Rise Up: The Inner Work with Vicky Ross

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“You’re fine” can be one of the most dangerous phrases a person hears when their body is clearly struggling. I’m joined by Charlotte Phelps, founder of The Alchemy of Being, to unpack her rise-up story from high-achieving banking life in London to a health crisis that culminates in a terrifying warning: her gut may rupture within weeks. What follows is not a neat wellness slogan, but a grounded, human account of what it takes to keep pushing for answers when symptoms are real and tests keep landing in the “normal range”.

We talk about the long build-up: insomnia, hives, digestive breakdown, pain, and the quiet stress of managing your life around your body. Charlotte shares how an unconventional biofeedback session points to a specific parasite that traditional routes miss, and how functional medicine testing helps her finally understand the gut health, hormone health, thyroid and adrenal stress connection behind what she’s experiencing. Alongside the medical journey, we explore the emotional reality of overachievement, the limiting belief of “not good enough”, and why a crisis often becomes the moment we finally choose ourselves.

We also get practical and philosophical: why self-advocacy matters, how stress isn’t just “in your head”, why sleep can be more healing than another workout, and how even the wellness world can slip into comparison and one-upmanship. Charlotte explains what she built with The Alchemy of Being: a curated wellness hub and “wellness wiki” to help people find credible options and a starting point before they hit breaking point.

If this conversation shifts something for you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s been told they’re “fine”, and leave a review so more people can find these stories. What’s one choice you could make today that gives your body a better chance?

And if you want to see more of Charlotte and/or explore her fabulous website click this link.

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

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You can do everything “right” and still feel like nothing shifts. That’s usually the moment to question the hidden assumption behind how you’re responding to life. I’m Vicky Ross, and today I’m sharing a perspective that can stop the frustration loop mid-spin: when you react to what you see, you’re often reacting to something that’s already finished. What looks like “current reality” is frequently the result of earlier thoughts, feelings, expectations and unconscious patterns finally showing up on the outside.

We break down the inside-out sequence I teach through an NLP lens: thoughts create feelings, feelings drive actions, and actions create results. If you only fight the result, you’re trying to change what has already been created. Instead, we use the outside world as a calibration tool. The way people respond to you, the outcomes you keep getting, even the triggers that set you off can become data. Not to blame yourself, but to reclaim choice. When you shift who you are being, your response changes, and the ripple effect reaches your behaviour, your energy and your results.

I also give you a simple practice for the next time something winds you up: pause, ask what you’re assuming, and decide whether that assumption is helping you or repeating you. If you’re ready to stop “fixing” life and start creating it, press play, then share what you notice. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find Rise Up Podcast.

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

Send us Fan Mail

Pressure can make even the smartest person sound unclear, act defensive, or rush a decision they would never make on a calm day. I’m Vicky Ross, and I’m digging into the real reason: when stress rises, your nervous system shifts into protection mode, and your world literally narrows. You don’t see more options, you see fewer and that’s when “I wasn’t thinking straight” becomes your default explanation. 

We walk through a simple but powerful model of human behaviour: a thought becomes important, you attach meaning, meaning sparks emotion, emotion creates body chemistry, and that chemistry drives your behaviour. Once you understand that loop, you can stop blaming willpower and start building awareness. I explain why you’re not reacting to situations, you’re reacting to your interpretation, and how a short pause can interrupt the cycle long enough to return to clarity, intention, and choice. 

From there, we bring it into leadership communication: state before strategy, regulating before responding, and why tone and nonverbal cues often land louder than the words you choose. I also share how meetings derail when outcomes are unclear, and why psychological safety is essential if you want honesty instead of polite agreement and silent resentment. If you want to lead under pressure with calm authority, better decision making, and clearer communication, press play, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

Send us Fan Mail

A life of comfort can hide a brutal truth: if you never have to stretch, you never learn what you are made of. I’m Vicky Ross, and I’m joined by my long-time friend Charles Taymor for a raw Rise Up story that starts with extreme privilege, runs through bereavement, betrayal, and financial collapse, and lands in a hard-won philosophy of responsibility, integrity, and rebuilding.

Charles talks about the moment everything changed after his father died, when legal battles and “vultures” turned family life upside down and forced him to grow up fast. We unpack the real pivot point he names so clearly: the pain of his circumstances finally exceeded his fear of changing. From there we explore how mindset, perception, and self-leadership are not abstract ideas but daily practices, shaped by what you choose to focus on, what you stop blaming, and what you decide to own.

We also go deep on career change, the corporate hamster wheel, and what it takes to leave work that pays the bills but drains your spirit. Charles shares why he stopped measuring success only by money and started measuring it by integrity and meaning, plus the coaching questions that cut through fog: “Is what I’m doing getting me the outcome I want?” and “Whose expectations am I trying to meet?” We discuss NLP, hypnosis, and rapid change work, and why discomfort and negative emotion can be healthy fuel rather than something to instantly numb.

If you’re searching for resilience, a clearer definition of success, or a practical push towards “life on your terms”, this conversation will give you both insight and tools. Subscribe, share this with someone who feels stuck, and leave us a review: what would you change if you stopped waiting to feel ready?

Some info about Charles: 

Charles Taymour originates from a corporate background and has been a development and progress consultant since 2003. He's been training companies internationally, leading

seminars and enabling private & executive clients to make constructive change

with ease. His wellbeing approach is simple, pragmatic, and powerful. With an

array of qualifications to help with anxiety, trauma & stress and a no-nonsense

approach, Charles cuts through the noise and clutter of modern life to empower

his clients with tools & strategies so they can thrive with confidence and

resilience. He is also a law society accredited civil & commercial mediator, a

former self-defence instructor and an avid cook and archer. 

to reach him: www.charlestaymour.com 

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

Send us Fan Mail

Why do we feel sad… and what is sadness actually trying to tell us?

In this episode of Rise Up, Vicky Ross explores the deeper mechanics behind sadness — one of the most misunderstood human emotions.

Sadness often appears when something meaningful in our lives changes, ends, or fails to unfold the way we expected. But sadness is not simply something to “get over.” It is an emotional signal that something important has shifted.

In this episode, Vicky explores:

• How to recognise sadness in your life
 • Why sadness sometimes follows failed expectations
 • The difference between sadness and grief
 • Why anger can sometimes hide sadness
 • The beliefs that often sit underneath sadness
 • How understanding sadness can lead to emotional freedom

Sadness is not an enemy emotion.

It is often a messenger pointing us toward something meaningful about our expectations, our beliefs, and our relationship with life.

And when we understand that message, something begins to soften.

If this episode resonates with you, share it with someone who might need to hear it.

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of Rise Up and Live, Vicky is joined by holistic therapist Ben Barnett for a thoughtful and deeply human conversation about healing, personal transformation, and the wisdom of the body.

Ben has spent more than 30 years working in holistic therapy, combining physical bodywork with energy work, coaching, and a deep understanding of how our emotional experiences shape the way we live in our bodies. As a Reiki Master Practitioner, auricular acupuncturist, and specialist in therapeutic bodywork, his approach goes far beyond simply treating symptoms.

Together, Vicky and Ben explore what it really means to heal beyond the surface.

They discuss how early childhood experiences can quietly shape our beliefs, relationships, and sense of self, and how many of the patterns we carry into adulthood began as strategies to help us survive emotionally difficult environments.

In this conversation you’ll hear about:

• how the body often reveals what the mind tries to hide
 • the emotional patterns that can shape relationships and identity
 • why healing is not about fixing something that is broken
 • how awareness allows us to release old patterns and create new possibilities
 • the difference between trying to heal the past and transforming the present

Ben also shares his own Rise Up story — the personal insights that changed the way he understood himself, his relationships, and the way he works with clients today.

This is a conversation about awareness, compassion, and the powerful realisation that many of the struggles we carry may have begun with ideas about ourselves that were never truly ours.

If you want to follow Ben or get in touch with him, here are his social media links:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_barnett_htbb?igsh=bjRmdzFuOXQwOWo1

https://www.facebook.com/share/1DUx8d8K4p/

https://youtube.com/@htbybenbarnett?si=iCVPKVjt7cCtUXEU

And for access to Alchemy of Being:

https://thealchemyofbeing.me/

Referenced in this episode:

Ben mentions a powerful video illustrating how early experiences shape behaviour and self-soothing patterns.

You can watch it here:
 https://youtu.be/XY9vY1dh7n8

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

Send us Fan Mail

If You Could Choose a Life to Live… Would You Choose the One You’ve Got?

Most people spend years trying to improve themselves.

They analyse their thinking.
 They try to regulate their emotions.
 They push themselves to build better habits.

But what if the real issue isn’t you?

What if the real question is whether the life you're adapting to was ever consciously chosen in the first place?

In this episode of Rise Up, Vicky Ross explores a powerful and uncomfortable question:

If you could choose a life to live… would you choose the one you’ve got?

Together we explore:

• Why people often try to change themselves to fit a life that doesn’t align with them
 • How childhood meaning-making shapes identity and life choices
 • The difference between the protective voice of fear and the deeper voice of truth
 • Why wanting to “do nothing” may actually be a sign of mental exhaustion
 • The reflective questions that can help you reconnect with the life you would truly choose

This episode invites you to pause, reflect, and ask yourself a deeper question:

Are you trying to improve yourself… or are you trying to survive a life that doesn’t fit you?

If this episode resonates, you’re warmly invited to explore these ideas further inside Vicky’s membership community.

Links are in the show notes.

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

Send us Fan Mail

Many people wake up in their 40s and quietly think:

This isn’t the life I imagined.

Not because life is terrible.
 But because something feels… misaligned.

You’ve done what was expected.
 You’ve built something responsible.
 You’ve achieved things.

And yet a quiet question appears:

How did I get here?

In this episode, Vicky explores why feeling lost is rarely about lacking direction — it’s about losing connection with who you truly are.

You’ll discover:

• Why many people feel unfulfilled after achieving what they thought they wanted
• How childhood expectations quietly shape the life we build
• The difference between external success and inner alignment
• Why you can’t actually “lose yourself”
• A powerful shift that helps you reconnect with direction and purpose

If you’ve ever felt like you’re going through the motions rather than living your life intentionally, this conversation may help you see yourself — and your path — differently.

Because feeling lost is not failure.

Sometimes it’s the moment you start remembering who you really are.

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

Send us Fan Mail

What if the thought isn’t the starting line? We dig into the deeper engine of change: the importance you assign to ideas, how meaning becomes identity, and why clarity and self-trust transform behaviour more reliably than forcing habits or chanting affirmations. This is a practical, compassionate guide to seeing the hidden choices shaping your life and shifting them without drama.

We start by challenging the common loop of results, actions and thoughts, asking instead: what made that thought important? When importance sets, it organises perception, narrows or widens what you notice, and quietly shapes your identity. From there, we explore how childhood meanings — often borrowed from other people’s fears — still run adult choices. You’ll hear why we do what we want rather than what we need, why “positive thinking” often signals unmet pain, and how fear hides in believable phrases like “I forgot” or “I don’t know,” stalling growth while sounding reasonable.

Then we move to the lever that actually shifts behaviour: trust. Quiet self-trust calms the nervous system, widens perception, and makes new actions available without force. We ground this in evidence from your own life — the hardships you’ve already survived — and show how remembering your resilience changes what you make important today. You’ll learn a simple, repeatable practice: notice one behaviour without fixing it, complete the sentence “this means X because Y” to reveal your drivers, and ask, “if I trusted myself, what would I do differently here?” These micro-shifts soften identity and update action naturally.

Along the way, we connect language, personality and results: the way you speak to yourself becomes the world you move through. Awareness precedes choice; when you can see the thought before it becomes emotion and hear the tone before it becomes identity, you no longer need pressure to change. You need clarity. If this sparked a pause, a new question, or relief, share it with someone who might need it, and subscribe, rate and review to help more listeners find it. 

Ready to go deeper? Check the show notes for ways to work together and continue the journey.

You can work with me privately, where we explore the meaning shaping your behaviour and consciously redesign how you respond and live.

Or you can join my membership — a community for ongoing growth,  awareness, integration, and real-time application of this work. 

https://vickyross.mvsite.app/products/courses/view/1171591/?action=signup

Both options are designed to move you from insight into lived change.

Here's to your success

Vicky

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky

Send us Fan Mail

Ever feel like your habits have a mind of their own? We dig into why repeated patterns persist even when you’re determined to change, and why willpower is the wrong place to start. Instead of flogging yourself for weak discipline or shaky motivation, we map the hidden chain that drives behaviour: the thought you mark as important, the internal dialogue it triggers, and the body state that locks it in.

We unpack how the unconscious treats vivid thoughts as real, how mood flips your self-talk from resourceful to ruthless, and how physiology aligns with the story you’re telling yourself. From skipped workouts to last‑minute tax panic, we show why action-only fixes fail: you’re pushing on the final domino. You’ll learn fast, practical ways to break the loop by changing state first—posture shifts, slow breathing, movement, even a splash of cold water—to weaken the cycle and buy space for a better choice. Then, with the body calmer, you can examine the thought, edit the language, and choose the next smallest step that actually sticks.

We also share why emotions are essential for decisions, how precision language reduces threat, and why journaling works as evidence rather than just therapy. You’ll see how your phrasing reveals hidden rules, learn to test absolutes, and design supports where change begins, not where it ends. We close with a look ahead to part two: fear, identity, and why positive thinking only works under certain conditions—and what to do when it doesn’t.

If this resonated, subscribe and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Tell us the line in your self-talk you’re rewriting today, and share the state-change tool you’ll try first.

Support the show

To join my beautiful membership community click here. 

To visit my website

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support.

The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas — and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love

Vicky