The Happier Life Project

When life gets difficult, many of us find ourselves searching for answers, reassurance, or simply a sense that we're not alone. We might turn to Tarot cards, seek guidance from a psychic, or wonder whether it's possible to connect with someone we've lost. But what are we really looking for in these experiences? And how do we make sense of the things we can't always explain? In this Halloween-week...

Have you ever dreamed about someone you’ve lost and woken up feeling as though you’d truly spent time together again? Perhaps they were laughing, healthy and completely themselves, or perhaps the dream was harder, full of searching, illness or a goodbye you never got to say. In this episode of The Happier Life Project, Gabby is joined by Dr. Joshua Black to explore one of the most mysterious, comf...

What does it mean when ideas about gender that once seemed to belong to the past begin gaining momentum again? From the manosphere and looksmaxxing culture to the growing popularity of tradwife content, social media is filled with increasingly rigid ideas about what men and women should look like, how they should behave, and what their relationships and lives should be. But beneath the aesthetics...

Panic attacks can feel terrifying, but for some people, the fear of having another one can become just as debilitating as the panic itself. Over time, this fear can lead to avoidance, safety behaviours and agoraphobia, gradually shrinking a person's world. In this episode of The Happier Life Project, Gabby Sanderson is joined by BABCP-accredited psychotherapist Joe Parkins to explore panic disorde...

ADHD is still widely misunderstood, especially when it comes to women. While the stereotype remains the hyperactive little boy who can’t sit still, the reality for many women is far quieter, far more internal, and far easier to miss. For countless women, ADHD doesn’t look disruptive on the outside; it looks like overwhelm, exhaustion, perfectionism, procrastination, emotional intensity, and a life...

Around 1.5 billion people worldwide live with chronic pain. Yet severe, life‑altering pain can be completely real even when there’s no ongoing physical injury or tissue damage. So what’s happening when the brain and nervous system continue to interpret safe signals from the body as a threat? In the first episode of the new series, host Gabby Sanderson is joined by internist and Clinical Professor...

Could psychedelic-assisted therapy change the future of mental healthcare? For some, psychedelic-assisted therapy feels like a revolutionary new frontier. For others, it’s a long-standing conversation that never truly disappeared - it simply continued quietly while science worked to catch up. Today, that conversation is louder than ever, as researchers investigate whether medicines such as ketamin...

Fertility after 40 is often framed through statistics, warnings, and the relentless metaphor of the biological clock. For many women, particularly those trying to conceive later in life, those numbers can feel confronting, frightening, and overwhelming. Modern life adds its own pressures; the emotional weight of navigating fertility, the confusion around what truly supports reproductive health, an...

Movement isn’t just something we should do, it’s something we were built to do. Yet modern life has quietly rewritten the way our bodies behave. Most of us now spend the majority of our day sitting: at desks, in cars, on sofas, hunched over laptops and phones. Hour after hour, day after day, our bodies adapt to this stillness. Hips tighten, backs weaken, posture collapses, and the brain begins to...

We all have patterns we can see clearly: the reactions we regret, the triggers we know too well, the emotional loops we swear we’ll break next time. And yet, somehow, we repeat them. Again and again. Why? That’s the question driving this conversation with therapist and TEDx speaker Kelly Armatage, whose work has reached more than half a million people and transformed the lives of thousands through...

On this episode of The Happier Life Project, host Gabby explores one of the most common - and quietly painful - questions people ask themselves: "Why do I keep ending up in the same kind of relationship?" Whether it's choosing partners who are emotionally unavailable, feeling constantly unsure of where you stand, or giving far more than you ever receive, these patterns rarely begin in adulthood. A...

Starting couples therapy can feel like a big step. Not because it's dramatic or scary, but because most people have never really been shown what couples therapy actually looks like, or how to begin. Despite growing awareness around mental health, couples therapy remains surprisingly underused. Many couples spend years feeling stuck in the same painful patterns before seeking support, often waiting...

Yoga is often portrayed as a series of poses performed on a mat, perhaps accompanied by incense, calming music, and the promise of becoming more flexible. But for millions of people around the world, yoga is far more than exercise. It's a philosophy, a spiritual practice, a community, a way of life, and a framework for navigating life's inevitable ups and downs. In this special episode of The Happ...

Mindfulness isn’t limited to sitting cross‑legged, breathing deeply, or slowly savouring a raisin. According to Harvard psychologist Ellen J. Langer, the world’s leading expert on mindfulness, it’s something far more powerful, and far more accessible. Most of us drift through life on autopilot, reacting out of habit, trapped by assumptions, and believing limits that aren’t actually real. As Ellen...

In this episode of The Happier Life Project, psychotherapist and best-selling author Owen O'Kane, explores with host Gabby how to better understand and manage the mind in everyday life. Known for his transformative books, including Ten to Zen, Ten Times Happier, How to Be Your Own Therapist and Addicted to Anxiety, Owen shares practical strategies for managing anxiety, stress, and other common men...

What if the secret to a calmer mind, lifted skin, and a brighter mood has been sitting right under your nose - literally?! This week on The Happier Life Project, Gabby is joined by Danielle Collins, the world‑leading Face Yoga Expert, bestselling author, and pioneer of the globally recognised Danielle Collins Face Yoga Method. Face yoga is a gentle yet powerful form of strength training for the 57...

In this special Mental Health Awareness Week episode of The Happier Life Project, host Gabby Sanderson is joined by Chlo Hodgkinson for an honest and relatable conversation about mental health, burnout, motherhood, and the small actions that can create meaningful change in our wellbeing. With this year’s theme focused on Action, Gabby and Chlo explore the gap between understanding what supports ou...

Understanding your body isn’t a luxury; it’s foundational to living a happier, healthier life. And that’s what this podcast is all about. If you’ve been feeling unlike yourself and can’t quite explain why, especially when your tests say everything is “normal”, this episode is for you. Host Gabby Sanderson is joined by Dr Amina Davison; GP, Functional Medicine doctor, and Founder of Integrative Hea...

Gabby Sanderson returns with a thought-provoking solo episode of The Happier Life Project, unpacking the cultural narratives we’ve long associated with happiness, and why many of them don’t hold up under psychological scrutiny. In this episode, Gabby explores ten of the most common happiness myths that shape how we live, love, and measure success. From the belief that achievement guarantees fulfil...

Many people move through life feeling as though their own habits are steering the ship. Patterns they never consciously chose, routines that don’t feel good, and behaviours that seem to operate on autopilot. Whether it’s emotional eating, numbing out with endless scrolling, drinking more than intended, or repeating the same relationship cycles, it can start to feel like our habits hold more author...

In this gentle and deeply grounding episode, Gabby talks to psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and bestselling author Sue Stuart‑Smith to explore the profound connection between gardening, nature, and our mental wellbeing. Drawing on her acclaimed book "The Well Gardened Mind", Sue reflects on her journey from clinical psychiatry into the therapeutic world of gardening, sharing powerful stories of peo...

What do King Charles III, David Beckham, Paul McCartney, Emma Watson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jamie Laing and Stacey Dooley have in common with The Happier Life Project host Gabby Sanderson? The answer is the theme of today’s episode: homeopathy. Homeopathy is an alternative approach to wellbeing that considers the whole person; emotional, mental, and physical, rather than focusing solely on symptoms. It...

What if relief from stress, anxiety, and self-doubt was quite literally at your fingertips? In this empowering episode of The Happier Life Project, host Gabby Sanderson is joined by internationally renowned EFT practitioner Brad Yates, a leading voice in the world of Emotional Freedom Techniques, also known as tapping. With over 1,600 videos on YouTube which have been viewed over 59 million times,...

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in cycles of anxiety, low mood, or emotional patterns you just can’t seem to shake, today’s episode might be the perspective shift you’ve been waiting for. The Happier Life Project dives into EMDR therapy: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. This episode is for anyone who’s heard of EMDR but only knows it as “that thing where you move your eyes,” and...

Welcome to this extremely special episode of The Happier Life Project, to kick off the new series. Host Gabby Sanderson takes listeners inside Dau Dayal School for Girls in Firozabad, India, just 50 minutes from the Taj Mahal, where she spent a month living on campus and teaching yoga and mindfulness six days a week to more than 400 students. What began as a volunteer placement soon became somethi...