Awake Academy

Time to awaken

Welcome to your self-empowerment toolkit! Are you ready to unlock your potential and create positive change? Knowing yourself and growing yourself encompasses embracing your individuality, finding your authentic voice and living in alignment with your core values, passions and aspirations. You are about to confidently navigate your own path, honour your unique experiences and embrace the journey of self-discovery and personal growth.

If you ever find yourself operating on autopilot, unable to manage discomfort or constantly striving but not quite thriving, you have come to the right place. We believe success, fulfilment and self-love are achieved through the simple (and often daunting) act of going within. Your relationship with life, and the people in it, starts with you. The way out is always within – nothing outside of us will ever make us feel whole.

We are Layne Beachley and Tess Brouwer, and together we are Awake Academy, a centre for self-empowerment that energises people to become more centred, connected and confident to live a life they love. Our flagship program, Own Your Truth, began as a seven-round self-paced online course based on the lived and learned lessons of a seven-time world champion surfer and a corporate athlete. This rapidly evolved into a hugely impactfulbusiness inspiring thousands to live a happier, more purposefullife. This book shares our joint wisdom, built upon the successesand challenges we’ve both faced personally and professionally.

Grounded in the tools Layne used to rebuild her life posther professional surfing career, and the positive mental healthwork Tess used to strengthen her mind and body in the spinalward followinga life-changing accident, the extensive toolkitprovided in this book is something we both struggled to findwhen we needed it. Based on our own experience, we wanted toempower people to Own Their Truth by managing their energy,emotional intelligence and empathy to survive and thrive. And so,Awake Academy was born – a place to share the tools that helpedus understand and process our thoughts and emotions to coachothers to achieve self-empowerment.

Here, we present our toolkit for life, designed to help peopleexperience their best, most empowered and joyful lives. This isthe book we wish we’d had to guide us through the hard times,and support us to thrive in the good.

When life is good, use this toolkit to maintain and superchargeyour mind, body and spirit. And in those dark moments, when youare feeling lost and alone, we trust this practical wisdom will helpyou to recall your light and celebrate it. In this book you’ll find thesupport and tools to refresh, renew and even rebuild to becomenot only yourself again, but quite possibly a better, brighter, moreconnected and confident self. A self that embraces all of you: thegood, the not-so-good and everything in between. A self thatallows the light within you to shine.

Welcome to your awakening.

Layne

From the outside, my life seems perfect: seven-time world champion surfer, married to a rock star, travelling, surfing, and doing work I love – living the dream. But at times I feel overwhelmed by negativity, fear and expectations. This book will expose many of the challenges I have overcome, because no one sees the shit you go through, they just see the outcome and think it was easy.

Like most people, I have been through my fair share of shit. Learning how to lose taught me how to win, and now my life lessons have become a compass for others, helping people navigate life’s challenges and shortcut their struggle. We teach what we need to learn, so in essence this book is as much for me as it is for you. It is filled with the lessons I have gained and continue to rely on as a professional athlete, role model, motivational speaker, facilitator, mentor, successful and failed business owner, chairperson, leader and wife. I have played many roles in my life, but none more important than a person helping others to help themselves.

Retiring from a 19-year professional surfing career had its pros and cons. The pros? The luxury of sleeping in, surfing when everyone else is at school or at work, no rigorous gym training sessions and no pressure to perform. I felt liberated from dealing with the nerves, anxiety and stress of daily competition, and embraced the freedom to schedule my life as I chose.

The cons? Immense feelings of loss. I lost my sense of structure, identity, belonging, routine, direction, purpose and passion. To compensate for these feelings of loss I filled up my life, said yes to everything and ran myself into the ground. Between my clothing brand, foundation, surf events, speaking gigs and ambassador roles, my dance card was full. And that came at a cost. I was always sick or fatigued, unavailable for the fun things and unable to be present in the majority of situations. My relationshipswere strained, and when my husband eventually asked, ‘Why doI always get the broken Layne?’, I knew something had to change.That change started with me.

The transitions we go through in life may differ, but we all havemoments when we feel lost and restless until we figure out what’snext. No matter where we go or what we do in life, we remainourselves, and the way we feel impacts every aspect of our lives.So, how do you want to feel? Safe? Accepted? Heard? Respected?Loved? There is no right or wrong answer, only your truth.

Humanity is constantly searching, seeking, hoping, trying andpraying to achieve goals and aspirations. Our education systemteaches us to strive to be better, to have all the answers, and bythe time we are teenagers we are expected to know what we wantto achieve in life. But how can we achieve anything when wedon’t even know who we are? When we know ourselves and growourselves we can design and live a life we love. These pages willhelp you become aware of who you truly are, align you with yourinternal honesty barometer and awaken your spirit.

Tess

So, what makes me worthy of writing a book with a seven-timeworld champion?

My journey has taken me from corporate athlete workingwith global brands, billionaires and celebrities to spending sevenmonths in and out of hospital, enduring two major spinal cordsurgeries.

In 2018, at 32, I moved to Switzerland for a dream job. Whilethere I had a skiing accident and my life took a turn I could neverhave imagined. Determined not to be a burden, I downplayed howI was feeling. Despite pins and needles, headaches, loss of feeling in my legs and wetting my pants, I insisted I was fine and pushed aside the growing evidence that something was seriously wrong. Only once I lost feeling in my hands did I end up receiving hospital treatment – seven months in four hospitals across Switzerland and Australia, then three months on a spinal ward, relearning how to use my body and my mind. Surrounded by paralysed roommates, I realised that my journey of healing wasn’t just physical; it involved addressing years of unresolved trauma. I left hospital on 29 January 2019, lost, lonely and with nowhere to go but within.

Being vulnerable is hard, yet if I’m honest, I have learnt everything from others sharing their stories. So now I am opening up about my own. Learning through each other is a gift of being human – in doing this I have found my strength. Slowly, as ‘the work’ kicked in, I started to feel more centred, connected and confident in myself. Each day got easier, and so did asking for help – and better yet, accepting it.

Layne describes me as a strong woman functioning on fragile foundations, which resonates deeply. The truth is, transformation is hard. When I began this work I could hardly close my eyes for fear of what would come up. I had accumulated 32 years of built-up trauma and life stories I didn’t want to face. I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t have time for all ‘that stuff’, and I certainly didn’t think there was anything wrong with me – until I hit rock bottom. Then I had nowhere to go but within. I tried everything I could to treat my complex PTSD, anxiety and depression, from medication to world-class therapists. But it wasn’t until I looked within and put pen to paper that I began to see a glimmer of light.

That glimmer changed my life. In one year I met the love of my life, relocated from the beach to the bush, got engaged, married, fell pregnant, started two businesses and became a stepmother to three teenagers. I am now a wife, a mother, and a graduated practitioner of positive psychology and wellbeing. I let love in.Why? Because I realised I am worthy – and you are too.

The purpose of this book

According to the latest Australian data, one in five people havea mental illness or injury.1 But what about the other four? Youdon’t have to have an illness or injury to experience poor mentalhealth. One out of every two people in the world will develop amental health disorder in their lifetime, according to a large-scalestudy co-led by researchers from Harvard Medical School and theUniversity of Queensland.

You can be at the pinnacle of your career or winning worldtitles and still live with internal suffering. And that’s where westep in. Our objective is to provide you with the big picture – ahamoments, awakenings, actions and the science to back it up – soyou can enjoy the good times and survive the challenging ones.Consider this book your toolkit to improve your mental wellness,enabling you to live a happier and more purposeful life. And thebest part? You can bring your kids, loved ones, friends and colleaguesalong on the journey with you.

This book is designed to provide you with tools to boost yourself-awareness and intrinsic motivation, strengthen your connectionwith what we refer to as your Dream Team, amplify empathyand prioritise your health and wellbeing. We’ll help you feel morecentred, connected and confident. This book will awaken yourinternal GPS to help you navigate through times of challenge ortransition – times when you may feel lost, restless, unhappy oruninspired.

But you don’t have to be feeling disconnected to benefit fromthese practices. The secret to living a life by design, a life that isfulfilling, purposeful and meaningful is to go within, awaken your spirit and own your truth. To achieve any growth we have to be willing to do the work. This requires introspection, honesty and reflection. Have the courage to look in the mirror, deep into your own soul and ask yourself: ‘How do I truly feel?’

If you aren’t willing to go within, you will always go without. Only by looking into ourselves, understanding who we are, and shining a light on our conscious and unconscious blocks can we be free to create a life we love.

We are the authors of our lives. With insight, wisdom and understanding, you can live your truth and the life you were destined to live. The buck stops with you. To awaken your soul, you must own your truth. And that begins now.

How to use this book

We started Awake Academy with the desire to awaken people to detach from fear, take control and design a life they love. We are not here to instruct; we are simply guides. Our goal is to help you know yourself to grow yourself.

The exercises in this book are designed to inspire and empower you to Own Your Truth by creating an internal GPS system to make positive changes in your life. This model requires you to recognise the power of your thoughts, awaken you to your gifts and provide you with the tools to transform your life. We aim to provide very real and easy-to-digest truths in a relevant and engaging format. Our science-backed exercises hold the power to help you improve your overall health and wellbeing.

We’ll share with you the tools we use daily to rebuild and thrive, so you can give them a go. We encourage you to focus on the similarities, not the differences in our stories. When you read ‘world title’, we want you to think of a big event in your own life: marriage, a job promotion, having a child . . . your own equivalent of a world title. When you read our stories of trauma, think ofa challenging event or experience you have had. Pain is pain.Trauma is trauma. The scale of the event can be different, but theimpact is the same. We see you, we feel you and we are holdingspace for you in these pages.

This toolkit can also be used to thrive when times are goodand you are looking for that extra ‘one per cent’ to give you anedge – perhaps so you can win your equivalent of a world title –and maintain your wellbeing and relationships when life’sdemands continue to escalate. We all have room for self-reflectionand growth.

We open up our hearts, minds and diaries to model and normaliseself-work and to inspire you to go within. As you read ourstories and life lessons, we invite you to apply them to your own life.

This is a toolkit for you to become an emotional personaltrainer for yourself and for those you love. Use this book alongsideworking with your therapists. Share the activities with yourkids to help them learn about themselves. Take the knowledge yougain here and share it with your friends and colleagues.

Our work is founded on the belief that the stories you tell yourselfwill drive your experience. Many of us aim to escape discomfortby ignoring our negative moods when in fact, understandinguncomfortable feelings is the first step to transforming them.

Each chapter in this book comprises a story from each of us, thetheory and science behind the concept being explored, and practicalexercises designed to help you reach a deeper understanding.These exercises require you to be open-minded, open-hearted andready to lean in. They will challenge and inspire you to clarify whoyou are, what you want and where you want to go.

You’ll need a pen at the minimum, and a set of coloured pencilsif you’re feeling creative. Carve out some quiet time to think, create and reflect. In our live courses, we supply a blank journal for this purpose. Writing down your thoughts and feelings – whatever comes up, without analysing it in the moment – can be an incredibly helpful tool to unearth what’s going on in your subconscious. If that sounds good to you, we invite you to journal alongside the activities in this book. Why? Because you matter.

The science: An introduction

We are not scientists or researchers. We are two women with lived and learned experience, drawing from a wealth of knowledge gained from world-class mentors, professors, teachers and courses. When you understand the truth – your truth – and the research, science and facts behind it, you are far more likely to apply those lessons to your life. So, we’ve gathered the facts and figures that support each of our awakenings.

Psychology is built on three core principles: our deficits (built from past experiences), our virtues (what makes us unique), and flourishing (how to thrive). Historically, the focus of psychology and research has been on deficit treatment – ways to treat complex medical injuries and illnesses such as depression, trauma and PTSD. As a result, significant importance has been placed on discovering how to deal with our past, and rightly so. Thankfully, positive psychology is now gaining traction and science is catching up, proving things we know to be true.

The science in this book provides you with lessons and learnings that anchor our teachings. At the end of the book, you’ll find a list of recommended books and courses if you want to go deeper, learn more and make a positive impact on the world with your loved ones. And if you’re a parent, this book can equip you with the tools to coach yourself and your kids, raising a generation of self-aware humans.

If something resonates with you, dive deeper. We’re here toshortcut the struggle, open you up to a deeper understandingof yourself, and give you peace, knowing that you are not alone.We are all navigating this emotional world together.