Our Human Condition

Leaf an Impression is owned and operated by Tammy Huynh (it’s pronounced Hwin), a horticulturist and avid plant collector, who is passionate about sharing the joy of gardening and the benefits of green spaces. Her love of gardening (like most), started with her ‘por por’, whose fingers were permanently marked with soil, but eyes so full of life when she was pottering about the garden.

Tammy has a degree in horticultural science, a diploma in landscape design and has over 10 years experience in the industry, with her career beginning as the Assistant Gardening Editor for Better Homes and Gardens magazine and most recently, as the Consumer Experience Team Leader at Yates. She also helped plant and harvest (no easy feat) her parent’s bamboo farm/forest in Sydney.

Her philosophy is simple:

To impart a little bit of greenery to everyone’s life. To make a mark; to leaf an impression.

Thank you for listening and please enjoy!

Brenda brings real life experience as both a therapist and global corporate executive, leading people and organisations through change.

Brenda’s life long passion for supporting people through difficult and challenging periods and her love of horses has been the catalyst for creating Equine Encounters Australia.

Her qualifications include:

Graduate Certificate Gestalt Therapy

Clinical Resource Therapist

Certified Equine Assisted Practitioner

Diploma in Training and Development

Certificate in Adult Learning and Education

Equine Encounters Australia is an organisation that has a proven track record in developing and delivering innovative programs that work.

Whether Trauma Support, Leadership Development or Personal Wellbeing, their highly experienced and fully qualified team is able to run programs from a number of locations around Australia.

Equine Encounters Australia facilitators all hold qualifications in Counselling, Psychology or Psychotherapy, as well certified Equine Assisted Practitioners, trained through EPI Australia.

Equine Encounters Australia is committed to developing bench-marked standards for Equine Assisted Therapy, as well as building recognition for its’ potential to bring about life changing benefits.

In this podcast we are also delighted to welcome back Rebecca, whose story you can hear in our 1st episode. Rebecca completed the Breast Cancer Recovery Equine Therapy Retreat in February 2019, and joins us to share her amazing experience.

You can find more information on Equine Encounters at https://www.equine-encounters-au.com or their GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/breast-cancer-survivor-therapy

Thank you for listening and please enjoy!

4 years ago, I (Luke) was in the worst shape of my life - physically and mentally. Tipping the scales at over 96kg, food had become my crutch. A chance encounter with Brendan "Sarge" Barry at his Wanda Beach Bootcamp forever changed my life. Within 6 months of meeting him, I was now in the best physical and emotional health I'd ever experienced. "Personal trainers" are a dime-a-dozen but there is something much deeper to Sarge's knowledge, which I would put down to genuine care for his clients.

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Originally from Adelaide, Sarge first found his passion for fitness serving as a Royal Australian Naval Officer. This set him on a lifelong quest to dedicate himself to helping people learn the life-changing power of physical fitness and proper nutrition. Unfortunately, serving as a gay man in the Australian Defence Force at a time when it was still ILLEGAL(!) to do so, meant that he felt little choice but to resign his commission as an officer. However his passion for helping people never waned; he has dedicated his entire life to it.

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In his late 40s, Sarge took on a brand new challenge in the form of a Bachelor of Clinical Exercise Physiology at the University of New England, which he is on the verge of completing in 2020. He joined us on the podcast to discuss all things to do with exercise, fitness, nutrition, and how you can use these to improve your quality of life - now and into the future.

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THANK YOU Sarge for continuing to be a great friend, mentor and positive influence on me and all your students. Thank you for listening and we hope you enjoy this episode!

This bonus episode is a 10-minute preview from the brand new "Life With Your Dog Podcast", co-hosted by Luke and Panos Anognostou, who was a recent guest on Our Human Condition. 

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Panos approached me wanting to rent the studio and get some technical assistance for starting his own podcast. In the end we decided to host the show together. If you enjoyed our original episode with Panos I hope you also enjoy Panos' new podcast. He is a wealth of knowledge and passion on all things to do with our four-legged friends and much more. His deep and lateral-thinking approach to the industry is what makes him one of Sydney's most sought after dog behaviour experts!

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In this episode, Panos and Luke discuss the importance of keeping our dogs mentally and physically stimulated. Daily routines, rituals and activity (a job) are all important in our dog's life.

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This episode lays a foundation of Panos' training and some of the theory behind the practical side of dog training. Understanding that providing this training and exercise routine consistently eventually becomes a way of life for you and your dog.

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Give your dog a job, and you will see some improvement in behaviour and energy level of your dog. Happy dogs, happy people.

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Thank you for listening, and please enjoy the show! If you did, please hit Subscribe and leave us a review or 5-star rating in the podcast app that you found us on.

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Follow us on:

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FB: Life with your dog podcast 

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Insta: @lifewithyourdogpodcast

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YouTube: Life with your dog podcast

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www.lifewithyourdogpodcast.com

Did you know that 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage?

Sam & Gabbi of The Pink Elephants Support Network have built a rapidly growing charity from this simple proposition.

It started with a coffee. Well, actually it started with a response to a Facebook post about miscarriage, a private message and a request to meet for coffee. And by the end of that coffee date, the concept for Pink Elephants was created.

During that first coffee, they agreed that there was an unmet need in the community around the support of women experiencing early miscarriage. From the initial miscarriage diagnosis, to the ensuing loss/procedure and knowing what to expect, right down to the support that partners, family, friends and even healthcare professionals can give – women needed and deserved more. Information needed to be offered. Conversations needed to be had. Validation needed to be given. Connections needed to be made.

Sam & Gabbi also realised how easy it is to get stuck in the grief space and not know how to move forward. Nurturing our physical and mental health is a vital part of the journey and knowing all the options available both medically and holistically can give us a greater sense of control in what can otherwise be a time fraught with uncertainty and sadness. The key is having all this information readily accessible in the one spot.

Through Pink Elephants, they want to reduce the feelings of isolation many women feel by connecting them with other women who have experienced the journey before them, and are now able to mentor others. They want every woman to have the opportunity to connect with someone who ‘gets it’.

Miscarriage may be an individual journey, but no woman should have to walk it alone.

Thank you Sam & Gabbi for giving us your time. Find out more at https://miscarriagesupport.org.au

"No-one talks about it - so you just don't know how common it is at the time. And your whole world is just crashing down, and you just don't know where to go."

1 in 4 women will experience a miscarriage in their lifetime, and yet it still remains a hugely misunderstood and mismanaged area of health. For something so devastatingly painful to be so common and yet such a taboo topic is one of the greatest paradoxes in our modern society.

Laura was brave and generous enough to share her story of pregnancy loss, and triumph over adversity. Thank you Laura!

We recently had the great fortune of sitting down with Pete Shmigel, former CEO of Lifeline Australia.Pete was a seasoned, well regarded corporate consultant and political chief of staff for several NSW premiers and opposition leaders, prior to moving into the mental health space. ⁠Sadly, Pete’s tenure at Lifeline was inspired by a mental health crisis within his own family - his son Tim had made multiple attempts on his own life. Pete now speaks of this tragic time as a positive which allowed him to recalibrate his family’s entire outlook on life.⁠We chatted all things mental health and much more. Thank you Pete for your generosity of time, spirit, and wisdom mate.Follow him on Instagram @instayarnz for his daily short fiction stories - his own little creative outlet!⁠

We're on Insta @ourhumanconditionpodcast

I originally wanted to ask Panos on our show after hearing him speak on The Canine Paradigm podcast. 

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“Dog trainers” are a dime a dozen these days so there’s nothing necessarily special about that by itself. But the real story of Panos is the story of how and why dogs actually saved his life when he was younger, and the ripple effect this had on his entire future..He turned a near-death experience into a symbolic rebirth, and went on to have a spiritual awakening which now extends into his whole approach to life. This approach has made him become one of Sydney’s most sought-after dog behavioural experts..In this episode we start off speaking about the life-changing effects that man’s best friend has on our lives. By the end, we’re talking about shamanic rituals, sweat lodges, and mountain-top solo meditation marathons! Strap in .His motto is “We teach dogs to live in our society, and dogs teach us to live in the NOW.” We might be at the top of the food chain, but there’s no shortage of things we can learn from the animal kingdom!

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Follow us on Instagram @ourhumanconditionpodcast

Elizabeth Cullen is a Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner and Acupuncturist. She studied a Bachelor of Health Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University of Technology Sydney and is currently studying her Masters of Women’s Health Medicine and Reproductive Medicine at the University of New South Wales.

After living in Cheng Du, China for hospital placement Elizabeth experienced integrative medicine of Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine and saw first hand the health benefits of comprehensive health care for patients. Her passion drew her to founding The Dao Health (https://thedaohealth.com.au) in 2016 in which she is dedicated to creating a practice where patients of the West can confidently and safely experience and benefit treatment learnt from the East.

Through the use of the latest evidence based Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture research each patient is treated as an individual at The Dao Health. Elizabeth seeks the root of the cause rather than the branch to restore the healthy balance both physically and emotionally. As well as Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal medicine treatment Elizabeth encourages time in consultations for education of individualised lifestyle and dietary advice with patients to empower them to regain the responsibility of their own health. She promotes shared care with allied health professionals of the Sutherland Shire and St George community.

Elizabeth has a particular passion and enthusiasm treating Women’s Health and Fertility beginning with Menarche and Menstrual issues including Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome through to Pre conception behaviour, Natural Fertility support, Male fertility support, IUI and IVF support, Pregnancy, Labour preparation and Post natal care.

She treats a range of conditions in the clinic and has interest and experience in the treatment of Bells Palsy, Digestive Issues, Skin conditions, Sleep issues, Chronic Fatigue, Musculoskeletal Issues, Mental Health and Cosmetic Acupuncture.

Elizabeth’s ongoing curiosity with Chinese Medicine inspires her to travel back to China for ongoing study and in her spare time enjoys taking her two rescue dogs Iris and Arthur to the beach.

She is a registered member of The Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency (AHPRA) and The Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association (AACMA).

"One guy said 'Look it was actually perfect timing for this DILF Club to flash up (on my Facebook) ... I was in my mid 40s, had my children very late'. I think they did IVF on repeat for quite some time. So he felt quite isolated So he came down (to DILF Club) and goes 'To be honest I probably have depression but I've never seen anyone about it. And DILF Club is just the best part of the week for me'."

This week we sat down with the amazing Luke McMahon, co-creator and leader of the nationwide fathers' support network with a very cheeky name: DILF Club. Before you ask, that's Dads I'd Like To FRIEND!

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He's a top bloke with a sharp-as-a-tack sense of humour who decided to make a change in his local community after experiencing feelings of isolation. As you'll hear, he's started a movement that's since gone viral and spread all over the country, with hundreds of dads joining together every week to support each other in local meet-ups. Thanks for being part of the podcast Luke!

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THANK YOU for listening and supporting the podcast!