My Journey: The Alchemy of Transformation
Discover Charlotte’s Story that led to the creation of The Alchemy of Being. From the depths of chronic illness to a complete physical, mental, and spiritual transformation, her journey shows you the art of the possible. Below is a timeline that highlights the key moments and breakthroughs that shaped her journey to date.
Each experience, lesson, and insight has been an integral part of her evolution – culminating in the creation of a space for others to explore their own alchemy of being.
We hope that by sharing the breadth and depth of her journey will give you comfort that wherever you are on yours, there are ways to find the next forward step. And Charlotte and the Alchemy of Being can help you with that then we’ll be very happy.
Growing up my main health concerns were all related to sports – I would often dislocate joints and was gross out a lot of parents on the side line of my hockey games when I would snap my kneecap back into place and then run on. Or my flexibility was a sort of party trick! I was very involved at school – I had a scholarship that required me to do 2 sports, sing in the choir, take part in school theatre productions and at A-level was taking the equivalent of 5. I was also an insomniac, which at boarding school was not fun for those who shared with me. I would sleep on average 2-3 hrs a night. So it was no great surprise that in my first year of A-levels I developed Glandular fever. I had 6 months off school even sleeping through my 18th Birthday. I remember going out for a birthday meal with all my family and curling up under the table to sleep while they all enjoyed my birthday meal.
Both the school Doctor and my one at home had no treatment for GF, so my mum took me to a Homeopath who was also an Iridologist. How treated me and supported me with things like Oxygen. At this point, the limitations of conventional medicine confused me. They told you what you had, and then just sort of told you to deal with it. It didn’t make sense. The insight from the iridologist meant nothing at the time, but in hindsight her view on my bowel and levels of inflammation really did foretell what was to come later.
After finishing school I signed up for a GAP year, Teaching English to Tibetan Refugee children in Darjeeling. It was the most amazing experience, but sadly cut short by ill-health. I believe this is where the next phase of my illness journey began. I’m allergic to caffeine, and living in a tea-plantation was therefore very problematic - lots of boiled water instead. and my living conditions were interesting with flea-ridden mattresses, shared drop-toilets infested with rats and mainly gristle and rice to eat. My hips and knees also didn’t take too well to the terrain I had to scramble over each time I wanted to get into town (2-3hr hike). A combination of all these aspects saw me return to the UK earlier than expected.
My University years hadn’t been that bad health wise – but I’d had to give up all competitive sport, and the CCF due to the repeated dislocations and the associated pain. I really suffered with my menstrual cycle and tried all things to balance my hormones effectively including the injection and implant.
After completing my 3 years at Bristol I moved to London to join Barclays as a graduate. It was quite quickly into that I started experiencing a decline in my physical health. Without any clear reason I would get quick onset fatigue (like falling asleep in loud clubs, the tube) for which the Dr’s suggested I stop eating wheat (and therefore gluten) in 2003. When that didn’t help, they would do allergy tests regularly and remove whatever was at the top of the list - which meant for one six month period I ate only white rice and lettuce. I had excessive bloating (I used to take a change of clothes in a larger size), the sides of my feet so painful I couldn’t wear shoes (or walk normally if I had to wear them). In 2006 my bowel slowed stopped working – by that I mean no peristalsis, so I was doing up to 3 enemas a day to keep things moving and keep my life “normal”, hives would appear in different forms on different parts of my body. It was painful to just exist and all the Dr’s gave me was ibuprofen. As a continuing insomniac the long painful days seems to dredge on. All the test the doctors did returned within normal ranges and as I expressed that no one I knew had to do what I had to do every day just to maintain normality they suggested it may be in my head.
The only positive during this time was the I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) by a specialist following a referral from a PT that had heard about it on a training course. Whilst having a diagnosis was useful, the lack of knowledge about how to counter its effects meant I just had the tag but not real support or help.
Over time I tried more and more bizarre things in the hope of finding some relief. I had just come back from a 5-day juice fast in Egypt which had sadly made everything worse, and I was talking to a colleague about the sheer frustration I had. I had finally persuaded the Dr to take some action on the hives all over my body. So had been referred to a Dermatologist who took biopsies. After waiting six weeks (still covered in hives) I got the results. Yes, they confirmed the rashes were all hives. But No they could not tell me what causes them – they only dealt with the skin.
I really ranted and raved at her as I was at my wit’s ends – it honestly felt like no part of my worked properly or like everyone else’s. My lovely colleague seeing my pain shared that a friend of hers was a practitioner in Quantum Biofeedback. I’ve never heard of it, but she thought I may help. With no other avenues, I said I was in. Shortly after I headed off to Kent to meet the wonderful Sara Bayley. After a really simply process of attaching electrodes to my feet, arms and temples she passed different frequencies through my body, and the machine would measure the difference between the head and my feet, and this enabled the system to see what I was deficient in and what I had an excess of. She diagnosed me with a canine parasite, along with may imbalances in minerals, vitamins, hormones and neurotransmitters that she felt could be contributed to the myriad of issues I had.
I took these results back to my Dr, and forced them to get a stool test from the Centre for Tropical Disease who confirmed that yes I did have this parasite! A single dose (tablet) killed it. We think I likely picked it up in India – where the sanitation of the drop-toilets would have been rife with all sorts of animal parasites. So that meant I’d had it likely for a decade. 1 decade, thousands of Dr appts and then 1 tablet!! Now that there was a tangible things wrong with my gut I also finally got a Gastroenterologist referral too! To see what damage the parasite had done to my gut.
After my time with Sara, I explored two courses of action. With my Dr via the Gastroenterologist and via a referral from Sara to a Functional Medicine practitioner called David Hompes. Dave ran a lot of similar tests to the ones the Drs had done, but all had just a few extra markers on them. The results of this were staggering – it showed the true extent of how my body has started shutting down. My thyroid for example was functioning at 7%. (with Dr’s it fine until it drops to 4% as that’s when you can’t recover and need lifelong medication.) He also showed the lack of female hormones that explained my irregular and painful cycles. He showed the extend to adrenal fatigue that again isn’t treatable to medicine, so the Dr’s hadn’t bothered. But what was fantastic was he had solutions!! We did a full gut detox to help with leaky bowel, we added coffee to the enemas to entice the peristalsis back. I started taking supplements through the skin (to avoid having to be processed in the gut) to support my thyroid and adrenals. It was a really positive experience.
On the other track the Gastroenterologist, he was intrigued and wanted to do a colonoscopy, but that just wasn’t possible - with no peristalsis, despite the enemas there was no space in the gut and the laxatives did nothing! He had to rely on x-rays. I was a first for him – first time he was able to see the blockages in the gut on an x-ray (not a first I ever wanted to be!) Upon conversation it was clear that while the parasite had done a lot of damage so too had my diet of ibuprofen – I’d literally rotted my gut lining! Based on the level of damage to my gut – he sadly told me that it was very likely it would perforate, and that if that happened, I would be unlikely to survive. And that if by some turn of chance I did. I’d be bed-ridden for life. When asked for a timescale – the sobering response was – just six weeks.
6 weeks is not a lot – especially when you’re 32. I decided that wasn’t going to be my end. I was open to anything that I could do to extend that time or reverse it. In conversation with Dave about possibilities, he suggested a spiritual component to my ailments. He thought that I had actually lost the desire to live. He spoke about belief patterns that meant I had pushed myself very hard in ways that didn’t align with my soul’s purpose. Not a conversation I’d ever had before, but somehow it rang true. He introduced me to a clairsentient healer called Adrienne.
One of the most insane, intense and life-changing experiences of my life. Adrienne and I met first over Skype. I had no idea what to expect, not even understanding what clairsentience is. Dave has advised me that one of the key ways to support my healing was to sleep, so I’d been trying really hard to sleep, but the 12 hours before my skype I couldn’t get comfortable, I was tossing and turning. She came on camera and the first thing she said was “you must be exhausted”. She explained that clairsentient embody the pain and issues of their clients and then by healing themselves they heal their client. She then proceeded to tell me everything that ever had or wrong with me. From the top of head to the tips of my toes – she told me things there was just no way she could know – like how I got the scar on my knee, the surgeries I’d had. The only connection between us – Dave – didn’t know most of it so there was no way.
But then she stunned me, she said it was all OK. Because every issue I had were all down to 1 issue. They were all manifesting in the same meridian of each energy pathway in the body which meant they were all linked to just 1 thing. A belief I held that I was not enough. She said if we work on changing that belief, then everything will heal!
I told her I had six weeks – she said we’d better get on with it. Meditation was the prescribed tool. She had very specific phases I had to use as mantras, and I had to do them meditations at sunrise and sunset each day. Once a week would then get online and meditate for an hour together. We did that for five weeks.
For the sixth week, I joined her in Turkey – we did some serious work of lots of different modalities. The most phenomenal ice therapy, we used a range of talking therapies, we meditated together, we swam in natural sprits, we did more enemas, we fasted, we slept…
I returned to England for my follow-up appt with the gastroenterologist. He did an x-ray, and said I think we can do a colonoscopy. He did – I remember fighting to stay awake to be able to see his face. It was one of shock. My bowel, he announced, was completely healed.
While the Dr was let that delighted by me rapid healing, I was ecstatic! I was living, I got to have a life. I put this miraculous healing down to two things. Firstly I decided I WANTED to live. There was a desire in me. And secondly, I had removed the thing that was holding me back – the belief that in no way, or facet of my life was I enough. Hindsight is 20/20 but I can see now how that manifested itself in my life in so many ways.
Just because I was no longer dying, did not mean I was well. I was far from well. I had a long journey ahead of me (the rest of my life). It took me at least a year to get my body back into some sort of balance – from a hormone level, thyroid and adrenal function level etc. I learnt a huge amount – I studied with Dave to understand what was going in my body and why what we were doing was learning. I seem to have an insatiable
That ignited a passion in me. I got angry about how little I had ever learnt about this wonderful human body we have. (or how little anyone seemed to know about how our bodies work). Since then I have simply not stopped learning. I really needed to understand how what Dave and Adrienne had done in the six weeks the dr had given me had worked! As it made no sense to me.
This led me to study with some amazing influential teachers – with Dr. Joe Dispenza, Bruce Lipton, Greg Braden, Lynee McTaggart, Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, Brendan Burchard, Simon Sinek. It covered all facets of life – what did I want to do for work now, was corporate still for me. What was my purpose, what made me happy, what did I want to do now I’d accepted me for who I am.
I will forever now want to keep learning – it’s my life-long passion.
My learning journey didn’t stop with the theory – I wanted to make tangible experiential learning. Anything anyone suggested to me, or I learnt about I wanted to try. And it was through this that i meant some amazing practitioners.
Like Ben Barnett - who I met right at the start of my journey. I saw him advertised and thought I’d love a massage – a spot of selfcare is needed. But it was like nothing I’ve every experienced. The guided meditation aspect was like he was in my head. I saw him once a week for the first year of my healing – the massage literally pulled the trauma and beliefs out of me.
After that there was no stopping me – I saw a shaman who reunited me with lost soul parts and spirit animals, I had my Akashic records ready by Vicky Ross which helped me understand a little more about my soul’s purpose. I met the wonderful Sally Mudge, who taught me about the energy of the planet and our sacred sites, dowsing and together we brought sound into our lives with Paulina in Breathing Space in Norfolk. I met Nicky who introduced me to Craniosacral therapy and havening which helped me and my foster children too.
I experienced so many wonderful things. If I tried something that didn’t resonate with me, I just let it go – like I had with western medical practices. Over the last decade I have curated an extensive toolkit to help me heal, body mind and soul.
Whilst my focus was on healing, life continued. I was very lucky that Barclays supported me with a year off sick. At the end of that time, I decided that the Corporate life was not for me, it really brought out the worse in me and triggered me a lot, so I left. I setup on my own as a consultant working with small businesses including the Functional Medicine practitioner Dave’s business.
I also decided I wanted to be come a Foster Carer, so I moved out of London, to get a house with a garden. A lot of what I’d learnt I put into action with the 2 boys I got to help them heal their trauma, reduce their allergies.
I continued to study undertaking courses in Herbalism, Functional Medicine, and a Degree in Quantum Physics for Health. I also started sharing things with Friends – so like when Covid hit I sent out immune boosting kit to help boost. I’d have friends over for Pagan festivals in my garden.
All the while still working on myself – I do have EDS and that does mean I live with pain. Although in 2020 I took part in one of Dr Joe. Dispenza’s distance coherence healing experiments with a focus on reducing my EDS related pain. As a result, I’d say my pain levels reduced by at least half which is now managed with entirely natural methods (all shared on this site).
I had a realisation in 2023, that I actually had a lot of theory, a lot of practice, a lot of personal rituals and quirks that could really help people.
And that brings us to The Alchemy of Being. In many conversations with practitioners who became friends, we had discussions that I just knew would be so valuable if only more people could hear them. I realised if I could get more people access to practitioners like them, to the information that has saved and transformed my life then it would all have been worth it. And maybe, just maybe some people wouldn’t have to get to the point of just six weeks left before they changed…
That is The Alchemy of Being.
Want to work with Charlotte?
Want to have a chat about your story? Need a personalised discussion about your life, where you are and what you want to change? Seeking some help to review your toolbelt and discuss some options of new tools to add? Then we’ve got your covered… Online, or in-Person, we can make it work.
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Charlotte Recommends
Personalised Alchemy Session with Charlotte (in St Albans)
£150.00 View DetailsStep into the transformative world of The Alchemy of Being with a one-to-one consultation designed to empower you to curate your unique path to a fulfilling, authentic life. This personalised session with Charlotte, our founder and lead Alchemist, is your starting point for curating your bespoke ‘Toolbelt for Life’—a collection of tools, modalities, and resources tailored to your needs.
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Charlotte Recommends
Personalised Alchemy Session with Charlotte (in London)
£300.00 View DetailsStep into the transformative world of The Alchemy of Being with a one-to-one consultation designed to empower you to curate your unique path to a fulfilling, authentic life. This personalised session with Charlotte, our founder and lead Alchemist, is your starting point for curating your bespoke ‘Toolbelt for Life’—a collection of tools, modalities, and resources tailored to your needs.
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Charlotte Recommends
Personalised Alchemy Session with Charlotte – Via Zoom
£125.00 View DetailsStep into the transformative world of The Alchemy of Being with a one-to-one consultation designed to empower you to curate your unique path to a fulfilling, authentic life. This personalised session with Charlotte, our founder and lead Alchemist, is your starting point for curating your bespoke ‘Toolbelt for Life’—a collection of tools, modalities, and resources tailored to your needs.
