HOT WOMEN TO WATCH is a monthly feature where I put the spotlight on one powerful and soulful woman whose work I’m appreciating and cheering on because something tells me this is just the beginning.

Move over bikini bootcamps and constant striving for body perfection.  It’s time you all indulged in some Wabi-Sabi lovin’.

A fusion of movement, meditation and massage that will have you in a steady state of loving where you are and how your clothes hang..

A unique (and transformative) style of personal training integrating physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional and spiritual components to help you return to a state of healthy balance and well-being.

A practice igniting your senses so you can celebrate all that life has to offer

Today’s HOT WOMAN TO WATCH is the Founder of the Wabi-Sabi Method and Personal Trainer (who is more like a relationship counsellor for your mind and body and soul), Brieann Boal from Byron Bay, Australia.

Since a couple of my friends started training with her, they haven’t stopped raving about her. If I lived further south, Brieann’s the kind trainer I’d choose to work with.

But it wasn’t until I chose her to be this month’s HOT WOMAN TO WATCH that I got to really know Brieann.  In fact, all it took was two words “shamanic dearmouring” and her recommended book list, for my curiosity to spike to an all time high.

This curiosity prompted a phone conversation, pronto.  I had a burning question.  Our intended 30-60min chat turned into almost two hours.  And had Brieann’s clients not start turning up for a session, who knows how long we would of spoken for.  Especially when you realise that you’ve both been swimming in the same ocean but riding different waves, and yet you’ve someone managed to land on the same shore.

She is deep, grounded, relaxed, sensual, honest, intelligent and heart-warming.

Definitely keep your eyes on this woman. There are many brilliant and exciting things unfolding in her world that will change the way you approach fitness, health and body love.

Introducing Brieann Boal…

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{Lets start with the deep and meaningful}

From breakdown to breakthrough, what was this moment for you?  The defining moment that changed e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.

 I don’t think there’s just one.

The truth works in puzzles – there’s always a build up of fragmental shifts before i slide into a new paradigm. I’d be lying to say there was just one pivotal moment. However, I feel like the question calls for a snapshot. So I’ll zoom in on ‘body image’.

There was a ‘moment’ in a hall, out the back of the beyond, on a Shamanic de-armoring retreat. I won’t go into detail – words only point at full meaning and none seem to contain the vague ethereal feelings/forces at work in that small space.

It was one of the last practices of the course. The conditions were perfectly coordinated/divinely designed for me to be wildly triggered. The person I was partnered with, the nature of the activities involved, the emotional scar tissue we were tapping into. I was an energetic land mind.

Half way through the session, there was an uprush of feeling. Too much for me to be with, too much for me to stay put. I couldn’t, so I didn’t.

I grabbed my flimsy sarong and I ran. I ran straight out of the room, I ran out of the retreat grounds, I ran deep into the forest until I came to a clearing, fell in a heap and wept (it was probably more like a howling wail than a gentle weeping) Anyway, as the emotional-dust settled, i saw clearly. Patterns and programs, the involuntary reflex responses that moved me.

I saw that this is what I always did.

I ran.

I had programmed myself to run, to leave my body, escape what was happening, whatever I didn’t want to be with.

I saw how this had served a purpose (long ago) and over time evolved into a chronic state of ‘being’;
I saw how estranged my body was from my mind, disassociated and desensitised;
I saw how being ‘out-of-my-body’ opened the door to self destructive, broken behavior and closed the door to the kind of truth and intimacy my heart ached for.

I could trace the blood lines back to the source of all surface issues, to the exact point I decided “there’s something wrong with me”, with my body. I could see the hollow centre of all my seemingly solid, long-held beliefs.

What was left after this freight-train-of-truth had thundered past?
The loveliest, lightest, most sublime sense of euphoria.
Like nothing I’d ever experienced before,
I felt like I had arrived

What has been the most challenging thing to let go of so you could put yourself first (be it your health or your desires or your inner wisdom)?  And what helped you let it go?

Ego. Something I’m constantly putting aside (and probably forever will be) so my ‘SELF’ (awareness) can show up.

What helps me let it go? A daily (several times daily) invocation to a silent whisper to source, ‘Thank you for allowing me to be a clear channel for love and light, for whatever healing energy is needed.’

I’m very human, ever-always remembering and forgetting. I find this little ritual pulls me instantly into what’s real and true. Aside from this, there’s a swag of self renewing rituals + practices I draw from: throwing myself in the ocean, getting a sweat on, meditation, mantras, affirmations, gratitude rituals and acts of service all help get me out of my head and into my heart, where I feel the present moment resides.

Why do you do what you do?

We teach what we most need to learn.

I hadn’t always framed it this way. I used to think my personal struggles were something to hide. That they somehow undermined my credibility.

I’ve come to realise how inverted and up-side-down this idea is. Without all those years of puzzle-piecing, I wouldn’t have such a insatiable compulsion to do what I do.

Movement is biochemical bliss. Intention-setting, yoga, dynamic meditation, vigorous exercise, are my soul-salves. The Wabi-sabi method is a life raft I reach for daily…one I feel guided to throw to others.

When do you feel most powerful, free, alive & turned on?

When I’m in the ocean. There’s a feeling like coming home.

I’ve read somewhere that the fluid in a mother’s womb is almost identical to sea-water. It’s a bit of an oxymoron isn’t it? Pre-birth conditions are where I feel most alive. The way I see it, below the surface is where I’m closest to ‘truth’. It’s where I feel most connected, sensual and free

What excites you most about 2014?

Everything…New ideas, people, places. Being in the right place at the right time. Reaching new heights of euphoria and success and exploring unchartered depths of connectivity and creativity. Experiencing magic beyond my wildest dreams.

Every year is a galaxy of infinite possibilities but in 2014, I’m going to be especially wonderstruck.

What’s your current growth edge?

Collapsing the notion that to staying humble is synonymous with staying ‘quiet ‘and ‘small’.

What books are you always telling people to read?

Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts

The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity – by Daniel Reid

Anything by Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth, The Power Of Now and Stillness Speaks etc)

Higher and Higher – Jost Sauer

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear: SWEAT?

salt water therapy

{Now for the short and sweet…}

I’m interested in…the stories our bodies tell (size, shape, injuries and imbalances – they’re all psychosomatic signposts), cellular memory, neuroplasticity, the body-mind connection and our capacity to heal, transcend and regenerate.

Movement, metaphysics, meditation, creativity,

The intersection of science and spirituality; Biophilia (the wisdom in nature); Zen Buddhist teachings, Wabi-sabi and all things that fall under the umbrella of ‘Wellness’.

Anymore and i’ll fall out of the ‘ short and sweet’ category so i’ll wrap it up there.

I believe… in the power of belief.

I no longer…have the compulsion to ‘stuff my inner emptiness’

I desire…grace, poise, love and light… in all I do.

In my experience…love is paramount.

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