177: New Life Perspectives with Liz Larson and Bill McKenna - Episode 177177: New Life Perspectives with Liz Larson and Bill McKenna - Episode 177
UK Health Radio Podcast
Hosts Liz Larson and Bill McKenna talk with therapist and Cognomovement practitioner Sandra Nathan about her book *Becoming Your Best Self* and how curiosity, compassion and small pauses can shift long-standing emotional patterns. The conversation focuses on seeing yourself as protected rather than broken, and finding peace and genuine choice in everyday life.
45:33•21 Sept 2026
You’re Not Broken: Sandra Nathan on Becoming Your Best Self
Episode Overview
- Curiosity about your own behaviour can lead to understanding, then self-compassion, and kinder self-talk.
- Protective patterns in the nervous system are learned responses, and they can be retrained towards safety and peace.
- Small pauses—such as a slow breath and noticing your surroundings—can interrupt stress and create new experiences of calm.
- Reflecting on the “backpack” you’ve carried through life helps you recognise hidden burdens and gradual changes you’ve already made.
- Healing is a personal, ongoing process; it doesn’t need to match anyone else’s journey and it doesn’t have to be rushed.
“You are not broken. Your body has just been doing its very best to keep you safe, and there is always hope and change is possible.”
How can compelling narratives motivate and inspire others? This conversation on UK Health Radio’s *New Life Perspectives* brings together hosts Liz Larson and Bill McKenna with therapist and Cognomovement practitioner Sandra Nathan to talk about what it really means to become your “best self”. You’ll hear Sandra gently challenge the idea that anyone is broken.
After more than 20 years working therapeutically, she’s seen the same patterns across ages 17 to 87: overthinking, anxiety, poor sleep and a nagging sense of “What’s wrong with me?” Her message is simple: your nervous system has been doing its best to protect you, and change is possible. Sandra’s new book, *Becoming Your Best Self*, sits at the heart of the episode.
She describes it as an easy-to-read, bedside companion, where each chapter ends with a “pause and reflect” page. These prompts invite people to ask, “What have I been carrying?” and “Where might I offer myself more patience?” Rather than fixing yourself, she frames growth as “more fully knowing who you are”, using curiosity to move into understanding and then self-compassion.
There’s a powerful section where Sandra reads a chapter on “living from peace”, talking about small pauses, noticing your breathing, light through the window, and how gratitude can turn ordinary moments into “extraordinary gifts”. She suggests that healing quietly changes how you see life: you begin to notice what’s kind, hopeful and beautiful, instead of only what’s painful.
For anyone stuck in old emotional loops or recovery patterns, this episode offers a calm, practical route: interrupt the stress response, create tiny spaces of safety, empty the backpack you’ve carried for years, and remember, as Sandra puts it, “healing isn’t a race”. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re simply too damaged to change, this gentle chat might just help you ask a different question.
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