From London to the valley
Richard recently joined Todd McLaughlin on the Native Yoga Toddcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the road that led him from a fast-paced life in London to acupuncture, yoga teaching, and now facilitating here at Moinhos Velhos. It's a conversation about slowing down deliberately, rather than being forced to.
Where yoga meets Chinese medicine
Much of the episode explores the overlap between yoga and Traditional Chinese Medicine — two very different traditions that end up mapping the same territory, the body's internal networks, from different directions. Richard talks through how acupuncture, movement and time outdoors work together to settle the nervous system, and why he thinks of the two systems as complementary languages for the same underlying intelligence.
Nature as part of the medicine
Richard also talks about why nature isn't a luxury add-on to wellness but essential to it — how simply being outdoors, away from screens and schedules, does real, measurable work on a stressed nervous system. It's a theme guests here will recognise immediately: much of what happens during a week at Moinhos Velhos isn't the juices or the yoga classes themselves, but the accumulated effect of a week spent mostly outside, off your phone, and on Algarve time.
Community and heart-led leadership
The conversation also turns to what it takes to hold space for people going through genuine transformation — the value of shared vulnerability, heart-centred leadership, and building a community around a retreat rather than simply running a business. It's a good listen if you're curious about the thinking behind what happens here, beyond the daily rhythm.
The full episode is on YouTube, or search for the Native Yoga Toddcast wherever you get your podcasts.
