Many studies have shown that women's pain is more likely to be dismissed by doctors than men's pain. One study showed that women were 25% less likely to be given painkillers when suffering from stomach pain, it takes on average seven years for a woman to be diagnosed with endometriosis and a shocking 72% of US women have experienced medical gaslighting. With medical authority still biased, how can we gain freedom by trusting our intuition and being our own health advocates (whilst still respecting medical advice)?

I speak to NHS health nurse and therapist Becky Grace in this episode. Not only does Becky have professional experience in the medical field, but she also experienced medical gaslighting at 21 when her gynecological issues were dismissed repeatedly and she was left with septicemia.

We cover:

• Changing careers from mental health nurse to therapist
• Some of the inequalities women face in the medical field
• Becky's own experience of medical gaslighting
• The deeper environmental causes of the pain women suffer

At 25 Amy Hopper had her own successful business. At 26 she got hit by a car. She recovered and grew her business to a top 30 UK Google Partner, only to find herself wheelchair-bound due to complications from the accident. Painstakingly she had to learn how to walk again. In this episode, we talk about what resilience really means, as well as the freedom of surrender (P.S. it's not giving up!)

0:00 - 7:07 - The realities of getting hit by a car at 26

07:07 - 12:13 - What it really took to heal

12:13 - 20:36 - Why resilience isn’t what we think it is

26:31 - 36:10 - How can you balance surrender and productivity

36:10 - What makes me feel free

Like a lot of women, Emma Fullwood spent her teens and early adulthood chasing the "perfect body". Following a career as a dancer and personal trainer, she committed to the goal in her early forties and started working out daily, following a strict meal plan. Soon she had the "perfect body", even winning 3rd place in a national bikini competition. Whilst she looked "perfect" on the outside, Emma realised that attaining physical perfection didn't give her the freedom she craved. In this episode, we cover:

• What it takes to build the dream body and why that didn't lead to happiness
• Letting go of what she 'looked' like, so she could focus on 'feeling' good
• Finding freedom and prioritising pleasure as a mum

Emma now works as a pleasure, inner child and hypnotherapy coach.

Have you ever dreamed of living and working from anywhere? In this episode, I speak to the wonderful Amelia Buxton who works remotely worldwide. After visiting Bali in 2018, Amelia longed for the digital nomad lifestyle. She now works as a marketing and project manager in countries including Mexico and Costa Rica. We talk about how Amelia made her dreams come true, the real realities of working from anywhere, and the inner healing work that led her to where she is today.

00 - 08:43 - What it's really like working from anywhere

08:43 - 16:38- From hospitality to global travel - how Amelia got there

16:38 - 23: 40 - The very real challenges of working remotely

21:43 - 26:04 - Building a community when you're moving round

26:04 - 35:00 - It's not just buying a ticket - doing the inner work

35:00 - 38:30 - The biggest highlights of traveling the world

38:30 - 41:30 - How to build your own routine

41:30 What does freedom mean to you

"Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity". Sharing your creativity with the world requires the freedom to be messy, the permission to get it wrong, the space and time to create, and the self-confidence to be vulnerable. In this episode, we discuss the physical and emotional blocks of being an artist when you're a woman and a mother.

In this bare-all episode, I speak to actors Sarah* and Magda* about the challenges they have had to overcome to express themselves creatively. Sarah was a talented actor from a young age (even getting accepted to the prestigious BRIT School), but with three young children, her creative dreams fell to the way-side. Meanwhile, growing up in Poland, the dream of becoming an actor didn't come to Magda until later in life, when she had worked through internal trauma and blocks.

Timestamps:

00:00 - 07:29 "To be a happy mum you've got to have something for yourself"

07:20 - 14:00 "Being an artist and being a mum you have to be healthy and work on your traumas"

13:00 - 20:30 Overcoming financial blocks to being creative

21:00 - 23:00 Working through trauma so that you can feel worthy of your creative dreams

23:00 - 26:00 "I clawed my way out of this fire pit" - reconnecting to creativity after losing yourself

26:00 - 30:00 Navigating partners that don't support your creative dreams

30:00 - 37:00 You can't tell your children to follow your dreams if you don't follow your own - healing the mother wound

37:00 "Just f*cking do it" - advice for female creatives

This episode is for you if you find yourself constantly stuck in jobs that make you feel trapped, constricted, and/or physically unwell. On paper Saoirse Fitzgerald's life looked 'perfect': she was a successful accountant, with a good salary and an excellent academic record. But in actuality, she felt dread every time she got a promotion, was stressed all the time, and struggled regularly with skin conditions. After being admitted to hospital with burnout and an autoimmune condition, she knew she had to make a change. She now has a masters in Psychology and uses a mixture of psychiatry and somatic healing to help other people find freedom in their bodies and their lives.

In this episode:

• 00:00 - 05:53 "My body began attacking itself" - burnout and how stress impacts the body
• 05:53 - 12:40 Internal validation vs external validation - chasing an external idea of success
• 12:40 - 17:30 The body whispers before it shouts - early signs of burnout
• 17:30 - 28:40 "I need a ladder down the cliff" - how to make changes in your life
• 28:40 - 31:09 Listening to your body - how to know when to listen to fear and when to jump
• 31:10 - 42:00 Blending psychology with somatic practices like breathwork and movement
• 42:00 - 45:20 Being yourself in the corporate world
• 45:20 - 53:14 What freedom feels like in the body