Skillr Profile: Winter Clark

Winter Clark is an Embodiment Activation Guide who helps people find alignment in their work and love lives. SKILLR Social Media & Influencer Manager Mariama Hutson sat down with Winter to chat about astrology, human design and developing a meditation practice. 

Mariama Hutson: So you can just start by telling me a little bit about yourself, what it is that you do, how you got started and what your skill is in that.

Winter Clark: Okay. So I'm an embodiment activation guide and I'm also a teacher and a lot of the people that I work with come to me as single people. Although, I have worked with couples before. And the people that tend to come to me, I work with a lot of women, I've worked with some men, but what is the connecting thread between all of them is wanting more balance in their life, in the realms of relationships, career, within themselves, all of that. And they often don't see it at first, but then over time they realize how everything is connected and it starts from within. And then all the different areas of their lives are connected to them. But they see that as they go through the changes within themselves, how it ripples outward and begins to change everything in their environment too.

Mariama Hutson: So how long have you been in this field?

Winter Clark: Oh, gosh. I would say about five years since I moved out here to Colorado.

Mariama Hutson: Okay. How do you like Colorado?

Winter Clark: It's wonderful. It's all the nature I could possibly want. I'm originally from New York. East village.

Mariama Hutson: And you went to Colorado?

Winter Clark: I know. Yeah. Yeah, because doing this kind of work in New York, it was great, but it wasn't sustainable. And a lot of the people that I worked with, the lifestyle is so different in New York. I would work with people and give them tools and things to implement and then it would come back and I would ask them, did you do the thing? And they were like, no, just make me feel better again.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah.

Winter Clark: I'm like, but it's a two-part process. I help you and then you help you. So when I moved out here to Colorado, the lifestyle here is very much wellness and health and I guess it's because of so much availability of the outdoor space that lends to that. Yeah.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah. I could see that because New York is just crazy. Go, go, go hustle, hustle, hustle, always being on. I can definitely see what you're saying. Because even me, I try to find five minutes in my morning to meditate. But even when I hop out the bed, I'm just ready to, okay, my mind, the to-do list, everything's going and the day started. But when I do have that five minutes to meditate, it's so peaceful and I'm just there. But then I go out into the world and it's like, boom, boom, boom. And I can imagine Colorado's a lot slower, the air's probably fresher. Yeah.

Winter Clark: All sorts of creatures. Yeah.

Mariama Hutson: That's funny. Well, what interests you about SKILLR?

Winter Clark: What interests me about SKILLR is the ability to connect with new people and that's really important for me in the way of, I'm always trying to find ways to connect with community, to new people, basically to be able to deliver my services in a bigger way, because I want to help everybody. And it's really, for me just about finding what are the different ways that I can do that? So what I've been doing is I have my mailing list and all these other things, but social media's out there so I'll go on Instagram live once a week and I'll do a meditation practice on there, Mindset Mondays and I'll bring everyone into there and we'll do EFT tapping. So I'm always trying to find ways to reach out and help people feel better.

Mariama Hutson: What is your favorite part about sharing that with other people?

Winter Clark: I love seeing the change that they experience, the shift that they undergo. And it's amazing how something as simple as taking a moment to close your eyes and breathe and just focusing on different areas of your body. Just tuning in, taking that moment to tune in to the information that you're carrying within you, can be so powerful for some people when they take the moment to do that. And they often realize in those moments, it's like, oh wait, I had the answer all along. It was right there. Right? But we're all up here and it's hard to access it when you're up here, you have to drop in.

Mariama Hutson: And I feel like we're always constantly searching for the answer to something. If it's not this, once I get this off, now I need an answer for this and I totally get what you mean. We probably have all of the information that we need already. We know the answer, but it's so clouded by everything that's going on, it's hard to come up with the answer. Did you go to school for this at all? Is it something that you kind of always just gravitated towards? Was this something you've always been passionate about?

Winter Clark: It's really interesting how I came into this because my foundation is what I grew up with and what I sort of inherited. So a lot of my abilities that are harder to train others in like intuition and stuff like that, runs in my family. So I had kind of a boost with that, but as I got older and started finding different teachers and mentors and trainings, I began collecting different skills and tools to be able to use. So I like to call myself a multi-modality wellness practitioner because I have so many tools in my bag. It ranges from astrology, shamanism, the art of transformational coaching, flower essences, [inaudible 00:08:14] records, EFT tapping. And I'm the kind of person who I'm always the student as well as the teacher. And I'm always learning new things. I'm diving into the gene keys now, I've been trained in human design. So my brain is always making new connections. And when I'm helping people, when I'm in a session with them, for me, it's like dialing into which tool going to help them best in that moment.

Mariama Hutson: I have a question in regards to astrology, because I know a lot of people are like, I'm this sign, so it means this, this and this. And they kind of just take it on, but how much do you think your astrological sign has to do with your personality and who you are?

Winter Clark: Astrology is a really beautiful science. It's funny, we don't think of it that way. But because it's connected to actual physical, tangible things like planets that are in constant movement, as well as our birth data, when we were born, where, what time, all of that, it creates this beautiful imprint of who we are on this planet. So our astrological sign of who we are is a small piece. When you say that, I feel like you're talking about the sun sign, the sign that you find in the horoscopes and stuff like that that you turn to. And I feel like a lot of times when people will go to their sun sign to read it, some of it will land and some of it will not. And it's impossible to address an entire body of humanity.

Winter Clark: But when you know a little bit more about your chart, your moon sign, where your Mars and your Venus are, it starts filling in the picture a little bit more. And then that thing which wasn't landing before, it might make a little bit more sense because it's connected to how you process your emotions or the way you take action on something. And by knowing your different placements in your chart and what they mean, it helps you to have a better sense of not just who you are and how you navigate the world, but also how you interact with others too.

Mariama Hutson: So it's a tool for understanding yourself more.

Winter Clark: Exactly.

Mariama Hutson: And then you can take that information. Because I'm not really sure if it tells you what your personality is and if there's something that you don't necessarily like about your personality, how you could change it or something?

Winter Clark: It doesn't go to that depth. But some of the other things I mentioned human design and gene keys use that same data that you would use for your birth chart to find out your sign and all of that and it takes you deeper. So let's say astrology is the first layer that everyone's familiar with, right? And then the next layer in would be human design. And that speaks more to how you're wired and how you use your energy and navigate situations, the kind of person that you are, what theme you're living out in your life, all of that kind of stuff. And then the next layer in would be the gene keys, which is more connected to your purpose and your career and your life path and all of that. So it's different energy layers.

Mariama Hutson: Is the human design overall for all humans? Or is that something where you would have to take a test and it's different for every person?

Winter Clark: Human design is unique to the individual. So there's different websites where you can get your free chart. I think Jovian Archive is one where you can get your free human design chart and it'll give you just the basics to start with. It looks very different than your birth chart, but it starts letting you know what energy type you are and stuff like that. And it's a way of looking at yourself with a new set of eyes almost, which is kind of fun.

Mariama Hutson: I'm getting really in deep into this, but I'm really interested. So how much do you think your environment and your family and the way you grew up affects your personality? Or do you think you had your personality and kind of you were born into the family you were born into and everything else kind of just shaped around your personality that you already had?

Winter Clark: We all come into this world as a perfect being, right? And when we're born and we begin growing up in an environment of a family and friends and society and culture, the imprinting begins. And this imprinting is what can begin to shape the personality a little bit. But at the core of who we are, we do have an original personality, but it begins to get nudged and swayed a little bit by the outside factors and influences. And in the human design field they refer to it as conditioning, which makes sense, because it's like you're kind of being molded. And then when you get to a point in your life where you begin to get really curious about who am I? What do I want? Where am I going?

Mariama Hutson: Yeah.

Winter Clark: I'm tired of [crosstalk 00:14:39] other people. Get that noise out of here and you start digging into your natal chart and your human design and you start seeing things. It's like, yes, that resonates. Why haven't I been doing that more? That's when the deconditioning begins, when those layers that you took on from growing up begin to fall away and you begin to come more into your pure essence. Does that make sense?

Mariama Hutson: Yeah, it does because I'm 26, I just turned 26. But I feel like I just woke up to what's going on to life when I was 21 maybe. And I kind of started looking around like, okay, what's happening and learning different things and kind of just figuring out who I want to be for myself even though I feel like I got a lot of great things from my parents.

Mariama Hutson: And of course they did the best that they could, but just kind of now who do I want to be as a person and moving that forward, who do I want to be for my future kids or the next generation or all of these things? So I can definitely see where it's kind of unlearning now what you learned and being able to decide okay, I got this from them. I want to take this, but this not so much. I don't like that. I'm going to leave that over there. I can definitely see that now as I'm getting older. Yeah. What is something you want seekers on the platform that are looking for someone like you, what is something that you want them to know about you?

Winter Clark: I would like them to know that I always try to create a space that's very comfortable and warm and inviting and safe and that I'm going to do my very best to meet them where they're at and help them get to where they want to go.

Mariama Hutson: Nice. I got to schedule a call with you. Oh, I was going to ask you before, what advice would you give to someone who would like to be in this profession or they kind of have an interest in it, but they don't really where they should start?

Winter Clark: I would suggest to them, depending upon where they want to go with it, just to start small so as to not overwhelm yourself. I've worked with people before, I've actually created a certification and training program for spiritual life coaches. And I had started working with people with different skill sets and abilities and helping them get to that place where they can do this sort of thing. And what I found the biggest struggle for them was overwhelmed. It just felt so big, I want to do this thing.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah.

Winter Clark: But it feels so big and I don't know where to begin. It's really about starting small, understanding your particular gifts and skills, how you can help people and keep it simple because when people are looking for solutions, they don't want complicated.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah.

Winter Clark: They want very straightforward, simple, okay, I can do that. Yes. That kind of thing. And people want to be heard. They want to have space held for them because we don't get that often enough. We really don't.

Mariama Hutson: I'm just going to look at these questions because I was just talking. Okay, this is a good one. What are some common challenges that people run into when learning to take on this practice? The guided meditation and [inaudible 00:19:21]?

Winter Clark: When taking on this practice to help others or for themselves?

Mariama Hutson: For themselves.

Winter Clark: One of the biggest areas I see people struggling is creating some sort of meditation practice and it almost feels like there's a really big resistance around it. The one thing that will bring you peace of mind and clarity and will strengthen your intuition is the very thing that you absolutely detest doing.

And the thing is it's a misconception around meditation that has to be done one particular way. And as a teacher, I learned that everyone has different access points. It's the same way as everyone has different styles of learning, right? Visual, auditory, stuff like that. The same thing applies to accessing a mindful space. So some people are really into creating that little cozy nook and putting on the music and lighting the incense and getting into the zone. Other people find that torturous and they're like, no, I need to move. I can't like sit in the stew of my thoughts.

Winter Clark: And so for them, their access point is finding a favorite path or going to a park and just walking and just being surrounded by whatever trees and birds and just letting yourself visually get lost in that scenery and emptying yourself as you walk, you empty yourself. And for even others, it's helpful for them to listen to something that's guided, to kind of hold their hand into the space of nothing. So I've found different ways to help people get into that space so that it becomes more enjoyable for them to do it and less of them battling with it or avoiding it.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah. I never thought about the walking, like you said. I guess it's more so just about being present and kind of just being there. But I remember when I first started, I was just like, okay, I'm going to just sit in silence. And my mind was just going everywhere. I was thinking about cheeseburgers, what's happening outside. I was just thinking about stuff that was totally not in align with anything. But the guided, like you said, I do some of the guided on YouTube and I found those to be very helpful. And even though my mind still wanders kind of sometimes, one of the girls on the videos I was listening to was just like, it's okay if your mind wanders. It's just about bringing it back to the space and that kind of helped because I was feeling like, okay, once my mind is gone, the meditation's over. I've messed it up. This won't work anymore. But I thought that was a helpful thing as well, but I'm going to try walking as well because I didn't even think about that. Yeah.

Winter Clark: Absolutely. I love how you mentioned that it is always a way of coming back and not feeling like you're failing at it, because you're not.

Mariama Hutson: I guess I'll ask you one more question. On SKILLR, we're all about learning and growing and taking those small steps. So what's one thing you're learning about currently or you're interested in learning more about?

Winter Clark: I would like to learn more about movement. Yeah. I am a very active person and movement for me is so important to again, get out of the head space and into the body. But I noticed that for a period of time, I was doing one style of movement and that was cycling or hiking, which is very linear. It's in one direction pretty much. And more recently I've been getting into dance and yoga where you're moving through different planes of space. So I'm really fascinated by different kinds of dance and movement now. It's new ways for the senses to open up.

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