From her roots as a child in an extremely creative family where narcissism, abuse and neglect existed, Martial art woman, Fran Charlton of Sweden finds a way to turn healing into a silver lining. Listen to her story here:https://anchor.fm/andrea-harkins/episodes/Fran-Charlton—A-Womans-Tumultuous-Upbringing-Morphs-into-a-Budo-Mindset-emq41b

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Podcast Intro:

Today I have the honor of presenting probably one of the most compelling interviews of a woman whose life is filled with ups and downs but who seems to conquer all, Fran Charlton of Sweden.

Fran’s description of her life and journey is captivating! She  is dynamic, and in many ways exceptional, but she shares her flaws and mistakes and how she’s moved past them.  She talks about how her fashion designer mother dropped her at school one day wearing a full fashion gown, makeup, and blue hair. On that day Fran suddenly recognized that her family and upbringing was ….well….different and she was proud of it. She began martial arts at 11 and pursued a competition career only to find it unfulfilling and lacking. She changes styles from karate to aikido and finally understands the concept of self-care after pushing her body to limits and even malnutrition. She is encouraged to return to school to pursue degrees and in doing so, has an unexpected pregnancy. She becomes a sports and injury therapist, begins a martial art karate club, overcomes a hip surgery with a rapid recover and creates a Budo Mindset program.

Fran’s Bio:

Born 1973, Bristol, UK into a family of creatives, writers, designers, and musicians. Mother is a fashion designer and tailor of the highest caliber, seeking perfection through her art. she once said that, everything that she has learnt about God she had learnt through her work/designing/making. It almost goes without saying the background to this level of family creativity was fueled by drama, violence, alcoholism and drug addiction. It was a family of narcissism and I was basically neglected. But this upbringing laid the foundations for strength, resilience, independent thought and persistence. I came out with dents, that have mostly healed and turned into my silver linings. It was a very good exchange.

I began karate at the age of 11, my mother suggested that I might enjoy it and that I should go and check it out. she had been training herself 6 month’s previously, but stopped after it served its purpose of deposing of a horribly violent relationship. After the first lesson, I was hooked! It was the first thing that I was good at and made me feel wonderful.

During a period of 10 years, I won various competitions and placed nationally. I had fulfilled my dreams…but I felt incredibly empty and unfulfilled, this changed my whole focus and caused me to look deeper. I was also in so much physical pain and injured from overtraining. It was all about spirit and training through any obstacle in thought days. There was no thought for young athlete-specific training and the needs of a growing body.

Over a period of a year, I gradually moved into Aikido. This is where I met my first self-transformational/character developmental mentor who also tried to teach me about Mediation, mindfulness and got me to read, read and read! He also advised me to rest and repair my body…no more karate. This was so hard but he was right, my body was completely broken down and I was exhausted and seriously underweight.

Whilst at university I a local club that taught Shaolin iron shirt kung-fu, which was an amazing experience and very educational. Really filled in the gaps of what was missing from karate training at that time.

My Mentor stressed the importance of education, so I went back to school and developed my brain, which at that time I never thought possible for me as I had always underachieved at school due to my circumstances. To my delight, my brain showed signs of being very much intact and I turned myself into an educated, well rounded human being. Currently, I hold 3 university degrees, BA and MA Fine Art, and I recently completed my MSc in Sustainability, health and well-being in which I was given the opportunity to research there the contributions of karate to our health and well-being. This work was both elevating and devastating at the same time, as I discovered some horrible truths about the danger of training karate as well as its benefits. This has led me to some deep consideration about what we need and don’t need from our training and completely change how I now teach.

In between times I trained as a sports and injury therapist out of a need to understand injuries, how to heal them and rehabilitate not only myself but other people. This aspect of my life I have been working with for about 25 years. And I’m just about to open a clinic in my local town.

In 2014 when I moved to my current location, I could see that if I wanted to train then I would have to open my own club (I had always taught, whether it was karate, aikido or kung-fu, but run my own club without help…and from scratch with no history or existing experience. This was an incredible challenge.

Hip Surgery: 

In 2019 I had an operation to correct my hip dysplasia on one side. After 6 weeks in a wheelchair, I began my careful rehabilitation…this was VERY interesting work and I rehabbed myself at an incredible rate with the right exercise and mostly mindset, that peeked in September 2020 by passing my 4th dan. No one was more surprised than me!!

Background:

4th dan Shotokan karate. started with the KUGB/JKA at my local club but under the strong arm and my hearts inspiration, Enoeda Sensei. During this time engaged In intensive competition training and success- I became disillusioned and retired early from this. Currently, I train with the WTKO under the tutelage of Sensei Richard Amos and John Mullin, who has completely changed everything about what I do and how I do it.

1st dan Aikido. (achieving this when I was 5 months pregnant)

3 years white-crane iron shirt Kung-fu

I run my organic honey/beekeeping company here in Sweden.

Have just launched my new company Budo mindset.

Mother of two children.

Sensei of Hagfors Chōwa karate club (in Sweden coaches are not paid, as part of the free sports movement that happened here in Sweden. It’s a Labour of love and honour)

Andrea’s Motivational books: 

The Martial Arts Woman Podcast: https://anchor.fm/andrea-harkins