What do you do?
I’m a wellbeing expert – a qualified clinical hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner and mindfulness coach. I started my career as a personal trainer and Pilates teacher, so when I sit down with someone, I bring that knowledge and experience to help them raise themselves to the next level. We work together to use what they have and edit that to create the best version of themselves.
How did you get into the fitness industry?
I grew up in an orphanage in South Africa, and landed in a permanent foster house at the age of eight. It wasn't a good situation, and at 16, I realised that I had to walk away from my foster family if I wanted to survive. I had no parents or financial backing, so I just had to find a job – any job. I worked in various part-time roles, before landing a position at a bank.
One day at the bank, I got talking to one of the clients. He said, I'm bringing a gym group called Gold's Gym to South Africa. Come and help me launch it. That's when my life changed – I went into the fitness industry, fell in love with it, and never looked back.
How did your career develop?
One day when I was working in the gym, this guy called Reg Parks – an ex-Mr Universe – approached me. He said he’d been watching me, he liked the way I trained my clients, and he wanted to work with me. I studied the Women on Weights strength training programme, and started getting really good results with the women I worked with. Someone asked me, why is it that you get better results than other trainers that do the same as you do? I realised it was because I listened to my clients and took their emotions into consideration. If it was the time of the month when they weren’t feeling strong I might focus on flexibility rather than weight training. If my client had just had a fight with someone, instead of doing a workout that would increase their blood pressure further, I’d do exercises to bring it down. By taking emotions into consideration, the body responded better.
I then met a model who was also a ballet dancer – he had an amazing way of moving and holding himself that just made you notice him. I was used to seeing fit people, but his physique, the transverse muscles, his core – were totally different. He told me it came from doing Pilates, so I decided that I needed to study and teach Pilates.
In 2000, I came to the UK – initially just for a holiday – and very soon I had people interested in working with me. That’s where my career in the UK began. I became very interested in the mind, and that motivated me to qualify as an NLP practitioner and clinical hypnotherapist.
What led you to meditate?
I began to do well in my career, training quite a few well-known individuals – I was being flown in private jets to Mustique and getting caught up in that whole lifestyle. In 2013/2014 I developed two hypnotherapy apps, and in 2014 they went to number one on Apple and Google. I had this big celebration and there was a feature on me in The Sunday Times Style magazine. Someone said, ‘you've made it’ and I remember just thinking something was off. I’d lost my sincerity and my authenticity and forgotten to take care of myself.
Shortly after my app went to number one, I had two cardiac arrests – my heart stopped for 20 minutes. During my recovery, I realised that something needed to change. A friend of mine said, have you ever thought of meditation and mindfulness? I was initially resistant, but I became more and more interested. I was lucky enough to meet Jon Kabat-Zinn (author and professor credited with popularising Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) at a function – we sat down together for 10 minutes or so and when I got up I knew this was something I had to learn. I studied meditation and I believe it saved my life.
Since practising meditation my heart rate has come down. I’m calmer, more content, more in control. I feel a though my brain has got more information to share with me that was almost cut off by my stress and my anxiety. I can hear myself now.
How did the Brain Edit develop?
I knew I had to share what I’d learned with the world. Gradually, I started creating a programme using everything I’d learned using my meditation training and as a clinical hypnotherapist, personal trainer and NLP coach. The Brain Edit is a practical, easy to understand programme that helps people to take control of their mental wellbeing. It consists of three pillars: mindful meditation, which is the foundation of the programme; the Triple Three Technique, which is a method I’ve developed to help people navigate daily challenges in their lives; and mental exercises to help people achieve their goals.
This life has challenged me and I’ve had to learn certain tools to survive and thrive. I want to share what I’ve learned to help others thrive.
What led to the creation of the retreat?
Christian Louboutin is one of my closest friends. I’ve also worked with him as a coach, fitness trainer and Pilates teacher.
He opened his hotel, Vermelho, in Melides in Portugal in 2023 (www.hcmmag.com/louboutin and www.vermelhohotel.com). After a couple of years, the marketing company that works with him suggested running retreats at the hotel and he immediately thought of me.
I’ve done retreats before, and they’re wonderful, but often the people there go home afterwards and they’re like, ‘now what?’ I really wanted this one to be different.
I decided I’d take the Brain Edit to the retreat, so people can learn principles and techniques that change their lives in the longer term.
The three night retreat takes place twice a year and promises to help guests harness the power of their mind and cultivate lasting change in their lives.
Called the Brain Edit Meditation and Mindfulness Retreat, it launched in 2024. The next will take place from 23-26 November this year.
It includes lectures, guided meditations, breathwork and one-to-one sessions, as well as group yoga sessions and exclusive use of the hotel facilities, which include a pool and the Sanctuaire spa, which specialises in ancestral care.
How has your background as a PT impacted your work?
My background has had a huge impact on the way I work today. Why do people go to a personal trainer? Because they don’t know where to start. We give them a simple programme of achievable exercises that gets harder as they get stronger. We go on that journey with them and support them as they progress.
It’s just the same with mental wellbeing. The brain works like a muscle – it learns through repetition. What I learned about the basic principles of how to create a habit has really come into my work now, because it's precisely how I’m able to help people to change their relationship with their thoughts and their mind.
