13. Mart's Crystal Clear Guide to Manifestation and Wellbeing

Welcome to another enlightening episode of the Empowered By Claudia podcast! In this crystal-infused conversation, we dive into the magical world of crystals, mindfulness, and manifesting dreams with our remarkable guest, Mart Tweedy from Canny Crystals.

Mart's journey from a place of self-doubt, challenging jobs, and life struggles to a life filled with positivity, purpose, and personal growth is nothing short of extraordinary. His path was illuminated by a beacon of hope—crystals and mindfulness. What began as simple curiosity turned into a transformative journey that led him to self-healing and the power of manifestation.

In this episode, you'll discover how Mart's experiences and his successful business, Canny Crystals, have made him a beacon of positivity, recognized by brands like Chanel, British Vogue, Stella McCartney, and the Beauty Growth Academy.

Learn how crystals play a pivotal role in Mart's mental and spiritual transformation and explore specific practices and rituals that have been most impactful for him, including mindfulness, reading, subliminals, journaling, visualizing, and EFT (tapping).

Join us for this enlightening journey as we explore the profound connection between crystals and overall wellbeing. Mart's expertise and personal transformation are sure to inspire you to explore the world of crystals and mindfulness in your own life.

Listen now to unlock the secrets of wellbeing, manifestation, and the transformative power of crystals. 🎧✨

Mart's Links 💎

www.cannycrystals.co.uk
www.tiktok.com/@cannycrystals
www.instagram.com/cannycrystals
Courses including Manifest with Mart: www.cannycrystalsacademy.co.uk

Transcript

Interview with Mart Tweedy

Claudia: Welcome to another inspiring episode of the Empowered by Claudia podcast. I'm your host, Claudia. Disclaimer: the topics discussed in this episode are not financial, business or health advice, you should seek advice from a registered professional. And today we have a truly remarkable guest joining us. His name is Mart and his journey from a place of darkness to a life filled with positivity, purpose, and personal growth is nothing short of extraordinary. Around four years ago, Mart found himself really challenging place, battling self doubt. A job he wasn't happy in and the weight of life struggle struggles, but amidst the darkness he discovered a beacon of hope, crystals and mindfulness and what began as simple curiosity turned into a transformative journey that led him to self healing and the power of manifestation. Mart's story is one of resilience, self discovery, and the incredible impact that spirituality, mental health awareness, and crystal healing can have on our lives. Today, he's not only the founder of Canny Crystals, a successful business that combines crystals, candles, and all things self improvement, which is loved by brands such as Chanel, British Vogue, Stella McCartney and the Beauty Growth Academy. He's also a podcast host. He owns and educates people in the Canny Crystals Academy, he's an author and a beacon of positivity with a thriving social media presence. So join us on this enlightening journey as we learn from Mart's experiences, gain a deeper understanding of the world of crystals, mindfulness and spirituality, and discover how to bring positivity and wellbeing into our own lives. Mart, welcome to the show. 

Mart: What an introduction. Honestly, that was like, you know, the X Factor introductions where you have all the like facts and stuff. I love that you got Chanel, Vogue and Stella McCartney in there as well. 

Claudia: Of course. I had to do that. Thanks. 

Mart: I love that. Thank you. Thanks for having me. 

Claudia: You know, what a way to start, eh? Give you a little boost, so, welcome. So, me and Mart have already done a podcast interview on your podcast, haven't we? And we met in London in March and that was like really fantastic. And I completely fangirled. I was like, Mart, I know you, because that's how it feels like when 

Mart: I was like, who are you?

Claudia: So yeah, so we've been chatting and I'm in your Community group as well and so I just, I'm so pleased that you joined our podcast today. And I know that our listeners are going to gain so much from our conversation. Are you able to start us off with a little bit about your personal journey and the turning point that led you to explore crystal healing? Basically how you've ended up where you are today with all these amazing accolades. 

Mart: Yeah, I mean I grew up pretty standard family. Do you know what I mean? Like I came from a family that had very little growing up, but we always like had love in by way of like our nana and granda and my mom and my aunties and things like that. But we never, ever had money. We never, ever had material things. I was always. Like the one to go without at school and I was always segregated for that. Like I've spoke on my podcast many times about it, how even like in year one school photo, when I look at that now I can see the head teacher. I remember she was like elbowing me out of the photo because I didn't have the correct school uniform on, whereas everyone else did. My mam had knitted me a jumper because she couldn't afford the proper official jumper, you know, with the emblem on. And can you imagine something like that happening this day and age? Like it's just madness, isn't it? But I was totally segregated.

So I just always felt that I was different. I was unusual. And I think I grew up with that belief in mind. And obviously I'm a gay man. And I think being gay kind of segregated anyway, or at least you were in the little village that I lived in. I was literally like David Thomas of Little Britain. I was like the only gay in the village. But I think like everyone else, kind of, I just plodded through life, you know. My journey into spirituality really started with reading a book called The Secret, which I know that you're more than au fair with. I read that in 2016, I think it was. So... With manifesting being kind of a new concept to me, I was just every day, you know, visualizing, setting myself these little goals.

And I thought I'm going to set myself as a goal for three and a half thousand pounds for a three week holiday to Thailand. And at the time I was working in the NHS. I'd worked in the NHS from 2007, I think it was. And. As I was visualizing, I noticed there was like an ad for a TV show on Twitter for Tipping Point, the game show on ITV with Ben Shepard. And, to cut a long story short, I just took that inspired action, put my application in, couple of months later, there I am in a hotel, talking about myself in front of a camera, really, really shy. Cause I never really had any like self belief, it was just, my life was full of self doubt. Before I knew it, I was being whisked off to Bristol, I got put on the show. And it'll be no surprise to you, Claudia, that, you know, I was the winning contestant and the amount that I won was three and a half thousand pounds. 

Claudia: Amazing. 

Mart: You know, when you get those little light bulb moments where you're like, holy shit, I did this. I just think it was like one of those moments where I really realized that Manifesting is real. And obviously the more I told people about this, the more I got shot down with, you know, weird looks, family thinking I was losing the plot. It's hard to explain to non believers. And I remember telling my partner, Johnny, about it one day and I give him the book, The Secret, and I said, read that, go away, make some notes. We’ll talk about it later. And a week later or something, he said, guess what? And I was like, what? And he said, I visualized something small. I just visualized a 50 pound note. And today, cause how often do you see like a 50 pound note? And today my boss gave me two 50 pound notes to say, thank you for going above and beyond. And I was like, that's it. This is it. This shit works. And then, for the next three years, I think, absolutely nothing happened. Because I think more than anything, life just got in the way. You know what it's like. Like... It's almost like I immediately snapped out of this cloud cuckoo land, like my mum calls it.

And I just thought, you know, I'm 30 years old now, it's time to buckle up at work, time to get me head down if I want to climb that ladder in the NHS. So then if we jump to 2019, just to paint a bit of a picture, I'd now been working in the NHS for 12 years, and just like the majority of the UK, I was in debt. I had credit cards, I was struggling to get a mortgage, I was surviving day to day, barely. But I had a dog and I, like, there was vet bills to pay, his food, gas and electric, moving in our own place. It was like a proper struggle. I was struggling to make ends meet, basically. So I thought I'm going to start visualizing all over again, because I got that three and a half thousand pounds last time.

And I'd always had a bit of a keen interest in social media and I always thought, you know, one day I'll be on tv, I'll be visualizing myself like all the time. Like on the couch with Alison Hammond on this morning chatting away, you know, like just little flyaway goals. And one day me friend at the time, Amber came to us and she said she was in the run to be on the I T V two show Love Island would I look after all of her social media while she was in there? So obviously I jumped at the opportunity 'cause I was like, oh my God, TV like entertainment. And a few weeks later, things just got crazy. So because I was in charge of her social media, I got invited onto BBC Radio 1, BBC News Breakfast. Don't know why I was on there. It's like all politicians and then me. I was on Capital Radio. I was on local radio, like pretty much every day. The Huffington Post even ran an article on me, branding me, the most successful social media campaign manager of all time. And then guess what happened? I got invited on this morning to do a little section on Love Island and just by chance, guess who came in on a day off? Alison bloody Hammond. So it was, again, it was just one of those moments where you realize, you know, I did this. Visualization worked. 

So, The day that changed it all for me was the 29th of July, 2019. I was on top of the world. It was the Love Island final. Our mortgage had gone through that same morning after six months of bloody hell. We got the keys for our house at 5 p. m. So by 7 p. m. I was out in Newcastle, obviously celebrating with friends and family and, well, not family, my family weren't there, but I was ecstatic. And I remember being pulled up on stage in front of everyone that was there watching the Love Island final, because Amber won. And I was crying and screaming, and it was just a real triumph moment for me. And I'd had a few drinks, so obviously I went home, went to bed, and I just remember, and I, I replay this day over and over and over again in my head, but... My phone was ringing 6am in the morning, and I thought, who's ringing me now, and I just thought, oh, it'll be journalists wanting an inside story or something like that.

And you know when you get that moment where your gut sinks? I looked at my phone and I saw it was my mam's name, and I was like, oh my god, what happened? Something was just telling me, you know, like, something was telling me that something was wrong. My gut absolutely sank to the pits of my stomach. And I relive this call over and over in my head, but my mam... told me that whilst I was out celebrating, nobody in the family had basically wanted to, you know... Bring the vibe down and disturb me and spoil the mood, but my granddad had been taken to hospital in quite a lot of pain that came on instantly. And unfortunately, before he even made it to the hospital, he died in the ambulance and he wasn't ill. It came on so suddenly, like they rang the ambulance, I think at 5pm and by half seven he'd died. The ambulance took about two and a bit hours to get there. He was conscious as they took him out of the house, but I don't know. Anyway, it just came on so suddenly, but my granddad raised me, he was the father figure in my life, like, I didn't have a dad growing up, so, I can't remember what happened for, say, the next six months after that, because I closed myself off.

My mental health really declined. I would literally be, you know, laying in the bath for hours on end, just staring at the ceiling. My mental health had seriously, like it was on a downward spiral, a hundred percent. And I was unable to see a way out. Basically a few of my friends had unfortunately taken their own lives as well that year. And I was just starting to question everything like. Is this where I'm headed? And the one thing I do remember is I was laying in the bath and I called out to the universe and I just asked for a sign that things were going to get better because I was literally on the edge of ending it all basically. I just didn't want to be here. The pain was just too much. 

And I think an hour later the NHS sent me an email saying that they were sending me to Liverpool because I used to have to cover like North West and things. And I just love being in a hotel alone so I thought this will be good for me. Do you know what I mean? I can go have some me time, you know, use the spa facilities, that kind of thing.

So, I got myself a hire car so I could just do a bit of traveling around while I was there and the girl in the hire car place, she recognized me from being on this morning. We immediately got on like a house on fire. I followed her and I just think I was meant to have met her that day because about two weeks later she opened up a little crystal shop online. And just because of how nice that she was when she was with us in Liverpool, I thought I'm going to support her just because I'm a nice person. And I bought a box of five tumble stones, not having a clue what they were about, but I just started carrying them with us daily. She'd recommended crystals for grief and purpose.

And I kid you not, slowly but surely, you know, doors started opening for us with new opportunities. Grieving just got a little bit easier day by day. My mental health started improving. And the more it did, the more I thought, I'm going to buy some more. So I bought some more crystals. And over the next 18 months, I think I'd accumulated about 200 crystals of my own. And I remember one night thinking, you know, I'm really passionate about this. Maybe I could start my own business, you know, like pairing candles with crystals. That might be a good idea to make a little bit of money on the side. So I had £250 in the bank and that was my food shopping for the rest of the month. And I decided to take a risk and I bought a handful of candles from my friend. Got a few rough crystals and I remember when I was trying to think of a name for it all, me granddad always used to say Gan Canny, which is like a Geordie way of saying like, you know, take it easy. And I remember hearing his voice in my head as I was trying to think of a name and he was going Gan Canny, Gan Canny.

And just like that, I launched my website, cannycrystals.co.uk and I launched that on my birthday, which was the 30th of March, 2021. So just to put that into perspective, that was 28, 29 months ago and now I now have just over 100, 000 combined social media followers. Me podcast is currently number one in the UK for spirituality, and it's listened to by about 16 to 20,000 people per week. And I've just yesterday actually completed my 30,000th order. And I've also launched the Canny Crystals Academy to help others on their spiritual journey and come into their own. And this has all come into place from my grandad dying and for years I thought, Oh my God, how could he leave me? And now it's kind of like, I'm in the head space of this was his dying gift to me.

Claudia: Yeah. Oh my God. I very nearly cried when you were talking. Don't apologize. Don't apologize. I think. Yeah, it's such a powerful story and the fact that you were so low, which I'm sure lots of people can resonate with, but you managed to find that little, that little sign, that chink of light that what was the name of the girl? Do you remember? 

Mart: Carly. Yeah, Carly Fleming. I still speak to her all the time. 

Claudia: And like, you just happened to meet each other and she recognized you and then that's all led it's all snowballed. 

Mart: Everything happens for a reason. 

Claudia: Yeah, for sure. And sometimes it's really hard to see the reason in the moment, but I think it's about having that faith, isn't it? And that can be really hard. And what you said at the beginning about, you know, when your family were like, Oh, what are you talking about? Yeah. The manifestation, it is, it can be quite, it can be quite disheartening when you're quite enthusiastic about things and then everybody's like skeptical. Was there anything that you did to like overcome that skepticism and continue on your journey? 

Mart: Yeah, I think it's a daily practice to be honest, because even because I used to do it from my house. Basically, I did canny crystals from my house on top of my NHS role for the first I think it was like the first 12 or 13 months. And. Last August, August 2022, I basically bought myself this office that I'm in right now. And my mam and my nana, they didn't even come to visit until January. And I'd been in there like, what, five, six months? And they just didn't come over until the end of January and... When my nana walked through the doors, she was like, so where'd you get all these stones from? The Tyne? Thinking that I was just going up and down the river on like a trawler boat or something with a net, you know, like trailing like all the bottom and all the silt and the sewage and things out the Tyne. And I was like, no, Nana, I was like, they're from Brazil, they're from India, they're from Madagascar, they're from Africa. And so they both just kind of looked at each other. Yeah, it was like they knew exactly what I was doing, but even when I told my Nana that I was going to leave the NHS after 15 years, I was just met with that resistance of, you know, you can't leave the NHS. You can't leave the NHS, especially just to sell rocks. Do you know what I mean? So it was almost like they were just, they were just putting their limiting beliefs on me because that's all they've ever known. Yeah.

Claudia: I've just got this image of you in this trawler. going along the Tyne.

Mart: As if I've got nothing better to do with my time, you know. But the thing is, like, I've kind of used. Because I don't see the last 15 years in the NHS as like a waste because obviously a lot of my mental health knowledge I'm actually using in a more holistic way now. So for example, like I designed my wellbeing journal with. You know, mental wellbeing at the forefront of the agenda. So it's not just about spirituality, it's about encompassing everything holistically in terms of, you know, mental health, wellbeing, crystal healing, and just looking at it as a wider perspective rather than just what's going on in the head.

Claudia: Yeah. And it is so important. Because like your physical health is massively impacted by your mental health and vice versa. And so actually being able to do that holistic, like having that mental, that knowledge from working in the NHS and mental health services and bringing that into your current role with all the different things with your academy. It is just, it's. It complements it beautifully, so it's not a waste in any way, shape or form. And I think there's so much that working in an organization like the NHS can teach you as well. Obviously I've been in the NHS since 2005. So I did my training from 2002 onwards, but yeah, so yeah. I know the the pros and the cons of working in like an organization like that for sure. So moving on so how did the, like you've kind of covered it a little bit, but how did crystals and mindfulness practices play the role in your like mental and spiritual transformation and like what specific practices or rituals have been most impactful for you? 

Mart: So I think back in 2013, for example, just to put this into perspective, I was sent on a mental health away day. And as part of that, they basically put me on mindfulness training. And never heard of mindfulness back then because it wasn't like as big as it is right now. And I just thought, what the hell are we doing? We literally had hold of this little raisin in our hand and they were getting us to examine it with our eyes, roll it between our fingers, put it on our tongue but not bite into it, roll it around our mouth, taste it, close our eyes.

And then the next practice was like, you know, we're going to walk around this room, but we're going to feel every little fiber of the carpet on our bare feet. So we're all walking like really slowly around this room. And I thought, you know, this is a mental hospital, mental health hospital. If someone walks past the window right now, they're going to think we're inpatients, like on a psych ward or something like that. You know what I mean? And. Honestly, I was like, what is the, what is the meaning of all this? And someone explained it to me and they said, look, when you think about mindfulness, if you're thinking about things that are in the past, you're kind of depressed because you're thinking of things that you can't change. You have no way to change what's happened in the past. What's happened in the past is done. So if you have, if you live in the past, you've got depression. If you live in the future, you tend to have anxiety because you're constantly worrying about what's to come, what's going to happen in my life, what's, what's in the future. Whereas if you live in the present moment, in the here and now, and you're truly, truly present, in your body, in your mind, in spirit. Then you were at peace and I really liked that explanation and I thought to myself, you know, I'm, I'm going to stick with this and I honestly think it really helped me with productivity in the NHS and working and I had better working relationships. I had better friendships because of it. And because of that, I actually put myself through teacher training for mindfulness. So I qualified back in 2015 for that. And then I started teaching other people in the NHS this mindfulness training as well. 

So I think mindfulness is something that we can all do on a day to day basis. And it's literally just, you know, sitting in the moment. Some people see it as meditation. It is a type of meditation, but we could all just sit there, close our eyes, just connect to the breath. And just by bringing your focus and your attention to the breath, you're taking it away from, Oh my God, I've got this call in five minutes. Oh my God, I need to respond to that email. Oh my God, I can't believe this happened last night in the house. Like, I've got this to deal with when I get back. I've got kids to pick up from school. We have so many thoughts ruminating in our heads, but if we just stick in the present moment, right here, right now. We can learn a lot from ourselves and just be peaceful and quiet and enjoy that time to ourself. So that's one thing. 

Reading is something that I really, really enjoy as well. So I'm part of Francesca Amber's book club. We do like self development books every single month. And I think self development obviously You know, like, reading books is considered to be one of the most intellectually beneficial activities that we can do, so people that, you know, indulge in the habit of reading books, they're usually considered to be amongst the most literate and learned class of society, and I think because of this kind of stigma, it's not seen as, you know, cool to read books. But it really, really does help you. So some like to read about spirituality, some about politics, some about business. Me mam and nana, for example, read about romance. Don't know why, but some people prefer fiction. I love self development and self development books. And I mean, when I'm talking about a self development book, I'm looking at the shelf in my office now, you know, like Get Rich Lucky Bitch, The 4 Hour Work Week , Super Attractor, We Can All Make It. Things like that. There are books that... You're going to learn something from, and there are a multitude of books on self help and most of them are amongst like the best selling books of all time. So that is something else. 

And then also I like to listen to subliminals every day. So it's, I think it's perfect for me because it requires you no extra time. You can listen to subliminals on your headphones as you go for a walk with the dog. You can have them on whilst you get ready for work on a morning. You can listen to them whilst you're having a relaxing bath. You can go to sleep with them playing, whatever it is. Those subliminal messages are going deep into your subconscious. Some people don't know what I mean by subliminal affirmations, but I sell them on my website, shameless plug here, cannycrystals.co.uk just £3, But they are basically audio messages played in the background of calming music, like waves crashing, or a gentle piano, you know, with the noise of a river trickling at the forefront. And these affirmative statement messages, they bypass our conscious mind, they get directly into our subconscious. So subliminals are specifically created, been just kind of below the normal limits of human auditory perception. So they bypass that conscious mind, they get straight to the point, which is our subconscious. And those hidden positive affirmations, they fall directly into the deepest pits of our mind. And then they'll accept that statement as truth. So, you know, there's things like I am happy and joyous in my life. Everything I do has a greater purpose and meaning that kind of thing. So you could do that for like self esteem and joy and you get the drift anyway, but they are just so, so powerful at reprogramming the mind with conscious thought.

And then I'd say the last couple of things that I do as well. I obviously journal, so I just script out how my day has gone, give thanks to it, give gratitude, because showing gratitude has been proven to reduce social comparisons. By expressing what you're thankful for, you're less likely to be resentful towards other people, for example, so it allows you to be present with your own achievements. Visualizing is another one, so I visualize what I'm trying to manifest. So for example, if you're looking at making money to pay off your debts, instead of seeing your debt receipts being cleared, it's better to visualize yourself, you know, feeling comfortable whilst paying people, seeing yourself living a happy, healthy and comfortable life, you know, tipping a waiter, giving the window cleaner an extra fiver, that kind of thing.

And then the last thing I do is EFT because you might have heard of this as tapping. It's got quite popular in the last few years. It's quite similar to acupuncture. It's got the same history, but instead of using needles, you're just using your fingers to apply pressure to certain meridian points around your body. And it helps to restore the balance in the body. It calms the nervous system. It released, releases all that negative energy. It helps to rewire your brain to respond differently to certain stimuli, basically. 

So I won't go into too much detail because it can be overwhelming, but you tap certain points of your body. And once you know what you want to tackle in your life, you just come up with a setup statement. The first part states how you're feeling. The second part acknowledges like how to accept how you're feeling. And then you basically, you go into these tapping points. And once you've done a few rounds. It feels like you've gotten those negatives out of your system. It's like you've bashed them out of your body and then you can do a few more positive rounds and that's the fun part. That's when you tap in all the new beliefs that you want to, you know, implant into your subconscious mind. So I think tapping is really specific and it's really effective, sorry, when you get really specific.

So they, in a nutshell, are kind of like the five or six things that I started doing like about a year ago on a daily, daily basis. And It's something that's just really, really helped me to get into the mindset of, you know, this entrepreneur that I've become. And it's helped me get in the mindset of, you know, just owning a business and being happy and healthy in my life, rather than struggling through the mental health crisis that the UK is currently going through.

Claudia: Yeah, for sure. I actually have your subliminals that I the eight hour one that I had on the other day at work. So it was, I was in a busy like office with loads and loads of people in it and they were getting quite noisy. So I literally put my headphones in. I had like the beautiful calming music and I was just working away and I felt so peaceful. And I was like, I knew that I was like, I'm developing myself. I'm doing my job. I'm not getting distracted by all this noise. Yeah, I absolutely loved them. They're so peaceful and with regards to gratitude, Mart has actually got a book 31 days of gratitude and it's available on Amazon and all the money goes towards the, it's the British Lung Foundation, Yeah.

Mart: My granddad had COPD He, he didn't struggle for breath or anything like that, but he did have an oxygen mask that he would have to put on from time to time if he got a little bit stressed and things and, I mean, don't get me wrong, it was his own fault. He probably smoked for 50 years of his life, do you know what I mean? But I think that was just the thing in the olden days, wasn't it? People saw cigarettes as, you know, this cool thing and it wasn't, they weren't actually seen as like bad for the health or anything until, I think it was like the seventies or the eighties, but by then the damage has already been done cause it was glamorized and especially the fifties and the sixties, wasn't it?

Claudia: It was in all the films, wasn't it? And like all the adverts and, and there, it was lots of like advertising campaigns where they really pushed the health benefits of smoking until obviously we found out much later that the negative health consequences. 

Mart: Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, so all the proceeds go out to the British Lung Foundation. It's something like 4 per book because Amazon are tight. So for every, for every 9. 95 book you buy, a 4 donation gets made to the British Lung Foundation, yeah. Fabulous. 

Claudia: So with regards to like crystals so I know that you've shared on your podcast, some little tips for connecting with your crystal, but I was just wondering if, you know, you could give it like a little introduction to people who might not have used crystals before and, and how, how to incorporate them into their lives.

Mart: Yeah. So we know that, you know, it's scientific that everything is made up of energy. Everything has a makeup of energy in some way, shape, or form. So crystals just kind of act as a power hole for healing, kind of like a battery, if you'd like to think of it that way, because they allow positive and exciting energy to flow into the body. They do away with all the negative and all that toxic energy, and they work by channeling your energy levels. So they focus on healing your body from the inside out. So some people also think, you know, crystals carry the power to induce a placebo effect on the body. And that's also scientifically proven to help medical treatment. So whichever way you look at it, crystals work. That's how I see it. So it's a win win situation. 

But they do have their own particular vibration and frequency. And that arises from their molecular composition. That's very scientific of me. But from the way that they move and interact, these vibrations and energies kind of work in benefiting and uplifting our mood, our mind and our health in considerate manner. So when, if you think about it, basically they act as like a magnet. So crystals can absorb the negative energies. They can welcome in those fresh vibes, but because they're naturally extracted from the earth. They harness, you know, the energy of the sun, the moon, the oceans, which we all know are all natural healing energies. They, they, therefore naturally going to, you know, improve our state. 

So when you place or you hold a crystal over your body, it's going to interact with the body's chakras. And you might have heard of that. It's kind of a Hindu healing It was like quite big in India, that kind of thing. But the chakras are basically seven energetic points across your body that the energy kind of focuses around.

So when you are placing a crystal on your body, it's going to help you connect better and feel more at ease. Most people will, you know, quite happily buy a crystal, but then not know what to do with it. So, You know, you've got to cleanse them, you've got to charge them. There are a few different ways, and it really does depend on you, the user, and how you do it.

But one of the most popular ways, and you've probably heard of this the most, is the energy of the sun or the energy of the full moon. So both bodies are said to supercharge your crystals and cleanse them. Some people like to pass their crystals through smoke from an incense stick or sage. Some like to visualize a white light encapsulating the crystal in their hand. Some even use sound healing, like Tibetan singing bowls, for example, let the sound wash away the impurities. But what I love to do with them, I love to take my crystals to the beach. Wash them in the sea, you know, but it is all down to you. And I say this time and time again about spiritual practices. It is whatever feels best intuitively to you.

So when it comes to caring for and working with your crystals, some people, you know, store them on shelves around the house. You might be able to see in the background there on video, I've got loads on a shelf up there. And, I don't necessarily work with them on a day to day basis because that's what most people do they put them on a shelf and they think that they're just going to, you know, keep on reaping the rewards. That's not how it works. Like anything else, you've got to put in some form of work. So like I mentioned earlier, we have to look at these crystals as if they're batteries because sooner or later they're going to need charging.

Can you imagine if you left your mobile phone on a shelf for a month? In a month's time, do you really think you're still going to be receiving calls and texts? No, because the phone's going to have died. So you're going to need to give it that bit of love, stick it on charge. So as a general rule of thumb, maybe once a week, I just go around my house, around my office with an incense stick. I blow smoke across my crystals. I just wander around the house playing a Tibetan singing bowl, just to refresh that energy of the crystals. Just give them a new boost of life. 

And then once a month or so, usually on a full moon, Because that's kind of my, my trigger is to think, yeah, I need to do this work. So I'll sit with them in my hands just for a few moments, you know, just close my eyes and visualize with them. Sometimes I even speak to them, you know, telling them what I want to help with in my life. And that's classed as setting your intentions. So you might have heard that phrase. And I think there's something so powerful about speaking your intentions to your crystals, letting it know what you want it to help you with in your life.

You might look like an absolute nutjob doing it, but it honestly works. But everything I do in my day to day life, I manage to incorporate crystals in some way, shape, or form. Like, I'm standing here at my desk right now, I have got... Hundreds, and I mean hundreds of crystals scattered, I wish you could see, all across my desk.

If I go in the bath, I've got crystals for relaxation all around me, you know, like amethyst, or howlite, or celestite. On my desk. Yeah, there you go there, you've got your amethyst. It's good for calming, do you know what I mean? In my car, I've got tourmaline, black jasper, and black obsidian. Because I'm so scared that I'm going to crash my new car because six days in someone drove it the side of me. So now I'm, I was like, why didn't I protect my car with crystals beforehand? So now I drive around with tourmaline, black jasper and black obsidian because they are highly grounded. They are highly protective crystals. So when I'm on the road, I can drive around knowing that I'm protected from anything else.

And I mean, you can just imagine what me house is like, can't you, Claudia? Because I'm a big believer in feng shui as well. So. When you think about it, like I've got selenite to cleanse above my front door so that everyone comes through cleansed. I've got labradorite behind the front door to transmute any negative energy into positivity.

I've got tiger's eye and rose quartz in my relationship corner. I've got a wealth bowl in my wealth corner. I've got a giant lump of amethyst on my bedside table to help us have a rested night's sleep. I don't think there's any room in the house that has less than two crystals in it, even my toilets. So yeah, that's how I incorporate crystals into my daily life.

Claudia: Amazing. Out of interest, which crystals are good for putting in your bathrooms? 

Mart: Well, I always think like if you're going, if you go to the toilet or you're going to be in the bathroom, you want to be quite calm. You don't want to be like high energy. So I always think like Amethyst or Howlite is perfect for that because they're just going to you know, you want your toilets or your bathroom to be a little place, like a little zen place.

You might want to escape from the kids there, you know, because you can never have a quiet toilet moment, can you? 

Claudia: No, they even follow you to the toilet. You've got this to come. 

Mart: When I've got my nieces and nephews around, literally, I'll be like, I'm just going to the toilet. And obviously I don't want to lock the toilet. So I'll be sat there and then all of a sudden the door bursts open and I'm like, Uncle Martin, look, and I'm like, oh, let me have a poo in peace. 

Claudia: No such thing. Sorry, I lost my train of thought there. I remember I was, you know, you're on Canva designing things. I was like trying to Google like being interrupted when you go to the toilet. There are no images for that. I was just like, I don't even know. I had to give up and do something else instead. I can't even remember what I was doing. I just remember I was trying to find something that like symbolized the fact that you've been disrupted on the toilet without actually having a picture of the toilet. It doesn't, but you know, answers on a post card. If anyone has any images, pick that in a way that's not so random. 

So we've talked about some great manifestations that you've had. Mart has done a whole episode on his podcast about how he manifested a cruise. So that's definitely an episode, episode to to look at. I remember, I just remember you saying about lying on your bed with the window open here in like the seagulls and just really imagining what it'd be like to be on the, on the cruise. So that's a really good episode. And I'll try and pop a link in the show notes. So Looking ahead, what are your future goals and aspirations for Canny crystals?

Mart: Oh, so this is the thing that I lack in the most, the strategy side of Canny Crystals, because I have, I've had so many opportunities this year, for example, like, just to put this into perspective, since January, I retired my mum, she comes to work for me one day a week, and it's purely because she was in a healthcare profession as well, but... She hit her 60th birthday. She's got a lot of health conditions herself and she's not in the best health. So I just wanted to be able to retire her, but I knew fine well that she wouldn't be able to just do nothing, if that makes sense. So she comes over to help me clean the office once a week. And you know, we go out for dinner or something, just something like that.

And it's nice that I can spend that like bonding quality time with her as well. But since January, I've retired my mom, I have been in three issues of British Vogue, like you mentioned at the start, I spoke at Stella McCartney's Pride event, I have recently just done nearly a £30,000 order for Chanel for their summer client dinner, and I have all these amazing opportunities, but I don't know what to do with them.

So. Strategic wise, that's a, it's a big gap in my knowledge because I've worked in the NHS. So I've always just gone under someone else's leadership, someone else's strategy. It's not, it's not like I've ever had to think of strategy for myself. So it is something that I'm looking at at the moment because I really want to grow the academy.

So I have cannycrystalsacademy. co. uk that Claudia's Claudia's part of. And I have like an app where we we come together as a membership. There are self-development courses on there and things like that. And I do want to grow that. I also want to, you know, get my book finalized because I have, I don't want to like blow my own trumpet, but I have an amazing book that is a mixture. It's kind of like an autobiography. So it's kind of like me talking about my life and growing up, but how I've incorporated all of these spiritual practices into my life. So it's talking about, you know, crystals, visualization, EFT, meditation. It's not just about one key concept, but it's about how. I've grown up, how I've used these concepts, and sometimes unwillingly and sometimes unknowingly, like Like, I used to meditate and visualize all the time as a kid that I was going to meet my favorite pop star.

And nine times out of ten, I would go backstage or something and end up meeting them. And I don't know how I used to do it, but that was like meditation or visualization, but I wasn't aware of it at the time. So it's like all of those stories, so I'd love to get that book on the road. I would love to kind of do a goal setting party or something around New Year because I think it's something that everyone kind of wants to, you know, set those goals because it's, it's something that we all want to stick to, isn't it? Like New Year's resolutions and things. So that's on the cards. 

But yeah, I think next year is going to be a bit of a hard one because we're coming to the end of our adoption journey. So we've got panel. It was supposed to be today actually. But it got pushed back two months. So got another two months to prep, but it's so hard because we don't know what sex we're going to get. We don't know what age we're going to get. So it's like, how do you buy clothes or even nappies or toys or pushchairs or prams, how do you buy stuff like that when there's like no indication of what we're actually going to get? So I think next year for me, it's going to be hopefully stepping back from the business a little more, but still being as involved as I am now, if that makes sense.

So it could be, you know, that I just have someone in the office packing all the orders up while I concentrate on the people side of things. It could be that I do more speaking gigs so that, you know, I'm, I'm putting myself out there. I'm getting more people into the business. I don't know how it's going to work. I haven't got a plan. I know there's a planner right there, but you can see how sparse it is on my wall. So yeah, I don't know what the future holds, but I can assume that it will only grow and grow and grow like it has done the last two years. 

Claudia: I think that's really important as well, because I was like you this time last year, it was like, I wanted to make a change but I didn't know what my business looked like.

Mart: Yeah. 

Claudia: And I kind of, when I kind of just trusted, I was like, well, I'm just going to do the next step. And actually sometimes it is just like focusing, right. Okay. Well, I don't know what's in the future, but I, the only thing I can control is this present moment and actually making the most of the opportunities and seeing where it leads. And actually it led to me getting trained as a professional nurse advocate and having that additional skill set about burnout and preventing burnout in healthcare professionals, which I can translate to my clients. I didn't even know that that was an option this time last year so I couldn't put it in my planner so it might be that there's something very, very exciting around the corner.

Mart: We just don't know, do we? It's like Bob Proctor I think says if you get in a car and it's midnight and you're driving down a little country road you can only see as far as the lights in front of you will 100 meters The next section of the road will open up and then the next section and the next and the next. And I think we've just got to have that trust and faith. You know, that we are being guided. We are on the road. It might not be lit up right now. It might not be illuminated, but it does lead somewhere and it will lead you on to where you're meant to be. 

Claudia: And I love what you said about manifesting without realizing that that's what it was. Cause I did. The exact same in, it was the end of 2010. Me and my sister were like, we're going to go traveling. And cause I needed a break. I was feeling a bit burnt out. She needed a break. She was a teacher at that time. And we were like, right, we're just gonna take a couple months off work, do a career break. And she was the supply teacher, so she could do that quite easily. And basically I didn't have the money. I didn't know where the money was coming from. But I was just like, just do what we're gonna go. We're just gonna go, just book the tickets. And I had been waiting for three years for a compensation payout. It came through two days before we were going. 

Mart: Oh my God. 

Claudia: And I literally, but I was just like, the money will come, the money will come, and I don't even know, like, I think it was probably a little bit of ADHD impulsivity there, but we'll just do it, we'll figure it out later. And there's been like times like that in my life where I'm like, clearly I was trusting, clearly I knew, and I was visualizing, I was like, I'm going to have this amazing time. And I was like. You know, the, the, the details will fall into place. But yeah, my sister's super organized, so she'd saved up a, you know, and she was, she was all sorted. There's me just like, la la la, money will come. It always comes in the end. I know, exactly. So what advice would you have for somebody who is thinking that they want to make a change in their job or want to set up their own business. I know you've set up other businesses before Canny Crystals kind of like exploded as it were. Have you got any advice for people who are that they're thinking they want to change something, but they're not exactly sure what to do first?

Mart: I think, I think you've just got to jump in feet first and expect to work more hours than you're probably, you're willing to. So. I read Get Rich Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield Thomas, and in there, Denise always talks about, you know, your face is your fortune, and she talks about this a lot in her Money Bootcamp that I'm part of as well, and for me, I think when I first started Canny Crystals, I already had three little side businesses that I'd done, like, since 2015 to earn a little bit of money.

I started something called the Barking Brigade. Which was me walking all my neighbour's dogs. And it was just like it was just something that, you know, I was working from home at the time. And I thought on my lunch break, I could be like making five pounds per dog that I'm taking out to the park where I'm going to be going anywhere.

So I always had these little ideas and things, but it was just putting them into place. Luckily, my partner is a graphic designer. So I would just like, can you design me a little business card for this? And then I would just go and like fling them around everywhere. I think the thing that I'm noticing in the moment that I struggle with in my business is marketing. And it's something that I'm going to have to probably hire an expert to do, because when you think about it, you can only put so much of your effort and your time into something. And if you're not very good at doing that, it's going to be a bit of a waste of your time. Whereas if you give your full focus to something that you're really, really good at, so for example, me, I think. My, my strongest point is like social content, for example. So if I put in and say two hours, for example, into social content, I could have my social content for the next week planned out and make loads of sales from that. If I spent the same two hours on trying to market myself by, you know, looking at Google ads or Facebook ads or stuff like that.

It would take me longer than two hours just to figure out how to even, like, log on to this thing or sign up to it. So, what you've got to do is you've got to think, do I deal with it? Do I ditch it? Or do I delegate it? And I think when you delegate something to someone, yes, there might be a little bit of a cost involved. But in the long run, would I rather pay someone a hundred pound for two hours to just crack on and do a good job? Or would I rather muddle on myself and, like... Not have that, like keep that a hundred pound, but potentially lose like sales that I would have got if I had to put that effort in elsewhere. So I think that's something that I definitely learned from Denise Duffield Thomas. 

But yeah, I think just jumping in with both feet, grabbing things by the balls. Sort of speak. Sorry, but it's, it, it's just the right thing to do. Like you've got to learn from your mistakes. The back end of last year, I think it was about, it's probably about a year ago. So I think it was like August 22 , a website company approached me and said, look, we can get you on the top top page of Google. We can do this. We can do that. They literally promised me the world. And I was like, yeah, do it. How much is it? And they were like eight and a half grand plus VAT. And I was like, Oh my God, it's a lot of money.

But if I'm going to be on the top page of Google and I'm going to be doing this, I'm going to be making all this money. They promised me the world. So I was like, here you go. Here's my eight, eight and a half grand. Do you know what I mean? Like here's the deeds to my house. If you want them, I literally gave them everything.

And about two months later, my sales dropped and they dropped, I think I was making about a thousand pounds a day at that point. So I was getting into really, really good money and my sales dropped. One day, I think I made 20 pounds. Another day I'd made 30 pounds. I was like, what has happened to my sales? And this was on the lead up to Christmas as well. We're talking October, November here. So I was thinking there's something gone wrong here. And I spoke to a marketing team and they went, as long as you're with that other team, we will not touch you. You're basically using an outdated system. They've put you on an outdated website.

We can get you back to where you were through your marketing, but you need to go back to Shopify. We need to hire a Shopify expert to get your like theme up running and stuff like that, and to get everything transferred, transpired over. It'll going to be cost about another six and a half grand. And I was like, Oh my God.

So this was an expensive mistake for me. Cause it was £15,000 plus VAT plus all the sales that I lost. But I see that as a learning curve. And I think that's something that you've got to do in business. You can't beat yourself up for losing that kind of money or that kind of time or that kind of dedication.

It's taught me a lesson now to be, like, have my wits about me when people email and promise you the world. Take it with a pinch of salt and think to yourself, like, can they really do this? Is this really what they're promising? Or at least to get it on paper, because I didn't get any of that on paper or written down. So what they delivered to me was like a half arsed website that I was like, it's all right. But it didn't work and it just, yeah, things just fell by the wayside. So you are going to make mistakes. They probably will be costly and will be expensive, but do not beat yourself up because everything that happens to you in life is a learning curve and it's always a lesson that you need to be taught.

Claudia: Yeah, for sure. And like what you said about what Denise says about protecting the golden goose is like, you know, are you going to delegate something so you can focus on your genius? 

Mart: Yeah, a hundred percent. And she always says, you know, your face is your fortune. This is what I was saying about earlier, but forgot to elaborate. But basically she says your face is your fortune. And what she means by that is when I first started on TikTok, I think I'd got up to about 400 followers. And I thought that was amazing because I was on TikTok and, you know, TikTok's just for kids and there I am 36 year old man basically a granddad. And, basically, I was putting all these videos on TikTok, and it was, you know, a picture of my hand with the camera lens facing down at my hand, twirling a crystal round. And then, I would like, put the little benefits down the side as like, little pop up captions. And that was basically my TikTok content, and I thought I was amazing for doing that, and I was getting all this traction.

And then Denise once said... Your face is your fortune. And I thought, what does she mean by that? And she meant getting in front of the camera, you know, putting yourself out there. And I was like, Oh, I can't do that. I'm an old man. And it's really weird because I made a video of myself just talking about the benefits of a crystal and it went viral. Straight away went viral. So then I thought I'm going to make a video about the moon. And the one I did about the moon, the very first one I did had something like 2. 1 million views. On TikTok. It went viral overnight. I gained 50, 000 followers on TikTok alone. I was gaining like thousands by the day on Instagram. And I was like, what is going on here? And then I found the 2. 1 million views in 24 hours. Absolutely crazy. So after that, I was like, okay. People want to see the face behind the brand in, like Denise says, your face is your fortune. She's truly right because people want to know your story. They don't want to be buying from this big corporate company that has no backstory. People are now more inclined to buy from you as a personable person. 

Claudia: Yeah. And, and that is so true, isn't it? When, I think a lot of us have been burned with scams and things like that, you actually want to know that there's a real person, that it's not, you're not being catfished or whatever, you're like, you know, there is a genuine story there. There's someone who really cares. 

Mart: As well, especially while you're building up your brand, because people aren't aware of brands. Yeah, we can go and buy an ASOS or Boohoo or something like that. Because they're a reputable brand. We know that they're real because we've all ordered from them. Or we all know someone that's ordered from them. But if you see or hear of like this little fashion brand that has no reviews on Google or no one's ever heard of them and you put in your little group chat, has anyone ordered from these? Oh, no. First thing someone else says, be careful. It might be a scam. Do you know what I mean? So you've gotta have that reputation. You've gotta put yourself out there, and it is uncomfortable to do, but I think you've just gotta chew the frog and do it anyway. 

Claudia: Not literally. Not literally. We're not, we're not harming animals. , 

Mart: chew the frog. I just mean like get the most awkward thing out of the way and get it done. It's something that I do at the start of every day. I make a list of everything that I need to do in my business. And I do the most awkward thing first. So it could be, you know, that I need to send an email that I'm a bit, oh, about, and I'm like putting it off and procrastinating about it. Get that shit done. Don't procrastinate. Chew that frog, get the worst has done out the way. And once you've done that, you feel like. a sense of accomplishment washes over you and you're suddenly on this, this trail of like, you know, I can do anything now. I've done that worst thing first. 

Claudia: Yeah. No, that's such good advice. So I'm just conscious of time. It's been a fantastic conversation. How can our listeners work with you and learn more about your services?

Mart: So my website, my main website, should I say I've got two, my main website is cannycrystals. co. uk that's canny C A N N Y some people don't understand what I'm saying there. And for all your lovely listeners as well, I'd like to offer a 10 percent discount code, which is the word podcast. You can just enter that at checkout. I also have the Canny Crystals Academy, which is cannycrystalsacademy. co. uk. And that's all about, you know, self development courses based around crystals, gratitude, wellbeing, and manifesting. So for example, there's a manifest and money masterclass. There's my community app called Manifest with Mart. That's all in the academy to go and check that out. I also have my two books on Amazon along with my wellbeing journal on Amazon. But yeah, you can find me on Instagram, All of my usernames are at cannycrystals, but yeah, drop me a follow and go and start your spiritual wellbeing and mindset journey today.

Claudia: Fabulous. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been fantastic. 

Mart: I love chatting with you, Claudia. Thank you.