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A five-year-old watching her parents shout and thinking “it doesn’t have to be like this” can grow into an adult who makes conflict resolution her life’s work. That’s where our conversation with Anna begins, and it quickly deepens into the realities that shaped her: divorce, a mother leaving at a pivotal age, sexual abuse, and the survival choices children make when the system around them is unsafe. We speak honestly about trauma, insecure attachment, suicidal feelings and the long echo these experiences can have in relationships, self-trust and the ability to feel at home in your own body.

From there we follow the thread of healing as a lived practice rather than a tidy story. Anna shares how studying psychology and sociology, entering counselling, and spending time in survivors’ groups helped her break patterns like codependency and self-erasure. We reflect on the “unbroken part” that keeps people moving, and why presence, compassion and language matter so much when someone is suffering. If you care about trauma recovery, emotional resilience and how to rebuild a sense of self after abuse, this dialogue stays grounded in what that work actually looks like over decades.

We also turn towards purpose and longevity, including Blue Zones research and the idea that health is not only diet and exercise but also community and meaning. We challenge the cultural messages aimed at women about ageing, beauty and “giving up”, and we explore why soulful purpose can be the most sustaining kind of energy. If the conversation resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave us a review so more listeners can find Slay Your Dragons With Compassion.

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Someone asks, “Do you have children?” and suddenly you are standing at a crossroads between politeness and truth. That is where this conversation begins: a party, two strangers, and the quiet moment when we both admit our children took their own lives. My guest, Claire Greenland, speaks with disarming clarity about suicide bereavement, child loss, and what it takes to stay human when the room does not know what to do with your grief. 

We dig into the part people rarely prepare you for: not only your own pain, but the faces, comments, predictions, and judgements that come with it. Claire shares why she went dancing just four days after her son died, how authenticity can shock people, and why grief does not get “better or worse” so much as arrive in waves. We talk about practices that keep us connected to life, including meditation, qigong, and good psychotherapy, plus the importance of protecting yourself from spaces that flatten your natural process. 

We also explore death denial, the stigma that still surrounds suicide, and why language matters, including moving away from “committing suicide”. From mosaics to planting oak trees, we look at rituals that help love stay present, and how approaches like EMDR can ease guilt and support a continuing bond with the child who has died. If you have ever felt pressure to grieve the “right” way, this is a steadier, more compassionate alternative. 

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more people living with grief can find these conversations.

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Spiritual awakening is often marketed as a constant high, but what happens when it feels more like an unravelling? I sit down with mentor Joanna Long to talk about awakening as the unconscious becoming conscious, the body as a truth detector, and why real growth rarely lets us bypass the hard parts. From the start, Joanna reframes spirituality as something we bring down into our lives, not something we use to float above them. 

Joanna shares her own dramatic catalysts: moving to Bali, feeling “activated” by the land, a motorbike accident that stripped away what she thought she had sorted, and a later kundalini activation that forced deeper integration. We dig into shadow work, nervous system imprinting and the difference between performative spirituality and lived embodiment. If you’ve ever felt suspicious of “love and light” messaging that skips pain, this will help you name what’s missing and why it matters. 

We also go straight to vulnerability, grief and the protective strategies we build after loss. Joanna speaks openly about her father’s slow death from lung cancer, the end of her marriage as grief surfaced, and the abandonment beliefs that can form when love and loss collide. From there we explore wisdom that doesn’t rely on credentials, intuition that lives in the body, acceptance that is not agreement, and a bigger question: what might humanity become if we moved beyond separation and into service? 

If this conversation lands, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave us a review. What part challenged you most, and what part felt unmistakably true?

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A diagnosis can scramble your sense of who you are, especially when you’ve built a life around clarity, competence, and being the person with the answers. When Jonathan Dawson tells us he has Parkinson’s disease, he also tells us what happens next: the awkward pauses, the uncertainty on stage, and the surprising power of simply naming the truth at the start of a talk.

We go wider too, because Jonathan’s work has always been about the big picture. He has spent years in international development in Africa, helped shape the ecovillage movement, and led a master’s programme in economics at Schumacher College. His view of ecological economics lands as a challenge and an invitation: treat economics as moral philosophy, stop assuming endless growth equals wellbeing, and ask instead how we live well on a shared planet in a way that is equitable and kind.

Then we come back to the personal losses that don’t tidy themselves away. Jonathan speaks about living in intentional community, the permission to grieve openly, and the slow realisation that old wounds still have a voice. He shares the ongoing heartbreak of being separated from his children, and the deep “rupture” of boarding school trauma, alongside the inner practices that help him keep his humanity intact.

If you care about resilience, chronic illness, grief, chosen family, sustainable living, or a more human kind of economics, you’ll find something here to hold on to. Subscribe, share this conversation with someone who needs it, and leave us a review with the line that stayed with you most.

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Pain does not only come from what happened to us. Sometimes it arrives already packed in the family story, sitting in the nervous system like an inheritance we never asked for. We talk with Andre Zitcer about intergenerational trauma in the most human way possible: a Jewish father who survives the Holocaust and cannot speak about what he lost, and a mother whose childhood is shaped by displacement, abuse, and the lifelong hunger to be held. 

From there, we follow the thread into adulthood, where unmet needs can turn into compulsions. Andre speaks candidly about promiscuity, sex and love addiction, codependency, and what it takes to build real boundaries when you were never taught any. He shares how recovery communities help him “keep his side of the street clean”, and how presence becomes a practice in relationship, including learning to listen, remember, and slow down. 

We also explore trauma-informed healing through somatic experiencing, acupuncture, and nervous system regulation, plus why family systems matter when one person gets labelled “the problem”. The conversation lands on the core dragon Andre has had to face: self-acceptance, the felt sense that who he is, right now, is enough. If you care about healing trauma, addiction recovery, grief, or building healthy relationships after a hard start, this one goes deep. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review. What pattern are you ready to stop carrying alone?

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A single sentence changed everything: you’re not doomed. From that moment, Darinka chose life and built a disciplined, human path back to health—pairing monitored fasting and daily visualisation with music, nature, and the support of a healer who spoke to her as a whole person. This is not a tale of magical thinking; it’s an intimate map of agency, faith, and consistency meeting hard reality.

We walk through the early shock of a melanoma diagnosis, the confusion of lost test results, and the deeper fear that once defined cancer conversations. Then we open the door to a different approach: the Breuss method adapted with medical oversight, twice‑daily imagery that fits her joyful temperament, and a family routine that made the practice sustainable. Her visualisation is disarmingly gentle—two cheerful figures collecting cancer cells—and that’s the point. Congruence beats force. When the mind can relax, the body can participate.

As her strength returned, the calling widened. We talk about bringing the Bristol model to Slovenia, leading small groups and one‑to‑one sessions, and learning to “hold the rim of the hole” so others can climb out. Light first, then shadow becomes a guiding principle: anchor people in what’s good and possible before exploring trauma or cause. We also explore Human Design as a language for living by response, ageing with contentment, and answering life’s invitations without strain. The heart of it all is honest: the dragon was people‑pleasing. Illness cracked the shell and revealed a voice that now serves others with clarity and kindness.

Expect grounded insights on resilience, integrative cancer care, nervous system regulation, and the quiet courage of daily practice. If you or someone you love is navigating illness or a hard season, you’ll find both tools and hope here. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help more people find these conversations.

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A sudden loss can set the course of a lifetime. Malcolm sits down with master puppeteer and educator Tony Gee to trace the unexpected path from a father’s death in Singapore to world-record puppet shows, radical youth work, and a philosophy of making that places imagination at the centre of community life. What begins as a story of bereavement opens into a practical guide to meaning: build things together, tell honest stories, and let participation reshape what education can be.

Tony describes stumbling into puppetry through a Chilean allegory and discovering that the craft was never just about puppets. It was about autonomy, voice, and collective creation. He shares how a failed but formative nursery project in Brixton sharpened his commitment to participatory learning, why workshops became his chosen medium, and how thousands of children have co-authored performances that change the confidence of schools from the inside out. Along the way, we explore research into workshop practice, the power of story-led facilitation, and the delicate balance between structure and spontaneity.

The conversation doesn’t flinch from the hard edges: intergenerational trauma, an abusive stepfather, disinheritance, and the slow work of accepting “insolubles.” Tony speaks to synchronicity, the felt presence of loved ones, and the artist’s task to metabolise experience through making. If you care about creative education, community arts, grief, resilience, or how large-scale participatory events can heal a culture, this episode offers grounded insight and humane inspiration.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find these conversations. Tell us: what are you building with others right now?

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A lost voice became a doorway. When our guest—a former international singer—underwent thyroid surgery and fell into silence, a drumbeat led to a startling vision of a warrior and an arrow to the throat. That image cracked open a deeper inheritance: the teachings of a shamanic grandfather, a flood of memory that reshaped a life built on stages into a life built on service. We walk with her from backstage glamour to soul work, where the goal is not to fix the self but to listen to the parts that have been shouting from the dark.

We lean into Ning meditation, a practice named for the cocoon we weave from hurt. Here, shadow is not a label but a living being with name, age, and story. Plates are set for these parts, gifts are offered, and rituals return dignity to what once sabotaged. Through drumming, secret chants, and elemental sessions—especially the fire that reveals ancestral repetition—students learn to travel into the shadow’s point of view and witness the exact moments where loyalty to the past overrides freedom in the present. This is soul hacking and soul archaeology: transforming the narrative by partnering with the soul and the shadow, not overpowering them.

The conversation widens to the collective: a world shaped by unworked shadows and the humility of tending what we can—our small circles, our food, our breath, our gratitude. Legacy becomes a practice, not a pedestal. We explore what it means to be “immortal” through actions that inspire long after we’re gone, and how service, paradoxically, returns us to joy. If you’re curious about shadow work, transgenerational healing, and rituals that make change feel real in the body, this one will meet you where words usually fail.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. Your reflections keep the circle strong.

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What if the moment your life falls apart is not failure but initiation? In this candid conversation with author and philosopher Fiona Robertson, we trace the shape of a true dark night of the soul: the sudden crash after outward success, the flood of memories and emotions that refuse to be managed, and the unexpected grace that arrives when control finally loosens. Fiona brings a rare blend of clarity and tenderness, showing how surrender can feel less like defeat and more like a kinder way of meeting what is already here.

We talk through the early phases—incapacity, shame, and the hunt for a name that makes sense of the chaos—then move into what helps when nothing seems to help. Resources arrive in small, almost provisional forms: a song on repeat, a glimpse of sky, a word that lands at the right moment. Community can be a lifeline, but during the most intense stretches it may be hard to find people who understand the heat of the process. Over time, capacity grows. The waves still come, but the amplitude softens. Life returns through modest steps—a job in a supportive place, leaving a misaligned relationship, rediscovering work through somatic inquiry and embodied attention.

Along the way we question the urge to “slay dragons.” Fiona offers a different map: see what’s here, let it name itself, and learn to be with it until relationship forms. The work shifts from purely personal material to familial and cultural patterns, revealing that the dark night is both intimate and collective. Spirituality also changes shape, moving from ideas to a felt contact with unconditional kindness. It’s not a tidy hero’s journey; it’s evolution wrought by honest contact. If you’ve ever felt your coping collapse, this conversation offers a lucid, compassionate guide to navigating the wild terrain and emerging with a deeper, quieter strength.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with someone who needs it today, and leave a review to help others find this conversation. What part of your own story is asking for kinder attention right now?

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More about Fiona Robertson|

Fiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She meets with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.

Website | https://www.thedarknightofthesoul.com/

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Grief rarely knocks once. Sometimes it moves in, rearranges the furniture, and dares you to keep living in your own house. That’s where we meet James: a man who fell back in love with an old friend turned husband, built a life around art and quiet rituals, and then watched that life tilt in a single sentence—“I’ve got cancer.” What follows isn’t tidy. It’s six months of chemo and courage, a final exhibition pulled together with fierce focus, and the tender, ordinary moments that made their days feel normal right up until they weren’t.

We talk about what happens after the funeral, when the casseroles stop and the rooms echo. James shares the two choices he felt every morning—stay under the duvet or get up—and why he kept choosing to get up. Therapy, honest friends, and swimming gave his body rhythm when his mind was frayed. Prayer, surprisingly, gave him language when words failed. He doesn’t claim a neat theology; he claims practice. Gratitude started as a way to stop resenting the love that hurt to lose and became a tool for seeing what remained: a roof overhead, working limbs, neighbours who show up, and the courage to admit “I’m not okay” without apology.

There’s legacy here too. Tim’s last exhibition wasn’t about applause; it was about leaving colour behind for the people he loved. That purpose steadied them both and points to a wider truth: creativity at the end of life can be a raft. We also step into the next hard choice—selling the home they made together, below the price he hoped for, because staying turned the house into a museum. Letting go becomes a second act of love, a bet on a future that hasn’t introduced itself yet. And at the end, James names the dragon he still carries: the imposter that says he’s not enough. He hears it, thanks it, and keeps walking.

If this story moves you, follow the show, share it with someone who’s grieving, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. Your words help keep this space alive.

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