A shorter, gentler one about choice; not the tidy 'take control of your life' kind, but the honest kind. The choices we don't realise we're making, the ones we only spot after they've passed, and why 'I get to' doesn't always feel true when life is hard. If you've been feeling stuck lately, come and sit with this one. Interested in exploring your life choices more deeply? Get in touch at carlykillen.com Thanks for listening to Rooted In Presence If you’d like to get in touch with a que...

We've just passed the summer solstice; the peak of the light, and the precise moment it begins, very gently, to turn. It got me thinking about the thresholds we meet in midlife, and one in particular: strength. In this episode I share a story about the heaviest weight I ever lifted on a competition platform and what happened next. We get into the actual physiology of strength and ageing, why the cliff-edge narrative is wrong, and what genuinely changes whether you've trained for decades, are ...

We so often treat joy as a destination, something we'll get to once everything is sorted, healed, achieved or resolved. I'll be happy when. I'll relax when. I'll feel free when. But what if joy was never meant to be a finish line? What if it's already here, quietly woven through the ordinary moments we're moving too fast to notice? In this episode I share a moment from a recent Wonder Walk that caught me completely off guard, a card about an egg that gave me permission to stop interpreting ev...

In this week's episode, Carly explores a very specific kind of grief: one that doesn't come from losing something, but from finally finding it. The 'why didn't I start sooner' feeling. The ache that can show up right alongside a genuine awakening. It's something I've lived through more than once. And it's something I sit with my clients through regularly. Come and have a listen. I think you might recognise yourself in this one. In this episode: — The grief of arrival — what it is and why it m...

If you're in a season of big change; menopause, midlife, or just that feeling of not quite knowing who you are anymore, this episode is for you. We close with a simple breath awareness practice that you can use anywhere, any time things feel like too much. This week I learned something about butterflies that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar doesn't just change. It dissolves. Almost completely. And yet, one thing survives. Intact. Through all of...

Something kept coming up across Carly’s client sessions this week. A composite thread running through different conversations with different clients all trying to figure out how to make their self-care and routines actually stick. And the question that kept arising was this: could you plan your downtime as much as you plan your workout time? In episode 137, Carly explores why scheduling the decompression first, before adding anything new, is often the missing piece. She introduces the c...

What happens when your old routines stop fitting? When the life you’ve built no longer belongs to the person you’re becoming? This week Carly is talking about something she’s been sitting with personally and hearing from clients — what consistency really means when life has fundamentally shifted. After burnout. Through menopause. When the woman you were and the woman you’re becoming don’t quite match yet. This isn’t an episode about pushing through. It’s about rebuilding differently. Staying ...

This is a Mental Health Awareness Week episode. But it's not a fix-it episode, and it's not a think-positive episode. It's an honest conversation about wonder — the small, quiet, always-available kind and why reclaiming it might be one of the most quietly radical things you can do. Carly explores glimmers, soft fascination and Attention Restoration Theory, the difference between childlike and childish, why joy has been quietly monetised and turned into something that needs to be productive, a...

In this episode Carly explores why rest feels so radical for midlife women, the science behind rest in strength training and the nervous system, the neuroscience of silence and neurogenesis, and introduces The Restorer; one of four archetypes from the Midlife Presence system. Also included... a sneak peek of an upcoming offering at Still Space Hull. Take the MIDLIFE PRESENCE ARCHETYPE QUIZ here Thanks for listening to Rooted In Presence If you’d like to get in touch with a question a...

Are you drowning in conflicting health advice, trends and opinions? In this episode, Carly explores what it really means to trust yourself more than any plan, programme, or process, inspired by a powerful post from a former client, the Barbie movie, and and Indigo Girls song. She also explores how strength training and Breathwork are doorways to self-knowledge, and why midlife (and perimenopause especially) is a profound invitation to finally stop looking outside yourself for answers. This on...