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Actor, life coach, and creative entrepreneur Sascha Cooper joins me for a walk through the Seven Sisters Nature Reserve at Cuckmere Haven to talk about acting, intuition, personal growth, and the winding path of a creative life.

Raised in Devon and later studying in Plymouth before training at The Courtyard Theatre Training Company, London, Sascha has spent more than two decades building a creative life in Brighton — balancing performance, coaching, and spiritual exploration.

Along the walk, we talk about her acting journey, the moments that shaped her confidence, and the people who helped her along the way. Sascha reflects on the women who influenced her life, the value of mentorship, and the quiet strength that comes from community.

Sascha also shares her long relationship with fortune-telling — something that began as playful entertainment and gradually deepened into a deeper exploration of intuition, insight, and guidance.

The conversation moves candidly through identity and self-image, too. Sascha speaks openly about being a plus-size woman in the performing arts industry, how that has shaped her career, and the ways she has learned to own her presence rather than shrink it.

This is a walk about creative courage, intuition, and the many routes that lead us back to ourselves.

You can find Sascha’s work here:

🔗 https://www.saschacooper.co.uk/

🔗 https://www.facebook.com/sascha.cooper/

🔗 https://www.instagram.com/saschacooperentrepreneur/

Season Two of the story pilgrim walks with people — their histories, their work, and the paths that shaped who they are.

buen camino, and keep listening.

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Intimacy Coach for women and embodiment practitioner Daria Lebedeva walks with me along the River Thames to talk about spirituality, healing, embodiment, and finding meaning through nature, ritual, and self-trust.

Born in Russia and raised partly in the UK from the age of ten, Daria grew up close to rivers, forests, and open ground. A childhood shaped by movement, mud, and curiosity. That early closeness to nature still informs how she lives, works, and walks today.

This route along the Thames is one she walks every Sunday with her mum, and it becomes the setting for a wide-ranging conversation about magic, not as fantasy, but as attentiveness. We talk about Bali, shamanic drumming, spirit guides, and how different spiritual paths speak to different people. There is no single method here, only what resonates.

Daria also shares her time working in a prison with people facing addiction, describing the strain of holding space in systems under pressure, and how constant emotional labour can quietly wear you down.

We talk candidly about her health journey with hypothyroidism, resisting a medication-only approach, and rebuilding strength through nutrition, awareness, and listening to the body, drawing on ideas from The Body Keeps the Score and embodiment practice.

This is a grounded, open conversation about healing, belief, and learning to hear parts of yourself that were once hidden.

You can find Daria’s work at:
🔗 https://enlightenedsoultribe.com/

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/darialebedeva1996/

Season Two of the story pilgrim walks with people — their histories, rituals, and inner landscapes.

buen camino, and keep listening.

Send a text

Actor and funeral director Abi Pattenden joins me for a walk to Old Hamsey Church, where her grandparents are buried, and where memory refuses to stay still.

We walk just north of Lewes, tracing the path her grandparents took when they moved from Wales after her grandfather found work nearby as a signalman. We pass the house Abi remembers from childhood, before arriving at the churchyard that still holds her family story in the ground.

Along the way, we talk about her work as a funeral director, how death is handled and avoided in modern life, and what happens when grief becomes part of your working day rather than something whispered about behind closed doors.

This is a walk about work, ancestry, and the strange calm that arrives when death is no longer treated as a stranger.

Season Two of the story pilgrim walks with people — their histories, their callings, and the places that shaped them.

buen camino, and keep listening.