Strong Mind

What does it really mean to have a strong mind? And what does it actually mean to be brave? In climbing, bravery is usually praised and celebrated—but when we look more closely, it’s far more nuanced than the simple definitions we tend to rely on. In this episode, Hazel and Angus explore how bravery has traditionally been viewed in climbing, unpack common misconceptions, and examine the many layer...

Hazel sits down with climber, philosopher, and author Francis Sanzaro for a deep dive on the ego—what it is, how it shows up in climbing and life, and how Zen philosophy offers tools to loosen its grip. From ambition, status, and self-worth to the joy (and traps) of goal-setting, Francis draws on decades of climbing experience and insights from Zen and philosophy. Along the way, they explore how t...

In this special AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode, Hazel answers listener-submitted questions covering everything from climbing training, risk, and performance, to motherhood, mindset, and identity. Tune in for candid, off-the-cuff responses packed with personal stories, vulnerability, and actionable advice.  Check out our newsletter : https://linktr.ee/strong.mind Time stamps 00:00:10 – Intro 00:02:0...

Hazel sits down with Leo and Jess Houlding and their eldest daughter, Freya. They start with Leo’s legendary adventures, expeditions and first ascents, exploring how his mindset and approach to risk have evolved over the years. Then the focus shifts to family life — from climbing El Cap together to powder skiing in Japan — and what it means to raise resilient, curious, and courageous kids in a wor...

Hazel and Angus sit down with a cup of tea to answer some of our listeners' questions around performance psychology. We discuss topics like flow, performance anxiety, stress and mindset. If you enjoyed this conversation, Strong Mind is about to re-launch the Performance Hacks course, where Hazel, Angus and their team will take you through a journey to learn more about performance psychology an...

WARNING, this podcast mentions suicide and mental health.   What does it mean to be a man in 2025 — especially in the world of climbing, adventure, and risk? In this episode, we dive into masculinity, vulnerability, emotions, mental health and fatherhood with Aldo Kane and Matt Pycroft. Aldo is a former Royal Marine, adventurer, TV presenter and author. Matt is a climber, adventure filmmaker and p...

Shauna Coxsey is one of the most decorated climbers of her generation, but this conversation goes far beyond competition results. We explore her journey through high-performance sport, injury, identity, mental health, and motherhood. Shauna shares her experiences with anxiety, disordered eating, and the often unseen challenges of life as a professional athlete, including supporting her husband thr...

In this episode, I sit down with Barbara Zangler ( Babsi) and Jacopo Larcher to learn more about their ascent of Freerider on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. They both shared the same goal of flashing the route, however, only Babsi managed to achieve this, making her the first person to have ever flashed El Capitain. Hearing the story from both sides was interesting and unique. We discuss their mot...

WARNING - we do talk about eating disorders in this podcast. In this episode, Hazel speaks with Emily Harrington about her life as a professional climber from when she was a kid competing to now as a mother herself. We talk about how she started climbing and how she fell into competition climbing. We talk about her struggles with having an eating disorder at a young age but how she recovered from...

In this episode, I speak with Africa Brooke. Africa is a consultant, coach, strategist, and speaker with a unique focus: tackling self-sabotage and self-censorship. We talk about Africa’s path to working in this field, from her childhood in Zimbabwe and her journey with recovering from alcoholism. We talk about how to rebuild confidence, self-worth and self-trust even when you feel ashamed of thin...

In this episode, Hazel speaks with Allison Vest about her struggles and progress with mental training in climbing. They talk about how she found competitions hard psychologically and how some of those struggles have carried over to outdoor bouldering which is her main focus. They talk about the gains she's made with her mindset recently and the work she still has left to do. They talk about he...

In this episode, Angus Kille interviews Hazel about how to leverage mental training for performance and their course Performance Hacks. If you’d like to explore how psychology can support your climbing performance, check out our free webinar : https://linktr.ee/strong.mind

In this episode, we talk a lot about breath! We look at the physical and mental benefits from 2 different perspectives with 2 experts in the field. If you’d like to explore how psychology can support your climbing performance, check out our free webinar : https://linktr.ee/strong.mindDr. Michael Melnychuk is a neuroscientist and climber who has conducted seminal research on brain plasticityand how...

Lor Sabourin is a professional climber, mental training coach, and Training Leader for the Warrior’s Way, an organization that uses climbing-based mental training to optimize performance and improve mental health. Lor’s work is trauma-informed and they have just finished a Masters's degree in mental health counselling with an emphasis on somatic therapy and adventure-based counselling. Hazel a...

This is the second part of a conversation Hazel had with Aiden Roberts about mastery, flow and motivation in high-level bouldering. Check out part 1 first if you haven't listened to it yet. If you’d like to explore how psychology can support your climbing performance, check out our free webinar : https://linktr.ee/strong.mind

In this conversation between Hazel and Jeff Charno. Jeff is the founder and host of Being & Doing online conferences where he has interviewed more than 100 spiritual teachers, scientists, creativity gurus and thought leaders. They talk about awakening from our narrative egoic selves, spontaneity and connecting with an uncensored version of ourselves, flow, intuition, how we connect with our de...

In this episode, Hazel speaks with Cameron Norsworthy (PhD in Flow and director of the Flow Centre) about flow. This conversation is a little bit of a deeper dive into flow. Hazel gets Cameron to challenge some of the misconceptions and common doubts about flow. They also talk about barriers to flow, how flow differs from other areas of sports psychology, how we can access flow by learning more ab...

In this podcast, Hazel speaks with musician, researcher and lecturer in philosophy of mind Lauri Jarvilehto. This is a more academic conversation but there are also practical takeaways. They talk about what intuition is, creativity and intuition, and the difference between system 1 (non-conscious mind) and system 2 (conscious mind). What processes in climbing require systems 1 and 2 and how expert...

In this episode, Hazel talks to windsurfer Sarah Hauser. Sarah is one of the world's best windsurfers and has the record for the biggest wave ever windsurfed by a woman. In this conversation, Sarah talks about maximising intrinsic motivation, managing fear, mental management tools, hypnotherapy, and flow state among other interesting areas of psychology. If you already know a lot about windsurfing...

This episode was recorded live as a SHAFF (Sheffield adventure film festival) event, so it's a little different in format compared to our other episodes. Hazel talks to Adam about what makes a good climber, flow state, his childhood, motivation, mastery, processes, competitions, outcomes, the problem of under-eating in climbing, big goals and much more. To check out more about what we do head...

In this episode, Hazel chats with Mike Weeks. Mike is a serial entrepreneur, coach and speaker, specializing in resilience and peak performance for emergency services, police, special forces and elite athletes. After a decade of climbing around the world in full dirtbag style he briefly flirted with celebrity, leading Jack Osbourne up El Capitan for the TV series, Jack Osbourne Adrenaline Junkie,...

In this episode, Hazel talks to former pro-climber Mason Earle about his journey with ME/CFS. Mason was living a life full of adventure before almost everything was taken away from him by a debilitating illness that he still doesn't fully understand. Mason is extremely smart and insightful and his story and perspective is a stark reminder that we shouldn't take what we have for granted. If...

In this episode, Hazel and Angus Kille chat about fear of falling. They talk about - what fear of falling is and discuss some nuances and misconceptions around it- how fear of falling holds back so many climbers - how many climbers have fear of falling and don't pay much attention to this fear as a limiting factor in their climbing - how culturally we've neglected to address this in the ri...

In this episode, Hazel speaks with climber, ex-base jumper and all-round adventurer Tim Emmett. They talk about Tim's relationship with all the risky activities he gets up to and what attracts him to sports with consequences. They talk about the extra risks in base jumping and how he has justified those risks in the past. Tim talks about being ready to walk away and focusing on controlling every c...

In this episode, Hazel speaks with race car driver coach Ross Bentley about how he uses psychological tools and strategies to help drivers perform at their best. If you’d like to explore how psychology can support your climbing performance, check out our free webinar : https://linktr.ee/strong.mind