When picturing a yoga retreat – an escape for the body, mind and soul – Greenbank, Ontario, is probably not the first place that comes to mind. But for Crystal Andrus, and the dozens of women who travel from all over the world to participate in her monthly retreats, this tiny community is not only a “hidden treasure” perfect for rejuvenation and healing, but it is the stomping grounds of a powerful female movement.
Simply stepping into Crystal’s beautifully-restored farmhouse is enough to feel a sense of inner peace and tranquility. Her living room is adorned with white couches and glowing candles and smells of fresh lavender and chamomile.
That same feeling of ease and serenity is further manifested in Crystal, herself, when she graciously enters the room and greets you as if you are an old friend. Watching her eyes light up as she speaks about her passion for helping women find their inner-strength, confidence and zest for life, it is clear that Crystal is fulfilling her true inner calling - to transform and empower women.
Crystal’s wellness empire has resonated with women, and men, all across the globe.
Her best-selling books, Simply...Woman! (a 12-week program that promises to transform the mind, body and soul); Transcendent Beauty, (which delves into the power of meditation, prayer and spirituality and her latest release).
Simply...Empowered!, (a guide to discovering how to “create and sustain success in every area of your life,” have catapulted Crystal to new levels of fame and admiration.
Aside from her books, Crystal makes regular appearances as the nutrition and life coach on the international hit TV show X-Weighted.
Her knack for motivational speaking has put her in the company of popular self-help gurus. She has shared the stage with Dr. Phil, Barbara Walters, Louise Hayer and Dr. Wayne Dyer to name a few.
She has since become the CEO and founder of her own company, Crystal Andrus Productions, which produces a variety of health and fitness products. And, she has founded a project that is truly dear to her heart: The SWAT Institute (Simply Woman Accredited Trainer).
SWAT is a school that trains “coaches” according to Crystal’s unique wellness philosophies to conduct long-distance virtual conferences. With the help of Skype, Crystal and her integrative “Dream Team” of coaches (all experts in different fields) are able to reach out and spread their empowering messages to women all over the world.
Her latest endeavour, The Simply...Woman Workout Club, has Crystal back doing what she loves: working with women to help them feel empowered, fit and healthy.
In her private fitness facility in Greenbank she offers the Simply...Woman! Workout - a distinct class that combines ashtanga and vinysa yoga with weight-training, pilates and meditation and takes place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Depending on the day, the class brings together about 15-20 women of all different ages and fitness levels. Crystal starts the class by welcoming everyone and delivering a little ‘pep’ talk before easing into a gentle flow of yoga postures.
The class often picks up the intensity with some strength-training and Pilates-inspired moves (women can choose between 5 and 10 pound dumbbells depending on their preference) and ends with a calming and restoring meditation session led by Crystal, herself.
Her running/jogging/walking group meets every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings and is free of charge. Crystal encourages everyone to come out and insists her programs are for all levels, shapes and sizes.
“It’s all about honouring yourself,” she says, “And exercise is a way to honour yourself and love your body.”
Honouring herself and recognizing her own potential didn’t always come easy to Crystal. Coming from a past of sexual abuse and having suffered from the emotional burden of being raised by a feminist mother who, due to her own painful experiences with abuse, “hated all men,” Crystal dealt with her own fair share of self-loathing.
Desperate to prove she was worthy of love and acceptance, Crystal says she “did everything to be beautiful.” Through a strict diet and exercise regime, she focused her efforts on fitness competitions, teaching aerobics and modelling for fitness magazines like Galaxy.
However, the intense focus on her image and the pressure placed on perfecting her body left Crystal craving a different type of lifestyle – one that she felt would lead to more joy, contentment and love.
In her mind, this meant kids, a husband and the white-picket fence that came along with it. And with this intense desire for a new kind of life, came the same desire for perfection – though this time Crystal says she sought perfection in her ability to mother rather than in her appearance. “I wanted to be the mother my mother never was,” she explains. “I wanted to be supermom.”
Evidently, just as Crystal felt like she was riding an emotional roller coaster in her 20’s, she felt the same high’s and low’s with motherhood.
“I gave up everything,” she says, “And I lost myself when I had my kids.” Burdened with the weight of 80 extra pounds and an unhappy marriage, Crystal says she had an epiphany and realized she needed to honour herself and reclaim her happiness and her identity apart from her role as a mother and wife.
After leaving her marriage and turning to meditation, prayer, exercise and writing for self-therapy, Crystal slowly began to discover that she – and only she - had the power to determine her happiness, her success and her own validation in life.
“Sometimes tragedy is the greatest blessing,” says Crystal as she refers to the darker period in her life. “You have to know who you are without your achievements,” she explains, “So that without them you still like who you are.” She adds, “We all have to push ourselves to the edge even if we are afraid. We need to find our tipping point. If you’re not willing to fall, you don’t know what your edge is. Take on more. Push the envelope. Thriving is incredible.”
Now settled in Greenbank with her daughters, a new marriage and a fulfilling career, Crystal finally feels she has become the woman she was always destined to be. But it did not come without a lot of soul-searching.
“You need to have the courage to seek out what you need,” explains Crystal, referring to her decision to step back and re-discover who she truly was and what she wanted out of life. “Once you do seek out what you need, you’ll be able to align yourself with who you really are.”
And this focus on “aligning oneself” is what Crystal’s wellness philosophy is all about: understanding that we all have “the right” - the right to accomplish things and the right to love ourselves.
Nutrition, exercise, financial stability, relationships and spirituality are merely the tools that allow us to honour ourselves and get to that point of feeling empowered.
Empowerment, Crystal explains, is a concept that women struggle with and it is the very reason she feels most compelled to work with women. She believes that the problem lies in the natural tendency for women to nurture and care for others before themselves.
“Women have always been told: your job is to please your man. That made you a good woman. Women were taught to be lovely and gracious...but it’s not working,” Crystal says with a look of sternness.
“Women are waking up angry! And it’s not until we take that anger and turn it into courage and give ourselves permission to be ourselves that we can feel empowered.”
Bottom line, Crystal says, “Women are still more disempowered than men.”
Less than 100 years ago women were not even allowed to own property, she points out. And less than 40 years ago some women were not entitled to vote.
“It’s crazy!” Crystal says in amazement, before adding, it’s no wonder women struggle to find their own self-worth.
But Crystal insists she is no “man-hater,” she simply recognizes the positive qualities in men that women also have “the right” to possess. “Men don’t ask for permission to feel empowered,” she adds. “They just do.” Empowerment is the key to success and happiness, she says, and it is a right we all deserve.
Whenever Crystal needs a douse of strong female inspiration she looks to her house and the history it harbours. After all, her 150-year-old Greenbank farm was home to Margaret Hunter, the first woman in Canada to go to the Attorney General and ask that her husband be removed from her property.
Coincidence? Perhaps, but Crystal feels she was destined to be at this house and to start a new era of the women’s movement.
“Sometimes I say to myself, that Margaret Hunter she’s looking over us, she’s watching,” Crystal says with a smile. And as women from all different walks of life gather in the Greenbank farmhouse to retreat, it’s safe to say Margaret Hunter would be proud.
Christina Coughlin
Focus on Scugog
