Category Archives: People

How can you get your family on board with a slower life? How do we engage with our community and make a difference in the world? How can we better spend our time with family and friends? And why does it matter?

Kali Gray on body positivity, mindful eating and living counter-culturally – Summer Series

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Hello, and welcome to our 2020 Summer Series!

Every Thursday in January we’ll be revisiting some of our favourite podcast episodes while we walk the slow living walk over the summer break. Also it turns out podcasts, just like fine wine, really do get better with age, so whether you missed them the first time around, or are having another listen, we hope you enjoy these poggies as much as we did!

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Is there a link between the rise in consumerism, the endless advertising messages that assault us thousands of times a day and the increase in body image issues? According to today’s guest, the answer is a resounding yes.

I’m so excited to bring you today’s episode because it brings yet another perspective to this season’s conversations on what it is to live a slower life and the myriad ways we can apply the ideas of slow.

Today I chat with Kali Gray, a body confidence expert and a “non diet” dietician who focuses her work on helping people heal their relationship with their bodies and their food.

In this episode we discuss the the relationship between food security and body image issues, while also looking at the crossover between my work in slow living and Kali’s work in reframing our perspective on food, self-care, self-worth and the food we eat.

So much of what Kali teaches is centred on self-compassion and self-care, and how those things can help us to heal those relationships, which is where I think it most closely links with slow living. In order to learn self-compassion and self-care (particularly in a world that profits from our self-loathing) we first need to slow down and pay attention.

Pay attention to the stories we tell ourselves about our bodies and the role food has in our lives, pay attention to the way media messaging, advertising and social media are keeping us in a negative relationship with ourselves, and pay attention to how we feel when we start making changes to our thoughts, habits and actions.

Kali also turns the interview tables around on me towards the end of the episode, which sparks a conversation on how all of these changes take time, and no matter how well-versed we are in consumerism, health, wellness, body image and food, there’s always going to be part of us that requires a little extra love and empathy.

Questions featured in this episode:

  1. Why do you think so many of us have a broken relationship with food and our bodies?
  2. Capitalism and consumerism are both linked to our dissatisfaction with ourselves and our bodies. How do you encourage people to recognise that and make changes so that we get to decide what is good and right for us individually?
  3. It’s counter-cultural to teach and encourage people to love themselves and accept themselves as they are, particularly in the face of a society that teaches us to find fault in our bodies from a very young age. Is that something that comes naturally to you?
  4. We both encourage people to ask the question WHY? Why do we do what we do? Why do we buy what we buy? Why do we eat what we eat? Do you find that once we begin to uncover that why, it becomes simpler to start making changes?
  5. As a process, this asking why and digging deep is uncomfortable. How do you encourage people to accept that this is outside their comfort zone and move through regardless?
  6. You highlight mindful eating as a way to begin to heal our relationship with food, but what actually is it to eat more mindfully?
  7. How can we begin to eat more mindfully? What’s the first step?
  8. There is this beautiful undercurrent of awe in all you do, and that means you frame your work in the idea that every body, right now, as it is, is a miracle. What is the reaction from people when you ask them to pay attention to the miracle of their body? Particularly if they have grown up not knowing how to like their bodies?
  9. Young kids have no issues with accepting their bodies as they are, but as they get closer to puberty this changes, and suddenly they’re seeing all that’s wrong with them. Why do you think this happens?
  10. What can we do to help ourselves and our kids move through that?

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Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening!

Love Slow? Support the show!

Meg Berryman on moving beyond wellness – Summer Series

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Hello, and welcome to our 2020 Summer Series!

Every Thursday in January we’ll be revisiting some of our favourite podcast episodes while we walk the slow living walk over the summer break. Also it turns out podcasts, just like fine wine, really do get better with age, so whether you missed them the first time around, or are having another listen, we hope you enjoy these poggies as much as we did!

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“What’s right about you? What’s working well? Where are you whole? What does feel good? Let’s start to amplify that rather than marketing to your pain points.”

Meg Berryman

You know those conversations where you light up from the beginning? Where you feel like you’ve met a new friend and you could talk for hours?

I was lucky enough to have one of those conversations with my guest today, Meg Berryman of Beyond Being Well. Meg is a women’s coach, mum of two young kids, yoga teacher, empowerment educator and all-round, fabulous, no-BS human.

I was immediately taken with the work Meg does in helping women move through the process of making changes for themselves, and on to making changes for the collective, because this is something I’ve felt myself being drawn to more and more over the past year.

I have a few thoughts on what the wellness movement is becoming, but essentially I believe the current focus on wellness is wonderful as there are so many of us who need to relearn what it is to feel well and how it feels to practice self-care. But I also think that, in my case anyway, there comes a time when the focus can open up and give us the opportunity to make changes for the benefit of others too. Our homes, friends, families, communities – these are the parts of our lives that stand to benefit from our journey from wellness through to wholeness.

Meg talks about that journey from wellness to wholeness through to igniting social change – a shift from self to collective focus. She also touches on the importance of discovering what wellness is to us as individuals (letting go of those shoulds!) connecting to the body, why we need compassion in the face of patriarchy and capitalism and so much more.

This conversation was truly effortless and so engaging, and I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Questions featured in this episode:

  1. What does wellness mean to you?
  2. How can listeners start to explore what wellness looks like for them?
  3. Do you think it’s a counter-cultural move to fully explore your own wholeness?
  4. Do you find that a lot of people reach the point of wanting to shift their focus from the self to the collective in their explorations of wholeness?

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Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening!

Love Slow? Support the show!

Jacki Carr on redefining balance (and making room for failure) – Summer Series

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Hello, and welcome to our 2020 Summer Series!

Every Thursday in January we’ll be revisiting some of our favourite podcast episodes while we walk the slow living walk over the summer break. Also it turns out podcasts, just like fine wine, really do get better with age, so whether you missed them the first time around, or are having another listen, we hope you enjoy these poggies as much as we did!

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“My definition of balance has failure in it.”

Jacki Carr

In this week’s episode I sit down with goals coach, co-founder of Rock Your Bliss and incredible public speaker/human, Jacki Carr.

As you might remember, I did some heart/head work with Jacki before embarking on the Slow book tour in 2018 and I loved experiencing the joy with which she helps people uncover their values. The work Jacki and I did had an enormous impact on my time on the road, both in terms of how confident I felt living so far out of my comfort zone for months at a time, as well as how I was able to share my story and worldview with hundreds of people.

So, given the fact that we can’t seem to escape the ever-present ‘New Year, New Me’ vibes of this time of year, and that I knew Jacki would have some things to say about goals, resolutions and making shift happen in our lives, I thought there’d be no better way to kick off our new episodes for 2019.

In this conversation Jacki and I focus on:

  • resolutions and creating change
  • defining and committing to goals
  • uncovering our personal values
  • what balance actually looks like
  • developing a community of like-minded people
  • how to use social media as a tool for connection rather than a crutch

Questions featured in this episode:

  1. How do you help people define their values?
  2. How do you encourage people to keep re-centering on their values even when life keeps getting in the way?
  3. Have you intentionally developed a crew of people in your corner to support you in living with your values?
  4. What are your thoughts on balance?
  5. Do you look for ease in situations, or always look for expansion?
  6. When did developing in-person communities become important to you?
  7. Do you have any tools you use to help social media be a way to connect rather than a crutch?

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Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening!

Love Slow? Support the show!

Top 10 of 2019

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And just like that, we arrive at the final episode of 2019. It’s been quite the ride folks, and in the last hostful of the year, Ben and I look back over what has been a massively transformative year for both of us.

We talk about the sometimes bumpy transition between travelling and putting down roots, end of year burnout and our thoughts on the future as a new year (and a new decade) peeks around the corner.

If you’ve been listening to the show for a while you might remember that we did a Top 10 hostful at the end of 2017, where we listed some of the most fun and memorable experiences of the year. We bring that back in today’s episode, not only because it’s a light-hearted way to think back on what we’ve done, where we’ve been and some of the experiences we’ve had, but it’s also a really fun lens through which to view the year that was.

We talk through our individual favourite:

  • TV show
  • small detail
  • movie
  • new destination
  • book
  • discovery
  • album
  • new podcast
  • meal
  • experience

We also use it as an opportunity to reflect on bigger lessons at the same time, which leads me to talk about my conflicted relationship with travel at the moment, book plans for 2020 and a little of what you can expect from the podcast next year too.

Before I sign off for the year I just wanted to thank you all for listening to the show, for submitting such excellent questions, for offering feedback and encouragement and for being our crew. It’s wonderfully buoying to know that I’m not the lone weirdo in the room anymore, that there are loads of people who want to slow down and live more intentionally. And that’s honestly such a gift, so thank you!

Also, if you’re worried about pogpast withdrawal symptoms over the January break, fear not! The annual Summer Series/Winter Warmies (where we share some of our favourite past episodes) will be in your earholes all through the holidays, with the first episode dropping on Jan 2.

Until then, have a wonderful, safe, peaceful holiday season and I’ll catch you next decade.

Brooke xx

Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening and have a wonderful break!

Love Slow? Support the show!

When slow becomes fast and no is hard to say

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Today we have another wonderful listener conversation for you (I can’t believe we’re more than halfway through this season already!) and it features the delightfully intentional Sara.

Sara has found herself in a place many of us can relate to: she has gradually reduced the commitments in her life in order to do more of what lights her up but has found other requests and demands on her time sneaking in and is finding it difficult to create boundaries and say no.

We talk a lot about values and how service is one of the major motivations in Sara’s life, and why that might be creating tension as she looks to spend more time focusing on other areas of life.

Sara is trying to transition to retirement and is finding it difficult to recalibrate her values so we also look at how she might create some boundaries around her value of service in order to hold space for other parts of her life that are equally important.

We also talk about the role of ego in our desire to say yes and feel needed, as well as the feelings of guilt that arise when Sara – who has always put service of others ahead of her own needs – chooses to create and honour boundaries around her time, energy and other values.

I’m then joined by Cark Honore, who talks about our innate desire to feel relevant as we get older, and how to move through the fear of losing our identity when letting go of work, relationships or activities that used to help define us. We also have an interesting discussion on the trajectory of slow living and how it’s come to reflect different things now that it’s a mainstream idea.

If you’ve ever found yourself questioning how to establish stronger boundaries or how to more evenly weight the scales across all your values, this is a really thoughtful conversation. Plus, if you’re anything like me, you’ll feel all kinds of inspired listening to Sara talk about the work she does and the many different ways she serves her community. She’s an absolute gem.

Enjoy!

Head over to iTunes to subscribe to the show and play the episode.

Or you can listen to the show directly, simply by hitting the Play button above. Enjoy!

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Things to Check Out After Today’s Episode:

As always, thank you for listening!

Love Slow? Support the show!

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