Written by Andy Travis, Therapist Andy Travis is a therapist specialising in addiction recovery, mental & mood health, sex/love/relationships, and men's well-being. He uses techniques like live guided meditation, simple hypnosis, and somatic enquiry, personally tailored to give his clients access to their inner resources. This article builds on my last piece, Beyond Data Chips. Consciousness. The Next Frontier of Intelligence . It suggests that consciousness is more than just a product of brain activity. That each individual is animated by an infinitely tiny point of peaceful, self-aware light, situated in the control centre of the brain, above and behind the eyes. Contemplating the non physical nature of the inner self is key to conceiving of a Divine Intelligence beyond matter. I grew up an atheist. I thought God was a concept humankind had made up in order to feel safe. In my childhood, the closest thing I had to a religious experience was when my family went to see Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979), a comedy satirising religious dogmatism. When I was 18, I read Raja Yoga New Beginnings (1989) by Ken O’Donnell. It spelt out ideas about God that I had never heard before, and that made complete sense to me. Read on if you would like both a logical and contemplative inquiry, offering radically different perspectives on some of atheism’s key points. 1. Life: Evolution, creation, or a third option? Ever since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species (1859), scientific thought has favoured the theory of evolution over creationism. If God created the world, who created God? This is one of the foundations of Richard Dawkins’ best seller, The God Delusion (2006). The reasoning is solid. But what if there is a third hypothesis that is both rational and incorporates the Divine? What if the universe has always existed? In this theory, the cosmos was never created, and time is not linear, but cyclic. A simple way of looking at the Law of Entropy is that in a closed system, everything moves from new to old, from order to chaos, and the only way to halt or reverse entropy is if there is an input of energy from outside the system. The material universe, encompassing space and time, is a closed system. It progressively ages and becomes chaotic. God is outside of space and time, and when the universe has reached maximum entropy, it is His or Her role to put in energy and return souls and matter to their original, ordered state. 2. If God exists, why is there suffering? Many belief systems say that God is merciful and omnipresent, everywhere. If that were the case, it is not logical for there to be all the suffering we see in the world today. Seeing sorrow everywhere, you might say, “Surely a loving God would not allow this, there must be no God.” Let us instead consider the idea that God is not everywhere, does not cause sorrow, and does not have the role of managing it. We could see the suffering in the world as a sign of collective entropy. Every individual starts their journey in the material dimension with a full “soul battery,” which gradually runs down. As our energy dissipates, our thoughts, words, and actions become disordered, and we cause suffering for ourselves and others. God, instead of being the all-pervading, cane-wielding Principal of Earth School, is the spiritual power source from beyond who recharges our souls. 3. Where is the evidence for a supreme being? Consider love, the wind, or gravity. These are invisible, but can be understood by their effects. I personally think the best evidence is deep, balanced, long-term transformation in people’s characters and lives. I am grateful for my own gradual progress here, and I see it in the communities I connect with. In addiction recovery circles, people who had overwhelming, destructive obsessions and compulsions are now free one day at a time and bringing benefit to the world, and in meditation centres, people are generously empowering themselves and others through their self-development and service. I recognise that the above is subjective, and what you would call anecdotal rather than quantifiable evidence. Yet this is the paradox. I do not believe we can meaningfully contemplate a Divine Intelligence with our analytical selves alone. Let us experiment with taking the parameters of evidence beyond what your five senses and science’s instruments can detect. What if replicable inner experience was a good start? You will have the opportunity in the last section of this article to try a guided meditation, with the aim of tuning in to a higher frequency of divine intelligence. 4. Is God a delusion born of evolutionary need? Richard Dawkins, in The God Delusion, makes a fair point, faith can comfort. In evolutionary terms, a calm and comforted brain may survive better than a fearful one. Belief can soothe the fight or flight response, thus strengthening cooperation and the safety of the tribe. Yet to reduce faith to its survival benefit is to overlook the possibility that calm may be a soul’s original state, a state that enables the soul to regain coherence with its power source, God. In my opinion, Dawkins is right to debunk religious delusion. But is all faith blind? For the last 37 years, my goal has been to live a life of faith based on understanding and experience, not on simply accepting what a holy person or scripture says. The clearest teachings and meditation practices I have found are here, The Brahma Kumaris . Regardless of whether you align with one spiritual path or many, whether through prayer, meditation, or a combination of both, divine evolution can begin with moments of stillness and inner connection. 5. God as a vengeful old man in the sky? Watching The Life of Brian when I was about nine, we laughed till we cried at a crowd’s collective delusion that Brian was the Messiah. Today, I recognise that faith itself is not childish, but our beliefs about God can be. The bearded patriarch hurling thunderbolts was never meant literally, it was mythology’s metaphor for power and justice, unhelpful if it fostered obedience based on fear. An alternative is to understand God as a genderless, bodiless, egoless soul of pure kindness, the highest point of consciousness, a being of light, truth, and loving intelligence. Imagine the Supreme not as a vindictive ruler, but as a star-like, silent radiance, unchanged by time and not bound to matter. Using these ideas, my heart and intellect relate to God out of self-respect rather than religious devotion. Your inner laboratory: Making the abstract intimate Feel free to test everything you have just read, right now, in the laboratory of meditation. Find a quiet place away from distractions. Sit comfortably. Take a few long, slow, deep breaths. Allow the body to relax more and more with each breath. Allow your heart to feel safe in this moment. Imagine the essence of your consciousness to be an infinitely tiny point of self-aware light, sitting above and behind your eyes. Slowly read the following once or twice, allowing each line to sink in. Beautiful One Foreign yet so familiar. Innocent – alien to matter – You never eat, drink, or sleep. Most importantly, you never forget yourself. Once in forever, You enter this world to make everything new. Contact You’re telling me that I, too, have a home beyond Earth; That my body is just a spacesuit; And that, like you, I’m a tiny star. You’re taking me back, into Your rose-gold-red lap of light. Weightless. Oceanic. Belonging. The Apex of a vast, self-aware constellation, The Brightest Star, Surrounded by an egg-shaped force field of love. An Entity silently humming with wisdom and warmth. You reach out to me with a telepathic ray of purest feelings, Softly overwhelming, Infinitely beautiful. Magnetically drawn towards You, Old impressions of time and space dissolve, As I move through your aura. Two stars quietly touching. I merge into Your acceptance, Your unquestioning kindness, Your tenderness. Celestial Mother, and child. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn and visit my website  for more info. Read more from Andy Travis Andy Travis, Therapist In 1988, when Andy was 17, his mother began training to be a lifeline telephone counsellor. She would often talk to him about it. He was fascinated. The following year, Andy had a series of out-of-body experiences. They confirmed what he'd been reading about the parallels between mysticism and quantum physics. He embarked on a lifelong journey of meditation. In his early 30s, a mood disorder and sex/love addiction led him to 12-step peer-support groups, where he continues to volunteer today. He established Meeting Point Counselling in 2016.

From a childhood immigrant story to leading a respected Canadian law firm, Gary Mazin’s career is a study in steady growth, discipline, and turning ideas into action. A career shaped by early challenges Gary Mazin’s story begins far from the courtroom. He left the Soviet Union at just four years old and arrived in Canada with his family. Like many immigrant families, they started with little. What they did have was persistence. “I grew up understanding that nothing is guaranteed,” Mazin says. “You work for what you want, and you don’t waste opportunities.” That mindset stayed with him. It shaped how he approached school, work, and eventually his career in law. From an early age, Mazin was drawn to problem-solving and structured thinking, skills that would later define his professional life. Education as a foundation, not a finish line Mazin took a broad and deliberate path through higher education. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, followed by a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, one of Canada’s most respected legal institutions. He later completed an MBA at the Schulich School of Business at York University. Each step added a layer to his thinking about his future. “Law teaches you how to analyze,” he explains. “Business teaches you how decisions actually play out in the real world. I didn’t want to be strong in just one area.” Rather than treating education as a checklist, Mazin used it to build a practical skill set. Legal training gave him structure. Business training gave him a strategy. Together, they prepared him to build something of his own. Entering personal injury law After completing his education, Mazin chose to focus on personal injury law. It was not a random decision. Personal injury cases sit at the intersection of law, health, and everyday life. Clients are often dealing with stress, confusion, and loss. “This area of law is very human,” Mazin says. “People come to you at difficult moments. They need clarity and honesty.” Over time, he developed a reputation for being methodical and client-focused. His approach emphasized preparation, communication, and realistic expectations. Those principles eventually led him to establish his own firm. Building Mazin & Associates As the owner of Mazin & Associates, Mazin moved from practicing law to leading a business. Starting a firm meant turning ideas into systems. Hiring staff. Setting standards. Defining culture. “A firm is more than a name,” he says. “It’s how people work together and how clients are treated when no one is watching.” His business background helped him think long-term. Instead of rapid expansion, he focused on consistency and process. The goal was sustainability, not spectacle. That steady approach has allowed the firm to grow while maintaining a clear identity in the personal injury space. Big ideas, applied in small ways Mazin does not describe himself as a disruptor. His impact comes from execution, not hype. Small decisions add up. Clear communication with clients. Structured case management. Thoughtful delegation. “Big ideas don’t have to be loud,” he says. “They just have to work.” Even outside the office, his interests reflect this mindset. He enjoys chess, a game built on patience and planning. He swims to reset. He travels when he can. Family time is non-negotiable. These habits, he says, help keep perspective. Giving back through action Philanthropy plays a quiet but meaningful role in Mazin’s life. He has supported local healthcare initiatives, including sponsoring a room at University Health Network Hospital. The decision was personal. “Healthcare touches everyone at some point,” he says. “If you’re able to support it, you should.” The gesture aligns with his professional focus. Many of his clients interact with the healthcare system after serious injuries. Supporting that ecosystem felt like a natural extension of his work. Defining success over time Today, Gary Mazin measures success differently than he did early in his career. It is no longer about titles or credentials. It is about stability, trust, and impact. “Success is building something that lasts,” he says. “And doing it in a way you can stand behind.” His journey reflects that idea. From a child arriving in Canada with limited resources to leading a respected law firm, the path was not dramatic. It was deliberate. In an industry often driven by urgency, Gary Mazin’s career stands out for its steady pace and for proving that thoughtful ideas, applied consistently, can build a meaningful professional life.

Some people build careers through big risks. Others build them through consistency and clear thinking. Shane Kinahan , an Investment Manager and Principal at Lake Avenue Capital, is one of the rare professionals who does both, blending Wall Street discipline with the adaptability of an entrepreneur. “I learned early that the best results come when discipline meets adaptability,” he says. His career proves that simple idea can carry someone a very long way. Early career: How Shane Kinahan started in finance Shane’s journey began with a fascination for numbers, systems, and the way capital fuels progress. After earning his undergraduate degree, he moved straight into the fast-paced world of New York finance. His first major step: joining Goldman Sachs. What started as an entry-level role quickly turned into a steady climb through the ranks. He became known for precision under pressure and for turning complex models into clear, workable strategies. “You learn very quickly that markets don’t care about intentions,” he says. “They reward preparation and punish complacency.” Shane calls his years at Goldman “a masterclass in institutional excellence.” He developed skills in structured finance, client management, and risk analysis, but he also learned something deeper: the value of integrity and communication. “Technical skill will open doors,” he explains. “But clarity and honesty are what keep the doors open.” Career shift: Why he transitioned to Lake Avenue Capital After more than a decade in large-scale corporate finance, Shane wanted a space where ideas could move faster, and where he could stay closer to outcomes. Joining Lake Avenue Capital in Stamford, Connecticut gave him that mix of structure and flexibility. At the boutique investment firm, he found room to build new strategies from the ground up. He focuses on alternative investments and class action claims, areas known for complexity but full of opportunity. “Alternative investments attract me because they’re imperfect,” he says. “There’s inefficiency, and with inefficiency comes opportunity.” Instead of directing from a distance, Shane is hands-on. He works closely on due diligence, data analysis, modeling, execution, and performance review. It’s an approach that gives clients not just results but real clarity. “At a large firm, you learn to manage scale,” he explains. “At a smaller one, you learn to manage outcomes.” Investment philosophy: What guides his decisions Shane’s investment philosophy comes down to three words: clarity, patience, purpose. Clarity: “If you can’t explain an investment in one paragraph, you probably don’t understand it.” He teaches young analysts to break down every idea until it becomes simple. Patience: “Speed feels like progress. But in investing, moving too fast usually means missing something important.” He focuses on fundamentals, not market noise. Purpose: He believes finance should create stability for people and communities, not just returns. “Good investing doesn’t just move money. It moves outcomes.” Leadership style: Calm, steady, and human-centered In a field known for high pressure, Shane is the steady one in the room. His colleagues say he brings clarity when things get chaotic. “Leadership isn’t about knowing everything,” he says. “It’s about listening and helping people see the bigger picture.” He also devotes time to mentoring the next generation. He believes good judgment, emotional intelligence, and ethical decision-making matter just as much as math or software. “Technology can process data,” he says. “But judgment, that’s still human.” Life outside finance: Where Shane finds balance Shane stays active through golf and ice hockey, two sports that mirror his approach to investing. “In golf, you can have all the right tools but still misread the wind,” he jokes. “It’s the same in markets. Preparation helps, but awareness keeps you improving.” He also supports youth programs and financial education initiatives in Connecticut, seeing mentorship as part of his responsibility. “I was fortunate to learn from great mentors,” he says. “It’s my responsibility to pay that forward.” Adapting to a changing financial world With new technology reshaping the industry, Shane stays grounded in fundamentals. He sees automation as a tool, not a replacement for human insight. “Automation improves efficiency,” he says, “but it doesn’t replace understanding. You still need someone who can see beyond the screen.” To him, the future is a blend of data and intuition. “Numbers give you information. Context gives you wisdom.” Core values that shape his career Four values guide Shane’s work: Discipline: Every decision must have a purpose. Transparency: Trust is built through clarity. Integrity: The right choice must be the only choice. Service: Finance should improve lives, not just spreadsheets. These principles have shaped his reputation as a reliable, thoughtful leader. Looking ahead: What drives him now As he continues growing Lake Avenue Capital’s presence in alternative investments, Shane remains focused on long-term value instead of fast wins. “Markets evolve, tools change,” he says. “But trust, patience, and clarity will always be timeless.” For him, success isn’t about noise or headlines, it’s about building something resilient and meaningful, piece by piece.

Written by Sarah Roberts, Global Strategy and Communications Leader Sarah is one of two managing partners at Vane Percy & Roberts with 25 years of experience in global strategy and communications. Known for her clear thinking, sharp wit, and approachable style, she blends expertise in media, public affairs, and strategy to deliver smart, effective solutions that make a real difference. There are parts of ourselves we are comfortable sharing. We speak easily about experiences that have shaped us in visible, socially acceptable ways. Travel, career moves, moments of growth or opportunity. These stories signal curiosity, resilience, evolution. They fit neatly into professional narratives about development and ambition. But there is another category of experience most of us learn to keep quiet. When experiences are painful, destabilising, or deeply personal, many of us instinctively bury them. Not because they haven’t shaped us, often they have shaped us profoundly, but because we fear what they might signal. Weakness. Fragility. A lack of resilience. Too much emotion. Not enough control. So we separate them out. We survive them privately, then return to public life as if unchanged. In boardrooms, on professional platforms, in leadership spaces, these parts of us remain carefully hidden. We show up composed, capable, contained. And in many cases, that restraint has served us well. But it comes at a cost. The quiet labour of carrying unspoken experience Over the past couple of years, I’ve lived through experiences that were not just difficult, but deeply disruptive. Experiences that altered how I think, decide, and relate. Not temporarily. Permanently. Painful experiences have a way of refining perception. They change what we notice. What we tolerate. What feels meaningful. What no longer does. They sharpen our awareness of others. Why people are guarded, reserved, slow to trust, or careful with their words. And yet, professionally, we are often encouraged to treat these experiences as irrelevant. As things to “move past,” rather than things that continue to inform how we think, judge, and relate. The implicit message is clear: Use the polished parts of yourself. Leave the rest outside the room. But leadership is rarely that clean. Using experience without exposing it There is an important distinction here. Using what we’ve lived through is not the same as disclosing it. This is not an argument for oversharing, confession, or turning personal pain into professional currency. For some people, telling their story publicly is part of their path but for most of us, that isn’t the work. The work is quieter. What if the experiences we’ve buried could be used, internally, deliberately, ethically, to guide how we lead, listen, and decide? What if they help us become more precise about what matters now? What gives us energy and what drains it. What environments we thrive in and which ones we no longer wish to endure. What if, as part of healing, we allow these experiences to inform how we design our lives and our work, rather than pretending they never happened? Strength, reframed We often equate professionalism with emotional neutrality. But many of the strongest leaders I’ve worked with are not the most impenetrable. They are the most perceptive. They read rooms well. They sense hesitation, resistance, or fear before it becomes visible. They respond with care rather than force. Very often, that perceptiveness comes from having been through something themselves. Not because pain automatically produces wisdom, it doesn’t, but because it can deepen empathy when it is reflected on, rather than suppressed. When we allow ourselves to acknowledge what we’ve lived through, even privately, our judgements change. We recognise that guardedness is not always disengagement. That reserve is not always resistance. That vulnerability doesn’t always look like openness. Sometimes it looks like control. The leadership cost of pretending otherwise When we deny the influence of our harder experiences, we risk leading from a place that is technically competent but emotionally disconnected. We misread behaviour. We push for certainty where someone needs safety.We interpret caution as lack of capability, rather than as self-protection learned over time. And perhaps more quietly, we make choices, roles we accept, expectations we internalise, definitions of success we pursue, that no longer align with who we are becoming. Using experience doesn’t mean centring it. It means allowing it to inform judgement. To sharpen perception. To deepen discernment. A different kind of presence Lately, I’ve been asking myself a different question. Not How do I move past what I’ve been through? But How do I let it change how I show up, with intention? Can I use it to be more discerning about what matters?More compassionate about how others show up?More thoughtful about where I place my energy? Can I recognise vulnerability not only in openness, but in restraint? What becomes clear is that this isn’t just personal. It’s leadership-defining. How we relate to our own lived experience, especially the parts we’ve learned to silence, shapes how present we really are in moments that require more than competence. Ignoring that influence doesn’t make us objective. It simply makes us less aware of what’s already at work. Closing reflection We all carry experiences we don’t speak about. The question isn’t whether they belong in the boardroom as stories. It’s whether we allow them to shape our leadership at all. When we bury parts of ourselves completely, we don’t become stronger, we become narrower. And when we deny the influence of what we’ve lived through, we don’t lead from neutrality. We lead from disconnection. Not everything needs to be shared. But some things deserve to be used. Follow me on LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Sarah Roberts Sarah Roberts, Global Strategy and Communications Leader Sarah is one of two managing partners at Vane Percy & Roberts, with 25+ years in global comms, strategy, public affairs, and stakeholder relations. Known for her clear thinking, sharp wit, and approachable style, she delivers tailored solutions that drive impactful change. Her mission is to lead with authenticity, foster collaboration, and ensure every team member feels heard and valued. Recognised for her bold, inventive approach, Sarah is a gifted networker and convenor of creative talent, always ready to make strategic choices that drive success.

Written by Michelle Stroud, Holistic Reproductive Practitioner & Doula Trainer Michelle Stroud is a holistic reproductive practitioner, doula educator, and reflexology and Reiki trainer with over 20 years of experience supporting women through fertility, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. She specializes in trauma-informed, client-centred care and holistic education. Many people feel called to birth work because they sense it is meaningful, relational, and deeply human. Yet for many doulas and aspiring birth workers, conventional training leaves something important unspoken. It teaches how to support labour, but not how to meet the full emotional, physiological, and spiritual complexity of a person’s reproductive journey. This is where holistic healing and doula work begin to converge. What is a holistic reproductive practitioner? A Holistic Reproductive Practitioner (HRP) is a professional who supports individuals and families across the full reproductive continuum, from fertility to pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and loss, using an integrated body, mind, and spirit approach. In addition to evidence-based reproductive education and advocacy, Holistic Reproductive Practitioners are trained as full spectrum doulas with additional certifications in holistic healing modalities that support the body’s innate ability to heal itself. Practices such as reflexology and Reiki are used to help regulate the nervous system, support hormonal balance, relieve pain, and promote deep physiological relaxation. These modalities work alongside emotional and energetic support tools that see trauma, fear, grief, and chronic stress not as isolated experiences, but as layers held within the body. Rather than addressing symptoms in isolation, holistic reproductive care recognizes that physical imbalances often have emotional and energetic dimensions . A Holistic Reproductive Practitioner is equipped to meet all of these layers, supporting not only the body, but also the emotional and spiritual experience of reproductive transitions. Why conventional doula training wasn’t enough for me My own journey into this work didn’t begin with the intention of creating something new. It began with a growing realization that conventional doula training didn’t reflect the reality of how I was practicing, or how my clients actually needed support. Standard doula education focuses primarily on pregnancy and labour. Yet the people I supported rarely entered care at labour alone. Many were navigating infertility, pregnancy loss, medical trauma, chronic stress, or fear long before birth began. Others needed emotional integration and nervous system support long after the baby arrived. I also noticed that doulas were often required to take multiple trainings from different providers, one for birth or another for loss, just to adequately support a single person’s reproductive journey. It became clear to me that this fragmentation didn’t serve practitioners or clients well. Training should not only equip doulas with skills for supporting clients, but also support the doula’s evolution and personal healing, emotional maturity, and capacity to hold space. Reproductive work is relational. It requires self-awareness, regulation, and the ability to meet complexity without overwhelm. That development deserves to be part of the training itself. Birth work is not a moment, it’s a continuum One of the reasons my doula practice became so full was because many of my clients first sought support for fertility. They didn’t initially identify as people who “needed a birth doula.” But through fertility support, trust developed. When pregnancy came, they wanted continuity. When birth confirmed that trust, they stayed for postpartum care. This continuity benefits families and it also makes sound business sense. Supporting clients earlier in their reproductive journey allows deeper relationships to form, creates more meaningful work, and leads to more consistent, sustainable practices. Holistic reproductive care doesn’t just improve outcomes, it reflects how people actually move through these experiences in real life. The spiritual dimension of reproductive work Reproductive experiences are not only physical events. They are identity-shaping, emotionally charged, and often spiritually significant  whether or not a client uses spiritual language to describe them. Physical conditions such as PCOS, unexplained infertility, or chronic pelvic pain often carry emotional and energetic layers alongside physiological ones. A Holistic Reproductive Practitioner understands that supporting cycle regulation, hormonal balance, and pain relief can coexist with addressing fear, grief, blocked feminine energy, or even inherited traumas. This doesn’t replace medical care. It complements it by filling gaps, creating space for regulation, meaning-making, and healing through a holistic lens. Why I brought it all together The Holistic Reproductive Practitioner role emerged because this work was already happening, it simply lacked a unified framework. By integrating reproductive education, holistic modalities, emotional support, and practitioner self-development into one cohesive path, the Holistic Reproductive Practitioner model reflects the way reproductive care naturally unfolds. This approach supports clients more fully and allows practitioners to work with confidence, depth, and integrity without needing to patch together disconnected training courses over years. A different way forward Holistic reproductive care isn’t about rejecting medicine or romanticizing birth. It’s about restoring balance between information and intuition, intervention and trust, body and spirit. When holistic healing meets doula work, support becomes steadier, more relational, and more humane. And in a system under increasing strain, that kind of care has never been more needed. For those who feel called to support families during life’s major transitions, balancing evidence based care, advocacy support and holistic healing you can learn more about By   the Moon Holistic Reproductive Practitioner training  and how it may fit into your personal self development and future career path. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more info! Read more from Michelle Stroud Michelle Stroud, Holistic Reproductive Practitioner & Doula Trainer Michelle Stroud is a holistic reproductive practitioner, doula educator, and healing arts trainer with over 20 years of experience supporting families through fertility, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. She is the founder of By the Moon, a training school offering holistic doula, reflexology, and Reiki education. Michelle’s work focuses on informed consent, emotional regulation, and bridging evidence-based care with holistic and spiritual support.

Written by Denzil Tafadzwa Tanyanyiwa, Global Strategist | Founder | CEO Denzil T. Tanyanyiwa is the Founder of Linkmount Global Network and Executive Director at Solicitude for Orphans Children Support Group. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer of AfriCan Bioenergy Corporation. A visionary leader committed to sustainable development, innovation, and building impactful networks. With a strong focus on diplomacy (including commercial diplomacy across Africa), and fostering Global partnerships and Investor Relations. Denzil champions initiatives that empower communities and drive meaningful social and economic impact. Africa’s green industrialization is not being shaped solely at global summits, but in practical conversations where policy, industry, finance, and communities meet. Anchored in Zimbabwe, this article explores how locally driven collaboration, trust, and execution are laying the foundation for sustainable energy, job creation, and national green industrial projects aligned with Vision 2030. Why the table matters Africa’s green industrialization feels like it is starting in places you would not expect. Not at the big global summits with cameras flashing and long speeches. More often, it begins in quiet rooms, offices, boardrooms, or community halls far from capital cities. Places where people actually sit down and talk things through. I have come to believe that where those conversations happen matters just as much as who is in the room. We cannot rely on speeches alone to drive a green transition. Words matter, but they are not enough. What really moves things forward is trust. The ability to connect governments with industry, finance, and communities in a way that feels practical and grounded. The people who lead this work are not always the loudest or the most visible. They are usually the ones who can bridge gaps, bring very different interests together, and keep everyone focused on shared problems instead of competing positions. Anchoring green industrialization in Zimbabwe That way of thinking is part of why AfriCan Bioenergy Corporation chose to anchor its green industrialization efforts in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe sits at a unique point of opportunity. It has abundant natural resources, an industrial base that once played a strong role in the economy and could be revitalized, and a deep pool of technical skills built over decades. At the same time, it faces a real and urgent need for energy solutions that support sustainable economic growth rather than short-term fixes. What makes Zimbabwe particularly compelling is the chance to build green industrialization from the ground up. Instead of forcing new ideas into systems that are already exhausted, there is room here to design things more deliberately. To think about energy, industry, jobs, and communities as part of one connected picture rather than separate pieces. I may be oversimplifying, but transformation rarely starts with grand declarations. It starts with honest conversations. Policymakers, engineers, financiers, entrepreneurs, and local communities are asking a simple question together. What can we build that will actually last? That question sits at the heart of green industrialization. Clean energy projects that do not create jobs tend to lose support. Industrial strategies that ignore communities often stall. Climate commitments that never turn into factories, infrastructure, and livelihoods remain theoretical. Real progress requires all of those elements to move together. Throughout history, meaningful change has often begun at a table where partnerships were formed, risks were shared, and new economic models took shape. Africa needs more of those tables today. Not tables reserved only for presidents and chief executives, but spaces that include technicians, regulators, entrepreneurs, financiers, and community leaders. People who understand both the technical realities and the human ones. Zimbabwe offers a grounded place to do this work seriously, not as a testing ground for ideas developed elsewhere, but as a co-creator of Africa’s green industrial future. Every generation faces a choice. Wait to be included in global transitions or take ownership of building them. Green industrialization in Africa will succeed where it is rooted locally, where people listen carefully, and where action follows conversation. Progress is not only about who speaks. It is about who listens, who connects, and who delivers outcomes that people can see and feel. From conversation to national projects This same thinking shapes the Zimbabwe 2030 Green Industrialization initiative. It is not an event, and it is not a slogan. It is a strategic consortium built around collaboration, credibility, and execution. The aim is to mobilise investment, support technology transfer, and ensure that value is added locally so growth shows up in factories, farms, and communities rather than remaining trapped in reports. At its core, Zimbabwe 2030 Green Industrialization is about moving from plans to action. It is about putting forward clear and credible pathways that governments, development partners, and investors can engage with seriously. These are not abstract ideas. They are national projects designed to create jobs, build skills, and strengthen Zimbabwe’s position in the green economy. Three flagship national green industrial projects aligned with Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 anchor this approach. The first is a 37MW biodiesel hybrid microgrid designed as a pilot commercial and industrial cluster. Its purpose is to provide reliable, clean power for production, reduce energy risk for businesses, and build local fuel supply chains that support ongoing employment. The second is the AGINC nopal to hydrogen hub. This is an agro-industrial model that links regenerative agriculture to green hydrogen and clean fuels. It is designed to support farmers, strengthen rural value chains, and open practical industrial uses for hydrogen based on local inputs. The third is the AI and Carbon Data Centre developed in partnership with the University of Zimbabwe and global cloud infrastructure. This centre focuses on green data, carbon reporting, research, and skills development. It connects digital capability with climate accountability and industrial decision making, so Zimbabwe owns not only its energy systems but also the data and knowledge around them. These projects are national in scope, but they all return to the same simple idea. Progress happens when the right people sit at the same table. Policymakers, engineers, financiers, technologists, and communities are working through real trade-offs together. This is an open invitation to partners who want to be part of Zimbabwe’s green industrial transformation in a serious and long-term way. Those who understand that trust is built through delivery and that lasting impact comes from shared ownership rather than quick visibility. Discover more: AfriCanBioenergyCorporation | Instagram | LinkedIn | Website Read more from Denzil Tafadzwa Tanyanyiwa Denzil Tafadzwa Tanyanyiwa, Global Strategist | Founder | CEO Denzil T. Tanyanyiwa is a Global Strategist, High Representative for Strategic Partnerships & African Advancement, and CEO of AfriCan Bioenergy Corporation. He is also the Executive Director at the Solicitude for Orphan Children Support Group. Through his work, Denzil champions inclusive development, entrepreneurship, and diplomatic collaboration across Africa and the global South.

Home fitness has evolved significantly by 2026. The era of cluttered living rooms filled with mismatched dumbbells and rubber bands is fading. Instead, the focus has shifted toward "Home Wellness", a concept where fitness equipment is not just functional but also aesthetically pleasing and easy to store. With the surging popularity of Pilates, more people are searching for the best pilates kit to support their journey. However, building a set piece-by-piece often results in inconsistent quality and equipment that doesn’t work well together. The market has responded with all-in-one solutions. In this review, we take an objective look at one of the segment's leading options, the BetterMe Pilates Essential Kit, to see if it meets the criteria for the ultimate home workout companion. Criteria for choosing the best pilates kit To determine what qualifies as the "best" in a crowded market, fitness experts and enthusiasts typically evaluate products based on three core pillars. A top-tier kit must address the following: Functionality & versatility: Does the kit cover all muscle groups? It needs to include tools for resistance, balance, and stability to ensure a full-body workout. Design & material integrity: Is the equipment durable and skin-friendly? Moreover, does it fit into a modern home interior, or does it look like gym clutter? Guidance & ecosystem: Hardware is useless without instruction. The best value comes from equipment that pairs with structured digital guidance. Product overview: BetterMe Pilates Essential Kit The BetterMe Pilates Essential Kit (Ivory) stands out as a high-quality, curated solution designed to solve the problem of fragmented home equipment. Unlike generic sets found on large marketplaces, this kit focuses on a cohesive experience, combining biomechanics with a minimalist aesthetic. What is in the box? The kit includes five specific tools selected to maximize the effectiveness of Pilates routines: Pilates power ring: Featuring double-sided padded handles, this ring is designed to provide resistance for both inner and outer thigh workouts, as well as upper body toning. Fabric resistance bands: Unlike standard rubber bands that often roll up or snap, these are made from durable fabric. They offer varying levels of resistance for progressive training. Soft pilates ball: An essential tool for core engagement, stability work, and posture correction during floor exercises. Loop bands: Targeted specifically for lower body toning (glutes and legs), made from non-slip materials. Pilates grip socks: A crucial safety element. These socks feature silicone grips to ensure stability on slick floors or yoga mats. Design and build quality Aesthetics play a functional role in home fitness, if equipment looks good, users are more likely to leave it out, which serves as a visual cue to work out. The Ivory colorway of the BetterMe kit is designed to blend seamlessly with neutral home decor. Beyond the look, the materials are chosen for tactile comfort during use. The digital ecosystem advantage What separates a standard bundle from a contender for the best pilates kit is the integration of software and hardware. The BetterMe Essential Kit is not sold as a standalone physical product but rather as part of a broader wellness ecosystem. The equipment is designed to be used in tandem with the brand’s digital app, which offers a library of workout programs, including specialized Pilates challenges. This integration ensures that users, whether beginners or advanced, have immediate access to structured routines that utilize exactly the tools they have in their hands. This approach eliminates the guesswork often associated with home workouts. Pros and cons To provide a transparent assessment, here is a breakdown of the kit’s strengths and limitations. Pros: Comprehensive solution: It is a true "all-in-one" set, there is no need to purchase additional props for a standard Pilates session. Premium materials: Fabric bands and soft-touch finishes offer superior durability and comfort compared to generic rubber equivalents. Aesthetic appeal: The minimalist design encourages users to keep the equipment accessible. Safety focus: The inclusion of grip socks highlights an attention to user safety. Cons: Price point: The cost is higher than assembling a set of generic items from a discount retailer, reflecting the higher material quality and brand ecosystem. Specific focus: The resistance levels are optimized for toning, flexibility, and Pilates-style movements. It is not intended for heavy bodybuilding or powerlifting. Finding the right equipment is the first step toward a consistent fitness routine. For those seeking the best pilates kit that balances functionality with style, the   BetterMe Pilates Essential Kit  is one of the standout options. This solution is particularly well-suited for individuals prioritizing low-impact workouts, such as Pilates, who value both the effectiveness of their training and the look of their home environment.

Written by Paul Adamson, Trusted Advisor to Founders & Leadership Teams Under Pressure Paul Adamson is a global keynote speaker and leadership strategist who helps organisations navigate change, build resilient teams, and create breakthrough performance. His work blends real-world experience from being a professional sailor and pivoting into the business world. Every founder eventually faces it. The market shifts, your industry tightens, and the headlines turn pessimistic. Confidence wobbles, not just externally, but internally too. In those moments, the question isn’t whether your business will feel the pressure. It’s: how do you lead when it does? Because when industries go through turmoil, teams don’t look to the market for the answer; they look to you. Why turbulence tests leadership more than strategy When markets are stable, leadership often looks deceptively easy. Your plans work, your forecasts are reliable, and your momentum masks any niggles. But turbulence has a way of stripping things back to the core. Suddenly, assumptions are challenged, and confidence feels fragile among your team. This is where many founders unknowingly lose traction, not because their strategy is weak, but because ‘belief’ quietly erodes inside the business. Here’s the thing, execution doesn’t tend to fail first; it’s your team’s belief in what’s possible. This is where we must focus our attention. The invisible risk: Buying into the story In every period of market uncertainty, there’s a dominant narrative: “Everyone is down, flat is the new growth.” “Everyone’s struggling.” “We’ll pause until things settle down.” It’s a seductive story, because it gives us permission to shrink. Here’s the trap: If a founder emotionally buys into the story, the team will naturally follow them, and they start to believe the story. Strong leadership during turmoil doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine. It means being honest with your team without being alarmist. Your team doesn’t need sugar-coating; they just need you to give them context. That means openly addressing: What you’re seeing in the market and what the key drivers are. What’s genuinely challenging and your plan to move forward. Your views on the opportunities that will be created. Every major period of disruption creates opportunities. When markets tighten, some businesses retreat, reduce visibility, delay decisions, and sit on the sidelines. Others do the opposite: They sharpen their thinking. They choose to move forward. They gain market share while competitors hesitate. The opportunity isn’t in denying the turbulence, it’s in refusing to let it define your trajectory. The 2 stories you need to be all over to keep your team on track During uncertain periods, there are always two stories in play: The market story Your team's story You don’t control the first, yet you have absolute control over the second. As a founder, you are the guardian of that internal narrative of your team. Not through bravado or motivational hype, but by being consistent, calm, and keeping your feet on the ground. Psychologically, this matters more than most founders realize. At the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs sits safety and security, another word for this is certainty. When people experience uncertainty, they instinctively look for something solid to hold onto. Your role as the leader is to provide that certainty for your team. I often describe leadership during turbulent times as being like a lighthouse in a storm. A lighthouse doesn’t: Move with the waves Argue with the weather Flicker on and off depending on conditions It stays visible, predictable, and steady. That steadiness doesn’t eliminate the storm, but it gives others something to navigate by. There’s an important distinction here: this isn’t about blind positivity or pretending everything will just magically work out. It’s delivering certainty through: Your plan Your priorities Your confidence Be calm and measured, not loud and reactive. When your team senses your confidence, they will pass this on to your customers. While we are talking about customers During market turmoil, customers don’t want more options. They want reassurance (just like your team), and they will gravitate toward businesses that they feel are: Clear Confident Have the solution This is what’s known as the strategy of preeminence, being the only viable choice. Not because you say it, but because you demonstrate it time and time again. To sum this up for you You don’t keep your team on track by denying the storm. You do it by: Calling it as it is. Managing the internal story. Refusing to let it dictate your team’s confidence. All markets will change with time, all stories will shift, and all uncertainty will pass. What remains is the quality of your leadership when it mattered most. So, just remember: "Be the lighthouse and choose to shine." Follow me on Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Paul Adamson Paul Adamson, Trusted Advisor to Founders & Leadership Teams Under Pressure Paul Adamson is an international keynote speaker and leadership strategist known for helping organisations navigate change, build resilient teams, and unlock high-performance cultures. His journey began at sea, where he skippered a 27,000-mile global circumnavigation before leading the commercial turnaround of Oyster Yachts from administration to a £185M order book. Paul’s work blends high-stakes decision-making with practical leadership tools that drive real-world results. A cancer survivor, he speaks powerfully about resilience, purpose, and optimistic leadership. Today, he works with entrepreneurs, founders, and executive teams worldwide, helping them create breakthroughs that move them from where they are to where they want to be.

Written by Michael Ritchie, Transformational Coach Michael is a Transformational Coach, Sound Healer, Numerologist & Human Design practitioner, & Sacred Medicine Holder. He is the in-house Healer & Mentor at Harmony P.E.C., leading the sacred healing team & co-facilitating the virtual Universal Foundations and Adept Courses to help seekers better understand their power & unique path. The systems which humanity depends upon within our modern society, are the same systems which control us. We’ve given our power away, which is exactly what the systems were designed to do… The first division (divide and conquer) History History is fiction, illusion written by the winners, with no representation from the other side. A justification marketed to the public as truth, making heroes of villains and villains of the victims. If you wish to get closer to truth, follow the artists, the poets, the song-writers and story tellers, the Shamans and Mystics…, these are the souls plugged into society, not the overlords pulling the strings of deception, calculating fear and control to mold the world into their self-entitled reality. “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it…” Winston Churchill “History is a set of lies, agreed upon.” Napoleon Bonaparte “History is more or less bunk.” Henry Ford Austin O'Malley: "History is a vast dust-heap of falsehood with a few pennies of truth scattered through it" Science Science is now catching up to metaphysics. "The more I study physics, the more I am drawn to metaphysics." – Albert Einstein Wernher von Braun: "Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace". Modern Physics and Ancient Wisdom: Erwin Schrödinger noted that the dynamic unity and interconnectedness of reality have been known for three thousand years and are being "confirmed by modern physics". Politics Anyone who wishes power should not be allowed anywhere near it… We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution, one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me. George Orwell, 1984. Power is the ability to get things done, to mobilize resources, to get and use whatever it is that a person needs for the goals he or she is attempting to meet. In this way, a monopoly on power means that only very few have this capacity, and they prevent the majority of others from being able to act effectively. Thus, the total amount of power, and total system effectiveness, is restricted, even though some people seem to have a great deal of it. However, when more people are empowered, that is, allowed to have control over the conditions that make their actions possible, then more is accomplished, more gets done. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Men and Women of the Corporation. “The major problem, one of the major problems, for there are several, one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it, or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” – Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Who should we elect? None of the above… . Military and police To serve and protect "The police were not created to protect and serve the population... They were created to protect the new form of wage-labor capitalism... from the threat posed by that system's offspring, the working class." – Howard Zinn Historian and Associate Professor of History Sam Mitrani suggests that the police were created by the ruling class to control working-class and poor people, a role they have continued to play. "When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die." – Jean-Paul Sartre (often attributed to). The Danger of Militarization: "There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people." – Commander William Adama (fictional, Battlestar Galactica). Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Ram Dass, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, The Dalai Lama… decided to build a community. As each were centered in their Heart, there was no need for police, military or money. They simply helped one another out of love, compassion and the knowing that we are all one… Economy A system of control the public has been brainwashed into believing is needed. It serves separateness. Separateness = Cancer Money and societal/government control Notable figures have commented on the influence of money on governments and society. Mayer Amschel Rothschild is quoted as saying, "Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws". Napoleon Bonaparte observed that when a government relies on bankers for money, the bankers hold the power. Thomas Jefferson expressed concern that banking institutions posed a greater threat to liberty than standing armies. Bertrand Russell stated that power ultimately rests with those who control finance. A quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln suggests that financial powers can exploit nations and consolidate wealth, leading to the destruction of a republic. Leo Tolstoy viewed money as a modern form of impersonal slavery. “The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or be so dependent upon its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.” The Rothschild brothers of London writing to associates in New York, 1863. “It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and money system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Michael Ritchie Michael Ritchie, Transformational Coach Michael holds many skills & among many, he is known as a Transformational Coach, Sound Healer, Numerologist & Human Design practitioner, Sacred Medicine Holder, and Channeler of Energy from the Eternal Creator. In 2011-12 he was told he had 6m to a year to live. Since that day, he has dedicated his life to understanding awakening, enlightenment, and The Great Way. Funny how a death sentence lets you see what’s important, what’s not.

Written by Joanne Louise Bray, Founder of Plantlife Joy Joanne Bray is the proud founder of Plantlife Joy. Her journey began with a deep love of nature and the belief that plants have the power to bring happiness, tranquility, and a touch of magic to our lives. Plantlife Joy specialises in plant knowledge, and our mission is to connect people back to the beauty of the natural world. Across cultures and centuries, women's contributions have been either omitted (simply left out of the record), denied (attributed to men or institutions), or ignored (treated as unimportant, domestic or natural). I don’t think that this is an accident, and there are a few recurring mechanisms: The supporting role trap, where women are the driving force, they do the foundational, intellectual, emotional, logistical, and creative labour, but are often seen as helpers, the assistants, muses, wives, secretaries or just background characters.  The modesty expectation, where women are taught not to take credit, to downplay their expertise, avoid self‑promotion, soften their authority, and credit the team instead of themselves. Patriarchal systems reward visibility, and not contribution, modesty becomes a mechanism of dispossession. This conveniently allows others to take credit. The difficult woman label, where women who assert themselves, have boundaries, expertise, or leadership, are reframed as, emotional, dramatic, ungrateful, abrasive, and uncooperative. It’s a way to delegitimise her voice without ever engaging with her ideas. A classic tactic used to silence women's voices, I might add.  The archival gap, systematic absence, erasure, or under-documentation of certain groups, especially women, people of colour, working‑class people, queer communities, and anyone outside dominant power structures. It’s not that these people weren’t doing things. It’s that their work wasn’t preserved, valued, or recorded. In many cases, it was deliberately destroyed, overwritten, or attributed to someone else. Once you identify the pattern, the next question becomes unavoidable, “Why does this keep happening?” Why do the same mechanisms appear in ancient Greece, medieval Europe, colonial societies, modern workplaces, and even contemporary creative industries? It’s because these mechanisms aren’t random. They serve specific cultural, economic, and political functions, and here are the key forces that drive them:  Control of power and authority - Throughout history, those who control knowledge control society. Women’s expertise in healing, agriculture, midwifery, craft, spirituality, community, and organisations represented independent power, so it was and still is often squashed. Women’s knowledge is not sanctioned by institutions not controlled by men and is not easily taxed, regulated, or absorbed.  Therefore, erasing women’s contributions helped centralise authority in male‑dominated institutions, legitimise those institutions as the “true” sources of knowledge, and maintain social hierarchies. This is why women’s work was often reframed as superstition, domestic instinct, emotional labour, and “helping” rather than leading. It kept authority in the hands of those already in power. Economic competition Many forms of women’s labour were economically valuable, healing, midwifery, textile production, food preservation, herbal medicine, teaching, and community care. When male‑dominated professions such as physicians, clergy, guilds, and universities emerged, women became competitors. Erasure became a strategy to eliminate competition, justify excluding women from paid work, transfer economic value to male professions, and rewrite history to make male dominance appear natural. This is especially clear in the transition from community healers to licensed physicians. Control of reproduction and the body Women who understood contraception, fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, abortion, and postpartum care held the power over the most fundamental aspect of society, who is born, when, and under what conditions. Patriarchal systems have always sought to control reproduction. So, women who held reproductive knowledge were often demonised, criminalised, accused of witchcraft, and pushed out of authority. This and herbalism are some of the deepest roots of the “witch” label. Social expectations and gender norms Cultural norms taught women to be modest, be self‑effacing, avoid conflict, prioritise harmony, support others, and not claim credit. These norms weren’t harmless, they created a perfect environment for erasure. If women don’t claim their work, someone else will, and when women did assert themselves, they were punished with the “difficult woman” label, accusations of emotional instability, exclusion from leadership and reputational damage. The structure of the archive itself The archive is not neutral. It reflects who had literacy, who had access to institutions, who was considered worth recording and who controlled the narrative. It was men who wrote the histories, kept the records, and decided what counted as knowledge. Women’s contributions, often oral, domestic, embodied, or community‑based, didn’t fit the archival model. So, the silence in the archive is not evidence of absence, it’s clear evidence of bias. Fear of women’s autonomy Women who were independent, unmarried, financially self‑sufficient, outspoken, skilled, and unconventional were often perceived as threats to social order. The mechanisms of erasure, especially the “witch” label, were tools to discipline women, enforce conformity, punish autonomy, and maintain patriarchal stability. This is why the same types of women were targeted across cultures. Narrative control Perhaps the most subtle reason of all, if you control the story, you control what future generations believe is possible. Erasing women from history limits women’s sense of lineage, creates the illusion that men built everything, reinforces the idea that women’s contributions are new, marginal, or exceptional, and makes women feel like outsiders in fields they founded. It’s psychological architecture. The threat of women and money When women control money, the pattern shifts. Across history and into the present, women with financial power tend to redistribute resources to families, communities, education, healthcare, and collective well-being rather than hoard wealth for status or domination. This orientation toward circulation rather than accumulation disrupts hierarchies built on scarcity and control. Women who funded movements were rarely remembered as architects. They sustained communities, financed revolutions, kept spiritual movements alive, and built alternatives, yet were framed as helpers, patrons, or moral supporters, while men were cast as founders, leaders, and visionaries. As with intellectual labour, financial contribution was detached from authority. This is why women with money have so often been viewed with suspicion. Independent wealth reduced women’s dependence on marriage, the church, the state, and the employer. It enabled choice, mobility, dissent, and refusal. Systems that rely on women’s unpaid labour and economic dependence responded by moralising women’s spending, questioning their competence, demanding selflessness, or portraying financial autonomy as selfish, dangerous, or unfeminine. The pattern is consistent across time. From widows accused of greed, to healers targeted for economic independence, to modern women criticised for how they earn, spend, or share money, the same logic persists. Women’s financial autonomy destabilises systems built on extraction. Erasure, ridicule, and moral policing become tools to neutralise that threat. How the witch hunts reveal the logic behind women’s erasure The popular image of the witch as a woman who practises harmful magic obscures a deeper historical reality. While beliefs about sorcery existed, accusations of witchcraft were frequently directed at women who held knowledge and authority outside male-controlled institutions. Many, though not all, accused women were midwives, healers, herbalists, or socially marginal figures with practical expertise in plants, fertility, birth, illness, and death. These women were not dangerous because of magic, but because of competence and autonomy. Their authority did not flow through the Church, the state, or emerging professional hierarchies. The figure of the witch became a disciplinary label, applied to women who were too knowledgeable, too independent, too economically self-sufficient, or too difficult to control. The witch hunts did not give rise to modern pharmaceuticals. Rather, they constituted a violent rupture in women’s medical authority. By criminalising and eliminating women-led healing traditions, the hunts cleared the ground for institutional, male-dominated medicine to consolidate power. Over the centuries that followed, this institutional medicine absorbed community-held plant knowledge, stripped it of lineage, and reframed it as sanctioned scientific discovery. Many modern pharmaceuticals are therefore not inventions created in isolation, but refinements of longstanding plant knowledge. Willow bark, used for centuries to relieve pain and inflammation, became the basis for aspirin once its active compounds were isolated and patented. Foxglove, long employed in folk medicine for its effects on the heart, was transformed into digitalis through institutional study. In both cases, the plants did not change. What changed was who was recognised as the authority. The forgotten women who sustained great movements I could provide so many examples of women who have contributed to or sustained great movements, but are either omitted, denied, or ignored. Across history, women appear at the centre of transformation, scientific, spiritual, political, and artistic, yet their names often slip into the margins while the men around them become the story. This isn’t accidental. It’s a pattern shaped by who held the pen, who controlled the institutions, and who was allowed to be remembered. Below are just a few examples that illustrate how consistent this pattern is across time and culture. Rosalind Franklin  Was born in London in the 1920s. She excelled at school in science and maths, but she still had to fight to get a place at university, her own father denied her academic abilities. In 1951, she began research at King's College in London on X-ray diffraction, capturing the first picture of DNA. the now‑famous Photograph 51. Her data was shown to Watson and Crick without her knowledge or permission, and it became the foundation of their model of the double helix. While they went on to receive the Nobel Prize, Franklin’s contribution was minimised, softened, or omitted entirely for decades. She had produced the evidence, but the credit flowed elsewhere. Lise Meitner Was an Austrian-Swedish physicist who played a crucial role in the discovery of nuclear fission, yet her contributions were consistently minimised during her lifetime. She spent over three decades collaborating with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann. Even after her exile by Nazi Germany due to her Jewish background, she helped them to develop a theoretical explanation that made sense of their experimental results. It was, however, Otto alone who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Lise was often proclaimed to be Otto’s assistant even though she was an equal in intellectual terms.  Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell  Was a Northern Irish physicist who, while conducting research for her doctorate in 1967, discovered the first radio pulsars (pulsating stars that emit beams of electronic radiation). Not only did she analyse data from a newly commissioned radio telescope, but she also helped build the instrument. Her findings were initially dismissed as interference until another telescope picked up the same signal from a different star.  In 1974, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Antony Hewish and Martin Ryle. It was Jocelyn’s discovery that transformed astrophysics and opened an entirely new way of research. Decades later, she used her platform to lift others, donating 2.3 million when she received the Special Breakthrough prize in Fundamental Physics to fund scholarships for women, refugees, and underrepresented groups in physics. Hypatia of Alexandria Lived in 4th-5th century Alexandria. Hypatia was a mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher at a time when women were rarely educated, let alone allowed to teach. She led the Neoplatonist school, attracting students from across the Mediterranean. Her influence extended beyond scholarship, she advised civic leaders and was respected as a public intellectual.  She was killed by a Christian mob during a power struggle between the governor Orestes and Bishop Cyril. In later retellings, her death was reframed as punishment for “paganism,” a narrative that obscured the political motives and helped justify the violence. Her story became another example of how women’s intellectual authority was erased or recast to fit institutional agendas. Trotula of Salerno  Was an 11th‑century physician associated with the famed medical school of Salerno, one of the earliest centres of medical learning in medieval Europe, who allowed women to study. She specialised in women’s health at a time when female bodies were poorly understood and often treated with superstition or neglect. Her writings, collectively known as The Trotula, covered childbirth, menstruation, fertility, gynaecology, and herbal remedies, offering practical, compassionate guidance grounded in observation rather than fear. Her work was so influential that it circulated across Europe for centuries, yet later scribes and scholars refused to believe a woman could have authored such authoritative medical texts. Portions of her work were attributed to male physicians, her name was Latinised or altered, and in some manuscripts, she was erased entirely. The survival of her writings is the exception that proves the rule, women’s medical knowledge was often absorbed into male‑authored texts, while the women themselves disappeared from the historical record. Even today, women’s medical decisions are still publicly scrutinised. You see it when groups gather outside clinics to shame or pressure women at their most vulnerable, a modern reminder that the policing of women’s bodies never truly disappeared, it simply changed form. Even the bible leaves out the key importance of women who shaped movements. Joanna, the wife of Chuza, a woman of considerable status, funded Jesus’s ministry. Joanna travelled with Jesus and the disciples, financing their work after Jesus had cured her of evil spirits, helping them sustain their ministry. She is also the woman who discovered the empty tomb of Jesus, placing her at the heart of the resurrection story. Despite her presence, her influence, and her witness, Joanna all but disappears from Christian tradition. Her Hebrew name, Yôḥānāh, originally carried the meaning of a “gracious gift,” but even this softened over time into the more generic “God is gracious,” mirroring how her role, and the roles of so many women was gradually diminished in the retelling, the retellings told by men.  None of this makes me sexist, nor does it require me to identify as a feminist. Pointing out historical patterns is not an attack on men, it is an examination of the systems that have shaped our records, institutions, and collective memory. Acknowledging women’s erasure is not about blaming individuals, it is about recognising structural forces that have shaped what we are taught to value. I am not arguing that women are better than men, or that men have no place in these stories. I am simply refusing to pretend that women were absent when they were present, influential, and essential. Naming the pattern is not ideology. It is accuracy. The truth is that progress has always been strongest when women and men worked together, when knowledge was shared rather than controlled, and when authority was rooted in competence rather than hierarchy. We are living in a moment where the old narratives no longer serve us. It is time for a shift, not toward division, but toward partnership. A future where women’s contributions are named, valued, and remembered strengthens everyone. Restoring women to the story is not an act of exclusion. It is an act of completion. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Joanne Louise Bray Joanne Louise Bray, Founder of Plantlife Joy Joanne Bray is a leader in plant life, she has been to the darkest depths of despair with her mental health. Nurturing plants and learning all about them led to her own healing journey. She discovered the immense joy and mindfulness that nurturing plants provides, so she began to write about them within her membership site, create courses, paint parts of nature that she fell in love with, and write books in the hope of sharing her passion and helping others to connect back to the beauty and wonder that nature supplies. Joanne is very passionate about eradicating the use of chemicals in gardening, and so she offers solutions using plants that either attract beneficial insects or deter pests.

Written by Barbara Blum, Energy Conduit & Spiritual Mentor Barbara Blum is an energy conduit and spiritual mentor, specializing in moving cosmic life-force energy and transmitting higher states of consciousness through her energy transmissions. Through a grounded and embodied presence, this work is for the awakening of the individual as well as the healing of the collective and the ascension of humanity. Energy work is steadily moving from the edges of spiritual culture into the mainstream. You may already be familiar with the idea through practices like yoga, acupuncture, or meditation, or perhaps you’ve only encountered it as a vague or mysterious concept. Either way, the growing interest points to something deeply human, our relationship with life-force energy. “Energy work” is a broad term that encompasses many modalities, but at its core, it refers to working with the fundamental force that animates life itself. Every culture throughout history has recognized this force and given it a name, life-force, prana, qi (chi), ki, vital principle. Different words, same essence. Becoming aware of this energy, learning how it moves, and understanding how it shapes our experience has been a central pursuit of spiritual traditions for thousands of years. What’s different now is accessibility. More people than ever are encountering these ideas not as abstract philosophy, but through direct, lived experience. Ancient wisdom, not a passing trend Because energy work is gaining visibility, it’s sometimes dismissed as a modern trend. In reality, it is ancient knowledge resurfacing. Civilizations across the world understood the human being as an energetic system and worked with that system as a means of healing, self-regulation, and spiritual development. Practices like yoga, qigong, acupuncture, and breath-work were never separate from daily life, they were methods of maintaining harmony within the body, mind, and spirit. What has been missing in recent history is not the system itself, but our awareness of it. As that awareness returns, engaging with our own internal energy is becoming less esoteric and more essential to understanding what it means to be human. The human body is an energetic system From both a scientific and spiritual perspective, energy is foundational. Nothing comes into existence or remains in motion without an energetic source. This applies not only to physical processes, but also to thought and emotion. Science has long measured electrical activity in the brain, showing that thoughts and cognition arise from energetic impulses. Emotions, too, are accompanied by distinct physiological and energetic responses. In other words, our inner world is not abstract, it is active, dynamic, and measurable. Spiritual traditions refer to this internal flow as the subtle energy body. It exists alongside the physical body and acts as an interface between our biological functions and our deeper, non-physical aspects of self. While subtle energy isn’t visible in the way muscles or organs are, it can be felt, influenced, and experienced directly. Where life-force comes from Most of us think of energy primarily in biological terms, food, rest, movement. But we also receive energy from sources like sunlight, oxygen, and the natural environment. From a spiritual perspective, all of these derive from a deeper origin, the interplay between consciousness and the primordial formation of energy itself. Mystical traditions across cultures describe existence as consciousness expressing itself through energy, bringing form out of an unmanifest state. From this view, life-force is not something separate from us, it is the same creative energy that animates everything, flowing through and as us. When energy stops flowing freely Ideally, our energy moves continuously, supporting physical health, emotional balance, and mental clarity. But life inevitably leaves its marks. Stress, trauma, suppressed emotions, and unresolved experiences can interrupt the natural flow of energy. When this happens repeatedly or over long periods of time, stagnation can develop. These blockages don’t always show up immediately, but over time they may manifest as emotional reactivity, chronic tension, fatigue, mental confusion, stress or physical discomfort. Many minor disruptions resolve on their own when we process emotions and allow ourselves to feel and integrate experiences. Deeper or unprocessed trauma, however, often remains stored in the system, sometimes outside conscious awareness, continuing to influence how we perceive and respond to life. Why activate the subtle energy body? Working consciously with life-force energy means addressing issues at their root, rather than only managing symptoms. When energy begins to move more freely, it naturally brings awareness to what has been held beneath the surface. This can look like old emotions rising to be felt, sudden clarity around long-standing issues, increased intuition, or physical shifts as the body releases stored tension. While the experience is different for everyone, the common thread is expanded awareness. Greater energetic flow supports greater consciousness. As clarity increases, we gain more choice in how we respond to life rather than reacting from unconscious patterns shaped by the past. Energy work in the modern world As understanding grows, energy work is becoming more widely available through different modalities, sometimes called life-force activation, Kundalini Activation, Pranic Healing, and my work, light-body activation. While the methods and language differ, they all engage in some way with the same fundamental principle, working with the energy that animates life to support healing, awareness, and evolution. As energy work becomes more visible in modern culture, it reflects a broader return to wholeness, an understanding that mind, body, emotion, and spirit are not separate systems, but expressions of a single, intelligent flow. Engaging consciously with life-force energy doesn’t make us something new, it reveals what has always been present. With greater awareness and freer flow, we gain clarity, resilience, and a deeper capacity to meet life as it is, rooted, awake, and connected. To go deeper into this work If this article resonates and you’d like to explore how life-force energy and the subtle energy body relate to your own experience: Explore Barbara Blum’s Energy Transmissions , where her various transmissions of Light Body Activation, Cosmic Consciousness and High Frequency Energy Alignments weave life-force energy with angelic, archangelic, and Elohim frequencies to support expanded awareness and embodied healing. Book a Light Body Activation session to support the opening and integration of your energetic system, allowing energy to move more freely through the body, mind, and emotional field. Group   sessions and private sessions  available. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , and visit my LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Barbara Blum Barbara Blum, Energy Conduit & Spiritual Mentor Barbara Blum is an Energy Conduit and Spiritual Mentor, specializing in moving cosmic life-force energy and transmitting higher states of consciousness through her two primary energy transmissions: Light Body Activation and Cosmic Consciousness. Decades of embodied yogic practices and studies of the energy system through the yogic lens brought a personal, experiential understanding of how the human energetic system operates. She is a former Level 2 KAP (Kundalini Activation Process) Facilitator, 700hr Yoga Instructor, and Certified Meditation Instructor offering personal and group energy transmissions in-person and online, holding international retreats and offering facilitator trainings.

Written by Alan Hoey, Chemical-Free Invasive Weed Eradicators Alan Hoey is the Managing Director of two UK National Companies, including the Japanese Knotweed Agency, award-winning specialists in chemical-free invasive weed removal. He pioneers thermo-electric treatment for sustainable, permanent root-kill of Japanese Knotweed and other invasive plants while protecting biodiversity. Japanese Knotweed remains one of the most disruptive and misunderstood invasive plant species affecting property, infrastructure, and land across the UK. For homeowners, developers, local authorities, and commercial landowners alike, the presence of knotweed can stall transactions, delay projects, and introduce long-term financial risk if not managed correctly. At Japanese Knotweed Agency Ltd (JKWA), our mission has always been simple, deliver clear, defensible, and cost-effective solutions to invasive plant problems, without unnecessary chemicals, inflated costs, or vague assurances. As we enter 2026, JKWA has significantly expanded its service offering, giving clients greater choice, faster resolution, and some of the most competitive remediation pricing in the UK. Independent surveys you can rely on Every successful knotweed strategy starts with accurate identification and risk assessment. JKWA provides independent Japanese Knotweed surveys for: Residential property, homeowners, and tenants, including sales and purchases Development and land acquisition Infrastructure and access routes Planning and legal support Our surveys are evidence-based, clearly written, and designed to stand up to scrutiny from: Solicitors Surveyors Lenders Local authorities We do not overstate risk, and we do not underplay it either. Clients receive clear recommendations tailored to their objectives, whether that is treatment, containment, or removal. Thermo-electric treatment: A chemical-free alternative JKWA is the UK’s leading specialist in thermo-electric knotweed treatment, a non-chemical method that uses controlled electrical energy to destroy rhizome systems at depth. This method is particularly valuable where: Herbicide use is restricted or undesirable Sites are environmentally sensitive Long-term guarantees are required Immediate excavation is impractical Thermo-electric treatment forms a key part of our integrated approach and is increasingly requested by clients seeking sustainable, future-proof solutions. Root barrier installation and containment In situations where full removal is not required or appropriate, JKWA designs and installs root barrier systems to prevent rhizome spread and protect neighbouring land, structures, and future development. Our barrier installations are: Depth-specific and site-engineered Compatible with development works Supported by clear documentation This approach is particularly effective for boundary protection, phased developments, and constrained urban sites. Expanded excavation services, faster, cheaper, controlled In 2026, JKWA formally expanded its excavation, digging, and removal services, allowing us to deliver direct off-site disposal of knotweed-contaminated soils at a lower cost than many traditional providers. By controlling: Labour Plant Supervision Waste logistics We remove unnecessary layers of cost, while maintaining full compliance with controlled waste regulations. This means: Fewer delays No re-handling or on-site stockpiling Transparent pricing Extremely competitive fixed price solutions For many clients, excavation is now quicker and more affordable than long-term treatment, particularly where development timelines matter. One agency, multiple solutions, clear advice What sets Japanese Knotweed Agency Ltd apart is not a single method, but the ability to choose the right method for each site. We are not tied to one solution. We are not incentivised to oversell. We are focused on outcomes, compliance, and value. Whether you need: A survey to support a sale as a buyer or seller A non-chemical treatment strategy Physical containment Or full excavation and removal JKWA provides clear advice and delivers what we say we will. Expanding access through multilingual communication As part of our continued commitment to clarity and accessibility, Japanese Knotweed Agency Ltd has expanded its media and news platform to include Chinese language content. This development reflects the increasingly international nature of UK property ownership, investment, and development. By making key guidance, updates, and educational content available in Chinese, we aim to support overseas investors, landlords, and stakeholders who require accurate information on invasive plant risk, compliance, and remediation options within the UK market. Clear communication is essential when dealing with regulated environmental issues such as Japanese knotweed. By broadening language access across our news and blogs section, JKWA is helping ensure that advice is understood correctly, risks are properly assessed, and decisions are made on the basis of fact rather than fear or misinformation. This initiative forms part of our wider goal to raise industry standards, improve transparency, and ensure responsible land management is accessible to all. Establishing a National Register for accountability and clarity In parallel with expanding our practical services, Japanese Knotweed Agency Ltd has introduced a National Register designed to bring greater structure, transparency, and accountability to how Japanese Knotweed cases are recorded and managed. Now in its fourth year of growth, it includes 76,515 records. The National Register provides a centralised reference point for documented knotweed activity, treatment, containment, and remediation works. Its purpose is not to stigmatise land, but to promote accurate record keeping, continuity of information, and informed decision making across property transactions, land management, and development planning. Too often, knotweed risk is misunderstood or exaggerated due to a lack of reliable, accessible information. By establishing a formal register, JKWA is helping shift the conversation from fear-based assumptions to evidence-led assessment, supporting surveyors, solicitors, developers, and property owners alike. This initiative reflects JKWA’s broader commitment to raising industry standards, encouraging responsible long-term land stewardship, and improving confidence in how invasive plant issues are disclosed and managed. While the register aims only to give an indication of the number of reported sightings, we still have a long way to go and rely on surveyors, volunteers, and members of the public to report sightings to us. Looking ahead As awareness of invasive species grows, and as clients become more informed, the industry is moving away from fear-based pricing and towards measured, evidence-led remediation. Japanese Knotweed Agency Ltd is proud to be part of that shift. 2026 is about clarity, control, and cost-effective action. We are social, check us out on YouTube  and X . Did you know, in 2025 Alan Hoey & Japanese Knotweed Agency were recognised as one of the BRAINZ 500 Global Award Leaders. Follow me on Facebook , LinkedIn , and visit my website  for more info! Read more from Alan Hoey Alan Hoey, Chemical-Free Invasive Weed Eradicators Ex-military intelligence, Alan leads from the front as Managing Director of the Japanese Knotweed Agency, the UK’s Leading Authority on its number one invasive weed. An innovative industry disruptor, he was the first in the UK to adopt thermo-electric technology for chemical-free invasive weed removal and has positioned JKWA at the forefront of sustainable Japanese Knotweed eradication. But there's a lot more to Alan that the eyes can see.