Playful Nature Podcast by WildStrong – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this powerful conversation, Andrew speaks with Lorraine Close, Outreach Director of Edinburgh Community Yoga, nurse educator at the University of Edinburgh, and long-time facilitator of trauma-informed movement programs across prisons, the NHS, psychiatric hospitals, addiction recovery centres, and local communities.

Lorraine shares her personal journey into yoga - from teenage drinking culture in Glasgow to yoga communities in San Francisco, India, and Thailand - and how those experiences shaped her understanding of belonging, class, agency, and the deep inequities in Scotland’s health landscape.

She explains the principles of trauma-informed practice, why “choice” and “agency” matter far more than perfect poses, and how the yoga and wellness worlds often unintentionally reinforce exclusion, coercion, or pseudo-spiritual dogma.

In the second half, Lorraine speaks openly about the coming closure of Edinburgh Community Yoga after 11 years of impact, and the brutal pressures that community-based organisations face in a funding landscape that increasingly rewards commodification and influencer culture over grassroots relational work. What emerges is an honest exploration of what it means to do meaningful practice in an increasingly extractive system and where hope lives now.

In this episode, Andrew speaks with Dr. Lawrence Foweather, researcher and lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University and one of the key contributors to the Physical Literacy Consensus Statement for England (2023). Lawrence has spent two decades researching how children, adolescents, and adults engage with movement and physical activity.

They explore:

• the origins and evolution of physical literacy

• why it resonates across policy, practice, and real-world movement settings

• how the concept differs from “moving more”

• how physical literacy unfolds across the life course, from early years to older adulthood

• the role of motivation, enjoyment, capability, and relationships

• the Thrive principles (Tailored, Holistic, Reflective, Inclusive, Varied, Empowering)

• emerging research on balance, falls prevention, and middle-age “prevention windows”

• why not all minutes of activity are equal

This conversation offers a clear, accessible, and profoundly human take on why movement matters - not as a set of guidelines, but as a lifelong relationship.

Sport England Consensus Statement

International Physical Literacy Association

WHO GLOBAL ACTION PLAN ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 2018-2030

In this new episode of the Playful Nature Podcast, we’re joined by Dom Higgins, to talk about green social prescribing and what it really means to build a Natural Health Service.

Dom Higgins is Head of Health and Education at The Wildlife Trusts and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health. Over the past 20 years, he has worked to integrate nature into education, health services, and everyday life.

Before joining The Wildlife Trusts, he was Director of External Affairs at TCV, where he played a key role in the development of Green Gyms. 

Dom currently chairs Wildlife and Countryside Link’s Nature and Wellbeing Strategy Group, and sits on advisory panels for Cambridge OCR and the Department for Education’s Climate Ambassadors Programme.

Links for more:

• The Wildlife Trusts – Natural Health Service

• The Conservation Volunteers – Green Gym

• Nextdoor Nature Project

• Wildlife and Countryside Link – Nature and Wellbeing

• National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP)

• Climate Ambassadors Programme – DfE

Biomechanist, bestselling author, and parent Katy Bowman joins Andrew Telfer to talk about how modern culture has stripped movement of its context, and how we can get it back.

In this conversation, Katy shares her frameworks for “nutritious movement,” behavioural stretching, and parenting with physical variability in mind.

Katy and Andrew explore how movement habits shape not only our bodies but our values, our stress tolerance, and our sense of self. From the callus metaphor to the role of discomfort in learning, this is a thoughtful, practical, and timely conversation for anyone looking to move better and live better.

• New Book: I Know I Should Exercise, But...

• Katy’s Podcast: Move Your DNA

• Website: NutritiousMovement.com

• Books (UK): Katy Bowman on Amazon UK

• Social Media:

• Instagram & Facebook: @nutritiousmovement

• YouTube: @nutritiousmovementofficial

• Publisher: @uphillbooks on IG and X

Clif Harski has been at the heart of fitness education for over a decade, teaching for MovNat, Animal Flow, and Spartan, running a seven-location boutique gym business in California, and now leading the Pain-Free Performance Specialist Certification (PPSC) as COO.

So while he’s been deep inside the fitness world, and part of many of its most influential movements, he’s also uniquely placed to step back and ask the bigger questions. What’s really useful? What’s just trend-following? And what are we missing when we make movement too prescriptive?

In this honest and often funny conversation with Andrew Telfer, Clif shares what he's learned from coaching over 11,000 professionals, and why he still turns up to coach regular folks every week.

• The trap of over-correction in fitness

• Why orthodoxy and dogma still dominate the industry

• Rethinking kettlebells, strength, and athleticism

• The difference between coaching coaches and coaching clients

• What he’d change with a billion dollars and a blank slate

This episode is packed with insights for anyone coaching others, building movement communities, or just trying to keep themselves moving for life. It's a reminder that you’re allowed to question trends, and that just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s right for you.

Clif Harski is a coach, educator, and kettlebell experimenter who’s spent the last 15+ years helping people build useful strength and enjoy moving again. As Chief Operating Officer at PPSC, he leads both their flagship certification and the Functional Kettlebell Training course.

Since 2010, he’s taught over 450 workshops around the world to more than 11,000 trainers, coaches, and therapists. He’s worked with MovNat, Animal Flow, Spartan, and Kettlebell Athletics, and brings a deep, practical understanding of movement education that goes beyond sets and reps.

Before 2020, Clif ran a seven-location gym business in California, serving over 2,000 members each month. His experience as an athlete, coach, business owner, and teacher gives him a rare ability to cut through jargon and meet people where they are.

These days, he still coaches in-person regularly, often barefoot, usually swinging a kettlebell in a slightly unconventional direction, and always advocating for strength with a sense of humour.

📎 More on Clif’s work:
getppsc.com/kb-fkt-home-page

Music: MeforQueen

This week’s guest is Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi, a GP who’s challenging the way primary care approaches health, ageing, and behaviour change. This episode is not about tips or techniques, it’s about rethinking how we structure support.

Andrew and Hussain explore what happens when we stop asking people to ‘try harder’ and start changing the environments around them. They talk about the limits of the 10-minute appointment, why traditional advice-based models often fall flat, and the power of social prescribing, group consultations, and joy-led activity.

Hussain shares his personal story, from receiving a fatty liver diagnosis in his twenties to attending his first Park Run in a pair of paint-stained joggers, and how this experience reshaped his practice as a GP.

This is a conversation about ladders, not lectures. Strength, not prescriptions. And the vital difference between telling people what to do- and helping them build the confidence to try.

Bio:
Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi is a GP with an extended role in lifestyle medicine (GPwERLM). He has always endeavoured to take a holistic view on healthcare and is the personalised care lead for the Leamington PCN. He leads the RCGP’s lifestyle and physical activity team; heads the UK’s first PCN-based fitness club; works as a TV doctor on This Morningand Good Morning Britain; leads on health partnerships for parkrun UK; is a trustee at ThinkActive (the regional active partnership); and sits on the advisory board for SWIM England. When not working, Hussain is a keen triathlete, representing his country.

Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction and Hussain’s early story
01:40 – Barriers to movement growing up
04:30 – A wake-up call: fatty liver diagnosis
06:00 – Parkrun with no trainers: a new chapter
08:00 – Identity shift through movement
10:45 – Behaviour change: ladders vs mountains
14:30 – How group consultations change outcomes
18:20 – Why the 10-minute model is failing
25:00 – The structure of Leamington’s lifestyle clinics
33:00 – The TOY method: Trust – Observe – Yield
42:00 – Challenging well-meaning but limiting advice
45:00 – Strength and age: doing more, not less
51:00 – Building social options for meaningful strength
55:00 – What gives Hussain hope about the system
60:00 – Final reflections and a story of reversal

Resources & Links:

• RCGP GP with extended role in lifestyle medicine

• RCGP Physical Activity Hub

• Red Whale Lifestyle Medicine Course

• Parkrun Practice Initiative

• Mental Health Swims

• Think Active

Music: Opening and closing music by Mary Erskine aka Me for Queen, from the track Exercise. Used with kind permission.

Charlotte Blake, parkour coach, researcher,  and founder of Free Your Instinct (now Esprit Concrete) joins Andrew Telfer to unpack how parkour can support mental health, especially in people often left out of traditional fitness or therapy models. From the urban environment’s role in wellbeing to ecological dynamics, movement as non- verbal communication, and parenting through risk, this conversation is rich, real, and reflective. Charlotte shares how ‘failing small’ builds confidence, why parkour is 

misunderstood, and what she’s learned working in forensic mental health settings.

Key Themes:

• Parkour as therapeutic intervention

• Ecological dynamics and the person–environment relationship

• Reframing urban environments through play

• Movement as dialogue, not prescription

• Parenting, fear, and letting kids take risks

• Redefining progress in mental health contexts

Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Intro & Charlotte’s background

• 03:20 – Getting into parkour and early impressions

• 05:30 – Gender, risk, and reclaiming space

• 08:45 – The changing image of parkour

• 10:00 – Making movement inclusive and adaptable

• 12:15 – What parkour really is

• 14:40 – Ecological dynamics explained

• 18:15 – Parkour in forensic mental health services

• 26:00 – Person–environment relationships & urban health

• 35:00 – Non-verbal progress and ‘can cycles’

• 39:30 – Being a parkour coach and a mum

• 44:30 – Navigating screen time and outdoor play

• 47:20 – How to get started in parkour or community movement

• 50:30 – What’s next for Charlotte and Esprit Concrete

Links:

• Esprit Concrete

• Follow Charlotte on Instagram: @esprit_concrete

• Background track by Mary Erskine aka Me for Queen, from the song Exercise: meforqueen.com

• Learn more about WildStrong: wildstrong.co.uk

In this episode, Andrew speaks with Sean Longhurst – a coach developer and play advocate whose career has spanned academia, elite football, and grassroots community sport.

Sean is a programme director at ParkPlay, as well as a coach development consultant across the sports and physical activity sector. Sean’s work focuses on developing those who develop others, and using the power of play to do it. 

Sean reflects on how his early academic work helped shape the way we think about play and movement learning – including his role in Nonlinear Pedagogy in Skill Acquisition – and what happens when you try to apply those ideas in the wild.

They explore how play builds connection, what makes a great game, the limits of structured sport, and how to meaningfully support volunteers and coaches. It’s a thoughtful, funny, and grounded conversation for anyone interested in physical literacy, coaching, or movement that matters.

Key Themes:

• What is play really for?

• Nonlinear pedagogy and ecological dynamics - from theory to muddy boots

• Supporting volunteers without imposing top-down ideas

• Letting people shape their own learning environments

• Game design: 5 principles to guide any age group

• Building playful training for adults and older people

  
  

  Links to resources that came up:

  Nonlinear Pedagogy in Skill Acquisition (Chapter 11 – includes Sean's work)

  Boing Play

  Music: Mary Erskine (Me for Queen), Exercise

In this conversation, Andrew Telfer (WildStrong) speaks with Eugene Minogue, Executive Director of Play England, about the state of play in the UK and beyond.

From free-range childhoods to the rise of 'No Ball Games' signs, they explore how societal shifts and adult fears have squeezed play out of children's lives.

Eugene shares personal insights, policy changes, and practical actions we can all take to restore play as a right for both children and adults.

Expect reflections on parkour, digital play, physical literacy, public policy, and why your childhood memories might be the key to fixing the future.

Themes:

• The shrinking free-range of children’s movement

• Built environment vs play opportunity

• The “Know Ball Games” campaign and public space

• Parkour and adult play

• Risk, fear, and liability

• ISO standards on risk–benefit assessments

• Digital play and its limits

• Why physical literacy begins with unstructured play

• How we design for children… and forget adults

Links Mentioned:

• Play England

• No Ball Games / #MoreBallGames campaign

• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

• Taming Gaming by Andy Robertson

• Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

• ISO 45003: Benefit–Risk Assessment in Play

• WildStrong

🎵 Music: Exercise by Mary Erskine (aka Me for Queen) – used with permission.

In this episode, Andrew Telfer chats with Tom Morrison, known for his playful, relatable approach to mobility and strength.

Tom shares his personal journey from chronic pain and immobility to becoming a coach who helps others rediscover what their bodies can do.

They explore cultural ideas around pain, how strength and flexibility can co-exist, and why the fitness industry often gets it wrong and what it means to feel capable again.

Whether you're working through back pain or just tired of rigid fitness rules, this conversation offers practical guidance and hope.

• Tom Morrison YouTube

• Simplistic Mobility Method

• Follow Tom on Instagram

• Join Tom’s Facebook group

Music by Mary Erskine aka Me For Queen