The Leadership Pause: Why Self-Awareness Changes Everything | EP 78

[00:00:00] What does that mean to become your own inner guru? Well, I think that it's connecting with this intelligence inside of you that's beyond the intellectual mind. So this is why yoga, meditation, and sound healing is really important. Or just I tell people that's not your jam, just walking in nature and quiet because nature is the higher intelligence that is also within you. That's why people go in nature, they're like, oh my God, I feel at peace. It's because it is you. It's the same intelligence that orchestrates the entire planet.

[00:00:27] It's the same intelligence that's orchestrating your human body, telling your heart to be, your lungs to breathe, your cut to heal. This intelligence that we're just participating in. Like I don't tell my cut to heal. It just does it by itself. So when you start to go into these spaces of that, the breath, that's why yoga is really beautiful for this because you're present with the moment, you're feeling the body and the yoga movements with intention of breathing. So you go

[00:00:53] into a space that is the observer. They call it the silent witness. That's beyond the intellectual mind. Hi, I'm Christy Honeycutt, your host for Inside the C-Suite where execs get real about leadership,

[00:01:17] impact, and what truly drives high stake decisions. We talk a lot about performance in leadership, output, growth, results, but we don't talk enough about what's happening internally while all that is being driven. Because the truth is misalignment doesn't show up immediately in results. It shows up in burnout, anxiety, and the quiet feeling that something's off. Today,

[00:01:41] I'm joined by Ioko DeRuby, founder of Alchemy Yoga, author of Mind Alchemy, Reshaping Your Brain in Three Months, who went from anxiety, addiction patterns, and feeling stuck to building a practice rooted in awareness, discipline, and self-leadership. Ioko teaches us how to get off the hamster wheel and how to activate our internal guru. Let's jump in, shall we? Hi, Ioko. It is so great to have you on

[00:02:07] this show. And I know that my introduction did not do the woman you are justice. I would love for you to introduce yourself to the audience and tell them a little bit about what you do. Sure. My name is Ioko DeRuby. I'm a yoga instructor, meditation facilitator, as well as sound bath facilitator. I also host psychedelic retreats. I host them as in like a, I call it a travel agent, meaning I know these shamans and I have as a location. So I'm the one like the travel agent for these retreats called

[00:02:36] the Remembrance Retreats. I also have a temple that I, I guess, developed is the word I should say, that where I can serve also medicines. Guess what I've created was like a lifestyle brand for people that are looking for purpose and meaning in their life through different avenues. Well, and I think you're being very humble because I know you very well. And you're the founder of

[00:03:00] Alchemy Yoga, which is if anybody comes to Dallas or if you're in the Dallas and DFW Frisco area, you have got to go check this out. It is the first place that I personally experienced a sound bath. And I'm just going to tell myself, guys, you were facilitating. And I was going through a lot of coaching, leadership and personal coaching. And I went in there and I snuck out towards the end because something in me, you knocked something loose in my body and I could not stop crying.

[00:03:26] And it wasn't sad tears. It was just like a release of, I don't know, anxiety and pressure and just whatever it was I was carrying clearly came out of me that day. So I highly endorse you. That's why I so busy taking care of home and company employees that they miss the mark that often we don't take care of ourselves. And so I can really speak for those kind of experiences of the release.

[00:03:51] So we all hold our own wisdom. And so what happens in the space of sound healing or meditation or even yoga, these sacred containers is the facilitator creates a safe environment for the participant to explore themselves and start to soften the places that they had to hold on to throughout their day. And so basically, I really feel like it is our responsibility and our job just to create a

[00:04:17] grounding, safe container for you to get in touch with your inner wisdom. And your inner wisdom will tell you, hey, now is the time where you can relax and let go. I feel like it's almost like a facilitator of guidance of shining the light on the path almost not us doing we're not doing anything except for shining the light, but it's up to you of how far you want to go down. You have full autonomy of how much you want to experience within yourself and you're ready to experience within yourself.

[00:04:47] And so I'm really grateful that you were able to step into that space because it meant that you were ready to release and let go. And I know Earth-based medicine when that's because this is a show for executives, right? And leadership. So I say in Earth-based medicine may just throw people way out the side of the fence because I don't know that half these leaders are even doing the breath work, the meditation, yoga, any of that stuff, let alone the Earth medicine. How would you introduce that or how would you soften that for executive leaders so they don't think it's too woo? I have a lot

[00:05:17] of prep work before someone decides to sit in medicine, either with me or with the shamans that I know of. Now, if you were to sit in medicine with me, the medicine I serve is Bufo. And so the prep work is at least meet in person one month prior to be able to create a practice for them, a daily practice to be with themselves. And so I have a book out called The Foundation. Yes, this is like a go-to guide to start

[00:05:45] your meditation practice. It's not intimidating at all. There's guided meditations in there, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minute ones that you can choose. But preparation is everything. So I would recommend yoga, meditation, sound healing, walking in nature without music or distractions, anything where you learn how to be with yourself, meaning the mind patterns, the emotions, the sensations of

[00:06:12] your body. And so one month actually isn't that long for prep work when you're sitting in these earth medicines. And what are earth medicines, which is Bufo, 5 million DMT, ayahuasca, iboga, psilocybin, even medicinal marijuana. So there's different types of earth medicines, depending on what you're looking for. I really believe it's really important to start to connect with yourself

[00:06:35] that's beyond our habitual formed patterns that lives in the mind, in emotions, and in the body, meaning there's these patterns that run on automatic. And so we tend to just follow that. And we know that those are our habit form patterns. When we get out of that kind of pattern, we go, well, I didn't want to do that. It was like so automatic. And you go, oh man, I wish I made a different decision. And so these practices of yoga, meditation, sound healing, or just walking in

[00:07:01] nature, it creates the awareness of how to have access to the sacred pause, where you can reflect, because that right there is everything. Awareness is like 98% of the practice, because once you're aware of something, now you have a choice. When you're not aware, I tell people it's almost like a zombie, because you're just going with whatever energies are telling you what to do. And it's like, you know, you're like this, and you go here and you go there. And it says, until you're aware,

[00:07:29] you can step back. And I call it creating a little bit of space where something is coming up, a mind pattern or emotion, and you can breathe a couple of breaths. That right there is huge. That creates that little bit of a gap where there's a response other than reactivity. It provides clarity. Yeah. Yes. And now that's, that's huge. And business, business is like, man, you're, you're having to make decisions quick, or something's happening that's unexpected. You don't want to move out of emotion. I don't know one person that said, you know what,

[00:07:58] I operate from full emotion, and I make the best decisions out of that. I don't know one person that ever said that. And so these practices, so people think they can prementalize personal life business. They think they can do that, but maybe for a short time, but eventually it bleeds, right? And some people use their work as their, their distraction from their personal life. But what happens if something in your work life reminds you of personal life, and you've never

[00:08:26] learned how to deal with this? You see what I'm saying? Like it starts to blend. And so that's why it's so important to have that emotional intelligence. It's that, but it's also the speed in which we're working and communicating with each other today in the different ways. Like it feels so overwhelming. And you know, I've had people say, well, didn't you see my post on Facebook? Or didn't you see my thing on TikTok? I'm like, can you just pick up the phone and call me like we used to do back in 1980, because I don't follow everybody's little nuances, right? So it's the

[00:08:55] speed of, in which we're operating with ourselves and with each other that I think is really causing a lot of people to get into a frozen mentality and they don't know which way to go. So I like the sacred pause to allow you to reset and make a smart decision. And become present. Like you're learning how to be present. I mean, the technology, I love technology. I think that we can't live underneath a rock and be like, no, no, no AI,

[00:09:21] no this, no that. I think there's responsibility around it, but it is what's happening with the world, right? And so technology has its pros and cons, like everything in life has its pros and cons, but it does make us move faster and makes us become less present in the moment. So I'll share my own personal story that how I catch myself at a red light. Why do I need to jump off my phone and check something at a red light? It's like, why can I just be at this red light for a few minutes? Like, and I'm realizing, wow, this is constantly needing our minds to be preoccupied

[00:09:51] because I do feel like those little things are the big things because how you do one thing carries to how you do all things. Oh yeah. You're my sister from a different mystery. I feel the same way. So you described early on kind of how you got started, right? You had a period of in your life that you had anxiety and insecurity and some substances were driving how you showed up. Can you take me back to what was really happening internally during that time? Yes. I mean, that was a time where I had no

[00:10:19] idea what awareness was. I thought my thoughts was me. And I was looking outside myself for validation, for love, for acceptance to say, am I okay? Am I enough? Am I? And so I kept looking out, out, out. And so I do know I craved connection. I've always craved connection. But since I didn't learn how to be with myself, I never learned how to really feel feelings because I would judge them. I would say,

[00:10:46] okay, insecurity is bad. I must always feel confident. Jealousy is bad. What's wrong? You know, I must now, I have to achieve so high so I don't ever feel jealous of somebody else. Or, so there was, there was judging my emotions. They were looking for validations outside of myself. And so I realized that one, of course, drugs and alcohol numb. They numb. What they numb? They numb those uncomfortable feelings. And I realized for my personal experience,

[00:11:13] what it created was a false illusion of connection. So I would go out on the weekends and I feel like I'm meeting all these people. It was a connection without vulnerability. So I did not want to be vulnerable. So it created that, that moment of like, okay, I'm connecting, but I'm not vulnerable because I'm not really feeling. If someone was to say something back to me, I wasn't, I was in my feelings of drugs and alcohol. It felt great. I was on this, you know, high. But of course, the next day or the next few days after that comes down, everything that was below the surface

[00:11:43] comes right back up with vengeance. And I realized I was running like a hamster in a turning wheel. Like, and I thought to myself, if every weekend is like this, is this my life? Like, is this like repeating my life? Like I felt like, and I was always looking forward to the weekend. And then of course what happened was pregnant with my first son, that was my first catalyst for, okay, some things need to change. And it wasn't overnight. I wish I could say, Hey,

[00:12:08] with a moment of clarity and boom, I changed. I'm stubborn. I am stubborn. And, and so it took time for me to start to get out of this, this cycle. It was a habitual, it was a psychological cycle for me. And it, it took some time to come out of that. And, but I didn't, didn't know that something needed to change. So now I got into yoga originally, because I really wanted to do the splits. Like I really wanted, I wanted to do a splits. I wanted to get flexible. I wasn't like

[00:12:35] from, for spiritual reasons, but I used to be very spiritual in high school, which is strange, spiritual in high school, young adult, thought that was childish. And then I don't know, came full circle after my second child, after my second child took a yoga class, started learning about the yamas and niyamas. And then from that point on, and at the year after yoga, meditation came in and met it. And I got deep into meditation because I was like, wow, what is going on in here?

[00:13:02] There's got to be another way. I always felt like if one human being can do it, it must be possible for all human beings. So I will look at the Dalai Lama. I'll look at the Buddha. I'm like, okay. Jesus was a human that walked the earth. I look at these as inspiration, not saying that I can become these in this lifetime. I'm sure it takes many lifetimes. I'm sure I know it does, but at least I'm a little bit happier. I'm a little bit more at peace walking the path. Yeah. You don't have to

[00:13:30] reach the destination. Just walking the path itself, finding purpose in every moment of your life gives meaning to it. It's so funny. So I think I told you the story, but I had gotten some personal coaching, which landed me in your studio. And I will never forget this. My coach said, I just want you to start meditation as a practice. And I said, okay, a typical executive, what does that mean? And I asked every which way I said, can I have a book? Can I have music on? Can I pet my dogs? Did the lights need to be on? Do they need to be off? Do I need to sit a certain way? She did a

[00:14:00] cussing at me at the end and said, I just need you to sit with yourself. And I said, okay. And I tried every day. I tried every day. I tried and slowly got better and better and deeper and deeper. But what I had my breakthrough, honestly, was the sound bath. It was the meditation with the, with the sound. It really took me to a different level. And I think once you find that peace, it's almost like it is a sacred peace in yourself, but it, you don't want to go back because you have clarity and

[00:14:29] you want everyone that you know, cause you know, it's possible. You want everyone, you know, to have the same love and clarity and peace. You experienced another way and it wasn't just intellectual knowledge. You actually experienced it. And the beauty about sound healing. So I'm glad you brought that up too, is because the bowls actually does do affect you at brainwave level. Like your brain waves literally change in a sound bath. It takes your brainwaves into a meditative relaxed state.

[00:14:54] And so for those that have a hard time meditating, sound healing is great. It's a great way to know what that feels like, to know what, when you're, to know what your body feels like, not being in sympathetic state with your nervous system being that fight, flight, freeze response where most of us live too much of our day in, uh, onto the next thing, go, go, go. So if you tell someone that lives that lifestyle to sit down and meditate, your nervous system is going to be like, no,

[00:15:19] not you, it's really your nervous system. So it takes six weeks for your nervous system to say, Hey, we are going to do something different. So you're not just training your brain. You're training your nervous system that we're going to do something different now, but it takes about six weeks. This is a scientific science says this takes about six weeks for your nervous system to respond to what you're going to do now. So it'll fight it for about six weeks. Like I don't want to do it. So it does take a bit of determination. So this is why it's important to know your big why

[00:15:49] I tell people know your big why that's bigger than you, or maybe it's about you, but I always find it better for me to find something bigger than me that, cause if it's for me, then sometimes my mind go, well, I don't really need it today. But if it's bigger than me, like my children or whatever it may be, then it's like, okay, I want to show up for them when my mind doesn't feel like it. But that really does help to connect with your big why. What is your big why?

[00:16:13] I truly believe I love helping people. I love connecting with people. I feel the most alive when I feel like that I can be talking to somebody and they're completely different than me, but I feel a connection. Like that to me is like, it's beyond me. And I love that. So my big why is I love going into myself, learning about my patterns, learning about what makes me

[00:16:37] triggered, what makes me connected, because it also creates compassion, compassion for people I interact with in this world. The more I learn about myself, the more I'm humbled, the more I get off this high divorce, because it really does. The more you learn about yourself, like, wow, like that's a pattern. I didn't realize I've been doing on automatic for how long. And so you start to learn about all these things about your psyche and how much one we are alike to it humbles. It humbles me a lot. And so I

[00:17:06] feel so connected to people. And the less judgment I feel about other people, the happier I am. You reminded me of something. I had another CEO on the show and I asked him a question and they said the statement, her name's Kim Lear. And she said, it's hard to hate someone when you get to know them. You know what I mean? And like, and think about that though, for a moment, because our words are so powerful. How many people talk crap about themselves? I suck at this. I messed up, like get to know yourself too, which I think is a lot of what I did through the practice and continue

[00:17:36] to do, but it does give such deep compassion for other humans. It does. And I say, when you start to a journey within yourself, I tell, I love this mantra of curiosity over judgment. So I call it compassionate curiosity. And, you know, just become curious about yourself. Because when we start to do that with ourselves, with all these facets of ourselves, where we can start to live more whole, like in wholesome, holistic, where all parts are welcomed. Then when someone is talking with you and you can, you start to recognize when their parts come up that are triggered or whatever,

[00:18:06] you know, and because you created yourself with compassionate curiosity, you can just do the same for you're walking away happy. Because at the end of the day, I'm learning this more and more and more through experience that nothing is personal. Nothing is personal. It doesn't feel that way. It doesn't feel that way sometimes. But I'll tell you, like, I've heard these teachings many times and intellectually, I understood it. The more I practice it and the more I go into this, this journey

[00:18:32] into this self and connecting with people, I'm like, wow, we are all just a product of the influences that were put onto us from the beginning of time. That's it. I mean, it really breaks down to the law of cause and effect. If you want to go more into the Buddhism, but it's really truly cause and effect, cause and effect. And cause and effect, all it's trying to do is bring us back into balance. That's all it's trying to do. It's really beautiful when you can look at it that way. And life becomes more enjoyable. It takes out the drama. It just takes out the drama. We can look at it

[00:19:01] that way. But it is a practice. It's a practice. Because we're human. We have an ego. Oh my gosh. More than others. Yeah, but it's fun. I'd like to talk about our inner guru, because this is something you talk about that resonates with me. I think that leaders are craving right now, but they just don't have a term for it, right? Which, which I think is your idea of the inner guru. What does that mean to become your own inner guru? Well, I think that it's

[00:19:27] connecting with this intelligence inside of you that's beyond the intellectual mind. So this is why yoga, meditation, and sound healing is really important. Or just I tell people that's not your jam, just walking in nature and quiet because nature is the higher intelligence that is also within you. That's why people go in nature. They're like, oh my God, I'm still at peace. It's cause it is you. It's the same intelligence that orchestrates the entire planet. It's the same intelligence that's orchestrating your human body, telling your heart to be, your lungs to breathe,

[00:19:55] your cut to heal. This intelligence that we're just participating in. Like I don't tell my cut to heal. It just does it by itself. So when you start to go into the spaces of that, the breath, that's why yoga is really beautiful for this because you're present with the moment. You're feeling the body and the yoga movements with intention of breathing. So you, so you go into a space that is the observer. They call it the silent witness. That's beyond the intellectual mind

[00:20:23] because the intellectual mind is beautiful. It is absolutely beautiful. Problem solved. It can be, has a creativity. I mean, think about Einstein and all these wonderful, you know, thinkers of the world, but it can be limited. I mean, even Einstein had this quote that said, I think, I think, I think, but I swim in silence and the answer comes to me, you know? Yes. Because the mind is limited by our experiences, you know, right? We can gather all these experiences and, and it helps us kind of navigate

[00:20:50] life and what's safe, what's not safe and all that stuff. Right. But there's an intelligence beyond the mind, meaning this is how I tell people this. And I do this in corporate meditation too, because people are like, Oh, that sounds woo-woo. There's intelligence beyond the mind. Right. So I say, okay. So we do a breathing technique. And typically when you hold your breath at the top or hold your breath at the bottom, you can tell there's a quiet moment where there is no thought. So I tell them, I go, okay, if your thoughts is completely who you are, when your thoughts stopped,

[00:21:19] you should be dead, but you're not. I was like, you're aware still, right? You were aware when the thoughts was there and you're aware when the thoughts were gone. You're the awareness that notices thought and you're the awareness that notices the silence. You're still aware. What is that? What is that awareness? That awareness is tapped into this beautiful, huge intelligence that's beyond our understanding. And so when you go and can go into this space, it taps you into this,

[00:21:47] this wellspring of knowledge and wisdom and thinking outside the box. I'm thinking outside the box. It's actually right now I'm like thinking about that term. What is the box? The box or mind. And now we're kind of going out of it. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, what is that? But this is why that space, it taps into something that's outside of your, just your immediate experience of what you experienced in this life, something else. And I believe these great thinkers were able to tap into that knowledge. They were able to tap into

[00:22:16] that. And I think great, like leaders are able to do the same thing too. They're able to use the mind, the intellectual mind, not the personal drama mind to tap into some stuff. And then they can go into the space of thinking about something that's never been created ever. You're making me think of the kids movie, Inside Out. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yes. Yes. Which is so true. I watched that on a plane ride to, I think I was headed to Malaysia and I could not contain my laughter. I laughed. It was, everybody's asleep. I'm watching it and I'm laughing so loud. And I,

[00:22:45] I gave two. I didn't care. It was such a good, cause I'm like, that resonates with me. Like it's all up here. Like there's four little people inside my brain pulling levers. I'm so glad it's a kids movie too. I'm so glad that kids are watching that. Cause it does stick and it is relatable where they can like, they can see these, is it deep? That is really a deep knowledge that is digestible for children too. And for some adults. For us. Yes. So, okay. Thank you

[00:23:13] so much. I basically the inner guru, right? Like I love that it's about finding answers in the silence, about removing the noise and just getting really centered with yourself. So I love that term. If we talk about something that you mentioned a minute ago, which was misalignment. If we talk about that, because I think that's where it gets real in business and outcomes and it can be cancerous if it's done wrong. What happens mentally, emotionally, physically when someone is operating

[00:23:37] out of alignment with who they really are? So have you ever tried to swim upstream? Yes. That's misalignment every day. Yeah. It's like, Oh my gosh, I've got to go. And you're going against the current, against the current. That's misalignment. It's exhausting. It's tiring. And you're fighting against life. You're fighting against the flow of life. Life is our greatest teacher. It is always trying to guide us sometimes with beautiful love, sometimes with tough love,

[00:24:06] but it's always trying to guide us. And it takes a little bit humility, right? Cause as human beings, we're born with this ego and the ego likes to control and say that I'm in charge of everything. I'm going to orchestrate how manipulating or orchestrate, how traffic needs to be, how people needs to be, how everything needs to be so that I can be okay. But even if it goes against the flow of life and that becomes very stressful. I mean, can you imagine trying to control everything outside

[00:24:29] of you? Oh, I don't want to. You're working against reality. You're working against the force of reality and the force of reality has all these influences from the beginning of time. And we're trying to go against that. So, I mean, I had an idea who's going to win reality or the idea eventually who's going to win. But the force of reality is life. It is a flow of life. It's like, what is it called?

[00:24:55] Judo, where you kind of go with the energy. And when the fighter's going against you and you kind of use your force instead of fighting against the force, you use their force coming at you to kind of fight back with them. It's like the same thing with life. Well, life has its flow. And if you can learn to ride the current, right, ride the current, like listening to our great teacher of life, going with the flow of that, not losing yourself, but you're being yoga. You're not only just being flexible in the body, you're being flexible in the mind. And so you're learning how to say, oh, this is

[00:25:23] this, you're, this is why I tell people too, I try to, to, um, try to teach them through yoga and meditation is find the practice that serves you best that day. Meaning connect with your most authentic self, right? So you let your practice be different than your neighbors. If your meditation is a little off that day, that's okay. Find the meditation for you that serves maybe walking in

[00:25:49] nature, or maybe there's a sound that, that day, whatever, but you're connecting with your most authentic self. Life is trying to guide you and you'll end up being in flow, but you do have to be open to change. You have to be open to letting go of expectations that I want life to be this way. I want it to be that way, which is really hard because we plan and we organize and we work towards things, you know? So that's the beauty of balance between effort and ease, effort and ease. So you

[00:26:19] find your balance and yoga shows up in yoga. Yoga to me is like the dance of life. You try to find your own practice with this beautiful balance of effort and ease. And what, how you do one thing translates out, how to do all things, it'll come off of your mat. It'll come onto your life. So, and beautiful things can happen when you go with the flow of life. Like, like unexpected things can happen. If you learned, it's just to go with it greater than what your mind could ever imagine. You know, you know, there was another entrepreneur that told me the other day, and this, this phrase has been

[00:26:47] living rent-free in my brain, but she said, look, just because you set out a plan and you think it's going to go this way, doesn't mean that at every corner, it's going to go a different way because that's where you're supposed to be and you'll be redirected. And she said, as long as you're just open to trying and testing, trying and testing, you will get to where you're meant to be. Yeah. And it just has been living rent-free in my head is like, let go of expectations. Like, yes, do the work, do the research and take a best shot at it, but let go of expectations. And if

[00:27:17] something beautiful comes in the midst of what you're expecting, that's a different route. Go that route. Yeah. I tell my son, my oldest son, him and I talk quite often. He's, he just graduated college and he's going to go for his master's now. He got a GA position at JMU. But anyways, he reaches out to me and he's like, I don't know if I should do this or do that. And I tell him, I don't believe there's wrong. I don't believe there's a wrong decision you can make. I believe that there's, you know,

[00:27:42] decisions that, you know, I call it winsome and you learn some. That's it. You win some or you learn some, you know, but I do not believe there is a wrong decision. I just don't. I mean, of all the things I've been through in my life, if you are open to receiving the lessons of it, it will feed you. It will feed you. It will nourish you with insights and wisdom and letting go of attachments. If you allow yourself to open to it, it does take humility to do that.

[00:28:10] And let's take a willingness also to sit with discomfort. And I think that's huge in our society. We are fed that if you're uncomfortable, that means it's wrong. And so we have to reprogram what discomfort is. I mean, nothing evolves without being uncomfortable. Nothing grows out of comfort in nature. Nothing does. So why are we thinking, you know, we always want to evolve and grow and people talk about transcendence, all this stuff, but they don't want to sit or they don't

[00:28:38] want to be this discomfort. And this is, this is why I got into the space of medicine so much, because I can see how people get so attached to transcending. They forget how to ground. They forget how to be with the vibration of earth that can feel very dense. It can feel very heavy, but this is what I call earth school, because if you cannot handle traffic, the dog barking, those, then they have no right to try to handle the high vibrations. This is our earth school to

[00:29:04] handle those lower vibrations, those denser vibrations. So that once we mastered this, when I say master, I mean, see it for what it is. You're seeing with clarity. And when you can see it for what it is, that means you can handle it. You're going to be able to now go into those higher states. To me, it's literally a tool for life. It's a tool for communicating with yourself and everyone around you. But if you're a leader and you're not doing this, you haven't even tried it, like you're missing out. So I'd shared with you just before we hopped on that an article literally

[00:29:33] just hit my inbox guys, like two minutes before we hopped on. And it's an article from HR executive, Jen Coletta is the reporter, and it's from research of the International Labor Organization. 840,000 deaths a year are attributed to workplace stress. 840,000 deaths per year. So workplace stress,

[00:29:59] if this was a final thought, if this was a plea to every C-suite leader that could have an impact on themselves, their partners, their community, their organization, everything, what would you tell them? What do they need to do today? Wow. What would they need to do today? I would say if, because you have to be wanting first, first is that desire, because if you don't truly have the desire, then you're not ready to receive, right? And so one is, okay, do I have the desire? Do I really want change? Do I

[00:30:29] really want something different? Then I'll go explore. This is your time to explore what feels right? No two human beings are the same. And so you're going to find what feels best for you. What feels great for one person is not going to feel great for another person. So you find what avenue, yoga, meditation, sound healing, other kinds of mindfulness practices, breathing techniques, breath work. But I say find a daily practice. Find something that's consistent, and it doesn't have

[00:30:55] to be an hour or two hours. I want to say I'm religious, but I am spiritual. But I would say find a practice that gets you connected to something bigger than you, whether that's God, Buddha nature, Muhammad, whatever it may be. But a practice that can take you into that space, that's something bigger than you that you can touch on on a daily basis, because life is hard. And if all your energy and all your happiness is dependent on how your daily life is going to go, you're at the mercy

[00:31:23] of what's outside of you, your daily life. But if you can touch, find a practice, find something, whether it's gratitude journaling, something that is three to five minutes every day. Maybe you set your alarm five minutes before, or we all have five minutes. We all do. I tell people, we all have five minutes. If it's a priority, you will make five minutes out of your day. But find that time where you can find the practice that you feel the most connected to your highest spiritual truth,

[00:31:52] because that will be your touchstone, because that will say, you know what, life can happen. But I'm here connected to this bird's eye view of things instead of being sucked into all this energy. Life will throw you in all these different directions if you're just stuck in that space. But if you can just be outside of it, life can happen. And you can go with the ebbs and flows instead of throwing you around. So connection to something bigger than you, whatever that may be,

[00:32:16] whatever practices you can, I say on a daily basis. To me, it's more important to touch it every day for three to five minutes versus once a week for an hour. Yeah, it needs to be your touchstone. Yeah, it's like brushing your teeth. It is. Hopefully everyone's brushing their teeth at least once a day. And I would say, I would say those kind of spaces help you integrate your day. They help you integrate your day. So you have a day, like I really feel like I've been doing this

[00:32:42] for so long and talking to students. I find that people go on through their lives and things happen and they don't even have time to process their day. They're onto the next thing. And so of course, we're going to blow up. Of course, things are going to because there's built, built, built, built, and go boom, we blow up. And so every day we have that time, five minutes to decompress, feel whatever came up in that day. And it's so simple. All you got to do is relax into all these different energies. You don't have to fix it. You don't have to understand it. You don't have to

[00:33:11] change it. You just relax into these different energies that come up and it will naturally make us way through. Nothing energy lasts forever. That's what I tell people. I mean, we know this through our experience. We're never, I mean, we're not sad, eternally sad. We're not eternally happy. We're just emotions are always coming through. And so every day, find that time to integrate, be with that sacred pause, relax into whatever energies may have come up so you can start your next day with a clean slate. You're not carrying all these things with you. And so you can show up

[00:33:40] more present with more creativity, with more just energy too. Yeah. I mean, your abundance of energy is exponential when you can learn to let these things go. Let go so you can receive. That's for sure. Yes, yes, yes, yes. That's the best thing. This has been absolutely, and obviously I adore and love you. And I'm so thankful for you coming into my life and for what you do for our community. So from me to you and our community,

[00:34:07] thank you very much. Are there any final thoughts and how should someone get ahold of you if they want to come experience this magic? Yes, yes. They can look at our website. Our contact, our phone number, 972-903-8866, which is the studio's phone number. You can contact me through there, through email. All that's on the website. It's a business cell phone. So leave a voicemail because I teach classes

[00:34:32] or text that number. I always reply. I have my own Instagram, IcoTheAlchemy or TheAlchemyYoga Instagram. You can message us on there. If you are interested in meditation, the book, the foundation, it's, I call it the guide. I wish I had this when I started meditating. I was on my own, what, how many years ago? 12 years ago when I started. It is guided meditations in it. It's a great starter for learning just how to be with yourself. And it gets all these tips. One of the tips I give

[00:34:58] that no one ever told me is don't meditate in your bed. And I didn't know why. You fall asleep. That's where you sleep. Things like that. So I give like all these little tips, you know, or your thoughts may feel louder when you first start and you're like, think you're doing it wrong. This is the first time you sat by yourself and hearing it. So these, these are these little tips that no one ever told me how to learn along the way. And guys, I, those of you that are vision impaired. I was holding up a book called mind alchemy, which is by the lovely I go here.

[00:35:26] And it's the foundation create a lasting meditation practice. And it's a short read. It's very, it is very practical. Good job. Thank you. Well, thank you again, guys go like follow and subscribe inside the C suite and please go check out alchemy yoga. I promise you will not be disappointed until next time. Ciao. Thank you.