How have you been feeling in your lockdown bubble? Anxious? Sad? Lonely? Calm? Peaceful? Joyful? Or perhaps you've been feeling numb and unable to connect to your emotions at all? Perhaps like me, you've been experiencing all of these states, moment to moment?

I've been watching myself from a safe distance these last few weeks, clocking my responses to this unfolding crisis with detached fascination...

In these turbulent times, to keep myself grounded, I've been retreating to my meditation cushion. It greets me with open arms and holds me while I tune in to where I'm at, let go of whatever's been building up and draw in courage, curiosity and compassion. 

I'd like to share a loving kindness meditation that came to me the other morning. It brought me comfort and ease and helped me feel connected to the human race. I hope it'll do the same for you.

Holly Stoppit Workshops' poet-in-residence has struck again! 

Beccy Golding, my wonder-administrator, workshop co-ordinator and poet-in-residence has captured the essence of our most recent dreaming day in a poem.

Join us as we wend our way through a day of exploring our roles, dreams and fantasies for our ever expanding clowning and fooling empire!

Have you ever found yourself in a supermarket, standing stock still, staring at the carrots, unable to figure out whether you need carrots? What would you use them for anyway? What's the point in carrots? Or food in general? Or standing up? In fact, what's the point of anything that isn't lying quietly in the soft, muffled sanctuary of your bed? Would anyone notice if you were to crawl into the carrots and have a little nap?

Welcome to the Land of Burn Out!

Wowee! 2019 was a year of accelerated growth! From telly, to TED, to talking gigs, via idiot incubation, clown consultancy and taking time off! Here's a look back through 2019.

I'm sitting in Paddington station, beaming the happy glow of a play-geek who's spent a full day of contemplating the nature of play with a gang of fired-up play enthusiasts. 

I was invited up to London by the Wellcome Collection, to speak at their 'Perspectives On Play' symposium...

On the 17th November 2019, I stood on the infamous red dot on the middle of Bristol Old Vic's main stage and spoke to an audience of hundreds about my life and my work. It was filmed from several different angles and the resulting edited film will exist in the ether for the rest of time.

You could say “Wow” or you could say “What an insane thing for a tiny person who has spent a life time suffering with chronic stage fright to do!

I've just been up to BBC Bristol, to have a chat with Johnny Ray about my upcoming TED talk. 

Last week, a recent Intro To Clown student sent me a questionnaire. She's doing a research project about the use of positive feedback in creative learning environments. I happened to have a very long train journey - all the way from Glasgow to Bristol, would you believe? I thought – what better way to pass the time than to joyfully grapple with the subject of positive feedback. I'd like to share some of what I wrote with you, dear reader. I hope it's useful.