This is a gentle space to slow down and consider what might be asking of your attention right now. There's no advice to follow and nothing to fix - just an invitation to listen, reflect, and take what feels useful.

If you're navigating change, feeling stretched, or quietly questioning how you live in the next chapter of your life, this podcast is for you.

Summary and Show notes

In the inaugural episode of the Alder Path podcast, host Roger introduces the concept of the podcast, emphasizing its focus on reflection and personal growth rather than advice or motivation. He shares his journey towards finding a deeper purpose in life, particularly in the second half of life, and defines a quieter kind of freedom that comes from simplifying one's life. The podcast aims to resonate with those who feel a restlessness in midlife and are seeking authenticity over societal expectations. Roger invites listeners to engage with the content at their own pace, offering gentle reflections grounded in lived experience.

Takeaways

• This podcast is not about advice or motivation.
• The goal is to choose depth over reach.
• Freedom is about simplifying, not complicating.
• It's for those in the second half of life.

• The podcast will feature solo reflections to start.
• Episodes will be released when there's something real to say.
• It's a space for quiet moments of contemplation.
• The Alder Path is about aligning with one's true self.
• Take what's useful and leave the rest.

• "Freedom from constant pressure."

0:00 Introduction to the Alder Path Podcast

01:12The Purpose Behind the Podcast

02:59Defining Freedom in Midlife

05:12Target Audience and Expectations

06:55Conclusion and Invitation to ReflectOther ways to learn more about host Roger and Alder Path Coaching..

Website : www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk

Blog : www.thealderpathjournal.wordpress.com

In this episode of The Alder Path Podcast, Roger reflects on freedom, pace, and the quiet pull many of us are feeling toward a simpler, more grounded way of living.

Drawing on his work both as a coach and a gardening horticulturist, he explores what it means to live seasonally in a culture that rewards constant productivity - and how freedom often comes not from adding more, but from gently removing what no longer serves.

This is a reflective conversation about counter-culture, analog life, and creating the right conditions for growth - even when life is demanding and slowing down isn't always an option.

A calm space to pause, listen, and consider how you might create more rhythm, balance, and authenticity in your own life.

Chapters

00:00 The Quiet Shift in Modern Life

05:12 Pruning for Growth: Lessons from Nature

10:23 Embracing Seasonal Living

15:41 Finding Balance in a Busy World

20:59 A Return to Quieter Living

To find out more about Roger's work as a coach, please visit ...

www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk

You can also read writings, reflections and musings at...

The Alder Path Journal

In this episode, I explore what real strength looks like today - not hustle, not burnout, not dramatic reinvention - but grounded, sustainable design.

We talk about:

• Reclaiming your attention
• Strengthening and patrolling boundaries in demanding roles
• Creating "seasons" within busy days
• Stepping back from social media without disappearing
• Living counter-culturally without withdrawing from the world

This isn't about escaping the modern world. It's about living consciously within it.

A gentle, honest conversation about attention, boundaries, ambition, money, and creating a sustainable rhythm to life.

Chapters

00:00 The Strength to Live Differently

01:31 Navigating Discomfort and Conditioning

04:00 The Role of Nature in Coaching

07:14 Redefining Real Strength

08:13 Creating Seasons of Rest

10:33 Reclaiming Attention and Boundaries

12:05 Gentle Change vs. Drastic Measures

13:06 Sovereignty in Life Choices

14:42 Living Kindly and Deliberately

15:55 Awareness and Intentional Living

If you would like to know more about Roger's coaching work, please visit www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk

From moving my coaching sessions outdoors during the covid pandemic, to working as a plantsman and gardener, to coming back to my love of the Inland Waterways of the UK, I reflect on engineering a life with nature at the centre, touching on the science of why nature steadies us, and why sustainable pace matters more than ever.

A grounded conversation for anyone feeling stretched by the speed of modern life, and quietly seeking a different rhythm.

As always, these are my own reflections on life and no substitute for professional support or help, be that from your GP, a therapist or professional coach.

To find out more about my coaching services, please visit www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk

In this episode, A Return to the Roots, we explore a different way of understanding resilience - one that isn't about pushing through or holding everything together, but about becoming more deeply rooted.

Through a simple story from nature, this episode reflects on what it means to stay steady when the world around you feels like it is shifting... and how midlife and onwards can be less about finding answers, and more about returning to what holds you.

This is a slower, more spacious conversation - one to listen to on a walk, or in a quiet moment.

You'll be gently invited to:

• rethink resilience as something built over time, not forced

• notice where steadiness already exists in your life

• begin your own quiet "root work"

There's nothing to fix here

Just something to feel into.

🌿If you would like to explore this work more or bring it into your own life, you can find me at:

www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk 🌱🌳

In this episode, I reflect on the weight of accumulated roles, identities and versions or ourselves that made sense once - but may no longer fit. I share honestly from my own experience of returning to things I loved in my younger years and finding that I had changed, and what that taught me about the difference between quitting and completing.

This isn't about dramatic reinvention. It's about the quiet, honest work of noticing what no longer serves - and giving yourself permission to set it down.

We explore

• Why we accumulate roles and identities without noticing
• The difference between quitting and completing
• Why letting go is so hard - identity, sunk cost fallacy and other people's expectations
• What the fallow period actually feels like, and why it matters

• What becomes possible when something is genuinely released.

The question I leave you with this week:

"What am I carrying that was never really mine to carry permanently?"

You don't need to answer it straight away. Just carry it with you on a walk, or sit with it over a cuppa in a favourite chair. Sometimes naming it is enough to begin...

_____________________________________________________________

About Roger Hunt and Alder Path Coaching

I'm Roger Hunt - Gardener, nature-based life coach, and host of The Alder Path Podcast. I tend gardens and I tend people - helping those in midlife and onwards, find their way back to a simpler, more grounded life.

I work with people age 40+ who are navigating significant life transitions - Those who arrive feeling confused and overwhelmed, and leave feeling clear and calm. My coaching is walk and talk, nature-based and unhurried. No quick fixes. Just honest, grounded conversation at the pace that real change actually requires.

Get in Touch

If anything in this episode resonated and you'd like to explore coaching, or simply have a quiet conversation about where you are, I'd love to hear from you.

💻website: www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk

📧email : hello@:alderpathcoaching.co.uk

Disclaimer

The reflections shared in this Podcast are my own personal thoughts and experiences. They are intended for general information and reflection only and are not a substitute for professional support, be that mental health support, medical advice from a GP, therapy or counselling.

I am a qualified coach, holding a level 5 Diploma in performance coaching and NLP. I am not a trained counsellor, psychotherapist, or mental health professional. If you are experiencing significant emotional distress or mental health difficulties, please seek support from a qualified professional or contact your GP.

Nothing shared in this podcast should be taken as personal coaching advice. If you'd like to explore working together, please get in touch directly.

Connect and Subscribe

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow or subscribe on Spotify so you don't miss future episodes. If you know someone who might need to hear this one, sharing is the kindest thing you can do.

New episodes released regularly.

Walk slowly, pay attention. The Path forward rarely needs to be rushed.

This weeks episode is a quiet celebration of the natural world - and an honest reflection on what we lose when we drift away from it.

I'm recording this on Earth day 2026, having spent some time in our little garden, a day of blue skies, new flowers emerging and a fledgling bird taking its first uncertain steps into the world. And a growing sense that nature has always known something we keep forgetting.

In today's episode, I explore what gardens and the natural world teaches us about patience, imperfection, and belonging. Why so many of us feel unrooted and disconnected. And why returning to nature - even in small, simple ways - is one of the most quietly radical things we can do.

This one is slow and reflective. Made for a gentle walk, or an open window, or a quiet moment outside.

A little gentle reminder that we are not separate from the natural world, we are part of it.

Today - even for just a few minutes - go outside. Notice one thing. Let the natural world remind you where you're from.

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About Roger Hunt and Alder Path Coaching

I'm Roger Hunt - Gardener, nature-based life coach, and host of the Alder Path Podcast. I tend gardens and I tend people - helping those in midlife and onwards find their way back to a simpler, more grounded life.

My coaching is walk and talk, outdoors and unhurried. No quick fixes. Just honest, grounded conversation at the pace that real change actually requires.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Get in touch

If anything in this episode resonated and you'd like to explore coaching, or simply have a quiet conversation about where you are, I'd love to hear from you.

🌿Website : www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk

📧Email : hello@alderpathcoaching.co.uk

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer

The reflections shared in this podcast are my own personal thoughts and experiences. They are intended for general information and reflection only, and are not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or counselling.

I am a qualified coach - holding a level 5 Diploma in Performance coaching and NLP and trained as a mindfulness teacher - but I am not a counsellor, psychotherapist, or mental health professional. If you are experiencing significant emotional distress or mental health difficulties, please seek support from a qualified professional or contact your GP.

Nothing shared in this podcast should be taken as personal coaching advice. If you'd like to explore working together, please get in touch directly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Connect & Subscribe

If today's episode resonated, please share it with someone who needs a moment of stillness today. That's how quiet things find the people they're meant for.

Follow or subscribe on Spotify so you don't miss any future episodes.

Walk slowly, pay attention. Take a moment outside for a powerful pause 🌳🌿🌍

A man singing about never having enough time. Gine before the world heard it.

That story has been sitting with me this week. Along with a question I think many of us are quietly living - why does time feel like it's always slipping away? Why does a week disappear before we've properly inhabited it? And why, since the pandemic, has something shifted in our relationship with time that hasn't quite shifted back.

In this episode, I explore the strange feeling that there's never enough time. Where it comes from. What the pandemic did to our experience of it. And what it actually feels like when time restores itself - because it can, and it does, in the right conditions.

This one is quiet and reflective, best listened to with a favourite cuppa and when you don't need to be anywhere else for a little while 🌱🌳

--------------------------------------------------------------------

About Roger Hunt and Alder Path Coaching

I'm Roger Hunt - gardener, nature-based life coach, and host of the Alder Path Podcast. I tend gardens and people - helping those in midlife and onwards find their way back to a simpler, more grounded life.

I work with people aged 40 and onwards who are navigating significant life transitions - those who arrive feeling confused and overwhelmed and leave feeling clear and calm. My coaching is walk and talk, nature-based and unhurried. No quick fixes, just honest, grounded conversations at the pace that real change actually requires.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Get in Touch

If anything in this episode resonated and you'd like to explore coaching, or simply have a quiet conversation about where you are in life, I'd love to hear from you.

🌿Website: www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk

📧email: hello@alderpathcoaching.co.uk

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer

The reflections shared in this podcast are my own personal thoughts, reflections and experiences. They are intended for general information and reflection only and are in no way a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy or counselling.

I am a qualified coach - Holding a level 5 diploma in performance coaching and NLP and trained as a mindfulness teacher - but I am not a counsellor, psychotherapist, or mental health professional. If you are experiencing significant emotional distress or mental health difficulties, please seek support from a qualified professional or contact your GP.

Nothing shared in this podcast should be taken as personal coaching advice. If you'd like to explore working together, please get in touch directly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Connect and Subscribe

If this episode resonated, please share it with someone who needs a moment to slow down today. That's how quiet things find the people they're meant for.

Follow or subscribe on Spotify so you don't miss any future episodes.

Walk slowly. Pay attention. And save a little time for what matters. 🌿🌳

There's a quality of presence that children have naturally and most adults have almost entirely forgotten.
Not mindfulness as a practice. Something older and simpler than that. The capacity to be fully, unself-consciously somewhere. To notice without trying. To exist without performing.
In this episode of the Alder Path Podcast, I trace a personal journey — from formal mindfulness training and group teaching, through the evolution toward one to one bespoke practice, and finally toward something that feels truer still. Awareness not as something you do, but as something you return to. A way of being that nature, more than any technique, has helped me recover.
Inspired by Jean-Pierre Weill and his beautiful book The Well of Being, this episode explores:

• The journey from formal sitting practice to integrated everyday awareness

• Why group mindfulness teaching evolved into something more personal and bespoke
• How nature trains awareness in ways that formal practice sometimes doesn't reach
• The image of the adult on the platform — waiting for a life that is already happening
• The lion who looks in the mirror and sees a cat — and what that says about how we misread our own depth
• The story of a child that painted on a blank wall in the house and learnt that expression can have consequences.
• What it means to return to the well of being that was always there
  About The Well of Being
  The Well of Being is a quietly extraordinary book by Jean-Pierre Weill — gentle, philosophical, and deeply human. It explores the nature of consciousness, presence and what it means to live from a place of genuine inner depth rather than surface activity.
  If this episode resonates, I'd encourage you to find a copy. A picture book for adults, a link to the author and his work is below 🌿
  
  

About Roger Hunt & Alder Path Coaching

I'm Roger Hunt — gardener, nature-based life coach, and host of the Alder Path Podcast. I tend gardens and I tend people — helping those in midlife find their way back to a simpler, more grounded life.
I qualified as a coach in 2018 and hold a Level 5 Diploma in Performance Coaching and NLP. I work with people from midlife and onwards, navigating significant life transitions — those who arrive feeling confused and overwhelmed, and leave feeling clear and calm. My coaching is walk and talk, nature-based, and unhurried.
Get in Touch
If anything in this episode resonated and you'd like to explore coaching — or simply have a quiet conversation about where you are — I'd love to hear from you.
🌿 Website: www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk
📧 Email: hello@alderpathcoaching.co.uk
Disclaimer
The reflections shared in this podcast are my own personal thoughts and experiences. They are intended for general information and reflection only, and are not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or counselling.
I am a qualified coach — holding a Level 5 Diploma in Performance Coaching and NLP and trained as a mindfulness teacher — but I am not a counsellor, psychotherapist, or mental health professional. If you are experiencing significant emotional distress or mental health difficulties, please seek support from a qualified professional or contact your GP.
Nothing shared in this podcast should be taken as personal coaching advice. If you'd like to explore working together, please get in touch directly.
Connect & Subscribe
If this episode moved something in you, please share it with someone who might need a moment of stillness today.
Follow or subscribe on Spotify so you don't miss future episodes.
Walk slowly. Pay attention. An]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-alder-path-podcast/3018941 f2ced74d-c409-458d-89dc-ac345c4df34f 1859 full 1 1 9 9 Thu, 28 May 2026 10:34:15 GMT false About This Episode

There's a sentence that has been sitting with me this week, quietly reorganising how I think about everything else. True happiness is the absence of the search for happiness. It sounds almost like a riddle at first. But the more I've turned it over, the more it feels like a key — one that unlocks something about presence, about enough, about why so much of modern life leaves us feeling like happiness is permanently one step ahead. In this episode of the Alder Path Podcast I explore: What the search for happiness actually looks like in modern life — striving, comparing, consuming, scrolling, Why the search itself, by its very structure, takes us away from the present moment — the only place happiness has ever actually existed, What replaces the searching when it stops, even briefly, Why this isn't an argument for passivity or giving up on a wonderful life — but a different orientation toward building one and lastly, A simple practice for noticing when you're searching for something that might already be here.

A Question Worth Carrying

Where in your life are you searching for something that might already be here, if you stopped reaching past it long enough to notice? Don't rush to answer. Just carry the question. On a walk, in the garden, in a quiet moment before sleep.

About Roger Hunt & Alder Path Coaching

I'm Roger Hunt — gardener, nature-based life coach, and host of the Alder Path Podcast. I tend gardens and I tend people — helping those in midlife find their way back to a simpler, more grounded life.I work with people age 40+ navigating significant life transitions — those who arrive feeling confused and overwhelmed, and leave feeling clear and calm. My coaching is walk and talk, nature-based, and unhurried. No quick fixes. Just honest, grounded conversation at the pace that real change actually requires.

Get in Touch

If anything in this episode resonated and you'd like to explore coaching, or simply have a quiet conversation about where you are, I'd love to hear from you.

🌿 Website: www.alderpathcoaching.co.uk

📧 Email: hello@alderpathcoaching.co.uk

Disclaimer

The reflections shared in this podcast are my own personal thoughts and experiences. They are intended for general information and reflection only, and are not a substitute for professional mental health support, therapy, or counselling. I am a qualified coach — holding a Level 5 Diploma in Performance Coaching and NLP and trained as a mindfulness teacher — but I am not a counsellor, psychotherapist, or mental health professional. If you are experiencing significant emotional distress or mental health difficulties, please seek support from a qualified professional or contact your GP. Nothing shared in this podcast should be taken as personal coaching advice. If you'd like to explore working together, please get in touch directly.

Connect & Subscribe

If this episode resonated, please share it with someone who might need a reminder that enough is often closer than it feels. Follow or subscribe on Spotify so you don't miss future episodes.

Walk slowly. Pay attention. And notice when you're searching for something that's already here. 🌿