In this episode of The Grey Man Podcast, host Harley Fox sits down with Colleen Maclean, a veteran of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). After a decade of service working in life support and survival equipment maintenance, Colleen faced a medical separation that forced her to completely rebuild her life from scratch. Colleen opens up with incredible vulnerability about the compounding challenges she faced during her transition, including navigating deep-seated military trauma, undergoing multiple major physical surgeries, and experiencing the sudden loss of her identity. She shares how she initially used extreme fitness and bodybuilding as a coping mechanism before finding true, sustainable healing through somatic therapies and holistic recovery. Today, as "The Adventurous Muse," Colleen is a yoga teacher dedicated to helping other veterans down-regulate their nervous systems, conquer social anxiety, and successfully integrate back into civilian community life. In this episode, we discuss: - Growing up in rural Australia and entering the RAAF at a young age. - The heavy responsibility of maintaining life support and survival equipment for aircrews. - Standing on the guard of honour in the Middle East and facing the reality of military service. - The psychological impact of medical discharge and losing your identity. - The turning point: moving past denial, checking into holistic recovery, and training in Sri Lanka to become a yoga teacher. - Reclaiming ownership of your body and redefining femininity as a strength. - How down-regulating the nervous system through yoga helps veterans overcome social anxiety. If you want to support the podcast and help us reach more veterans finding their purpose after service, please hit the Subscribe button. It doesn’t cost a cent, but it drastically helps the channel grow. Connect with Colleen: https://www.instagram.com/the_adventurous_muse/ Connect with Grey Man: https://www.instagram.com/thegreymanpodcast/
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