How to Trust Your Intuition in Midlife: Nervous System Safety, Anxiety & Inner Guidance with Crystal | Hot Flushes & Higher Self

Introduction: Welcome to the Episode

0:46 Soraya: So today I'm really happy to be joined by Crystal. Crystal is a crystal healer, intuitive guide, and her work is rooted in helping women reconnect with the intuition, sensitivity, and inner guidance. And what I really love about Crystal's work is how gently she honors sensitivity, not as something to fix, but as a source of wisdom, attunement, and strength. And her approach invites women to slow down, listen inward, and come back into a relationship with their bodies, intuition, especially during midlife or times of transition.

Introducing Crystal: A Journey of Healing

1:16 Soraya: And Crystal, I'm so happy to have you here today. Welcome to the Hot Flushes and Higher Self podcast.

1:24 Crystal: Hello, thank you so much for having me on. I'm so excited to be here. Um I I've been looking forward to this for weeks on end, and I'm so happy to come on, share some insights, and uh be taking part in the retreat as well.

1:43 Soraya: Yes. So first of all, Crystal, let's start with um you sharing a little bit about your own journey personally and professionally, and what led you from nursing into crystal healing, intuitive work and entrepreneurship?

1:57 Crystal: Um, so great question. So, okay, personally, um there's a bit of a timeline, but there were a few things that had happened. Um so I need to take you back to the year 20, I think it was 2019, 2020. Um I was in my old role, uh in my nursing role, and at work, it was a bit of a tricky time. We had a colleague, um, it's quite sad actually, that had breast cancer and she ended up passing away from cancer, it taken over her whole body. Um, and that was the first sort of thing that had sort of triggered it.

2:42 Crystal: And then following that, so it's 2020, that was quite early, actually. We were coming into COVID, and um I'd actually just come back, I think, off of sick leave. I really think I had COVID, but I will not go into that. Um, and I'd come back and we were told that we'd have to help out in the pandemic, and that was quite difficult. Just for context, I'm a children's nurse and I'm a children's allergy nurse, so I'm even more far removed from children's nursing. Um, but we sort of we had a choice, but one of the choices was go to ICU, intensive, um the intensive care unit for adults, because you get all the PPE and you can go and you can help, and that was really quite testing time.

3:36 Crystal: That was for anywhere from maybe four, I think, four to eight weeks. There was a lot of stuff that we saw, and I'm not used to working with adults, so that was a bit of a transition. Mental health was it was very testing, I'm not gonna lie to you, it was very, very hard. Um, and every day we'd sort of come in, work, and then go go back to the hotels because if we were working shifts, we were able to stay in the accommodation provided, but yeah, it was a hard time that didn't help with my mental health, and I ended up kind of breaking down, going back to my ward, and then it was sort of fine.

4:18 Crystal: Um sorry, it's gotten me a bit emotional actually. I don't really like to reflect on COVID too much, but if I think about it, it gets me a bit teary. Um, because well, you know, a lot of people had passed, and it was a bit of it was a difficult time. Um okay, sorry, trying to move on a little bit. Um, and then we'd come back to our our own ward, and that was fine. I was allowed to. Um, and then following that, there was talk of sort of all happened at the same time, really. Talk of um engagement because my mental health was depleting, and we had uh input from the psychology team, which was really helpful.

5:05 Crystal: And the psychologist was like, So, what makes you happy? What can you focus on? I thought my my partner used to say, Oh, you know, when I'm sad, I think of you. And I thought, okay, let me try and put my eggs into that basket. And uh, we'd we'd had a few conversations around engagement, but it didn't quite happen. Um, so I'd put all my eggs into one basket as one does, and was kind of like, come on, what are we waiting for? Let's get married, let's start this thing off. Sort of uh pushed him into that, which I'm not proud of.

5:44 Crystal: And at the same time, um, as you can imagine, work was quite difficult, and the funding had come through from my asthma diploma three and a half years later, um, whilst being in the peak of COVID, actually, because there were two surges. Um, so sorry, my memory of uh timelines is a little bit kind of wishy-washy, but I had to go back. And whilst I was doing shifts on ICU, I was also studying for my asthma diploma, which was quite hard and challenging, but it was like, well, the funding's here, I might as well do it.

6:23 Crystal: And I think at the same time, if I'm being honest, I was sort of looking for other jobs on the sly, um, because it was really tricky and it was really, really a hard time.

From Nursing to Energy Healing: Crystal’s Story

6:35 Crystal: Um, and I think actually at the end of the second surge, and by the time I'd finished my asthma diploma, um our engagement that was a really difficult and hard thing. But something, a key thing I should mention in here was my intuition had actually come full force at the end of this. So I I had a dream, and we were away, me and my partner, then we were on holiday, and we're having all sorts of talks with my parents. It was quite hard planning for this wedding, it was really stressful. Um, we had an argument that night, and I tried to go to sleep.

7:18 Crystal: I had this amazing dream, and this was a dream that changed everything for me. Um, I fell asleep, and I could see in my mind's eye, like I was on one side, my partner was another side, and I was also something really critical to mention, which I'd forgotten, was when I was doing these shifts and through that difficult time, it's getting a lot of physical symptoms. So I was getting uh chest palpitations, headaches. Uh, it was horrible. I actually had to get fitted with a heart monitor for a while.

7:53 Crystal: Um, but coming back to my dream, how I felt in the dream was I I could see myself, I could see my partner, it was Garden of Eden situation, and my mind sort of went, I wonder how you would feel if you wasn't with your uh, you know, with my partner. And all the stress, all the anxiety, everything I felt in that moment, it sort of just went poof, it lifted and it went and it totally got removed. And then the next thing I saw in my dream was um, because I used to live in London, uh, was a picture of uh Clapham Common and the sun coming down, and I just knew in that moment my you know higher self, my inner knowingness, like my intuition, whatever you want to call it, just knew that would be okay.

8:48 Crystal: So following that, I then gave back the engagement ring because I was like, look, we're not meant to be having this many arguments whilst we're engaged, so there's not a good basis for getting married. Um, and then my partner had sort of talked me out of it, and then following that, it was actually his decision to uh break up our relationship, so yeah, it it was it all, you know, when they say things happen in threes, but I really feel like this was more than that, but everything happened at the same time, and my relationship just kind of went down the pan.

9:28 Crystal: Um, and it was really hard to deal with, but you know, I think that was a catalyst for me sorting out my life in terms of uh starting to heal things, moving out, trusting my intuition. Um, that really all of that sort of led me to this path of healing, which in turn sort of gave me a bit of um a kick up the backside to start my business and to leave my full-time job in nursing. Um, so you could say it was a bit wild and out there, and you could say it was based on a dream, but it sort of was, it was based on my dream and a lot of signs from the universe because it shouldn't be that hard to try and make a relationship work.

10:19 Crystal: Um, and there was one other critical thing I actually forgot to mention as well, which was I had a few readings done which said you would have a business idea and it would be quite lucrative. And after the time period after my uh relationship ended, I was thinking, what on earth is this business idea that I'm gonna make lots of money off? And my friend um at work had said to me, Your name is Crystal, you should work with Healing Crystals. So it was then after that I then pursued pursued the route of healing crystals, and the product came alive because um my product business was called Crystals Healing Lights.

11:04 Crystal: So when I was making um the wedding table centerpieces, uh, which was the bottles with the lights in, I just suddenly thought to myself, oh, I could put a healing crystal in that, and that's what kicked that sort of business off. And where I am now, um, I just feel like I've been on this journey where I've really had to learn how to trust my intuition, um, because my intuition has never been wrong, that's the thing, but it's been a big journey to kind of get there, and uh props to my coach uh for getting me there because um it sort of went from uncontrollable um you know energies and visions and things like that to me mastering it and then working with my spirit team and my heavens team to now be able to serve people and yeah, so sorry for the waffle, but I hope that explains it.

12:02 Soraya: Thank you for sharing a journey, it's been a very like interesting one. I think it sounds to me that you kind of found yourself along the way. Yeah, bad stuff, sometimes good things happen, right?

12:14 Crystal: Yeah, yeah, it's a catalyst, and I think I'd now I know what my uh my purpose is. I definitely all of that was meant to unfold exactly as it was, you know.

12:27 Soraya: Yeah, and so for listeners who may be new to crystal healing, how do you understand and work with crystals as a healing modality?

12:37 Crystal: Yeah, so that's a really good question. So um crystals itself they carry a vibration, and we all carry vibrations, and crystals can help to elevate our vibration as well. So this was really interesting and fascinating to me, right? From the offset, because I knew nothing about crystals. Um, and then as you discover a bit more, there are so many different kinds of crystals, they do loads of different things. You have ones uh, like for instance, one of my favorites, like a black obsidian, which is really good for protection, and then you've got ones for love, so commonly known, like rose quartz, um, and then ones for abundance, like it's citrine.

13:25 Crystal: In terms of um how I use them in my energy healing work as a crystal healer.

What is Crystal Healing?

13:34 Crystal: So, um what I really like to do first is when I have a client, I will pop them on the bed, you know, explain everything that's gonna happen. Really like to take the energy out, the obviously the not so great energy out. So I'll get my selenite wand, which is really good for cleansing, and then I'll just pull the energy out, and it's almost like you're I know I'm being quite descriptive here, but sorry, I think that's my nursing hat. Like pull the energy out and cut it, and it's great. And then in terms of how to put the uh energy or the frequencies of the crystals into the body, it's really quite amazing.

14:18 Crystal: You just get, you know, if someone's really struggling with um protection and it's all intuitive, like because I can feel it, or perhaps get a black obsidian, or um I don't know, there are many protection stones, but that's the one that comes to mind, and then use that and pop the energy into that sort of body part. So maybe it might be in the mind, you know, there's a lot typically that happens in the mind. Pop it into the body onto the head and just kind of envision that energy going into the person.

14:54 Crystal: So, as you can imagine, you have a whole body, right? That's just one example of one body type, but it's fascinating and it's beautiful. And because I'm an aura healer as well, I will finish off the treatment, protecting that aura and putting in a new colour, so it's amazing. I I love it, I absolutely love it. But I hope that answers the question.

15:18 Soraya: Oh, it did.

15:20 Crystal: So that's with crystal healing. I also do use bring crystals into my Reiki practice as well. But I will talk to my spirit guides. Um, and this is quite interesting as well. Um this kind of sounds a little bit out there, but we're spiritual, right, on this podcast. So you know we love it. Okay, indulging in the land of the woo-woo will love it. Um, so this sounds a bit crazy, but my the I'm a medium as well, so I've got these psychic abilities. So the unborn souls of my children will come in and they'll go, Oh no, mum, this person needs this, and they need this crystal there, and da da da da da da, as well as like my Reiki healing guides and my new healing guide.

16:13 Crystal: Um, so it's all very intuitive, it's very amazing. Yeah.

16:18 Soraya: Yeah, it sounds like it. And so, Crystal, many people today feel really overwhelmed, anxious, or disconnected. How does the nervous system regulation show up in your work, even if it's not always named explicitly? How do you know to see that in your clients?

16:34 Crystal: This is a great question. Um so in my clients, what's really interesting is when I'm reading for my clients, I've done quite a few of them as well. My spirit guides will sort of um, they're quite uh, I don't know, they they're just quite um upfront. They will come come and tell me what the client needs in terms of nervous system regulation, and I find it so interesting. So they'll say things like, Okay, this person isn't sleeping, um isn't sleeping well, so there are things that can be done. And actually, I do remember and I do recall when I was reading for someone, and they was like, right, they were showing me cups of coffee and cups of tea, and I was just like, Okay, so what they're saying is you need to cut back on the caffeine, as you know.

17:25 Crystal: And well, maybe some of your listeners might know or might not know, but if we do have caffeine that can impact our sleep and not make it conducive to having a rest, also, magnesium supplements are really good. Um, if that is something that you're allowed to have. My spirit guides have come in and said that for multiple different people. Um, but you can also have that in forms of uh, you know, in terms of having a bath and having bath plates, that's a really good way of absorbing magnesium, and it just helps to reduce that cortisol level as well, um, making it a bit easier for you to get to sleep and really helping in that kind of way.

18:14 Crystal: And then in terms of um, yeah, my advice for my clients would be just to give yourself some time and attention, and you know, that saying of when we don't look after ourselves, how are we going to give our time and energy to other people?

The Science and Spirit of Crystals

18:35 Crystal: So, really prioritizing sleep, prioritizing rest, doing things like meditation, even if it's five or ten minutes. I know people say, Oh, I haven't got five or ten minutes. Everyone's got the same 24 hours, right? We can all take five or ten minutes, maybe when you're watching, I don't know, EastEnders, Traitors, whatever it is, you know, and do the meditation work that is necessary because that really helps um with our nervous system as well. And what I found personally is when I have done um the meditation work and I'm you know working at work and I'm put in a stressful situation, I wouldn't react, I would not react in the same ways as I would have done maybe a year ago, if you're consistent with it.

19:28 Crystal: Um, so and also in terms of going back to the sleep, and I love crystals, right? So using crystals and holistic healing to help. So maybe bringing an amethyst crystal into the room, perhaps spraying your bedroom with lavender. These are all things that I have mentioned to my clients before, and um, it is quite funny. Then thereafter they'll see a sign or they'll smell a bit of lavender and they'll go, Oh, that's really interesting.

20:00 Soraya: but yeah yeah well you know um and yeah I think the most important thing here I'm just going to um you know say here is just taking time out for yourself so I think especially um in this day and age as women we're we're constantly giving from an empty cup and I think when we start putting in those boundaries and and looking after ourselves and and giving back to ourselves then it's easier to be there for other people but if you're not showing up for yourself and prioritizing yourself how are you to do that that would be um my advice yeah that is great and from your experience crystal how do emotional suppression stress or on process experiences manifest energetically or physically what do you see in your clients well also a very interesting question so I would say for unprocessed experiences things like stress and um suppression can show up in quite a number of ways energetically so if your chakras are not working properly you know one of them or maybe some of them um could be blocked this could show up as physical conditions and also having blocked chakras could contribute to them as well.

21:34 Crystal: So in Reiki we work with the seven different chakras um and you know that will help to unblock some chakras and it's really interesting actually if you do do a few sessions the changes that come about with that. But also once I've learned about holistic healing and energy healing think doing things like shadow work and that will be different for different people but things for example like therapy or Reiki or EFT tapping counselling healing can also help to shift um your energy from and you know where you are from a place of survival to um to thriving really it can also help you understand so I just have a question.

22:31 Soraya: So if you if as an example if someone for instance has a blocked throat chakra how would that manifest in their body and the emotion and in the energy what would you see if someone's throat chakra was blocked?

22:44 Crystal: So if someone's throat chakra was blocked they wouldn't be they may be getting a lot of coughs they may be getting a lot of colds um they'd constantly be getting sick you know it does happen it happened to me actually um for quite some time and my sister um sorry sis but just to use you as an example my sister she gets uh quite a lot of heavy colds and coughing and and also her asthma and like from week to well make her sound like a really badly controlled asthma asthmatic but from um maybe not week to week but you know every so often she'd be like oh my chest I'm so wheezy and I'm like well you know throat chakra not expressing yourself properly you know and these are the things where it could really just show up um and I think when we suppress I'm using myself as an example here okay but when we don't speak our truth and when we always when there might be an example where you're being kind and you're not saying what you really think it doesn't serve you because then you get sick you start coughing spluttering and sometimes I have these things with uh with my dad and I think oh I'll bite my tongue but then you know what about you know a couple days later I'm I'm coughing or whatever and I'm just like yeah oh there you go.

How to Choose and Work with Crystals

24:17 Soraya: But that's a very common theme I feel anyway a lot of my classes people pleasing um as well so that's I guess the throat check with being blocked and not speaking their truth and just owning what they want to say and it's kind of going into the body and manifesting and and symptoms.

24:34 Crystal: So I a hundred percent agree with that and I think it's so so common the work what I found is with my clients when I do Reiki on my clients there is quite a bit of work that needs to be done on the throat chakra and it's quite amazing.

24:50 Soraya: I actually um done now not talking about my clients but as a personal story I had some healing done from my healer friend and um anyway we'd we'd sort of broken a a vow in a previous lifetime and and did all of this and my body I tell you this is true this is a real life thing my body could not stop coughing for about 20 30 minutes it's just bringing all of this stuff up and um I don't smoke right but I tell you it sounded like I had a smoker's cough because I couldn't stop so energy wise it's so interesting when you start to learn a lot more about holistic healing and you delve into that and you start getting your chakras more aligned and you do more healing work no matter what that looks like um you know because I did healing with my friend I just could not stop coughing and my friend was like yeah yeah do you see now your body doesn't like it your body doesn't like it and it does not want to hang on in the way that it has been um holding the vow and and everything like that and I'm like yeah I know I can definitely tell because I tell you every few minutes I just kept coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing it was uh it was so so interesting and just coming back to the chakras as well and now remembered what I wanted to say so giving you an example here that um with the chakra the solar plexus is actually um related with chronic fatigue um so yeah and that's that's really interesting I know chronic fatigue syndrome is is a very interesting um condition uh and yeah it can honestly it's very debilitating but I think this is just my personal opinion so you know just putting it out there but um that thing of us not serving ourselves when we are constantly serving everybody else that's where yeah things like that are gonna happen a bit more um so yeah so it's very very interesting but I think in terms of the question of like stress and suppression it shows up energetically in a myriad of ways but what I find fascinating is the more that we heal these conditions just one day they just go poof yeah no that is very true going back to women in midlife a lot of them you know we discuss that a lot of people pleasing they've been doing this for years they've got this role they're playing like a mom a wife you know a daughter a friend they have a role and a lot of them are just trying to make everyone happy so they are like stopping themselves and their throat chakras block there may be other chakras you know I mean I don't know that much about chakras so you know more than me obviously there is an effect yeah also in midlife I'm seeing a lot of my clients have these issues with a lot of anger a lot of repression and they're starting to question their identities maybe the career path that they're on or their sense of purpose um and they're also very burnt out so from your perspective crystal why does this phase of life invite deeper inner listening I would say that actually at this point um and I know I'm not I'm not quite there yet but I I'd use myself as an example I think at this point in midlife as well I think when you get to a stage or when your clients get to a stage where they've got these health conditions um you know and they maybe thought as a child or use an example that their life would go one way and then actually things are starting to break down and they're just in the day-to-day grind of it and they're just going is this really what I wanted to do with my life you know is this really where I wanted it to go when they were nine ten years old I'm I'm pretty sure they would have had a different vision their inner child would have wanted a different um vision to where they are now and I think especially the health thing because I think we all know that when your health goes that's a thing that's keep keeping everything afloat and we have many warning signs in between um in between well birth and midlife and when something goes wrong even just a bit slightly with your health that's when we start questioning our purpose where we are in life what we're doing and that's when things need to change so even though me myself and I I'm 30 oh I was going to say 37 I'm 36 I'm not quite there yet however um I feel like that was big awakening that was an awakening period and I think naturally when you get to that transition point um of midlife and these health problems arise and you're in the daily grind of it and you feel depleted like you said burnt out tired this that you just want to seek something something else you want to seek a better quality of life and you ask yourself right you ask yourself a few questions how have I come to this point and how do I make it better and I think that's where you as a as a woman um in midlife that's when you go seeking more answers but more answers probably in the spiritual realm you think there has to be a bit more to this right and you start wanting to know the answers so you think okay let me start on this path let me have let me try a little bit of Reiki let me let me go to a reader let me do this let me do that because whatever I'm doing now is not working and that's when you might start going through your spiritual awakening and then you may start trusting your inner self a bit more and those signals and your intuition and you sort of get to a point where you're like everything I've done and all the conditioning I'm not saying that's right or wrong by the way but society has played a hefty hand in that from parents and and you know uh I don't know religion and this and that don't want to go into it too much everyone's point of view is going to be different with that but conditioning has dealt as a heavy hand and I think you reach a point in your life midlife and you go how did I end up here perhaps I need to start asking other questions start healing my health start looking inwards start getting the answers and when you know and you're on this spiritual journey and you heal and you heal and you heal guess what those physical symptoms they suddenly start going and you're like right I need to honor myself now like okay the common thing right throat chakra coughs colds yeah yeah like what we were talking about before but there'll be other things so I think I was saying about the solar plexus condition uh the chronic fatigue that is it well I've been to a talk recently at the Mind Body and Spirit Festival but that does come from people pleasing and that's how severe the we don't think it is right we don't think oh we should think as women we should you know be nice and and and do things and blah de blah de blah and that's all the programming and conditioning okay but actually when we start putting boundaries in place and we start listening to our inner selves and connecting with our heavens team or connecting with our spirit guides um and start listening to ourselves that's when we start honoring ourselves and we're working you know we're we're working from a place of authenticity and alignment and honouring our little inner child that maybe I don't know three four five ten that had big dreams and didn't want to be in a state of flux with burnout so that lost their sense of identity purpose and things like that.

Crystals for Chronic Fatigue & Burnout

The Spiritual Side of Healing

34:04 Crystal: So I think there's a few things that would probably bring you to that point and then I think that point then causes you to ask the questions which then takes you on a spiritual journey which then gives you that sense of direction to be like okay I want to start opening up and working with my spirit guides or working with my higher self or you know working with my heavens team to make things a bit easier and it's about living in alignment.

34:38 Soraya: Yeah and so how can energetic awareness or crystal healing support women going through these types of transitions?

34:46 Crystal: Yeah so it's very interesting. So energy healing I'm by the way um I should mention this that I've just been trained in uh Reiki and um crystal healing and aura healing those are my modalities I haven't been trained in anything else um but how can these healing modalities help to support that okay so with Reiki Reiki does like I said I've already mentioned a bit of Reiki but that does work with the seven chakras so these different chakras will uh relate to different things going on in the body um and you know you will have like your your heart chakra heart chakra is such a important one I think when we feel hurt when we feel pain so many things really do affect our heart chakra so with Reiki like I said I work with the seven chakras it just helps as it's energy healing and it's being directed into the right place in the body and whatever chakra it needs to go into to help unblock it.

36:06 Crystal: So it can be really helpful for stress it can help alleviate stress and anxiety and if that's all related to the heart chakra for example or the throat chakra you will feel differently and it will take like it will take a couple of sessions they say with Reiki it's a power of three just to help alleviate that and clients really do feel like that is transformational because then they start taking control of their lives and and doing things that they perhaps would not have done before and with the crystal healings it's so interesting when I work on my clients they're like oh yeah I could feel the vibrations and I could feel this going on in my body and I I felt hot here and I felt the energy here and it's just about taking out like I said with my selenite wand before I like drawing out the energy but I like putting in new energy into the client so if your heart chakra needs a bit of healing you know have a lovely rose quartz on that help with self-love it helps with things like that and I think that actually feeds into the theme of your retreat in February right um so if we are not giving ourselves enough self-love put lovely rose quartz on the heart it's just wonderful it will just help try and remove prior to that remove that anxiety that's going on with the energy healing and that will take and it's quite interesting as well with intuitive healing you know what needs what energy needs to be taken out what needs to be worked on a bit um and what crystal goes where in the body but with any of these treatments A I think it's important to find a practitioner that you really do trust and I think um B you know you have to give it some time and healing is effective but it's also having ownership of that and doing the work in between to help shift the perspective and to help heal faster.

Intuitive Healing & Reiki

38:25 Crystal: But it's a beautiful they're both beautiful modalities and it gives me great joy as a practitioner when I work on someone and they might have come in a bit stressed or whatever you know but then you can just they just feel light they feel good in their energies I'm literally doing the the hand check when I say the hand check nothing dodgy I'm just putting my my hand over their body and I'm feeling the energy and um it feels good it feels balanced and the way to check that if anyone does want to check that is that you just put the hand over the body and if you're getting a bit more sort of it's hard to explain but if my hand is a bit closer to the person's heart that is the area that needs to be worked on.

39:17 Crystal: If it's a bit further away I'm like oh okay not so bad not so bad and then I know what needs to be worked on. So it's uh it's really interesting as a practitioner doing it. But what gives me so much more um I don't want to say joy because I that's probably not the right word satisfaction is helping to unblock those chakras and helping my clients to feel better. Um yeah intuitive messages come with that as well.

39:49 Soraya: Okay thanks for explaining that so what what in general what kind of pattern do you commonly see when you see women reconnecting with themselves after they've been prioritizing others for so long?

40:00 Crystal: I feel like I know this is just gonna sound a bit kind of generalized, but I just feel like they have a like a little bit of a glow up, which is fantastic, you know, prioritizing themselves, they're looking good, they're like being more confident in themselves, they're sleeping better, they can function better. Um they just have a different aura, they had just have a different energy, and you can really just tell. Um, and it's yeah, it's amazing. And I think the thing is is that look as people, as women specifically, um, we have been conditioned to be nice and to people please.

40:46 Crystal: So when we start putting in, and this is something that people can do for themselves, but when they start putting in boundaries, and it's and I'm not necessarily even really talking about the the healing modalities here, but when they start putting in those boundaries and start giving back to themselves, you can just feel it. There's just a different energy and aura, and they're glowing up, and it's like you you are the version of you that is you know taking the world by storm, and you just I'm just in awe of it, I just love it.

41:22 Crystal: So it doesn't matter where you are in life, you really can just shift things when you prioritize yourself.

41:30 Soraya: Yes, self-love, which brings me on to the retreat that you'll be joining that you mentioned earlier in February. Um, really excited about welcoming you then. So you'll be joining and doing a collaboration with Reshmer, she'll be doing the soundbox, you'll be doing the energy cleaning. So tell us a bit about what to expect at the retreat.

41:51 Crystal: Oh well, if I gave away all my secrets, no, not all of them.

41:58 Soraya: Just give us an idea, just a bit of a tease about what to expect from your session.

42:03 Crystal: Okay, so your lovely retreat, it is all centered around self-love, um, which I absolutely love. So we are going to um give the lovely participants. We're going to give them a free gift, but before that, our little practices and healing modalities that we are going to combine in there will help um enhance feelings of self-love, but it will also take away those limiting beliefs um around love, around self-love, any kind of destructive ideologies there, and just help to release all the stuff that we're holding in our bodies that are really stopping us to connect with um well, with ourselves, with love, with self-love for ourselves.

42:59 Crystal: And the I think I'm allowed to say this. Our um modalities will be uh obviously I do a little bit of Reiki, so I'll be incorporating a little bit of Reiki love in there.

Crystal’s Role in the February Retreat

43:14 Crystal: Um, and Rushma is an incredible, incredible uh healer. Um, so she will bring her skills of sound healing there. I think there may even be a little bit of um hypnosis in there as well. Um, and yeah, there'll be a few other little um things in there, but I don't I don't yeah, I don't really want to mention too much, but no, no, no, don't give away too much, just a little enough to know what to expect.

43:48 Soraya: It sounds great.

43:50 Crystal: So releasing around those limiting beliefs of uh self-love and trying to embed new beliefs really through various different healing modalities. Um, and there'll be a little gift at the end. But it's a very exciting session. I cannot wait. Um, we're gonna bring the energy, we're gonna bring the vibes, um, but we're going to release all that, all that stuff, all that stagnant energy, all that junk that's uh in our bodies that's stopping us from really loving ourselves and seeing us as a great human being.

44:33 Crystal: Um, and you're just gonna feel like a whole new person after the session.

44:39 Soraya: Sounds great. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. Um, so how do you personally define purpose now comparing compared to earlier on in your life, Crystal?

44:51 Crystal: How do I define my purpose now? Yeah, okay, so um it's taken me a while to get here, like 36 years worth of life. Um, my purpose before, I very much, as you all know, I'm a nurse, um, and I very much like to help people, specifically families and children. Um, and I was just a helper. However, now I've connected with myself, aligned uh with my higher self, and I know my purpose, which is simply this it is to help souls in their journey um to help heal and to help them through whatever it is that they are going through.

45:41 Crystal: I know that sounds quite broad, I will explain. So, using myself as an example, I have been through um a few challenges, it's fair to say, just to I don't want to waffle on too much about it, but just to give you a little bit of an insight, I almost um didn't pass my nursing degree. I almost didn't didn't graduate, but I came through that. Um I left a a pretty sturdy career in nursing to pursue a business. I almost got married and then didn't get married. Uh, and especially I don't know if any of your listeners, but hey, look, in the South Asian community that's really um shamed upon, but there you go.

46:35 Crystal: Um and yeah, and I've also um I do love my family, but I can now see everything happens for a reason. I was very much born into uh a dysfunctional family with their limiting beliefs um and and things like that and quite dominant personalities, so it's been hard hard to shine through that and uh probably to wrap it off because you know um my my father would have me uh married and have kids, and it doesn't really matter to whom, and I that's the stereotypical way he sees things, right? Um, and I'm not, so it would probably look bad in his mind.

47:27 Crystal: So these are not all of them, because there's a lot more to my life, but these are the things that I had been through to get to where I am now, and what I would say is I have experienced these things, and that was all done for a reason. My heavens team have told me because I'm meant to experience those things, see how it feels physically, emotionally, um, spiritually in the body, and to help others that are going through similar things. So I've got that experience, and I can help to coach others um through those experiences to help them through and help them align to their most highest self and authentic self and doing the thing that they love.

48:16 Crystal: Of course, if it is aligned, but that is my purpose now, that is my life's work, and I will continue to serve from here till the day I die. As long as I can see people thrive and get from a place, get out of a place of survival to thriving. Um, that is just all the reward that I need, you know. It's not about money, it's about serving and purpose.

48:45 Soraya: And it's again, you know, Crystal, I guess for you, it's about being your authentic self, not being a version that other people want from you, and that's quite powerful in itself. And it takes a lot of courage, I think, also to let go of that, you know, not being who they want you, but who you are supposed to be. And I think that's a lot of going back to midlife. That that's when we're coming into that power. A lot of women I speak to now they don't care anymore, they just want to be themselves.

49:12 Crystal: Yeah, yeah, I totally agree, and thank you. It's like to be oh, I did forget one thing in there, my intuition. Um, as you can imagine, that was a bit shushed about as well. But coming out as a psychic medium to my parents is uh is very hard, actually. And um, my mum is deeply religious, you know, and she she does support me, but I thought I was going to be um sorry to use these words, but burnt at the stake, you know. Um, and I haven't been, and I've been embraced, and it's not easy. Um I'm not saying it's easy, but what I'm saying is I've had 36 years of this push and pull energy of you know what's going on in my dreams, how do I trust myself?

50:08 Crystal: How do I work through all of this? And it has been a big journey, and you know, for those women at midlife, yeah, look, listen, I'm 36, and that's how I feel. I don't care what people think, it is all about being authentic and aligning aligning to your highest version of who you are. I don't, I couldn't care what people think at all because I am just unapologetically myself. So, in terms of purpose and intuition, I'm so proud of the fact that I have come out as a psychic medium. I'm so proud of the fact that I've navigated that and people will have a problem with it, but you know what?

50:53 Crystal: That's a you problem, that's not a me problem, especially Crystal.

Cultural Perspectives on Healing

50:57 Soraya: I think you know, in the culture, yeah, you have certain definitions of success, and like going to the medical field training as a nurse would have been probably your family would be very proud of you. So then to kind of turn that on a head and then to go into like the woo-woo, as we described earlier. I'm sure that wasn't but again, that's you know, you going into yourself and being who you are supposed to be, so yeah.

51:23 Crystal: I agree, I like I a hundred percent agree. It it's not been easy, and I do remember the day I I said to my dad, I don't really want to do this nursing thing anymore, but I think my family know me as well. I'm very much um a determined person, a strong and determined person, and um I will stop at nothing to make my dreams come true, and I will be that person um to hopefully, hopefully, if your few is like me, uh inspire other women uh to do the same. And if they felt aligned to me, I would like to help them to do that with my coaching.

52:08 Crystal: Um, but yeah, in terms of purpose, I am here to serve from now till the day I die, and um yeah, it's it's an amazing purpose. I I cannot wait to help souls on their journey, no matter you know what healing modality um I use. And hopefully there's some sort of message in there that they'll take away.

52:36 Soraya: And I think this will be a good time to mention how listeners can work with you, Crystal. Is it through your website or what's the best way of reaching you?

52:45 Crystal: Yeah, so my website is www.crystaljohns. Uh Johns will be spelt J-O-H-N-S, because that's something that normally comes up uh.com. And all my services are there, so psychic medium readings, the healing modalities, and my coaching program. Um, so if anyone does feel aligned to me, then that would be a wonderful place just to check out my stuff or my story, and I just hope that it inspires you. Um, because I feel like I'm also continuing my my grand legacy, but I can talk about that later. Um, and in terms of Facebook and Instagram, it is Crystal John's, really, is just my name, but you'll be able to follow up.

53:39 Soraya: Yeah. Right. Okay. And can you also share one simple grounding intuitive or energetic practice that listeners could try to reconnect with themselves?

53:50 Crystal: Oh, I absolutely, I gotta say, I absolutely love this question, it is amazing. Okay, so I'm gonna stick with an intuitive uh practice, if that's all right. And if this is something so simple, anyone can do it. It's called the sway test. So, what you want to do is stand up and you want to ask yourself a question that you know the answer to it is a yes. So it could just be, am I a female? Or is my name Crystal, for example? You know, whatever the answer is to it, if you know the answer is a yes, you take note of which way your body sways.

54:36 Soraya: Okay, let me try this. Let me stand up, Crystal. So I'm standing up now. Okay, so I'm asking myself a question. Go on, all right, ask yourself a question, and then if the answer is yes, I'm supposed to sway right, is that right?

54:53 Crystal: So there's no right or wrong, just take note of which way your body sway.

54:59 Soraya: Got it, okay. Got it.

55:02 Crystal: Okay, now you want to ask yourself a question where you know the answer is no. So um it could be something like uh, you know, do I don't know what is it? Is it Christmas time or something like that? You could ask yourself any question, as long as the answer is no, take note of which way your body sways to. Okay, so now you know your yes and no. Now it's important to note here that your yes and no could change if you do if you do this later, like two days later, your yes and no could change. But now you know what your yes and no is in that moment.

55:46 Crystal: So if you want to connect with your intuition, you can ask your intuition anything as long as it's a yes or a no.

Trusting Your Intuition

55:54 Soraya: Okay, ah, interesting. Yeah, okay, that's so cool.

56:02 Crystal: It is, isn't it? I absolutely love it, and then when you get good, um not get good, I'll rephrase, but when you know what you're doing with that, um, then you can do things, you can, you know, dissolve like contracts and and and there's all other things that you can do with that, it's amazing.

56:26 Soraya: So yeah, no, it's great. I mean, for me, I I I went um for my yes, it was I went backwards, and for my no, it was like a forward movement, but it was quite immediate as well.

56:37 Crystal: Yeah, yeah. So it is fantastic, or you could use it like sometimes I don't know about you, but uh, if I'm in Tesco's and you don't know what to get, and I'm having a bit of an indecisive moment, you could just ask yourself the question when you're in Tesco's, and then you know.

57:00 Soraya: I'll be swaying all over the place in my local ASDA. Crazy old woman, but yeah, no, it's a fun thing to do, and I think sometimes you're right, if you are not sure, it's a great just to go to I guess go to your inner guidance. Yeah, um, that's really great. Thank you, Crystal. And do you have a personal ritual or daily practice that helps you to stay centered and energetically clear?

57:25 Crystal: Hmm, centered or energetically cleared. Yes, so there are a few things that I do every day. I'm not gonna tell you all of them because there are too many. But one or two things that you do, yeah. To keep me centered, um, I do try and meditate every day. Um, should really do it twice a day, whether that really works, you know. But I will do it once a day. I'll do a 10-minute meditation, guided meditation, just off YouTube, where I'm just focusing on my breath, on my breathing, and that really does help just to calm me down.

58:02 Crystal: The good points to do this in the day is uh first thing when you wake up. So, you know, you don't answer any emails, you don't look at anything else, you just do it first thing in the morning. Um, or if you're trying to make the environment conducive to sleep, then you can do it in the evening, just before bed, just helps to get rid of all that mind chatter, and you can go to sleep. Um, and then the was it an energy clearing? That was it, that was it, the energy clearing practice. So um, okay, there are a few things that I do do.

58:43 Crystal: I do do a little um protection prayer every day, um, and there is a little bit of a ritual with that where I just protect my energy. But you for the viewers, for the viewers, there is a simple thing actually, and it's um it's a breaky book. Um, what you can do is energy protection every day. It's a very simple thing. You want to imagine yourself in a big giant golden egg, make it really, really, really shiny, yeah. And then you want to just envision any, well, you don't want to envision bad energy coming towards you, but what I mean is you make it really, really shiny.

59:28 Crystal: So any anything which isn't love, which isn't positivity, um, or you know, I would say Reiki, but you could say something else, whatever it is, anything that that is not one of those three things, it's just reflecting and it's bouncing off your golden egg. That way you're protected, and it's a really um good energy practice to do every day because I don't know about you, but I do find that um look in in This physical world, some people can be really quite draining, like really draining. So I will do like my little protection prayer after that.

1:00:12 Crystal: But to enhance energy protection, I make sure that I protect myself every day. So that is, you know, in this physical world, let alone the unseen energy. So it's really important to protect your energy every day. So I would say the shiny golden egg technique is a definite one.

1:00:32 Soraya: Yeah, it's great. Thank you, Krista, for sharing. And what's lighting you up most in your work right now? Oh, great question.

1:00:42 Crystal: Um, what is lighting me up? Well, at the moment, I'm really enjoying um just serving clients, you know, helping them, healing them, but really following my um, yeah, following my path, following my purpose to help serve clients. Um, and it's so interesting to me because as I do more things, I might do uh more readings, I actually connect with the more medium side of me, and I'm getting um, you know, if I'm reading for someone, I might get a spirit that comes in for that person. So, and it's really interesting to me because I think uh it's not imposter syndrome or anything.

1:01:29 Crystal: I'm just saying, look, I think I I am a I'm a good reader, and uh the medium side is quite incredible. That's something I'm still um developing, I would say. However, every time I practice or work with my intuition, something new comes along, and I really, really enjoy it. And I'm enjoying the ride, I gotta say, and I'm enjoying helping people in their journeys wherever they are. Um seeing them just feel lighter and feeling a bit more satisfied um after a reading or a healing is just enough for me.

1:02:13 Crystal: So I'm enjoying the intuitive path and uh it's really, really fun. And of course, working with lovely individuals like yourself. So I'm enjoying what the universe is bringing me, I've got to say. Um, and if I'm here now, I wonder where I'll be in a year's time. But you know, I try and keep myself grounded with what I've got going on right now.

1:02:38 Soraya: So from what you're telling me, it's all about kind of like evolving, right? So you're expanding, you're you're kind of you know developing more of who you are, and that that's really exciting as well.

1:02:47 Crystal: Yeah, it's it's alignment and it's um it's aligning with my most authentic self as well. And I'm just I'm loving life being me, I've got to say.

1:03:00 Soraya: You're upgrading yourself, Crystal. It sounds to me. Yeah, yeah, that's that's what you that's what you called actually. You you called it a spiritual upgrade, right? And I I love that um term.

1:03:14 Crystal: I honestly like I absolutely love it. And if I get to help people on my way in my journey, that's that's what it is for me.

1:03:25 Soraya: Yeah, it's great. Thank you. And so I've got I'm gonna finish the interview of two questions that I like to ask on this podcast. So the first one is what's something your body or intuition has been teaching you lately?

1:03:39 Crystal: What is something my body okay? I would say my intuition, I can actually relate to this uh very easily in the last week. My body and my intuition has told me, Crystal, rest, rest, girl, not working so much. That's what it's been telling me. Um, and I'll give you a little example of this. Uh, I think actually I did speak with my spirit guides, I did do that yesterday, and they were just like, Yeah, okay, these are the things that you need to do, but you also they are pretty much like you do need to rest.

1:04:19 Crystal: And I had a few cards um and signs telling me so prior, but this week has been so funny because my body, my body this week, I uh unfortunately it was time of the month this week, uh, which was quite painful. Um, and I actually haven't said this on any other podcast, but I'll share it because I'm being authentic. Um so I I don't know if I still have, but I had fibroids. Um, and what they are is they're little cysts on the inside of the uterus, they can be really quite painful. Um, so they that was I was sort of okay with it last year.

1:05:08 Crystal: And what happened obviously, we had Christmas, we had New Year, things like sugar, um, you know, stress and all these other things happened. I slapped off a bit on my regime, if you like, and my body was going, Crystal, you can't do this. Like you worked yesterday, don't know how you worked, taking ibuprofen. And I woke up on Tuesday morning, um, about seven o'clock, and I was in severe pain, and I had a driving lesson at eight o'clock in the morning, and I was going, Oh, how am I going to do this?

1:05:44 Crystal: So I was like, Okay, need to slow down a little bit. It was fine. It did end up taking some pain relief, but you know, I had to relieve the pain in order to drive, and and it was fine. So I think my intuition this week has been saying slow down and to look after yourself. Um, and in terms of looking after myself physically, I think obviously having a better diet, and you know, we have these ancient South Asian uh remedies as well of like ginger, honey, turmeric, and all of those things. But I would normally have a ginger like ginger water in the morning, um, which will help to take the bloating and the pain away.

1:06:28 Crystal: So I need to get into better habits. So, as I am teaching my clients this, I'm also trying to take my own advice. But yes, I would say that's what my intuition has been saying. Slow down and give back to yourself this week, girl.

1:06:44 Soraya: Yeah, but I think that's the common thing that we see with women in general that we're all trying to do too much, and it's so important to listen to our inner compass and just take it easy. So, what does living as your limitless self mean to you right now, Crystal?

1:07:01 Crystal: Oh, I absolutely love, love, love this question. So limit limitless self means that there is, to me, it means that there are no restrictions and we can really go for it. And I think that's the thing is that we don't, well, I would say we don't realize as women um how much power we hold. We hold a lot of power, right? And we are all creators, so knowing that and taking that is just so important. And I think to myself, if I had the mindset of my maybe 30, 31-year-old self, I would think that I would just be stuck in an old nursing job looking to get married to my ex-partner.

1:07:53 Crystal: Whereas now I think there's no limits on life, let's go for it. If I want to build a business, yeah, let's do it. I might not know how, I might not know you know what my next steps are, but sometimes you haven't got to know the how. You just got to take a chance, take that leap of faith and do it. Because what I have learned, and this is something my nursing career has given me, I have seen how short life is, and I do not want to be, you know, on sorry for the phrasing, but on my deathbed, looking back and going, if but should would, because my my lovely, gorgeous mother, who also taught me, and this is something she did do very well, you can do whatever you set your mind to, and those are words to live by.

1:08:51 Crystal: So I think limitless self, like, let's just go for it. Because I don't want to look back on my life and go, if but should would. I want to do things, I want to know, even if it did fail, that's okay. I did it, I don't have a regret, and I'm gonna go for it. And I think having that I don't say to be ruthless about it, but having that determination to is so empowering, and I think that's what it is. So limitless self is empowerment, it's power. We are creators, let's take the steering wheel and create our reality, even if it's not what it is now, doesn't mean that that's what it's always going to be.

1:09:35 Crystal: We can create and make anything we want, so let's really go for it.

1:09:41 Soraya: Love it, thank you so much, Crystal. I I love that um your definition of a liberative self is as well. Thank you. So thanks for today, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you at the retreat in February. Yes, thank you. Bye, Crystal. Thanks so much for listening to Hot Fletcher and of starting today's episode spoke too, and you're getting ready for deep support that you can put a one-to-one section with me. I work with women around the world to help stop connecting red.com. You can also reach me directly anytime at live therapy.com.

1:10:44 Soraya: I'd love to connect. Take care of you. Go back up to and remember your next chapter is already on folding.