[00:00:00] Lynne: Hello. And welcome to Frankly Speaking with Lynne Franks and Friends. I am your host Lynne Franks, and today I'm going to be speaking to my friend Marneta Viegas, who has been a children's performer since graduating in performing arts in 92. She set up her first children's entertainment business with support from the princess trust, and was invited to perform at Buckingham palace of prince Charles, his 50th birthday, which was quite some time ago now. She then founded Relax Kids, which was the world's first mindfulness and relaxation business for children in 2000. She's published 12 children's meditation books, 25 videos. She has trained over 5,000 franchisees, mostly women, to teach Relax Kids classes around the world in 50 countries. She does many, many things, and I am a huge fan. But we are talking today about her personal life too. And about her constant challenges with her body dysmorphia to burlesque, to model for friends' underwear companies, and really changing her narrative that she may not have been born a tall skinny blonde. In fact, she's born from a beautiful Indian father and a white English mother. What it was like to be at mixed race, the only mixed race girl in her class and coming through that to achieve the most extraordinary and wonderful, helpful initiatives that have helped children all over the world.
[00:01:35]
[00:01:35] Lynne: Welcome to Frankly Speaking with Lynne Franks and Friends. And today I'm with my good friend Marneta Viegas, who I have known now for probably what about 20 years? At least. And when I first met you, you were a clown. I think one of the first times I saw you, you were dressed as a clown.
[00:01:57] So you've had an extraordinary life. Today, you are running the very, very successful Relax Kids, which is your business, which trains other, mostly women to work with children, teaching them meditation, relaxation, fairytales, and more. We're going to talk about that more in. Depth later, but you have bravely and kindly agreed to talk about all the other stuff going on in your life. And your courage is always so inspiring because you challenge yourself constantly. As soon as I've known you in 20 years, it's even being the clown, even all the stuff you've done on stage, even the pantomimes.
[00:02:35] So let's talk about how it all started. So you. Of mixed race, your mother's English and your father's Indian. And I, you know, you were born over here. You want to start talking a little bit about your life and your childhood, and then your mother's in a spiritual organization that you got involved in.
[00:02:55] Marneta: Yeah. So my father's from Goa. So Portuguese Indian, my mother was a farmer's daughter And she met this beautiful Indian man at her university. He was head teacher. And they got married and they have me. And then we spent the first four years in Iran around the time of the Shah. And and then came back to my father, had his second heart attack. And so lost that job. And so, but they. Well then money on my education. So I did, I'm so grateful. I did go to a private school. And so, because I know I would not have been you, I would not have managed in a state school. Now I look back and I think I know why, because there are possibly some labels like dyslexia and all those other things. I don't like to put labels on, but you can see how some children do need that extra support, which I was very lucky
[00:03:49] Lynne: And you have a younger sister as well. So is she
[00:03:53] Marneta: She had one year in private school and hated it. So she went, she went, to convent public perfect school. I mean, you know, the name comprehensive. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, so, but from a very young age, it was all about four months for me. I, my cousins and my sister will rib me now for bossing them into making them do puppet shows at Christmas and all those sorts of things. I was very bossy, so I was always a bit of a leader.
[00:04:23] And yeah, so I ended up doing a degree in performing arts. I went to music whilst psychology and music and drama for one year. Then ended up doing this degree, performing arts in the late nineties, late eighties, early nineties. Coming out of university. I really wants to be a children's TV presenter. But at the time I looked at myself and I looked at all the girls on TV and they weren't white. I wasn't white, I wasn't thin, and I didn't consider myself pretty. So those were three things. And actually Lynne, those are three things. If I look back, that's three things I've always wanted. It's unbelievable.
[00:05:06] Lynne: To be white thin and pretty?
[00:05:08] Marneta: And pretty, those are the three things because I was the only mixed race child, pretty much at school. And so I would be, I would be in, or if the slim pretty white girls with long blonde hair. And loud, I look back and I just think, oh, it is so ridiculous. How many years have been wasted? And I remember my mum getting this is it called that, that do stuff to try and make my head pretty. And it wasn't Jackie magazines,
[00:05:39] Lynne: A lot of damage done by Jackie magazines. I obviously am not really stressed and I'm Jewish and I always wants it to be tall and slim with long blonde hair. What is it about the tall, slim, long, long hair thing that we wanted? In fact,
[00:05:50] Marneta: Well, the marketers have done a good job.
[00:05:53] Lynne: Yeah, exactly. It's all marketing people's fault. And when I look back and I think we had this conversation the other day, when we looked back at pictures, when we were young, we were beautiful, pretty vivacious, powerful young women. But because of societal experiences, I guess societal influences, we thought we should be something other than that we vote, which is so ridiculous.
[00:06:14] Marneta: And that's what pushed me out of thinking. I can't put myself go for, I started going for auditions to be an actress and it was rejection after rejection. And so I thought I can't do this. So I'm going to set up. As a clown and that's. So I went straight in after university within the first six months of setting up my own business. And that was very, very successful at the time.
[00:06:38] Lynne: So you were going around doing children's parties and all that kind of thing when you were. I remember when I first met you and the place where we met the community, where we met, you would always do the annual. Pantomimes as well. We get everybody involved and get them all dressed up. And you would be one of the main roles and were brilliant. And I used to go over here and take my grandchildren when they were little and it was not such fun. I mean, there is a wonderful energy about that whole entertainment thing. But through this whole experience, even when you were on the stage um, you still have this body dysmorphia, which was like really hating your body, not feeling good about yourself And still up in that whole performance mode. So doing things that other people would never have the confidence to do by putting themselves on the stage like that you did it.
[00:07:22] Marneta: Yeah, I mean, I do remember being onstage. I was very good at performing. And then as soon as the applause would come, which would, the appeals would be for me, Marneta, I just wanted to rush off and then I would go home and eat lots of crisps. That was my pattern because I couldn't take the applause for me, but for a performance, for a persona, I could be brilliant.
[00:07:49] Lynne: Absolutely extraordinary. And although I'm leaping ahead in time, and I want to go back to when you started relaxed kids first, but having seen you recently doing burlesque and coming down brilliantly, I may add these extraordinary outfits. I don't know how you made them, but anyway, you did, all these layers upon layers coming off and you'd stand there on the stage in some kind of brief underwear, still doing that. And then off, I mean, I would never ever have the confidence to do it. And yet you constantly do this challenge to yourself.
[00:08:22] I mean, the other week I saw her on Facebook, this enormous poster of you there's up in Oxford, where you live up in the Oxford covered market, advertising your friend of yours underwear range. And there you are, all virtually naked in this enormous poster which everybody you know, is going to see. And at the same time, you kind of challenging your own, let's face it, lack of confidence about your own beauty, which is you're brilliant. I mean, it's pretty that you're doing it, but I don't know how you've got the courage.
[00:08:49] Marneta: Yeah, I think I'm super split somewhere. Internally I'm doing it to try and convince myself that this is okay. The reason why I did that underwear shoot, because it was a set in a beautiful lake setting. And because I wild swim, I just want us to do the wild swimming bit. And so I agreed and I did, I ever think she would use pictures of me because there were some real beauties there, but she wanted to, her whole ethos of her underwear range is showing women of all shapes and sizes and colors. And it's so amazing now that this is a thing. Diversity is, is is the most, you know, actually it's celebrated more. And if you're an actress now of you are a minority in terms
[00:09:37] Lynne: Yes, it's true. I mean, if we look at TV commercials now that have white, skinny, tall girls with long blonde hair, I'm open. So goes to show the time is right. And then going from that, you let's see. Talking about relationships because you were looking for a relationship you were looking for a husband, you were, you are more an incredible romantic, and you'd met various men who you described in those days as the frogs, you know, that you kiss them and they turn the prince turn into frogs.
[00:10:08] Marneta: I probably didn't kiss them. I just met them.
[00:10:10] Lynne: All right. So. I always assumed I always kissed them and then they turn into frogs and I married them sometimes. Anyway. So, but anyway, you didn't kiss him, but you finally met somebody. And I remember the story a little bit, but you'd met online
[00:10:28] Marneta: So I, I, I have to say what I did do a month before I did a whole law of attraction thing. So I was seeing everything in twos, reading The Secret, and this was my once I commit to something, I really commit to it. This was my project. And so then I came back and I put an advert up on Gumtree and the magic cafe de a local vegetarian cafe, saying Cinderella is looking for prints between 30 and 40. You're this kind and spiritual and vegetarian and listed everything I wanted. And I had 20 replies and one replies stuck out and we emailed for a week and it was just amazing. And then we went to Blenheim Palace for a walk on our first date. And four days later he asked me to marry him. And we got married at Blenheim Palace a year to that day that he asked me that yeah, that we met. And today is my 14th anniversary from that date. We're not married now, but it's still a lovely story.
[00:11:33] Lynne: It is a lovely story. There's a lot more to it than that. I was at that wedding at blend and palace, or you had got yourself absolutely laced into this. As skinny as you could be into this. This is this beautiful dress you've given us all color instructions that we all had to wear peach. And it was beautiful. You had the carriage, you
[00:11:49] had the whole. I would ask you, sorry. I do think about it a much nicer. Yeah, no, it does. Sorry. Dusky pain. We, all of us, all your friends were hunting around looking for some dusky pink clothes. And then you had the carriage. You had the horses you had, he was all dressed up. And let me just say that Stuart was a little bit younger than you and quite much more nervous than you were, and you got him all dressed up as this prince. Talk about
[00:12:12] Marneta: That he chose. I didn't
[00:12:14] Lynne: today. Okay. All right. Well, I won't take, give you the responsibility for that one. But anyway, so side, it was a bit like a pantomime. It was like being in Cinderella and there she was marrying her prince and liberal your friends dressed up in this view in the palace.
[00:12:27] And it was extraordinary that you, you do have this ability to make your dreams a reality, but sometimes your dreams are what you want rather than what you need, that classic line in this instance. And uh, it hasn't worked out. I'm sorry to say. And it's been a bit of a journey since then, but anyway Stewart got into vault with you in your business, which is just the thing I always do as well. Not at the moment, but I generally have brought husbands and boyfriends into my business or start working with them, which is not necessarily the most recommended pathway, I think, for, for, to happen as it can be. I mean, some couples work together brilliant. They stayed together married. Brilliant, man. It's fantastic. But I think it's also can be a little bit of a risk.
[00:13:11] But anyway so let's let this point talk about Relax kids and what the business is. And talk to us about the, the whole experience you had with Dragons' Dan, which is such a great story. And all the things you've done is just amazing, amazing, wonderful, successful
[00:13:26] Marneta: Well, I remember Lynn, I think it was about 1999. I had this idea to, to help children's meditate because what was happening, I was over the years, I was noticing change in children's behavior. As I was performing and entertaining these children and their attention was getting worse and they weren't concentrating and I thought they need something. So I started bringing in bits of relaxation, meditation to my parties, and then I thought I need to do something with this. And so I had the idea to change all the fairy stories into meditations, and that became my first book. And then from that. Developed the seven step system to teaching children to relax, which became the classes. And then I went on to do training, but I remember you coming around to my flat there very, very early on late nineties, early two thousands. And I'm showing you some of the early relaxed kids mockups and you went, oh yes, this is good. This is good. And I, and I remember feeling really, oh, well, is it inside? It's it's a good thing to do. I'm going to do it because I know you're
[00:14:37] Lynne: glad. Yeah, no, I'm really glad to hear that because I knew straight away the whole idea, the whole concept of teaching kids to relate to them using as you do this very stories or myths to get them involved. And, and from there, taking them on a journey is brilliant and. Because again, you're an actress, you trained in performance art, you're able to use your voice. So in those days, of course we were using CDs all over the place. And very, very quickly you recorded a number of CDs and produced some books almost immediately. I mean, again, huge confidence, huge courage,
[00:15:10] Marneta: And with the money that my mother gave me to buy flat. She gave me 45,000 pounds. That was my inheritance because she was going to India and this was to buy a flat in London and I just went nah, I don't want to do that. I want to put this into making CDs for children, which is like crazy, but that's what I did. Yeah.
[00:15:31] Lynne: And, and so the concept of Relax Kids fairly quickly moved on to becoming something where you would teach other people over the years, roughly how many women have learned to be Relax Kids,
[00:15:43] Marneta: I've trained over 5,000 coaches in 50 countries, probably, maybe for 5,300 now. And I would say about 12 or 13 of those are men, so it's all women.
[00:15:56] Lynne: That's such an incredible, incredible. I had no idea. I had no idea it got into so many countries and so many thousands of women. And did it change during lockdown? I mean, was there more of a need for it?
[00:16:09] Marneta: Yeah, well, with in lockdown, we took everything online. Of course it's everybody does. And so people were able to try and yes, some coaches panicked or sleep, we all have. Because a lot of schoolwork was stopping, but then some schools were still doing things on zooms and some coaches were doing sessions for the whole school and each classroom were on their own zoom, if you imagine. And they were there and they teaching the whole. So it's opened up lots of different things. Some coaches have gone one-to-one into school, enter people's homes online and done sessions.
[00:16:46] Lynne: Uh, and you were, and you have from the beginning work quite directly with a lot of schools that come to you and say, will you bring this to GL school? And you then find a local person to train up, but then, then facilitate that or back in the day when it wasn't online, I guess.
[00:16:59] Marneta: Usually, well the school come to us and then we will send them a coach. If there is one locally or some schools, they will train a teacher.
[00:17:08] Lynne: And tell me about the Dragons' Den. That was in 2005. I remember seeing it in 2005 and again, thinking how courageous you were, but it seems like yesterday. So tell us a story.
[00:17:18] Marneta: I do remember watching the first episode of dragon standing thinking I would never, ever go on that. And then what happened, in fact, Lynne, I wonder if it was, I think it was from your email or something. I have a funny feeling, your relate your, your involvement.
[00:17:34] Lynne: in this.
[00:17:37] Marneta: And I thought I will not fill it in. And then I ended up going on to the next stage and the next stage. And before I knew it, I was being invited in, I went and did the test and they said if you get some investment and I was thinking oh, don't take it because we don't know, we might call you in six months or so. And they called me the next day, saying we want you Tuesday. So it all happened very soon. I went in, I was sort of prepared. I did the whole thing, like a fairy story, but they just laughed me out of the den. They laughed, but what they thing they did say, well, my mistake, Peter Jones asked me.
[00:18:14] Lynne: Did you sense a smell on me? That's where
[00:18:16] Marneta: Well, he did say that. He said, I'm going to have to say now, not going to invest because I feel quite advertised, but he did say your you're an actress, aren't you? And I said, yeah, my dream is to put on theater for the west end for children to come free. And he said, do you want to do this for free? And I said, well, that's an interesting point. I didn't set it up to make lots of money. I set it up to make social change. And that point there was pin drop silence. And they say, did you just say, you don't want to make any money? How can we invest? And that was, that was me out of the den. And I cried all the way home. I wanted to give up then, but I just kept it so many times when I've wanted to give up my business. I've offered it for a pound.
[00:18:58] Lynne: No no no no no, I'm afraid you found, you found your soul purpose. One of them, there may be other things. I mean, you could, you've already got a women's creative group is started and there'll be lots of other things you'll do. But I thought you said at the time, but that was probably making yourself feel better, that you never wanted their money anyway. I remember you saying this to me and you really only did it for the PR, which you then used brilliantly.
[00:19:20] Marneta: The next morning, there were 40 orders on the desk. I walked into the office and the girl went what's going on? Yeah. So it really did work for PR. I think what I wanted to do in my, in my little head was turn money. Send it back and say, actually, no, you don't have the same values as me. I couldn't work with you anyway. So, so yeah, I did do it for PR.
[00:19:43] Lynne: Yeah, but then you did, after that get a lot of press. I mean, there was, there was a lot of follow-ups to it because in those days, because I was, I say it, he was like yesterday, but 2005 again, the days like how 17 years ago? And it, things have moved on a lot since then, but the idea of what they're calling mindfulness now, or meditation for children was unheard of.
[00:20:05] Marneta: They just laughed. They thought it was ridiculous. And I remember going to so many exhibitions and talking to people, parents and teachers literally laughing at the concept of children relaxing, literally. And I, and a couple of people said, oh, you just need to whack them on the head. And I'm thinking what, that's not funny, but it's just so bizarre. This is like 17, 18 years ago. And now look at what's where we are. Mindfulness and children and meditation.
[00:20:36] Lynne: And, and in fact, when you think about it, the children that were then going through Relax Kids programs in 2005, they would now be in their twenties
[00:20:44] Marneta: Well, the first lot, Eleanor, she is now on the west end. She was the one of my first. Yeah, she was about five or six when she first came she's in my book, I've got the first five children that I practiced on in my flat and I, and they, they paid a pound a week, and it was fantastic. And she's now I think her thirties, maybe 30 and she's on the west end. Yeah. And she puts it all down to yes. Being in the pants, mines. Cause she was full when she started being in the pants minds, but also doing the relaxation. Yeah.
[00:21:18] And I've had, I've met teenagers, like 17, 18, 19 year old, I think an 18 year olds in a pub. And when he realized it was me, he said, oh my God, I still do that. Floating on a boat in my head. And then I also met a young boy who was going for Oxford university. And I remember teaching him, he was full and nobody else turned up to the class and I was dead with his mother and myself. Then she said, oh, he can't concentrate. Do something for his concentration. Came up with some ideas on the top of my head, cause nobody else was there. And he said, I still remember those exercises today and now he's staying in Fox, but it's so amazing.
[00:22:00] Lynne: That is amazing. That's actually wonderful. And with the amount of stress and mental health issues that children have got pre well, not pre post COVID and during COVID, I mean more important than ever that they learn how to relate and communicate. And how many books have you done? Cause you're talking about your book, which you've done. Lots of books, haven't you?
[00:22:19] Marneta: I've written 20, but I think 13, 14 are published. So the publisher has the rest I just sent off to in one go. And I said, well, do what you like.
[00:22:31] Lynne: You are so prolific, you are. So in every way you are just so extraordinary prolific. And too, and I've got here 25 CDs, huge amount of product. And I also remember you taking on this office in Oxfordshire before you could really, really justify it. I remember you expanding. I remember you ordered all those CDs and those books and you were just so set that this was going to work and it took amazing courage. And I will say the one, one of the assets of the VX was that he was very good online with technology. So Relax Kids became very much an online and presumably still is. An online product in many ways that people can, anybody listening to this has got a child or a grandchild that they want to relax. They should go to Relax Kids and they can download all sorts of stories and meditations, which is fantastic.
[00:23:21] So are you finding now the business is getting it's changing because of coming out of lockdown? I said to you before, what changes did it make, but are you thinking creatively in a different way? Are you planning new ways of doing things?
[00:23:34] Marneta: We're, we're working with some schools, which is great. And I'm constantly thinking of how I can make, my thing is about making more meditation, etc. To children. And so, for example, I've just finished another course in being a, to be a creative arts therapist. Now I don't want it to take me a year. I don't want to be a creative arts therapist, but I wanted to just expand my own skills and think of how I can and all the things we were doing in Relax Kids anyway. But for module 20, we had to come up with an art piece and then I thought I'm going to do a board game that the coaches and schools and therapists can use. And so this is what I to do. I, most of my ideas, Lynne, come in the shower or when I'm swimming. And I just say every, every morning and the office always grown because they go, oh no, she's had an idea. She's had a shower. Another idea that we have to put into practice.
[00:24:33] Lynne: in that situation here.
[00:24:34] Marneta: Yeah, but I, I just feel, I need to combine things so rough, so nothing is wasted. I don't like waste. And when I went to, I went back and got one degree, went back to do my second degree. It was for writing for theater and TV. And I didn't really want to write for theater or TV, but out of that came a play which we then when the monster experiment and a book, which I got published, and that play went around schools. So everything has to be used. Although I do have lots of, I have draws of things that, that idea of ideas and books just like pretty much.
[00:25:13] Lynne: And so tell me about the burlesque a bit, because actually you did that in my son-in-law's club at the time in Oxford and I just blew me away. What was the first you created these fantasy figures?
[00:25:24] Marneta: Well, the idea came from because I was doing wild swimming. So I was part of the swimming club and, and I think that's been very helpful because with whale swimming, with swimming, we're all shapes and sizes. And, and everybody's changing in front of each other, outside things dropped, but it's all, it's no big deal. And so that's been very healing and I went to a great tip. It's called the blue tips weekend blue, meaning colds tips. It says what it is. But it, but the logo is, is, is middle birds. And it, we were camping in this, this place. And there were a hundred people, 150 people, many women. And I just thought. For the entertainment. I would love to do some show where it's swimming related. So I create this story and I do, but it's a burlesque thing cause they would just love it. And I did it and I had my big dry robe and I had fish coming out and all sorts of things. And then I ended up taking my clothes off. Not all, but most. I looked it, and there was a girl there who said her friend that she's seen loads of burlesque and her friend is an agent in Brighton. And she said, your burlesque is some of the best burlesque I've seen. And I'm thinking, why have you trained? I've just, just making it up. Maybe I'll have to go. And so I joined the drag collective in Oxford and I sort of started doing drag queen acts. And I did oh yes, I did your son um,
[00:26:58] Lynne: My son in law,
[00:27:00] Marneta: Matt, at the Cat Weasel. I did their 21st anniversary and that was quite interesting. And then I did a Marie Antoinette and then I did another one where I was walked into the theater and I pretended that I thought it was a dance class. And then I was wearing all sort of like all gray and looking very frumpy. And then the music turns on and I listen to some affirmations and then I start learning pink underneath. So yeah, it's fun. It's fun.
[00:27:30] Lynne: Yeah, no, it's, it's fun to watch. I love it. And then you, them, it's amazing if you got some more coming up.
[00:27:37] Marneta: But then no, I haven't. Because then, then I have to say, when I look at the photos and I go, oh my God, how did I do that? That's what people have to see because somehow in my head, it's, it's a different book. Maybe that's what it is. And then I see, oh, no sort of photos of the of the swimming thing. Oh, you can't use that. Yes, we can. And she doesn't shop either that's her policy or you could at least Photoshop a little bit. No.
[00:28:07] Lynne: But you look great. I mean, you look absolutely fantastic. So, I mean, it's all back in the head. And so if you, if you could change anything in your life today, that is changeable, that would make you happy. What would it be?
[00:28:17] Marneta: The first thing I would change is yes, what's going on in my head and this, this self hatred. And, you know, I'm this way I've done Relax Kids, I think because, and I know where it comes from, it comes from my identify the point of when I was about seven and I was publicly shamed for being fat, by people who I cared for. And since then I've carried that stigma and, you know, it's interesting, I've always thought I was fat or during doing all these pants minds. And then 10 years I would look back and I found a costume and it was tiny. It was tiny. So it's that we grow into what we believe are.
[00:29:00] Lynne: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, well, I, I hope that. Change what's going on in your head because you are a beautiful woman. And I told you that for as long as I've known you and you, you have to see it. I mean, I'm just looking at you as we talk on Zoom here and you look stunning and your skin's beautiful, your face is beautiful. And you know, you got nothing to worry about whatsoerver.
[00:29:25] Marneta: we have not. We have to,
[00:29:27] Lynne: You have to believe it yourself. It's all very well me saying, yeah, but you've got to look, you've got to feel it yourself. Well, I hope you will. And of course the love of your life these days is not your ex-husband, but is your beloved dog companion. Ronnie, who is, as we know a human being in dog drag and gives you lots of fun and enjoyment and your home, which I visited last week, which I knew when you first moved in was always a bit of a fantasy place. It's a beautiful cottage in the country with a beautiful back garden, but you've turned it into all these many scenes throughout. So do you want to explain a bit about it. Cause I think you should write a book about it. I said that to you last week and show the people, these photographs of this extraordinary creativity and how you've turned it into your living space. Wonderful.
[00:30:12] Marneta: Well, I mean, it may need started during lockdown because during that time, I just didn't want to go anywhere. I don't want to go on holiday cause I just think, well, the sun is the same. The sky is the same. As long as I'm happy, I can be happy at home. And my garden is very, it's not as big as the gardens next door, but it does have a little lake at the bottom and it's like, I call it a slither apart. And what I've done is when I'm out in it, I just can't stop, but think of ideas and I think, okay, I'm going to have a Moroccan deco that I'm going to have a gym over there, outdoor gym. This is actually what I what I read. Just the other day that this garden, I didn't mention this. When I saw you, this reflects my life in terms of there's there's a seating area, which is the colors of the rainbow. It's a whole chat thing, which is the relaxed kids. Seven steps of the chat, Chris, which was
[00:31:09] Lynne: On the Iowa, I, the seven chakras with my power of seven. I've never thought about that before if I archetypes. Yeah. It's very
[00:31:16] Marneta: Absolutely. And and then the Moroccan deck is sort of like a nod to my my exotic Asian past. Then at the bottom of the garden, there's a bed and it's just like a shamonic area with the green man. And so that's sort of like all the shame and stuff. And then I've got a little yoga studio, which is all very white, which is like a little that's my meditation, my spiritual aspect. And then of course I've got little swimming pool. Blow up, but I have the pebbles on the ground, a deck chair. So it looks like a
[00:31:48] Lynne: But there's all these, these, all these amazing backdrops that you keep finding, which I never seen in my life. These Trump Trump dial. Yeah, I get them a car boot sales. And so you've got Ray, you've got your swimming pool. You've actually got a sort of a backdrop that makes it look like it's in the beach. And then you've got a backdrop by the maracan one that makes it looks like it's in a rural composites. I can't quite remember that one, but that sort of thing. It's just amazing. Absolutely amazing. And hopefully you will do the book and hopefully other people will be inspired because it's such a way, we're not traveling so much, which it doesn't look like it's going to be very easy to travel anyway. So make your home your holiday destination as you have, and.
[00:32:25] Marneta: Yeah. I mean, going back to your challenges thing, I really, I think you're right. I do like challenging myself and I remember was it 2015? Um, so I was on my own. I'd been on my own for a while. So, I got rid of over my heartbreak and I thought, okay, I'm going to do something new every single day, it was January the first, for six months. So I'm going to go to a choir or do a dance class, or listen to something or read a book or go to a new cafe. And I CA and I kept a diary and I wrote one line of each thing that I did. And then I looked back and that six months when, so slowly, and I could remember each day, it was quite amazing.
[00:33:09] And then on the six month, the last section, I went to a drumming workshop and I nearly didn't go to it. This is how I love how Providence needs us. Destiny leads us to our next thing. Cause I didn't really know I'd written some books. I didn't know where I was going. And I went to this drumming workshop and it was at Ruskin College and on the stairs leading up there was do you want to be a writer or do you want to do a degree in writing for TV? And I thought, actually I'm a writer. And that was the first time after how many years? 15 years of writing books that I claimed that I was a writer. I didn't see that as a writer before. And then I went to, I went on that course and I did that degree.
[00:33:53] Lynne: Really, that's fantastic. Yeah, it was, it was big advanced you've living in Oxford, but cause I used to live in the same mistakes as you and I never took advantage of all that. It's interesting because again, in the power of seven, there are a number of archetypes and one of the. It's a storyteller and that's who you are. And whether you're telling stories to writing or performance or creating these visual spaces, even that's what you're doing. You're always telling a story. And as a storyteller, you can change your own narrative. So when I asked you before, but what could you change to make you happy? And you said it's got to be something that you believe, maybe that's the story. The next story is your narrative.
[00:34:34] Marneta: So my friend keeps telling me every single day I have a friend change, a narrative change a narrative. Absolutely.
[00:34:41] Lynne: it's a good friend and it's a good story.
[00:34:44] Marneta: And are you are your power of seven, the seven chakras, as well?
[00:34:49] Lynne: They are the seven chakras as well. And and they go, I don't know if I've told you what the seven hour hours seed seller out. You have told your outcome, your storyteller, medicine, woman, space, Weaver, Skydancer and wisdom keeper. And they all relate to the crows. And we've worked with them here on workshops, where we do sound and breath work that also ties in with the chakras and body work. And this is a plug I'm going to be doing my retreat for the power of seven in September chatting. We'd love it if you to come and tell your story. And we will be doing shakra healing and Shaq rebalancing as part of the, we do with the power of
[00:35:21] Marneta: Amazing Lynn, you know, when I first set up Relax Kids, the classes, and I did this seven exercises. So they do movement. Then they play. Then they stretch, breathe, believe relaxed. Oh, massage in the middle. And it was, I set it up and they they're going really well. And two years later I realized it was following seven chakras and I had no idea.
[00:35:47] Lynne: I did not realize there was a chakras connection with my power of seven. You know, these things, as you know, they kind of come to us, you know, they kind of channel in don't they, and when we give ourselves the space, whether it's in the shower or whether it's wild swimming or whether it's walking, the dogs these ideas come and they just come through. And then after, do you think, oh gosh, I don't know where the seven came from for me. And it just came together. And now I look at everything is that seven days of the week and seven sisters, mounts is everything is seven and it is a sacred number. And so it's work powerfully for you. And hopefully it will, as I'm developing right now and working on it for four years, but I'm actually really developing it now in all areas at this whole power of seven thing is, is very strong.
[00:36:27] So you are still coaching other women to become sort of Relax Kid franchisees really?
[00:36:33] Marneta: Yes, they have their own business. And I'm telling you then some that we put up a thing or somebody put up in our forum. How many classes are you teaching a week? And one person put up 28 classes and that's one hour classes and another one put up 20 classes. That's 20 classes in school. And I'm some one to ones and that's what you know, that some coaches are doing incredibly well. So, so, so
[00:37:03] Lynne: Well, I was going to say, I hope you, you do acknowledge your own brilliance and are proud of what you've done, because these coaches are taking your workouts to many, many, and the response is, is so much needed as well as received with the love and affection in which it was designed to develop. So I have nothing with congratulations and I know that, you know, this is in a way. Just part of your journey in terms of work, but, you know, Relax Kids has been a huge success and will continue to be so, and it will suit itself to the modern age as we change. And I can't wait to see the next aspects of your creativity that will emerge.
[00:37:42] Marneta: And that's, that's the thing. I think I was getting a bit despondent at some point, because you mentioned your purpose and I realized I'm not sure whether the meditation thing is my purpose. It's almost like the creativity is the purpose and these are the different, and so that's why I set up my, my new ignite Your Spark mentorship club, you know, club where I have, and every week we are creative and we have subject topics. And I just love that love and it just gives me, I never think, oh, I've got to teach. It's just so enjoyable.
[00:38:20] Lynne: Are true. You are such a creative, and it's great to think that you are doing that every week. It's so wonderful. And I'm sure that's going to spread it. It wouldn't be CDs and books. We might be books might well be books. In fact, that's the book maybe that you do and using the pictures of your house to illustrate rather than yeah. I could see it all coming together. Well, fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I'm very delighted for you and proud of you and your growth and, and hope you find that inner belief in yourself and a love for yourself that you so deserve to, to find.
[00:38:56] And we always have on the podcast, we always have a simple exercise that people can go out and do, inspired by what we've talked about today. And I, and I'm just wondering whether that might be that question, what would you change? What could you change in your life that would give you the happiness that you deserve? And the Vienna voice and the narrative is obviously, as we've talked about is for you. And how would you go about that? Which is perhaps, I don't know if you ever journal, but write or write that book, write that book.
[00:39:29] Marneta: Yeah. In a gentle back digital, inner voice. Yeah,
[00:39:34] Lynne: And change the narrative. So I think that's what we're going to have is that our exercise this month. So thank you so much, Marneta, that's been very inspiring and lots of memories including all the connections we've had over the years. And of course, there'll be lots more to come and I hope you do come to some set and I hope you do come and visit the seed house unpacks, come on our retreat and tell your story. That would be just wonderful. And We'll see you soon. So thank you very much and love, love, love.
[00:40:00] as you would have heard in our conversation Nessie. And I discussed the importance of being in control of your own narrative, being the storyteller of your own life and how it is possible. Journaling being a very good way of doing it to change the negative into positive. So why not start writing a journal today where you are telling the story of your dreams?
[00:40:22]
[00:40:26] Lynne: Thank you so much for listening and taking part. I remember that we were putting out new episodes every few weeks, and I do hope you will come back and join me again.
[00:40:36] If you like what you hear and want to learn more practical methods to help you plant the seeds in your own empowerment journey, then please subscribe to this podcast, rate it and review. Also make sure to join our Seed Network if you haven't already, and together with thousands of like-minded women, make new friends, promote your business and share your stories. Visit seednetwork.com to find out more. And until then, I'll see you next time on Frankly Speaking with Lynne Franks and Friends.