Best Celibacy Meaning Podcasts (2025)

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Helen Garner on divorce, ageing and the erotic gaze - THE SHIFT REVISITED 48:53

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2d ago48:53

48:53

We're heading back to the archives for the next few weeks and first up here's one of my favourite episodes. With the desperately overdue publication of her brilliant diaries, How To End A Story, in the US and UK, the Australian novelist Helen Garner is finally, finally getting some of the credit she's due up here in the Northern hemisphere. Here's …

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Molly Jong Fast: confessions of a bad daughter 47:01

9d ago47:01

47:01

My guest today is the journalist Molly Jong Fast. The author of four books, Molly started writing about politics in 2016. She’s now a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, a political analyst for MSNBC News and host of the Fast Politics Podcast. But she is also the daughter of the novelist Erica Jong, who in the 1970s wrote a novel that became syn…

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Jo Hamilton: The Post Office scandal stole 20 years of my life 54:37

16d ago54:37

54:37

This is a really special episode and one I’m honoured to be trusted with. Because my guest today is Jo Hamilton, one of more than 700 British sub postmasters who was prosecuted between 2000 and 2014 by the Post Office. Falsely accused of stealing £36,000 Jo was ordered to put right a wrong she hadn’t committed, forced to remortgage her house and bo…

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Olia Hercules: my periods vanished when the war started 1:02:58

23d ago1:02:58

1:02:58

My guest today is the Ukrainian chef, food writer and activist Olia Hercules. Olia was born in the South of Ukraine and has lived in the UK since her late teens. After working in journalism she decided to follow her heart, her stomach and arguably her heritage, and become a chef. She trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine, worked in kitchens, i…

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Melissa Febos on what she learnt from a year of celibacy 53:37

1M ago53:37

53:37

My guest today is the author and essayist, Melissa Febos. Melissa has written four award winning books - Whip Smart, Abandon Me, Girlhood (which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the states) and Body Work. She’s won too many prizes to mention here and her writing has appeared all over the place! In her mid thirties, after, let’s just sa…

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Reeta Chakrabarti on growing older & bolder 54:04

1M ago54:04

54:04

My guest this week is the journalist and broadcaster Reeta Chakrabarti. After two decades producing and reporting for the BBC, Reeta became a news presenter at the age of 49. She was the main BBC presenter in Lviv in Western Ukraine and is now one of the chief presenters of BBC news at 6 and BBC news at 10. Brought up in Birmingham, as a teenager R…

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Jeanine Cummins on confidence, identity and surviving the American Dirt controversy 57:06

1M ago57:06

57:06

My guest today is the bestselling novelist Jeanine Cummins. You might think you haven’t heard of her, but I’ll be pretty surprised if you haven’t heard of the book that catapulted her into the public eye, American Dirt. A story about a Mexican mother and son escaping to America after their entire family is massacred by a drug cartel, which Oprah sa…

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Jennifer Weiner on Ozempic, ageing and growing some boundaries! 55:41

2M ago55:41

55:41

My guest today is the bestselling American novelist Jennifer Weiner. I first encountered Jen When her debut novel, Good In Bed, was thrust into my hands by someone I worked with on Company magazine. It was the first time I’d ever read a mainstream novel whose lead character was a fat woman who didn’t need fixing. Good In Bed was a smash hit on both…

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Naga munchetty on her 30 year battle to get her painful periods taken seriously 1:02:31

2M ago1:02:31

1:02:31

To launch season 17 (season 17! I know!) I have a very special guest. Back in 2023, British journalist and BBC breakfast and radio 5 live presenter Naga Munchetty hit the headlines when she spoke out about having been diagnosed with a gynaecological condition called adenomyosis. When I heard the clip I did a double-take because I too have adenomyos…

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Clover Stroud on grief, love, sex & sisterhood - THE SHIFT REVISITED 56:02

2M ago56:02

56:02

Last of my trips back into The Shift archives is this conversation with Clover Stroud. Since this conversation, Clover has written another memoir, The Giant on the Skyline about our relationship with home (borne in part out of moving her family from her home in Oxfordshire to Washington DC where her partner's job is based). Since then A LOT has cha…

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Tracey Thorn on being a woman in a bloke's world, hormones and going "statement grey" - THE SHIFT REVISITED 43:47

2M ago43:47

43:47

This conversation with legendary musician Tracey Thorn from one of The Shift's very early seasons is one of my very favourites. Back then covid was still a thing and these chats on zoom with incredible women were my life rafts. Anyway, we're revisiting Tracey because by the time you listen to this episode, Everything But The Girl will have very ten…

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Maggie O'Farrell on Hamnet, imposter syndrome and why she didn't think she's the marrying kind: THE SHIFT REVISITED 43:09

3M ago43:09

43:09

Back in the mists of time, Maggie O'Farrell was one of my very first guests on The Shift. So, as she celebrates the 25th anniversary of the publication of her very first novel, After You'd Gone and we wait with bated breath for the movie of her smash hit bestseller Hamnet (starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, directed by Oscar-winning director …

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The "other" Maggie Smith on her midlife reappearing act - THE SHIFT REVISITED 53:30

3M ago53:30

53:30

As we put the finishing touches to the Spring season of The Shift, I thought we'd raid the archives for a few of my favourite episodes. First up, "the other" Maggie Smith (as she says she will always be), who I first spoke to when her memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful was just creeping into the world. Little did we know back then that it …

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Lorraine Kelly on menopause, misogyny, toxic men in telly, being a granny, Botox, you name it! 1:07:00

3M ago1:07:00

1:07:00

My final guest of this season is the British TV legend, Lorraine Kelly. You know, Lorraine off the telly! Her show, Lorraine, which airs every weekday morning, revolutionised Daytime Telly, she’s now been doing it for an astonishing 40 years. She took so called soft telly and turned it into a must take notice of for politicians and people who thoug…

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Jenni Fagan: I'm 46, nobody thought I'd make it past 16 59:49

3M ago59:49

59:49

My guest today is the award winning author, screenwriter and poet Jenni Fagan. Jenni has written four novels, several poetry collections and been named Scottish novelist of the year. 18 months ago Jenni and I met in a suitably spooky basement in Edinburgh’s old town to discuss her incredible, harrowing memoir about growing up in care, Ootlin. An oo…

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Ione Skye: I'm still working on being seen in the world – and I'm 50 55:46

4M ago55:46

55:46

My guest today is a Gen X legend and someone I’ve been a little bit obsessed with ever since I saw her star in the definitive (late) 80s movie, Say Anything. Ione Skye. There was a time when It seemed like if there was a hot young actor - John Cusack, River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves - she got to snog them on screen. (I know, shallow, much.) Ione has sp…

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Denise Lewis shares her secrets for adapting to a big life shift 59:43

4M ago59:43

59:43

My guest today is a woman who knows better than most what it takes to adapt to life’s big shifts. Dame Denise Lewis is one of the UK’s best known athletes. She won gold in the heptathlon in Sydney Olympics in 2000 and bronze in Atlanta in 1996. She has won medals at the Commonwealth games, the European championships and World Championships. After r…

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Liz O'Riordan: When breast cancer surgeon becomes breast cancer patient 53:44

4M ago53:44

53:44

My guest today is Dr Liz O’Riordan. Liz is what’s apparently known in the trade as a double doctor; a breast cancer surgeon with a PhD in molecular oncology. But more than that Liz is also both expert and patient. She received her first breast cancer diagnosis aged 40. Her second aged 43 and her third, just two years ago, at the age of 48. Her expe…

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Martha Beck on creativity, anxiety & finding your life's purpose 1:07:11

4M ago1:07:11

1:07:11

I first encountered today’s guest back when I was editor of Red magazine and - for some crazy reason - went to an Oprah convention in Atlanta. I know right? I can literally hear everyone who knows me in real life laughing. So, Yes! I went to Atlanta to see Oprah but really I went to see someone else - a woman who Oprah described as “one of the smar…

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Diana Evans on expectation, ageing & turning 50 without her twin 51:04

5M ago51:04

51:04

My guest today is the novelist, journalist and critic Diana Evans. Diana is the award-winning author of four novels 26a, The Wonder, Ordinary People and A House for Alice. She has been shortlisted for countless awards including the Women’s Prize and won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Literature for Ordinary People. She has, as she puts it, been …

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Kate Fagan on success, ambition and ageing alongside the L-word! 1:02:24

5M ago1:02:24

1:02:24

This week's guest is the Emmy award-winning American journalist Kate Fagan. Kate started out playing college basketball before making the move into sports journalism. She worked for the American cable channel ESPN (for brits, that’s THE sports channel in the US) and wrote the number 1 NYT bestseller, What Made Maddy Run. Then, just before she turne…

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Miranda July on the unexpected wildness of ageing - THE SHIFT REVISITED 49:29

5M ago49:29

49:29

I was the very first person to interview Miranda July about All Fours this time last year. To say she was nervous about how it would be received was an understatement. "Will you have my back?" she asked me (and the rest of the female world) towards the end of our conversation. Yes, I said, yes we will. And how! Since then All Fours has taken the wo…

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Ruby Wax on building an emotional toolkit for the second half of your life - THE SHIFT REVISITED 51:57

5M ago51:57

51:57

Today’s guest is someone I’ve wanted to get on The Shift for the longest time. You might know Ruby Wax as a successful comedian and presenter, one of the funniest women of her generation. Or you might know her as a mental health campaigner and best-selling author. One thing’s for sure, she has been using humour to make the rest of us feel better fo…

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Dani Shapiro on family secrets and coming into your full potential at 60 - THE SHIFT REVISITED 53:36

5M ago53:36

53:36

My guest today is the bestselling writer Dani Shapiro. Dani is best known for the memoirs that made her name. Startlingly honest works of self-investigation like Slow Motion, in which she examines the questionable decisions her younger self made (let’s face it, whose younger self didn’t?). And the book that catapulted her to the top of the bestsell…

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Bryony Gordon on burnout, binge eating and perimenopause - THE SHIFT REVISITED 48:33

6M ago48:33

48:33

Today I’m delighted to welcome back one of The Shift’s very first guests, journalist and mental health campaigner Bryony Gordon. Bryony has been a columnist on the Telegraph for over 20 years and for ten of those she has been writing candidly about her own experiences of addiction and mental illness. She is the best selling author of Mad Girl and T…

Celibacy Meaning Podcasts

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Brahmacharya: Celibacy With Understanding - English Audio Book

Dada Bhagwan

1
The Shift with Sam Baker

sam baker

1
Undivided Devotion

Lane Burkholder

1
The Relatable Podcast

Vicky Walker

1
Helen Garner on divorce, ageing and the erotic gaze - THE SHIFT REVISITED 48:53

1
Molly Jong Fast: confessions of a bad daughter 47:01

1
Jo Hamilton: The Post Office scandal stole 20 years of my life 54:37

1
Olia Hercules: my periods vanished when the war started 1:02:58

1
Melissa Febos on what she learnt from a year of celibacy 53:37

1
Reeta Chakrabarti on growing older & bolder 54:04

1
Jeanine Cummins on confidence, identity and surviving the American Dirt controversy 57:06

1
Jennifer Weiner on Ozempic, ageing and growing some boundaries! 55:41

1
Naga munchetty on her 30 year battle to get her painful periods taken seriously 1:02:31

1
Clover Stroud on grief, love, sex & sisterhood - THE SHIFT REVISITED 56:02

1
Tracey Thorn on being a woman in a bloke's world, hormones and going "statement grey" - THE SHIFT REVISITED 43:47

1
Maggie O'Farrell on Hamnet, imposter syndrome and why she didn't think she's the marrying kind: THE SHIFT REVISITED 43:09

1
The "other" Maggie Smith on her midlife reappearing act - THE SHIFT REVISITED 53:30

1
Lorraine Kelly on menopause, misogyny, toxic men in telly, being a granny, Botox, you name it! 1:07:00

1
Jenni Fagan: I'm 46, nobody thought I'd make it past 16 59:49

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Ione Skye: I'm still working on being seen in the world – and I'm 50 55:46

1
Denise Lewis shares her secrets for adapting to a big life shift 59:43

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Liz O'Riordan: When breast cancer surgeon becomes breast cancer patient 53:44

1
Martha Beck on creativity, anxiety & finding your life's purpose 1:07:11

1
Diana Evans on expectation, ageing & turning 50 without her twin 51:04

1
Kate Fagan on success, ambition and ageing alongside the L-word! 1:02:24

1
Miranda July on the unexpected wildness of ageing - THE SHIFT REVISITED 49:29

1
Ruby Wax on building an emotional toolkit for the second half of your life - THE SHIFT REVISITED 51:57

1
Dani Shapiro on family secrets and coming into your full potential at 60 - THE SHIFT REVISITED 53:36

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Bryony Gordon on burnout, binge eating and perimenopause - THE SHIFT REVISITED 48:33