Wyse Women

In this episode the women retreat back home for their own very separate and personal reasons. Jo is still living van life though and has met two new friends who have been sending her to sleep and waking her up in the most magical way!

In this episode, the women set off on their adventures, discuss the feedback they received on the first podcast ... and open up about the reality of their friendship.

In this first podcast, you get to find out how Jo and Lou met and how both of their lives unraveled to the point where they decided to live #vanlife.

As preparations continue for van life, Lou decides that Women on Wheels needs a proper theme tune.

My Wyse Women podcast is in the process of changing to The Women on Wheels podcast. -- What do you do when your life as you knew it starts to dissolve right in front of your eyes? Well first you make a huge mess and resist and grasp and cling and contract ... and then after a while (sometimes after years, after medication, after rehab, after wanting everything to end) you might buy yourself a van, find yourself a co-host ... and you might start to very slowly accept and allow life as it is. Women on Wheels is a podcast where I will share my van life adventures and the wisdom I have found and am continuing to find after a big life reset .. joining me on the road will be my crazy friend Lou and Bodhi the dog! We are currently in Somerset ... living lodge life .... and planning our first trip and first podcast.

In this very short bonus podcast I have created a montage of some of my Wyse Women guests from Series 2 sharing their favourite quotes and words of wisdom. Featuring (in order) Sally Kempton, Jojo Mehta, Nikki Slade, Deva Premal, Emma Farrell, Pam Montgomery and Carol Guyett, this is a powerful collection of inspiring thoughts to uplift you. Listen over and over, try and connect to the feeling as you hear the words and even play this podcast on repeat as you fall asleep at night … the more we fill our conscious minds with the emotions we desire the more they will show up in our lives.

Marcela Lobos was born and raised within dysfunctional family dynamics in Chile, while the country was under military dictatorship. As a result her childhood was emotionally and spiritually unstable with the threat of war and conflict never too far away. Despite trying to outwit and outrun her early programming, it did eventually catch up with her. In this Wyse Women podcast Marcela shares her significant story of awakening and talks about how her soul had the courage to break through the constraints of the society that raised her. She also talks about the shamanic maps (The Medicine Wheel and the Hero’s Journey) that she found along the way and offers profound insights to other women who are starting to answer their call from spirit too. In our conversation Marcela also pays a heartfelt tribute to her husband Dr. Alberto Villoldo, the Founder of The Four Winds Society and The Munay Ki Rites, who helped to guide her out of the darkness and into the light.

Carole Guyett is a medical herbalist and medicine woman who blends her knowledge of the Celtic tradition with the teachings of ***The Beauty Way. From her healing centre in Ireland Carole is dedicated to bringing the gifts of the plant world to others, and in recent years she has been doing this while her husband has been and is still being treated for cancer. In this podcast Carole talks about the wisdom she has found in her husbands illness, we also discuss her plant spirit healing work and her dedication to The Beauty Way. ***The Beauty Way is derived from Hózhó, the Navajo word for the concept of living in a holistic environment of Beauty, Balance, Harmony, and Well-Being. ___ You can read Carole's show notes in full at www.wysewomen.org.uk. Please leave reviews about Wyse Women on Apple Podcasts, your feedback will help other women find these stories.

In many spiritual traditions an elder is someone who is valued for their wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority within their group or tribe. Elders are crucial for helping humanity evolve wisely, however a lot of people believe there are very few of these humans left on the planet right now. My Wyse Women guest this month is Herbalist and Plant Spirit Healer Pam Montgomery. Pam’s Grandmother was a wise elder who taught Pam sacred truths about nature that she has now dedicated her life to. In this podcast Pam talks about her Grandmother and her gradual transition to spirit and she also shares powerful wisdom about how we can all connect to elder wisdom … even if the wise elders in our own tribes never existed or have long since passed. ___ You can read Pam's show notes in full at www.wysewomen.org.uk. Please leave reviews about Wyse Women on Apple Podcasts, your feedback will help other women find these stories.

Are you, perhaps more than ever, longing to live in a deeper harmony with nature? Maybe the near-certain collapse of our economic system that we are all witnessing at the moment is prompting you to focus on connecting with the security and safety of our ecosystem like never before? After all Mother Nature’s reality based bounty existed long before the fiction of stocks, shares and other man-made financial constructs. The Great Mother will almost certainly exist long after as well. In this podcast I speak to Emma Farrell, a certified plant spirit healer. Emma’s spiritual quest has taken her all over the world, to study in the Himalayas with master energy healers, to learn in the Ecuadorian Amazon with a shaman elder, and to train in Buddhist meditation at the Dalai Lama’s temple. However her greatest passion today is connecting with great integrity to plant spirit medicine and helping others to discover and explore the power of plants, a gift that was nurtured by a teacher she now treasures (who I also hope to interview on Wyse Women so I won’t share her name just yet.) We talk in this episode about what plant consciousness actually is, how you don’t need to go on big ‘trips’ with hallucinogenic plants to answer life’s big questions and the importance of doing your own inner work alongside any healing modality you invite into your life. We start off though by talking about how Emma’s childhood illnesses of asthma and eczema were the catalysts for her journey within. ___ You can read Emma's show notes in full at www.wysewomen.org.uk. Please leave reviews about Wyse Women on Apple Podcasts, your feedback will help other women find these stories.

Most of us are aware of the practical steps we can take to help navigate what is going on in the world at the moment, but where can we turn for spiritual guidance and support? ***Please note that the word spiritual in this context is used to describe someone who looks and inquires within in order to experience universality in all things. Well in a recent conversation with the author Sally Kempton ,a former swami (monk) about the coronavirus we discussed the power we all have (men and women) to invoke the full potential of our inner feminine energy by connecting with different facets of different Goddesses. Sally has written a book called ‘Awakening Shakti’ which is all about this subject. This part of our conversation was not included in The Wisdom of Coronoavirus podcast released last month which featured Sally (among many others) so I hope you enjoy the unedited version of our chat. In this bonus podcast Sally gives a brief introduction to one goddess in particular who we can unite with at this time. (Illustration of Bhuvaneshwari by Ekabhumi Charles Ellik used with kind permission from the book Awakening Shakti by Sally Kempton.) ___ You can read the show notes for this episode in full at www.wysewomen.org.uk. Please leave reviews about Wyse Women on Apple Podcasts, your feedback will help more listeners find these stories.

Deva Premal is a German singer best known for introducing Sanskrit mantras into the mainstream, her millions of fans include the singer Cher, The Dalai Lama and Eckhart Tolle. In this Wyse Women episode, Deva shares her wisdom with me about the day her father left his body and the beautiful mantra that she sang to him as they said goodbye. Incidentally it was the same mantra he sang to her while she was in her mothers womb. She talks in detail about what kind of man her Dad was too. Plus of course Deva answers my three quick fire questions as well; her most influential male mentor, her favourite words of wisdom and her favourite song. __ Please note that the world was a very different place when we originally recorded this interview in January, so this podcast does include an update with Deva about coronavirus.

Are you someone who is keeping away from the news at the moment, or at the least limiting your exposure to it? Don’t get me wrong I worked in radio and television newsrooms through my late teens, all through my twenties and into my thirties and I know (first hand) how responsible these outlets are for spreading information. However (and it is a BIG however) information is very different to wisdom. Information is fact based. Wisdom is experience based. So with that in mind I have gathered together a group of previous Wyse Women guests (in a virtual red tent) to offer comfort and strength to anyone who is finding the mainstream media a bit too overwhelming. In this very special extended edition of Wyse Women, mothers, teachers, spiritual leaders, musicians and even a former swami (monk) discuss what they feel is happening right now and offer their deepest wisdom to us on how to navigate our way through.

If you believe as I do, that the purpose of our own individual trials is to overcome them so that you can show others the way … then you will love this Wyse Women podcast. Nikki Slade first experimented with drink and drugs as a teenager, but it was during her career as a talented actress and musician based around London that she became an addict. At the height of her addiction in 1989 she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for an episode of psychosis (which she now understands was a profound spiritual emergence/sha-manic episode.) Thankfully it was also at this point in her life that she had found comfort and solace in the healing power of mantra and chanting … a practice which Nikki feels liberated her from her addiction. Now, 30 years clean, Nikki is the UK’s number 1 western style Kirtan leader who is passionate about helping others to free their inner voices through chanting … and in this podcast she courageously shares her journey in the hope that it helps others to uncover the greatest expressions of who they are too. ___ You can read Nikki's show notes in full at www.wysewomen.org.uk. Please leave reviews about Wyse Women on Apple Podcasts, your feedback will help other women find these stories.

The Guardian newspaper called Polly Higgins ‘one of the most inspiring figures in the green movement’ but on Easter Sunday last year at the age of 50, she passed away after a short battle with lung cancer. Polly was a successful lawyer who abandoned a courtroom career to lead a decade-long campaign for a law called “ecocide” to be recognised as a crime against humanity. ‘Ecocide is criminalized human activity that violates the principles of environmental justice, such as causing extensive damage or destroying ecosystems or harming the health and well-being of a species.’ In this podcast the co-founder of the Stop Ecocide campaign Jojo Mehta talks to me about Polly’s legacy and Jojo also shares her wisdom on how she has handled her own personal grief at the loss of one of her closest friends. Wisdom that is universal to anyone who has a close friend in spirit. ___ You can read Jojo's show notes in full at www.wysewomen.org.uk. Please leave reviews about Wyse Women on Apple Podcasts, your feedback will help other women find these stories.

Most women can relate to the experience of leaving behind a much loved relationship, a career or even a place they called home because a new chapter in their lives needed to unfold. Perhaps it is something that is happening to you right now? Well hopefully my Wyse Women guest can offer you some inspiration and guidance, because at the age of 60 she left the life she had led for 30 years to start a career in the public eye. That in itself is a story worth hearing, however what makes this women’s story even more remarkable is that the life Sally Kempton had been leading up until that point was a deeply spiritual one, because in the early 1970’s Sally became the full time student of the enlightened Siddha master, Swami Muktananda. She traveled with him, edited many of his books, and received intensive training which led to her being initiated as a swami (or monk) herself and serving as a teacher in the Siddha Yoga meditation community. In this podcast Sally who is now an international meditation teacher and author talks to me about life in the ashram, her difficult decision to leave … and she shares her wisdom about how preparation and staying centered is the key to smooth life transitions. ___ You can read Sally's show notes in full at www.wysewomen.org.uk. Please leave reviews about Wyse Women on Apple Podcasts, your feedback will help other women find these stories.

Have you ever yearned for a simpler existence? The so-called 'good life' of self sufficiency where you are living in harmony with nature? Perhaps you picture yourself in a cozy log cabin in the woods or relaxing on a small sailboat on a beautiful sunny shoreline? Well my final guest for Series 1 of Wyse Woman is Mandy Haggith, a writer and activist who is doing just that. Mandy gave up the conventions of being ‘chained’ to a job and a mortgage to live and work on a croft in acres and acres of Scottish paradise with her husband Bill. In our conversation we talk about how she is now able to trans-migrate from her log cabin to her sailboat at different times of the year, her passion for trees and bears … and her firm belief that we don’t need to concern ourselves about ‘reconnecting’ to nature … we just need to remember that we are nature.

Have you ever heard someone repetitively chanting or singing words such as, 'Om Made Padme Hum', 'Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha' or even 'Hare Krishna' and wondered why and what it all means? Well these mantras (and there are many many others) are formulas of sacred syllables, which were originally revealed to the Rishis (seers or sages) in the deepest states of meditation. They are the earliest components of yoga and are quite possibly the first type of meditation that was developed. Often times these mantras are untranslatable but it is believed that our souls remember the meaning of the sounds and they can help us express feelings that ordinary language is unable to contact. This Wyse Woman podcast is with Ellen Arthur, a yoga teacher and **Kirtan leader who lives in Bali and works at a yoga community called 'The Practice.' In our chat she talks about how mantra has helped and continues to help her access the deepest dimensions of her being.  **Kirtan or Kirtana is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" an idea or story. Usually delivered as a devotional 'call and response' song by a leader to a community.

Ending a marriage is tough for anyone but imagine having to go through it when you have built a home and raised three children with your Australian husband on the other side of the world (after being in a relationship with him for over 18 years.) My Wyse Woman guest on this podcast is Alice Revell from Bristol and in this episode (called The Divorce) she talks about the deep soul searching she had to do when her marriage broke down in 2016.

My Wyse Woman guest this month was a self confessed ‘on-the-go’ CEO and no words of warning from others about the importance of slowing down could stop her … she only really started to listen after badly damaging her knee on the ski slopes. Justine Clement’s injury, subsequent operation and slow recovery invited her to start to learn how to ‘be’ rather than ‘do’ … and she found some powerful lessons in those enforced moments of stillness. Lessons she shares now on her podcast ‘The Slow Healer.’

Stillbirth is much more common than people might think, with around one in 9 babies born sleeping every day, however it is a subject rarely talked about maybe because pregnancy is usually such a time of joy and hope. In this Wyse Woman podcast I talk to artist Zara Kolasinska who was 40 years old, 40 weeks pregnant and 4 days overdue when she lost her daughter Ginger. Zara speaks so openly in our conversation about what happened to her and her husband and how she is continuing to grieve for Ginger. She would also like to acknowledge the help she received from SANDS (The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity) who guided her through the early days of her bereavement. If you have been affected by any part of Zara's story you may like to contact them. www.sands.org.uk

Usually Wyse Women podcasts are released on the full moon, but here is a bonus podcast to enjoy, after I was invited in to do a radio interview with Charlie Taylor for BBC Somerset to speak about podcasting and some of the amazing women I’ve interviewed so far.

Are you someone who longs to express yourself creatively but perhaps you worry about not being talented enough, not being able to support yourself financially or what people will think of you if you choose a life less ordinary? In this month’s podcast I speak to singer/songwriter Anna Krantz about the challenges she has found in putting her creativity proudly out into the world and the wisdom she has found by doing so. Anna talks about working with people like Ed Sheeran, having her music recorded by Cliff Richard and we also discuss how she accesses her creativity and what she does when that sacred connection isn’t there ... (The ultimate inspiration probably comes at the end of this podcast though when we play one of Anna's amazing songs.)

After a life devoted to her own inner work and extensive study of the world’s wisdom traditions Miranda MacPherson’s life (as she knew it) completely evaporated at the age of 36 – after a profound spiritual encounter in India. In this episode of Wyse Women she explains what happened and how her only choice in the process was to relinquish her grip of control and lovingly allow grace to guide her. Miranda’s story offers insights and tools to help others navigate changes in their lives with elegance and grace … however it isn’t a journey for the faint hearted or for people looking to step back from responsibility. Far from it, listening to and living ‘the way of grace’ is an advanced spiritual practice which requires profound levels of presence and awareness.

Most of us share an intense bond with our animal companions, and are naturally devastated by feelings of grief and sadness when a pet dies. However the pain of that passing isn’t always given the validation it might need with many of us brushing away those feelings with comments such as ‘I feel so silly, it was only a dog.’ In this episode of Wyse Women, Animal Communicator, Author and Lecturer Madeleine Walker talks about the extraordinary soul level connection we can create with our ‘furmily’ and also shares her own personal experience of grieving for her beloved 15 year old dog Winnie.

It is estimated that around 1 in 7 couples in the UK will have difficulties conceiving which is a heartbreaking statistic for anyone who has a strong desire to have a family of their own. In this Wyse Women episode, Jamie Linegar, a natural health practitioner from Bristol talks about her challenges to become pregnant after being diagnosed with a condition that effects the way her ovaries work. She also talks about the treatment she went through with her husband and how they ended up going through the process of adoption when their attempts to get pregnant failed. Of course Jamie also shares the wisdom she found on her journey to becoming a Mum – making this podcast a ‘must-listen’ for any women who has ever longed for a child.v

If you have ever cared for someone you love through an illness and felt lonely, isolated and lost, you will be especially interested in this episode of Wyse Women. It features Tiggy Walker who is married to the BBC Radio 2 Presenter Johnnie Walker. In 2003 and just a few months into their marriage, Johnny became seriously ill with cancer and Tiggy gave up everything to care for him. Then ten years later the roles reversed when Tiggy became ill with cancer and Johnny had to care for her. In this podcast (which contains strong language) Tiggy shares her wisdom about what she learned about being a carer from both perspectives.

Whatever type of trauma you have suffered, be it physical, emotional, spiritual or sexual… my next Wyse Woman guest believes so powerfully that it is possible to reclaim ourselves from those experiences. Rachel Rose’s story is about her early sexualisation and how (after many, many years of darkness) one of the ways that she began to heal herself was through language. A healer, teacher and orator of extraordinary proportion Rachel speaks in her interview about how as a very young child she was energetically expanded with thoughts and feelings that she didn’t understand by a visitor in her house. She also talks about the quest she undertook as an adult to consciously define what happened to her by seeking out the most truthful words. Words that set her free and words that potentially have the power to set others free from their traumas as well.

The author and mystic Caroline Myss once said that ‘it is impossible to heal from an illness and come out the other side the same person.’ A quote that no doubt will make complete sense to anyone who has been diagnosed with a serious disease or condition. Illness perhaps like nothing else on earth has a way of forcing us to make changes and to begin to take notice of the inner voice that has stopped whispering and starting shouting. In this episode of Wyse Women, Frauke Behrens from Fuerteventura talks about her extraordinary transformation from a stressed-out overworked manager of top hotels and spas to a free-spirited and joyous Kundalini yoga teacher after being diagnosed with a life threatening tumor of the lung.

If you have ever lost someone you love, you will have experienced the emotion of grief. How you experienced grief would have been completely unique to you and the relationship you had with the person you lost. However there are some universal themes with grief which we can all connect with . In this episode of Wyse Women, Helena Enright, a lecturer in drama at Bath Spa University talks about the sudden death of her 23 year old cousin, Mark – and the way she dealt with and continues to deal with her loss.

In 2004, Pauline Part and her family were on holiday in Thailand celebrating her husband’s 50th birthday when one of the biggest natural disasters in living memory struck. In this first Wyse Woman episode Pauline talks about being caught up in an event which killed more that 230,000 people in 14 countries. She also talks candidly about the wisdom that revealed itself at the time and in the months and years afterwards.