10 articles

There is something quietly radical about being seen by someone who has nothing to gain from seeing you. No shared history. No reason to be kind. No obligation to agree. Just a stranger, and their words, cutting through years of noise to land somewhere deep and still inside of you.

I have lost count of how many people have told me they can't meditate. Sometimes they say it with a kind of proud resignation, I've tried, I'm just not that kind of person. Sometimes, with a frustration that suggests they genuinely wanted it to work. Sometimes with a faint embarrassment, as though they've failed at something that seems to come easily to everyone else.

We often think of technology as something external — built, coded, controlled. Yet long before the hum of machines and the glow of screens, there existed another kind of technology: one that required no devices, only awareness. Ancient yogis discovered that within each of us lies an intricate network, a system of energy, emotion, and intelligence — capable of profound transformation when we learn how to access it.

There’s a common belief in the wellness world that everything begins with self-love. But I’ve come to learn that it’s not always true. You don’t need to force love upon yourself, or convince yourself that you are worthy, or even forgive yourself first to love yourself. And while an at-home facial or a scented candle might offer a moment of stillness, they aren’t the same as true self-love. I’m talking about the kind of quiet recognition that lives deep within you, the inner knowing that you are already loved, already whole.

Friendships are supposed to uplift, support, and encourage us to grow. But sometimes, what we believe to be friendship is something else entirely—manipulation disguised as loyalty, control masked as care. True friends want to see you thrive, even if that means watching you walk away into something better. But not everyone in our lives fits that definition.

As I move through what seemed in the moment to be one of the most challenging yet eye-opening experiences of myself to date, I realise that it is not that this challenge is any better or worse than any that preceded it; it is me who has altered the way that I feel it, witness it and let it control me. I feel awake, even brought alive by this challenge, more so than ever before. I realise that the challenge will soon be irrelevant and that all that has happened was always going to. All that was in my control was my choice of how to let it affect me, how I chose to respond, and how I wanted to be perceived, remembered and heard. There is true power in choice, awareness and understanding.

James Nestor’s book called Breath. Within the first few pages I was second guessing everything I thought I had experienced with my yoga, breath-work and using it to improve my running. As with all ideas they’ll develop over time as more focus, education or facts come to light. I couldn’t put this book down.

We look to those around us to lead, show us the way, to be our guides. But why? How many of us have a true mentor that enables us to reach for the stars and develop to our fullest potential. Just because someone holds a more senior position than you in a business does not necessarily make them the ideal mentor.

For many of us, the idea of being with family over the festive season will fill us with either joy or dread. I wonder why these feeling live in the extremes, all families have their complicated histories, but what is it about Christmas especially that makes it so tough for so many. How do we overcome the expectations of Christmas? Its the only un-negotiated social convention.

Do you need to say no? Or at least consider it as an option more often. I believe what the world has shown us recently, more than anything else is that underneath all the noise and so-called ‘being busy’ we might only need a few key basics. Looking around some of these basics can be seen in the form of comfortable clothing and natural hair colour but other basics like the quality of relationship are a little more difficult to identify, although are ever more important.