Rise Again: What Surviving Taught Me About the Strength Every Woman Already Carries

I used to believe strength was something you either had or you didn't. Then I was violently attacked and nearly lost my life, and I learned the truth: strength is not a trait. It is a practice. It is a decision you make again and again, long after the danger has passed.

I share this not to dwell on the darkest day of my life, but because so many women are quietly carrying their own version of that day. A relationship that made them smaller. A loss that rewired them. A room where they learned to doubt their own voice. If you are one of them, I want you to hear this clearly: you can rise again. I did. And I have spent my life since helping other women do the same.

Survival Is an Event. Healing Is a Process.

After the attack, I committed years to honest self-reflection, facing what trauma had done to my mind, my body, and my sense of safety in the world. I was blessed with mentors and friends who held space for me when I could not hold it for myself. I will never forget what that support meant, and it is a big part of why I now try to be that support for others.

Out of that season came one clear choice: I would learn to stand up for myself, mentally and physically. I began training in Krav Maga, the self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Forces, and I still train every day. Each session reminds me of something I now teach every woman I work with: power is not handed to us. We build it, rep by rep, breath by breath.

What Pressure Taught Me About the Mind

My background is in emergency medicine, and later in clinical hypnotherapy and human performance psychology. In the emergency room, I saw how people perform and how they break down when the stakes are real. Through hypnotherapy, I came to understand why.

Most of us are not held back by a lack of skill. We are held back by old patterns, formed under past stress or trauma, that are still running quietly in the background. The racing thoughts before a big meeting. The freeze when someone challenges us. The voice that says don't take up too much space. These are not character flaws. They are the nervous system doing its best to protect us from a threat that may no longer exist.

The good news is that patterns can be interrupted and rewritten. That belief became the foundation of the LYONS Leadership Method, the structured approach I use with executives, founders, and leaders who carry heavy responsibility in high-visibility roles. We work beneath the surface, on the cognitive and physiological patterns that either support or undermine composure, clear decisions, and confident communication.

Four Practices for Leading From the Inside Out

Whether you lead a company, a classroom, a household, or simply your own life, these are the practices I return to again and again:

1. Name the pattern. When you feel yourself shrink, freeze, or overreact, pause and get curious. Ask, When did I first learn to respond this way? Awareness is the first interruption.

2. Regulate before you respond. Your body hears danger before your mind does. A few slow, deep breaths with a longer exhale signal safety to your nervous system and return you to clear thinking. Composure is a skill, and it can be trained.

3. Rehearse your strength. Elite athletes, first responders, and fighters all use mental rehearsal. See yourself handling the difficult conversation, holding your ground, and speaking with calm authority. The mind does not fully distinguish between vivid rehearsal and lived experience, so practice the woman you are becoming.

4. Decide that you are worth protecting. This is the deepest one. Every boundary you set, every skill you learn, and every time you choose your own well-being, you are telling yourself that your life matters. Because it does.

Messengers in the Wilderness

Not all of my healing happened in a training room or a therapy chair. Much of it happened in the red rock wilderness of Sedona, Arizona, the place I call home.

During the hardest chapters of my life, wild creatures appeared at exactly the moments I needed them: a horse, a falcon, a hummingbird, a jackrabbit. Each one carried a message of love and guidance. Through those encounters, I found a connection to something far greater than my suffering. I came to understand that we are surrounded by support, even when we feel most alone. I am sharing those stories in my upcoming book, Whispers from an Angel, because I believe every woman deserves to know that she is never truly alone and that she, too, can become a whisper of love for someone else.

Turning Pain Into Purpose

Today, my work lives at the meeting point of everything that saved me: the mind, the body, the spirit, and the community.

I am honored to serve women who are healing from violence and abusive relationships through the Rise Again Women's Foundation. I bring education to communities on issues that too often stay hidden, including human trafficking and homelessness, and I serve on two local boards of directors supporting people who are vulnerable. Alongside my partner, Gianluca Zanna, I teach Krav Maga and safety training, with a special focus on women, seniors, and children. We also host transformational retreats in Sedona that bring together hypnotherapy, self-defense, Kundalini yoga, music, and the healing energy of the land.

And I sing. Music has always been my soul's way of telling the truth, and I bring it into everything I do.

People sometimes ask how executive coaching, self-defense, hypnotherapy, and spirituality fit together. To me, they are all the same work: helping a person come home to her own power so she can lead her life instead of being led by her fears.

Your Life Is Valuable

If there is one thing I want you to take from my story, it is this: you are far more powerful than you have been taught to believe. The strength you need is not somewhere outside of you, waiting to be earned. It is already within you, waiting to be practiced.

Your life is valuable. Tomorrow is never promised. So I invite you today to stand up for yourself, for your future, and for the women walking beside you. Rise again. And then reach back and help her rise, too.

About the Author

Claudette Renée Lyons is an executive coach, clinical hypnotherapist, NLP specialist, singer, author, and motivational speaker based in Sedona, Arizona. She is the founder of Royal Leo LLC, a woman-owned business, and creator of the LYONS Leadership Method, a behavioral-science-based coaching approach for leaders operating under high pressure. Drawing on a background in emergency medicine and her own journey as a survivor of violence, Claudette supports women healing from abuse through the Rise Again Women's Foundation, teaches Krav Maga and safety training, and hosts transformational retreats in Sedona. Learn more at claudettereneelyons.com.