Claire Walsh on IVF, Speaking out, and Survival

🎙️ Fertility Finesse Episode: Claire Walsh – Holding Her Breath Through IVF

What happens when a world-record free diver, author, and mindset coach finds herself facing one of the greatest challenges of all, not 60 metres below the surface,

but within the world of fertility treatment?

In this unflinchingly honest episode, Claire Walsh joins me (our first time to meet in person) to reflect on her deeply personal experience of IVF:“It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.”

From holding her breath in freediving to holding it in the clinic waiting room, Claire brings her signature depth, humour, and poetic insight to a subject so many still whisper about. She opens up about the emotional whiplash of hormone swings, the disorienting blur of appointments, the loneliness of hope and loss—and why she knew, “If ever I get through this, I’m going to talk about it.” The floodgates opened on Instagram when Claire shared what she had gone through. A brave decision to help others. Claire is a joy to speak with and we've had a few conversations lasting hours...

🎧 In this episode, we explore:

• How fertility treatment rattles even a seasoned resilience expert

• Why being a ‘strong woman’ doesn’t protect you from the heartbreak of IVF

• The pressure to “just be grateful” and stay silent

• What helped Claire re-anchor herself during her toughest moments

• Surviving in a medicalised system

• Coming to terms with facing life without a child

Claire doesn’t sugar-coat the experience. Instead, she tells it as it with her signature raw honesty, tenderness, and a refusal to hide her vulnerability.

This is a conversation for anyone who wonders, “Why is this happening to me? Is it just me”—and for those supporting someone they love through it.

🔗 About Claire:

Claire is an 8-time national freediving record-holder, Buteyko breathwork coach, TEDx speaker, and bestselling author of Under Water: How Holding My Breath Taught Me to Live. I adored this book and highly recommend you read it!

She brings the full force of her creative, physical, and emotional intelligence into every conversation and this one is no exception.

🌊 Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to IVF and fertility challenges. Please listen with care.

🗝️ If you’re navigating fertility yourself, know that you are not alone—and that finding your voice is part of finding your power.

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📲 Subscribe, share, and tag me on Instagram @helenatubridy with your thoughts and experiences.

#FertilityFinesse #ClaireWalsh #IVFJourney #RealTalkFertility #HoldingYourBreath #MindsetMatters #BreakTheSilence #EmbodiedResilience #FertilityCoachIreland #HelenaTubridy #FertilityPodcast #MentalHealthMatters

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