A Grateful Life

Today’s guest on the podcast is the brilliant Dr Lindsay C. Gibson (she/her), clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents - a life-changing book that has brought clarity and healing to so many. 

If you’ve ever found yourself feeling confused, guilty, or caught in a cycle of self-blame when it comes to your parents or family dynamics, Lindsay’s work offers the insight you’ve been looking for.
With the holiday season just around the corner, this conversation couldn’t be more timely.

Join us as we ex...

In a world that constantly pushes us to do more and at greater and greater speeds, prioritising rest can feel impossible.

But rest is not only the medicine we need to heal in these times, rest is also a radical act of resistance, a quiet revolution of reclaiming our own humanity and sovereignty. 

In today’s podcast episode, I’m joined by the incredible Octavia Raheem (she/her), where we unpack:
why we’re all so damn tired, the gentle power of resting, how to find rest even if you’re working 12-hour days or single pare...

What does it actually mean to live in accordance with your dharma, and how do you figure out what your dharma actually is?

In today’s episode, I sat down with Myra Lewin, an incredible yoga and ayurvedic teacher and founder of Hale Pule, to explore the concepts of dharma and swadharma. 

In our conversation, Myra shares her personal journey from the medical industry to discovering Ayurveda and yoga, which transformed her life and health. Together, we delve into the importance of understanding one's purpose and living in alignment with it, including the role of yoga and...

How can we regulate our nervous system, ease anxiety, and create lives of greater connection and wellbeing?

In this heart-opening conversation, I sat down with Dr Kaitlin Harkess (she/her) to explore the transformative role of somatic practices, compassion, and lifestyle medicine in supporting mental health.

Together, we dive into:
The importance of connection for mental health and wellbeingHow understanding the nervous system can help us manage anxietyPractical somatic strategies from her new book for regulation and groundingThe role of physical activity, nature, and recreation in reducing stressWhy relationships, community, and service are pillars of...

In this episode, I sit down with the incredible East Forest to explore the profound connections between music, mental health, spirituality, mushrooms, gratitude and collective awakening.  

Together, we dive into some truly thought-provoking topics, including:
How music can be a powerful tool for healing and self-expressionThe importance of vulnerability in creativity and connectionThe role psychedelics can play in mental health and enhancing spiritual experiences - and how to approach them safely and legallyWhy inner work is essential for personal growth, activism, and collective awakeningThe magic of storytelling and its ability to inspire and connect usWe also reflect o...

Will AI take over from yoga teachers?

Join Lizzie Lasater and me as we explore this new frontier of AI in yoga practice, teaching and education.

I’ve been watching as Lizzie has embraced AI in her yoga teaching lately, and was delighted to dive into this somewhat controversial topic with her. I think you’re going to love it!

In this conversation, you’ll hear about the reservations we’ve both had about AI and how we’re now using it very intentionally in our lives and work. 

We also dive into the pr...

Join Elena Brower (she/her) and I as we explore her incredible new book, Hold Nothing. This conversation is an invitation to slow down, reflect and embrace the beauty of letting go.

We talk about the transformative power of gratitude, the courage it takes to navigate life’s hardest conversations, and the lessons death can teach us about living fully. Elena also shares her journey through addiction and sobriety, offering wisdom on self-discovery, healing, and the meditative rituals that bring us back to presence.

This episode is deeply personal, soulful, and a reminder to hold space fo...

So many people keep asking me if I have an audio version of my book, Mental Health Aware Yoga, so I’m doing something a little different today, and reading the first chapter of the book on the podcast!

So, pour yourself a cuppa, snuggle into your favourite comfy chair and let me read you a story! In the first chapter, I share all about my journey with yoga and mental health, how and why I came to create this program, and why I think it’s so important that all yoga teachers understand mental health.

Whil...

You don’t often hear the words sexy and menopause in the same sentence, so when my friend Lisa Fitzpatrick told me she was writing a book on the topic, I knew that I had to get her on the podcast to tell us all about it.

Lisa (she/her) is a pelvic and sexual health educator, speaker, physiotherapist, yoga teacher and writer devoted to helping women reclaim their sensuality, self-worth and personal power, especially in midlife and beyond.

While my intention for this conversation with Lisa was to dive right in and talk about sexuality an...

Why are so many yoga teachers in crisis and questioning their path?

Join Theo Wildcroft, co-editor of The Yoga Teacher’s Survival Guide, and I as we deep dive into some of the challenges that yoga teachers are facing right now, including cultural appropriation, how to best honor the roots of yoga, the trauma embedded in sanskrit, the lack of pedagogy in contemporary yoga teaching, the tension between yoga and capitalism, what post-lineage yoga actually means and more.

But there’s hope! Theo brings such joy and generosity to this conversation and shares a way through the...

Mindfulness without compassion can be pretty bleak at times. 

In this heartfelt and insightful conversation, I’m joined by yoga teacher, author, and mindfulness facilitator Anna Taylor (she/her) to explore the deeper layers of yoga, compassion, and the human experience.

Anna shares her personal journey through yoga and mindfulness, the vulnerable process of writing her new book, and how compassion has become a foundational element in both her teaching and life. 

Together, we explore the intersection of neuroscience, emotional wellbeing, and spiritual practice - offering practical tools and gentle reminders for anyone navigating the...

Have you ever noticed how the same sequence, repeated with care, can feel brand‑new every time?

In this episode, I sat down with Karen Fabian (she/her) to explore the unexpected magic of practising and teaching one carefully crafted flow again and again. 

Karen shares the story of integrating her work as a health professional and a yoga teacher, and discovering how gratitude, creativity and straight‑up perseverance wove those threads into a career in yoga education.

Together we unpack:
why predictability in class can lower anxiety and build learner confidencehow to desig...

Join us for a deeply transformative conversation about yoga as a path of self-remembrance and coming home to ourselves. 

In this episode, I sit down with Tracee Stanley (she/her) to explore the profound practice of yoga nidra and how it can guide us back to our true essence.

In the episode, Tracee takes us on a journey into how she discovered yoga after a spontaneous experience on a balcony watching the sunrise in South Africa, and how she now weaves yoga and yoga nidra so deeply and intimately into her life and work. 

Sh...

We often talk about adolescence but what about matresence? 

In today’s podcast episode, I sat down with Claire Holloway (she/her) to talk about all things pregnancy, birth and beyond. Claire is a yoga teacher, mother of two and the founder of the Centre of Bright Beginnings, where she holds space for women and parents to explore their own transformative journey, feeling supported and empowered towards autonomy in parenthood.

A few episodes ago, I spoke with Jane Hardwick Collings on the topic of sagesence, and in today’s episode Claire and I talk about matrescence and t...

In today’s episode, I sat down with Leslie Kaminoff, to talk about the evolution of yoga and the power of breath in emotion regulation.

Leslie is a yoga educator inspired by the tradition of T.K.V. Desikachar, and for five decades has been leading workshops and trainings in the fields of yoga, breath anatomy and bodywork. He also is the co-author of the book Yoga Anatomy which has sold over a million copies, and is a staple on the bookshelf of many yoga teachers worldwide.

In the episode today, Leslie shares about his journey in...

As a new mum, Belinda Haan (she/her) knew all about the power of self-compassion as she’d been teaching other mums all about it in her work. But she had a little secret. She wasn’t being compassionate to herself, despite having all the knowledge and tools at her fingertips.

In today’s podcast episode, you’ll hear about how Belinda overcame this barrier to self-compassion, both back then as a new mum, and more recently as she’s navigated a big, scary challenge in her life.

Belinda also shares some simple and powerful ways we can ove...

Jane Hardwicke Collings (she/her) works for the goddess and I’m delighted to introduce you to her in this latest podcast episode, as we talk about women’s mysteries and rites of passage.

I have been following Jane’s work for many years and last year, had the pleasure of attending one of her workshops on perimenopause. I was blown away, not only by what she was sharing, but also by the commanding way that she held the space for the biggest circle of women I have ever seen.

Jane is a grandmother, a former homebi...

Five years ago in meditation, Rachel Allan (she/her) was given a quest to start the 40 for Tea podcast. 

She ignored this guidance for a couple of years, but after finding herself sobbing on the floor with a broken heart, she asked herself what she would most regret in her life if she died today. The answer was not what she expected…. the 40 for Tea podcast. 

So as the world went into lockdown, Rachel began this quest of having forty cups of tea and forty conversations with extraordinary humans from around the world.

In the...

Did you know that yoga nidrā is not just an evidence-based relaxation practice, but she’s also the goddess of sleep and dreams in Indian mythology?

In this podcast episode, I sat down with Uma Dinsmore-Tuli (she/her) to talk about all things yoga nidrā. 

For those of you who know me, you’ll know this is a practice I’m very passionate about, and it truly was an honour to chat with Uma in this episode, as she’s really a pioneer in the areas of women’s yoga and yoganidrā.

Uma first fell in love w...

Aunty Jacqui Jarrett (she/her) is a proud Dharawal & Gumbaynggirr woman, elder & traditional owner of the Sydney Basin in Australia. 

As soon as Aunty Jacqui joined the Mental Health Aware Yoga training last year, I knew that I wanted to invite her on the podcast to speak about her life and work.

Aunty Jacqui's yoga practice is intrinsically tied to her cultural obligations and responsibilities as a custodian of the land, and through the practice of yoga, she shows continual cultural connections, practices and knowledge of First Nations people. She is the founder of Nura Yoga a...

What if yoga was built on a system of caste apartheid? If the very philosophies and practices we engaged in for our personal and collective liberation were actually deeply unjust and harmful for many?

Can we still practice and teach yoga?

Where do we go from here?

These are questions that we’re exploring today in this thoughtful, heartfelt and somewhat controversial interview on the podcast with Roshni Lakhani and Bess Prescott.

Roshni (she/her) is a scholar, educator, and facilitator, specialising in the intersections between language, caste, and power in South As...

My friend Libbie Nelson (she/her) is over 80 years old and has been contemplating death.

In our conversation on the podcast today, Libbie and I talk about the five stages of a person's life, from student to householder, forest-dweller, renunciate and death and how thinking about death can actually help us to wake up and really live our lives with intention.

Libbie has been teaching and sharing yoga for over 50 years and has a long list of qualifications, including physiotherapy, yoga teaching, yoga therapy, naturopathy, acupuncture and ayurveda and is a graduate of our Mental Health...

Have you been diagnosed with Autism or ADHD recently? Or love or work with someone who has? You’re going to love today’s podcast episode!

Monique Mitchelson (she/her) is an Autistic and ADHD’er Clinical Psychologist and the host of the very popular Neurodivergent Woman Podcast. We take a deep dive into her lived and professional experience of living a neurodivergent life and cover so much in today’s episode, including:
What the terms neurodiverse and neurodiversity actually meanWhy many Autistic people prefer identity first languageHow Monique came out publicly as Autistic when she started the Neur...

I hated anatomy when I studied it at uni (can anyone else relate?). So when Leila Stuart reached out about coming on the podcast again to chat about her work with embodied anatomy, I was a little unsure about whether it would be interesting! But this episode is anything but boring!

Leila spoke about burnout on the podcast last year, and it was such a popular episode and resonated for so many people. Leila is a pioneer in the field of embodied movement education, she’s a retired clinical massage therapist, a yoga teacher and therapist and the au...

Om swastiastu, greetings from Bali!

I first heard about Umā sitting in a women’s circle in Byron Bay, Australia, and the way my friends described her made me want to meet her immediately. You'll understand why when you listen in!

Umā is the founding director of SATYA - the Synergistic Alignment of Tantra, Yoga & Ayurveda, and lives in Bali, Indonesia. Born in Kenya of Indian descent to a Hindu family of Freedom Fighters, at 20 Umā moved to Bali and entered into a 14 year apprenticeship in seclusion with her Shaivite guru in his hermitage.

In ou...

There’s been a lot of attention about the menstrual cycle and perimenopause in the media in the last few years, but what happens after we cross the threshold of menopause?

Today’s episode with Ana Davis (she/her) is the final installment in this three-part series on the cycles of a woman's life. In the first episode, we spoke about menstruation, in the second episode we explored perimenopause and in this episode we’re pulling back the curtain on post-menopause.

Listen in as Ana talks about menopause as an important rite of passage, how you know w...

Ana Davis (she/her) wrote a ground-breaking book on yoga and menstruation, and she was one of the first women I ever heard talking and writing openly about perimenopause.

Today’s episode is part two in a three-part series on living and practising yoga in tune with the different seasons of a woman's life, and in this episode, we’re looking at perimenopause.

My guest, Ana Davis is a feminine yoga teacher and trainer from Bliss Baby Yoga, and the author of the seminal book, Moving with the Moon.

Join us for this conversation wher...

Moving with the moon is a way of living and practising yoga in tune with our menstrual cycle.

Today’s podcast episode is part one of a three-part series on living and practising yoga in tune with the different seasons of a woman's life, and in this episode, we’re looking at menstruation.

My guest, Ana Davis (she/her) is a feminine yoga teacher and trainer from Bliss Baby Yoga, and the author of the seminal book, Moving with the Moon.

In our intimate conversation, Ana shares about menarche as a rite of passage, and...

If you’re a yoga teacher, or have ever thought about becoming one, this podcast episode with Shannon Crow (she/her) is for you!

This episode is a full circle moment for me. 

After I was interviewed on Shannon’s podcast, the Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast a few years ago, my publisher, Singing Dragon, reached out to ask me if I would be interested in writing a book on yoga and mental health. I had actually already written the first draft of the book at the time, so it was such perfect timing. And so now, to be...

Delamay Devi (she/her) followed the sun and skipped out on winter for many years by travelling around the world teaching yoga.

Born and raised in Australia’s yoga mecca, Byron Bay on Bundjalung Country in Australia, Delamay started her teaching journey in the late 90s as a dance teacher, which progressed over the years to teaching yoga and sharing embodied practices around the world, with Shiva Rea as her long time mentor.

Delamay is passionate about sharing movement as medicine and yoga philosophy in sync with the natural cycles of existence, and it’s for this...

How can understanding our doshas support our mental health?

In today’s podcast episode, I’m delighted to introduce you to Jody Vassallo. 

Jody has been a recipe writer and food stylist for over 20 years, working with some big names like Marie Claire, Donna Hay, Jamie Oliver and Vogue. She’s also a yoga teacher and ayurvedic practitioner. I love Jody’s cookbooks, and her book Beautiful Food is a staple in my kitchen.

In this episode, Jody and I talk about food as medicine through the lens of ayurveda, including the different doshas, how we ca...

How do we bring polyvagal theory into our yoga practice and teaching to support healing and growth?

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Dr Arielle Schwartz (she/her), a fellow clinical psychologist and yoga teacher, and a leading voice in the healing of trauma, to dive into this fascinating topic.

Arielle is an internationally sought-after teacher and author of seven books including The Complex PTSD Workbook, The Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook, EMDR Therapy and Somatic Psychology, and Applied Polyvagal Theory in Yoga. As the founder of the Center for Resilience Informed Therapy, she offers a mind...

Pull up a cushion, pour yourself a chai and join Dr Raj Balkaran and I around the virtual fire for storytime.

Raj is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative literature, wisdom teacher and online educator. He's the founder of The Indian Wisdom School, author of the book The Stories Behind the Poses: The Indian Mythology that Inspired 50 Yoga Postures and runs a thriving one-on-one spiritual guidance practice.

In our discussion today, Raj shares about the importance of stories to impart and receive wisdom, and why understanding the stories behind the yoga asanas we know and love gives...

Have you ever wanted to go to India to experience authentic yoga and Ayurveda, but not sure where to start?

Let me introduce you to Amy Landry!

Amy is a senior yoga teacher, Ayurvedic practitioner, mentor and podcast host, and takes people on pilgrimages to India to create meaningful memories of a lifetime. What a job!

In this podcast episode, we’ll be hearing about Amy’s introduction to yoga, after finding an ayurvedic quiz online in the early dial-up days of the internet and coming across a yoga DVD in the newspaper, as well...

Have you ever heard people say that yoga helps them to navigate the ups and downs of life?

I know this is something that I say all the time. But what does it actually mean?

In today’s episode, I’m joined by beloved Brisbane yoga teacher, Julie Smerdon (she/her), where she shares some of the big health and financial challenges of life, and how movement and yoga helped her to navigate them, as well as the one piece of advice she was given fairly early in her career as a yoga teacher that changed ever...

Danni Carr used to wake up some mornings with a feeling of dread, wondering if she’d remembered to put her kids to bed and what alcohol fuelled things she’d said or done the night before.

After years of touring and partying with her husband Ash Grunwald, a much-loved Australian Blues Musician, the excessive binges started to take their toll and the two decided enough was enough, and they both decided to quit drinking for a year.

Fast forward six years, and Danni is now the founder of the How I Quit Alcohol podcast, and is o...

I like to think I'm a feminist, but my guest on today's podcast episode really called me out on something important!

Today’s episode is to celebrate our sponsor, Yoga Australia’s 25th year anniversary. And joining us is their Vice President, Merridy Woodroffe. Merridy is a wife, a dog mum, a lawyer, an ashtanga yoga practitioner and a yoga therapist, as well as being the vice president of Yoga Australia. 

Right at the beginning of the episode, Merridy calls me Dr Lauren, and when I tell her she can just call me Lauren, she very gently...

With so many of you reaching out to me to share your stories of deep fatigue and burnout, I’m delighted to share another episode on this very important topic.

In today’s episode, you’ll hear a very personal conversation with a dear teacher, mentor and friend Stephanie Lopez. I met Stephanie around 10 years ago when she first came to Australia to teach an iRest meditation training, and it is not an exaggeration to say that this training with Stephanie and Richard Miller changed my life, both personally and in the way I work. Ten years later, it sti...

With so much information at our fingertips these days, you would think that we would know a thing or two about self-care. But so many women I know are experiencing burnout in midlife.

When I shared my own experience about coming a little too close to burnout for comfort last year, Leila Stuart reached out to me and shared about her own experience with burnout, chronic fatigue and recovery. So of course I invited her to come and share her wisdom with us all on the podcast!

Leila is a clinical massage therapist, yoga teacher and...

Am I contributing to the cultural appropriation of yoga? As a white yoga student and teacher, how can I do better?

These are questions that I’ve been wrestling with over the past two decades of practicing and teaching yoga, and so I’m delighted to be speaking to Susanna Barkataki about them in this podcast episode.

Susanna (she/her) is a teacher, coach, inclusivity promoter, yoga culture advocate, the founder of the Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and the author of Embrace Yoga’s Roots.

In our conversation Susanna and I talk about where...

What does it mean to truly make yoga accessible?

Accessible yoga is more than simply using yoga props in your classes or reminding your students that Child’s Pose is always an option.

In today’s podcast episode, I’m joined by yoga teacher Jivana Heyman (he/him) from Accessible Yoga and we talk about how we can truly make our yoga classes accessible.

Listen in as we explore accessible yoga as seeing ourselves and our students as whole and not in need of fixing, as diversity and representation in yoga teachers and imagery online...

Want to meditate, but don’t have the time? This episode is for you!

In today’s podcast episode, I sat down with Ann Swanson (she/her) to talk about all things meditation. Ann is a yoga therapist and the author of the internationally bestselling book the Science of Yoga and the brand new book Meditation for the Real World.

Listen in to hear us talk about the science of meditation, how Ann’s own mental health struggles led her to the physical aspect of yoga, and then eventually to meditation, why long formal meditation practices aren’t...

In today’s podcast episode, I had intended to ask J. Brown about topics that I know him for, like ‘gentle is the new advanced’ and ‘slower is stronger’.

But in this interview we ended up talking about how as a 16 year old he grappled with his mother’s cancer diagnosis, the promise he made to her before she died, what it means to receive a message or a download that guides your life, and where that message actually comes from.

We talk about God, Christianity, the abuse in both Christianity and in yoga communities, if it’s possibl...

Sixteen months ago, one of our beloved Mental Health Aware Yoga mentors, Sandra Palmer (she/her) was diagnosed with stage four cancer, and was told that it was likely that she had less than two years to live.

In today’s episode, Sandra talks about what it was like when she was first given this diagnosis totally out of the blue, how she has navigated the landscape of grieving, treatment, the medical system, communicating to others about her diagnosis, learning to listen to her own needs, and how yoga has helped.

Sandra told me that when sh...

Have you ever wondered why you tend to get sick after a busy or stressful period, and wished you could do something about it?

I certainly do! If you joined me for the Mental Health and Yoga Summits that we held in 2022, you might have noticed towards the end of each of the week-long Summits that my voice was getting pretty scratchy. After each Summit I came down with a cold, and spent a few days in bed afterwards recovering.

My guest today, Dr Kaitlin Harkess (she/her) researched yoga, stress and the immune system for...

How can yoga help us to dissolve our addictive patterns?

Today I’m joined by Lissie Turner (she/her), CEO of the The Prana Project, to talk about addiction recovery and yoga.

In this moving interview, Lissie shares her own journey with transforming what she describes as a 22-year drinking career during her time as a presenter on Triple J Radio, into a thirst for a profoundly calmer and more humble life.

We also explore a yoga therapy perspective on overcoming addiction and what we can all do to move through our addictive patterns. Duration: 01:01:32

Have you ever gone through a time that feels impossibly difficult? When you just can’t find a way out?

I know I have.

In today’s episode, I sit down with Anneke Sips, a psychiatric nurse and yoga therapist in the Netherlands, to talk about the dark night of the soul.

In this episode Anneke guides us on how to prepare for a dark night of the soul, how to tell when you’re experiencing one, and some powerful ways to move through a dark night of the soul experience, when you’re right in...

Join Dr Lauren Tober (she/her) and Anand Mehrotra (he/him) for this intimate conversation, recorded live in a yurt at the Sattva Sanctuary on Bundjalung country in Australia.

Hear Anand speak about his journey in becoming a yoga teacher and spiritual leader, the role that he sees yoga playing in mental health and how we can live a life of meaning and purpose.

If you listen right to the end of the interview, you will also hear Anand’s answer to Lauren’s question about cultural appropriation and his thoughts on non-Indian yoga teachers sharing the...

In this enlightening episode, I sit down with Fuyuko Sawamura-Toyota (she/her), a renowned expert in iRest Meditation, to explore the profound impact of yoga on mental health and delve into the transformative philosophy behind iRest. Fuyuko's vast knowledge and experience offer a unique perspective on how iRest can support healing and empower individuals from all walks of life.

We begin by delving into Fuyuko's personal journey of how yoga has played a pivotal role in transforming her own mental health. With candid insights, she shares the ways yoga has nurtured her inner...