Harriet Waley-Cohen, Ian Young, and Drew Lawson on connection with self

This week our podcast centres on our connection with self, our friend Harriet Waley-Cohen interviews Ian Young and Drew Lawson. We’d like to thank Harriet for guest-hosting the podcast, we’re always grateful for her contributions toward Club Soda.

Ian Young runs a recovery centre on the island of Koh Phanang, and Drew is a Holistic Therapist. In this interview, they get stuck into how they’ve found a deeper connection to self, as well as to those around them through sobriety. They discuss the physical expectations we place on ourselves to appear and appeal in certain ways, and delve into spiritual practices that they have found helpful in their journey through sobriety.

Ian has a sober community around him and they enjoy dancing at the various parties on the island. At the peak of his pre-sobriety partying, Ian was using drink and drugs. He wasn’t nourishing his body with food, and was hooked on sweet drinks like Malibu and Baileys. When he got sober, he worked in chocolate, and in this interview he talks about how he switched out those sweet drinks for a chocolate habit. He’s trying to reduce this at the moment. Since becoming sober he says he feels he has found a connection with self that was always meant to be. He has become the person he was destined to be, and has let go of the need for external validation.

Drew uses spiritual practice to find that connection with self. He meditates, and focusses on finding energy from yourself, rather than from external sources such as drugs and alcohol. Drew believes that being in service to others and dissolving selfish intent is the key to rebuilding a sense of self worth and connection with our true selves.

The discussion turns to relationships, how to get comfortable with relationships coming to an end, and how to find comfort in being single. Sex and self-pleasure are also part of the conversation, as well as finding the things in life that truly make you feel happy and fulfilled.