[Anna Hastie] ​​​​​​​Leaving it all behind

Welcome to Exit the Matrix Stories of Success with your host Jane Slack-Smith, where we celebrate the incredible journeys of individuals who've transcended their limitations and achieved extraordinary success.

Hi, I'm your host Jane Slack-Smith, and welcome to Exit the Matrix Stories of Success podcast. Now this is where we explore the incredible journeys of transformation, resilience, and those Lighting Door Moments. And today I am just so excited to welcome Anna Hastie. Hi Anna, how are you?

I'm so pleased and honored to be on your show, Jane Slack-Smith. Hello, how are you?

Oh look, I'm really excited. Like Anna, when I was reading through your CV, there's so many things that you do. You know, you help entrepreneurial women, you're a sound bath healer, you know, you combine spiritual knowledge and business mindset for people who are trying to, you know, create a business of their dreams, but also create legacies and give back in a really authentic and heart-led way. So I'm just so excited to be jumping into this with you. And when I was reading some of your interests, you know, yoga, exploring the Kimberleys with your daughter and your husband, uh, you're based in Broome now, which I'm sure we'll probably touch on. But gosh, what an incredible life. I can't wait to jump in.

Yeah, I know. When I was, um, when I was, uh, filling out your form to come on the show, I was like, wow, you know, what has happened for me in the last like 13 years. Like, this is, this is incredible. So, um, yeah, I'm just excited to share all these sliding door moments with your audience.

Well, let's jump straight into it. Sliding door moment, I'm sure there's been many, but what's been the most significant one?

Oh gosh, I think it's winding back the clock to that moment when I'd come back from overseas, um, I'd come back from backpacking, and I had been looking for while I was away that aha moment of this is what I'm going to do with my life, and it it hadn't arrived. I was really actually disheartened. I found myself working back in the corporate world, doing all the things that I had done prior to going on my escape, you know, my backpacking trip that was going to be for about 5 years where I discovered myself and experienced the world, all that kind of stuff. And I came back and I was like, I didn't have my aha moment. So many people do. Like, I've heard from this person, that person, I went overseas and I found myself and this is what I'm going to do. And I'm like, I had none. None.

So I'm sure.

And there was— so there was this moment I remember when I was in the back of a taxi with my aunt and she said to me, well, what is it that you really want to do? Like, what's going on? And I said, well, I don't know. I said, I guess like I've always wanted to do massage. And she's like— and she said to me, well, why aren't you doing that? Why aren't you following that? And I went, oh, okay, great question. I have no answer for that. Yeah, and I think that was my sliding door moment. It was the moment of I could just continue as I am, hoping to find something, or I could take a bit of advice or a lead or a hint or a suggestion and just go explore something, see if it's something that's really, you know, going to light me up, be, you know, lead me to somewhere or do something and, um, and just explore that. So I went home, I jumped on the internet, I researched everything I possibly could about massage, myotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, like all the health and well-being sort of modalities and, um, uh, styles of, I guess you could say, even energy healing, just to see, okay, what is it out there that would really inspire me, would be something a bit different, would get me out of this cycle that I had escaped and wanted to escape when I went backpacking but found myself back in. And lo and behold, massage was the key. There was like courses that were happening the following week. I went and I did it, and I remember the day that I had to do my final practical exam, sitting in my car, holding my steering wheel of the car. I feel so emotional saying this now, going, please, dear universe, support me in this because I know this is going to be the start of something that I really, really want to do. And I just want to pass. I want to pass and I want to, I want to get out of this corporate world that I know I don't belong in. I know I'm meant for more and I just want you to support me today. And I passed. And then the rest of the world just opened up from there. So That was probably one of the biggest pivotal moments. But then back within all of that came, um, I guess you could say it all fell into that Saturn return type moment within my life, which is generally in your like late 20s, early 30s, where you have this realization. And I think that's where this whole like, what am I doing with my life, came from. But generally most people take that time to realize, well, or review 'What is it that I'm doing? Am I happy with where I'm going? Like, am I still happy in relationships that I've, you know, had for the X amount of years? Or do I want to go overseas and explore and find myself because I didn't do that? Or do I even like where I'm living? Do I want to change something about myself or something?' Like, you have these moments of like, 'Hmm, what am I doing? What is it that I'm needing? And, you know, what am I— what am I needing to change in that respect?' And in that time, I decided that not only I was qualified as a massage therapist, now I was going to become a vegetarian and vegan. I also had— I stopped taking contraceptive, which I hadn't done in the whole time. So 18— no, sorry, I shouldn't say that. So it was like 12 years or so of consistently being on contraception and also ended a very long-term relationship. So I kind of threw my body into this and my mind into this, like, chaos. And what happened from then was me diving into this space and realm of, um, like healing, like self-exploration, healing, navigating my own health and well-being. Because I, um, a lot of things started to happen out of that, and I got really unhappy, and I got really, um, sad and despondent. And like, is this the way my life is now? Like, I'm doing a job that I enjoy, but I look and I feel like this. I'm not happy. What is wrong? And it wasn't until I'll probably— I'll say this. I had one of those moments where I experienced this profound sense of clarity and calmness that came one evening when I was literally bawling my eyes out on my bedroom floor, crying, crying, crying, because I thought, this can't be my life. Like, I don't understand my health and well-being right now. I don't understand why I'm so unhappy. Like, my skin had broken out, my hair was falling out. I was— I was— I looked really sick and I wasn't feeling happy.

And this is after you had left the corporate.

World and started doing this, what I wanted to do. Like, these other things were starting to play out in my life, and I'm like, why is this happening to me? And I had this moment when I was just sitting on the bedroom floor crying my eyes out of, like, complete sense of calm and, like, clarity and with a next step. And that was to go see a naturopath and sort my health and well-being out. It was like the message was, you're going to be fine, go see a naturopath. And then here's the other thing. So Fast forward, I don't know how many years later, but I remember clearly being here in Broome. So that was when I was living in Melbourne, living in Broome, and I was doing a meditation with an energy healer I was working with at the time. And we literally jumped timelines back to that moment where my present-day Broome self, along with my inner child, journeyed back to that moment in Melbourne, and we held and supported myself then. And in that moment, I said to my energy healer, I now understand. I I get it because that was me going there to take care of me and to give me the guidance and tell me it would be okay. And Melbourne me, the one crying on the floor, had received that nurturing love from my future self to say, hey, it's all right.

So yeah, the voice that you heard to say you're going to be okay was actually in the future.

It was me. I wasn't going mad. No, I wasn't turning into like some crazy person. It was literally me saying that it's going to be okay. And I will never forget that experience of being on the bedroom floor crying and that future time in Broome, because we didn't even plan to do that meditation. It just came up that that's where we went. And then she said to me, now you understand, don't you? And I said, yeah, now I understand. So amazing.

This sliding door moment, if I can just take you back and recap. You know, because I think a lot of people have what you said, you know, in, in their late 20s and, I don't know, early 40s, times through our lives where it's like, is this it? Do I really want my boss's job? Is this like, I've worked really hard, I did what they told me, went to school, got the qualification, got the job, is this it? And a lot of people sit in that for 40, 50, 60 years where you took the action and you went overseas and went, okay, this worked for other people. And it's kind of like the Alchemist, isn't it? You know, he travels away to find his fortune comes back into Sydney's backyard. And you come back and you have that really simple message from your aunt that's like, well, why don't you just do what you wanna do? So obviously there was something there and there's, there's often these resistance and barriers. So when you made that decision, giving up the corporate work, I'm assuming moving from Melbourne to, to Broome, did you have resistance from friends, colleagues? You know, what was there? Or was it self-imposed or just your body resisting? Now a quick word from our sponsor, Your Success Club. Your Success Club is a group of vibrant abundance seekers. If you subscribe to exitthematrix.io, we are going to drop you into the club room, which has lots of goodies, resources, and a free gift just for subscribing. Now back to the podcast.

I think I feel like I've always had a very supportive family in any decision I've ever made. And I think the one thing I do remember when I'd said to friends, okay, so I'm packing up my life in 2 weeks and I'm going to move to Broome. And they just looked at me and they just went, you're going where? Like, where's Broome? And then you could see the, the like thoughts going, oh, you're moving across the country. Okay. You know, I think in that those decisions in that moment, it was probably more self-imposed rather than external resistance from other people saying, oh no, and you don't want to do that. That's not a good idea. Or 'Are you sure you want to do that?' I think by the time I landed at this age within my life, um, I was— I think people had realized, like particularly family, that this is who I was and this is what I was going to do, and that they could see I was happy enough and that that was okay for them. Whereas I feel like when I was actually in high school and coming up to finishing high school, I had— I didn't have the support to start massage therapy, and that's actually when I first wanted to do it. Like, I didn't get it from my careers counselor, and I didn't really get it much from my family. But being in this age, like my early 30s, it was more like, oh yeah, sure, she's going to Broome, she's going to go work, that's okay, she's all right. But there was probably more resistance in myself of like, am I going to be okay? Is this all going to work out? Is this just another like failed idea? Or is this what I'm meant to be doing? You know, all those questions. Because I mean, God forbid we make the wrong decision, right? And that we end up in some disastrous zone rather than just trusting the outcome and trusting these opportunities that come our way. So I think for me it was having to just make sure I was backing myself and feeling that, um, reassurance within myself that I was going to be okay and that I would land on my feet and that it would all work out. And I have to say, moving to Broome has been one of the biggest and best decisions of my life because I've been here now for 11 years. I met my husband and we have a— and we have a 2-year-old. So, um, yeah, and I know. And the opportunities that honestly have flown and come my way from having made that decision, I often reminisce and think, I'm not sure, who knows? And that's the sliding door moment, right? Like, who knows if had I stayed in Melbourne, had things still panned out into this element and the life that I'm leading now? And like, you know, me having a conversation with you, we don't know. But exactly.

Well, before we jump into that, I'm really intrigued, just out of interest, because I know you do like, um, Reiki and, and sound healing and obviously, you know, coach business women as well. You know, you have these many multifacets that you can do online, but is Broome kind of like the energy healing place that we don't know exists? Like, did you turn up and start doing massage and then talking about these other things and people are like, hello, resist?

I know, right? I never believed that. Like, I came to Broome to work for at least 1 year. This is the typical story. I stayed a year and I never left. Like, you hear that all the time around here. And Broome is, I would say, and a lot of people would know, is a very, um, has a very big strong spiritual vortex up here. There's a lot of energy healing, there's a lot of healing places within this town. It's deeply enriched in Kimberley, um, energy. And this is really ancient, old, old, old reef systems and, um, country within Australia and the continent that we're on. Um, I feel like often there's more connection to country and spirit up here than I often have ever found in Melbourne. Like the the ancestral energy up here is really intense. And you could— some people could say it's like a, a bit more of a smaller Byron Bay. Like, a lot of people love to gravitate towards Byron Bay or even Bali because they feel like there's a deep spiritual connection there. There's one here as well. And I would have to say that the community here is just very open and receiving to spirituality, to healing, to all sorts of modalities. And again, just being able to be in that supportive community, which was one thing I was craving I lived in inner Melbourne in my early 30s, and I, as much as that was fun, my hipster lifestyle, I, um, I lacked community and I lacked connection being there, and I was craving that. And I had actually started toying with moving to somewhere regional, say like Bendigo or Echuca in Victoria, where I had friends living there, to find a bit more community and connection. And when Broome opened up, I was like, yeah, sure, I'll go. After one year of being here, it answered all the things I was wanting— community and connection and finding like-minded people. So being here, it's not just some sort of like remote regional backwater town. It actually—

I'm imagining you turn up to a mining town basically and they're like— I know, right?

Like, like, like, and you would know that as well from your career history. Like, you know, you go to the Pilbara, it's very mining, it's very like pindan, iron ore. Broome, Broome's slightly different, slightly further north than the Pilbara. So you've got, I don't know, I don't know how to describe it, but it's just got a really amazing vortex of energy here, and it really supports a lot of people who are looking for healing as well as those who are offering special kinds of healing.

So say that people go to Broome and basically stay. I, uh, around 2020, I was looking, I was playing with putting together like a storytelling app for, you know, the oldies, our, you know, grandparents and, and basically legacy historian holders, all these stories, and they don't share them. And the only course that I could actually I could find that would help, that would teach how to record verbal histories of people, was run by a lady in Broome. And she went 30 years ago to actually interview, you know, people of the land and the Aboriginal voice and get their stories. And she married a local Aboriginal man and stayed forever, basically, but, and kept, you know, recording those stories and narratives. And it was funny, it was me and a group of librarians is like the National Library Association. And she's just like, you go to Broome, you say you're going to be there for a project or for a year, and you never leave. She's been there, and I was just like, wow, what's this? I'm gonna have to check it out. Well, look, I love this, um, uh, you're sharing of kind of like what has brought you here. What are you doing now? What is— what's the, the difference? You know, how have you taken your corporate role and what I'm hearing, like, the spiritual kind of practices and now navigated that into what and how are you helping people and serving people?

Yeah, I think in actual fact, like, and I'm sure your listeners can agree, and I'm sure many people you've supported can, can agree, nothing that you've learned in life can ever really be wasted or cannot be useful in some way, shape, or form in the future. And I do believe that what I learned working in the corporate world, um, and various different, um, corporate jobs has helped me create and shape a very strong business. It's giving me those foundations and structures to actually hold, you know, the business. So it's great that I love holding sound baths. I love doing energy healings. I love the coaching. And that's great. They're my services and they're my offers. But we still need those day-to-day, like, foundational parts and pieces of the puzzle within a business. Like, you need the good— what's the word? Oh, lost it already. Time management. Here we go. Time management. You know, even just like record keeping, you know, navigating software and the internet, writing really clear and I feel like, you know, concise emails, you know, things like communication, everything that comes within like those backbone foundational aspects of running a business, I feel like they have always been there in the background all the time. Like when I actually started, when I, sorry, when I actually started running my own business, I was like, wow, I'm actually really good at this because I've got all this experience. Like I know how to do all these things. I can bring them forward and run my business. I don't have to learn this. I don't have to— like, it's just already there. Um, so I felt like that really shaped and strengthened my knowledge in, um, being able to create a really great business. And the first one I did was called Creating Balance Natural Therapies, where I mainly focused on the massage therapy and the energy healing. And just within that, you have to be able to have great record-keeping skills and filing systems because you're dealing with lots of clients and keeping knowledge and records as well as liaising with other sort of organizations such as private health to, you know, all those kind of things. And I feel like that experience, while it never— working in the corporate world was never going to be my direction. Like, I honestly, Jane, the amount of times I would sit at my desk and I would say to myself, this isn't forever, don't worry, this isn't forever, you're not going to be here forever. And all those things that I was just like, oh, actually that's been useful. I can now I now know how to like talk properly to people on the telephone and customers and create good relationships and networking because I've learned all of that from my corporate past life, if you want to say. And I can marry that up really nicely into what I do. And this is also what helps me, um, coach and support women in business. Because like I said, you could be an amazing energy healer and a gifted spiritual teacher, But sometimes we still need that business brain, that business mindset, that business part of us to come forwards to help keep the structure of your business alive and going.

You know, all those things you're saying is so true is in that, you know, and I, and I can think of people that I work with and they're following their heart's passion of what they wanna create in the world without, um, with almost like the secret mentality, like if I think it, it's gonna turn up. Whereas the structure and the integrity predictable results if you follow a procedure or a process or you know how to make things happen. Having that framework that holds people to creating a successful business so they can get on with their passion, it is the dirty stuff, it is the boring stuff and a lot of people let it go and I think that's probably, you know, no secret why, you know, 80% of businesses who start finish within 3 years because they just don't have that that business structure. So being able to bring that to, you know, supporting people who are creating businesses and, you know, holding them, and I imagine catching them and using some energy healing and some other things when they need it as well.

Yeah, absolutely.

That whole kind, that holistic kind of, you know, helping people on that journey of what their, their heart's mission is.

Absolutely. And I'd like to add in that is like, if I was to look at what the energy healing aspect that I do, and the sound baths, like, I do incorporate that into my mindset coaching. I don't keep them mutually exclusive because we are energetic beings. And you know this 100% being an intuitive coach yourself and mentor. We are energetic beings and we are constantly shifting and changing within our energy. And when we're in that vibrational state and frequency where we're very in tune and aligned with, like, our higher purpose and our— and we've got that clarity with our calling, we're actually able to receive so much more understanding and knowledge from like our higher self or our soul or, or universal spirit, whatever you want to tune into, and have that guidance. So business and what you do can be really easy and really fun, whereas if we're blocked to that and we're not able to just even do daily self-care practices of meditations or whatever that may be, um, taking those moments to relax and rest and really honor ourselves as human beings and energetic beings we're just working, we're just machines. We're not robots. We're physical, we're souls living in a physical body. So we do need to have those, I feel, aspects where we do nurture and take care of our energy. Because if we're not, we miss all those cues and signs. Things get to be harder. Things suddenly become more challenging than what they really need to be because spirit is always there knocking on our door, telling us the way forward. But are we open to receive that? Are we open to really trust in those messages and follow them?

You know, it's interesting just hearing you talk about that. I was talking to a member of my— I'm going to call them health team— um, just last week. I was like, why is my ankle still sore? It's been like 5 years since surgery. And he essentially said to me, you know, your brain creates these neuroconnections. And, you know, you had a lot of pain. And I know, talk— working with a neuroscientist, she said, you know, 10,000 messages creates a superhighway. And he's like, the superhighway is there going, there's pain. The reality is the cause of the pain has now moved on, but brain's still going, there's the pain there, you know. And I guess people say the issues in the tissue, and not seeing they're going, oh, I just said I have to trick my brain into some other story about this foot or this, this injury. But it's, it's interesting, isn't it? Because even, even when, you know, what you're talking about being spiritual and energetic beings, and, you know, we can be connected to all things. And in your example, even timeline changes where, you know, that inner voice is actually you from the future going, you got this, It's interesting to just open yourself up to these things that— I mean, I was feeling uncomfortable going, really? You're telling me that my foot pain was from 5 years ago and I'm over it, but my brain still hasn't caught up. We do need to, I think, be comfortable with being uncomfortable with this new information and seeing ourselves as these energetic beings where we are responding to other people's energy. We are picking up things that aren't quite right. And as business owners, and you know, your role is in coaching, you know, women who are creating these amazing businesses, you know, sometimes there is no real logical explanation for why things happen, but there are answers. And you know, what I love is that you bring that holistic kind of solution to, well, let's work out where the answers are. It may not just be that the bookkeeper is not doing the bookkeeping. It might just be it, you know, you, you're not connected to, you know, that, that person in the right way and we need to find a new person. Or it might just be that, you know, you need to look at something else. So I love the fact that you're bringing all that together. I think it's really unique.

I think it's, I think it's a new form of doing business, but it's not an old form of being, you know, I feel like a lot of people are still like, well, there's business and there's spirituality, you know, it's like science and there's spirituality. How can those two go together? Well, in actual fact, they do. There's proof out there that through like quantum physics, quantum science, that, you know, spirituality and energy are, you know, mixing and merging and blending together. And, you know, sound baths in what I do are a clear example of science proving the healing effects of sound on somebody. So in some ways, when I play them, I'm like, these bowls might be crystal, but they actually are conductors of intention and they are conductors of energy, which you would find these exact same crystals in your mobile phones, in your laptops, in other computers, other kind of technology. And science has shown that sound can heal. So how can this be like completely spiritual nonsense in a sense?

Well, it's interesting. I was doing a bit of research the other day because I just had this— I was like, I wonder, like, you know, when you're in high stress situations, of the 5 senses, which are the last to leave us? And essentially, you know, if you think you're about to go, you know, out into the forest and the saber-toothed tiger is going to come get you, because our brain's still orientated that way, you know. First of all, we lose your smell and taste because we don't really need that to keep us alive. And then we get this tunnel vision because we have to be super focused. But the last two things to go are sound and touch. And sound is so important. And then I was applying that to some of the works that I've seen with people working with Alzheimer's and work my mother had done. And, you know, these people who are completely lost all memory, they play a song from the '90s, '20s, and they're like, oh, my husband, I met him at the dance when this was playing, and he was wearing this and I was wearing that, and then we went and did— and, you know, sound is one of those things that if we can use sound to actually trap that memory or trap a, a, um, experience in our mind, from a neuroscience point of view, it actually value tags it at such a high level that when our brain tries to get information, it goes to those high value tags first. So I guess You know, the idea that we can dance and listen to music and it elevates our spirit, actually it elevates us cognitively as well. So amazing. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Like, sound does bring back memories. I mean, I'm sure we can all think of that song, that heartbreak breakup song that we listen to for hours and hours on repeat after the love of our life ended the relationship. And you hear that song again and it immediately takes you back to that moment in time, doesn't it? It conjures up those feelings and memories. So Yeah, I feel like there is so much more that this world is going to connect and join together through business and spirituality and science and spirituality. Like, it's an incredible time for us to all be exploring these different elements and bringing them together within the work that we do.

I love it. Well, look, I love having you here as a guest. And the final question I asked all my guests is for fun. What's something that would surprise people or something that they wouldn't know about you?

So yeah, I love this question. I was like, oh, where do I start, Jane? Um, so up here in Broome, obviously there's always something on offer for everybody, and I do a lot of pole dancing in a really fun pole dancing dance school. And, um, when I was about 28 weeks pregnant, I performed doing a pole dance routine with my squad on stage for a cabaret show, and I loved it.

So any splits involved?

Oh, there weren't quite any splits, but I was definitely hanging off the pole with one arm and one leg, so everybody was very impressed.

At 28 weeks, I wasn't even thinking about things. In actual fact, not even when I've not been pregnant have I thought about pole dancing. But there you go, cabaret show. Well, thank you so very much. And for people who want to reach out to Anna and talk to her about her coaching and her work, then please just go to exitthematrix.io/s for short, forward slash Anna, A-N-N-A. And we can't wait for you to listen to this. I can't wait to hear your feedback. And as always, go ahead and give us a 5-star review. Head over to Apple Podcasts, get onto the podcast, go all the way down to reviews and write a review for us because we are gonna hack the system. We're gonna exit the matrix and we're going to let more people hear these wonderful stories, these sliding door moments. So thank you so much, Anna, and I really appreciate you being a guest today. Today.

Thank you so much, Jane. I've just loved our conversation.

And as always, everyone, thank you, and here's to your success.

Bye for now. Thank you for listening to Exit the Matrix Stories of Success. Make sure you subscribe to future episodes at www.exitthematrix.io. Until next time, here's to your success!