Many years ago I walked the labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral in northern France. It is built from stone into the floor and sits in the middle of the cathedral’s nave. I found the experience hugely moving.

Several years later I worked with a designer and printer and made myself a replica, screen printed onto material that I can fold up and carry with me when I go on my retreats and pilgrimages. I use it as a mindfulness practice. I ask people to walk it carrying an object that signifies something they want to overcome or leave behind. On reaching the centre of the labyrinth, they place said item in the middle and walk away from it. It is always a meaningful and emotional moment.

I have been wanting to record a podcast for a couple of years now but the concept evaded me. When I considered my own healing journey and how it correlates with the winding and twisting route of the labyrinth path, I knew I had stumbled across a concept that worked.

Healing is not linear. It involves many convoluted switchbacks and U-turns but as in a labyrinth, you cannot get lost. Each part of the process works towards the ultimate goal which is a recovered sense of self and the peace of healing.

In this podcast, I am using my labyrinth as a metaphor for healing and asking my guests to consider where they might be on that healing journey. We discuss what has helped them heal. I ask them about a specific book and a song that have helped them. They are generous souls who have taken their lived experience and either written books about it or are now helping others in similar situations through their therapy practices, advice, poetry or charities.

They are inspirational people who are living examples of the creative force that is unleashed through the creative healing process and I cannot wait for you to listen to their stories and absorb their wisdom.

WELCOME to Life is a Labyrinth.