If you‘ve ever thought you need to find a hobby but not sure how to make time, or if you‘ve not had a chance to unpack why your leisure is so important, this is for you.
In this intriguing episode Rachel O’Connor, Associate Professor in Legal Education, Academic Lead for Personal Tutoring, University of Leeds and Music Director, Patrick Steed, take us into the welcoming, supportive communities of musical theatre and CrossFit, providing safe yet stretching spaces to find and express our authentic selves and do that difficult thing: make new friends as adults.
Rachael describes how the CrossFit community switched exercise from a lonely punishment to an exhilarating rush, whilst Patrick explains how singing songs from musicals together can provide a joyful escape but also a safe and empowering place to dig into difficult emotions. Understand more about the freedom of not having to be the best, but instead allowing leisure to be a place to follow your heart.
Produced at UWE Bristol.
14 Aug 2025
Wide Space on a Narrowboat
In this soothing episode Paul Kleiman, Senior Consultant at Ciel Associates, explains how he found a slower pace and a feeling of space and calm through narrowboating. We hear how Paul and his partner renovated a narrowboat, remarkably without previous expertise, allowing the gently-paced restoration process to bring calm, focus and a deepening enjoyment of the simpler things. We explore the importance of small rituals to mark out sacred time for ourselves and help us to focus wholeheartedly on slower moments that can refresh and restore us.
Trigger warning: Please note that this episode makes reference to child loss.
Produced at UWE Bristol.
14 Aug 2025
I come from academia with a banjo on my knee
In this episode, Professor Helen King, Director of Learning Innovation, Development & Skills, Bath Spa University and Richard Bale, Senior Teaching Fellow in Educational Development at Imperial College, share their experiences of diving into new hobbies. From strumming the banjo and playing the violin to lifting weights and hitting the trails, they discuss the joy of being a novice. Learn how to let go of aspirations and self-judgement and simply relish the process of learning something new. Tune in to discover the freedom of being average and the pure enjoyment of the journey.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
485
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Podcast Authority Score: 26 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
26
Social presence
0
YouTube
66
Engagement
0
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