Girl on Fire: Claudia: ” Take in the bigger picture”

I met Claudia a while ago through my sister in law. Up until this interview I had no idea how much of a “Pandora’s box” she is. I have always had a really good affinity with her and had always felt she is a person that is living exactly the life she wants to live. No social pressures, no social conventions, just the life she has decided for herself.

Claudia has been a structural integration Rolf practitioner for the last six years. She has also taught Hatha yoga (breath and bodily mastery) and has worked as a masseuse and personal trainer. She has lived in the Okanagan Valley, more specifically in beautiful Silver Star Mountain, for over two decades.

 Do you have a morning routine?

“ I have no routine. Nope, [actually] I have one routine. I drink two glasses of water every morning… that is the first thing I do. It is the easiest way to stay hydrated. Other than that sometimes it’s breakfast, sometimes I’ll do yoga, sometimes I will just get ready to go snowboarding. Most days are lunch and go to work.”

You have worked as a structural integration practitioner for the last six years. Can you explain what Structural Integration is and what are its benefits?

“Structural integration to me means aligning and mobilizing the body. If you have chronic pain that takes over your attention and your awareness then it is hard to put energy into other things. [If] we can free up your alignment and movement then you will think clearly, you will have more energy to put into things, you will move more efficiently… [When] you don’t have old things stuck [in your body] nagging at you, you are more connected to everything.”

“You will feel free and open because you don’t need to protect yourself from pain.”

 Claudia explains to me that the body can store different stresses and even traumas that can have been rooted in the past, like childhood, all the way to the present. In a way people who come to see her are somehow in tune with their bodies and know when things are not functioning properly. But there are also people who come and visit her that are not quite sure why they experienced certain pains, and incredibly enough the process can take them to old rooted issues that they simply shut down and never faced.

What does being brave mean to you?

“I see it as being able not to get stuck into fear, anxiety or nervous feelings. To recognize that they are there but not having to be overcome by them. I always say to people, your mind’s job is to think, as the heart’s job is to pump. It’s not that you get rid of the emotion, the thought or the fear, you just know that they are there, but you don’t have to act on them [immediately]… then you make a decision on how you would like to carry on rather than letting them take over.”

What is one thing that you did in the past that helped you heal or recover from an especially low moment in your life?

“The one thing that comes to mind is people dynamics… [If] I don’t agree with something that’s happening or I wish that person weren’t acting that way or treating people in a certain way…then I will have to say that the Raja yoga perspective [has been helpful]. It makes you have self-awareness and opens up your perspective to take in the bigger picture, starting from you up to the global level. Raja yoga has helped me to get out of my head and to see where the dynamics of other people, family or group are and not get upset by it.”

This seems like a fine line between speaking your truth, but at the same time surrendering your reactive mode…

Claudia tells me that to her the problem seems rooted in our constant need for defending our opinions or points of views. This goes back into her line of work. “We may need to act this way because somewhere in the past, childhood, teenage years, or more recently, we weren’t able to speak up, we weren’t heard, or we were simply not allowed to have an opinion.” So now we live our lives trying to have an opinion and trying to defend it. We are all TRYING TO BE HEARD.

“I see amazing changes when someone is mad about something and I can just hold space for them to be heard, all of a sudden they are able to relax, they no longer have to defend anything”

Intuition. How important is this to you and do you follow it?

Claudia tells me intuition is massive to her and she is always trying to tap into it. However, she also describes herself as a person who thinks things through and likes to know WHY and HOW things work. So when it comes to intuition she is convinced that there has to be a way to learn it, and not only that, there has to be a way to have intuition on demand.

Do you think that this notion of intuition on demand can really happen?

“Yes, yes I do actually. But I think it’s the same as being in a calm, meditative state all the time. Even here talking to you, do I feel my body is participating, am I taking in my surroundings? There is always a part of me that is always in my body and not just in my head, or thinking of what needs to be done.”

Business.

Why did you decide to be an independent worker?

 “I started with body work, then reflexology, and then massage.” With the latter Claudia explains to me that she started to notice her clients were coming to her with the same issues. She started to think that perhaps there was a way to teach people how to take better care of their bodies and avoid these misalignments in the first place. With this premise in mind she became a personal trainer. However, she started to notice that people were interested mainly in one thing: losing weight as quickly and as easily as possible. After this experience, she became a yoga instructor mainly because she wanted to address the spiritual aspect of working out. But once again, she knew there was something else missing….

Claudia discovered structural integration through a random conversation held with a lady at a dinner party. Intrigued she tried this new technique and loved it. To Claudia structural integration unifies all of the aspects she loves about massage, personal training and yoga. “ I love it…everyday.”

Deciding to make this new practice her main source of income came naturally to Claudia as she had already built up a big clientele from her previous work. Once she advertised what she was doing now, it was just a matter of time until she could see clients on a regular basis. After that word of mouth was her main marketing tool.

 Advice to women who want to create their own business?

“Trust. Trust your excitement about it. Trust that you have something to give. The rest will happen naturally.”

Advice you would give to your younger self?

 “Personally, that would be speaking my mind. I was really shy and I would never speak up…I was always in the background.”

Last book you read?

 “The Power of 8” by Lynne McTaggart. It is about the power of intention.

Favourite Dish?

Coconut Curry. YUM!!!