The post Rise Up – Riding Life Like You Stole It – Rise Up Story with Nicky Herringshaw first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

“You’re fine” can be one of the most dangerous phrases a person hears when their body is clearly struggling.

I’m joined by Charlotte Phelps, founder of The Alchemy of Being (https://thealchemyofbeing.me/) , to unpack her rise-up story from high-achieving banking life in London to a health crisis that culminates in a terrifying warning: her gut may rupture within weeks. What follows is not a neat wellness slogan, but a grounded, human account of what it takes to keep pushing for answers when symptoms are real and tests keep landing in the “normal range”.

We talk about the long build-up: insomnia, hives, digestive breakdown, pain, and the quiet stress of managing your life around your body. Charlotte shares how an unconventional biofeedback session points to a specific parasite that traditional routes miss, and how functional medicine testing helps her finally understand the gut health, hormone health, thyroid and adrenal stress connection behind what she’s experiencing.

Alongside the medical journey, we explore the emotional reality of overachievement, the limiting belief of “not good enough”, and why a crisis often becomes the moment we finally choose ourselves.

We also get practical and philosophical: why self-advocacy matters, how stress isn’t just “in your head”, why sleep can be more healing than another workout, and how even the wellness world can slip into comparison and one-upmanship.

Charlotte explains what she built with The Alchemy of Being: a curated wellness hub and “wellness wiki” to help people find credible options and a starting point before they hit breaking point.

If this conversation shifts something for you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s been told they’re “fine”, and leave a review so more people can find these stories.

What’s one choice you could make today that gives your body a better chance? And if you want to see more of Charlotte and/or explore her fabulous website click this link. (https://thealchemyofbeing.me/)

Support the show (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566045/su…)

To join my beautiful membership community click here:  https://vickyross.mvsite.app/products… or visit my website: https://www.vickyross.com/

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research.

It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support. The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas – and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love Vicky

The post A Rise Up Story with Charlotte Phelps first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

Ben Barnett joins Lucy on Crescent Podcast to talk about his work as a ⁠Holistic Health Facilitator⁠ and how he works with your body and mind to help restore and rejuvenate you. We also touched on the idea of shining your lights brightly, inspiring others and how it’s never to old to reinvent yourself.

The post What is a Holistic Health Facilitator and what are the benefits of working with one? first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

In this episode of Rise Up and Live, Vicky is joined by holistic therapist Ben Barnett for a thoughtful and deeply human conversation about healing, personal transformation, and the wisdom of the body. Ben has spent more than 30 years working in holistic therapy, combining physical bodywork with energy work, coaching, and a deep understanding of how our emotional experiences shape the way we live in our bodies. As a Reiki Master Practitioner, auricular acupuncturist, and specialist in therapeutic bodywork, his approach goes far beyond simply treating symptoms. Together, Vicky and Ben explore what it really means to heal beyond the surface. They discuss how early childhood experiences can quietly shape our beliefs, relationships, and sense of self, and how many of the patterns we carry into adulthood began as strategies to help us survive emotionally difficult environments. In this conversation you’ll hear about: • how the body often reveals what the mind tries to hide  • the emotional patterns that can shape relationships and identity  • why healing is not about fixing something that is broken  • how awareness allows us to release old patterns and create new possibilities  • the difference between trying to heal the past and transforming the present Ben also shares his own Rise Up story — the personal insights that changed the way he understood himself, his relationships, and the way he works with clients today. This is a conversation about awareness, compassion, and the powerful realisation that many of the struggles we carry may have begun with ideas about ourselves that were never truly ours.

If you want to follow Ben or get in touch with him, here are his social media links:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_barnett…  / 1dux8d8k4p  

https://youtube.com/@htbybenbarnett?s…

For access to Alchemy of Being: https://thealchemyofbeing.me/

Referenced in this episode: Ben mentions a powerful video illustrating how early experiences shape behaviour and self-soothing patterns. You can watch it here:     • His Mother Rejected Him — The Baby Monkey …  

Support the show (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566045/su…)

To join my beautiful membership community click here: https://vickyross.mvsite.app/products… or visit my website: https://www.vickyross.com/

This episode reflects my interpretation and awareness-based philosophical perspective, shaped by years of personal experience, training, reading, and research. It is not medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice and does not replace professional support. The language used is descriptive and reflective, not diagnostic.

Not everyone will resonate with these ideas – and that is completely okay.

You are responsible for your own interpretations, decisions, and the changes you choose to make in your life.

Here is to your success

Love Vicky

The post Rise Up – Healing Beyond the Surface: A Powerful Conversation with Ben Barnett first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

Published by Brainz Magazine

In this exclusive interview with Brainz Magazine, Charlotte explores what it really means to be rethinking wellbeing in a world overloaded with advice, trends, and quick fixes.

Drawing on her lived experience and the philosophy behind The Alchemy of Being, she shares why self-expertise, discernment, and conscious choice are missing from modern wellness conversations, and how reconnecting with our own body, mind, and soul is where real change begins.

This interview is an invitation to step away from “do what I do” solutions and start to Be The Expert In You.

The post Becoming the Expert in Yourself and Rethinking Wellbeing first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

Published by Brainz Magazine

We live in a culture that runs on pressure. Pressure to optimise, improve, achieve, upgrade, evolve. Pressure to be further along. Pressure to have clarity when you feel uncertain, direction when you feel lost, confidence when you feel stretched, and plans when you are simply trying to catch your breath. December magnifies all of this. The turning of the year becomes a collective checkpoint where the world asks you to evaluate yourself. What did you accomplish? What will you change? Who will you become next? And rarely do we pause long enough to meet these questions with even a moment of curiosity.

Yet beneath these expectations sits something quieter and far more human. Your nervous system is not asking for pressure. It is asking for space. And this is where curiosity offers a radically different way to begin a new year: with softness instead of striving, exploration instead of self judgement, and openness instead of overwhelm. What if 2026 did not need a grand plan, just a curious mind?

The post A Different Kind of New Year: What If You Entered 2026 With Curiosity Instead of Pressure? first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

Published by Brainz Magazine

We live in a world obsessed with speed – faster growth, faster healing, faster everything. But the body doesn’t measure progress by time; it measures safety. Real transformation has a rhythm, and that rhythm is set not by your willpower but by your nervous system. At the heart of this is nervous system regulation – the balance between effort and recovery, action and rest, that determines whether your body feels safe enough to change.

Last month, we explored joy as medicine – how laughter, awe, and purpose restore balance and resilience. This month, we’re grounding that same energy into something deeper: The Pace Principle. It’s the idea that lasting change only happens when your nervous system is regulated enough to allow it. Go too fast and your body contracts; go too slow and you stagnate. But when you find the right pace – your pace – growth becomes sustainable, integration becomes natural, and wellbeing starts to hold.

The post The Pace Principle: Why Nervous System Regulation Is the Secret to Real, Lasting Change. first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

Published by Brainz Magazine

We chase health, we chase growth, we chase change.

But what if one of the most powerful medicines has been with us all along?

Joy. For too long, joy has been treated as something optional, a reward you earn after the hard work is done. In reality, joy is one of the most profound forces for healing, resilience, and well-being.

In this article, I’ll explore why joy is not frivolous but fundamental, how laughter and delight transform your brain and body, and how you can start treating joy as medicine in your everyday life.

The post Is Joy the Missing Link in Your Wellness Journey? (And Why It Matters More Than You Think) first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

Published by Brainz Magazine

You’re hit with more advice in a single day than your grandparents received in a year. Everyone’s got a new hack, a miracle method, a silver bullet. But with all that input, why does it feel like nothing actually changes? The truth? Most of us don’t have an information problem. We have an integration problem – the bit where insight becomes action, where habits take root, and real change begins.

The post Integration Isn’t Sexy (But It’s Where Real Change Happens) first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.

Published by Brainz Magazine

What if your greatest source of clarity wasn’t found in certainty, but in curiosity? In a world that prizes quick fixes and confidence, we often forget the quiet superpower of not-knowing. In this article, we’ll explore why non-judgmental curiosity is the doorway to psychological safety and how it strengthens your inner discernment so you can live your wellness your way.

The post Build Self-Trust Through Curiosity – The Real Path to Psychological Safety first appeared on The Alchemy Of Being.