MEET CLAIRE
Hi! I'm Claire. Welcome to my little world of OM!
I am a yoga teacher, creator of the natural beauty brand Botanical Trader and founder of Sugarloaf Eco Retreat + Animal Sanctuary [opening soon]
In 2013 I adapted a more simple way of living. I downsized my wardrobe, house, job and way of life. Motivated to live a more conscious and kinder life I researched tirelessly for products and ways of living that had no negative impact on the planet or other beings. I also did the internal work to find emotional balance and self-acceptance, where two of my greatest growth moments came from committing to a daily gratitude and meditation practice alongside studying the Tao Te Ching.
While this journey was certainly transformative it wasn't until I went 80% Raw Vegan and started practicing yoga that my life made the biggest shift. I now live a more connected and balanced life that gives me a deep sense of purpose and contentment.
MY YOGA JOURNEY
Being a perfectionist and not having the 'yogi body', yoga didn't come naturally to me at first and it took me years to enjoy and appreciate the full philosophy behind yoga. However, once I put my ego aside and surrendered the need of having to "strike the perfect pose", I stepped into a place of true love and appreciation for myself, my body and all that exists around me.
It was here my journey of yoga began. I fell deeply in love with the completeness of yoga. Realising that yoga was the final link that was missing in my life.
In November 2018 I embarked on a 200hr teacher training with Georgina Eve @ Movement. Freedom. Transformation . I am now a registered member of Yoga Alliance and offer group classes and retreats specialising in Hatha, Restorative/YIN, Slow + Mindful and SUP Yoga.
I teach from the heart, always with a focus on strengthening the mind, body and emotional awareness. I also promote body positivity, encouraging all levels, body sizes and body shapes to join my classes.
I truly am excited about becoming a qualified yoga teacher and am super excited to share the gift of yoga with you on and off the mat. Read more about Claire's style of yoga classes and current timetable here.
THE DREAM
Besides from being a yoga teacher, I am an animal, nature and people lover and am devoted to living a life of non-violence. The idea for The OM Collective was born back in 2013 as a platform for doing my part in serving up kindness and light in a world that was craving more love-centred projects and businesses.
I had a dream to build an ethical and heart-centred business in response to the negative, cruel and destructive effect consumerism was having on our planet, human health and our animal friends. I wanted to create a project that not only gave back as much as it took [read our philosophy and how we give back], but one that had a positive impact on the world, even if it was only in the most smallest of ways. The OM Collective is my offering of love - my Bhakti prayer.
Whilst the values and ethics of myself and The OM Collective may not align with your own, my intention is to include all - and to never tell people to live a certain way - but to encourage respectful conversations about how we can choose to live an existence that is a little more kinder and conscious.
SURRENDERING + TRUST
I have truly been blessed when it comes to bringing my dream business to life, as I have been gifted with endless coincidences, opportunities and syncronicities along the way. Yes, I have had hard times which have allowed me the opportunity to discover the power of surrender and taught me the gift of grace in letting go all that was not meant for me. However, I also know that I have not been on this road alone - I have had divine intervention in those exact moments where I have decided to "trust and allow".
If there is one thing I know for certain to be true on this journey we call life - it is that none of us have to do it alone so long as we are willing to 'trust and allow'.
CHOOSING KINDNESS OVER PROFITS
My passion is to co-create with the universe a creative and ethical brand that gives back to those in need whilst promoting the importance of choosing to live a more sustainable, simple and kinder existence. These small businesses are:
- Botanical Trader: Hand-made and slow-produced products that are natural, ethical, vegan and certified cruelty free. I have developed a free 30 day Green Beauty Challenge to help people make the switch to natural beauty products. Shop/read Botanical Trader
- The OM Collective: An ethical and eco yogi lifestyle brand and online store. Powered by a mindfully curated blog and podcast.
- Sugarloaf Eco Retreat + Animal Sanctuary [opening soon]: Eco wilderness cabins, wellness retreat, native wild-life sanctuary and animal rescue centre for both farm animals and native wild-life. UPDATE: The eco domes are about to go to manufacture - very exciting - we are hoping to open early-mid 2021
All these businesses run as socially responsible companies. I strongly believe that through ethical consumerism we can all create big change in this lifetime and put an end to global poverty, human rights violations, animal cruelty and the destruction of our planet. There is a new group of businesses on the up-rise, these are the ones who have created a business not for the purpose of profit grabbing but for the sole purpose of using profits to create a better world. This is the main reason that inspired me to go into business – I have committed to supporting not-for-profit groups with the profits I make from my businesses.
“When you’re inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends limitations; your consciousness expands in every direction; and you find yourself in a new great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” Patanjali, the Yoga Sutras
A NEW WORLD ORDER
I believe we are brought up in a world where we are told what is good, bad, right or wrong. For many of us we are given very little space to explore our own beliefs, instead we inherent the normal choices and way of life that the generations before us adopted. We buy consumer products because that's what working people do, we eat meat for almost every meal because thats what generations before us did, we have the nice suburban house and 2 kids because that is the social norm and we work hard to save for retirement because thats how it is done.
I am not saying any of these choices are good or bad - however they are inherited.
This way of living, where we don't question the 'norm', does not serve us or the world. We walk through life on auto pilot not completely conscious of the effect we are having on everything around us. As a result of this unconscious way of being, the world is currently experiencing deep suffering and it has never been more crucial for the human race to start making more conscious and kinder choices. As humans we need to make the choice to either evolve or die.
I believe the biggest negative contributor to suffering is modern day consumerism. Western societies are taking more than they need and as a result it is creating poverty, injustice, obesity, illness, food shortage, animal cruelty and planet destruction.
Consumerism is now disposable. Items are made very quick and very cheap, only to be just as quickly disregarded by the consumer as new trends hit the stores. Fast fashion, two dollar meals and cheap consumer goods are now available to everyone.
Everyone can now buy into ‘the good life’. At the same time, landfills are overflowing, oceans are being poisoned, animals suffer, human disease is on the uprise and woman and children are trafficked for cheap labour, yet the consumerism industry continues to boom. An Australian Study reported that total wasteful consumption in Australia alone amounts to over a whopping $10.5 billion dollars annually spent on goods and services that are never or hardly ever used.
Over the years I have (like many of you) agonisingly watched on as animals, wilderness and people have come under increasing threat despite all the efforts to protect them. However, world change is possible – it is as simple as more people choosing to make more informed and ethical decisions in their everyday life – from what products they buy, how they eat, what principles they adopt to which companies they choose to support.
The OM Collective [and it's sister companies] philosophy is grounded in having respect for all life – with you, with wildlife, with nature and with the local communities which so depend on them.
Welcome to The OM Collective. I am so happy to have you on board. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for ‘caring’. I also want to thank you for caring about something bigger and greater than yourself.
As Margaret Mead once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
With love + light
Claire Charters
Take a moment to consider your personal impact in a world where humans are dominating, mistreating and destroying. Each of us has the ability to create deep change in the world around us. Change occurs as a result of the choices we make on a daily basis with how we choose to live, what we choose to think and with the issues that we discuss with our families and with our friends. If we are to save our beautiful earth we as humans must decide today whether we are going to evolve or die