Steven Webb
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Podcast episodes

The First 30 Seconds: Why Every Feeling Is a Gift

Links to Steven Webb’s podcast and how you can support his work.

The First 30 Seconds: Why Every Feeling Is a Gift

Your body’s fear response is not a fault. It is thirty seconds of something brilliant.

You hear two cars crash outside your door, or a horn behind you, or the word “bear” round a campfire, and before you have thought a single thought your body has already moved. This week I walk through what actually happens in those first thirty seconds, a bit of it borrowed from David Ji’s book Destressify. The adrenaline, the heart, the sugar your liver lets go, the hands that go cold so a cut would bleed less. None of it a malfunction. All of it the body doing the most competent, protective thing it knows.

Then I want to go further than the science. Fear is a gift. So is anxiety, alertness, even stress. We are taught to get rid of them, and I once sat on a show whose whole aim was to delete fear for good. I spent every break arguing the other way. The trouble is never the feeling. The trouble is when it takes over, when it runs eight hours a day, when it stops you doing the things you want to do. So we keep the whole stick, the joyful end and the hard end, instead of chopping the bad bits off and ending up with nothing. We hear the feeling, we understand it, we let it be there, and then we decide. Hear it, then decide. That is the whole thing.

Key topics:

  • What really happens in the body’s first thirty seconds, step by step
  • Why none of it is a malfunction, and why the calm ones round the campfire did not survive
  • Fear, anxiety, stress and alertness as gifts, and the show that wanted to delete fear
  • The healthy and unhealthy version of every feeling, including the misread “everything is just thoughts” version of Zen
  • The stick you keep chopping, and why you end up unable to tell the joy from the pain
  • Only ever seeing three colours, and what we miss when we numb the spectrum
  • The five second gap, and hearing the feeling before you decide what to do

Companion meditation: IPM 104 on Inner Peace Meditations. [insert IPM 104 title]

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If this episode meant something to you, please share it, leave a review, or treat me to a coffee: stevenwebb.uk

With thanks this week to:

A warm welcome to Susan, a brand new monthly supporter.

And a special word for Stuart, who reached two years as a monthly supporter this week. That is not a small thing.

To everyone who supported the show across these past two weeks: Addie, Amy, Barbara, Michael, Karen, Laura, David, Jenna and Mia, and Johnny.

And the kind anonymous souls and everyone on Insight Timer. You keep this podcast advert-free. Thank you.

Evening Meditation: Letting the Day Settle Down

Stevens new course: Finding Peace in Everyday Life (you choose how much to pay)

Meditation teacher Steven Webb offers a short evening practice for the moment when work is done but the day has not quite left the body. Around six minutes of quiet noticing for anyone coming home with the day still held in jaw, shoulders, and breath. Gentle, undemanding, and suitable for any seat, sofa, or floor.

Who this meditation is for

  • The commuter who has walked through the front door and still cannot feel home
  • The parent who has finished the day’s tasks and is still carrying the day’s noise
  • The remote worker who closed the laptop an hour ago and is still pacing the kitchen
  • Anyone whose shoulders are up by their ears at eight in the evening
  • The one who knows the day is over but cannot quite put it down

Key benefits

  • Releases the day’s residue from jaw, shoulders, and the small space behind the eyes
  • Marks a clear threshold between the working self and the rest of the evening
  • Settles the body without asking for any particular outcome
  • Three quiet wishes to let what was done, what came, and what is unfinished rest
  • Short enough to do before dinner, long enough to make a difference

If you’d like to contact Steven or support his work, go to https://stevenwebb.uk

Waking Up to Body Betrayal: How to Find Peace in the Pain

Links to Steven Webb’s podcast and how you can support his work.

Waking Up to Body Betrayal: How to Find Peace in the Pain

Your body isn’t letting you down. It’s been carrying you all along.

Do you ever wake up and just know it’s going to hurt the second you move? I do. Most mornings. This week I want to talk about what to do with a body that feels like it’s letting you down, betraying you, or just isn’t what it used to be. About the soldiers inside you that have been quietly repairing you all night and why they get tired. About the difference between pain (the fact) and suffering (the story you add on top). And about an ancient violin, which turned out to be the image I needed for the body I’ve been carrying for thirty years.

We are in a partnership with this body. It is not the enemy. It is the only one we get.

Key topics:

  • The morning moment when the body hurts before you’ve even moved
  • The soldiers inside you who repair you every night, and why they get tired as we age
  • Why we treat the body as the enemy when really we are this body
  • The “where are you, really?” tennis-ball thought experiment
  • The difference between pain (the fact) and suffering (the story we add)
  • Treating your body like an ancient violin: more careful, more respectful, a different tune

Companion meditation: A Morning Meditation for the Body You Wake Into – a gentle, lying-down practice for that moment before the day begins. Find it on Inner Peace Meditations.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If this episode meant something to you, please share it, leave a review, or treat me to a coffee: stevenwebb.uk

With thanks this week to (this is actually three weeks worth):

New monthly supporter: Sin.

Monthly supporters whose contributions came in this cycle: Ellen, Dominique, Adam, Annie, Joe, Sujata, Senga, Jack, Glenn, Denise, Laurie, Audra, Rosie, Laura, Kasia, Megan, Alison, Mallory, Elizabeth, Stefan, Barb, Cheryl, Katarzyna, Jill, Tracey, Hannah, Emmanuelle, Rita, Julie, Daniel, María.

And the kind anonymous souls and everyone on Insight Timer. You keep this podcast advert-free. Thank you.

A Morning Meditation for the Body You Wake Into

Stevens new course: Finding Peace in Everyday Life (you choose how much to pay)

A gentle, lying-down practice for the moment before the day begins.

Most of us meet our body for the first time each day in those first few minutes after waking, before we move. The shoulders that ache. The back that protests. The first stretch that tells us what kind of day we’re going to negotiate with.

This is a meditation for that moment. It’s permissive, soft, and meant to be done lying down, before you get up. We move slowly through the body and ask one simple question of each part: what do you need today? You may not get a clear answer. The practice is the asking, not the answer.

Suitable for anyone navigating a changing body, chronic pain, the ordinary aches of getting older, or simply a tired morning. Stay in bed for this one if you can.

Companion episode: Waking Up to Body Betrayal: How to Find Peace in the Pain on the Stillness in the Storms podcast. On the soldiers inside you, the difference between pain and the story you add, and the ancient violin you wake into.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If this meditation meant something to you, please share it, leave a review, or treat me to a coffee: stevenwebb.uk

Take care of yourself.

"I'm Fine": When It's Armour, When It's Honest, and How to Tell

Links to Steven Webb’s podcast and how you can support his work.

Two words I have said roughly 25,000 times. Most of them on autopilot.

Description

Two words. Probably the most common two words spoken in the English language. Two words I say almost every single morning, and you probably do too. I’m fine. In this episode I work out that I have said it about 25,000 times to my carers over the last 35 years, and almost none of those times did I actually stop and think about it. I want to look at why we say it, what it costs us, and what happens when we don’t. There is a Brené Brown quote, an old Zen master story I have always loved, a Thursday afternoon last week where I cried for 20 minutes and then bought a book on Amazon, and a small image about letting go before your hand hurts. You don’t have to stop saying I’m fine. You just have to notice when you do.

Key Topics

  • 25,000 mornings, two carers, and the most automatic answer in my life
  • Why “I’m fine” is armour, and why armour is not always the wrong thing to wear
  • The three reasons we wear it (and why “just think positive” is the worst advice in self help)
  • The cost of saying it on autopilot, especially to the people who actually want to hear you
  • An old Zen story about a master on his deathbed who said the most enlightened thing he could have said
  • Brené Brown on numbing emotions, and why you cannot block only the bad weather
  • A real Thursday afternoon I sat here and cried for 20 minutes, then immediately bought a book
  • The hand metaphor: I let go a little earlier than I used to, before my hand hurts

Companion Meditation

When Anxiety Visits (IPM101). Five minutes. You sit down, you say hello to whatever is actually here, and you ask it why it came. It is the practical opposite of saying “I’m fine.” Available on Insight Timer, Aura, and the Inner Peace Meditations podcast.

If this episode meant something to you, please share it, leave a review, or treat me to a coffee at stevenwebb.uk.

Supporters

Alex, Nina, Zoe, A Ma, Kevin, Katarzyna, Deborah, Christopher, and Ariel for recent coffees and PayPal donations.

Special thanks: MumMik’s Cleaning Services for buying a course this week.

You keep this podcast advert free.

When Anxiety Visits: A Quick Meditation for Anxious Moments

Stevens new course: Finding Peace in Everyday Life (you choose how much to pay)

Description:

Meditation teacher Steven Webb offers a short grounding meditation for those moments when anxiety has already shown up. Rather than trying to push it away, you greet it. You sit with it. You ask it why it came, and you listen, the way you’d listen to a friend who turned up at the door looking pale. It’s the practice of meeting an unwelcome feeling with curiosity instead of war.

Who this meditation is for:

  • Anyone with anxiety rising in the middle of a busy day
  • People who have been told to “calm down” or “breathe through it” and found that doesn’t reach the actual feeling
  • Listeners who want a quick reset, not a long sit
  • Anyone who has tried suppressing anxiety and found it gets louder

Key benefits:

  • A practical way to meet anxiety with curiosity rather than fight it
  • A short reset you can do anywhere (bus, desk, car park, between meetings)
  • A simple loving kindness close: may I be peaceful, may I be safe, may I trust this moment
  • Pairs with this week’s Stillness in the Storms episode on dropping the “I’m fine” armour

If you’d like to contact Steven or support his work, go to https://stevenwebb.uk

The Garden for Deep Sleep – (A Sleep Meditation)

Stevens new course: Finding Peace in Everyday Life (you choose how much to pay)

The Garden for Deep Sleep. A Spring Meditation for Drifting Off (Inner Peace Meditations Episode 100)

Description In this special 100th episode of Inner Peace Meditations, meditation teacher Steven Webb invites you into a small walled garden that only grows at night, and only when someone is resting there. Tonight, that someone is you. You settle onto a cushioned old bench, your body softens with each breath, and the garden quietly fills in around you. Bare earth becomes green shoots. Climbing roses thread the stone walls. Lavender and jasmine drift through the night air. There is nothing to do tonight except rest. Your stillness is the gardening.

A soft, slow meditation with a quiet nod to spring, designed to send you to sleep. Listen somewhere safe. You are not meant to make it to the end.

Who this meditation is for

  • Anyone who struggles to fall asleep
  • People with overactive minds at bedtime
  • Anyone who feels they should still be doing something, even at rest
  • Listeners who love gentle nature visualisations
  • Anyone marking the turn of the season into spring

Key benefits

  • Helps the body let go of the day
  • Quiets the mind enough for sleep to find you
  • Releases the pressure to make sleep happen
  • Encourages the listener to feel held by something gentle and unhurried
  • A soft place to land at the end of a long day

If you’d like to contact Steven or support his work, go to https://stevenwebb.uk

8 Billion Minds. Why Meditation Doesn't Work for Everyone (And What You Can Do About It)

Links to Steven Webb’s podcast and how you can support his work.

There are eight billion minds in the world, and not one of them was made to fit the same cushion.

Description

This week I want to talk about why meditation works beautifully for some people and barely at all for others, and why no single teacher, book or technique was ever going to be the answer for everybody. I tell the story of my own rock bottom at forty, a Saturday afternoon in town with a broken wheelchair and a security guard who said nothing but meant everything. From there to the slow accidental discovery of meditation through As a Man Thinketh, and what it really means to live with an ADHD mind that refuses to sit still. We’re all on our own road. The world wasn’t designed for you, or me, or any of us. But you can widen your road, push your boundaries, and stop trying to fit into a shape that was never yours.

Key Topics

  • Why one meditation method will never work for eight billion different minds
  • The night I hit rock bottom, and the kindness that started everything
  • Reading As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, and why ten books saying the same thing is hard to ignore
  • Neuroplasticity, and how you can widen your road even if you can’t change it
  • ADHD, dyslexia and finding ways to meditate when your mind refuses to be quiet
  • Why accepting yourself is so much easier than trying to change everyone else

If this episode meant something to you, please share it, leave a review, or treat me to a coffee at stevenwebb.uk.

Supporters Thanked in Episode

Suzanne, Maria, Michael, Tiffany, Ellen, Kathleen, Edyll, Nicola, Jess, Lynette, Linda, Laura, Yavuz, and a few kind anonymous souls.

Special thanks: Jane, marking one year as a monthly supporter on 15th April 2026.

You keep this podcast advert free.

Peace Right Where You Are

Stevens new course: Finding Peace in Everyday Life (you choose how much to pay)

A Simple Meditation You Can Do Anywhere

A simple five minute meditation for anyone with a busy mind, no time, or no quiet place to sit.

Description

If you’ve tried meditation but your mind won’t stop, if you’ve put it down because it felt like one more thing you were doing wrong, or if you just don’t have a quiet place to sit properly, this is for you.

A simple five minute guided meditation you can do right where you are. A chair, a bus, your bed, a waiting room. No cushion, no special room, no perfect silence required. Just breath, thoughts, and the awareness behind both.

You won’t be asked to clear your mind. You won’t be asked to picture anything. You’ll simply notice what is already here. Because peace is not something you create. It is already here. This meditation helps you notice it.

This is the companion to this week’s Stillness in the Storms episode (EP164: Demystifying Meditation: What You Need to Know).

Who this is for

  • Beginners who feel they don’t know how to meditate
  • People with racing thoughts, overthinking, or an anxious mind
  • Anyone coming back to meditation after stopping
  • People with ADHD or minds that won’t settle
  • Anyone short on time, space, or quiet
  • People who have tried meditation before and felt they were doing it wrong

What it will help with

  • Calming a busy or anxious mind
  • Reducing stress in the moment
  • Finding a pause between thought and reaction
  • Coming back to the present when you feel overwhelmed
  • Building a meditation practice when life is loud

Sign off

These meditations are free because of listeners who support them. If this helped you, you can treat me to a coffee at stevenwebb.uk. No adverts. No sponsors. Ever.

Demystifying Meditation: What You Need to Know

Links to Steven Webb’s podcast and how you can support his work.

Back to Basics: Why Meditate?

The honest case for meditation, not as something you do on a cushion, but for the moments that actually run your life.

You’ve tried meditation. Maybe you dip in and out of it. You feel a little better for a few days, then life gets loud and you forget. Then you snap at someone, or you fire off the email you regret, and you think “I know better than this.” This episode is for you, and honestly, it’s for me too.

In this back to basics episode, I bust the biggest myths about meditation. I talk about why we don’t meditate to clear the mind, why five minutes really is enough, why a wandering mind is not a failed mind, and why the real test of meditation is not how peaceful you feel on the cushion, but how you handle the family barbecue, the doctor’s waiting room, and the colleague who winds you up.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing meditation wrong, this is your invitation to start again. Simply, honestly, and from wherever you are.

Key topics

  • Why meditation matters in real life, not just on the cushion
  • The seven biggest myths about meditation, busted
  • The gap between thought and reaction, and why it’s the whole game
  • Why little and often beats long and rare
  • How to know if your meditation practice is actually working

Companion meditation

Inner Peace Meditations #99: Finding Peace Here and Now. A simple five minute guided meditation to go with this episode. No visualisation, no setup, no special place. Just breath, thoughts, and the peace that’s already here.

With thanks to Sin, Margaret, Annie, Melike, Helen, Laura, Adam, Dominique, and a special welcome to Linda who has just joined as a new monthly supporter. You are the reason this podcast stays advert free.

If this episode meant something to you, please share it with someone who might need it, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or treat me to a coffee at stevenwebb.uk.