Qantas has announced that the Slow Home podcast, an independent Australian health and wellness podcast, will be featured in its on-demand inflight entertainment from October 2016.

Qantas will include four independent shows hosted by Omny Studio as part of the continued evolution of its on-demand inflight entertainment system.

Other shows to be included in the roster include We Fact Up, Women’s Health – Live Better Radio and The Disruptive Entrepreneur.

The new in-flight entertainment offerings provide more choice to customers looking for variety, while also exposes some of Australia’s local podcast talent to an international audience.

OmnyStudio, head of content Matt Saraceni said the announcement is recognition of the fast growing podcast movement, that has seen over 40 per cent growth in the last three years.

The announcement comes as the podcast hosted and produced by health and wellness blogger Brooke McAlary reached a significant listener milestone earlier this year recording 1 million downloads within a year of its creation.

The Slow Home podcast is part of the Jackrabbit.FM network of seven shows that has a combined monthly listenership of over 150,000 downloads

Brooke McAlary, host and producer of the Slow Home podcast said that she created the podcast to help people who are “over-worked, over-committed and over-stressed.”

“There is an ever-growing group of people who are saying no to life lived at 110 per cent. They are opting to slow down, simplify, say no and focus on the things that are truly important. I’m one of them, and in The Slow Home Podcast I chat to others who have adopted a similar approach to life – slowing down, opting out, saying no,” McAlary said.

The iTunes #1 Health Podcast is designed to help spread the idea of a slower pace of life to an international audience.

“The podcast is structured in an easy to understand way and takes listeners through ways to learn what makes people change, how life is different once you adopt a slower way of life, and what their advice is to anyone looking to get out of the fast lane,” McAlary said.

It was a brutal case of postnatal depression after the birth of her second child that served as the burning platform and caused her to reassess her consumerism and set about her road of helping others in similar situations.

“I realised a lot of my self-worth was tied up in the things I owned.

“We had a two-car garage that was full of stuff, a wardrobe crammed with clothes and a spare bedroom filled with toys my kids never played with,” said McAlary.

Brooke and her husband Ben, who co-hosts the podcast, tried a massive garage cull but it quickly became clear that going gung ho was too overwhelming, so they started tackling one small thing at a time, such as the home entry, her handbag and each kitchen drawer — which included getting rid of heaps of unused appliances.

Brooke now only owns 40 pieces of clothing.

“I started to get back in touch with what was important as I cut away the clutter and the stuff that we’d accumulated.

“Some people really love their stuff and I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that. It’s when there is a mindless grab and people hold onto things out of fear or obligation that it starts to become problematic.” McAlary said