MatChat with Mina Blair

This solo podcast is inspired by the BBC journalist Fergal Keane who has written an article about his search for happiness, a quest that has lasted 30 years.  Did he find the answer?  Yes, but not what he expected. I go through his main points and add thoughts from my own journey, such as moments we have both had that can be described as the "lightness of being".  Other points are: the s...

I'm going solo this time, and inspired by the imminent shift in seasons from summer to autumn, the subject of this podcast is CHANGE.  And my question to you is: what is your relationship with change?  Do you resist change or can you "go with the flow"? There have been some recent developments that have made me pause and reflect on how I feel about change, whether it's uncomfor...

It's a popular cliché, "it's about the journey and not the destination", but is this true?  What is more important, the getting there or arriving at the endpoint?  Fellow yogini Debs Albon and I found ourselves inadvertently answering this question on a trekking trip to Nepal a few weeks ago, and concluded that it is most definitely about the journey! We had booked the trip wit...

I am going solo this time to talk about one of my favourite yogic principles: surrender.  I have learned to love this word and apply this principle to my life, which has not been without challenge given the fact it has such negative connotations in the West.  Because surrender is something we want to avoid at all costs, isn't it?  It means defeat, losing, weakness, giving in or up. Not so!  I...

What is the common thread that runs through every human culture through the millenia?  It's so simple:  gathering around a fire, sharing food, sharing stories and singing.  A practice of collective sharing that connects and binds us together as sentient beings.   Dropping into the modern world, in some places this tradition has been lost, largely in the West.  You will find group singing in s...

Have you had moments in your life when you just knew in your heart that a decision was right?  Even though perhaps it seemed like a risk at the time and the outcome was uncertain?  This is called a leap of faith, and in my experience, these decisions are the most rewarding. I took a leap of faith this year that inviting a friend I had met online, but not in person, on a trip to Bali was going to b...

We are obsessed with our identifiers, aren't we?  We think that who we are, our personality/identity, are things like our work status, relationship status, family role, gender, race, nationality, physical attributes, religious beliefs, political views etc etc.  But this is not the whole picture because there is more - we are more than what our egoic mind is telling us. So I'm diving into...

I'm back on the mat with radio host, podcaster and therapist Baruch Zeichner to reflect on this transitional phase the world finds itself in at the moment.  And part of this journey is our collective face off with the dark side of humanity.  We are having to stare at the results of what happens when all we can comprehend and accept is the individual perspective.  When the ego I-ness is the on...

It's a long way from southern Brazil to the south coast of England, but it's a journey that Flavio de Brito took over 20 years ago to improve his english and learn ballroom dancing.  His penchant for the performing arts had started already with acting at the age of 14, but it was dance, and specifically the Argentine Tango, that had initially set his heart on fire. Having arrived with a...

You hear about people who take the risk and walk away from stable, successful lives.  They leave secure income and safe career paths to head into the unknown.  Why do they do it?  How do they do it? Well, I'm finding out in this podcast with Kirsten Berry, co-founder of Akasha Yoga Academy which offers onsite and online 200 hour and 300 hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training.  Years ago in Berlin,...

I think we all understand the old saying "you are what you eat", but what if you're not aware of what you are actually eating?  Of what the specific ingredients are in the things you are putting in your mouth?  Of the reason(s) behind the choice? Dr Cori Stern has a lot to say about this as she has spent most of her life first sorting out her own health, and then taking that knowled...

In this western culture of "been there, done that, bought the T-shirt" one could think that at some point there isn't more to learn.  Can't teach an old dog new tricks sort of thing.  Not so yoga!  I'm chatting with Debs Albon who has been practicing and teaching yoga for over 30 years and feels that this is a subject that simply keeps on giving.  It is a joyful, bottomles...

There seems to be a lot going on around the world and most of it not good: wars and conflict, climate change, Ego-driven politics, suffering on a mass scale.  Perhaps it's best to bury our heads in the sand and hope it all goes away?  Absolutely not!  Fortunately I'm chatting to Dr Alison Kay - award-winning author, yoga and meditation teacher, subtle energies practitioner (chakra system...

Can we make friends with death?  Why would we need to do that?  Surely death is something we don't want to talk about, it's too depressing or scary. The inspiration behind this podcast is the book by Judith Lief called Making friends with death , which was recommended reading for a Yoga for Cancer teacher training I completed earlier in the year.  And by taking us through the Buddhist an...

As so often happens, when something very challenging, very painful comes your way, it can be life-changing.  It's the Universe waking you up.  This was certainly the case for Etienne Peirsman, a leader and author in the field of Cranio Sacral Therapy.  He tells us how a near-death experience due to a staph infection lead to a trip to India where he did more than recover - he found his life pu...

It's the first MatChat Podcast of 2023 and what a better way to start than chatting with Lori Aloisio, a Holistic Weight Loss Coach.  Being on the other side of the festive season, perhaps weight is a poignant subject at the moment.  Losing weight and getting fit must be on the top of most people's new year's resolutions list after all.  But is there another way to approach this cha...

Christmas is fast approaching and I've invited friend and singer-songwriter Tobiah back on the mat to chat about what giving and receiving really means.  Because it's so easy to just focus on the commercial, material side of this celebration and miss the deeper message.  It needs to be less "what did I get?" and more "what did I give back?" in the form of good intenti...

Are you in the right place, doing what you feel you were made to do and fulfilling your core purpose?  Or are you just going through the motions, playing it safe and sensible, yet knowing it's not what your heart really desires? I think most of us at some point have asked ourselves these questions.  Very few hit on what their core purpose is straight away.  It can be a journey spanning years...

We are defined by so many things, aren't we?  Just think about it.  Your name was given to you by your parents, your nationality is an accident of birthplace, and your physical features by your genes.  Now add educational status, social status,  work status, financial status etc etc.  You are defined by multiple surface layers, some acquired willingly, others not! But who are you really ?  Wh...

Mental health - if we're not talking about it, we're probably thinking about it.  Our own and that of others we care about.  The pandemic has focused our attention very firmly on this subject.  It touches everyone - young, old, rich, poor.  It transcends all difference because it's about being human and how to manage stress. I'm chatting to friend and fellow yogi Sarah Cox abou...

This week I'm co-hosting with friend and fellow yogi Sarah Cox and we are talking about the M-word: menopause.  Half the population have to go through this natural transition and yet for many women it's fraught with emotional, mental and physical issues.  No two menopausal experiences are the same.  It's a time of upheaval and yet so often unspoken.  Well, fortunately things have ch...

It's all about vibration.  The universe is vibrating, this planet is vibrating and you/we are vibrating.  Even rocks vibrate.  All the time.  Everything is in constant motion - some you can feel, like an earthquake, and some you can't, like the different frequencies in vibration of your internal organs.  But it's all scientifically proven and measured. In fact, scientists tell us th...

I must admit, in my ignorance I had always thought that "organic farming" was an alternative response to modern farming.  But this week Pammy Riggs sets me and the record straight.  The term "organic" is misleading.  For thousands of years, human beings have farmed without chemicals - call that organic is you wish - and then in modern times the chemicals were invented to increa...

What is karma?  You're probably thinking that it's the thing where you do something bad, then something bad happens to you.  "Getting your just desserts", as it were.  That's part of it but there's a lot more.  Yes, the energy created by a negative action sometimes causes a negative rebound, but it doesn't have to.  Instead, it can roll over and accumulate, becom...

There is one thing we all have, and that is a story.  Our own personal story.  It begins the moment we are born, but we don't become aware of it until we develop cognition and memory as older children.  We can be given a good story, such as "you are loved", "you are worthy", "you are valued".  But unfortunately, some of us are given a heavy load to carry, such as...