Advertise on podcast: Beyond the basement

Do you ever crave risk and adventure, throw yourself into something intense, then retreat home needing a week to recover? And before long, you’re itching to escape again? Or have you lived out of a suitcase for months, and longed to put some roots down? Join me beneath a cherry tree, exploring life’s familiar dance between freedom and safety. I reflect on my own swings between comfortable routines and fuse-blowing adventures, and wonder what it might mean to have enough room to explore - and enough support to feel held. Through stories from my improv workshops and a playful encounter on the contact dance floor, I explore how trust, boundaries and a little friction can help us come alive. There’s something here, too, about perfectionism’s search for the “right way”, lurching between polarities of right and wrong, and learning to notice what we need as those needs change - moment to moment. What would it look like to feel safe enough to play, push back, take risks and express ourselves - and free enough to rest when we’ve had enough? 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

What happens when the life you’ve built feels safe and familiar, but something in you is aching for adventure? In this pretty personal episode, I share something that feels exciting, inconvenient and a little bit naughty: I think I want to sell my house, leave Leeds and explore life in Europe, without knowing exactly what comes next. Thinking aloud from my bedroom floor, I explore the call to adventure, the grief of leaving a familiar life behind, and choosing change on my own terms. Along the way, I connect the dots between improvisation, intuition, self-trust and learning to take risks while giving yourself the care and support you need. What if you don’t need a whole journey mapped out - just enough light to see the next step? And what if adventure isn’t all challenge, trauma and growth, but pleasure, play and a bit of a laugh too? 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

If you’re anything like me, pleasure comes later. After the work is done. Once everything’s sorted. When you’ve been productive, useful or good enough to deserve it. In this episode, I explore this complicated relationship with pleasure - and the rather perfectionist habit of turning even fun, play and enjoyment into another project to understand, optimise and get right. What happens if we stopped needing everything we do to be useful? If we could climb, dance, eat, walk, listen or play without having to improve ourselves, or master a skill in the process? Along the way, I explore solo, one-to-one and group pleasure; the qualities of serenity, brilliance and aliveness; and a tiny question that’s been helping me find more enjoyment in ordinary life: What would make this 1% more enjoyable? An invitation to take yourself - and perhaps life itself - a little less seriously. 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

What happens when life starts to feel like it’s happening to you- and no amount of effort seems to change anything? In this episode, I explore the slippery, surprisingly seductive experience of victimhood: the collapse, helplessness and quiet belief that nothing will ever go your way. How to spot it and its impact. I also look at how it can show up in perfectionism, relationships and work; why trapped anger often becomes resentment and bitterness; and how the cycle between relentless pushing and exhausted collapse keeps us stuck. This isn’t about blaming or shaming ourselves for feeling powerless. Victimhood is a deeply human place to visit - especially when life genuinely overwhelms us. I just wonder if the path through this is to not build a permanent home there. We’ll explore what helps us move towards self-authority, agency and hope, while still accepting that not everything is ours to control or fix. 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

What if success isn’t about money, status or finally getting everything right? What if it’s something you can experience today? In this episode, I explore a very different definition of success one rooted in self-trust, self-leadership and staying true to yourself. We look at why so many of us abandon ourselves in pursuit of approval, how perfectionism keeps moving the finish line, and what it means to reclaim the throne of your own life. If you’ve ever felt like success is always somewhere in the future, this conversation is an invitation to discover the quieter, more grounded success that’s already available, here and now. 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 explore what can happen after we make a vulnerable move - tell the truth, share something we’ve created, perform, speak-up, or allow ourselves to be properly seen. Sometimes the brave part isn’t the moment itself. It’s what comes afterwards, when the inner critic rushes in to tell us it wasn’t good enough. In this episode, I share the internal mechanics of what happens when I felt vulnerable, imperfect and merely “good enough.” Almost immediately, the inner critic arrived with its familiar charge sheet: what was wrong, what I had missed, and how I needed to improve. Beneath that criticism was a much younger, more playful and sensitive part of me that simply felt exposed and told-off. Instead of pushing harder or spiralling into shame, I tried a new move: grounding, compassion, perspective and grace. I reminded myself that I had done something new and difficult - and that one good-enough attempt was enough for the day. This is a reflection on perfectionism, visibility, reparenting, creative courage and the surprising freedom that can appear when we stop treating every imperfect attempt as evidence that something is wrong with us. 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

In this episode, I explore our relationship with uncertainty, not knowing, and what it really means to move through life like a grown-up when, underneath it all, we’re all still making it up as we go along. Starting with an important life lesson about bullsh*t, I reflect on the strange truth that confidence often isn’t about having the answers - it’s about how we carry ourselves while we look for them. I connect this to improvisation, embodied self-trust, and the difference between panicked overthinking and grounded forward movement. This is an episode about dignity, humility, confidence, and the practice of taking one step at a time - even when you have no idea where it’s all leading. 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

On holiday in Austria, I found myself unexpectedly face-to-face with a familiar lesson: choosing self-trust over self-abandonment. In this episode, I share what happened while rock climbing a via ferrata route in the Alps - the moment when the fun stopped feeling fun and started feeling wrong, and why tuning in and turning back became a quiet but meaningful act of listening to oneself. I explore the difference between stretch and overwhelm, fear and misalignment, excitement and self-abandonment. I talk about group pressure, perfectionism, nervous system dysregulation, and the old habit of going along with things to look capable, good, or brave. And I reflect on what it means to give yourself a clean no, without shame or judgement. This is an episode about boundaries, attunement, and those small, brave moments where change really begins. 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

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

I’m back from my first men’s retreat in Sweden - a deep, embodied exploration of masculinity, sensitivity, self-leadership, and love. I share what struck me most: that healthy masculinity is about grounded presence and love. It’s steadiness in uncertainty. It’s the capacity to hold tension, to protect what matters, to stay open-hearted, and to bring clarity and care to yourself and others. I explore what it felt like to be in safe male company, what masculine play and strength awakened in me, how hope and self-trust showed up on a difficult journey home, and why the phrase “you’re going to be okay” is becoming such a powerful anchor in my life. This is an episode about re-fathering yourself, making room for sensitivity, and discovering that masculine presence can be loving, simple, honest and deeply healing. 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

When I’m under pressure, I tend to contract. I want to get things right, map everything out, stay in control and avoid mistakes. I take things seriously. But improvisation keeps reminding me that life often feels lighter (or less costly) another way - through play, experimentation, small offers, and seeing what comes back. Fresh out of an improv intensive in London, join me for an exploration the difference between perfectionism and playfulness, between trying to force the “right” answer and letting something emerge through curiosity, responsiveness and trust. This lands especially strongly for me in my business right now, but it applies just as much to your relationships, career, creativity and life in general. If you’re someone who gets tight, serious or over-responsible when things matter, this episode might come as relief. 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

After months of rebuilding structure and steadiness in my life, I find myself on a new exploration: what does it really mean to be with my experience, rather than fix it, analyse it, distract from it, or turn it into a story - now I feel safe enough to truly feel it? In this episode, I explore the feminine quality of “being with” - the soft, receptive, relational capacity to stay present with feelings as they move through us. Not becoming the grief, ecstasy, loneliness or fear. Not trying to solve it. Just being with it. I talk about the difference between containment and flow, masculine and feminine, structure and surrender - and how both seem necessary for healing. I share what I’m discovering about vulnerability, nervous system safety, self-leadership, and the subtle art of letting emotions move without getting swept away by them. This is a live exploration of softening towards yourself, unfinishedness, and the possibility that maybe nothing needs to be done with your feelings except to let them move through you and onwards. 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 along for an improvised exploration of this strange, unexpected chapter of life: the grief of not being where I once expected to be, the freedom (and loneliness) of living outside the conventional script, and the quiet reality of building an unconventional life while many people around me are immersed in marriage, children, careers and family life. We’ll talk about the emotional texture of this experience - the sense that life is not supposed to look like this, the loss of structures I once assumed would hold me, and the way middle age seems to bring old wounds, deeper self-reflection and inner work to the surface. I also touch on friendship, solitude, self-reparenting, ageing, visibility, youthfulness, and the gifts that can come with knowing yourself more clearly. 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

After months of building safety, structure and steadiness in my life, I’ve found myself in a new inquiry: what does it really mean to be with my experience, rather than fix it, analyse it, distract from it or turn it into a story? In this episode, I explore the feminine quality of “being with” - the soft, receptive, relational capacity to stay present with feelings as they move through us. Not becoming the grief, the loneliness or the fear. Not trying to solve it. Just being with it. I talk about the difference between containment and flow, masculine and feminine, structure and surrender - and how both seem necessary for healing. I share what I’m discovering about vulnerability, nervous system safety, self-leadership, and the subtle art of letting emotions move without getting swept away by them. This is a live exploration of softness, unfinishedness, and the possibility that maybe nothing needs to be done with our feelings except to let them be here. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your inner world, or sensed that there must be another way besides fixing, analysing or powering through, 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

After a turbulent season of life, I’ve found myself saying something surprising: Life is boring right now - and that’s a good thing. In this episode, I explore the connection between safety, trust, rhythm and the capacity to receive more of the good things in life. I share what I’m learning about nervous system healing, why unpredictability can keep us stuck in survival mode, and how a slower, steadier, more “boring” life can become the very thing that helps joy, creativity and opportunity return. 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