Ruby Wax: What Interviewing Murderers And Presidents Taught Me About Gut Instinct

This week I'm joined by Ruby Wax, comedian, author and mental health advocate, and someone who has spent her life turning the most painful human experiences into something that makes us feel less alone.

We explore depression, mindfulness and what it really means to understand your own mind, not just survive it, but actually work with it.

Ruby Wax is an Emmy Award-winning writer and performer who studied neuroscience at Oxford University and went on to write the bestselling books Sane New World and A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled. Ruby founded Frazzled Café, a peer support community for people who feel overwhelmed by modern life, and has performed sell-out shows across the world on mental health. She knows what depression looks like from the inside and she has the Oxford degree to explain why

What we explore together:

*Why depression isn't about sadness and what it actually feels like from the inside
*What mindfulness does to your brain, and why Ruby had to go to Oxford before she believed it
*Why your thoughts are not you and how to create distance from the ones trying to destroy you
*What happens when you stop fighting depression and let it pass instead
*Why self compassion isn't weak or gushy — it's biological necessity
*The moment Bill Cosby humiliated Ruby on camera, and what she would do differently now
*Why Ruby feels safest in a mental institution and what that tells us about belonging

Love, Sarah Ann 💛

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
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The Great British Veg Out
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Chapters
00:01 — Introduction
03:05 — Ruby's childhood and what shaped her
05:54 — How Ruby found her voice through comedy
08:49 — Being outed by Comic Relief
11:49 — What depression actually feels like from the inside
14:59 — The neuroscience behind mental illness
17:57 — How Ruby used her illness publicly to help others
21:08 — The machine guns — living with intrusive thoughts
24:04 — How mindfulness creates distance from your thoughts
26:49 — What happens when depression takes over completely
29:52 — Why Ruby checks into a hotel instead of fighting it
32:59 — Performing in mental institutions for two years
35:55 — What mindfulness does to your brain — the science
39:04 — How to actually practise mindfulness anywhere
42:00 — Jon Kabat-Zinn and the origins of mindfulness
44:58 — Ruby's modelling career and finding what she was good at
47:58 — Why self compassion feels cringeworthy — and why it shouldn't
50:51 — The difference between mindfulness and meditation
54:01 — Ruby on relationships and what she looks for
57:01 — The OJ Simpson interview
60:04 — What it means to feel truly safe
62:59 — How Ruby met her husband
66:02 — Family history and what gets passed down
69:01 — Why Ruby feels at home in a mental institution
72:00 — How to observe your thoughts like clouds
75:02 — Ruby's upcoming tour
78:00 — The mania perfume idea
80:55 — Final thoughts on living well