By Toni Jones
The podcast currently has 65 episodes available.
Today’s guest is the delicious Melissa Hemsley, former private chef turned food columnist, best-selling cookbook author, real food activist, sustainability champion, mental health advocate AND mamma, who is passionate about spreading the power of feel-good food.
Food is Melissa’s passion. This conversation was recorded to celebrate the launch of her SIXTH cookbook, Real Healthy; Unprocess Your Diet with Easy, Everyday Recipes, but we also ended up talking about lots of lovely - and easy - ways to unprocess lots of other parts of our lives too.
I hope you will find this chat deeply comforting and nourishing on many levels, because that is always how I feel after spending any kind of time with Melisssa.
In this conversation we discuss:
LINKS
Get the Book > Real Healthy by Melissa Hemsley
Get the Book > The Bridge by Donna Lancaster
Melissa on Instagram > @melissa.hemsley
Donna on Instagram > @donnalancs
More on Mental Health Mates
Today’s guest is Nahid de Belgeonne, known as “the nervous system whisperer”, a Somatic Movement coach and breath and yoga teacher with a passion for sharing the healing benefits of movement.
Nahid’s new book, Soothe: The Book Your Nervous System Has Been Longing For, is "a freeing and revolutionary approach to bodily tranquility," that can help us breathe, move and care for our overworked nervous systems better.
And in this conversation Nahid shares a ton of practices to help us incorporate soothing movement into our day.
In this episode we discuss:
The Importance of rest and recovery (and what happens in our body/brain when we find time to do it).
Nahid’s go-to morning rituals for mind-body alignment and daily routines for focus and well-being.
The power of primal soothing movements like rocking and rhythmic rolling to calm our nervous system.
Changing habits without willpower.
Noticing how you hold tension and stress as a form of self-healing: “The noticing in and of itself is already medicine to the system... now you've alerted your nervous system."
Why we often don’t trust our feelings - and how we can retrain our brains and nervous systems to feel safe, relaxed and happy.
In this episode Toni is joined by 'brain ninja', Kim Ingleby, one of the UK's leading mind and body experts.
Kim is an award-winning coach, writer and TED talker, and has trained with some of the world’s leaders in health, well-being and performance.
Kim is another big retreat buddy, and we love talking to her and watching her on stage because she has so much wisdom to share when it comes to how we can look after our minds and bodies.
And as you’ll hear from this episode, Kim has personal experience of overcoming serious mental and physical challenges, so she really understands the importance of empowering us to embrace who we are and where we are - right now - when we’re looking to make changes.
In this episode we discuss:
Kim's personal journey through adversity and neurodiversity and how that shaped her perspective on movement and mental resilience.
Embracing challenges with positivity and self-awareness.
Practical tips on using movement as a tool to navigate overwhelming feelings and gain clarity in daily life.
The importance of intentional choices in daily life and incorporating movement and self-care into daily routines.
Practicing gratitude and reframing perspectives.
The power of music to regulate our emotions.
Kim's book recommendations:
Do Hope by Gail Muller - https://amzn.to/3yqfqHW
A Bloke’s Life by Steve Dobbby - https://amzn.to/3UB4gaA
Heal the Witch Wound by Celeste Larson - https://amzn.to/3UZfoPY
The Success Myth by Emma Gannon - https://amzn.to/4bG1Nmg
Start Where You Are - a journal by Meera Lee Patel - https://amzn.to/3K5G37A
Dr. Navaz Habib is the founder of Health Upgraded, a functional medicine and health optimization clinic in Toronto, Canada, working with everyone from athletes and entrepreneurs to busy mums and people struggling with their weight.
He helps people identify the root causes of health imbalances and addresses them naturally, through basic but powerful practices available to us all including breath. Movement and rest,
Dr. Habib’s book Activate Your Vagus Nerve is a simple-to-follow guide to help you identify and address a major missing piece in dealing with chronic health concerns including anxiety and depression.
And in this conversation he breaks down the Vagus Nerve for beginners - like me, and probably you - what it is, how it is connected to our overall health, and how to fix it.
If you need three coffees just to get through the day, or are suffering from chronic illness, including autoimmune diseases, this episode is for you….
In this episode we discuss:
Today's guest is Camilla Sacre-Dallerup, a Danish self-help author, life coach, meditation teacher, hypnotherapist and former professional dancer, known for being one of the original cast in the mega BBC show, Strictly Come Dancing.
Camilla's THREE self-help books (It’s Not You It’s Me, Reinvent Me and Dream, Believe, Succeed are international bestsellers and she recently launched her own meditation App - zen.me - sharing guided meditations, self-discovery courses and enlightening podcasts
And in THIS enlightening podcast what you’ll hear is a conversation between two self-help super nerds talking all things movement and mental health and maybe a little bit of woo.
In this episode we discuss:
Simon Alexander Ong is an award-winning personal development entrepreneur and coach, and the author of Energize: Make the Most of Every Moment.
His work has been featured on Sky News and the BBC as well as Forbes, The HuffPost and The Guardian, and he’s always so generous to Shelf Help with his time and advice on living an optimised, but more importantly - happy - life.
In this episode we discuss:
Our guest for this episode is Toni's lovely friend, a personal trainer and fitness instructor, Claudia Evans.
Claudia is a former professional dancer who now teaches fitness and movement full-time, including Spin, Barre and LaGree as well as running her own Body to the Beat dance fitness class.
Just over 10 years ago Claudia’s mental health took a dive when she retired from dancing and basically stopped moving.
And two years ago, at the age of 43, she underwent an elective hysterectomy after years of suffering with erratic and painful cycles.
Both of these situations meant long sedentary and quite difficult periods for Claudia, whose life - and work - has always been wrapped up in movement.
So this is a very honest and candid conversation about what happens to your mind when your body is forced to stop.
And ultimately about finding peace in accepting wherever you’re at right now.
In this episode we discuss:
Navigating (and accepting) mental and physical changes at various stages in life.
Exploring new ways of movement in menopause, and beyond.
How small but consistent movement helped Claudia recover post-surgery. “It's about meeting yourself where you are each day."
The mental exhaustion that comes from NOT moving.
How movement should be about feeling good and making your body work for you, not chasing a certain look.
That we are more resilient than we realise: "Through challenges, I learned to adapt and appreciate what my body can do."
Today’s guest is Kate Rowe-Ham, a Women's Health Coach with a special interest in menopause fitness and nutrition. Kate is the founder of the Owning Your Menopause platform and the author of Owning Your Menopause: Fitter, calmer, Stronger in 30 Days.
Kate wants to educate women on the benefits of movement and diet, so they can see how these go hand in hand in playing a fundamental role in managing many of the symptoms associated with menopause.
I first met Kate at The Big Retreat well-being festival in Wales (where we’ll both be delivering workshops and sessions again later this month) and can personally vouch for her mega energy levels, so whatever she’s doing, it works.
In this episode we discuss:
Kate’s personal journey overcoming mental health challenges related to disordered eating.
Exploring the shift from exercise for aesthetics to exercise for brain health, mental well-being, bone health, and muscle health, and how Kate transformed exercise into a source of connection and strength.
Modelling healthy ‘health’ behaviours for children, and the importance of leading by example in parenting.
The significance of daily habits and starting small to cultivate a positive relationship with movement.
Future-proofing our bodies by lifting weights and building lean muscle for hormonal balance and overall well-being.
Approaching menopause with hope, joy, and a sense of reinvention.
Today’s guest is our friend and self-care queen Suzy Reading.
Suzy is a psychologist, health coach and yoga teacher and author of several books on the subject of self-care, including; Rest to Reset, Sit to Get Fit and Self-care for Tough Times.
The mum of two specialises in wellbeing: head, heart and body, helping people manage their emotions, energetic bank balances and the inevitable stresses of life.
And nourishing movement is a vital part of her self-care toolkit.
In this episode we discuss:
The podcast currently has 65 episodes available.
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