calm, and why I love filling my space with natural textures like cotton, linen, and velvet (often second hand).

We explore how light moves through a home, how to create different zones for work and rest, the magic of soft lighting, scent, and a few small rituals that help a space feel protected and intentional.

This is not an episode about perfect interiors, i’s about tending to the space that tends to you.

Here is the sign up for the decluttering fundraiser I mentioned: https://griefmagic.com/spring-cocoon/https://griefmagic.com/spring-cocoon/

Thanks for listening!

Love,

Yarrow