GoHealth Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

 Spending a long time gazing at a flower with a small child, having your hands covered in soil and being held by a fresh water lochan. These are just a few of the ways the GoHealth team share their experiences of nature connection in this special episode. 

In this special episode we hear from members of the GoHealth team, chair of the board and a member of the GoHealth Community about their connection with Creation.

Some of these reflections were recorded a few years ago just as we were emerging from lockdowns as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. A time when many of us were rediscovering a connection with nature. 

May listening back to these reflections help us remember and retrieve that connection if it has since faded. 

• Graham Fender-Allison shares a precious moment in his garden with his wee boy.
• Steve Coles tells us about an exciting farm project he and his wife have set up and five things he has learnt in the process. 
• Gillian Straine describes how her labour of love in her back garden has helped her uncover deep wisdom about faith.
• Gregory expresses his love and thirst for the outdoors.
• Wendy Lloyd compares the cleansing of fresh water swimming with the satisfaction of having soil under her nails in the garden.

Links:
GoHealth Creation Cares series
Join the GoHealth Community here.
Wild & Other

 

Learning from the wisdom of Zen meditation. In this episode Gillian chats with the Revd. Chris Collingwood, a Christian Priest, former canon of York minster and Zen master.  

The conversation explores the following:

•  Chris explains how he felt called to be a priest.
• What Zen is.
• How Chris got interested in Zen.
• How he became a Zen Master.
• How Zen practice fitted with his role as a canon at York Minster.
• Christian theological connections with Zen and how it differs.
• How Zen impacts on how people relate to the world.
• The experience of non duality. 
• How Chris responds to folk in spiritual need - does he draw more on his Zen practice or Christian faith?
• The practice of compassionate non judgement towards others and ourselves.
• The one thing that Chris offers as encouragement to listeners.

Links:
Chris's book: Zen Wisdom for Christians.
The GoHealth Everyday Healing Course
Get your GoHealth journal here.
Visit our website to get connected with the GoHealth Community.
Find us on our socials @GuildofHealth 

What if every day ended with a sense of satisfaction and contentment, whatever our circumstances? Could Day Crafting be a culture changing antidote to burn out? Gillian Straine explores these possibilities and more with our guest, the brilliant Bruce Stanley.  

Bruce Stanley has a long history of creative endeavours. He is currently the Innovation and Product Lead for HeartEdge. In his 20s, he ran away from the circus to get involved in even more creative things – he is a specialist in positive psychology, design and innovation and personal and spiritual development. Ten years ago, he pioneered the Forest Church movement. These days, he is focused on a new methodology called Day Crafting. He's written five workbooks on the topic and is training NHS workers in the UK, circus performers in Sweden and busy leaders in organisations in the US, Canada and Australia. He is usually found with his wife Sara somewhere on a beautiful hill farm in the Cambrian mountains, where they're growing a permaculture forest garden and blending their own wild and herbal teas to sell to locavores. 
  
Gillian explores a number of questions and themes with Bruce including: 
What is Day Crafting? 
What problems does Day Crafting address, and what doesn’t it address?  
The potential and meaning of ‘Crafting’ in the title? 
What is the neuroscience behind it all? 
Does Day Crafting help prevent / recovery from burn out? 
Is Day Crafting only valuable at the individual level or does it influence community life as well? 
Can Day Crafting heal the world? 
Links: 
Day Crafting 
VIA Strengths Model 
Join the GoHealth Community 

Where do you go when you kiss the concrete? As part of our Burn Like Stars series Gillian talks with Sarah Horsman, Warden of the Sheldon Community in Devon. A place of refuge and recuperation for many when life in ministry gets tricky.

Together they explore:

• All about Sheldon – What is it, what does it do, where is it and what it was set up. 
• How Sarah observes burn out at Sheldon
• Sarah describes her own experience of burn out or her face hitting the concrete
• They explore the present day factors leading to burn out.
• The consider what theologies are at work leading to burn out. 
• Sarah shares some great tips for what helps and how we can avoid being singed out right now.

Links:
Sheldon retreat: https://www.sheldonretreat.com
Sheldon Hub for clergy support and wellbeing: https://www.sheldonhub.org
GoHealth Community: https://gohealth.org.uk/gohealth-community/

Gillian talks with Alex Soojung-Kim Pang about his book Rest. He is a Silicon Valley-based consultant and writer. Their conversation explores:

• Alex introduces his new book 'Work less, do more.'
• He describes his curiosity about creativity that led him to write Rest. 
• His research led him to uncover the processes that a number of exceptional creative people used - including the importance of Rest.
• How do you make the kind of contribution that you want in the world or without burning yourself out?
• They talk about the skill of rest.
• What's going on in your brain and the rest of you body, when you rest?
• Is burn out just the trade off for doing a good job?
• Work as a calling and identity.
• Where the word workaholic came from.
• Explore causes of clergy burn out.
• The most durable solution to burn out.
• Anti-burn out practices.
• A theology of work and rest.
• The one thing Alex recommends you do in order to flourish.

Join the Burn Like Stars series

Alex's books.

Follow the GoHealth Community on our socials @guildofhealth

Can faith and science share a healed and healing relationship? Gillian shares a fascinating and insightful conversation with Davinder and Matthew Gardner, directors of The Faith Experiment project. This episode is well worth a listen, whatever your relationship is with science, or faith.

Davinder currently works as a Clinical Scientist, performing tests and planning radiotherapy treatments. Achieving registration as a Clinical Scientist in 2014, Matthew became a phototherapy physics lead. He also specialised in diagnostic radiology, as well as radiation protection applied to radiology and radiotherapy. 

Show notes: 

• How the Gardners came to faith. 
• Relationship between faith and science. Evidence thresholds. 
• Matthew's journey of removing barriers to faith 
• Davinder's experience of mental ill health in her coming to faith.  
• How intellectual arguments were no longer enough 
• Their awareness of how their work in science is healing  
• Exciting polystyrene person formulas!
• The faith experiment – accessible apologetics 
• Two reasons for the workshops - to affirm and educate Christians and show sceptics that you can connect science and faith 
• They share stories of encouraging feedback from the workshops. 
• The workshops create a safe space for people to ask questions 
• Tips to flourish – it's OK to doubt/ faith can deepen/better able to help others/ love God with all our mind. Follow the questions.  

Links:
The Faith Experiment
ECLAS
Join the GoHealth Community

Twitter and Facebook @guildofhealth
Instagram @guildofhealth

How can the experience of music help us learn more about what it means to be human? This is the question Gillian explores with Joe Fort in this episode of the GoHealth podcast.  

Joe is a conductor and a musicologist based in London. He has been the director of Music at St Paul's Church in Knightsbridge since 2021, where he conducts a professional choir in the weekly services 

He is the director of the chapel choir and lecturer in music at King's College, London. His performances indeed with that choir have been recognised, and I quote as 'English choral singing as at his best, he has released multiple recordings, most recently these include work with the Britten Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Hanover Band. He goes all over the world, conducting, recently appearing in the Festival de Mexico, White Nights Festival in St Petersburg and the Montreal Organ Festival. His training - he holds a PhD in music from Harvard University and his academic interests focus on 18th century music and dance. 

• Joe outlines his many roles in the world of music and his journey to being a full time musician. 
• Joe describes and explains the process of conducting music and how it can become a more emotional experience over and above a technical one. 
• Music is in everyone! Music as a vehicle in worship. 
• ‘He [sic] who sings, prays twice’ Saint Augustine – music transports people towards the divine.  
• How music connects ourselves with ourselves. 
• Faure’s Requiem – the healing power of music 
• How music helps us to live in the world as it actually is right now. 
• Joe describes the brilliant Stroke Oddessys project he has been involved with. 
• Joe goes into the detail of the exciting ECLAS funded project at St. Paul’s Knightbridge researching the relationship between music in liturgy and wellbeing. 
• Joe gives his one bit of advice for flourishing. 

Links:

St Paul’s Knightsbridge 

Cowbridge Music Festival 

In Paradisum, Faure’s Requiem 

Brain Oddessys Charity 

ECLAS 

Go Health Community

Follow GoHealth on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @guildofhealth  

A special compilation Easter episode sharing nuggets from previous episodes on the theme of resurrection:

Bishop Jan McFarlane on her breast cancer experience.
Dr Claire Foster-Gilbert on her incurable cancer and repeated resurrections.
Dr Paula Gooder helps us find hope in the resurrection.
Bishop Adrian Newman reflects on the significance of the stone being rolled away from the tomb.
Very Reverend Martin Fair shares his passion and the need for radical resurrection today.

All episodes of the GoHealth Podcast along with most of their transcripts can be found here.

Find out more and join the GoHealth Community here.

Photo credit: Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash

What if medicine started with lifestyle solutions rather than seeking solutions to sickness? Listen to Dr Richard Pile's hard won wisdom in the area of lifestyle medicine in this inspiring and challenging conversation with Gillian Straine.

Trigger warning - there is a mention of suicide towards the end of this episode. 

Find Richard's full biography and the transcript of this conversation here.

• Richard’s extensive biography and multiple jobs 
• Richard describes how he came to faith as a child and how his journey of faith has taken him to a variety of church expressions over the years 
• Lifestyle medicine described and explained – moving away from a sickness model to a health model 
• What is health? Physical, spiritual 
• The importance of talking about how you are feeling. 
• Hard won wisdom from adversity and how Richard got involved with life-style medicine 
• The role of churches and medicine in holding the conversation about purpose. 
• The healing we receive when helping others. 
• Dealing with death – how the church can really serve the community. 
• A different way of doing church 
• The importance of connection 
• Doing what we have influence over and finding meaning in what we do.  
• Richards starting pointers for wellbeing 

Links:
Richard's book - Fit for purpose
Thrive Tribe
Zero Three
Headspace
GoHealth Community

Follow GoHealth on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @guildofhealth  

Looking for a positive boost to give you a lift at the end of January? Wanting to give  your New Year's resolutions a kick-start, again? Listen to this inspiring and uplifting conversation between Gillian Straine and Alex Strangwayes-Booth. 

Alex has a long history working in religious broadcasting for the BBC and has been on an inspiring journey of health and wellbeing for many years. She shares many hints and helpful suggestions in this episode that also includes themes of:

• Being brought up in a mixed-faith home 
• Bringing together the Sunday programme for local radio 
• The power of personal stories to make people stop and listen 
• Journey into fitness 
• Bladder cancer diagnosis 
• The tools for facing such a diagnosis 
• The importance of Judaism in her life
• The importance of community and connection 
• One Year, No Beer community 
• Running a half-marathon 
• The power of writing down your values 
• The benefits of mental health from exercise 
• Running as a spiritual activity 
• Yom Kippur - day of atonement practices in Judaism 
• A healthy perspective on death as a means to flourish 
• Coaching as a way to help people 
• Positive psychology tools and techniques that help change behaviour and achieve potential 
• Actively boosting your positive content  
• Shema prayer practice as liberating 
• Alex’s appreciation of faith’s shared from her many years of religious broadcasting experience.

Links: 
Alex Strangwayes-Booth Coaching
Fly lady 
Jonathan Roche 
One Year, No Beer 
James Clear Atomic Habits
GoHealth Community 
Episode Transcript
Follow GoHealth on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @guildofhealth