Zestology: Live Life with Energy, Vitality, Motivation, Health, Confidence, Great Sleep, Biohacking ...

Are you a meditator? It turns out many high performers in all different areas are getting their meditation on. More and more leaders in the corporate/sporting/therapeutic worlds have been taking note of the benefits of meditation, which include lower stress levels, improved cognitive functioning, creative thinking and productivity, and even improved physical health. Oprah Winfrey is known to do 20 minutes twice a day, and tells anyone who will listen. A lot of my friends and guests on Zestology have spoken about this, so it’s time to get involved. So we want to do less, to achieve more. But how... Emily Fletcher is one of the world’s leading experts in Meditation. She has been invited to teach at Google, Harvard Business School, Summit Series, Viacom, Awesomeness Fest & Relativity Media. Emily began her ten years of training in meditation in Rishikesh, India under world-renowned instructors. She was inspired to share this practice with others after experiencing the profound physical and mental benefits it

On today's Zestology podcast I have an inspirational and fun-loving guest who definitely enjoys the journey. As well as being a celebrated yoga teacher, Meghan Currie is a bit of an inspirer extraordinaire, and also blogs to her army of followers about travel and putting raw food on your face! When we met she was in the UK, then when we did the interview she was in Bali, and now she's in Istanbul for a month. She is truly enjoying the journey, and not intent on arriving. On today's Zestology podcast I have an inspirational and fun-loving guest who definitely enjoys the journey. As well as being a celebrated yoga teacher, Meghan Currie is a bit of an inspirer extraordinaire, and also blogs to her army of followers about travel and putting raw food on your face! When we met she was in the UK, then when we did the interview she was in Bali, and now she's in Istanbul for a month. She is truly enjoying the journey, and not intent on arriving. When you listen you'll hear: Living with more energy Being intimate wit

Slowing down and calming down to create more energy. It's almost like a contradiction in terms. But it works, and that's why meditation/trance/hypnosis/chillout time is so popular for people. This week's Zestology podcast guest is fascinating, and contains some important themes. One is slowing down a bit to create a huge store of stamina and energy. Amen. We need to talk about this more. All of my audiobooks on iTunes have a similar theme using hypnosis and NLP skills to calm the mind, get into more of an Alpha State, and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. And with my cool guest - blogger, podcaster and Natural Health practitioner Beverley Meyer - I have a similar mind that we can really get going on this subject - slowing off and switching off for more energy and feeling great. Beverley also specialises in the area of nutrition and we tackle some fun foody subjects too. We delve right in and get technical around how good coconut oil is to encourage you to burn fat for fuel (great if you want to ton

Did you know that taking a simple sauna twice a week could spark a complete change in your energy levels? (Hence the title of this blog.) This just one of the interesting, unusual and crazy ideas in today's Zestology Podcast. Interested in making some small changes for big results? Listen/read on. My guest is someone with a wide amount of expertise in this area. Dr Izabella Wentz has written a hugely popular and well received book on Hashimotos. (Never heard of Hashimotos? It turns out that Hashimotos is really much more common than anyone thought so we look at that at the start of the show). We also dive straight in general health improvements and yes, sauna therapy. We go into this into a bit of depth, including the uh, sauna incident that left Dr Wentz rather surprised and shocked. And surprise surprise, it’s a regular theme, we look at nutrition and health and the role that has to play in your overall wellbeing and energy levels. It’s one of those shows where we go deep, especially at the start, and I lov

Today, we're after an Aha! Moment to fire up our lives. It turns out the phrase Aha! Moment is actually in the dictionary. So how do we have an Aha! Moment about our lives? How good would it be to find that thing, that really excites you? That motivates you to get outta bed with extreme energy every morning. In short, how can we all have an Aha! Moment. (Preferably this week, not that we're impatient...) Today's Zestology guest is the host of a podcast that has taken the iTunes Podcast chart by storm. John Lee Dumas is the host of Entrepreneur On Fire, with over 1000 episodes in the bag and a huge amount of listeners. And he's made it his business to ask successful, motivated, balanced, happy, energetic people about that lightbulb moment, the point in time when the flash of inspiration struck. So we talk about its importance, his Aha! Moment, and how we might find our own, and how your life can change once you have that Aha! Moment. When you listen you'll hear: Living with more energy Delayed Gratification:

Summer weekends are made for festivals, and how could a yoga fest be anything other than awesome? It was an absolute joy being out in the elements, busting out some very unbendy yoga moves and recording this episode of Zestology podcasts at Yoga Connects festival. Regular listeners/readers to Zestology will know what a huge fan I am of yoga and the way it makes me feel. I was quite privileged to get to chat to many of the world's top yoga teachers and experts, all thoughtful, inspiring and talented people kind enough to share some time with me and I hope you'll get loads out of this. My guests in this podcast include yoga teachers Meghan Currie, Celest Pereira, Michael Wong (Boys of Yoga) and Charlotte Welfare. Other guests include RoxyRaRa and Ellie Positivitea, and of course yoga teacher, entrepreneur and festival organiser Sally Griffyn. When you listen, you'll hear: Living with more energy Frog pose for physical and mental strength 9.15Constant orgasms (yes really!) 14.50A movement of consciousness and

Today we’re looking at the caveman approach to a healthy heart, body and life with a guest who's got a great story to tell. We dig deep into gluten. What's the deal with gluten? What are the probs? Why are so many people giving it up? How can doing so improve our energy and wellbeing? Also, if you suffer from Hay Fever, please do listen to today's episode. There are a whole load of natural methods for dealing with the streaming eyes, runny nose, and general stuffiness that Hay Fever brings on. My guest is Dr Jack Wolfson, the author of the Paleo Cardiologist. He was a conventional cardiologist, a Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and a very successful heart doctor. But deep down, he was perhaps unsatisfied until he met his future wife, who came from a very different background. I’ll let him tell the story in the podcast, but together they formed a new approach to heart health. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of Paleo, but just in case you’ve been living in the dark ages, (actually if you have you might know abo

There’s a new gadget that claims to improve your mental fitness. It’s a headset called Muse, that syncs up with the iphone to help you, apparently, begin feeling the benefits of a calmer, more composed mind. It makes use of EEG technology that only a few years ago would have cost 1000s. Now it’s just around £300 ($450). And I’ve got one here... I decided to test it out with my first repeat guest on Zestology podcast - definitely back by popular demand. Dr. Stephen Simpson is an Elite Performance Coach, medical doctor, and NLP expert who specialises in a fascinating field. He's developed the niche of helping poker players win more money. We chatted about poker in Zestology episode 2, today though I wanted to explore the topics of intuition, altered states, and how when we tap into these we can increase our energy and wellbeing. He’s the perfect person to do this with as you’ll hear.  In this podcast, we explore luck, intuition and altered states, and of course test out this new Muse headset gadget which is a l

My personal development background is in NLP and related more to focusing on the mind. But I want Zestology to look at every area of our physical and mental health, and I know personally that when my digestion is good, I feel good. Likewise, when it's not, I feel sluggish and slow. I definitely have my ups and downs with digestion and gut health, hence today's show. Today's Zestology Podcast guest is someone who goes by the name of The Digestion Detective. Sam Bearfoot runs a successful practice here in the UK, combining kinesiology, nutrition and a number of different areas of expertise. She also hosts the popular Digestion Detective podcast and is regularly featured in major health and lifestyle publications such as Health & Fitness magazine, Daily Mirror, Prima and Cosmopolitan. She's a bit of a ledge. When you listen you'll hear: Living with more energy How to work out: what agrees with your body and what doesn't. You've heard about the importance of drinking water, but do you know when to drink it?

Ever heard of biohacking? Today's guest has become famous for experimenting and attempting to improve every area of his health and wellbeing. Luke Storey is well known as a stylist, appearing regularly on MTV and VH1 and working with top names like Kanye West, Marilyn Manson, Foo Fighters, Kim Kardashian and many more. But he's also a biohacker, experimenter, coach and he is now becoming as famous for this as for his styling work. You won't agree with everything he says - I don't - but a lot of it is truly thought-provoking, and more than that, it's just great fun. Prepare to be a little bit shocked at how extreme Luke is, and laugh a lot too.When you listen you'll hear: Living with more energy Drink water from as pure a source as possible. Not tap. Pop some sea salt in your morning glass of water. Supplements such as Unfair Advantage may help boost your mitochondria levels. It might hurt a bit, but take a cold bath/shower to supercharge your brain and get your circulation moving. Be careful where you put yo

It turns out that some of the bright lights we have in our homes and on our devices late at night can impact the depth of our sleep, and our long-term health by suppressing our melatonin levels. Basically, our bodies respond to bright 'blue light' by thinking it's daylight. Turns out the solution is the colour amber. Amber 'blue-blocking' specs, night lights and computer programs can all help us replenish our melatonin levels to get a much improved night's sleep. I especially wanted to look into this further for the many parents I know whose night-times are disrupted by their little angels waking them up. Any parents reading this, I hope you listen today, because there is a specific section for parents getting better sleep. I'm joined in this show by a celebrated physicist, and definitely one of the most distinguished guests I've spoken to on Zestology. Dr. Edward Carome led a long and distinguished career as a physicist. He was a professor of physics at John Carroll University. He’s consulted with industry a

3 yoga poses that make you feel instantly energised with top yoga teacher Celest Pereira #13 On a previous Zestology podcast we heard about the scientific study which found people who practice some form of yoga could be 48% less likely to suffer from heart disease. That was when I knew I wanted to look more closely at the subject of yoga in the Zestology podcast. What is it about yoga that makes us feel so good? And who better to ask than someone who's a bit of a YouTube yoga sensation. Celest Pereira has thousands of followers who watch her videos daily on both YouTube and Instagram, and she's on a mission to get us all to feel good with her yoga moves. She's also a friend of mine, so I set her a simple challenge - 3 poses that instantly energise us. When you listen you'll hear: Living with more energy The 3 yoga poses you can do right now for extra energy and motivation. (Check Celest's insta page for in depth examples of these and other yoga poses.) The importance of breath and how to breath deep

How can you change your behaviour to ensure the changes you make last forever? What are the scientifically proven methods to ensure your actions match your intentions? Today's episode is for anyone who's ever made a goal, resolution or plan, and not stuck to it.  My guest is Siri Steinmo. Siri is a health psychologist trained in the science of behaviour change, and the founder of The Anti Diet programme. Her thing is that it's not about what diet you're on, but how you change your behaviour to ensure the health changes you make last forever. In fact she goes further - and says diets make you fat and miserable. Every week this podcast is all about living with more energy, vitality, and motivation, and this week is no exception. It's the theme that goes through every show. So listen on, and enjoy. When you listen you'll hear: Living with more energy The system of monitoring. [11:50] Starting a behavioral contract with yourself. [13:40] How the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation Behavior Model can help you. [1

Have you ever considered supplementing with turmeric, or vitamin D spray, or B12 injections, or, er, trying a coffee enema? Well, believe it or not, all of these alternative remedies could help you on your journey to energy, vitality and feeling awesome. Today's Zestology podcast guest is Laura Bond. In March 2011 Laura Bond's mother Gemma was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer. Laura discovered that the only thing more shocking than telling someone your mother has cancer was revealing that she had declined chemotherapy.  Laura is a health journalist and health coach, and she decided to write a book that would become hugely successful, 'Mum's Not Having Chemo'. It explains her mother's decision to say 'no' to mainstream medicine and 'yes' to hydrogen peroxide, vitamin C injections and infrared saunas. Today's podcast doesn't have a particular focus on cancer, it's just for anyone who's interested in boosting their energy, vitality and health. It's informative, and I think ultimately uplifting. Laura's

Live a stressful life? You have to listen. Constantly juggling priorities? Overworked? Tired? Make sure you listen in. Interested in how positive emotions and feelings can improve your physical health? You'll love this. If I had to pick a personal doctor to look after me, it'd be Dr. Mimi Guarneri. She is a cardiologist by trade, but after spending her 30s treating hundreds of heart patients in dire need of help, she set up her own 'integrative medicine' centre to start to treat the causes and well as the symptoms of the patients she was encountering. Today's interview contains some fascinating stories, and includes the story of the 'three magic words' she wrote on a piece of paper which had a profound impact on a patient's health. Want to know what those three magic words were? Listen on.   When you listen you'll hear: Living with more energy Prevention through lifestyle changes. [11:50] Stress causes your hormones to go crazy and flare up symptoms and diseases. [13:30] Why Integrated Medicine isn’t “altern

What is your morning routine? Do you wake up full of energy, ready to start the day? Or do you hit snooze a few times, roll over and check your email, facebook, etc, before eventually stumbling out of bed wishing you had more sleep? Today's guest is an incredible speaker and NYT best-selling author, Hal Elrod. At age 20, he was hit head on by a drunk driver at 70 mph, was dead for 6 minutes, and doctors told his parents that if Hal ever came out of his coma, he would have permanent brain damage and may never walk again. After 6 days of fighting for his life, what happened next was incredible. You have to listen to this guy's story. He's also the NYT bestselling author of the Miracle Morning. When you listen, you'll hear: Living with more energy - 5 Minute Rule: controlling your emotions [8:14] - Waking up better versus waking up early [20:43] - To take your life to the next level, you have to take your mornings to the next level [34:00] - How to engineer your life for maximum energy [38:00] Easy, every

Have you ever felt like it's hard to be well-informed about food? Ever asked yourself what's good for you and what's not? What are the foods that you can eat for health and vitality? And how much "good fat" should we be eating? Today's guest is Summer Innanen. She's one of America's top nutrition and diet coaches, and presents a cracking podcast herself. Please do take a listen, she's an inspiring individual, and starts on Zestology by telling her own story which is fascinating and led her to where she is today. When you listen you'll hear: Living with more energy Fat: clearing up the confusion. [9:00] Get happier through better nutrition. [10:26] Why grains raise your blood sugar more than sugar. [11:00] Supplements for support and not sustenance. [29:47] Easy, every-day tips for vitality Why complete carb depletion puts you at risk for hormonal imbalance. [14:00] The importance of “taking your food on a hot date.” [25:14] How eating in front of your T.V. or multitasking while you eat isn't great, and

Ever wondered how to feel happier? How could these happiness secrets change your life? Today's guest is the man who wrote a book on being happy, actor, author, One Show reporter, and former MP Gyles Brandreth. His bestselling book is called 7 Secrets of Happiness, and he wrote it in consultation with psychiatrist Dr Anthony Clare. When you listen, you'll hear: How you can lengthen your life by 7-10 years. Test yourself and allow yourself to be tested. The importance of embracing change for life longevity. The importance of being connected to something bigger than you. Why you should be more like the Queen. (Really.) Why happiness cannot be measured in Facebook posts. How breaking the mirror is a good thing. And lots more...

How can diet, fitness and sleep be used as the starting points for health and happiness? Tony is joined by a top guest. Evan Brand is a researcher, author, and host of the Not Just Paleo podcast. Stand by for some crazy but effective ideas on sleep, health and wellness in this week's show. He combines health, diet and training with many therapies including meditation, stress-management training and custom supplementation protocols to provide a well-rounded solution a variety of health struggles. He also, as you'll hear, is an expert on sleep, and you might be amazed by some of the ideas he has on how to improve your night-times. (We were.) When you listen you'll hear: Some scientifically proven sleep tips, and why the colour red could change the way you rest. How early in the day does your body start making melatonin. Why you need a "technology sunset." What's the perfect amount of sleep? Diet staples that you need. Bio-individual: Defining your individual needs instead of comparing yourself to other peop

What does a good day look like for you? How great would it be to have one of those good days today? Tony chats to Karl Morris, who's one of the world's leading performance coaches. He's worked with sportsmen and women at the very top of their games over the last 30 years. He specialises in golf where he’s worked with multiple major winners. When you listen you'll hear: How to design your very own 'good day' What to do right now to start upping your game How to cut through all the distractions in life for increased energy Use mindfulness for health and business, and hold your attention in one place The principles of being present and being focused The amazing story of the sportsman Karl worked with who drew a red spot on his equipment Changing your environment to trigger the state you want Setting 'directions' rather than goals and then focusing on process Being someone who has direction, and purpose and process too