Suncokret's 2017 Visiting Teacher Blog Series, Part 4
It is fair to say that I struggled to find my place in the world!
I was 25. Everything was wrong. Personal relationships, where I lived, worked, my health. Everything. I was stuck in a tangled knot of miserable traps I had somehow unwittingly set for myself.
I worked in a highly stressed office. And was sick. I found myself with serious digestive problems, piling on weight, horrid skin allergies. Smoking and drinking too much, I had two root canals from all the grinding. A nerve in my neck liked to go into spasm too. I hated my workplace and apparently it hated me!
A lady I worked with talked me into joining her on a Tarot Reading course. I went along for a laugh, and found a group of wonderfully warm and welcoming women who wouldn’t have dreamt of laughing at me. Every class began with a seated meditation, which sent a nerve in my neck into spasm!With my pride, ego, and neck in pain it was clear something big had shifted and I was ready to explore. The tarot course taught me to seek to understand what I see with my intuition an open mind. To be ready to receive guidance from within.
It was a short hop-skip-and-jump to Kundalini Yoga, and then on to coaching; and the missing piece of the jigsaw clicked..
I went to every yoga class and workshop, website and magazine I could. I read a heap of self help, personal development books and began working with coaches.
So what really changed? I fell gleefully down the rabbit hole of self discovery, self love, compassion and acceptance. I discovered how meditation can change how I feel and understand everything going on in my life.
I realised that as a free-spirited, and sometimes lone wolf, I could make these practices my own.
There was no one telling me what I had to do to be right (I didn’t go back to those teachers!)
I learnt that my happiness is key to everything that happens in my life. It isn't selfish to put my needs first and doing this actually helps me help and serve others better than if I am putting everyone else first and my life is a mess. That is just inefficient!
By putting my happiness first I could begin to untangle the knots in my life. Bit by bit. Making small changes, allowed me to create bigger and more fulfilling shifts in my life. I can focus my energy and achieve what I want!
I couldn’t see that in the beginning. I needed the help of the yoga and coaching to really understand and take control of my mess. Now I love that mess for all it has given me.
Having a coach myself helped me to make some monumental life changes. In a few years I had a completely different lifestyle, was healthy and happy. I had created The Happy Hunt yoga and coaching offering and had finally I had found direction and purpose in my life!
As my confidence in this work grew, so my life evolved. My body, life, and mental wellness began to heal.
I qualified as a Personal Development (or 'Life') Coach, with the Coaching Academy, in March 2013. I felt drawn to the empowering nature of the process. Which in a nutshell offers people a confidential, respectful, and supportive communication to explore:
The heart of a problem/problems
A chance to voice what they really want, free from judgement
The support to find a way to make that happen.
It is an empowering and uplifting process. With plenty of room for fun along the way.
Just like yoga, coaching teaches us we already have everything we need. We are encouraged to be the best version of ourselves. For our happiness and wellbeing, and of those around us. Conscious and heart-centered living is good for not only us as individual practitioners, but our culture and society, and world even!
I trained with Sally Parkes Yoga, and graduated from her Laxmi 200 hours Hatha & Vinyasa Teacher Training in July 2013.
I embrace all styles of yoga, and love to fusion ancient meditation, breathing, mantra and mudra techniques, with gentle and explorative asana practice. I create guided meditations that blend coaching techniques with yoga principles. My classes always encourage a focus on comfort, safety, and self-reflection. Often I will bring along my gong or singing bowls too.
Yoga helps us identify and release both physical and mental tensions holding us back. It creates 'space' in our lives for us to move forward into. But we don’t always know what to do with that space. It can be easy to slip into old habits and replay old stories. Coaching gives the practical support needed to make the most of that space. It's like a fast track system to help you get what you really want, and deserve.
This combination was so powerful for me. If you are ready to commit to what you want, I know it can work for you too.
10 years on I live in a beautiful part of the world with nature all around. I love my work as a yoga instructor and life coach. My son is a healthy and high spirited toddler that gets to play in muddy fields with the sheep. Apart from my true friends and family, in every way my life is almost unrecognisable to how it was. I am happy.
Now I feel so blessed to work with lots of people who are ready to create exciting forward motion in their lives. From the heart, with the professional expertise that training and life experience has given (and still gives!) me.
There are still things on my wish list I am working on. I still rely on my yoga, mediation, coaching, and the odd tarot card to help keep me focused and sane. These are joyful practices now. They are building on solid foundations. They are flexible, allowing me to change track when new opportunities present themselves or something isn't what I thought it would be. They are loving, inclusive, compassionate, always supportive, and they have a sense of adventure and fun.
No matter what my life presents me with I feel genuinely energised and extremely grateful to be able to share my work with others. I'm excited share my tool kit with you!
So, I would like to ask you...
What might happen if you stopped for 10 minutes. Closed your eyes, and just breathed?
What might happen if you committed to change one bad habit this week? Make a list of a few 'bad habits' or negative patterns of behaviour. Smoking, drinking too much? Laughing at other people? Getting sucked into work politics? Feeling obliged to fix things for other people when you are depleted and tired yourself? And now pick one to challenge yourself with this week. You don’t have to conquer the world or your whole list in a week. Just try combatting one thing you do that bothers you and see what happens. Explore the challenge. Don’t beat yourself up if you fail. Try again if you want to, or pick another one from your list.
In what ways could you be more loving, compassionate and forgiving to yourself? If you are stuck ask yourself "what small things make me happy?" Again make a list and commit to at least one thing this week. Then repeat!
For more information about Charlotte check out our 2016 interview with her. And don't forget to visit her wonderful website: http://www.thehappyhunt.com/