Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee

How To Overcome Adversity with Tony Riddle #238

Feb 16, 2022

In a captivating conversation, Tony Riddle, a natural lifestylist and barefoot running coach, shares insights from his ambitious journey across Great Britain. He discusses coping with setbacks and the power of vulnerability. Listeners will discover practical tools for managing adversity, including breathwork, meditation, and human connection. Tony emphasizes the importance of rewilding our lives and connecting with nature for improved well-being. He also guides a simple breathing exercise, demonstrating how small changes can lead to significant personal growth.

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ANECDOTE

Barefoot Run Inspiration

Tony Riddle was inspired to run barefoot across the UK after a ceremony where he envisioned his baby boots.
This sparked a desire to connect with his feet and raise environmental awareness.

INSIGHT

Running as a Holistic Experience

Tony views running as a holistic experience encompassing physical, social, and spiritual aspects.
Through breathwork, meditation, and connection with nature, he achieves heightened states of processing during his runs.

ANECDOTE

Setback on the Run

On his run, Tony experienced a setback when a thorn got into his heel, leading to inflammation and swelling.
Despite the pain, he pushed through, covering 150 miles in five days, further injuring his foot.

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This episode is a LIVE recording of a conversation I had with Tony Riddle who was eight days into an epic journey. He was running the length of Great Britain, completely barefoot, covering 30 miles a day for 30 days. His aim? To show what human beings are biologically capable of, as well as to raise environmental awareness and funds. Even though the conversation was recorded back in 2019, it has as much relevance today as it did back then.

You might remember Tony from episode 71, What Makes Us Human. He’s also known as the natural lifestylist and one of his aims is to help people move back towards a more natural lifestyle by inspiring them to make small changes that can make a big difference.

Unfortunately, when we meet up to record this episode, in front of a small live audience at the Wild and Wild café in Congleton, acute injury meant that Tony was two days into an enforced break from his run. So, in this conversation, we talk about how he coped with that setback.

We also talk about the incredible power of being vulnerable, the idea of progress, not perfection, and Tony’s philosophy that everything in life is a process. He shares some simple – and free – tools that can help all of us cope with adversity: human contact (hugs from your loved ones), breathwork, meditation, mobility and cold-water therapy.

I ask Tony to take us through a simple breathing exercise, in real time (so you can join in, too). And we chat about the physiology of stress and how and when breathwork can help us.

In keeping with the theme of his run, we finish our chat on the topic of sustainability – the equal importance of individual and system change to protect our environment.

Tony is a really inspiring man who challenges the modern norms in society that are not in keeping with our evolution and biology. I hope you enjoy this conversation.

Thanks to our sponsors:

http://www.athleticgreens.com/livemore

https://www.vivobarefoot.com/live more

https://www.calm.com/livemore

Order Dr Chatterjee's new book Happy Mind, Happy Life: UK version and US & Canada version

Show notes available at https://drchatterjee.com/238

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