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Clare Raffety refers to herself as an accidental leader. Clare’s work focuses on wellness, well-being and connecting people with their innate knowing. She helps them with their intuition and their heart's wisdom.

She began this work through a science direction but needed self-regulation, which led her to yoga. She has studied and taught yoga for the last 40 years. Clare opened her first yoga studio 20 years ago and handed that to the new owner three years ago.

For the last three years, Clare has worked for the University of Tasmania (UTAS), where she helps people develop self-awareness and self-regulation strategies as part of the transformational leadership program. Leaders can create a bigger picture and skills for regulating themselves and their teams.

Clare also works for Adventure Works, a business that offers programs in outdoor health. There are therapists, facilitators, and trainers in the team. Self-awareness and self-regulation are the themes, as well as co-regulating with nature. The participants are therapists, psychologists and counsellors, and they are learning how they may use the themes themselves but also to support their clients.

Clare still teaches yoga but mainly in an online forum.

Mental health is a rising problem in our society. Social media helps us be outside ourselves and constantly feeds messages that we are not enough.

In contrast, the teachings and programs that Clare participates in teach individuals that they are whole and they need nothing more than what they are right now. You can find happiness inside yourself. Individuals are developing skills to find happiness and wholeness even during complex life challenges.

Few things point people towards their inside. The knowingness inside, their intelligence centre, can guide them much better than anything else.

There is a lot of information and cues around us that guide our decision-making and experience. Practices like mindfulness, breath awareness, settling oneself and taking in the bigger picture can open individuals to the cues and opportunities around them. “I had a gut feeling about that.” Collectively this can be referred to as knowingness.

In the transformational skills course, the concept of deep listening is introduced. Listening to our mind and body is a good start as starting point. Deep listening means listening to what the person is saying and then trying to put it in the context of what the individual is going through.

Yoga teaching has changed over the last 20 years. Initially, when Clare offered the training, it brought a different dimension to what was being offered in the market then. Many people wanted to learn from her and develop their yoga-teaching skills. As she became a yoga leader (accidentally), it centred on creating a safe and trustworthy space for the teachers and the participants.

Taking this training online meant recording and distilling her best work. She has about 250 lessons online. She sends out a group email each week.

The transformational leadership program is a master's level program at UTAS in Health and Human Services. The cohort is health professionals from around Australia. The programme contains many components. Leadership is a component featuring a 360 assessment at the beginning and end of the course—self-awareness and self-regulation for mindfulness training. Change capability from the Change Gym is a component. Reviews on genogram and archetypes

All the self-enquiry means they can lead their teams very differently.

The key outcomes are that they are more self-aware, able to let go of things, listen more, and recognise and self-regulate.

Good things happen if we can feel safe and connected and listen within ourselves. The need for more self-aware leaders is increasing in many health, environmental and industrial businesses.

Take a breath and rest inside ourselves.

In summary:

The inside and the outside: Listening to the inside messages is essential.

Being rather than doing or having: Be self-aware. There is more strength, capacity, wisdom and knowledge inside.

Self-regulation: we can get out of sync and must be deliberate about getting self-regulated.

Cues: Listening to what is there, deep listening is essential. Open doors, and don’t let bias be the guide.

A disciplined approach is required to invite awareness into our lives.

Create a safe and trustworthy space for yourself and the people you lead.