Contact Fiona

Let’s Connect


I work internationally with leaders, creatives, athletes, and young women in sport. If you’d like to explore working together or enquire about media, speaking, or partnerships please get in touch.

Speaking or media: lorna@oka.life

More About Fiona

If you’d like to know more about my work, background, and philosophy, here’s the fuller story.

The Thread That Runs Through My Work

I’m Fiona Murden — psychologist, award-winning author (Defining You, Mirror Thinking), and coach. Over the past 20 years I’ve profiled and supported more than a thousand people performing at the highest level: Fortune 100 CEOs, world-class surgeons, Olympic and elite athletes, and leading creatives in film, music, and fashion.

What I saw again and again was striking. Many pushed harder and harder — yet still felt stretched, anxious, or disconnected. The rare few who thrived carried something deeper: they felt whole. Grounded in themselves, connected to others, and able to perform without losing who they were.

That difference became my obsession.The Paradox

The more I looked, the clearer the paradox became. We train the body. Sometimes we train the mind. Almost never do we train them together. Even in elite sport where movement is everything, it’s rarely used as the vehicle for learning psychological skills. Yet neuroscience shows it’s one of the most powerful ways to make learning stick.

This gap is costing people their best.

The Paradox I Couldn’t Ignore

Here’s what I found across every field: we train the body, sometimes the mind — but rarely together.

Even in elite sport, where movement is everything, it’s almost never used as the vehicle for psychological growth. And yet neuroscience shows movement and thinking are inseparable. The same systems that drive action also shape identity, creativity, and resilience. When we move with others, synchrony in our brains accelerates trust, belonging, and empathy.

This gap was costing people their best.

The Turning Point

I knew this from the science. I’d written about it in my books. But it wasn’t until I moved countries and lost the safety nets I’d always relied on that the penny really dropped.

For the first time, I had to live the skills I’d spent years teaching others. And I realised: confidence, resilience, and connection can’t just sit in your head. They have to be absorbed into the body — through movement. That’s what makes them last under pressure.

From Books to Programs

  • Defining You distilled two decades of one-to-one profiling, showing how deep self-awareness unlocks performance and growth.

  • Mirror Thinking explored the neuroscience of connection — mirror systems, role models, and the power of learning through others.

The Defining You Programs bring these insights together for the first time — psychology delivered in and through movement, so the skills you learn are the ones you live.

The Programs

One-to-One Program
For leaders, professionals, and creatives under pressure. Six bespoke sessions weaving proven psychology into movement, so skills like confidence, focus, and resilience become habits you can rely on — not tips you forget.

Group Program
For young women in sport. Born out of years working with teams — and from seeing my daughter, Libby, navigate the realities of U.S. high-school and college sport. Sport gave her resilience and belonging, but also showed the weight of pressure, study, and expectation. This program uses shared movement to build confidence, resilience, and connection in ways that last.

Why This Is Different

  • Never been done before: Even at the highest level, mind and body have always been trained apart.

  • Science made practical: The same systems that drive movement also drive learning, resilience, and creativity — applied here for the first time.

  • Movement as delivery mechanism: Not exercise bolted on to psychology — movement is how the skills are learned, timed and structured to stick.

  • Hard-won insight: Two decades profiling at the sharpest edge + team work + lived experience of transition and family sport. This mix is unique — and hard to copy.

Credentials & Recognition

  • Chartered Psychologist; Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society

  • MSc Psychology, University of London, MA Business Studies, Warwick Business School, BSc Psychology, Warwick University

  • Over 1,000 leaders profiled globally

  • 20+ years in executive assessment, coaching, and performance psychology

  • Author of Defining You and Mirror Thinking

  • Speaker: London School of Economics, Cabinet Office, Red Smart Woman’s Week, American Natural History Museum, McKinsey & Co.

  • Media: BBC, The Times, Forbes, Marie Claire, Red, and more

  • Academic papers on physical activity & cognitive performance, emotional resilience in surgeons, flow, neuroscience.

What I Believe

  • Success without connection isn’t enough.

  • Knowing isn’t enough skills only last when they’re lived in the body.

  • Movement is the missing piece it turns learning into something you can count on under pressure.

  • Moving together builds belonging faster than words.

  • Psychology should be practical, human, and enjoyable not just theory or therapy.