#243 Flying and the Mind: A psychological journey with Paris Williams

Paris has been flying hang gliders his entire life, and we’re the same age— so a long time. In this episode we explore the multifaceted nature of flying and its psychological implications. Paris has a PHD in psychology and is a practicing psychologist, and he shares his own journey from a challenging childhood and coming from a pretty dark place to finding solace in the skies. We discuss the evolution of hang gliding, the thrill of aerobatics, and the importance of mental health in the sport. We get into mindfulness practices  as a means to enhance performance and maintain presence during flights and the balance between competition and enjoyment and the need to reconnect with the joy of flying. We explore the intricate balance between striving for success and enjoying the journey in flying, and how letting go of the desire for achievement often leads to much better performance.

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Episode 150- Critical Care for going Deep with Justin Grisham

Justin Grisham is an emergency medical physician, wilderness medical expert, and search and rescue volunteer who wants to get our flying community better prepared for dealing with emergencies in the field. In this fascinating and note-worthy episode we brush up on some of  Justin’s free-flight first aid curriculum: medical decision making, common paragliding injuries (what you can fix, what you can’t), the primary assessment, secondary assessment, heat and cold injuries, the use of narcotics and pain medications for victims, drowning and water risk, wound care, tourniquets and securing a scene.

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Episode 127- Hypoxia, Cold, Accident and Reserve Studies and more with Dr. Matt Wilkes

ER and Critical Care physician and paragliding hound Matt Wilkes returns to the Mayhem to share the takeaways from several large studies he’s been involved with since his last talk three years ago on hypoxia and cold; the most comprehensive study done to date on reserves; and an accident analysis study done with the BHPA and Cross Country Magazine.

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Episode 43- Matt Wilkes and Emergency Medicine, Hypoxia, and Extreme Physiology for Pilots

This is the most critical podcast episode we’ve made available to date on the show. As human flight junkies we participate in activities that let’s face it- are dangerous. In this episode we sit down with Matt Wilkes, an anaesthesia and intensive care doctor based in Edinburgh, Scotland who specializes in extreme physiology and remote medicine to walk us through best practices when things go wrong. Matt takes us through what we need to be carrying in our first aid kit; how to operate in a wilderness environment; how to assess a casualty and make a scene safe; how to care for a victim including the use of narcotics and pain killers; how having a lack of equipment and difficult access to medicine can be overcome; the affects of cold and altitude on pilots (hypoxia); how an accident scene needs to be managed; best practices for trauma management (including splinting, binding the pelvis, the lethal triad and keeping people warm, pain relief, head injuries, tourniquets…); controversies about spinal immobilization and a lot more.

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