Health Episodes
Alex's Wish for Duchenne
Your son has a life expectancy in the 20’s. What are you going to do about it?
Today’s guest is the embodiment of triumph over adversity, as are her family. Emma Hallam’s life is marked by extraordinary resilience in the face of overwhelming personal loss, culminating in the diagnosis of her son Alex with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Duchenne is a life-limiting, aggressive form of progressive muscle weakness. I’ll leave Emma to clarify exactly what that means for Alex and the family.…
Honeybees, Herbalism and Humans
If you have ever considered how you could reconnect with nature, here’s your answer – through bees. Have you ever wondered why bees make honey? What does a drone do all day long? Why should we care about the health of our bees? Paula Carnell is a bee consultant and honey sommelier looking to create a buzz about health. She says that bees are Mother Nature’s way of connecting nature with humanity, “What’s happening to the bees is inevitably happening to us as well”.
Paula called on he…
Curiosity Calls 1
What have a psychiatrist, a psychic medium, a bodyguard, a WWII survivor, a remote settler and a parliamentary candidate got in common? They all feature in today’s episode. The podcast has now passed 25 episodes, so it felt like a great time to look back. Check out this compilation of the best bits of some of our earlier episodes.
It was great fun revisiting some of the first episodes to feature in the Batting the Breeze podcast. I was delighted to reaffirm that the style and integri…
Symphony of a Mind
"If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." Today I had the privilege to meet one person with autism. Stuart Ross Carlson is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder but he is defined by his extraordinary musical ability. He is a concert violinist and composer. I tried to understand the contradiction between the very earthly challenges that Stuart and his family face every day and the apparent ethereal effortlessness with which he communicate…
Date Me
Dating can be hard enough. But imagine you had been involved in a life-changing accident, were adapting to a new life in a wheelchair and were ready to pick up from where you left off with… boys. Date Me is such a story of a young girl who experiences the highs and lows of human interaction. Find out how she takes back control.
If you’re feeling a little sorry for yourself right now, listen in to this episode for a pick-me-up. Kristin has endured more than most in her life to date. P…
Repeatedly Dead Fred
Cats have 9 lives. Fred Rutman has at least 20. One night in May 2009, he died - three times. That summer, he died another 17 times. Find out how this incredible story led to a new life of intermittent fasting. You will be surprised at the results.
Fred has certainly gone through the mill in his lifetime. He has managed to turn adversity into something very positive. His discovery of intermittent fasting as a new way of life was fascinating. His eloquence particularly struck me on th…
Double Trouble
Can you imagine what it’s like to breathe through someone else’s lungs? Alastair Henry does. In 2020 he had a double lung transplant at the age of 75. He’s only too aware of his responsibility to the donor, to make the best of this gift of extra life. Alastair shares his story and thoughts on organ donation.
Personal comment:
It was great to have Alastair back on the podcast. You may remember him from Episode No. 9 - Awakening in the Northwest Territories where he shared an extrao…
A Holotropic Journey
In the 50’s and 60’s, a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland released the psychedelic drug LSD to encourage research of possible beneficial effects for psychological struggles or psychiatric illness. Psychedelic drugs were subsequently outlawed. Most people don’t realise that there is a legal, much safer option to achieve non-ordinary states of consciousness today. Neil Harris explains.
Neil has been a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst for over 30 years. It was fascinating to listen to…