‘This is the only planet in our solar system. And in the universe that we're aware of, as of right now, that actually harbours life. Life as we know it, at least. And we've looked, trust me. I know the people who are looking and have been looking, and they haven't found it yet. This is like a really big deal. Life is here. It may not be anywhere else. And if that's true, why wouldn't we design with life at the very centre of everything we do? And not just human life. All of life, because we're not the only ones on this planet’ - Sarah DeWitt

Happiest surrounded by trees Sarah DeWitts feet touch the ground in Washington D.C where she places planetary health at the centre of her work and life. Held within deep winter our conversations explore her recent regenerative sabbatical where she consciously chose life over work. She purposively stepped away from her chosen career trajectory where she experienced censorship, reorganisation and being offshored to live in alignment with her true passion and purpose.

Story-teller at heart Sarah shares a snap shot of our planet observed from above in her seventeen-year career at NASA. Inspired by the iconic ‘Pale Blue Dot’ image and her time alongside people who work with the stars her perspective spans into the cosmos and beyond with an inherent systems approach.

Sarah challenges the wider accepted constructs of our business world based on financial compensation and utterly derails the concept of work-life balance. We touch on the endemic scarcity mindset that unconsciously underpins the coaching profession and how the seemingly divergent trends of AI and nature offer the opportunity to connect and converge.

Bio

Sarah DeWitt is a systems change leader who guides individuals and organizations through major seismic shifts. She is an ICF Professional Certified Coach, Certified Forest Therapy Guide, Washington DC Master Naturalist, and 2025 With Life Fellow in regenerative leadership. With degrees in geology and science documentary filmmaking, plus two NASA exceptional service medals for her efforts in science communication, Sarah has made it her mission to centre planetary health in her work and her life.

As a life-long learner, she has mastered the art of career reinvention and enjoys helping others make their own big leaps. For over 20 years she has provided a calm presence to leaders navigating high-pressure situations from rocket launches to global acquisitions, emphasising regenerative practices that promote both human and planetary well-being.

Website: www.sarahldewitt.com

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Resources:

Image: The Pale Blue Dot

Location: Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

Training Provider: The Forest Therapy School

Training Provider: With Life Fellowship

LinkededIn Profile: Melanie Choukas-Bradley

Online Workshop: Seasons of Need: Regenerating Ourselves and Our Planet (28 Feb & 1 Mar 26). $20 Discount with code: NEED26

To find out more:

www.rootedrisingpodcast.com

‘Once I got to Europe that was it. I felt like I was coming back to older roots than the roots I was born with. My grandparents came from Europe, and although if they were alive, they would have thought it horrible that I'd left the New World to return to the old one. But I was…that was the right direction for me’ - Karyn Prentice

Karyn Prentice left her childhood roots in Los Angeles to study in Paris after being unexpectedly orphaned at the age of sixteen when intuitively she knew would never return to live in America. Her adopted homes of Normandy and Cambridge now offer the space and place to live and breathe with the natural ebb and flow of the five seasons. She encourages us to awaken our senses through the additional season of ‘Late Summer’ based on Chinese Medicine and Native American wisdom which brings additional depth, richness and metaphors into our lives.

True elder in the last quarter of her life Karyn reflects on the bold desert nature of her youth that held her grief, her life long love affair with Paris and invitation to ‘Take Courage’ based on the beer adverts that captivated her attention during her first visit to England. We trace her professional journey training as a transpersonal psychotherapist and coach in the early 90s, influenced by the work of Dr Susie Orbach and the decision to take her practice outdoors.

Bio

Karyn was born in the United States and left there to move to Paris. She has been living and working in the UK and Europe ever since.

Karyn has run her own learning and development consultancy since 1995 and has worked with corporate businesses in the UK and abroad as well as with not-for-profit organisations and in higher education. She has been a coach for 25 years and a coaching supervisor since 2008, working in French and English doors.

Her book ‘Nature’s Way, Designing the life you want through the lens of nature and the five seasons’ (2020) draws upon the huge resource and inspiration of nature for many years bringing discovery and learning to the coaching and supervision arena with creative approaches and restorative practices. She has delivered ‘Nature’s Way’ workshops to international audiences evoking the seasons as a metaphor for creative thinking and soulful well-being .

Karyn collaborates regularly with fellow creative Elaine Patterson. Their deep and richly varied programmes: ‘Cultivating and Choreographing the Rich Tapestry of Wholehearted Creativity’and ‘Bridging the Unknown form Role Work to Soul Calling in Later Life ‘ draw participants from many parts of the world.

Website: www.fletcherprentice.com

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Resources

Book: Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Book: The Signs by Tara Swart

Dr Susie Orbach

To find out more:

www.rootedrisingpodcast.com

"It's deepening into…an apprenticeship, it's deepening into a love affair, it's deepening into friendship. It's so kind of nuanced and colourful. It's difficult to put into words. But I'm opening like a flower.

The more time I'd spend with nature, not just in nature, but, like, really being in conversation with nature, and listening which is an ongoing practice, it's just been extraordinary, the impact that it's had on my life. I don't quite know where it's going. I don't really want to, but it's… the magic and the mystery of it all continues to unfold" - Hamish Mackay-Lewis

Somerset based purpose and wilderness guide Hamish Mackay-Lewis joins us with a blend of autumn and spring energies held gently within his life and work respectively. We trace his lived experiences being lost on the journey of life where comparison can be poison to the soul; then enchanted by a twinkle in eye that led him to a ten-day meditation retreat on the Sunshine Coast in Australia and much-needed balm to soothe his soul. We dance between the past, present and future; then settle into his need for stillness and a simple life.

From an innate desire to belong, seek familial approval and adventure that led to the British Army, his gaggle of unruly inner children parented by a brutal and unskilful teenager and his desire to play with playfulness Hamish exudes a deep connection to the natural environment, universal consciousness and spirit.

About

Hamish is a purpose and wilderness guide who helps people find belonging both in themselves and in the natural world. He believes that land and people are medicine for each other, and that wisdom is found in the immediacy of our lived experience.His journey from serving in the British Armed Forces to guiding others into nature and purpose has given him a deep understanding of what it means to feel torn between the life that feels secure and the one that’s quietly calling you to be more fully yourself.

Drawing on ancient and indigenous wisdom, embodiment practices, and contemporary psychology, Hamish helps people cultivate the courage to be radically honest with themselves and invite greater depth, aliveness and adventure.

He lives in Somerset and seeks out wilderness whenever he can. He loves nothing more than witnessing the moment someone rediscovers their own wildness.

Website: www.hamishmackaylewis.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hamishmackay-lewis/

Substack: https://substack.com/@hamishmackaylewis

To find out more:

www.rootedrisingpodcast.com