Beyond the basement

In this episode, I’m exploring why certain kinds of conflict feel especially painful for perfectionists - especially when someone projects something onto you that doesn’t feel true.I look at what happens when another person’s fear, history or trauma gets laid at your door, and why that can hit so hard if you’re already wired to question yourself, defend yourself, and try to make everything fair, right and repairable. I talk about projection, conflict, inner authority, the urge to explain yourself, and the trap of taking responsibility for something that was never yours to carry.This is really an episode about being misunderstood, losing contact with yourself in the moment, and learning - however imperfectly - to choose dignity, boundaries and self-trust instead.If you’ve ever found yourself caught in a painful dynamic where you wanted desperately to fix things, prove your goodness, or stop someone seeing you through the wrong lens, this one might land. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

Come with me on a two-day immersion in fooling - a raw, theatrical, embodied practice that invites you to meet the many parts of yourself with innocence, curiosity, and play.Part archetype, part inner-world explorer, the Fool becomes a guide into your psyche: revealing sleepy parts, terrified parts, sexy snake-bodied parts, collapsed melodrama parts, cautious parts, joyful parts - every fragment you usually hide, override, shame, or race past. Instead of fixing or analysing, the Fool asks only: “Ooh… what’s here now?”I share what I learned as I moved through my own inner landscape: how easily I lose myself in ‘other’ (hello people-pleasers), how much drama my parts can stir when I believe them too literally, how the whole system softens when met with playful non-judgement, and how fooling, surprisingly, becomes a kind of reparenting of yourself.We look at why perfectionists struggle with this (hello right/wrong thinking), why embodiment is the key to bypassing the mind’s defences, and how the Fool teaches you to let every part have its moment on stage, then bow and exit.You’ll hear about invisible rest, snake energy, Monday-morning cupboard meltdowns, the theatre of our inner world, and the art of touching your own experience without becoming it.If you’ve ever wished for a way to meet your noisy inner world - your wounds, your longing, your tenderness, your mischief - without drowning in it, the Fool might just be the companion you’ve been looking for. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

Come for a walk with me, exploring the nature of self and other - what it means to be sovereign, an individual in relationship with other individuals. I record this reflection in a time of loss and transition. Expect theory and tenderness: from Enneagram, instincts and attachment theory, to the longing for union, the ache of separation, and the bittersweet truth that we come in alone and leave alone.I look at how perfectionism plays into our desire for merging and control, how we project our unloved parts onto others, and how the path to healing (or wholeness) might lie not in fixing, but in welcoming everything - every messy, contradictory, beautiful part of being human.Along the way, I find myself circling grief, dignity, humility, and love - with the quiet realisation that what I’ve been searching for has been here all along. What if you’re the one you’ve been waiting for? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

Sorry, but you probably aren’t who (or how) you think you are. In this episode, I explore the inconvenient truth about identity - that there’s often a gap between who you take yourself to be and how other people experience us. Drawing from my embodiment coaching training, I share stories about receiving confronting feedback (and unexpected compliments), and how these moments can fundamentally shake our self-conceptions.We look at why embodied feedback - how you feel to be around in a room, the signals your body sends - matters far more than the stories in your head. And why it’s so hard for us perfectionists to accept kindness or praise. And also how your shadow (or unconscious embodiment), left unexplored, can quietly grab the steering wheel.Feedback can be affirming or excruciatingly difficult to receive. Yet when we look past our insecurities and fear of judgment - it can be a doorway to more range, choice, and self-mastery. Because who you really are might be bigger, kinder, and more complex (ad messy!) than you dare to believe. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com

Join me in my gently swinging hammock for a soothing, real and insightful exploration of grief and loss as a full-body experience. This episode tackles some big themes like pain, dignity, and humility: what happens when something meaningful just stops, and how to meet abrupt endings without hardening or collapsing. I talk about the dance between anger and sadness, posture and collapse, and what it means to recover a sense of agency and compassion inside the ache. Grief, for me, is not just a feeling - it’s a state, a way of being (like love or joy), a teacher, and an invitation to stay open-hearted in the messiness of grief’s twin sisters: love and loss. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chriskenworthy.substack.com