Sharing the Vibe podcast

It's just the right time to share the story of The Monastery in Gorton, Manchester. We first came here in 2019 and absolutely loved it. It has a very peaceful and deeply spiritual vibe, but I didn't really appreciate why. Now it all makes a bit more sense...

I really enjoyed speaking with Elaine Griffiths (CEO) and Gill Harbach (Volunteer and Gnostic Researcher) to find out about the history of the building and how the renovation project has evolved over the past 25 years.

What's so wonderful about its latest incarnation is the desire to make it first and foremost, a sanctuary of peace and wellbeing that is accessible to the whole community. It is also now the home of MOMM (Moments of Mass Mindfulness) as part of Self-care Sundays. This event takes place the first Sunday of every month with the next one coming up on the 5th of September.

For more information visit: https://www.themonastery.co.uk/place-to-visit-manchester/

I appreciate that it's been a while since our last episode. There continues to be a lot of change for everyone during this time (yes an understatement, I know). I'm very much about sharing stories that are of interest to me and/or that are very relevant to what's going on. This one ticks both of those boxes.

I first met Ellie Harrison last September when she was a panellist for one of our Kinder Communities events for the Leeds Festival of Kindness, Compassion and Wellbeing. Ellie is an amazing artist and I wanted to find out more about her body of work called The Grief Series. I really enjoyed hearing about the different projects that form this work and her collaborations with other artists in the UK and Mexico.

Grief is something we all experience and yet we don't talk about it enough. These projects allow people to explore it in creative and safe ways using compassion, humour, clever words, emotion, fun and splashes of colour.

Ellie also talks about how she's been providing others with support this past year through resources that she's made readily available. To explore them and learn more about her work please check her website:

https://www.griefseries.co.uk/

 

Our latest episode celebrates Black History Month with three amazing ladies who are members of the Leeds African Communities Trust. Meet Lucy Ndlovu, Abigail Marshall Katung and Kendi Guantai and please have a look at their biographies further below.

We explored the idea of the Strong Black Woman; where does it come from? why is it important? what are the positive and negative aspects of it?

I found this discussion fascinating as I’m not from that community and wanted to learn more. I also wanted to compare it with the messages that I received from my Latin American cultural background.

Biographies

Lucy Ndlovu is a researcher and a recent graduate at Leeds Beckett University where she completed an MA in Public Relations and strategic communication. She currently works in the Housing sector in this field. She is interested in the sociocultural model of PR and communication and as a practitioner, Lucy looks at race, gender, class and ethics and how these frame vital discussions within organisations.

 

Abigail Marshall Katung is a Labour & Cooperative Councillor in Leeds City Council. She’s the Lead Member for BAME, Support Executive Member, Chairs the Strategic Board of FE (14-19)25yrs and the Hate Crime Strategic Board. She is the first African to be elected on to the Leeds Council in May 2019. She is also an England Athletics Coach specialising in sprinting at the Leeds City Athletics Club.

 

Dr. Kendi Guantai is a public speaker, corporate communications expert, mother and community advocate. In her work, Dr. Guantai is an academic at the Leeds University Business School (LUBS), where she designs and delivers postgraduate courses in Corporate Communication and Public Relations. She is also a trainer on the Goldman Sachs 10K Women’s Project and is currently the Vice President of the International Association for Business Communicators (IABC) - EMENA region. She is also the current President and co-founding trustee of the Leeds African Communities Trust.

Welcome to our episode entitled What it Means to be Kinder to Yourself which coincides with the Leeds Festival of Kindness, Compassion and Wellbeing. The Festival runs from the 6th - 12th of September and Monday the 7th is Kinder to Self day. We invited Miranda Arieh and Matt Wilson to talk about this important topic and to offer practical tips. Miranda is a musician, songwriter and mental health campaigner in Leeds. Matt is a Personal Trainer and Director of SitFit CIC which offers seated exercises for an older age group in East Leeds.

Our topic is how to support the Immune System which is always important but particularly at the moment, when our focus needs to be on keeping ourselves and our families as healthy as possible. Simona Vateva, owner of Nutrienne, joins me to give some practical ideas of healthy choices you can make to improve your lifestyle. She's also giving away a free guide to boosting your immunity and here's the link:

https://www.subscribepage.com/boost-your-immunity-free-guide

https://www.nutrienne.com

Simona had some book recommendations that we didn't have a chance to discuss but she's shared them with me below in case you want to do more reading.

Stay well and keep healthy xx

 

 

To join the Leeds MOMM online on Sunday the 10th of May:

If you're on Facebook, then you will get access to the full programme of sessions (starting at 10am) by following the link below to our event and booking a ticket to become a member of the group:

https://www.facebook.com/events/239441417116765/

If you don't have a Facebook account but still want to take part in the main meditation at 12pm then email us at [email protected] and we will send you the Zoom link on Sunday morning.

We look forward to seeing you then!

Stay well and keep healthy!

xx

Our new episode is about keeping things simple with Kieran O'Connor, aka The Simplicity Guy. We chat about finding more simple solutions to life's challenges. Often we can feel overwhelmed when dealing with issues and problems and can't see how to move forward, even if the answer is right in front of us.

Kieran also mentions the regular self-care practices that help him improve his creativity and support his ability to find the simple solutions.

I've always enjoyed talking to Kieran about big topics because as an engineer, he often comes at things from quite a different angle to me. He's morphed into a published author and his latest book is called 'The 1% Improvement Mindset'.

http://www.thesimplicityguy.com/

Happy New Year to you all! We’re very excited to start 2020 with a podcast on Feng Shui with consultant Korina Hortynska. Korina explains how changing the energy in your home or work environment can impact important aspects of your life. She also gives a few practical suggestions to improve our spaces by moving things around and using colour.

The new year is a great time to de-clutter and change things up a bit. A good friend of mine recently did a pop up shop in her home of clothes and items she no longer wanted which now other people can use and enjoy. This inspired me so much that I'm currently going through my things to give some away. I always feel so much better after I've done this as I feel lighter and notice a change in how my space feels. Hopefully this will inspire you to start 2020 with more clarity and energy to make the improvements in your life that you want to make! Best wishes x

This week we meet Mario and Bev and talk about everything to do with crystals.

They are definitely a couple of Leeds legends and opened their Global Tribe shop in 1999. They have a great story and are lots of fun.

Crystals are so much more than pretty stones so sit back and find out a bit more. We hope you enjoy it! www.globalcrystals.com

This week is all about money... Why a whole episode dedicated to money and finance? Well because it’s a source of tension and stress for so many people. A difficult relationship with money can lead to relationship breakdowns, mental health problems and sometimes even suicide.

My guests are the wonderful Sam Leigh and Sanae Floyd who each bring some interesting experience and thoughts about how to improve your relationship with money and personal finances. Sam is a Financial Coach and Sanae is a Sales Coach who recently published her book called “Paid in Full”.

If you want to know more about them, have a look at their websites:

For Sam: http://www.sleighservices.co.uk/

For Sanae: https://sanaefloyd.com/

The TV programme that Gloria mentions towards the end of the podcast is called ‘Killed By My Debt’ which is a BBC3 drama based on the story of a young man called Jerome Rogers who committed suicide when he was 20 years old. He had accrued debts of over £1,000 that originated from two unpaid traffic fines of £65. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIeVilRBAUw