Embracing Your Mortality Podcast

My guest today is Kate Bidstrup who travels through the Australian outback with her husband Tim Gentle, on a brightly coloured coach called Rocky, using story-telling and the latest technology  to educate children and adults about where their food and fibre comes from, and to inspire them to enter into the Australian food industry. Personally, I think we need to fly her and Rocky the coach  over t...

Welcome to my conversation with Vidya Frazier, who is one of the world's leading speakers on how humanity is currently experiencing a chaotic process of transformation.  She believes people across the globe are waking up to a profound understanding that old structures need to crumble before new ways of being can emerge. And, it is time to answer the call to assist, in anyway way we can, the u...

Welcome to Embracing Your Mortality Podcast. Sophia Campbell-Shaw is the founder of Woven Farewell Coffins, where you can learn to weave your own coffin. She believes that facing death is a gift which brings meaning and purpose into focus.  What’s more, 5% of the proceeds from of your willow coffin making goes to the The Woodland Trust , the UK's leading woodland conservation charity. Sophia...

Today  my guests are Lin Carruthers and Kate Clark, authors of a wonderfully helpful and practical book called Slow Down When Someone Dies.  Lin is a trustee of Pushing up the Daisies, a charity formed in 2016 by Kate Clark. Their work is aimed at anyone who wants and needs practical options and to know their legal rights immediately after someone dies, especially for those wanting to keep the bod...

Today, my guest is Micheál Connors, director of The Natural Academy, a not for profit Eco Social Enterprise, which offers accredited training courses for organisations wanting to work with nature and for people seeking a career in health, and wellbeing, ecotherapy and eco-depth psychology.  Lots of people are talking about the importance of connecting with Nature to find a sense of inner safety an...

My guest is Terry Le Page, author of Eye of the Storm: facing climate and social chaos with calm and Courage.  Terry is an American transitional minister and hospice chaplain. She facilitates non-violent communications groups, grief circles, and social justice groups locally and for the international Deep Adaptation Forum.  Due to increasing global volatility I believe Terry's book will be on...

Happy New Year to you all! What a year's it's been, and I think 2024 will continue to be just as intense.  This is why I am delighted that Neuropsychiatrist Dr Peter Fenwick is my first guest of the year, talking about consciousness and his own dying process. Peter has reached the grand age of 89, and is engaging robustly with his end of life preparations.  For me, he certainly puts life...

Today my guest is bee expert Paula Carnell who is an international speaker on bees, head beekeeper at the wonderful Newt in Somerset, and the author of ‘ A’s to Bee s', and ' Bees in Bhutan.' Such is her passion for bees that she runs Bee Safaris to educate people about the importance of these amazing life-giving and life-enhancing buzzy creature.  She is also the Winner of ‘Environ...

I am so delighted that my guest this month is Liz Rothschild,  performer, celebrant and founder of the award winning Westmill Burial Ground, located on the Oxford/Wiltshire border.  Liz is also the mastermind of the wonderful Kicking the Bucket Festival, which is taking place in Oxford over the weekend - the 1st weekend of November 23. This of course, synchronises with the famous Mexican Day of th...

Today, my guest is freelance garden writer, historian and photographer Liz Ware, whose passion is introducing Silent Spaces into public parks, gardens, and green spaces where anyone can go to reflect silently in nature.  Liz started Silent Space in 2016, initially as a not-for-profit project, which has now evolved into full charitable status, supported by major gardening societies and leading gard...

My September guest is Madison, better known as Maddie, King, an internationally recognised practitioner, teacher, writer and educator in the field of natural healthcare. Maddie built an immensely successful career in the advertising world, but began to realised she was yearning for something more to life than worrying about the colour of bottle tops.  Maddie followed the call of her heart, chucked...

Today my guest is Robert Pardi, author, life coach, and mentor, whose passion and commitment is to help people understand that personal growth and transformation are part of the human experience. He writes, ‘The arc of all our journeys involve confronting challenges, learning lessons, winning victories, and returning transformed as a symbol of what is possible.’  Robert’s own journey started when...

This month I am joined by Alex Hunter who I met at the Quirky Campers festival in May. Alex and her boyfriend, Doug, recently set off on an epic adventure in their micro camper car to explore the far reaches of Eastern Europe to raise money for two favourite charities. They encountered all sorts of issues from closed borders due to Covid, to the impact the Ukraine War is having on neighbouring cou...

 I am so delighted to be joined by my birthday sister Alexandra Pope (she's two days older than me).  Alex and I both hit seventy this year, and we relished our gritty conversation about becoming older women who have been round the block more times than we care to remember, and what it means to have death appearing on the horizon. Alex is the co-founder of the Red School with Sanje Hugo Wurli...

This month I am joined by Patrick Leo Holland, actor, TEDx speaker, and author of The Ultimate Power of You. Patrick believes there is a secret to life, and we all hold the answer to this secret within us. I love his mission statement which is about helping people to develop honesty, integrity, boldness, and compassion - essential qualities for living your truth and connecting to your innate wisdo...

Felicity Warner is the founder of the international Soul Midwifery Movement and the Soul Midwives School.  Felicity's life changed in her early teens after she witnessed her beloved, eccentric grandmother dying in a sterile environment. She knew she wanted to revolutionise how we care for the dying. Felicity went on to develop award winning courses which have trained thousands of people to he...

I am joined today by Gabby whose life drastically changed after a suitcase fell on her head when she was twenty-three. Since then she has had to come to terms with living with constant neurological pain and grapple with massive questions about the meaning of life due to her physical condition. Before the suitcase 'event' she describes her life as' fast-paced, jammed packed, with no...

This month I am joined by William Peters, Founder of the Shared Crossing Project and Author of At Heaven's Door.  William talks about his extensive research into what happens  during the dying process, and how many people report extraordinary experiences called Shared Crossings which are profoundly healing both for the dying and their family and carers. His mission is to positively transform...

Happy New Year's Day!  To usher in 2023, my first guest is Roz Savage, MBE , Environmentalist, Ocean Rower, and author of An Ocean in a Drop: from Crisis to Consciousness.  Her highly acclaimed new book is a bold and thought-provoking examination of how we can create a new story about what it means to be human in the twenty-first century. Roz is an exceptionally inspiring speaker who challeng...

How good are you at listening to others? In this final episode of Series Four, Sue Brayne speaks with Ruth McCarthy , who is on a mission to help us to develop good listening skills to transform our thinking,  encourage engagement, and transform how we relate to each other.   Thanks for listening and see you next time.

What can we learn from crop circles? Author Sue Brayne is joined by Karen Alexander , a renowned crop circle researcher, lecturer, and artist. Among her work, she produces paintings of crop circles to help understand the connection between crop circles and human consciousness through their geometry and symbolism. She also shares her thoughts on orbs, and their apparent attraction to crop circles. ...

Could UFOs help explain whether there is life after death? This week Sue Brayne speaks with Frederik Uldall , who is fascinated by the possible existence of UFOs and what their advanced technology could teach us. He is also an avid academic researcher into Near Death Experiences, and offers insights into what he has discovered about them.   Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Claire and Chris Sandys began The Silent Why podcast in response to the loss they experienced as a result of childlessness. They share their story with Sue, and explain how it became a catalyst for them to find 101 different experiences of loss and grief - as well as discovering the hope in each of the stories they've heard.  Thanks for listening and see you next time.

This week Sue Brayne is joined by Maggie La Tourelle  author of The Gift of Alzheimers, an extraordinarily moving account of how she cared for her mother and recorded her journey through Alzheimers, which Maggie says was a transcendent experience for them both. Maggie’s book has now been adapted into an audio play starring Juliet Stevenson and Jane Lapotaire.  Thanks for listening and see you next...

Author Sue Brayne meets The Business Gardener, Mark Rendell , to delve into our profound connection with the land. Mark promotes the importance of soil health, the impact of nature on our mental health, and the incredible mathematical links our DNA has with the building blocks of the Universe.  Thanks for listening and see you next time.