In this episode, I'm speaking with Graham Waterfield on meditation. Graham is a coach a teacher and an energy coach that's been practicing the art of self-development for almost 30 years he has got a unique perspective on soul expression and purpose and really guides students through the concept of awakening and just reflection on how we can be a better iteration of ourselves both mentally emotionally and spiritually.

We start with defining meditation, looking at the organismic self, the Zen, Taoist, and Buddhist approaches to meditation. We look at the Taoist three treasures; Jing, qi, and shen, we explore transcendence and micro attention, somatic intelligence, and the 'whole body yes'. We then look at mental health, emotional health, physical health, and practices for the mind, heart, and body that Graeme uses. We finally look at self-care and optimisation of this. Graeme helps students access their highest most profound levels of thought and being to break free of self-imposed limitations. 

Please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation that conveys and reflects Graeme's unique and valuable insights. You can find out more about Graeme and his practices here: https://www.taichiwithgraeme.com/

In this episode, I speak with Scott Johnson on reframing mental health. Scott is an ordained pastor and has supported people through mental health issues for close to 40 years. He is also the Director of International Development for an NGO, SolerCool Technologies (which provides solar power cold chain supply in off-grid regions of the world), he's a former manager of various other NGOs, he's a telemedicine consultant, and is currently working on a major project to bring telemedicine and solar power solutions to East Africa. In the last stretch of his life, he is pulling together his experiences, learnings, and connections into a consulting/networking business called “suFISHent LLC”.

In the episode, we examine Scott's story into ordination, the current mental health problem, current definitions and perspectives on mental health, and redefining some of the labels we use for PTSD. The essential concept of self-care, Scott's tools he uses to support and actively listen to people. We dig into some of the wider reflections from Scott around what he has learned as a pastor, his perspective on grief in the current climate, mental health in the military (why this occurs frequently), and then final thoughts and take-home messages.

Please enjoy this episode with a profound and insightful guest. 

In this interview, I speak with Emily Ragus on the impact of disasters on women. Emily is a General Sir John Monash Scholar and PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, where she is researching the effects of climate change-induced disaster situations on female populations. Emily has a Bachelor of Nursing from the Queensland University of Technology, an International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA) from Fordham University in New York City, and received the university medal for academic excellence when completing her Masters of Global Development at Griffith University in Brisbane. In 2016, Emily was part of a large-scale aeromedical retrieval response that was activated for a mass casualty event that occurred in the Indo-Pacific. During this mission, she noted the need for improved aeromedical cohesion with other responding agencies within a disaster. This led Emily to pursue, and subsequently be awarded the 2018 Winston Churchill fellowship. Emily was also previously based in Jordan with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Emily teaches Mass Casualty Management as a Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Delegate in Amman, Jordan.

In the convesation we unpack the issue around the impact of disasters on women and the political, social, and economic constructs of such. We also speak about intersectionality and the factors of advantage and disadvantage within a disaster. We then examine gender norms and gender labour disparity & female agency within the family unit and the resultant fall out of health disparity. We look at disaster planning and the adverse effects on women, poor town planning, urbanization, deforestation, and pollution. We look at Haiti as an exmaple of a critical infrastructure rebuild and how political manipulation of disasters occur from a framing and impact perspective. We also exmaine the disproportional access to healthcare and burn care (reconstructive surgery, burn demographics and the impacts of burns). 

Please enjoy this wide ranging conversation with a facinating and insightful guest.  

Kirsten is a people development consultant, with 30 years of experience in both medium and blue-chip multi-site operations including 13 years within a FTSE 100 Global organisation. Kirsten’s experience has been gained from a diversity of industries including; professional and financial services, pharma insurance, retail, utilities, business services, and education. She focusses on people development, facilitation, delivery of transformational leadership and organisational cultural development. Mostly achieving these results through one-to-one coaching at all levels in organisations and team-based interventions.

In the episode, we examine Cialdini’s theory of influence and his seven principles of influence. We examine the concepts of reciprocity, consistency, social proofing, liking, scarcity, authority, and finally the unity principle. We also examine Professor Neil Rackham's Behavioural Analysis Framework and his proposal on colour-centered behaviours. Kirsten also examines:

This wide-ranging conversation involves work from Robert Caldini and Neil Rackham which can be found here: https://www.pnahfoo.com/image/pnahfoo/image/data/images/learning/cialdini.pdf

Professor Neil Rackham: https://www.red10dev.com/making-more-of-meetings/

Kirsten Campbell can be found here: https://www.red10dev.com/kirsten-campbell/

I hope you enjoy this interview with an insightful and engaging guest. 

In this interview, I speak with Pasha Munro about succeeding through failure in life. Pasha has served 27 years in the Royal Marines Commandos, in which time he trained as an Arctic, Mountain, Jungle, and Survival expert. The last 13 years of his spent as a Specialist Diver within the Special Boat Service/SBS. Pasha has had to learn how to put his body through massive amounts of physical exertion whilst maintaining a calm exterior. He has also had to master some of the most challenging diving in the world, and some of the world's most complex and covert diving. He has had to master the re-breather diving set; a closed circuit, pure oxygen device that doesn’t give off bubbles to perform covert missions. He finished his last 5 years as a pilot of the Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDV) which is used for discreet underwater operations.

In this interview, we will be discussing how he has navigated this complex environment. How he has used discipline as his ally and how Pasha has succeeded through failure and harnessed the failure for good. We will also discuss how he gets the best out of others as a personal trainer and coach. Other aspects we discuss include; how Pasha progressed through the military despite failure, domains of practice including polar, jungle, and desert environments, and the unifying principles in these extremes. We examine Pasha's focus and drive, his mindset around failure, and some of his diving recollections. 

To get in touch with Pasha around personal training or further contact please find the link here: https://www.facebook.com/PashaMunroPersonalTrainer/

Please enjoy this episode with an engaging and inspiring guest. 

In this episode, I interview Nathan Norris on strength and conditioning. Nathan has been a Strength & Conditioning Coach for over 10 years. He is accredited with the UK Strength and Conditioning Association and works with Elite, Professional, Semi-Professional, & Youth Athletes. He is skilled in the application of Sports Medicine, Injury Prevention, Exercise Physiology, and Athletic Performance. Nathan is currently the Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach at Burnley College. The program includes S&C Coaching for the talented athletes (aged 16-21) studying at the College who compete regionally, nationally, and internationally. Nathan, alongside this, runs the S&C Programme for Burnley Bobcats Swim Team, Blackburn Harriers & Athletic Club, Manchester Giants (U15 & U16 squads), as well as working with professional footballers and international athletes in the region. He also lecturers on the Strength & Conditioning degree at Burnley College.

In the conversation, we examine:

Please enjoy this episode is an engaging and insightful guest. 

For further information or to reach out to Nathan you can follow/contact him on social media and other handles are:

Instagram: welshnath_coach https://www.instagram.com/welshnath_coach/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-norris-69a510115/?originalSubdomain=uk

In this interview, we speak with Robbyn Maiden. Robbyn, 41, is a single mum of two teenagers and one ‘beast’ (aka. The five-year-old), business owner, and part-time university student in Social Science. Having immigrated to this country 20 years ago from her native home, Canada, Robbyn has navigated – and continues to navigate – the issues surrounding identity and what it means to emerge fully present and connected with oneself. 

Through a personal journey into movement, which includes running and weight training, Robbyn will discuss the power and benefits of choosing the ‘right kind of hard’ in order to pursue personal growth and emotional well-being during the difficult years of Covid. We speak on the power of perspective, body image and self-narrative, your relationship with failure, time management and expectations, the illusion of balance, reframing the sense of womanhood, the power of comparison – harnessing an alternative narrative, and finally, cognitive circuit breakers as a conduit of resetting mood and mindset. 

Robbyn brings unique and salient reflections to internal self-dialogue and self-narrative. If you want to reach out to Robbyn or engage with her content, you can reach her here: https://www.facebook.com/robbyn.maiden or Sweetmaple_maire on IG.

In the interview Robbyn mentions and recommends the following resources:

Please enjoy this interview with an insightful and inspiring guest.

The best of Restore podcast 2021 is here. This conversation features accounts with Consultant psychologists, psychiatrists, special forces operatives, professional rugby stars turned drug addicts turned pastors, inspirational leadership coaches, accounts on NLP, Neuroplastic Somatic Practice, EMDR therapy, CBT, and much, much more.

My thanks to all the guests that have featured across the podcast in 2021. I look forward to taking you with me into 2022 for more inspirational conversations and truly revelationary accounts.

Brian Biro is the author of 15 books including his bestseller: Beyond Success & The ROI of Kindness. With degrees from Stanford University and UCLA, Brian has appeared on Good Morning America and CNN. Brian was recently honoured as one of the top 10 interactive keynote speakers in North America, and one of the top 60 Motivational Speakers globally. Fundamentally, Brian is known as America’s top 'Breakthrough Coach'.

In the conversation we examine the power of influence, Brian's background of coaching swimming, coaching people, and reaching people's potential. We then look at the concept of reciprocity and reciprocity circuits within the brain. We then look at training the spirit & the inner negative critic and how someone should navigate the inner critic. We then look at the power of humility and the fundamentals of learning cognition- the 'hear, see, do' concept. Brian then looks at 'The Pygmalion effect', going the extra mile and why positivity is a superpower. We look at the power of now, how to be truly present, and cognitive circuit breakers to bring us back to this state.

There is so much more I could speak to Brian about and so we will definitely have him back on the podcast to examine further key principles. Brian's inspirational content can be found here:

Brian's books can be found here:

Please enjoy this episode with a truly fantastic guest.

Edna Adan Ismail is a midwife and campaigner, born in 1937 she grew up as the daughter of a prominent doctor within Somaliland. As a child growing up in what was then British Somaliland in the 1940s, her dream was to build her own hospital by the mid-50s, she'd won a scholarship to study in Britain but life as it has a habit of doing, got in the way and it took 50 years and all her savings to finally realize her dream in 2002.

Edna’s mantra of ‘if I don't do it then who will’ it's a principle she's lived her entire life. She met her first husband when they were both students in England they went on to marry who then became the president of Somaliland and juggled the high-profile role of first lady with nursing shifts. She progressed to be her country's first-ever female foreign minister and broke deep-rooted taboos by publicly condemning the widespread practice of female genital mutilation/FGM. This originated from a highly personal struggle when aged just eight she herself was violently disfigured by FGM with her grandmother having arranged the procedure. Edna continues to teach and train in the hospital she built, and the ‘The Edna Adan maternity and teaching hospital’ that emerged from the rubble of a bloody civil war in 1981. Since then the hospital has delivered over 29,000 babies and trained hundreds of nurses and midwives.

In this conversation we explore:

More about Edna can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_Adan_Ismail

Her book 'Woman of firsts' can be found here:

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A_Woman_of_Firsts.html?id=Bcb-xAEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

The Edna Adan Hospital Foundation can be found here:

https://ednahospitalfoundation.org

I hope you enjoy this episode with a history changing guest.