087: Exploring divine feminine energy, ft. Laura Lifts

What are you doing on Tuesday the 26th of September, 2023? Because myself and Francesca Amber are coming to the Barbican Hall in London. Our event is called One Night Stand, and this one-night event is all going to be about manifestation, crystal healing, and ridding your limiting beliefs to help you achieve your goals. We've curated an immersive experience that will leave you feeling inspired and empowered throughout the evening as well. We'll also have interactive exercises, we'll have empowering discussions, and the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals on a similar journey towards personal growth and manifestation. There'll even be an opportunity for you to ask questions as well. This event is your chance to break free from the shackles of self-doubt and unleash your inner greatness. It's time to release those limiting beliefs that might be holding you back and step into your true potential. And if you want to come on your own, by all means do that. Single tickets are available and seating is totally unreserved, so You can even meet up with your spiritual friends and sit with them as well. Head to @kanyacrystals on Instagram and click the link in my bio. Tickets are limited, so secure your spot and be part of this transformative experience. Don't miss out on the chance to manifest your dreams and achieve your goals. We can't wait to see you there. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Canny Crystals, the podcast. This week I am joined by a mindset coach, advanced hypnotherapist, a yoga teacher, and also a podcaster. She's a friend of mine and I was recently on her podcast Lift Yourself with Laura. So please welcome to the show Laura Hawkins. Laura, how are you?

Hello Mart, I'm very well. Also super excited to be here. How are you?

Yeah, I'm amazing, thank you. Um, so excited to have you here because there was a lot on your podcast that we spoke about, and as soon as— like, because we didn't really have time to delve into it because we were chatting for so long, it went over an hour, didn't it? And there was so much that I wanted to ask you about, and I thought this is the perfect opportunity to come on my podcast and talk about this. So do you want to just introduce yourself to the listeners and basically tell us a bit about your spiritual journey and how you are where you are today?

Yeah, sure, absolutely. So when— just to add on to that as well, when we recorded my podcast, I just felt like I'd known you for so long. I don't know what it was, maybe it was your energy. It was just like this connection.

You know what it is? That day as well, I recorded that podcast from home because my office was having building work done and it was just really noisy. Um, so I recorded that podcast from home and I remember saying to my partner, don't come in the living room because I'm going to be recording. And he came and he brought the dog back halfway through and he said he was listening at the door and he was like, she seemed really lovely. He was like, have you known her long? And I was like, that was the first time I've met her. And he was like, oh, just the way you were chatting, you were like proper vibing off each other.

Yeah, ah, I love that.

I got that feeling as well.

Synchronicity. So it is. Yeah, you've already obviously introduced me. To summarize, my name's Laura. I'm known as Laura Lifts on social media. I am a mindset coach for women, and the work that I do is specifically around reprogramming those limiting beliefs and stepping into their potential. I am also a qualified yoga teacher. I flew to Bali in October and did my 200 hours over and I'm very much about— I know, I know— I'm very much about like wellness, filling up your own cup, prioritizing yourself in order to be able to give back to others. And I'm also the host of a podcast which is called Lift Yourself with Laura, the Lifts, because kind of like the Laura Lifts, and that's all around female empowerment, really being able to work on yourself, mindset, self-development, spirituality, wellness. And I have a mixture of guest interviews like I recorded with Mart Tweedy and also solo episodes as well.

Amazing. But yeah, Laura, like, when, when we were speaking, I, I obviously didn't know that you were a yoga teacher until afterwards when I'd done a bit of research on you and things like that. So to go to Bali to do your 200 hours as well, that would have been amazing. What an adventure that was.

Yeah, it was. And to be honest, it was something that I'd had on my vision board to do for ages, and I always thought that it would be quite in the distance away. And I was drawn to going to Bali through being on my own spiritual growth journey and just generally being drawn to the country and the vibe. And then, as you know yourself, you're big on manifestation. When you start asking the right questions and you start to open yourself up to possible options, the universe will bring it on your path. And that's exactly what happened with me, and it just all aligned, and I can't explain it in any other way other than it was meant to be. So yeah, I flew over to Bali by myself and I went and did the training for the month and met some amazing like-minded women over there as well. And it was just such an experience. I felt really empowered because I had always felt that I needed to rely on other people to feel confident in myself or to achieve something. So doing— put myself in that position. I know it's a huge extreme flying to the side of the world, but I knew that I could rely on myself because I got myself there. I obviously did the course and then come home and, well, it was you showing up, really, wasn't it, essentially? Yeah, absolutely.

I think when you show up to the universe, the universe is like, okay, well, here's some more, here's some like better experiences and things, don't they? So as a mindset coach though as well, because like I mentioned, you're not just a mindset coach, you're an advanced hypnotherapist and a yoga teacher all kind of rolled into one. So that must mean that you can integrate, integrate like those different practices to create kind of a holistic approach for your clients as well then, does it?

Yeah, absolutely. So just for a bit of context, my journey into doing the inner work, self-development, started through fitness. And this is where the lifts came into it because I created the— my Instagram is a fitness page, Laura Lifts, and I had a lot of focus on my body, how it looked, the numbers on the scales. I felt that that was the goal, like many women. We want to get leaner and smaller, and we think that's going to make us feel happier and more confident. And even at my smallest, and I was so tiny, I still felt very insecure about how I looked. I didn't feel good enough and was always searching outside of myself for the next thing. And it was when I started to realize that something's not right here, this isn't changing, and I was going down this extreme road of over-exercising and under-eating, and it wasn't healthy. I didn't want to continue to live my life like that, so I started to realize the importance of holistic health and wellness. And at the same time, it wasn't like a linear journey, so I'm trying to summarize it in a way that is concise and makes sense, but I also went on a spiritual growth journey and started to go through spiritual awakenings, and it kind of all merged together. That yes, I do believe in the importance of taking care of our health, and fitness is a big part of my life still, but it's the way in which that I do it is very different now. And then the mindset stuff obviously came in when I began to question— nothing outside of me is going to make me feel confident and happy and show up for my future self. It's down to me having the self-image and the belief that I can put myself out there and I can do scary things and I can follow my vision even if I don't know how it's going to unfold and have that sense of trust. So the combination of the mindset work, the hypnosis— as you already know yourself, I know that you're big on this— it's reprogramming the subconscious mind. We know that the subconscious mind influences 90 to 95% of our behaviors. So if we're wanting to change something about our environment or our habits, and we're saying consciously to our friends, I'm gonna do this, or I'm gonna do that, I'm going to start on Monday, and then Monday comes, and then by Wednesday you're back to, oh, I'll just start next Monday now, it's because you're patterns are just in this kind of autopilot. And this is when you start to do the deep inner work of reprogramming your subconscious mind and the way in which you see yourself, your self-image. You start to change how you show up, you start to be a different person, but the person that you are wanting to be, or you've always meant— you're always— you've always been meant to be, if that makes sense. Yeah.

100%. It's funny that you mentioned that because I think when you first messaged me and you started following me and things, I remember looking, thinking Laura Lifts. And I was thinking, that sounds like a weightlifting page, like a PT kind of well-being page. And I thought, let's have a look. And then I went on and I was like, oh, Lift Yourself with Laura. And I was like, Laura Lifts, as if gives you a lift. And I thought, oh, it can be construed both ways, couldn't it? But I totally get that. And I think Wellness for me and well-being for me is movement as well. And a lot of people don't, don't see that as kind of a self-care thing. But for me, I know that my mood decreases on like a weekly basis if, for example, I go a few days without any exercise. Like if I'm only going out for little walks here and there with me little dog or something, rather than actually jumping on the bike or going to the gym or something like that. And I think that boost of serotonin really, really helps like get you in the right mindset and helps you show up in life., and I think then you're able to manifest things because you're actually actively, actively in that headspace.

Yeah, absolutely, because you're shifting energy. If energy becomes stagnant in the body, we can then feel really heavy. So I don't know about you, but when I'm moving, if I'm out for a walk in nature or at the gym, I can often get quite good ideas come through because there's this flow of energy coming from the Divine. But if you think about your chakras, like your crown chakra, and you're able to receive that, I just think, as with anything, there's always an extreme to too far into something. And that's why self-awareness is important to know, okay, well, I'm pushing it a little bit too much here. I've got high expectations of myself. And then there's this is what I want to do because it's good for my mental health, it helps me show up, I'm filling up my own cup before I go on with my day and, you know, work on my business or my job. And that then in turn helps what you attract. But just to add with the lifts, it's funny that you've mentioned that because I have been in this back into almost inner conflict with myself about the name TAG and whether it's time to make a change and rebrand. But every time I consider it, I'm always like, but lifts is so multi-dimensional that you can apply it to everything. But I do get that a lot of people instantly just think, oh, it's lift, weightlifting.

And then, yeah, yeah, you mentioned there about like how mindset kind of plays a role in achieving personal growth and transformation. So how do you personally kind of help your clients develop that positive and empowering mindset?

Yeah, the first thing is by doing the work on me, because if I don't show up and be the embodiment of what I am preaching and talking about, how am I able to hold the space for my clients? So that is a case of me having an opportunity to fill up my cup, whether that is through a morning routine. I don't always have the opportunity right now for it to look the same every day. But that's, uh, so I'll give some examples around meditation, journaling, EFT. I know that you're a big fan of all of these as well, Mart, and movement, exercise. So for my clients, it's more about understanding what it is that they want. Where are they right now in their life? Where do they want to be? And then what are the beliefs that are coming up that make them feel that they can't get where they want to go? But a big pattern that I notice is a lot of people don't actually fully know what they do want I'm not sure whether you found this through the work that you do as well. If you're talking about manifestation and you're thinking, well, get specific, what is it that you want? And people are a little bit— I don't know if it's like a confidence thing or they just don't want to say it out loud. In order for us to be able to get results and move you forward, it's about, well, which direction are we going in here? We don't need to be like super attached to that vision, but if we've got an aim, this is where we can see, well, what work needs to be done on your mindset. I always guide my clients to develop a routine that is going to support them. I don't want it to feel too much of like, you must do this, because I think there's like an inner rebel in us all that just wants to go, I'm not doing it. And then it's an all or it can go the other end and they feel they've let themselves down if they've not been able to show up. And it's how I'm able to empower them to empower themselves to find something that works for them given where they are in their life. I always think as well, we go through seasons too, so we might have certain opportunities where we can devote a lot of time to our self-development or our fitness, or if you're in the transition of maybe starting a family, then your, your priorities are shifted a little bit. It's not that I'm saying you can just completely let yourself go, but it's just more about thinking, well, what is it that I want to really focus on right now? And show up in that way. So it's, it's so individual and unique. I'm not really sure if I answered the question or if I've like kind of gone around the house.

No, you really have. And I mean, it's all in good keeping with the question, but like, how do you kind of cultivate that healthy and balanced connection between like body and mind? Because obviously there is like a massive connection there, isn't there? So how do you help your clients kind of cultivate that healthy balance.

Yeah, a big part of my work as well is supporting my clients to discover, awaken, and embody their divine feminine energy. And the divine feminine is something that has really impacted my life positively when I began to understand how it shows up. So if we, we were talking about the subconscious mind and how it's it's responsible for 90 to 95% of our behavior. But if you think about the subconscious, it's— it— I see that as the body, and I also see the divine feminine as the body. So the question around how you're able to bring connection, it's awakening your inner divine feminine.

So what exactly is divine feminine energy? Because this is only something that I've kind of come across lately, and I think, like I say, you touched on it in your podcast when you were interviewing me.

So what is this energy and how do we work with Yeah, okay, so Divine Feminine is something that we all have within us regardless of your gender. We also have Divine Masculine, and the feminine itself has many different layers, so I could probably talk about it for multiple podcast episodes. But to summarize, we have the feminine which is split into either Divine Feminine or wounded feminine, and then there's also the dark feminine energy as well. Now, for women, the feminine is all about being connected to their intuition and their playfulness and their creativity and being able to receive ideas, slow down, being— it's not just about being soft. There is a big push on social media at the moment of the feminine just being soft, but there's also this sense of the feminine being extremely powerful. It's like she knows her worth, she knows her value, she will not allow people to manipulate or take advantage of her. However, she is giving and she is caring. And when I say she, by the way, that's the pronoun that I use because I'm so familiar with using it for myself and my clients. But honestly, even men have the feminine energy within them, and it is that aspect of receiving, of intuition, creativity. And the way in which that we're able to understand that is spending time exploring how it shows up for us. So we are talking about the body. I do see the feminine energy as the body, and a lot of people, especially women, are led to believe that, that there's a lot of a disconnect with the body, almost like there's a lot of shame in my own journey of wanting to change how I looked, how my body looked, speaking negatively about my body, self-deprecating words of "I'm not good enough," we then really start to feel that we can't embrace how the body looks or how the body feels because we're too much up in the mind. So the mindset work is important, but if we're constantly living in this logical approach of the masculine energy of this is how I'm going to make it work and this is the structure, we then lose sight of, well, how does this feel? Because we know that our intuition's never wrong. How many times have you had a feeling about someone, got a vibe about someone, not listened to it, and then later down the line you thought, I really wish I listened to my intuition there because it was telling me.

All the bloody time.

So it's true, it's true. But that is your inner knowing, that's part of your inner feminine energy that's calling you to take notice of it., but because through society's concepts it's accepted to have a logic approach from masculine structures, whereas feminine energy, it's, it's seen as a little bit more weak. And there can be a lot of stories around why it's not safe to be in the feminine. So it is important to explore how it shows up for you.

Yeah, I did an episode, um, Oh God, it must have been about 40 or 50 episodes back with my friend Gem, Gem Wilson. And she's a practicing witch, and she talked about the witch wound and how like women were kind of suppressed all the time over the years because of that. So I think that kind of links in with divine feminine energy. Do you think?

Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of layers, as I say, to the divine feminine, so especially with women. So if we think about through— if we get like super deep on it through DNA Have you heard of something called epigenetics?

Oh no, that sounds very scientific.

So epigenetics, it is, it is, but it's basically DNA as it's passed down through generations, and we hold trauma from up to 7 generations prior to us. So if you think when we come from the womb, like the womb is part of the feminine energy, there's something which is called mitochondrial DNA, and that's passed down from generation to generation. That can be why we have a sense of trauma or trauma response or difficult relationships with our maternal family members, our mums, our grandmothers, or the women in our life. That might not necessarily be something that we've experienced in our day-to-day life. It can be trauma that we're holding on to. I'm not sure if you believe in past lives, Mart, but that's another example as well.

I do, yeah. And I mean, I would love to go to someone and do like past life regression kind of thing and just like find out who I was in past lives, kind of remove all that trauma, all that stigma. Because I do feel like kind of almost like my family is cursed, almost like I'm the one to break the cycle. And I keep on affirming that to myself. But it's like my family, for generations going back and back, we've just had it shit, you know what I mean? Uh, never had any money. We've always just got along and got by. And I'm the one to break the cycle, and I keep affirming that to myself. So I would love to do some past life regression because I think I don't know if that's what's keeping me trapped, but it's funny that you mentioned about, um, healing the womb and things like that, like the womb trauma, because I'm going to Happy Place Festival, uh, you know, Fern Cotton's festival. I'm going to that next month, and I'm going with Emma Mumford and Francesca Amber. And we've been looking at workshops to do because you can book yourself on the workshops, and there was a couple that I wanted to do. And then Emma suggested like that we go on a womb trauma clearing workshop, and I was like, oh I don't need that, I don't have a womb. But when I've read into it, it's anyone that comes from the womb, you know what I mean? So it literally relates to everyone. So I'm quite excited to look into that a bit deeper because, like you say, we do carry trauma from the womb, we do carry trauma from past lives. So it can affect us in loads of ways, can't it?

Absolutely. And men do hold the divine feminine within them too. I know that there's this— because it's feminine, you automatically think of it being only for females, but that's not the case. So It is really interesting when you start to delve into this work. So when I was doing my hypnosis course, I was trained in past life regression, and at the beginning I was skeptical. I was thinking, well, how do I know that this just isn't my imagination making it up? And it wasn't until I actually received that as part of the training to experience it, I actually began to see, well, I can't be making this up. It's things that are coming up beyond the conscious mind through the subconscious. And just to add with what you're saying about breaking generational patterns, the very fact that you're saying that now is evidence that that is the case because you have the awareness. So if a lot of, like, where the planet is now, there's many of us that are waking up and pursuing our passion or vision or making a change in our life. And that is something that's been very different to the generations previous or older generations. And I think that that's not random. There's a reason for that. And the way in which that you're able to break those patterns is doing the deep work and releasing anything that might be preventing you from really taking it to the next level.

Yeah. So what are some kind of practices or rituals or something that we can do in our daily lives that will kind of help us connect with or kind of embrace our own divine feminine energy? What can we do?

Yeah, okay, so something which is really simple, and it's actually probably not as simple for some people, but you can start today, is learning how to receive. So that could be receiving compliments and just say thank you without feeling that you need to push the compliments away, or this dress is so old, and I don't know why we do that, or this top, oh, I've had it for ages.

It's mad, isn't it? Like, when I, when I first started with working with my life coach Like, literally, it was one of the first things she would say, you're amazing. And I would go, well, there's this and this. Like, and I would kind of like push the compliment to one side. But it's right. It's like you say to someone, oh, what a lovely dress. What, this old thing? I've had it for years. Do you know what I mean? Or like, oh, I love your hair. Well, it's not how I wanted it, but it'll do for now. We always push off compliments. I just think we're so British, aren't we? Like, just accept the fucking compliment and say thank you and move on.

Yeah, I think it's like from when we were younger and you had this fear of like, if you say, oh, thank you, and people are like, oh, she loves herself, or he loves himself. And it's like, oh, I don't want to be that person. But things have transitioned so much, especially if we're talking about self-love. But feminine energy is about receiving. So compliments is one of them. Help. I don't know what it is about us that we just want to always do things ourselves. We want to be able to make it happen. And sometimes that can be empowering, and then other times that can be at our detriment if we're burning ourselves out. So being able to delegate where you can, however this shows up in your life, like housework or business or in your job, then that would be super important for you to receive some help. Stop trying to make everything happen because the only person that you're putting, you're jeopardizing is you. And I get that there are certain occasions where we have to do all the things and that's okay, but it's just knowing your kind of like set point. And then we've already spoke about movement, but movement is also a big way to connect with the divine feminine. So I always guide my clients to practice with dancing in front of the mirror, and they can struggle with this at times, and I did as well, because you can feel a little bit daft. It's like, oh, your ego is coming up saying, I look stupid, I can't even dance. You don't need to start showing Beyoncé. It's more a case of just intuitive movement, so being able to feel confident and get to know your body, listen to what your body is saying. I think one of the reasons why many of us do burn out and do cause ourselves to, you know, feel exhausted is because we're not listening to the signs from our body. So if you're able to treat yourself with this love and compassion and shift the energy through movement, that's like really, really significant because it's going to give you that chance to shift anything, but also get to know yourself. And then I would also say creating space for stillness. This also sounds really simple too, but how many of us always want to be super busy and we jam-pack our calendar because we've got this thing, need to want to be busy, always on the go. And I get it because I fall into it as well, but a big part of feminine energy is about creativity. In order for us to create something, whether that is in our life, our business, receive messages and guidance from the universe, from our guides, we have to be in stillness, we have to be in that state of receiving, otherwise we're not going to get it to come through. I know that you obviously create content, Mart, but I don't know about you, but I've never sat down at my desk and gone, right, I need to write a caption now, and I I've just like wrote out on my phone. It just doesn't work like that. So being able to create some sense of stillness and space without guilt or feeling that I need to earn the rest and just know that it's part of what I require in order for me to show up. So being in stillness, if there's any discomfort with slowing down, then that's just a sign of, well, maybe there's something to continue to work on. So yeah, oh, nature. Yeah, being out in nature as well, of course.

I think from everything that you've just said there, I must literally connect with divine feminine energy on a day-to-day basis because I do like 90% of that on a daily basis anyway. So it's just like being aware, like you're saying, being self-aware that you're actually connecting with that divine feminine energy, isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely. And another misconception with divine feminine is that people think if you're going to embody the feminine, it means you're going to slow down in your accomplishments that you're creating, and that's not the case. I do believe that doesn't have to be this one extreme or the other. We can still be in the masculine, have our structures and our schedules and new deadlines to meet, but then also have that opportunity to be in the stillness and to like slow down.

Yeah, I love that. I'm going to look into that a lot more. I'll probably ask you some more questions afterwards as well. But can we delve into hypnotherapy? Because like I say, you are an advanced hypnotherapist. So what are some of the like most common misconceptions and challenges around hypnotherapy? Because like, you know, when you mention hypnotherapy, people think of either like someone ticking like a little clock in front of your face or putting you under kind of thing, and then have you walk around the stage like a chicken or something like that, you know what I mean? But how, how do we add kind of hypnotherapy kind of, um, practices into our daily routine? Because as you mentioned earlier, kind of listening to subliminal audios. That's a form of hypnotherapy, isn't it?

Yeah, because it's accessing the subconscious mind. So there's obviously different ways in which that it's going to work for people. Some people really benefit from the audio experience, and some people prefer doing it in person or over Zoom. And it honestly depends on why you would be curious to go and receive hypnosis. If it is to stop smoking, for example, or to break a habit of overeating, or feeling confident in yourself or wanting to, you know, make understand like yourself in regards to past lives. So it's thinking about, well, what do I want it for? But to answer your question around the misconceptions, I think it comes down to people feeling afraid of not being in control. And that again is around this being in the mind and knowing that, well, we can control this outcome, we know what's going to happen next. And with manifestation, surrender and letting go is the hardest part. Isn't it? And having trust. So it's the same with hypnosis. It's almost as though, well, if I go through hypnosis and I know you're— I'm going to be taken deep into the subconscious mind, there's that fear of not, not knowing what's going to come up. And then it's— this is why it's also important to feel that you can trust the person that you're going to if you are going for in-person hypnosis sessions. And asking to receive what it is that you need to help you on your growth journey.

Yeah, I was going to say, I think with subliminals as well, um, because obviously when you're listening to subliminals, they're kind of— well, they're basically reprogramming your neuron pathways, aren't they? And that allows you to have that self-belief in yourself. And I think hypnotherapy is great for people, and I've mentioned this to people before, like clients and things, that it's great for people if you can't get past those limiting beliefs and those limiting blocks because it just allows you to kind of bypass them and think, well, they're out of the way. But does that mean that it is quashed for good, or is that something that we need to work on constantly, or is that something that we come back to time and time again?

Yeah, I think with the mindset work, repetition is key. So if you can not only practice through hypnosis or anything, it's how are you going to consistently remind yourself of the version of you that you're stepping into, whether you do want to call it your future yourself or your manifestations. I really like to focus on how I want to feel instead of what it is that I want to attract. So with the mindset piece, it's yes, having things on in the background, either when you're getting ready for the day, when you're sat at your desk answering some emails, whether you're on a walk, something that is going to reprogram consistently the belief. Because the more that you are consuming the content that you're then stepping into that energy. I absolutely love walking meditations as well because if you think about you're moving your body and then you're visualizing the person or the life that you're walking towards and you're leaving behind things that don't serve you, but it's like you're leaving it with love. Before you know it, if you consistently show up, no matter how small it is each day, and it's so easy to just get on your phone and whether it is on an app or YouTube or Spotify or whatever it is, a membership that you're in, and just click play and listen to it. And you don't even need to be fully, like, consciously present. If it's in the background, it's going into the subconscious. And I know we were talking before about the feminine and connecting to it, but if we link it here as well, it is being selective about what you're consuming. Because sometimes, I don't know if you've found this, but when you're doing all the self-development work, you can have a tendency to over-consume and we often dilute our own message and what our intuition is wanting to tell us. You know, we think that everyone else has got the answer to our life and we give our power away. Like, don't get me wrong, I love asking for signs from the universe or going to psychics, and I think that that's great, but our intuition knows best. And the more that we can build strength and connection with that, we're going to then have the ideas, uh, how, oh, I'm gonna take— I'm gonna ask this person this, or I'm gonna go to this event. And it's just these little steps that move us forward. I can't preach enough just in terms of what you're consuming, repetition, and having this full self-belief.

It is totally true as well, because I think I overabsorb, because I'll listen to my subliminals on a morning, I'll be doing like some kind of EFT tapping routine, and then I'll come to work after I've like set up my affirmations all the way here driving in the car. And as soon as I get in my office, I'll either put on kind of a self-development podcast or a self-development audiobook, and then all through the day I'm listening to that, do you know what I mean? So I'm literally taking in information constantly. Then I'll go home and I'll put a subliminal on while I walk the dog, or an audiobook to finish it off, that kind of thing. So I am taking in like information constantly, would you see that as a bad thing?

I wouldn't say it's a bad thing because I do think when we are learning, if it feels good, if it feels that it's helping you, then great. However, I do feel that it can get to a certain point, depending on where you are in your journey, where it might be time to pull that back and focus on consuming select type of content. So it's not all of these different, like, 3 podcasts a day, 3 audiobooks a week, and it's just thinking, okay, well, what does this mean for me? Because knowledge is great, the knowledge can really take us places, but without implementation and integrating it, it's nothing. Because it's like, I've read this book and then what? Okay, well, what, what does that mean? So if we are creating the space to go, how is this showing up in my life? What am I taking away from this podcast episode or from this book? Then you can see how it does apply to your life, because in order for us to create something the reason that we're working on ourselves is because we want to create some level of change in our life. We have to have the nothingness because that's how we have the opportunity to form and create something.

Yeah, totally agree. And can I just ask as well, Laura, um, so obviously I know that you have a few crystals of your own, don't you? Um, which means like, do you have a massive collection? I know you've recently bought a specific one from me.

I have, I have. I've bought, I'm a new owner. Well, I think I've had this now for 2 weeks of Moldavite. Yeah, and I just want to say, when this arrived, I felt the energy from the crystal, like not in a bad way. Yeah, I could feel, I could feel it, but I'm very intuitive and I can feel things. So I've been meditating with Moldavite Maturity every day, and yeah, so it's early days. I absolutely love Rose quartz, the self-love crystal. I love pyrite as well, around prosperity and abundance. I love the crystal citrine as well because it's all about like happiness and sunshine and warmth. I do like amethyst too because it's about— I think I've got— oh yeah, I've got amethyst on here. It's all about like being calm, isn't it? And I find that that's so useful sometimes. Life can be a bit stressful and we can be rushing around. So it's how I'm able to just be grounded. I also really like having— it's not too much a crystal, but the evil eye. Yeah, you know, in terms of just like protection. So yeah, there's— I'm a big crystal fan, to be honest.

I'm glad. And when I saw your order come through, I was like, oh my God, she's really gone for it, because you went for the moldavite straight away. And yeah, I just can't wait to hear your transformation on that because it's, it's just helping so many people. And The only thing I will warn you about is just be very careful because there's about 14 or 15 Candy Crystal's babies being born because of moldavite. So just as a little caveat there, be careful.

Well, yeah, I know, because I shared, didn't I, in that episode, I was a little bit fearful because I'd seen all of these horror stories on TikTok and Instagram. And because I've been on my spiritual growth journey for a while and building the business and the podcast, I I just feel like I'm at this stage now where I'm ready for it. So anything that is going to support me, um, I'm here for. I know a lot of people have different views around crystals, and I've definitely received judgment from others who don't really get it. And I just think, you know what, I'm not doing anything to harm you. You can have your view, I've got my view. If it's working for me— I think Gabby Bernstein that saying of keeping my side of the street clean. And it's like, well, if I'm not doing any harm and it is helping me in terms of how I show up and how I feel, then there's no problem.

Yeah, I say exactly the same thing. I say, what's the harm in trying if it's not hurting anyone? It's not like you're running around with knives or a gun or something, is it? You know what I mean? So it's not harming anyone. And I think what I'm starting to see in my life is that some of my friends are even coming around to it now because they're like, okay, well, Mart's absolutely flying here the last couple of years. Is, what is he doing differently? And I'm finding that my friends are wanting to be around me a bit more, and they're like, oh, so what's this crystal for? And what's this? And they're starting to ask questions. And I'm like, it's because when you start radiating that outwards, other people naturally gravitate towards you. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, it's energy, isn't it? So it can be felt. And I think at the beginning of your journey, depending on where you're listening, where you are in your life, whoever is listening right now, it's understanding that you don't have to force your beliefs onto other people. Just be the embodiment of the results, and soon enough, people are going to take notice, and they're going to be thinking, well, Mart knows something a bit different to what I do. And for some, they might not be ready to receive, they might be in a different frequency, and they might drop off out of your life. And then for others, depending on what they're going through in their own life, they might be thinking, actually, there's something here, and their intuition is calling them to explore it It's so true because my family were never really supportive of this because my auntie saw it as witchcraft and stuff like that.

And you know what I mean? I've come from quite a religious Christian family who have always just grown up everything black and white, so to speak. And it's not until the last couple of months or so that my mom started working for us and she's even started asking questions. So she's like, so what about this one? And what does this one do? Doing this and this. And then she was like looking at moldavite last week and she was like, what, that tiny little piece is £50? And I'm like, yes, it is very rare, be very careful with it, it's very fragile. And, um, I was telling her about like some of the properties that it had and she said, well, what have you seen for it? And I was like, I wear one every single day. And I was like, look what's happening to me. And then the other day when I'd rang her to tell her that, um, I was going on that cruise and that I got a speaking gig at Stella McCartney's Pride event, I was I was like, what, what was, what was happening? And she was like, well, do you think it's the crystals? And I was like, yes. I was like, now you're getting it, do you know what I mean? I think she's starting to understand it now. So it is, it's just radiating outwards and other people, like you say, attract to you because, because of your high energy.

Yeah, the crystal, I see crystals as part of a tool to amplify what it is that I'm already doing. So if I'm doing all of the other concepts around my self-image and how I'm showing up and taking the aligned action and listening to my intuition and taking care of myself and releasing things with love that no longer serve me, only good things are going to come from that. And it's sometimes about accepting that when we're growing, we have to leave behind certain parts of our life that no longer serve us without feeling that we have to like hold on for dear life, because the universe wants to give us all of these blessings for our soul to be able to flourish fully and give back to the world. So, yeah, it's understanding that people are going to have their views. And it's harder when it's family because they're around you all of the time and they'll just say without feeling that they have to hold back. And it's like, okay, that's fine. I'm not going to try and change your mind. I'm just going to keep moving forward.

So what's next for you then, Laura? What does the future hold?

Oh, what's next for me? My main focus, to be honest, is to continue building the podcast because I absolutely love having these types of conversations and putting out the content to people who choose to listen. And I am also, obviously, as I mentioned, I'm an online coach, so I offer one-to-one coaching for women. I launched a group coaching program at the beginning of the year called Free the Feminine, and it was a divine feminine healing and awakening course. And we also covered aspects of the masculine within that, and I learned a lot running that first round. So I used it as a— I called it like a beta round. So I'm revamping that to come back in the future with a few different tweaks. So that will be coming up as well, and that is all around the women who do want to go deeper on this divine feminine work and find out how it up for them. And then, who knows, I am actually going to Spain this week to teach yoga for a retreat.

So that's coming up in the future. Whereabouts are you going?

I'm going to Alicante, just outside of Alicante.

Oh, beautiful. I love it.

Yeah, so that's exciting. But yeah, if anyone wants to find out a little bit more in terms of what I'm up to, you can check out the podcast Lift Yourself with Laura or follow me over on Instagram, Laura Lifts.

Yeah, and now what I'll do, Laura, is I'll pop all of your links in the show notes as well so that people can go and follow you and find out about your podcast and even go and listen to the episode that we did together of your podcast. That was an amazing episode. I've had loads of like positive feedback over it as well. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about everything crystals on there as well.

No, thank you so much for this opportunity. Once again, I've just loved every minute of chatting with you.

You're very, very welcome. And like I say, for anyone else wanting to find out about Laura, please head to the links in the show notes below. You can head to Instagram and follow, which is @lauralifts, or you can go and even stream the podcast, which is Lift Yourself with Laura, and that's available across all streaming platforms. So thank you so much for listening, and I will see you all next Friday for another episode of Penny Crystals the Podcast. Thanks very much, bye! Come and join me in the Manifest With Mark community. For just £10 a month, you'll get exclusive access to my app, and you'll join all the other beautiful souls in the canny community where each day you'll be held accountable to making your dreams and desires come to fruition. You'll also be set daily and weekly challenges. There's a chat room built in so you can talk to people in real time, and you can also pop over any questions that you have in the Q&A forum and I'll answer them for you. It's changing people's lives, and we've already had so many people manifesting things in the first 2 weeks alone. Each new moon, I'll also be going live within the group on a face-to-face video to help you get the most out of the lunar cycles, as well as answer any burning questions that you have. And these live meetups are so powerful, and everyone in the group has had nothing but praise for the safe space that we share. There are very limited spaces for this community, however, just to ensure that I can place my focus on you and nurture you into the ultimate manifester. So if you'd like a spot, please be quick and reserve your seat now. Head to kanycrystalsacademy.co.uk and choose the Manifest With Mart option where you can get instant access, and what's more, you'll also get access to all of the past recordings and chats too. Join now and start living the life of your dreams.