Beyond the basement

Do you ever crave risk and adventure, throw yourself into something intense, then retreat home needing a week to recover? And before long, you’re itching to escape again? Or have you lived out of a suitcase for months, and longed to put some roots down? Join me beneath a cherry tree, exploring life’s familiar dance between freedom and safety. I reflect on my own swings between comfortable routines...

What happens when the life you’ve built feels safe and familiar, but something in you is aching for adventure? In this pretty personal episode, I share something that feels exciting, inconvenient and a little bit naughty: I think I want to sell my house, leave Leeds and explore life in Europe, without knowing exactly what comes next. Thinking aloud from my bedroom floor, I explore the call to adve...

If you’re anything like me, pleasure comes later. After the work is done. Once everything’s sorted. When you’ve been productive, useful or good enough to deserve it. In this episode, I explore this complicated relationship with pleasure - and the rather perfectionist habit of turning even fun, play and enjoyment into another project to understand, optimise and get right. What happens if we stopped...

What happens when life starts to feel like it’s happening to you- and no amount of effort seems to change anything? In this episode, I explore the slippery, surprisingly seductive experience of victimhood: the collapse, helplessness and quiet belief that nothing will ever go your way. How to spot it and its impact. I also look at how it can show up in perfectionism, relationships and work; why tra...

What if success isn’t about money, status or finally getting everything right? What if it’s something you can experience today? In this episode, I explore a very different definition of success one rooted in self-trust, self-leadership and staying true to yourself. We look at why so many of us abandon ourselves in pursuit of approval, how perfectionism keeps moving the finish line, and what it mea...

Come explore what can happen after we make a vulnerable move - tell the truth, share something we’ve created, perform, speak-up, or allow ourselves to be properly seen. Sometimes the brave part isn’t the moment itself. It’s what comes afterwards, when the inner critic rushes in to tell us it wasn’t good enough. In this episode, I share the internal mechanics of what happens when I felt vulnerable,...

In this episode, I explore our relationship with uncertainty, not knowing, and what it really means to move through life like a grown-up when, underneath it all, we’re all still making it up as we go along. Starting with an important life lesson about bullsh*t, I reflect on the strange truth that confidence often isn’t about having the answers - it’s about how we carry ourselves while we look for...

On holiday in Austria, I found myself unexpectedly face-to-face with a familiar lesson: choosing self-trust over self-abandonment. In this episode, I share what happened while rock climbing a via ferrata route in the Alps - the moment when the fun stopped feeling fun and started feeling wrong, and why tuning in and turning back became a quiet but meaningful act of listening to oneself. I explore t...

In this episode, I’m exploring why certain kinds of conflict feel especially painful for perfectionists - especially when someone projects something onto you that doesn’t feel true. I look at what happens when another person’s fear, history or trauma gets laid at your door, and why that can hit so hard if you’re already wired to question yourself, defend yourself, and try to make everything fair,...

I’m back from my first men’s retreat in Sweden - a deep, embodied exploration of masculinity, sensitivity, self-leadership, and love. I share what struck me most: that healthy masculinity is about grounded presence and love. It’s steadiness in uncertainty. It’s the capacity to hold tension, to protect what matters, to stay open-hearted, and to bring clarity and care to yourself and others. I explo...

When I’m under pressure, I tend to contract. I want to get things right, map everything out, stay in control and avoid mistakes. I take things seriously. But improvisation keeps reminding me that life often feels lighter (or less costly) another way - through play, experimentation, small offers, and seeing what comes back. Fresh out of an improv intensive in London, join me for an exploration the...

After months of rebuilding structure and steadiness in my life, I find myself on a new exploration: what does it really mean to be with my experience, rather than fix it, analyse it, distract from it, or turn it into a story - now I feel safe enough to truly feel it? In this episode, I explore the feminine quality of “being with” - the soft, receptive, relational capacity to stay present with feel...

Come along for an improvised exploration of this strange, unexpected chapter of life: the grief of not being where I once expected to be, the freedom (and loneliness) of living outside the conventional script, and the quiet reality of building an unconventional life while many people around me are immersed in marriage, children, careers and family life. We’ll talk about the emotional texture of th...

After months of building safety, structure and steadiness in my life, I’ve found myself in a new inquiry: what does it really mean to be with my experience, rather than fix it, analyse it, distract from it or turn it into a story? In this episode, I explore the feminine quality of “being with” - the soft, receptive, relational capacity to stay present with feelings as they move through us. Not bec...

After a turbulent season of life, I’ve found myself saying something surprising: Life is boring right now - and that’s a good thing. In this episode, I explore the connection between safety, trust, rhythm and the capacity to receive more of the good things in life. I share what I’m learning about nervous system healing, why unpredictability can keep us stuck in survival mode, and how a slower, ste...

In this episode, I explore a side of boundaries (what’s a yes or no in life) that doesn’t get talked about enough: the boundaries we set with ourselves. We often think of boundaries as something we use with other people - saying no, protecting our energy, asserting ourselves, eliminating toxicity or challenging behaviour. But what I’m discovering is that if I can’t hold a boundary with myself, it’...

Sometimes the very thing that brings you to life is the first thing to fall away when life gets challenging. In this episode, I explore why people drift away from the things they love - like improv, play, creativity, connection - just when they may need them most. I unpack the story that says you have to be in the ‘right mood’ before you’re allowed to show up, and why that might not be true. This...

Confusion is a form of suffering - that horrible state where nothing quite makes sense, nothing resolves, and the mind keeps looping in search of clarity and certainty that may never come. Can you relate? That’s been my experience of late. But then I found an unexpected ally… These reflections came to me in the bath, of all places, when I noticed myself once again circling an old, unresolved situa...

In this episode, I explore joy - not as a fleeting high or a lucky accident, but as a state. A way of being you in the world. A way of meeting life. The spark for this reflection was a message from my friend Tom, who said: joy is wealth. That landed deeply. Because after a long winter of grief, withdrawal, heartbreak and recovery, I’m beginning to notice what happens when my focus starts to move o...

I’ve recently had a difficult but important realisation about emotional healing: sometimes softness isn’t what helps. Self-compassion, inner child work and emotional attunement are wonderful things, but I began to notice something unsettling - that soothing my big feelings in a gentle, maternal way was making them bigger, not calmer. Instead of helping the storm pass, it seemed to reinforce helple...

Back at my favourite tree in Leeds after a hard winter of with grief, change and travel, I’d like to introduce you to a new inner figure in my life: a rhythmic, embodied, non-verbal part of the psyche that has something to teach us about moving with life’s natural tempo. Sparked by a dream about drums, rhythm and an instinctive masculine presence, this episode explores what it might mean to be hel...

What if not caring is actually healthy? In this episode I explore the difference between caring (attention, effort, emotional labour) and blessing (love from afar, well-wishing, release). If you’re a sensitive, perfectionistic, empathetic type who ends up feeling on behalf of other people, this is an invitation to draw a clearer boundary around your ‘kingdom’ - to reclaim that which is yours (and...

It’s the first episode of 2026 - and no, this isn’t a pep talk about New Year’s resolutions, grit, or “becoming your best self” by February. If anything, I’m here to make the case that January is the worst time to set goals. It’s still winter. Nature is resting. So maybe you should be too. Instead, I want to explore something adjacent: ambition. A friend told me recently, “I’m not ambitious.” And...

Loneliness isn’t the same as being alone. And solitude isn’t a necessary evil - it’s a skill. This is a winter postcard about choosing yourself, slowly, on purpose. This episode is a postcard from midwinter - a love letter from the quieter edge of life. I’m exploring the difference between loneliness, being alone, and solitude… and why those aren’t the same thing. I talk about those “lonely storie...

Join me beneath a silver birch tree in my local park as I explore the messy, empowering, and deeply embodied world of boundaries. This episode dives into the lived experience of saying yes and no - where you end, where others begin, and how asserting your edges becomes an act of dignity, humility, and self-leadership. I share recent stories from my life and my improv practice, including a difficul...