#29 Dr Sarah Mckay on Neuroscience for Wellbeing & Performance

Louisa Clarke is a former military intelligence officer, tv personality on the programme 'Hunted' and now executive coach and inspirational speaker.

She helps individuals and organisations develop deeper emotional intelligence and resilience so they can gain a true understanding of the 'self' - so they can discover meaningful growth and transformation.

Louisa really has done the deep dive on how we function as humans, from our psychology to the latest research from the world of neuroscience. This deepening of the human journey, has also seen her embrace the wisdom of indigenous tribes in the Amazon and their healing work with plant medicines. 

In this conversation we explore the insights Louisa has taken away from her personal journey. Her approach to life and leading. Her approach to helping others achieve inner balance and true personal understanding... 

 

https://www.louisaclarke.co.uk

Louisa Clarke - LinkedIn

Justin Featherstone is a former military officer, leadership consultant and expedition leader.

His last posting in the military was as the principle leadership staff officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was also awarded the Military Cross for his actions in Iraq.

Following his career in the military Justin has embraked on many pursuits and adventures, which have included living with indigenous tribes as well as extreme mountaineering and white water kayaking expeditions.

I describe Justin in this conversation as a 'beautiful mind', which may sound strange when describing an ex military officer. His message for leaders though is a strong one, as he advocates kindness and compassion as prerequisites for cultures that foster effective organisational performance. 

Justin's deep understanding and deep experience of leading and performing in complex and challenging environments provides great insights and raises challenging questions for us all...

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-featherstone-mc-frgs-frai-9b958b6/?originalSubdomain=uk 

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jfeatherstonemc

 

 

Dr Sarah Mackay is an Oxford University-educated neuroscientist, educator, presenter, media commentator, director of The Neuroscience Academy and author of The Women's Brain Book: the neuroscience of health, hormones and happiness. Sarah helps professional coaches, psychologists, therapists educators, wellness practioners and people from all walks of life distil neuroscience into practical tools to enable pragmatic ways of creating better mental health, wellbeing and longevity.

This really is a great conversation that challenges the current paradigms of understanding of how the brain works.

We discuss the 'myth of the lizard brain', the bottom-up top-down outside-in approach to undersatnding how we operate, becoming architects of our own experience and much more...

https://drsarahmckay.com/

https://www.instagram.com/drsarahmckay/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/sarahmmckay

Sophie is a self proclaimed 'Sleep Evangelist'

She has always been intrigued by what makes us feel good and function well. After originally studying medicine she went on to complete a PhD in Health Psychology, investigating why happiness protects against heart disease and how to improve well being at work.

This research pointed to sleep as the unsung hero of mental and physical resilience. She spent the next 5 years working on 'Sleepio'- Big Health's award winning digital sleep programme.

Sophie was awarded an NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellowship in 2016 and helped make Sleepio available on the NHS to a fifth of the UK population.

Sophie has been invited to deliver talks for Tedx and Google and regularly features as a sleep expert in national media.

She really lives the practice of health and well being in her own life and has just completed a row around Britain in 2021.

https://www.thesleepscientist.com/about

https://www.instagram.com/drsophiebostock/

https://twitter.com/DrSophieBostock

Nick Compton is a former English cricket opening batsman and first class player for Middlesex and Somerset.

He was born in South Africa, the son of Richard Compton, himself a former professional cricketer, and the grandson of legendary England batsman and Arsenal footballer, Dennis Compton.

Selected for England in 2012, he played 16 tests, including tours of India and New Zealand, where he scored his first test century.

As he discusses in this conversation though, he was hugely disappointed to be dropped from the England team ahead of the 2013 Ashes series and left out of the Lions tour to South Africa in the winter of 2014.

At both ends of the spectrum, Nick has done the deeper work of understanding how to inhabit high performance but has also suffered mentally from depression and anxiety.

He talks openly about this journey in dealing with the regret of perhaps not realising his full potential, as well as the challenges of moving on from a career in elite sport.

This transition has led him to his passion in photography, where he captures people, cultures and landscapes from across the globe.

This is a brave and hugely enlightening conversation from someone who embodies personal awareness and humility.

(check Nick's amazing photography below)

https://nickcompton.com/

Nick Compton Instagram

 

Getting nutrition right is a key pillar of recovery, vitality and performance. With that said, there is so much conflicting advice as to what we should actually be putting in our bodies.

Glen Burrows really is an expert in all aspects of nutrition, having first studied food science where he quickly saw how the food industry was addicting people towards diets that maximised profits for producers but left consumers bereft of nutrient rich foods and in many cases ill and overweight.

Both he and his wife were also long time vegetarians before negative affects on their health led them back to eating meat. This change not only brought them back to full health but also became the catalyst for Glen in founding his new venture 'The Ethical Butcher', where his mission is to reconnect people with nature through naturally farmed animals and produce.

We discuss so much in this conversation, including what an 'optimal' diet actually looks like and where false information and fixed mentalities serve to keep people stuck in cycles of over eating and poor health.

Amazingly on top of all this, Glen combines his nutrition expertise with his work as a photographer and moving image director, specialising in sports and health and fitness portraits.

This work saw him as the 'go to' man for Men's Health magazine and many world leading brands (check out his Instagram below, it is well worth a look!)

https://ethicalbutcher.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/ethicalbutcher/

https://www.instagram.com/glenburrows/?hl=en

This is round #2 with former fast jet pilot Mandy Hickson.

Again an amazing story and a deeper dive into the mindset needed to operate under the extreme pressures of 'Top Gun' flying.

In this conversation we talk about Mandy's experience of imposter syndrome while public speaking and how to work with and  overcome fear in moments of pressure.

We also discuss the mental framework of elite performers to be able to recover from mistakes and get back on task and much more...

Mandy's website

LinkedIn

 

Mandy Hickson is a pioneering former fast jet pilot and now a motivational public speaker.

Her remarkable career saw her become only to second female to fly a Tornado GR4 on the front line, including 45 missions over Iraq during three operational tours. 

Despite her incredible career and success Mandy's story wasn't all plain sailing. After initial awards for flying in the Air Training Corps, she twice failed the RAF flying aptitude test and was told she didn't have what it takes to be a fast jet pilot.

Undeterred, Mandy showed unwavering belief to overcome the odds and achieve her lifelong dream.

This story of inspiration, drive and determination was detailed in Mandy's recently published book An Officer, Not a Gentleman where she describes the fast paced life and challenges of being a female in a male dominated world, a mum and a pilot.

This is part one of our conversation, which lays the groundwork for understanding the mental framework that allowed Mandy to push past perceived limitations, beat the odds and perform under extreme pressure.

Mandy's website

LinkedIn

 

 

Victor Estima is a Brazilian Ju Jitsu black belt and one of the most exciting middle weight BJJ competitors in history.

During his competitive career he collected many titles including - European Champion, Pan American Champion, World No Gi Champion, 6 times Worlds bronze medallist and 4 times World Pro Silver medallist.

He is now the founder of Gracie Barra Nottingham and Grace Barra Europe leader, training and empowering the next generation of BJJ competitors.

Victor brings to this conversation a very rich understanding of what it means to truly be your best. Words such as confidence, trust, courage, resilience and focus are so often mentioned by people but with very little substance or experience of truly implementing them under pressure.

Victor embodies them. Not only through his success on the world stage and his fighting philosophy but also through his mental approach to personal growth in all areas of life.

https://www.gbnottingham.com/

@victorestimagb

 

 

 

Dr Judson Brewer is a world leading thinker in the 'science of self mastery'. He brings a unique approach to his work by blending expertise in both modern science and the ancient wisdoms of mindfulness practice.

He is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Centre and an associate professor in psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University, executive medical director at Sharecare, as well as a research affiliate at MIT.

He has published two New York Times best selling books 'The Craving Mind' and his latest release 'Unwinding Anxiety'. He has also been featured on 60 minutes, TED (his talk A simple way to break a bad habit has been viewed over 16 million times), Time Magazine (top 100 health discoveries of 2013), Forbes, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera (documentary about his research) The Washington post and many others including world leading podcasts.

As part of his work Dr Jud has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for habit change, including app-based treatments for smoking, emotional eating and anxiety (eat right now, unwinding anxiety and craving to quit)

In this conversation Dr Jud explains how our minds work, how we get caught in habit loops and how we can use the powerful mechanisms of 'Reward based Learning' to create real and sustained change. 

https://drjud.com/

Dr Jud's Habit Mapper