The Every Day Genius of Claudia Markovic

Featured Genius: Claudia Markovic

Meet Claudia

Claudia and I met online in a Facebook group, one of the softest places to land in my online world - Jill C Brown's Advance Life Coaching - so it's no wonder that Claudia radiates that same warmth I found in Jill and her group.

Claudia went from an English Language Coach to a healing energy practitioner and coach specifically in the practice of Qigong.

Her business is called Spiral into Magic, three words that literally and figuratively embody the power of intentional movement.

Please allow me to introduce my beautiful friend Claudia Markovic! (Want to connect with her? Links follow the interview.)

🩵 Michele Jennae

The Interview

1. What is your "work" in the world currently?

Michele Jennae: What are you working on? Where is your focus currently?

Claudia Markovic: My work explores what becomes possible when we learn to listen to the intelligence of the body.

Through Spiral Into Magic I create spaces where entrepreneurs and creatives can slow down enough to hear their own body's wisdom again. Many of the people I work with have already done years of personal development or healing but still find themselves stuck at the point of taking clear, embodied action.

Using movement, somatic awareness and reflective inquiry, I help people develop the capacity to read their body as a source of discernment. From that place, decisions become clearer, expression becomes more natural and leadership becomes more grounded.

For me, Spiral Into Magic is about remembering that wisdom does not only live in the mind. It also lives in the body. And we can lead from that place in a new, more loving and therefore more powerful way. A power that's rooted in love and discernment.

2. What is your dream?

Michele Jennae: What is the dream you have, the one you'll regret if you don't pursue it. What does it mean to you to have it? And What does that look like? 

Claudia Markovic: My dream is to help cultivate a new culture of leadership.
One where people are not disconnected from themselves while trying to lead others. Where decisions come from clarity rather than pressure, and communication is rooted in presence and honesty.

Through my work I want to support people in developing the inner capacity to lead from within. To listen to the wisdom of their bodies, to trust their discernment and to express themselves with integrity.

For me, this dream is about more than personal success. It’s about contributing to a shift in how we relate to each other in business, in communities and in the wider world.

If I don’t pursue that vision, I know I would feel that I had stayed too small for what I believe is possible.

Michele Jennae: That's powerful Claudia. I can see that last sentence resonating with, perhaps waking up, a lot of women.

Claudia Markovic: Thank you, Michele. I think many women feel that quiet sense that something more is possible, even if they can’t fully name it yet.

For me, the work is about creating spaces where people can explore that feeling and begin to trust it enough to act on it.

3. What do you wake up for?

Michele Jennae: What do you wake for? What thread runs through your days?

Claudia Markovic: I wake up for aliveness and discovery.

For the chance to experience life in its many layers: nature, movement, conversation, creativity, stillness. I’m deeply inspired by the living world and the intelligence that runs through it.

The thread that runs through my days is exploration. I’m always curious about how we can live and work in ways that feel more alive, more honest and more in rhythm with ourselves.

In many ways my work and my life are both an ongoing experiment in that direction.

Michele Jennae: That exploration thread sounds a bit like Ariadne's thread from Greek Mythology. How does the thread of exploration lead you through your own labyrinth?

Claudia Markovic: That’s a beautiful image. I’m not very familiar with the Greek story, but I like the idea of a thread guiding someone through a labyrinth.

For me, exploration is guided by listening to what feels alive. When life becomes complex, I pay attention to small signals: signals of openness and contraction. I grant both equal curiosity. Listening closely to what is being asked of me. Those moments of aliveness usually point to the next step. 

4. What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

Michele Jennae: What's the hardest thing you've ever done. Please tell me about it.

Claudia Markovic: The hardest thing I’ve ever done was learning how to rebuild my life after experiencing sexual abuse earlier in my life.

It was a long journey of understanding what had happened, reconnecting with my body, and slowly reclaiming a sense of trust in myself and the world. That process changed the way I see life, leadership and human resilience.

Michele Jennae: Thank you Claudia, for sharing that vulnerable part of yourself. I think a lot of women would be encouraged to know it's possible to rebuild their lives in authentic and healing ways. For so long, women who've experienced abuse have had to do so on shaky foundations. I feel like what you're offering through your work is a sense of groundedness and stability. Much better to build on.

Claudia Markovic: Absolutely. Rebuilding that sense of groundedness has been an important part of my own journey.

Interestingly, starting my own business has also been one of the hardest things I’ve done. It asks for a different kind of courage every day - visibility, responsibility and the willingness to stand behind your work.

In many ways the two are connected. The path of healing taught me how to listen deeply to myself and to trust my own discernment. Those qualities now shape how I work and how I lead.

5. How did you succeed at that hard thing?

Michele Jennae: How did you succeed at that hard thing? What inner and outer resources did you access?

Claudia Markovic: One of the most important things was learning to rebuild a relationship with my own body.

Instead of trying to think my way through everything, I began to pay attention to the signals of my body, my intuition and my energy. That became a compass for making decisions and understanding what I needed.

Movement practices inspired by Qigong, time in nature and the support of skilled professionals were important outer resources along the way. They helped create the conditions where healing and clarity could unfold.

What I learned through that process is that real strength often comes from developing discernment and self-trust rather than forcing ourselves forward.

That understanding is now at the heart of the work I do.

6. What do you see as your top 3 strengths?

Michele Jennae: What are your top 3 Strengths? Can you give a brief example when you most use each strength or why they're important to you?

Claudia Markovic: Highly Perceptive, Curiosity, Willingness to follow my own inner path.

One of my strengths is being highly perceptive. I tend to notice subtle shifts in people, conversations and energy, which helps me create spaces where people feel understood and safe to explore new insights.

Another strength is curiosity. I’m deeply interested in exploring how we can live and work in ways that feel more aligned with our natural rhythms. This curiosity has guided much of my personal exploration and professional work.

A third strength is the willingness to follow my own inner path. Building my work has required trusting my discernment and stepping forward even when the direction wasn’t fully clear yet.

Michele Jennae: Oh, I love those strengths. It seems like they would play VERY well together!

Claudia Markovic: Indeed.

7. Do you have a WHY?

Michele Jennae: What is your why? Your burning mission to show up in the world and contribute? Tell me about your WHY and your HOW?

Claudia Markovic: Yes, I do have a strong sense of why I show up in the world.

My “why” is to contribute to a different kind of leadership and communication culture.

I believe the quality of our inner awareness shapes the quality of our decisions, our relationships and ultimately the impact we have in the world. When people learn to listen to their bodies, trust their discernment and communicate honestly and respectfully, the way we lead and collaborate begins to change.

My “how” is through creating spaces where people can reconnect with that inner intelligence. Through movement practices inspired by Qigong, somatic awareness and reflective dialogue, I help people develop and cultivate the ability to access their body's innate wisdom and use that clarity to navigate life and work.

For me, this work is about helping people move from inner awareness into embodied leadership and meaningful expression.

8. What does your best possible future self look like?

Michele Jennae: Can you give an example of a future scenario with your best possible future self? How is that future self different from who you are now?

Claudia Markovic: My best possible future self is someone who is fully living the values I teach.

I imagine a life where my work, my environment and my daily rhythm feel deeply aligned. I’m guiding groups and individuals who are ready to step into embodied leadership, helping them reconnect with their own discernment and express their gifts in the world.

I picture myself teaching and facilitating in beautiful natural settings as well as online spaces that bring people together from different parts of the world. There is a strong sense of community, curiosity and creative exploration.

In that future, my work contributes to people leading their lives and businesses with more self-awareness, integrity and aliveness. It’s not about scale or status. It’s about depth, meaningful impact and living in a way that feels true.

Michele Jennae: Ohhhh, Claudia. I love how this feels; it gives me goosebumps. Your vision is palpable, like I could walk into it.

Claudia Markovic: Thank you, Michele. That means a lot. For me it really is about creating spaces where people can reconnect with themselves and with each other in meaningful ways. When that happens, something shifts, both individually and collectively.

9. What obstacles will you have to overcome?

Michele Jennae: What obstacles will you have to overcome on the way to your future self? What might present itself inside you and in the world to challenge you in pursuing your dreams?

Claudia Markovic: Internally, one of the challenges is continuing to trust my own discernment. When you are creating something that doesn’t fit neatly into existing categories, there can be moments of doubt or questioning whether the direction is understood by others.

Externally, the world we live in is often very fast and performance driven. The kind of work I’m building invites people to slow down, listen more deeply and take responsibility for how they lead and communicate. That sometimes runs against the dominant rhythm of modern life.
So part of the journey is learning how to hold that tension and continue creating spaces where people can experience a different way of relating to themselves and to others.

Michele Jennae: Thank you Claudia for sharing your Genius with us today. I found your responses deeply inspiring and I know the readers will as well.

Claudia Markovic: Thank you for inviting me to this space to share my thoughts. It's a deep privilege.

Connect with Claudia

I hope you've enjoyed getting to know Claudia better. I know I have.

💡For more Claudia Markovic check out her Facebook Group Spiral into Magic!

💡Listen to Claudia and Michele Jennae in episodes of Every Day Genius: The Podcast.

Guest Claudia Markovic: Embodied Energy

Join me in getting to know Claudia Markovic as she shares her own embodied wisdom!

EDGx365Michele Jennae