Successful AF Pod
Successful AF is the podcast for high-achieving women who've checked all the boxes but still feel empty inside, exploring how to redefine success without sacrificing your sanity. Join host Jess West as she interviews women who've cracked the code on setting boundaries, ditching perfectionism, and building a life that's truly successful AF.
Successful AF Pod
From Police Officer to Wellness Entrepreneur - Clare Muncey
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In this episode of Successful AF, host Jess West interviews Clare Muncey, a former Metropolitan Police officer who made a dramatic career transition from the Riot Squad to becoming a yoga teacher and social entrepreneur.
Clare's career transformation journey from a high-stress police career to finding peace and purpose through yoga business is profoundly inspiring. She shares intimate stories of overcoming burnout, navigating dark moments, and discovering the healing power of yoga practice. Clare emphasises the importance of authentic self-care, consistent practice, and creating safe, inclusive spaces where people can heal, connect, and reignite their inner flame.
Perfect for listeners seeking career change inspiration, wellness career paths, stress management strategies, and entrepreneurship motivation for building a purpose-driven business.
About Clare Muncey
Clare spent 17 years as a Metropolitan Police officer, working in demanding roles including domestic violence and the riot squad. She first stepped onto a yoga mat seeking stress relief from her consuming police career, though her practice remained inconsistent for years. What began as a tiny, barely watered seed slowly grew and flourished as Clare pursued yoga teacher training in Greece and India, evolving into a winding, life-changing career pivot.
Today, Clare runs "I am the Storm Yoga" from a beautiful watermill in North Norfolk, UK, where she facilitates heartfelt, intuitive classes as a yoga entrepreneur. She believes accessible yoga is for everyone, regardless of mental or physical starting points, and that it can bring joy, passion, connection, and the chance to trust and love who we really are. As a social entrepreneur, Clare supports various charities, including domestic violence organisations and dog rescue charities, embodying purpose-driven business principles.
Connect with Clare:
Instagram: @Iamthestormyoga Website: https://www.iamthestormyoga.com
Reflection Questions for Career Change
- What would it look like to redefine success as an "inward journey"?
- How can you create more space in your life for authentic connections and self-care practices?
- What wellness practices help you navigate the "duality of life"?
- Where in your life are you chasing rather than attracting career fulfillment?
Key Takeaways
This conversation reminds us that no matter where we're starting from, we have the power to completely reimagine our lives through career transformation. Clare's story is proof that our greatest challenges often become our greatest teachers, and that healing through career change - while not easy - is always possible. Her journey from police officer to yoga entrepreneur shows that authentic career success comes from alignment with your true purpose.
Love this episode? Hit subscribe and leave us a review! And if you know someone who's redefining success on their own terms, nominate them at successfulafpod@gmail.com - we're always looking for incredible people to feature.
Connect with Jess: Instagram: @compasscoaching.co Website: www.compasscoachingandyoga.com
Love this episode? Hit subscribe and leave us a review! And if you know someone who's redefining success on their own terms, nominate them at successfulafpod@gmail.com - we're always looking for incredible people to feature.
Connect with Jess:
Instagram: @kalicoaching.co
Website: www.kalicoaching.co.uk
And actually it's the time in my life where I have the least, like, I have the least material possessions, I have the least societal labels. And I am enough. 50% namaste. 50% fuck off. we are seen as these like lovely yogi spiritual types, but at the end of the day, you are there to set. Clearer boundaries to stop people pleasing because you are just abandoning yourself every time you people please or you let someone walk all over you,
Meet Clare Walton: From Riot Squad to Yoga Teacher
Speaker 7What if everything you've been told about success is wrong? Welcome to Successful AF the podcast for people who've checked all the boxes but still feel empty inside. You know the story. Perfect cv, impressive job title, great salary. Everyone thinks you've got it all figured out, but behind closed doors, you're working yourself into the ground and wondering why success feels so completely exhausting whilst fantasizing about opening a jam shop in the country. Or perhaps that's just me. I'm Jess West. I'm a career and leadership coach, and I also have a full-time corporate job. I've been exactly where you are. Corporate climber by day, anxious mess by night until I realized the game was rigged from the start. Each week on successful af, we are rewriting the rules. No more grinding until you break. No more pretending perfection is a superpower. No more building your worth. On other people's score cards, we'll hear from people who've cracked the code, the ones who've set actual boundaries that stick and learn to succeed without sacrificing their sanity. This isn't your typical lean in and work harder advice. This is about dismantling the achievement trap and building something better, because here's the truth, you can be successful without being miserable. You can be ambitious without being anxious, and you can finally stop feeling like a fraud in your own life. Ready to get successful af. Get yourself a cup of tea. Take yourself out for a walk, hit subscribe, and let's burn down the old playbook together.
Building a Yoga Community
Today I'm joined by Claire Walton, whose story is one of the most profound transformations I've ever encountered. I met Claire in India in early 2023 and was immediately drawn to her. She has the most magnetic personality and is just infectious to be around. Claire's journey from Riot squad police officer to yoga teacher and social entrepreneur is nothing short of extraordinary, and it's a testament to the power of radical self-discovery. What began as an inconsistent yoga practice, as Claire describes it, a tiny seed seeking solace from the consuming demands of police work eventually grew into a life-changing path that would take Claire from Greece to India, and ultimately to her true calling. But this transformation wasn't easy. Claire's story includes some of life's most challenging experiences, and today she speaks with the raw honesty about the darkness she faced and how yoga became her pathway to healing. Claire's approach to yoga is deeply personal and intuitive. She believes yoga is accessible to everyone regardless of mental or physical starting points, and that it has the power to help us clear old stories, trauma and conditioning that we carry in our bodies. Through her heartfelt teaching, Claire creates spaces where people can find joy, connection, and the courage to love who they really are. Her journey reminds us that healing isn't about bypassing difficult emotions. It's about sitting with them, moving through them, and discovering that even when life dampens are in a flame, it never truly goes out. Today Claire shares how she learned to redefine success, build authentic community, and create a life where she feels most fulfilled with the least possessions. This is a conversation about transformation, resilience, and the courage to completely reimagine your life no matter where you're starting from. Just a quick content warning. This episode contains discussion of fertility struggles, suicidal thoughts, and domestic violence. Please take care of yourself while listening and reach out for support if needed. So today's guest. Claire. Hi. I'm so excited that you are here. I think you've got an amazing story. So let's start with that. Tell us your story,
Speaker 2right, Jess? God, it's a lot, right? So I met you, didn't I? In India, we were on our Vinyasa training and we hit it off and we both got a love for creativity and writing and all that sort of beautiful, heartfelt stuff. But it wasn't, it's never really been my world. So my background is, that I was metropolitan police officer for 17 years and I was on the riot squad. I was heavily, heavily in masculine energy as a survival technique. And I was a riot squad, police training instructor, the PTI for the guys there and stuff like that. And I had to be really tough. But it wasn't really me. I'm not a toughie at all. I'm a big softie. But we do these things to survive spent 17 years in the Met and I had all sorts of really interesting different roles. I worked in domestic violence. I worked on some seriously sneaky beaky operations and, just had a wonderful time of it. But I was burning out. The first time I stepped onto a yoga mat, was when I was working in domestic violence because it's just such a, i words fail me still that just, it's such a difficult environment, for the victims, for the police officers trying to secure the convictions. It is just the most soul destroying world for everybody involved in it. I will tell you a bit more. We've gone full circle with our work around domestic violence now, but I was definitely burning out. There was no work life balance. I didn't take very good care of myself. There was no lunch breaks, long, long hours, like literally 18 hour days, and you would turn around and have few hours sleep and you'd be going back into work again. So it was really, really just the way of the job. I loved it as well because I'm absolutely a fixer if someone's got a problem I really, I don't really do surface level conversation. I wanna know your deepest, darkest wounds. Amen. If there's anything I can do to facilitate some joy and better healing, moving towards some healing around that, that's my world. So because of stepping onto a map the first time through, being in domestic violence. I had a very inconsistent practice that wasn't watered well. It was a little seed that was blooming, but it wasn't well watered. And I just went every now and then I started counseling as well.'cause my relationships were shit in the place. Yeah. There was no like time for really anything personal to take place. And it is that thing, Jess, you'd go to like parties and you'd have this really successful police career and you were literally, doing the most amazing, operations and stuff in central London. And then you'd sit with someone who'd just be like, oh, still not married. They'd be like. And you'd come away and you'd feel like this, I'm failing, I'm failing in so many areas. So that's where I started to align to different people that, that weren't living that life because it's never really been my, it's never really been my path to be this person that follows what maybe society does. I've always been a little bit different. That's wild mates, isn't it? Let's be honest. So yeah. So I ended up leaving the police and it was a little bit of a transition period. Actually got married during that time and I was really struggling with a transition from having this full on career where you were really needed. It was a huge part of my personality. It was a huge part of my identity. And then I got married into this world where. I was kind of shoehorned a little bit into this Disney princess world for a little while. I'm more of a Disney witch than the Princess, so unfortunately that marriage didn't work out. But during that marriage we also navigated try and have children, and I had failed, adoption and failed IVF. So that was a real lot to navigate and that really put me on my rock bottom. So that was the toughest thing that I navigated personally. But it put me on a healing path and I, I was really lucky in that I did find a good counselor, a good coach, and obviously these things cost money and I could afford to do that. But now. I think there are ways that we can still work with healing without having to always spend lots of money. And that's hopefully what we are trying to now facilitate. I went on this amazing, retreat with a wonderful lady who I know, the completion coach she basically, said to me, what are you gonna do? I booked a teacher training course for yoga. And she said, what are you gonna do with that teacher training Claire? And I was like, oh, I don't know. I'm, I'm mid forties. I'm too fat, I'm too old. I reeled off this list of limiting beliefs and I was on a retreat to overcome self living beliefs. so she was like, oh, we need a little bit of work here, Claire. So, she said to me, I think you should teach, I think you should name your group. I think you should get your village hall and I think you should do it before you go on your course. And I looked at her and I was like, are you mad? Like, who would do that? So then she turned around to me and she said, no, Claire, you've gotta go for this. So I did that, Jess. And before my teacher training, I had named my group, I am the Storm yoga. which again has got a. Meaning behind the name, you know, about quelling our inner storms and had a little bit of divine guidance on the name while I was on holiday as well. On one occasion, I found a boat with exactly the same name while I was toying around with the name for the group. so I named the group and then halfway through my initial training, which was with Miriam Injuries, who's incredible in Greece, I found that my first class was fully booked and I hadn't even finished the course. And I was like, so I was really scared. I went to the village hall, came back from training, did my first class. And it was awful. I was full of imposter syndrome. I didn't get my, I'm sure your class wasn't
Speakerawful
Speaker 2having sat in your classes,
SpeakerBut yes,
Creating a Safe Space for Healing
Speaker 2I didn't get my words out. My music was too loud. Someone complained. I had a supporting teacher there who thought I'd missed half the sequence. So she came over halfway through and went, Claire, you've missed it. And I went, no, no, I'm getting to it. Anyway, so I left that day and I went home and I sat there, Jess, and I was like, what am I doing? then those little messages came through. Really enjoyed last night's class. Claire, can I come? Are you gonna do more? So from there, it just started to take this little trajectory, mini one. Tiny, little tiny steps, right? Had no vision of really how we were gonna progress, but I knew this was like my heartfelt work. I walk a calmer path, Jess. So my path is about selfless service and it comes from people pleasing. It comes from a tricky dynamic in my childhood. It comes from, policing for years and putting everybody first. But it also makes me feel amazing that when you just give selflessly actually altruistically, you get so much, you get so much indirectly back. The love that you get back when you give is incredible. and I don't do it for that reason. I literally do it to be as a part of a selfless path, as part of a karma path. So I have a storm. we started, we found this beautiful old, mill watermill in levering set whole watermill. It's stunning. And I went to the, I'd never met'em before, went to the owners and I said, is there any chance that you want the odd class here? Blah, blah, blah. Nothing much, you know? And, the owner took me up to the top floor and she said, could you use this space, Claire? She basically gifted me this entire floor for like a yogurt. And I was like. Are you? Thank you, universe. Are you joking right now? This is incredible. So we were in this space for a while and it was freezing and there was no heating. And I still had people coming to class, Jess, and they were like, had hats and gloves on and like, But they were just like practicing with, you know, in the, in freezing cold. And I, I was like, you guys look, it's like being a yogi in the Himalayas. So we're like, it's all good, but we're enhancing these like yogi powers, right? And then basically, it didn't just build, it was like we didn't have any marketing. We were, we didn't shout about ourselves. There was like literally me with a few flyers in the local town and there were weeks that I sat there and I taught and no one came, like, no one came. And then I would sit there and I would be like, I don't even really need to be doing this. What am I doing? No one's turned up this week. or then you'd have one or two people. But this is the thing, when you're teaching, never be ungrateful for those first one or two people because they are your starting point for the rest of your career. And if one person's turning up for you, then more people are gonna turn up for you. And that's the big thing to remember. With everyone who's starting out is so important. These little lovely few people started coming along to my classes and, I'd sit there each week waiting to hear if there was a car gonna rolled across the gravel thinking, come on, lemme have someone to teach. And, and then like, literally it, it just devolved. And, and word of mouth is a big thing. Like, it's like word by coconut round here. Like everyone just like seems to hear about things and it's a really natural, nice, organic way of building. and then January this year we did a renovation and we created a proper studio space. So we put some heating in and we've really done a lovely job and we're at the top of the wheel watermill. We've got the river Glavin that runs underneath it. It's got views It is such a special building and there is a real. Spiritual calming vibe in the room. When we are there and we are teaching yoga, we're coming away from this perfection of what these poses should be looking like. And you know, being an ex copper, I was as stiff as a board, like when I started yoga. There's so much that I can't do. But I think as long as there's heartfelt intentions with what you are doing, and we're also really good at holding space for people's emotions. A lot of people when they teach are like, I've gotta protect my energy. I can't listen to that offload. I can't take that on from somebody. Whereas when I was in the police, you had no choice. It was your job. You would listen to the most harrowing and traumatic tales of people's lives. You literally would. But there is a way of processing that. There is a way of dealing with that for yourself. So you've got the capacity for your own life and your own emotions, but you've also got a space for someone else's emotions too. And it's so important. So often I will have people in floods of tears after class and someone said to me, Claire, you just happy with making people cry? I was like, no, I really want people. I give people a. Space to cry because
Speakerthere's nowhere else in the world for them to do that.
Speaker 2Yeah, definitely Jess. I really want people to be in their joy and bliss, and that's what we are trying to facilitate, to know that you are gonna always navigate some really heavy stuff in life, right? We're all on this same planet. We're all living with all of the trauma, all of the grief that could come our way. But yoga helps us navigate the duality of life. You know, on one hand you can have the most spectacular things happening over here, and life can be a complete bonfire, right? And you've just got find a way of balancing the craziness out and, That is just what yoga does. Like I think some people who don't practice yoga and don't get it, I mean, a lot of my friends, I've changed so much. Yeah. I have changed so much. I've, there's a lot that's stripped away from me. Just like I said, I don't, I don't have kids. I don't have a husband anymore. I am literally, you know, living with my dogs, running a yoga studio, but I couldn't be more contented with my life. I'm really, really grateful. I'm grateful for all my life lessons, the good and the bad and the ugly. And I've grown and I've evolved and, and yoga has absolutely helped me, not just yoga as a practice, but the community. Yeah. So where we've built a community and, you know, like me and you, we've met through training. I've built the most beautiful network. Of these soul led incredible humans that, just love you and yoga connects you back to loving yourself and being aligned with people that love themselves and love you with like porosity. Yeah. And it's a different vibe together. We just don't open our hearts up enough to love. We're all walking around with these really big, protected hearts. And even, it's incredible because there's so many people in this world that do a lot of work and a lot of healing, but then we are scared to let that heart be open again and connect back to whatever comes our way, really. And we're here for all of it. We're here for all the messy emotions, all the ups and downs, you know, it is part of it. But just for me, yoga really builds mental resilience, agility, and strength. And I just, I couldn't Be more grateful for how things are panning out. We are just about to open a sauna box. We are working across several charities now, so we support two dog rescue charities, one in India, one in the uk. And we are supporting a women's domestic violence charity called Pandora, which is in Norfolk. And they do some incredible work to rebuild women and children after coming out of really abusive relationships. So this is where my life has gone full circle. I contacted the CEO and asked her if we could come and facilitate some yoga in one of their refuges. And that's what we've been doing for the last, few months now. And we are gonna hopefully continue that work. We've just started to step into doing their staff training days as well to support the staff because it can be a really tough world. But just working with these women, Jess has been inspirational. It's helped me navigate some of my own problems as well. Like just when you, are around people that have. really working through some tough stuff. It puts your own life into perspective always and really humbles you. And these women have been in incred. They are incredibly, they're probably the most powerful and inspiration women that I've worked with this year. And the level of peace during the practice with them is, off the scale. so I am really delighted that we can work with these guys and hopefully we are gonna try and get our CIC status, which means we become a social enterprise. And then the view is to try and work across more local charities. Everything we do at the moment is not for profit, so we put money back into, after we've paid our bills and our teachers, we put money back into the charities. and we've just grown. We've got four teachers with us now. We've got a massage therapist with us but the other thing I would say, Jess, for us. We don't chase, we attract.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 2And I think that sometimes when you are a new business, you can be grasping, grasping, grasping, right? And yet where we've been, we've got a different energy exchange with it being a calmer path because we are not about commercial. Get the money in. We can think about money being an energy exchange. So you come and bring this money to us, we provide you this service. And then sometimes people want to give more because they appreciate what we are doing, they know where the money's going and stuff like that. So it is just this energy exchange thinking about money as an energy exchange rather than a. I need this for me. So that's working really nice. So that flows into, then we get what we attract and we don't, you know, and everything that has come across my path, everyone goes, you should do this, Clara, why don't you meet that person? Or why don't you come to this? I'm like, yes, please. Yeah, because that then opens up the world to what comes in and what's gonna naturally align. And you can also, Jess, you get a feel for people very quickly. So if you are working with True Yogis or people who are running charities, most of them aren't doing it for money. Most of them are doing it because they've got just really good people who usually have navigated some pretty dark stuff for themselves. Or they're just good souls, really. And you know, there are many, many good souls in this world and we just need to align more to them and raise this vibration. So, I just feel really grateful to be honest. I live in gratitude.
SpeakerI love that. what a beautiful story. I'm curious. To know what took you to step on the yoga mat for the first time?'cause I know, we, we've talked about this, there wasn't support for you and the police that you weren't, they didn't provide counsel. They couldn't, yeah. You weren't encouraged to go to yoga. what was it in you that was like, right, actually, I'm gonna give this yoga thing ago.
Speaker 2Yeah. I think, there are huge levels of PTSD in the police. and it's actually said that most police officers will witness more trauma than anyone in the armed services. So it can be quite shocking. And it is really funny because I've done a number of roles, but to be in domestic violence, I couldn't switch off.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2head, my head couldn't switch off from worrying about if somebody I was taking care of or had an investigation around, was that person gonna be alive the next day. God, and it really doesn't get any worse than that. and you, you put the biggest safety measures in place that you can, you had every safety measure in place that you could around that person. But at the end of the day, humans are erratic and you never know what's gonna go on. And I think, you know, this whole idea of huge dialogue at the moment about this toxic MAs, masculinity, MAs, and femininity, and, you know, we've got both parts in us and we all need to be doing our work to heal it. We need to be healing both parts of that in ourselves. But it is just a shocking world. So I just was so, I was exhausted, burnt out. The hours was incredible. My workload was massive. I worked in Hackney. It's pretty lively. And I just literally, I dunno, there wasn't really much left of me. They were taking everything and I just went and sat on a mat and I didn't really know what was going on. I didn't understand the Sanskrit language that was being used. I was doing everything from strength. I've always been this like, strong girl, marathon runner, PTI in the Met. So everything was from strength. And I was like, I'm nailing this class. Like little bit arrogant, little bit ego. And then she was like, you're not breathing. And I was like oh. And actually over the first few weeks, I realized how much I wasn't doing yoga. I was just operating from the ego and using strength to power myself through this class. it was just, even from that first one though, I was like, my head had so much clarity in space and I was like, what is this magical thing?
SpeakerWhat is this witchcraft and how do I get more of it?
Speaker 2led me into it.
SpeakerI think there's a big, big metaphor in that, right? we push through, we push, we push, we push and then actually where you've gone is you've moved into flow and you've sort of gone with the flow of life and you've taken it and guided your life. You're not just sitting on your boat letting the wind take you, You have just had this amazing journey of being able to see yourself in that and be like, okay. Actually I'm gonna transition into shedding the layers, shedding the baggage and moving into who you are now, which is incredible.
Speaker 2Yeah, I think there's a lot of letting go that needs to be done, and I think that we go through life thinking we need more. And actually I think the mentality would be so much easier if we could need less.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2all of our areas in, you know, financially with material possessions, with you know. What, how much we give in relationships sometimes, and like the fact that we need to put ourselves first and all of this stuff might seem selfish, but it's not. It's the most healing journey and the healing path really. But, it is been an incredible journey and I think that I'm gonna go way deeper into it, yet I just feel like things are coming in and naturally aligning and, the right things are coming and the wrong things are dropping away. and that's how it's been for me, Jess. And I think that, not having kids was brutal. I really did want to have a family and you know, when that didn't work for me, it was like, who am I in society? Who am I as a woman in society when. All of my friends and family have had children. Ha, what is that? what do I do with that? And I just found myself in this teaching training environment. And it was incredible because the philosophy and kindness and the humanness and the realness of everybody. It was like, it was, I know this sounds really cliche to see this, but it was like a coming home and it was like, I knew I'd been there before and it was almost, and they say that, don't they? They say that if you've really found yoga in this lifetime, they think that you've done it before in previous life. So I'll take that.
Speakerbut maybe this is your girl. You know, like give it three more lifetimes and you'll be upside down doing whatever. You'll be hanging from the trees.
Speaker 2No, it's cool. I love my practice. My practice has slowed down and that this has been my thing, Jess, in that I have gone from warp speed in my life. Like, you know, responding to like, literally driving in anger through London with, blue lights and dealing with absolute carnage, literally people's carnage. And I have consciously unconsciously chosen to slow down and I realize that I have got where I've done that. I've got way more of a creative side. And that, now I enjoy writing and, poetry and reading and all these soft and gentle and beautiful things, but I also, even to the point of, leaving my marriage, it wasn't in alignment with the pace that I needed to, that was still a really fast pace, and I needed to be, I just need to be at a slow pace. I get to enjoy a slow morning and that is everything for me to get up to, spend time on my dogs, to get on my mat to journal. Like I know that not everybody has this opportunity, and I am so, so fortunate, but. Then the flip side is I didn't have kids. I would've loved to have had kids. Yeah. So, you know, a lot of people are like, you are really, really lucky, Claire. You've got all this time and space. And I'm like, yeah, but I had to go for that pain to get where I am today. So, you know, there's always this payoff. There's always, and this is that thing, judging people on what you see, you're like, oh, you're nailing it. You're doing really well. you haven't walked a minute in their shoes. You don't know. And I think that from the work that I've been doing now and training as a therapist and stuff like that, I think that you can never judge somebody's journey, ever, because people have carried in the most excruciating pain. And some people just carry it really well. You would never know that they have had such heaviness and darkness in their life. And, it's there for everyone. there's hardly anyone that hasn't been touched by grief or trauma, or childhood issues or sexual abuse or all these horrific things in life. They're there in all of us, unfortunately. And if we could just learn to have a little bit more compassion in this world, a little bit more kindness, then, you know, that's the thing. It's, never how someone is with you is never about you. It's never about you. It's always their stuff. So, you know, it's just these things are huge life lessons, but. It's incredible.
SpeakerIt's incredible. Like to be able to carry that as well. I think, everyone's got stuff going on, but the way you carry that into your every day I think is incredibly admirable. I read a book and I can't remember who wrote it so I would credit them, but it was all about basically saying that everyone is doing their best and you have to just assume that everyone is doing their best every single day. but sometimes if I'm cycling through Central London and someone cuts me up, I do not think that person is doing their best. And I tell you what, the words that come out my mouth do not, are they on that piece in love?
Speaker 2am I allowed to swear Jess?
SpeakerYeah. I mean the successful as Spark,
Speaker 2Well, that's the word I wanna use. 50% namaste. 50% fuck off. And this is the thing, right? So we, we are seen as these like lovely yogi spiritual types, but at the end of the day, if someone crosses a clear boundary, you are there to set. Clearer boundaries to stop people pleasing because when you, you are just abandoning yourself all the time, every time you just people please or you just let someone walk all over you, you are constantly just abandoning your own self-worth, your self needs. So you get to a point where you go, that's not all right. Spiritual ninja people have that, mate. Oh God, I love it so much. Like keep that off me, I'm good here. And the more that you do that, the more you become aligned to people who wanna be a little spiritual ninja with you. So it's cool.
SpeakerYeah, I do. I think there's, I mean, we could spend hours talking about this, but like I do think you said at the beginning that I have no time for shallow conversations either at surface level. And actually I think that's where you get to through. Yoga, coaching therapy, like all of that where you're just like, to be honest, like I don't really give a shit what your name is or who, what you do for work. Like I wanna know like who you are. That's, and that's scarce. It shits out of some people and it's my favorite thing.
Speaker 2definitely Jess. I couldn't agree more like those, really, really vulnerable shares when the little voice shakes and you're like, and you just, there's so much power in that. And we've been doing these, reclaim the flame days where we raise money for the Pandora project. And we've had, it has been, we are very inclusive, so we'll have men and women in our group. And again, that's really important to me to work with masculine and feminine energy.'Cause like I say, we've got all of it, so we really need to be getting more men on that. So that's another story beside itself. But you know, this really beautiful thing about, just giving them space to allow themselves to feel. And it's, we really attract a real wide age range. So we've got people from their twenties, I've got people in their eighties also, and they're sat in the same circle. And Wendy will quote, Wendy always quote Wendy, she will always say, there is more that connects us and divides us. And she's so right. But we only know it once we get past that. Oh, how are the kids doing at school? Yeah. What, especially still a holiday hat, oh, you're having your hair done this week? No. We sit in spaces where we start to say, do you know what? I've felt invisible as I've got older and I've come into my forties and fifties and, the kids have left and, or I didn't know what my, identity was gonna be like when I didn't have children and, you know, all these, and we had a really healing moment in that there was a mom whose children had moved away and had left a feeling like, who am I now? The children had gone and she was experienced grief, and there was a crossover conversation that isn't done enough about someone who hadn't had kids said. I've felt like that forever. Like I haven't ever had kids and I've had this grief around that, and there was this beautiful meeting of these two worlds that never collide,
Speaker 3yeah.
Speaker 2And it's these conversations, it's in these moments that so much healing, there is so much power in circles. It doesn't just have to be feminine circles. I get a little bit annoyed with how much yoga is, seems to be all about this divine feminine. Absolutely. And we should be embracing that a hundred percent. But to heal this dynamic around this masculinity, they're really getting a hard time for many reasons, but to heal this dynamic. We need guys in the space as much as we need women in the space and we need to find these safe men who are doing their work that are gonna say, I've got you. I see you. I can hold all of your madness and you can hold all of mine and we are gonna be safe. And that's going forward really what I wanna work with. So, because I think that that will have an impact on domestic violence, I think that will have an impact on. Healthier relationships, like the divorce rate, It's through there, it's through this roof, Yeah. Who says that you even have to be getting married or anything, but if you know, any relationship, it doesn't have to be a male and a female, any relationship. We are carrying this masculine and feminine energy.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Defining Success: A Personal Journey
Speaker 2And we are, have to be responsible for both parts in our own bodies, in our own lives. And we have to be responsible for how we are showing up. What triggers us is showing us where we still need to do our healing work. So, you know, that's the hardest thing. What sends you loopy about someone, or what irks you about someone is the thing that's telling you what are you seeing about yourself in that? And that's the hardest thing for anyone to do. Right. So challenging
Speakerit is. So, but, but the bravery to look into that and do it, the power that you get on the other side is huge. Right?
Speaker 2Yeah.
SpeakerSo tell me what success means to you.
Speaker 2I've had a number of different episodes in my life, Jess, where, you know, I've definitely had a successful police career. But again, that was balanced, with burning out overworking. So I would only say that now do I feel like I'm in a success era? And it's because I feel contented. And because I feel grounded. And actually it's the time in my life where I have the least, like, I have the least material possessions, I have the least societal labels. And I am enough. Which has taken me a long time to say that. So I am enough and I can sit in front of the mirror and I can genuinely say I love myself. I like myself. And I have really, really done my work around that. There are still days when my state isn't good. I haven't slept or I haven't, you know. Eaten well or I haven't taken care of myself, that my head will still be in a spiral. I'm not nailing this every day. I am not Gandhi by any stretch of the imagination. I'm sure. But he's had a bad day. I've got a long way to go. I am not getting this all right. I absolutely, some of my friends get like the biggest spiral of messages sometimes, and they're like, Claire, just breathe. Stop spiraling. But it's that thing of knowing how to come back to your peaceful center.
SpeakerYeah,
Speaker 2doing the practices, people are all looking for these quick fixes, Jess, they're looking for like 10 days to this, 20 days to that, blah, blah, blah. How do I bypass all these emotions? And now having an amazing body and an amazing mind, well, you're not going to, you've gotta sit with the shit, basically.
SpeakerThat's the only, that is the only way through, right? Like one of my favorite books as a kid was, we were all going on a bear hunt. And like the, the premise is like, we can't go over it. We can't go under it. We've got to go through it. And I think about this all the time with emotions. Like,'cause you're so right. Like there is no quick fix. I think also there's a real, tendency like when things are going well to put the practices to one side, and then when things stop going well and we're like, well, what happened? And you're like, well, you stopped doing your practices. Like I see this in myself all the time. I'm like, oh, I got a bit busy. and then now I look like, it's like, oh God, I've got, get back on the, the treadmill of. Doing it properly and doing the practices.'cause that's the work.
Redefining Success Beyond Wealth
Speaker 2Yeah. And I think that obviously for yoga, they say that consistency, tangly, the yoga, Sage said consistency is key, but it's consistency as to what you can fit in your life. And again, quoting Wendell's good old when she says, do the bare minimum. Right. So do the bare minimum of practice, but do it consistently. And now it's non-negotiable. I meditate every day, twice, maybe three times a day sometimes. And the practices are there as well. And I wouldn't be. As grounded and together as I am, I can really navigate some really huge life events now. the duality of it bothers me less, but remaining humble in that as well. I don't sit here and say I'm nailing it all. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination, but these practices are like your lifeboat in storms. They really are. They're gonna hold you together. you've gotta have faith that if you are digging into those practices, even if you can stop and breathe, going back to policing, the calmness, the best police officers are the ones that could walk into a scene of absolute carnage and they would slow down and they would take the breath and everyone would feed off that calm energy. Literally you could imagine the most horrific situations. But the best officers were the ones that went in and just went calm, slow, methodical. And just got things sorted. You know, could be literally dealing with a victim who had just been through the most traumatic event. And that calmness, that grounded energy just magnetizes to everyone around you. Yeah. And if you can be in your peace and your calm and the world is spiraling around you and you can know how to come back to this peaceful center, that's success for me for sure.
SpeakerYeah. It's not said really though. Just, and you've kind of touched on this, but like, how has your definition of success changed throughout your life? you had this incredibly successful police career, like at that time. What was success for you then?
Speaker 2It's really funny. I have had some ill interesting chapters, I married into quite a lot of money at one point as well and that seemed like success. But, that was difficult because sometimes, you can be quite affluent and there's no joy in that for people. When they have everything, they can't see the joy. And that's a really difficult dynamic as well. So it is really funny'cause no one ever speaks about being wealthy and, problems maybe that wealthy people would have because it's almost like. It's just a really difficult one. If you've got money. If you've got money, you've got no problems. Right. And it obviously, it does navigate a lot of things, but that, for me, having money has never meant success. and you know, I've had none. I've had lots, I've had whatever Now, like, it's really been an interesting journey. So there's so many things that I think we can come back to them societal labels of what we think success should be. But I think, I think as we progress in life, I think success is an inward journey for sure.
SpeakerI love that. It's an inside job, isn't it? Yeah. what barriers or challenges have you had to overcome? I know you talked about like, obviously, you know, you're waiting for that, that gravel, you know, the, the car on the gravel in your first yogas classes, but what else has that been out there as you've gone through?
Speaker 2Yeah, I think, you know, in the yoga world, there is, an aesthetic Of what, a yoga person looks like. And I'm like five foot free. I have always struggled with my diet. I have had a massive fluctuation in weight during my years. I have never looked what your stereotypical yogi would look like. Okay. Yeah. But actually, that's been brilliant. It's played to the advantage because. We get so many different shapes and sizes coming to our classes and we are inclusive. it's just breaking down this perception. You don't have to be anything to step into a yoga class. You don't have to be, you just have to be able to breathe. If you can breathe, you can go and do yoga. this whole notion of this amazing, like still have this conversation out, oh, I'm not flexible. I can't come, Claire. I'm like, oh, it doesn't matter. Nor was I You know, and there's still things that I'm still progressing towards. so it's just, I think for me it's breaking down again. It's all about breaking down these barriers. the way I teach now, I don't even think it's yoga sometimes. Like it's just wiggly movement and breath and calming the nervous system and coming into more of this therapeutic practice that's telling our nervous system You are okay. Well, you've got yourself on this mat here and you know you might have grown up with the most horrific childhood trauma, or you might have never felt seen or held or heard or loved, but your yoga practice goes, we've got you. You've got yourself. You can trust yourself and your intuition. God, it doesn't get anything better than that, really, to be perfectly honest. That little self-belief seed that grows. Yeah.
SpeakerAnd just, believing in yourself, you said earlier, but just believing, like when your intuition tells you something, you're like, yep, that's the right thing.
Speaker 2Unshakeable self-belief, Jess is my little thing now that, you know, those days where you doubt yourself and you go and for me there's always this dynamic dialogue between I'm enough, but then some days I can be too much. Right? I can be, but there's nothing wrong with being too much either. And that's you. When you think you're being too much and you pull yourself back, where's that come from? That's someone's voice that's not yours. Right. And that's something that I've had to deal with. I was definitely like that. The performing monkey as a child, like in the family, the youngest one that was always like, duh, here I'm like, let's bring the fun. And then afterwards you get told. Just calm down a bit. Stop showing off. You know that whole dialogue where you, I'd even get sent to my room. You know, you get sent to your room'cause you'd showed off too much and now I'm like, I'm in my full show off here.
SpeakerI love
Speaker 2this for you. You can't, I can't be said to my room anymore. I'm just gonna like literally be the boldest version. But there are also days where I wanna hide under a rock. Jess as well. Yeah.'cause that is just human nature. And we are not, we are not all bold and brave and confident 24 7. But on the days that you are, nail it, believe in it. Go and use that power to be whatever you wanna be. And on the days you need to just go, I need a little rock to climb under today. Then do that when you can as well. Like we don't have to be nailing it 24 7. We've gotta take this pressure off ourselves.
The Power of Disconnecting
Speakeryeah and I think that's such an important message as well because I feel like there is definitely more so now We've all got phones in our pockets and emails with us all the time, and teams and all of that. Like, it's always there. It's sort of, there's an expectation that if you show up in one way one day, then you are gonna show up in that way every single day. And that's, you know, as you've said, like we're all humans. That stuff goes on in the background. We don't see what everyone's got going on. And, it can be really, really challenging to, like maintaining that facade. Yeah. It's sort of where that burnout does come, where that depression does come because it's, that's your, you're trying to be someone who you're not and it's
Speaker 2just
Speakercompletely exhausting.
Speaker 2And I think, you know, touching on the phones, I know we talk about it so much, but just giving yourself some downtime, I mean, I'm still on my phone a lot'cause of work, but I have days where I consciously choose to turn my phone off and I consciously go and walk somewhere with no, no one that can get hold of me. You know, and we've just got this thing that we are always accessible to people actually, you know, we need to disconnect from the world and we need to disconnect from everybody so we can reconnect to ourselves. And then you'd be surprised how more beautiful your connections with everyone becomes. Because we gotta get quiet and we are not, we can't even sit with a coffee for like. 10 minutes without looking at a phone this is my starting point really. I try and teach meditation and the starting point is just sit quietly for a minute. Most people can't even achieve that. Yeah. Because our minds are so busy. The pace of the world is so busy, but we were never, ever meant to operate at this pace. And this is why there is so much stress, anxiety, depression, all the mental health issues that go on. We were never meant to be operating at this pace. we just so need to start to connect inward again. we've trying to facilitate these beautiful classes where, they may be a bit more spiritual, a bit more of the Woo Jess, like, you know, like we love a bit of the woo, we love a bit of the woo, I'm in my full witchy woo era these days. And, you know, we do, we, but these are beautiful, ancient, sacred practices that are over like 5,000 years old. There's something in them, right? All these beautiful cultures wouldn't be practicing, chanting and, mudra and all these silent, quiet, like sader practices that basically just allow this connection to something greater than just yourself. Whatever that is. And this is where we need to, to go to if we're gonna ever find any peace and contentment in our lives and joy and bliss. We're here to have a bit of fun. Everyone's so like, the energy is so heavy sometimes in the uk and you're just like, have some fun, like. Be the wildest, boldest, weirdest version of you and don't care, like care less. Everyone's so absorbed with their own lives, no one's really watching you anyway. And the ones that are watching you are doing it going, go on girl. Most of the time, if they're coming from a good place, so well, they're just
Speakerjealous that they don't have the bravery to do it with you.
Speaker 2Like some of us have to go ahead, Jess, and just, I like the flame zany, light your flame and you'll find your little, you know, the old Brenny Brown? I love this saying. So Brenny Brown says that you have your flame, your candle, this gorgeous light that is uniquely yours. And she says, find those people that are gonna cup their hands around your flame and say, man, what a beautiful light that is, and what an incredible light. And she says, do not be around the candle blower outers. I bloody love that too. I love that so much. Yeah. Who wants to be a candle? We've all, Adam, we've all had those people that wanna come along and extinguish a flame. Yeah. Well no, I only align to people that go, oh, look at that light. Let's be with this energy. It's really nice.
SpeakerSo tell us about Reclaim Your Flame. Where did the name come from? how did you come up with the concept? Things come to get, how do people find it?
Speaker 2reclaim The Flame came about I think the name came to me in meditation and then the idea of, we called Iron the storm. So it is all about this internal process that we've got going on at the time. Your storms can be horrific. They can also be really powerful. It just depends how we reframe everything. This reclaim your flame. All of us have got this soul right? All of us have got this soul. Life can really dampen that light. Sometimes your light can go, whoa, but it's never gonna go out unless you die, right? While you are alive on this planet, there is this tiny flicker of a flame inside of you now, being around the right things, the right environment, the right, everything that you know, the more aligned you come to good food, good practices, good people, that flame is gonna soar to the point you feel like you're on fire and you're becoming too much. And everyone's like, what? what's right? like, what is the energy of this person? Because you're just full of this beautiful light. and that's the whole idea that we will collectively heal around the stuff that we need and allow people space for them to become these bigger, bolder versions of themselves.
SpeakerSo these are events you run monthly? Yeah. I'll link your website in the show notes so people can find you
Speaker 2Saturdays, once a month. Brilliant. So, money goes directly to the Pandora project who are just doing the most fantastic work in Norfolk.
SpeakerOkay, brilliant. What advice would you give to your younger self?
Speaker 2Oof. I, that's been a journey for sure. I think, learning to love the little version of you is exactly where it's at because that version was molded by whatever took place in that childhood, right?
SpeakerYeah.
Speaker 2And even people who go, I. Uh huh We always have to give compassion to the fact that our parents did the best with the tools they had. They were doing what they could with their circumstances. Now, I know that's really difficult in some dynamics for what some people have had to navigate in their childhoods, but I think, it is just learning to love and knowing that this thing that we're adults, but we're still that little version and that little version crops up all the time and that little version causes more problems. Oh yeah. It's really, really good to understand. How they're gonna play out in the dynamics of relationship, any relationship. It's important to learn around that. if I was Prime Minister we'd all have like a good years of counseling. We'd have a good, good year of therapy. Yeah. Every single person, right? Every single person would go for it. Because I've got parents who are like, what do you wanna do that for? Like, why would you wanna, and there's still a generational that just would not even look at therapy or, or counseling. I would subscribe it to everybody. I would get it in schools, like, you know, like, and you can cash in on this anytime you need it, because I think to understand your childhood, we'll reframe everything for your entire life and also allow you to learn to have compassion for whatever happened there. And knowing that you can still step into a really joyful, blissful life. Without that being, it's really, it is a, it's a huge, this huge subject, isn't it? Because like I say, some people have the most trauma in their childhood that you can't even begin to, fathom, really. And I'm not saying that it's an easy, none of this spiritual path or healing path. None of this is easy. and I think that's why a lot of people numb out and don't. Do the work and, you know, it's easy to scroll or be drinking or drugs or all those sort of things that are just numbing us out. But to sit with your pain, it, it's not easy. It's really not. So, you know, I, I don't sit here lightly. No. And, I think it's a unique journey for every single individual I've just been really fortunate in how I've managed to navigate my own journey. But it's not easy for anyone to do this journey.
SpeakerFortunate, maybe. But you've also been brave enough to take the steps and you've cultivated that inner strength to stay with it and you are Right. Like sometimes that's, you don't wanna be there. Like, it's just, it's really hard. Yeah. But I do think when you know what's on the other side of not doing that. Yeah. Then actually doing it is almost. Not an option. Like it is like, well, you're just gonna stick with it because
Speaker 2it's sad for me, Jess, that, and that's been my path, but it's sad for me that to, to go on this path, it's often when people have really hit that rock bottom. It's really when your mental health, it's, it's most fragile. Your maybe considering taking your own life. I literally got to a point where I didn't wanna be here anymore. when I found out I couldn't have kids, and, you know, I didn't take it any further than that, but those thoughts were there and then I was like, I've gotta do something about this. And, doctors weren't cutting it. Doctors were like, you need to get antidepressants, you need to go and speak to a psychiatrist. And I was like, I don't want that route. And it was that, that sent me off on a holistic route really. and finding someone who basically just said, breathe, move. Like in our childhood. No one takes you aside, Jess, and says, this is how you breathe. This is how you calm your nervous system. When you get overwhelmed, just go and lie on the mat. Just go and lie on the floor. Take your shoes and socks off and go and walk around the garden. If you anyone had parents like that, you were really lucky. We're trying to, make everything accessible. We don't charge much money, and this is the idea of us walking a calmer path that hopefully we can go into charities and we can do things where we are not charging the charities. we generate the money from the studio, from the classes in the studio, and then hopefully we can start to tap into funding. There's good funding available by big businesses and corporates, and things like that. So we can tap into this funding to then start to do more work. We've just joined the UK Karma Collective, which is run by some lovely people down in Brighton. and there is the most incredible work being done across the UK that is just stepping into all of these places that are stepping into working with, victims of domestic violence, asylum seekers in prisons, yoga therapy is now cutting edge, way of looking at mental health and healing and all these aspects. I'm doing a course currently with a minded institute in London and Heather Mason, the founder of that, is just the most incredible voice for an alternative way of healing. through this yoga therapy it's very scientific. It's all about our bodies and it all collides our medical side, scientific side, how we are living in our lives. It's all part of it. All these layers of the self that we have, the physical body, the mental body, the bliss body, all these different layers. Given us the clues we need to have for a contented life. But we will, we only, we just have to work really gently with ourselves with compassion and kindness. Like I say, there's no quick fix to any of this.
SpeakerNo, but I think once you know that, then you kind of, you just get on with it, don't you?
Speaker 2Yeah, and it's here for life. there's been so many things apart along my journey where I'm like, ah, I'm nailing it now. Everything's going really well. then wash. Bang. Here's another massive life event that you didn't think you were gonna have to deal with in this lifetime. Here it is on your plate, but you're like, whoa, I've done this before. I've been here before.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2navigated this similar situation before and I survived it, and I know that I've got these practices to support me. Before you know it one day leads to another and you are another completely different version of yourself. And we're ever evolving and ever changing if we open it up. If we allow the flow.
SpeakerBut I think it's like change is the only constant. And actually I think because the opposite to change is decay, right? Like you don't stay still. So if you are not changing your decaying, and I'm like, no one wants that.
Speaker 2or that feeling of getting stuck, often, we can often feel stuck. We can stay in routine. And even that thing that if you're someone that is living the same routine day in and day out, maybe try a different coffee shop. Yeah. Maybe take a different route to work. Maybe clean your teeth with the right hand instead of the left hand.
SpeakerI'm excited for this question. What is your weird, what's the weirdest thing you've ever done?
Speaker 2Oh, I think I live quite weird. like I said, I don't follow the norms. The weirdest thing I've ever done. I've got a funny one. So when I was in my teenage years, I used to work in an ice cream stand in Felix Dough on the sea front. And it sold like seafood. You know them weird things that concoctions that you Oh yeah. Uck and Welks. And anyway, there used to be, this would go over so many people's heads because it's so old, but there used to be a really famous, band called Chaz and Dave heard of it. Yeah. And they used to do this song like rabbit. Anyway, they were performing in the local theater. And my claim to fame is that I serve Chaz and Dave Welks.
Speaker 4That is pretty cool. Well done.
Speaker 2But that's probably one of the weirdest things. I've had a lot of weird moments with the police as well, for sure. a lot of weirdness. But, yeah, I don't know. I'm quirky for sure, but, again, it's just a labeling it so what makes that Yeah, exactly.
SpeakerYeah. And also someone's weird is someone else's completely normal. Exactly. Exactly. Like, you know, people are gonna listen to this and be like, what the fuck is yoga? And we are gonna be like, cool, we do this every day. Like, it's just that. Yeah. I just think it's an interesting thing to start to explore because we've all got our things, haven't we?
Speaker 2I think that's massive, Jess, you know, like you are light and dark as well. Yeah. So we all have a public presentation. We all have the public facing. But I think, coming back to this dynamic in relationships, the behavior at home behind closed doors. The way that we talk to our families and our loved ones, that's where the work is because we've all got that behind closed doors side, right? and that's where the true self shows up or that's where the little Claire, little Jess that isn't quite healed will show up. And, that's where you look at where your work needs to be done
Speakerand also how we talk to ourselves, right? Like if you ever listen to that in a dialogue Sometimes you're like, would I talk to someone else? Come on now.
Speaker 2So I've got a friend who I practice with. She's got the most beautiful practice. She's more stable on her hands than her feet. So I go to her for a bit of fun every now and then. She's a wonderful, wonderful lady. Cat, KWC yoga, she's called. first time I went into her, I really wanted, it was the beginning of my practice. I wanted to nail all these hard poses, right? I was like, I need to do my pinch manual. My, I need to be doing all these, these stupid, like, well, not stupid, I should brain frame that. All these poses that just like push and push. And I was desperate to get them. And I went in and I just went to a too old again load of verbal dialogue all over her. And she went to me, shall we start again, Claire? And I was like, yeah, probably. So she said that inner voice, she said what we gonna call him? So I was like, oh, I dunno. And it didn't have to be him, but I called my inner voice Tony.
Speaker 3Love
Speaker 2it from that session. And now I tell Tony to regularly do one when he pipes up, so, right. love it. Yeah. That in a voice. Mine's called Hilda. She's a pain. Yeah. Wonder. I, Tony and
SpeakerHilda can go and have a cup, Hilda together. Get on, get on with the rest of our, thanks so much, Claire. This has been such a beautiful conversation. I knew it would be, when I asked you to come on the pod, I knew it'd be amazing, but tell us where we can find you, what you've got coming up.
Speaker 2so basically we are opening a sauna box this, summer. Okay. Amazing. there's a company, amazing company in North Norfolk and we've bought a sauna box from them. and we are gonna be doing, hot and cold therapy. Yeah. But also just getting into the breath. And then there's gonna be farm fit and yoga outside in the back paddock. And we've got an opening event at the end of the month. around about the 26th of July. everything's just gonna be free, but we're gonna have little collection buckets to try and get some money in for charity. we're funding the, event ourselves and just gonna see how it all goes. there's a lot coming up. Leveraging set Watermill is in just outside Holt, in North Norfolk. We're called Iron the Storm yoga. come and find us. We're always up to lots and if you are a charity locally and wanna work with us, then we're open to really seeing what we can do. we're really enjoying facilitating some practices and the shifts in people in some of these settings has been incredible. So really grateful for being able to do this. Work's really humbling work.
SpeakerWe will put all your contact details in the show notes that people can find. Thank you, Jess. Thank you.
Speaker 2I wish you all the best of your podcast. It's lovely. See you. Take care.
Speaker 5Thank you so much for listening today, and thank you so much to Claire for being a part of the program. When speaking to Claire, I found myself completely captivated by her deep commitment to healing and creating spaces where those around her can heal too. What really struck me was Claire's insight that success is an inward journey. I. It's so powerful the fact that she's learned to sit in front of a mirror and genuinely say, I love myself, I like myself. I am enough, is so profound. And there are not many people who can say that and truly mean it, but she's done the work. I was also really moved by Claire's wisdom around sitting with difficult emotions rather than trying to bypass them, there's no quick fix to healing. You have to sit with the shit as Claire so beautifully put it. Claire's approach to building her yoga community through authentic service rather than grasping for commercial success is inspirational the way she's created a space where people can cry, heal, and find their flame again, while also giving back to domestic violence charities shows how business can be a force for genuine healing in the world. My main takeaway from this conversation is Claire's reminder that we all have this inner flame. Life might dampen it, but it never goes out. And when we align ourselves with the right practices, the right people, and the right environment, that flame can sort to the point where we're too much and that is exactly where we need to be. I hope you agree that Claire's story is truly inspirational, I've actually been trying to convince her to write a book since I met her. So if you do know any publishers, let me know.
Speaker 6If this conversation sparks something for you, I want to hear about it. Send me your thoughts, your questions, your holy shit. That is exactly what I'm going through. Moments, whatever's on your mind. Drop me a line at successful af pod@gmail.com. And here's the thing, I am always looking for incredible people to feature on this show. Those who've broken the mold, redefine success on their own terms or are just in the thick of that transformation right now. If that's you or someone you know, don't be shy. Nominate them or yourself at successful AF pod@gmail.com. Also, do me a solid unsubscribe. Maybe even write me a review and send it onto your mates because the more stories we share, the more we can prove that there is not just one way to be successful af. Thank you.