The Clearing with Katherine May

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Cheryl Strayed, author of ‘Wild’ and so many more.A luxurious chat from the beginning til the end, this is a wonderful chance to get to know Cheryl a little better and hear the voice behind the books. It’s a true comfort, which folds in everything from the power of walking and what it can do to you, the unfinished walk, the male narrative and damage on all sides, finding the ‘off’ button for our brains and whether such a thing is achievable, brainfog, her ‘Dear Sugar’ advice columns and discovering the human ‘standard set of problems’, and not being scared by the wilderness in which she grew. Lovely, and nourishing too.Quick note: Katherine mentioned heliotropic breathwork, which she immediately noted was 'holotropic' - just in case you pick up on that!CHERYL LINKSMain site (all books listed here)TwitterInstagramSugar Calling PodcastKATHERINE LINKSPatreonHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Jennifer Pastiloff, a speaker, teacher, and author of ‘On Being Human’.In a warm and honest chat with Katherine, Jennifer perfectly lays the table for where she finds herself at this point in time, as a yoga instructor, public speaker and best selling author. With an attitude of ‘I Got You’ - extended to a community which she has cultivated with care over time - she has learned to transform her own feelings of shame towards her deafness, and earlier moments of trauma in her life. It’s an episode which offers effective solutions within, and inspiring thoughts on behaviours, being misunderstood, and ‘silencing the inner asshole’, as well as overlaps with deafness and autism, and being a founder of a movement known as ‘Shame Loss’.JENNIFER LINKSMain siteTwitterInstagramJennifer's PodcastOn Being HumanKATHERINE LINKSPatreonHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Jackee Holder, coach and author of 'Writing With Fabulous Trees', among many more.Jackee Holder is a writer, walker, coach, interfaith minister and daughter of the windrush. In this uplifting conversation, she talks about the capacity of life to uplift us, her love of libraries, and how a tree helped her to treasure her name.Hear Jackee expand too on her introvert / extrovert sides, rituals and body prayers, seasons and trees and nature metaphors, having skeletons on full display rather than in the closet, Enid Blyton, 'pouring libation', her superhero mother with hidden sea skills and a huge amount more in what Jackee herself refers to as a 'campfire chat'. A lovely and perfectly fitting finalé to season 2 of The Wintering Sessions!JACKEE LINKSMain siteTwitterWriting With Fabulous TreesRue MappWest Norwood LibraryParable Of The Sower (Octavia Butler)Elder TreesKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to author Michelle Adams.Michelle Adams is best known as the author of Little Wishes, Between the Lies and My Sister. In this episode, she talks about a sudden and unexplained illness that disrupted everything she knew about herself, and how vital her support network became during that time.In other areas of this open and honest chat, Michelle also expands on her love of podcasting over the written interview, allergy season in Cyprus where she and her family make their home, the whole process of her life being shaken up through her experience, reflections with the clarity of time and so much more which will give you a glorious insight into her character.MICHELLE LINKSMain siteBook checklistTwitterKatherine on Michelle's podcast Beyond WordsGood ReadsKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Angela Barnes, podcaster, comedian and regular panel guest on Mock The Week (and much more!).Angela Barnes has zero tolerance for anyone reassuring her that she's pretty - it talks over her lived experience, and does nothing to change her self-perception. Here, she discusses living with Persistent Depressive Disorder, which has made her whole life feel like the drizzly English climate, but which has also made her more able than most to endure the hard-knocks life of a stand-up comedian. A very cheerful chat which always zeroes in on the important points with lazer focus, picking up on where Angela is in the greater pandemic situation, working with her PDD, building daily frameworks, having a comedy tribe which normalizes certain behaviours and actions, fear of rejection, CBT, entitlement, TV, the perils and - well, perils of social media, and the notion of beauty on a grand scale.ANGELA LINKSMain siteTwitterInstagramWe Are History podcastMock The WeekKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Josie George, author of 'A Still Life: A Memoir'.Josie George has always lived with a complex of medical conditions that are difficult to name, but which leave her permanently in pain and having to carefully manage her mindset and energies in order to cope with everyday life. Here, she talks about the joys she finds in small things, and the vibrant appreciation for life that her restrictions have given her.An upfront and positive chat in which Josie goes into her history with health, illness versus wellness, forms of gaslighting taking place through diagnoses, spiralling but maintaining forward motion, adapting to change rather than stopping, maintaining presence and tuning into frequencies of mindfulness.JOSIE LINKSA Still Life: A MemoirTwitterInstagramJosie in The GuardianSam HarrisKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Georgina Lawton, author of 'Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong'.For most of her life, Georgina Lawton was aware that she didn't look like her white family, but by her teens, she was no longer able to believe her parent's line that she was a genetic 'throwback' to a Black ancestor. In her memoir, Raceless, she writes about the painful process of forging a Black identity from scratch, and the painstaking work of repairing her relationship with her mother after years of denial.A really lovely chat which branches out onto areas including her Surrey upbringing, the sense of confusion in her early years, the experience of receiving racial comments more often as she grew up, finding friend groups, her amazing perspective shifts through travel, and her strategies in breaking down her racial origins - she has developed numerous versions depending on the situation. A fascinating look at family, friends and society.GEORGINA LINKSRaceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I BelongTwitterInstagramPolitics & Prose chatKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Tanya Shadrick, author of 'The Cure For Sleep'.A few days after giving birth, Tanya found herself in an ambulance, barely clinging to life. But surviving that terrifying experience changed everything. In this conversation, Tanya talks about how facing death made her bolder, more certain of her ambitions, and more determined to become a writer. And it also left her able to help other people who were nearing the end of their life.Tanya lets us all in on a number of very personal moments in her life, and details how she found a route through it all at times when obstacles seemed unsurmountable. From sudden clarity, to life-changing impulses, to being of service and of course her own writing studies (including the mile-long journal), it's an intimate and ultimately uplifting and inspiring journey.TANYA LINKSThe Cure For SleepOnlineWild Woman SwimmingNewsletterTwitterTuesdays With Morrie by Mitch AlbomKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Zeba Talkhani, author of 'My Past Is A Foreign Country'.Growing up as an Indian Muslim in socially-repressive Saudi Arabia, Zeba Talkhani learned her feminism young, unable to stop questioning the restrictions on her thoughts and personal freedoms. But after writing a memoir of her experiences, she encountered a backlash that she could never have expected. Here, she talks about how she came to terms with the abuse she received after publication, and how it brought her closer to her mother.Zeba and Katherine also touch upon and go in on topics including the patriarchy and how the West can use other countries as a metric for its power, the pressure in securing a husband and how it affected her very early life, how one encounter in a school hall has stayed with her, the acknowledgment of privilege, personall fallout after receiving preview copies of her book, and the beauty and joy of finding writing again.ZEBA LINKSMy Past Is A Foreign CountryInstagramNewsletterTwitterKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Wintering Sessions with Katherine May.This week Katherine chats to Sara Ryan, author of 'Justice For Laughing Boy'.After Sara Ryan's autistic son, Connor, was sectioned and admitted to a residental mental health unit, there seemed to be no way to get him out again. And then, one morning, he died after having an epileptic seizure in the bath. Convinced that negligence was to blame, Sara began a campaign that not only brought the local authority to justice, but also put Connor's humanity at the front and centre. Sara talks about righteous anger, the urgent need for change in our care system, and how friends and family can help you to endure.A moving and intimate conversation which balances unflinching honesty and grief with levity and grace, and one where you'll come away with a real feeling of closeness to Sara and Connor. There are tough moments, but Sara has come through an experience with hard-earned wisdom and as such, it's an inspiring journey with positives along the way.SARA LINKSJustice For Laughing Boy107 Days Of ActionMy Daft Life blogTwitterKATHERINE LINKSHomepageTwitterInstagramThe Wintering SessionsKatherine's writing class Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.