Talkin about Midlife

About Talkin about Midlife

Conversations about life transitions, relationships and trauma for people who want to understand what this life is about.

Publisher

Kellie Stirling

Category

health & fitness · health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Dec 2019

Latest episode

27 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

66 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Ep 66 - The hands remember - painting the unspoken with Leah Mariani

   In this episode, I sit down with artist Leah — a former accountant turned figurative painter known for her portraits of women — to talk about art as a language for the body when words run out. We trace Leah's path from the audit floor to the easel, sparked by an unexpected, almost hormonal pull toward painting during her first pregnancy, and unpack why the hands are one of our most primal, expressive tools — closely tied to speech, gesture and emotion long before we could name what we felt. Leah opens up about painting women as a form of self-discovery, why every portrait carries a bit of darkness, and how the studio became a grounding, almost meditative anchor through early motherhood. We also get into archetypal territory — the "autumn woman," the Maga (sorceress) season of midlife, and what it means to move into the wise-woman, guardian role — plus a fun detour into colour psychology, why green and blue are so relaxing, and Leah's complicated love affair with pink. A conversation about creativity, embodiment, motherhood and the seasons of a woman's life — through the eyes of a painter. Find more of Leah's work at www.leahmariani.com. You can find Leah on Instagram @leahmarianiartspace or Tik Tok @leahmarianiartspace.

2. 

   4 May 2026

   Ep 65 Meeting yourself on the journey with Damianne President

   What if the most transformative journey you could take wasn't to a faraway place, but back to yourself? In this episode, I sit down with Damianne President, a coach who helps midlife women use intentional solo travel as a catalyst for self-discovery. Damianne has lived and worked across four continents — from St. Lucia and Canada to India, Sudan, Japan, and now Prague — and her extraordinary cross-cultural life is the foundation of her work. What you'll hear in this conversation: How a Sufi teacher in India told a 20-something Damianne she was "watching her life from the window of a train" and how that moment set her on a completely different path, Why travel, especially to unfamiliar countries, is one of the most powerful developmental tools available to us, and how it works on the nervous system in ways our everyday routines simply don't, The crucial difference between escaping yourself through travel and genuinely meeting yourself and what it looks like when people confuse the two, How Damianne supports clients to stay regulated when travel gets uncomfortable, including Tara Brach's RAIN practice and her own beautifully simple "5 more minutes" approach, Why midlife is such a potent moment for this kind of work, identity is formed but something feels quietly off, and the anonymity of a new place offers the freedom to experiment with who you want to be, The integration piece: why the real transformation happens not on the trip, but in the intentional reflection that follows. There's also a rich conversation about belonging and nervous system regulation, the grief that lives inside unmet aspirations, the way our neurobiology pulls us back toward the familiar, and why shared humanity is the thing that consistently surprises people most when they travel deeply. Damianne makes a distinction that stayed with me long after the conversation ended; the difference between searching for yourself and meeting yourself. They're not the same thing. Connect with Damianne: Website & free guide for beginners: freedomlookslikethis.com/goalone Social media: @Damiannecoaching

3. 

   6 Apr 2026

   Ep 64 Roots: Understanding somatic decolonisation with Sasha Ostara

   What if the systems that have shaped our world for centuries aren't just political structures but are actually living in your body right now? In this rich conversation, I sit down with my dear friend Sasha Ostara, writer, coach and decolonisation educator, to explore how capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and human supremacy don't just exist "out there"; they show up as chronic tension, hypervigilance, collapsed chests, shame, and the relentless hum of never-enough. Drawing on Sasha's viral blog post and Rupa Marya's book Inflame, we trace how colonisation becomes embodied and what it means to begin the slow, tender work of decolonising from the inside out. In this episode, we explore: The four "legs" of colonialism — human supremacy, white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism — and the distinct somatic signatures each one leaves in the body, Why decolonisation isn't just a political act, but an embodied one: the ideas that have lived in our nervous systems for generations can't be thought away, How white supremacy lands differently in different bodies, as hypervigilance, fear, shame, and disgust; and why those experiences are more interconnected than we often assume, The somatic cost of patriarchy: the tight throat, the collapsed chest, the learned habit of making ourselves smaller and policing our own voices to stay safe, Why men are often the first and most hidden victims of male supremacy; cut off from their own feeling, craving connection but conditioned to perform disconnection, Capitalism as extraction: how the "never enough" of consumerism mirrors the same extractive logic we apply to our bodies, our time, and our life force, What actually happens in the body when safety begins to return — and why healing often feels heavier before it feels lighter, The invitation to move from a mechanistic relationship with our bodies to an ecological one — drawing on Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and the concept of the Honourable Harvest. There's also a gorgeous thread on the gifts hidden inside perimenopause, the "hungry ghost" of consumerism, and why — as Sasha puts it — the moment we start seeing these systems clearly, we begin changing the paradigm for everyone around us. Find Sasha at: sasha-ostara.com, on instagram @sasha-ostara, tiktok, and facebook.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

4.5 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 38 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

64

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.