MatChat with Mina Blair-logo

MatChat with Mina Blair

Health & Wellness Podcasts

Need a weekly wellbeing boost? Then this podcast is for you! We know looking after our physical and mental health is more important now than ever, and talking openly about what concerns or worries us goes a long way to lighten the load. Hearing other people's stories gives us perspective and reassurance. So, every week I invite a guest onto the "yogamat" to discuss what they have learned on their wellbeing journeys. The intention is to leave you feeling uplifted and empowered.

Need a weekly wellbeing boost? Then this podcast is for you! We know looking after our physical and mental health is more important now than ever, and talking openly about what concerns or worries us goes a long way to lighten the load. Hearing other people's stories gives us perspective and reassurance. So, every week I invite a guest onto the "yogamat" to discuss what they have learned on their wellbeing journeys. The intention is to leave you feeling uplifted and empowered.

Location:

United Kingdom

Description:

Need a weekly wellbeing boost? Then this podcast is for you! We know looking after our physical and mental health is more important now than ever, and talking openly about what concerns or worries us goes a long way to lighten the load. Hearing other people's stories gives us perspective and reassurance. So, every week I invite a guest onto the "yogamat" to discuss what they have learned on their wellbeing journeys. The intention is to leave you feeling uplifted and empowered.

Language:

English

Contact:

07718581021

Episodes

How letting go builds a business fit for the future with Carmela Martinez

5/17/2022
Carmela Martinez is no stranger to the concept of letting go on many levels. When she took over her father's printing business seven years ago in Montreal, Canada, she had some big shoes to fill. The company was organised on old school, patriarchal values which Carmela quickly realised didn't resonate with her management style. Enter: a challenging time of forging change that had her questioning her identity and her ability. What did she discover? To build a company fit for the future, you...

Duration:00:37:37

How detachment sets you free with Sarah Cox

5/10/2022
We spend a lot of time and energy clinging onto stuff, don't we! Just think about it. What are the things you are constantly striving for or fear losing - your looks? Money? Status? A relationship? It can get quite exhausting. And it's a timely subject given we're being forced to think about what we really need in the wake of current food/energy/petrol supply issues. I invite friend and fellow yogi Sarah Cox back onto the mat to chat (and laugh!) about why channelling non-attachment sets...

Duration:00:39:04

Why giving back and empowering women is a win-win with Connie Fogarty

4/26/2022
It's simply a fact that empowering others feels empowering! You've learnt some stuff in your life - specific skills, knowledge, and maybe you've had a few unexpected curve balls thrown at you that's given you wisdom and resilience - and now it's time to share that with others. To give a leg up to those finding their own way on their journey. It feels great, it feels right, making it all worthwhile. This is where my friend and ex-colleague Connie Fogarty is at. She has earned her corporate...

Duration:00:40:04

Staying curious about what makes us tick with Joff Brown

4/19/2022
There is a lot of discussion and information out there about the mind-body connection, isn't there. It's a big topic. But what does it mean? And what can cause disassociation, a disconnect, between the head and the body? So this week I'm chatting with Joff Brown, a Functional Neurology Practitioner and Pain & Performance Therapist, to find out more. He spends his personal time studying, and professional time treating people with, issues surrounding neural connections, movement and pain. He...

Duration:00:45:27

Empowering farmers and ourselves through progressive agricultural practices with Karen Seyersted

4/12/2022
Regardless of where we live in the world, what we believe in and what work we do, there is one thing every human being has in common: the need to eat. Most people have to buy food, making choices about what to put into our, and our family's, bodies. It's an ongoing routine that goes on automatic most of the time, I expect. And perhaps now, with a pandemic-induced health awareness, we think about those choices more. More veg/fruit/lean meat, less sugar and fat etc. But how about taking that...

Duration:00:33:55

Outrunning the demons - healing trauma through running with Phil Hewitt

3/29/2022
Phil Hewitt (UK runner, author and journalist) woke up to a sunny morning in Cape Town, South Africa and a day filled with his favourite sport, cricket. He was thrilled to have got tickets and make the journey. But by the end of the day, Phil's life had changed forever. A decision to walk back to the city on his own led to a near-fatal knife attack, his life miraculously saved by a passing pizza delivery man. Returning back to the UK, it became clear that Phil was suffering from Post...

Duration:00:44:28

Offering a new take on the "Mother Role" with Sarah Cox

3/23/2022
It's Mother's Day in the UK this coming Sunday, when we celebrate mothers, but it's actually a day that is difficult for many. You may have lost a mother recently/prematurely, or desperately want to be a mother but can't for whatever reason, or have a difficult relationship with your mother, or have lost a child and are no longer a mother. Yeah, it can be a pretty loaded day. I invite friend and fellow yogi Sarah Cox back onto the mat to chat about our society's general relationship with...

Duration:00:21:26

A lesson in contentment by a Sami reindeer farmer with Mina

3/15/2022
It's a solo episode this week as I share reflections on a recent trip to the Arctic! It's my second trip to Northern Norway but this time in mid-winter, when the landscape is covered in ice and snow. It's just as raw and rugged and awe-inducing as summer, but perhaps a bit more magical in the frosty glow. While there, I visited a Sami reindeer camp, where we could interact with the animals and learn about the Sami culture. It's quite the thing when you're in the same room with an indigenous...

Duration:00:13:56

Managing the loss of a parent to Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia with Tobiah

3/1/2022
We arrive into this world and meet the people (or person) who are going to look after us, usually our parents. From that moment on we are dependent on them/her/him until we are old enough to take care of ourselves and establish our own lives. But this relationship, be it good or bad, easy or hard, joyful or painful - let's try to take the judgement out of it - remains part of our story. Regardless of the quality of that parental connection, the moment will come when they pass on, and...

Duration:00:39:17

Finding gratitude after serious injury and healing PTSD through writing with Katy Parker

2/22/2022
It was just another day until Katy Parker was crossing the road and got hit by a van only a metre away from reaching the pavement. Lying dazed on the ground but aware she had been badly injured, she was overwhelmed with a profound sense of gratitude. Gratitude that she was still alive, she could open her eyes and see the sky. Later in A&E, she was told it had been a very close call - a few inches further back and she could have been killed or paralysed. As it was, she was lucky to have got...

Duration:00:30:45

Can suffering be a catalyst for positive personal growth? with Baruch Zeichner

2/15/2022
To suffer is to be human, but this is a tricky question which might provoke an immediate "No!" for some or most people. Resisting or avoiding pain is understandable and perfectly natural! However, it's something I can explore with Baruch Zeichner who describes his life as a growth journey. After gaining a Masters Degree in Counselling Psychology from college in New Hampshire, US, Baruch began his own practice and teaching. A part time job as a DJ on local radio sparked his lifelong passion...

Duration:00:37:20

The risks and rewards of unconditional love - is it worth the ride? with Sarah Cox

2/8/2022
What is unconditional love? That's a big bite to chew, isn't it! And to tackle this universal, eternal key life question, I invite my friend and fellow yogi Sarah Cox back onto the mat. Loving should be so easy and effortless, I mean, we all have a heart, so what is the problem. Well, it turns out that love is a risky business involving heartache and disappointment, depending on who and what the object of our devotion is, and the cards we are dealt in life. We start the discussion by...

Duration:00:29:01

Building a bridge of trust to our herbal roots with Dee Atkinson

2/1/2022
Human beings have had a relationship with the plant world since we were formed. We rely on it for food, fuel and food for raising domestic animals which also sustain us. But we have also relied on plants and herbs for medicinal purposes and for helping us heal. Herbalism is a tradition found in every culture in the world, anywhere plants grow. Which is why I'm excited to chat with Dee Atkinson, a Medicinal Herbalist (of Napiers Herbalists in Edinburgh, est 1860) . Dee's journey to herbalism...

Duration:00:37:31

Why finding stillness and meditating is essential 'hygiene for the mind' with Burkhard Langemann

1/25/2022
I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds regular meditation challenging to maintain in all the busy-ness of daily life, but Burkhard Langemann is very clear that it's an essential practice we need to do daily. Like brushing our teeth. Hygiene for the mouth and hygiene for the mind, he says. Burkhard should know, he is a Psychologist by background and is currently a Yoga & Meditation Teacher Trainer. Ten years ago he co-founded Akasha Yoga Academy, which is where our paths crossed when I did...

Duration:00:55:40

Embracing change and growth through physical, mental and emotional movement - NLP explained with Nily Ron

1/11/2022
I'm always curious when I sense - hear, feel or see - fear of change. It's like we think that a state of things-must-stay-the-same is a safe, secure place, and that change is scary or dangerous. Fear of change is actually fear of the unknown, the not-knowing. But the reality is that change is happening constantly, it's something we can neither control nor resist or avoid. And change is a good thing! Life is therefore a state of continuous movement, as Nily Ron explains in this week's...

Duration:00:37:28

A back-breaking story of finding one's inner resilience with Reva Myers

1/4/2022
I celebrate the start of a new year and my chosen theme for the year, resilience, by inviting fellow yogi Reva Myers onto the mat for a chat. We met on Bali nearly five years ago where we shared an intense month on a yoga teacher training course, a life-changing experience for us both. She returned to the US with a dream to live the life of a travelling yoga teacher, going wherever the spirit would take her in a yogified van! Reva did indeed make her dream a reality but not quite in the way...

Duration:00:27:44

Channelling resilience for 2022 with Mina

12/28/2021
It's the end of another year and a natural pause for reflection. So this week I'm sitting on my virtual mat on my own and sharing some thoughts on the year that's gone. What will you take with you into the new year? What have you learned? Do you need to make some changes to the way you behave, to what you value and to your attitude? I think in the end it's about discovering your inner resilience, which is a profound awareness that emerges when we are deeply challenged. And that's what I...

Duration:00:11:59

Finding one's purpose through loss and giving the gift of acupuncture with Paula Macklin Creasy

12/21/2021
One of the key learnings in the ancient yogic scripture The Bhagavad Gita, is: "It is better to strive in one's own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one's own dharma." Dharma is Sanskrit for purpose, for one's calling. It's the thing you've come into the world to do and it resonates deeply in your heart. It can be something obvious that you know from a young age or it can take years to become apparent. Sometimes we have to suffer to...

Duration:00:38:51

How conventional and traditional medicine can work together - a homeopath's story with Lone Pedersen

12/14/2021
Humans have been treating their ailments for thousands of years in one way or another, leaning into what Mother Nature offers. Conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann, homeopathy joined the ranks of traditional (I don't like the word 'alternative'!) medicine and has been helping people heal ever since. I ask Lone Pedersen what she has discovered during the 20 years she has been practicing as a Classical Homeopath in her international practice which focuses on mental and...

Duration:00:36:31

Can self-care and Christmas co-exist? with Sarah Cox

12/7/2021
Christmas is soon upon us with all the excitement and expectation that that implies! It's a time of celebration and joy, of course, but it can also be a difficult time, of stress, as you strive to make it whatever you feel it needs to be. If you celebrate Christmas, you will have developed a relationship with it over the years, and perhaps wellbeing tends not be on the (very long) seasonal to-do list! I ask friend and fellow yogi Sarah Cox, can self-care and Christmas co-exist? Because you...

Duration:00:30:40

See More