Ep 65 Meeting yourself on the journey with Damianne President

What if the most transformative journey you could take wasn't to a faraway place, but back to yourself?

In this episode, I sit down with Damianne President, a coach who helps midlife women use intentional solo travel as a catalyst for self-discovery. Damianne has lived and worked across four continents — from St. Lucia and Canada to India, Sudan, Japan, and now Prague — and her extraordinary cross-cultural life is the foundation of her work.

What you'll hear in this conversation:

• How a Sufi teacher in India told a 20-something Damianne she was "watching her life from the window of a train" and how that moment set her on a completely different path,

• Why travel, especially to unfamiliar countries, is one of the most powerful developmental tools available to us, and how it works on the nervous system in ways our everyday routines simply don't,

• The crucial difference between escaping yourself through travel and genuinely meeting yourself and what it looks like when people confuse the two,

• How Damianne supports clients to stay regulated when travel gets uncomfortable, including Tara Brach's RAIN practice and her own beautifully simple "5 more minutes" approach,

• Why midlife is such a potent moment for this kind of work, identity is formed but something feels quietly off, and the anonymity of a new place offers the freedom to experiment with who you want to be,

• The integration piece: why the real transformation happens not on the trip, but in the intentional reflection that follows.

There's also a rich conversation about belonging and nervous system regulation, the grief that lives inside unmet aspirations, the way our neurobiology pulls us back toward the familiar, and why shared humanity is the thing that consistently surprises people most when they travel deeply.

Damianne makes a distinction that stayed with me long after the conversation ended; the difference between searching for yourself and meeting yourself. They're not the same thing.

Connect with Damianne:

• Website & free guide for beginners: freedomlookslikethis.com/goalone

• Social media: @Damiannecoaching

Ep 64 Roots: Understanding somatic decolonisation with Sasha Ostara

What if the systems that have shaped our world for centuries aren't just political structures but are actually living in your body right now? In this rich conversation, I sit down with my dear friend Sasha Ostara, writer, coach and decolonisation educator, to explore how capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and human supremacy don't just exist "out there"; they show up as chronic tension, hypervigilance, collapsed chests, shame, and the relentless hum of never-enough.

Drawing on Sasha's viral blog post and Rupa Marya's book Inflame, we trace how colonisation becomes embodied and what it means to begin the slow, tender work of decolonising from the inside out.

In this episode, we explore:

• The four "legs" of colonialism — human supremacy, white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism — and the distinct somatic signatures each one leaves in the body,

• Why decolonisation isn't just a political act, but an embodied one: the ideas that have lived in our nervous systems for generations can't be thought away,

• How white supremacy lands differently in different bodies, as hypervigilance, fear, shame, and disgust; and why those experiences are more interconnected than we often assume,

• The somatic cost of patriarchy: the tight throat, the collapsed chest, the learned habit of making ourselves smaller and policing our own voices to stay safe,

• Why men are often the first and most hidden victims of male supremacy; cut off from their own feeling, craving connection but conditioned to perform disconnection,

• Capitalism as extraction: how the "never enough" of consumerism mirrors the same extractive logic we apply to our bodies, our time, and our life force,

• What actually happens in the body when safety begins to return — and why healing often feels heavier before it feels lighter,

• The invitation to move from a mechanistic relationship with our bodies to an ecological one — drawing on Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and the concept of the Honourable Harvest.

There's also a gorgeous thread on the gifts hidden inside perimenopause, the "hungry ghost" of consumerism, and why — as Sasha puts it — the moment we start seeing these systems clearly, we begin changing the paradigm for everyone around us.

Find Sasha at: sasha-ostara.com, on instagram @sasha-ostara, tiktok, and facebook.

Ep 62 Ageing on your own terms

One of the most challenging aspects of midlife transition for many women is coming to terms with our own mortality and ageing. The paradigm is indeed different for men, there is more acceptance of the ageing man with grey hair. But for women, aside from menopause, there is great fear in ageing and becoming irrelevant. This largely has been perpetuated by the cosmetics industry and popular culture. How many role models of women ageing on their own terms do we see in the media, social media or television and films?

In this podcast, I talk with Faith Agugu, psychotherapist and founder of Silver Sirens, an ageing positive community for women over 50+. We discuss why the traditional narrative around ageing for women is not only limiting but harmful to wisdoms self-esteem and well-being. the research shows when you embrace your second half of life with curiousity and confidence you are setting yourself up to live well.

In the podcast we discuss:

• How the narrative we were told about ageing as a child greatly influences how we approach our own ageing process,

• How popular culture and media impacts how we feel about our bodies and mental health as we age,

• How fear drives increased stress in our lives in this transition and what is misunderstood about getting older,

• How there is a different paradigm of ageing for women than there is for men,

• How many women describe midlife as a time when old identities fall away—roles, ways of being, expectations. What we see as therapists of this transition emerge when women are supported through that transition well?

• The common myths Faith would love to dispel about ageing,

• How intergenerational wisdom around ageing can be passed down through family systems,

• What Faith believes is the most compassionate first step you can take as you approach both midlife or elderhood.

You can find Faith through her therapy practice The Healing Process or her community group Silver Sirens

or on instagram or Facebook..