Lynette Allen shares her story for this weekās Big Happiness interview (Picture: @livvies_lens/@vandiangga)
āMoving to Bali wasnāt actually a big deal,ā says Lynette Allen, a life coach who retrained to become a āmedicine womanā. āIt was leaving my marriage that was the scariest thing I have ever done.ā
She now leads cacao ceremonies, making the big leap to live in the jungle in Bali in 2019.
āDuring my first marriage, when I lived in England, it really looked like I was living the perfect life,ā Lynette tells Metro.co.uk.
āThere I was with a house, two cars on the drive, two lovely dogs, running my own self development business, speaking all over the country, appearing on TV and writing for magazines.
āBut by thirty-seven, I found myself in my car having a panic attack. I couldnāt breathe. I was married to a great man but inside, I wasnāt happy.ā
After months of soul searching, Lynette packed her car and left with just a bag of clothes and moved in with her brother.
Within the year, Lynette had married her second husband Mark, they were expecting a baby and she adopted her step-daughter Rosi.
Lynette and her family have no regrets about the move (Picture: @vandiangga)
In the next two years, on a spiritual quest, Lynette and Mark gave up everything theyād ever worked for in the UK, houses and businesses, and travelled to Spain in 2017.
It was there, she sat in her first ever ayahuasca ceremony, a hallucinogenic Shamanic āteaā ceremony, a powerful plant medicine, which has been traditionally used for spiritual purposes by indigenous communities.
It has become popular in modern day as a way of healing from past traumas and connecting with your spirituality. Six weeks later after her first ceremony, Lynette was invited to attend another and during the next two years, she was mentored by a Shaman in Spain, became his assistant, singing and learning to use a traditional shamanās drum, to connect with herself and others.
Three years on, Lynette started working with Ceremonial Cacao.
The ceremonies typically involve putting a bit of cacao ā chocolate in its rawest, purest form ā on your tongue, or taking a ritualistic drink in liquid form, before entering into meditation or, as Lynette prefers, a talking journey with back and forth dialogue.
āThe ceremonies are designed to help you access deeper levels of consciousness and tap into your own intuition. It helps you open your heart and mind and will help you connect with the universe,ā says Lynette.
āIn one of my first cacao ceremonies, I had a message that there was a āgift for me in Baliā. It seemed like the next intuitive step, so my husband and I packed up our belongings again and moved to Bali with our youngest daughter, then aged six.
āCeremonial Cacao grows here and is used every day for meditation and self-development. I became passionate about helping and supporting women with these ancient rituals after I experienced and saw the incredible shifts that took place in myself and other women.ā
Lynette uses cacao in all her sessions (Picture: @vandiangga)
Here, Lynette and Mark have settled, building a tiny 6m x 6m wooden home on the side of a mountain in the jungle, working remotely and home schooling their daughter Livvie. Lynette continues to host cacao ceremonies as well as writing numerous self-development and channelled medicine books for women.
For her 50th birthday, Lynette decided that she would curate a book of āwomenās wisdomā and invited 50 women, aged 50 and above to write a book with her about what they have learned in their lives and to share their wisdom. A Womanās Voice Is A Revolution has just hit the Amazon best-seller list this week.
āSacred eldership is a practice where the elders of the community in some cultures are treasured,ā she explains. āIn some cultures, there are groups over the age of 50, who gather and talk to share and use their voice for the benefit of their communities ā youāre not allowed to join before you ācome of ageā. This book is our version, where 50 women write eight life lessons.ā
Lynetteās home thatās just 6m x 6m (Picture: @vandiangga)
All the proceeds from the book are going to support 50 women and girls who have been rescued from the streets of Bali with The Bali Street Mums Project.
āBali is a beautiful place to visit, but there is a lot of poverty here too,ā says Lynette. āThe money I can raise by writing this book can make a massive impact on the children and mums, who are struggling.ā
Lynetteās favourite piece of advice from the book? āGo big or go home. I was actually told that when I got my first tattoo, which is an angel on my side, and she is big! Nine and a half inches. For me, life is about making big, bold leaps and committing to what makes you happy.ā
What does make her happy?
āItās being able to choose to do the work I love,ā says Lynette. āI miss my family in England very much, but writing this book has taught me that there are many seasons in a womanās life and as long as youāre growing and learning, then life is always an adventure.
āThere will be time later to go home [to the UK]. For now, we love living here in Bali. Iāve been personally inspired by the stories in the book. Our oldest contributor is 84 and she is studying and travelling still! There is one woman who has become an international DJ at 60, booking gigs all over the world. Deborah Darling, who wrote the forward, became a model at 52. There are no limits to what you can do when youāre older.ā
A Womanās Voice is a Revolution by Lynette Allen is out now.
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‘Go big or go home.’Ā