John Millar

John’s passion is in making the ideas and practices within the Chinese moving meditation of Qigong fun, accessible and relevant to a modern western audience. This passion has led him to work with many corporate and healthcare organisations in the UK, mainland Europe and the Middle East.

He is a regular speaker at the Integrative Health Convention, an active member of the College of Medicine and a regular contributor to Integrative Health events in the UK and Europe.

Since being introduced to Qigong in 1997, John’s exploration has led him to study with some of the most highly regarded teachers of Qigong in the UK, Europe, Australasia and China.

John shares how moving meditation brings a state of awareness of a person’s inner narrative. And from that place to be able to choose between remaining comfortable or using that awareness as a place of transformation.

He talks about the difference between eyes open vs eyes closed practice and how this works in real life as a way of stress release.

How important is the accuracy of form? The answer lies, according to John, in avoidance of disrupting the mind-body connection. At times intention matters more when people have limitations of movement. At other times accuracy can reflect the internal dialogue.

John also talks about how integrative medicine and Qigong combine to support patients and reduce experienced stress levels.

www.energyplay.co.uk

Diana Squires  Talks to us about her work and recent dissertation on resilience in the arts and culture sector. 

She reflects on the boosting resilience program she was involved with and how the different elements led to organisational resilience and innovation.  

The conversations explored risk-taking and strategies for working through the necessary practicalities. We discuss the way competing needs can be addressed.  

The mindset of sustainably innovating came to light as Diana reflected on the tie-ups between organisational and personal resilience.  

She shared the spiritual aspects of resilience and how prayer is a means of help in remaining open when facing the uncertainty of pandemic times.   

The concept of thankfulness combined with taking thoughts captive for her came from a strong family background. Her daily practices enabled Diana to remain open to finding new opportunities and staying in a positive mindset.  

We talked about ideas around learning to accept fallow periods are regenerative times where there is value to be found. Speaking of “wintering” also brought a fresh lens for viewing opportunities that bring resilience to the foreground.  

With a passion apparent throughout, Diana shared her thoughts on the importance of staying close to our values and vision that enables us to do our best work, especially in the face of, at times, trying circumstances.  

Diana Squires is a Canadian and moved to the UK for her Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership at Bayes Business School.  

Her background is in third sector management programme delivery. Her specialist interest is within the arts and culture sector and brings a passion for relationship building.  

Diana currently works as a consultant public speaker and podcast producer focusing on innovation and social impact.  

You can find Diana Squires at:  

linkedin.com/in/diana-squires  

[email protected]

#Resilience #Momentum #Self-awareness #TeamMe 

Resilience is based on self-knowledge and self-awareness. When you understand this, the ability to flex in different situations rises exponentially.

Pad shares his system of archetypes with us and gives some real-world examples of how it can be applied. In a pandemic world where uncertainty has risen exponentially, knowing how you tend to react together with understanding why others tend to behave in prescribed patterns is a definite bonus.  

Pad can be found at: 

https://www.teamme.com/ 

https://www.teamme.com/teamguy.html 

To access a personal profile, check out: 

https://teamme.app/

#health #motivation #momentum #resilience

Roi Shternin went from chronic patient to chronic entrepreneur. He was once a chronic patient with several symptoms which have confined him to bed. Through a long process of self-exploration, he has transformed himself into a self-described chronic entrepreneur.   

He describes the ups and downs of first having to prove that he was sick through the arduous process of working through an elimination diet (twice) while at the same time fine-tuning an abnormal sleep pattern.  

Along the way, Roi Shternin has cultivated his passion as a health entrepreneur, including organising the first TEDx conference in Tel Aviv. Roi gives us a flavour of his entrepreneurial journey.  

We discuss the role of ego and the motivation for continuous innovation in the face of temptations along the way. Stay to the end when Roi describes his physical condition during our conversation.  Roi is the founder of the patient-led Israeli society for Dysautonomia and has founded several health start-ups and NGOs, including Help+, Valero Clinical, Project Hearts and Labriut!.  

Roi served as the first-ever Patient in Residence & Head of Patient Innovation for the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Austria and is acting as a board member for several health organisations.   He is the founder of the groundbreaking, first-ever Patient School globally. This digital school teaches patients what he has learned from a decade of unimaginable struggle.  

Roi is an international keynote speaker, media personality, and author. His book "Revolution From The Patient Bed" will be available in the upcoming months.  

https://roi.shternin.com/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/roi-shternin/

Is a person who it is fair to say savours life’s challenges to a depth that not many would go to.

From his Bangladeshi roots, he trained in classical Indian music before transitioning into music production. Largely self-taught and with a powerful internal drive Ershad has also managed to accumulate a couple of Masters in different areas of law.

In this episode of the resilience series, he shares some aspects of his life story to date. With a level of discipline and perseverance, Ershad exemplifies one driving force within- the belief that people can go beyond the external pressures of needing to conform to prescriptive life paths.

Ershad read for us one of his poems entitled Choose Your Fears Wisely which speaks directly to the listeners of being aware of the inner life and from that core to work relentlessly in pursuit of the possible.

Curiosity and a hunger for new experiences have kept  Ershad moving forward to a present that involves hosting a podcast series where his goal is to encourage personal creativity and problem-solving. And almost as an addendum, he is working towards a post-graduate degree in cognitive neuroscience.

https://www.instagram.com/ershad_al_knowingwhoyouare/

https://knowingwhoyouare.blog/

#momentum #resilience #mentalhealth 

Sue Smith has a combination of 30+ years of front-line medical experience along with the latest lifestyle medicine and coaching training. By integrating knowledge and behaviour change expertise her focus is on creating a sustained, significant impact in the lives of her clients.  

Sue shares with us her involvement with the organisation Walk with a Doc. Walk with a Doc was started in 2005 by Dr David Sabgir, a cardiologist in Columbus, Ohio. Frustrated with his inability to affect behaviour change in the clinical setting, Dr Sabgir invited his patients to go for a walk with him in a local park on a spring Saturday morning. To his surprise, over 100 people showed up, energized and ready to move.  

Walk with a Doc has grown as a grassroots effort with a model based on sustainability and simplicity. A doctor gives a brief presentation on a health topic and then leads participants on a walk at their own pace. Healthy snacks, coffee, and blood pressure checks are an optional part of a Walk with a Doc event.  Walk with a Doc now extends all around the globe with over 500 chapters worldwide.  

In this episode, Sue Smith talks about the benefits that she’s seen in the people who have participated in the course of doing this in her local area of Birkenhead. She highlights the ease with which people can make changes to their health as well as helping to build communities that help to relieve isolation and loneliness. 

Links:  

https://drsuesmith.com/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsuesmith/ 

https://walkwithadoc.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2411044469183898/?ref=share

#health #wellness #fitness #resilience 

When I was a medical student, it was all about learning what was wrong, and we looked at it in terms of dysfunction. On the other hand, wellness looks at how well you are, and there is a significant distinction between disease and wellness. 

The absence of disease doesn’t mean that you are well. There is a spectrum…

As the founder of Noggin The Brain People, Clara Russell is on a mission to help improve the cognitive health of the nation. In this episode, Clara describes the journey of her medical training to become a GP before becoming interested in at the time side issues of lifestyle medicine and sleep studies. After nearly 20 years of experience in both NHS and Private medicine, she has stepped aside from clinical practice to focus on brain health and helping people understand what they can do to help themselves feel better and look after their brains in the longer term.

Dr Russell talks about the difference between essential nutrition and optimal nutrition. And how this difference led her with the help of an experienced nutritionist formulate the ingredients necessary to create a range of brain-enhancing supplements.

With a diagnosis of MS, she had the dual perspective of patient and physician which inspired her to investigate other ways of helping patients beyond what was on offer in 2017.

We discuss some of the shortfalls embedded in the healthcare system and the greater recognition for stress management.

In the end, Clara shares her vision for Noggins and the way forward in terms of research and development.

Dr Russell studied Medicine at Newcastle University and completed GP training in the North East of England. She has studied Sleep Medicine at Edinburgh University and Functional medicine with the Institute of Functional Medicine in the US.

The roots of Noggin are personal - Clara and her family members have been affected by brain affecting conditions and this was the trigger for Clara to look deeper into lifestyle, functional medicine and the importance of sleep, nutrition, and mindset in looking after our brains.

"How do we build innovation habits in People?"  - that´s how Michael set off to understand the nature of efficient and productive teams and how to empower people within organisations and communities.  

In this episode, we speak to Michael Croft, innovator and managing director of Spice Framework. Michael is a Yorkshire man, a natural-born storyteller with a very interesting heritage and family line. We will be talking to Michael is also passionate about communities and building resilient working teams.  

Michael and his team have been developing for some years an innovative tool that combines all that and has not been released to the market. We will learn more about their innovation and his views on how individuals, companies and organisations can energise, build and release their team to fulfil their vision and purpose.  

Spice Framework is a platform enabling ongoing performance management and people development on demand that delivers behavioural assessment and a blend of learning resources together with tools for evaluation and impact assessment. the SPICE Framework is accessible on any web-enabled device in a mobile-friendly environment.  

SPICE Framework both incorporates unique tools for evaluation and the measurement of the impact of people on performance and provides real-time reporting on individuals, teams and businesses to create advantage and fuel development.  

Connect with Michael and Spice Framework team below: 

[email protected] 

[email protected] www.spiceframework.com 

www.branayton.com 

or call them on +44 (0)113 733 2589  

#movement #brainpower #brainhealth 

In this episode we are looking at the science of movement and why it matters to our brains.  

Movement is not the same as exercise. In a lot of people’s minds exercise has a lot of negative feelings attached-like sweating, pain and soreness. 

Movement can be running, hiking, dancing, Tai Chi or even playing with your kids.  

Movement is what is responsible for brain development in toddlers. At the other end of the spectrum, the amount of movement we do also affects brain function. Movement affects our abilities to form memories and also our ability to store memories.  

Movement affects our brain’s immune system.  

We’ll show why running outdoors has greater effects than running on a treadmill.  

Links: Daniel Levitin the Changing mind -@11/311166/the-changing-mind/9780241379387.html 

@ https://walkwithadoc.org/who-we-are/