The School of Greatness - 473 Meditation That Works for Anyone with Suze Yalof Schwartz

Episode Date: April 19, 2017

"Greatness is thinking it and doing it." - Suze Yalof Schwartz If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/473

This is episode number 473 with Suzy Yaloff-Schwartz. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness podcast.

Oh, I love the topic we're about to cover today. It's one that's near and dear to my heart. It's about the power of meditation. And not just anyone's coming on we've got suzy yaloff schwartz who was a fashion editor and makeover guru that worked at vogue l marie claire and glamour magazine with regular appearances on gma the today show cbs early show and many more She was the queen of this for many years. And in 2012, she learned a three-minute meditation that turned her world upside down and changed her life forever.

Once she got the meditation bug, she was on a mission to keep it going. And after taking hundreds of hours of classes and courses, reading every book possible, and listening to every podcast, lecture, and more from the world's most famous meditation teachers, she realized that meditation needed a makeover and she was the one to do it. Now, she is the founder of the first meditation studio here in the US. It's called Unplug Meditation. And she's also the author of the new book called Unplugged, a simple guide to meditation for busy skeptics and modern soul seekers.

Now, Susie was extremely skeptic of this and was a go, go, go hustle mentality worker in New York City. A lot of stress, a lot of anxiety. And in this interview, we talk about the story of how she went from a popular fashion stylist to a meditation studio owner and what that transition looked like. Also, how to get mainstream press when you're just starting out with your business because Susie has done that incredibly with her business, been everywhere. Who meditation is for and who it's not for. What actually happens in our brains when we meditate? And a simple meditation you can do the next time you're

stuck in traffic. This and so much more. Before we dive in, I want to share our iTunes review of the week. And this is from Maribel19, who says, I'm currently transitioning from the army after 20 years of service as a human resources technician, I've been having a hard time finding a job as a civilian and was even thinking about downgrading my experience to match my reality. After hearing your upgrade your beliefs episode, it was literally like a wake up call to be creative, to break my mind free of my limiting beliefs and the fixed mindset. It was exactly what I needed to hear. Don't downgrade your dreams to match your reality. Upgrade your belief to match your dreams. So Maribel19, thank you so much for your service to the country

and for the review of the week. It means a lot to me, and I hope to continue to hear about how you're progressing in your career and on your dreams. Thank you so much. All right, guys. This is a good one. Make sure to share it with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 473. And without further ado, let me introduce to you the one, the only, Suzy Yaloff-Schwartz.

Welcome, everyone, back to the School of Greatness podcast. Excited about our guest today, Suzy Yaloff-Schwartz. Welcome everyone back to the School of Greatness podcast. Excited about our guest today, Suzy Yaloff-Schwartz in the house. Thank you so much for being here. Feeling good, Lewis. Yes, yes. How many times have you heard that? I've heard it a lot. I've heard it a lot.

You've got a new book out called Unplugged. Make sure you guys pick this up right now. It's a simple guide to meditation for busy skeptics and modern soul seekers. Now, you used to be in the fashion world, correct? What were all your different titles and the places that you worked at, the big fancy places in New York? Oh, okay. Well, you know the movie The Devil Wears Prada? Uh-huh.

That kind of was my start. So I started at Vogue Magazine as an assistant accessories editor. So it's based off of you. No. Believe me. The good news was we didn't have cell phones that day. That was the only thing. It would have been nuts, right? It was nuts.

And it was fun. I mean, I loved working at Vogue. And we were there for the 100th anniversary. It was amazing. It's an amazing magazine. And then I went to Elle Magazine as accessories director. And then I went to Marie Claire before they launched Marie Claire in the US. And I was there for two and a half years. And then Glamour called me. And I went to Glamour. And I was there for 14 and a half years. And there I was market director covering New York, Paris and Milan. And then I became the fashion director.

And then I became the fashion editor at large. And when I was, then I started getting into television, and then I started doing Good Morning America, the Today Show, the Oprah Show, doing makeovers. You were like the makeover queen, right? I was. It was funny because I don't remember what year it was, but the New York Times came and they, and the reason why this whole thing happened actually was because

at Glamour Magazine they used to put swimsuits on mannequins to show this is good for your bust. This is good to slim you down. And I'm like, let's show them on the real people because we were trying them on the real people. I'm like, look at what she looks like here. And now look at what she looks like there. And they're like, that's amazing. Next thing I know, I'm on the Oprah Winfrey show with Tyra Banks and Oprah in the Bahamas

doing before and after makeovers. For both of them? No, for the show. Okay, gotcha. And then in Atlantis. And then after that, the New York Times picked it up and the woman picked up her camera and she said, just so you know, after I take this picture, everything's going to change. I'm like, what does that mean? Of you? Of me. And she said, just trust me. When I take this picture, your whole life is going to change. Wow. So she took this picture. They called me the fairy godmother of makeovers.

And then I literally did change. I did makeovers for the next 14 years of my life. No way. And I was basically doing, I mean, I did them at the Westminster Dog Show. I did them. I made over a rabbi. For dogs? Synagogue chic.

No. I had the owners try to look as good as their dogs. No way. Because these dogs, I made over a rabbi. For dogs? Synagogue chic. No. I had the owners try to look as good as their dogs. No way. Because these dogs, I mean, have you ever been to that show? They're unbelievable. Yeah, yeah. But the owners. The owners are kind of.

Yeah, they could use a little help. So we went down there even though I was allergic to dogs and I totally made over all of the, you know, it was pretty cool. Wow. Yeah. So I mean, basically I had a dream job. It was awesome. 14 years, the fairy godmother of makeovers.

Did it ever get tiring or boring or old? No, because I love potential, just like you do, Louis. Seeing something one way and then seeing the best it could possibly be. So for me, I was able to hire the top makeup artist, hire, you know, the Serge Norman, the hairdresser, then get in, you know, clothes from Louis Vuitton and style them with the best photographer ever. So they saw the best they could ever look in their life. And for me, that was, it gave me pleasure. It was fun and they had fun and it was fun. They felt good. It was fun. Amazing. 14 years. Okay.

And what happened after that? Why did you end this 14-year dream job? Well, I had three children in Manhattan, and my husband- That's a tough life right there. It was a good life, I'll tell you that. Three kids in Manhattan. I'm lucky. Yeah.

My husband wanted to move to Los Angeles. He had always wanted to be near a golf course because he plays golf. And this amazing job. Well, what really happened was I was doing Robin Roberts. I was doing her outfit for the Oscars. I was dressing her for the Oscars. And I went to go visit my friend, Joe Flanagan, and he had three kids playing in a field in Malibu. I'm like, Flanagan's kids are playing in a field in Malibu. Our kids are climbing up the walls. And he was like, oh, you would move to LA? And I'm like, maybe. And then out of the blue, he got a call

to work for the biggest man in Los Angeles to run his finances. And he's like, we should just do it. He's like, let's be adventurous. He was doing finance in New York? Yeah. He's like, let's be adventurous. Let's just pick up everything, just pack a suitcase

for the boys, and let's go. Wow. How long were you in New York for? I was in New York my whole life. You grew up there. I was born in Manhattan, grew up in New Jersey, moved back to Manhattan in 89, and I was there until 2010. Wow. Your whole life, and then you decided to come out here.

And he was like, let's just do it. Let's be adventurous. So I was like, you know what? Okay. You're daring me. I'm in. And so I did it, and he was like let's just do it let's be adventurous so i was like you know what okay you're daring me i'm in and so i did it and it was fun i decided when i moved here that i wasn't going to compare new york to los angeles and i was just going to love it even if i didn't love it i was going to mentally convince myself that i did the first year i moved from new york city i was only there for a year and a half and I fell

in love like hard I was like every moment I was outside it was just like this is incredible I was like a kid at a candy store every time I went out the door and just like the feeling of possibilities and the energy and just the people I was like this is a magic every block was magic to me and then when I moved out here the first year I was like it doesn't have that same magic but i started to love it as well in a different way so you were good at not comparing too much but i compared it every day for the first year i was like this place sucks compared to new york and right but now i'm in love with it so you just gotta learn learn how to learn how to love it i think um so you moved out here in 2010 right and then you didn't have a job you quit your job or were you still doing it?

I quit my job because I wanted to kind of settle in my three boys. And then my husband was starting his new job. And what happened was I got a call from Lord & Taylor to do their taxi TV commercials. So I don't know if you were ever in New York and saw those. But I was like, hey, you. Which commercials? Driver, take us to Lord & Taylor. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I did those for a long time. those but i was like hey you which is commercial driver take us to lauren taylor oh yeah i did those for a long time and then i was so stressed from going back and forth that my mother-in-law was like you need to breathe so she did this three minute exercise with me close your eyes slow down your breath imagine you're in jamaica and i open my eyes i'm like what was that that was amazing and she said oh that's meditation you should learn how to. I'm like, what was that? That was amazing. And she said, oh, that's meditation. You should learn how to meditate. I'm like, okay. So when I moved back to Los Angeles, I'm like, places to meditate in Los Angeles.

Oh, this $1,400 course. Oh, I have to go at 7 o'clock on a Saturday night for two hours in who knows where. Oh, strange guy's apartment. Oh, Buddhist temple. temple i'm like where's the dry bar of meditation where you like go in 30 minutes later you feel better i'm like new york paris milan cha-ching and i said to my husband i have this great business idea i'm gonna quit fashion and open up a meditation studio he like, you should really learn how to meditate. So you didn't know how to meditate yet? Not really, no.

You just did like a couple sets of jamaa and you were like... I learned from her. I saw how inconvenient it was. Yeah, the idea came before the practice. And then you said, okay, let me learn all these different meditation styles or what? Well, so I wanted to learn every single style because mark said if you're going to open up a meditation studio you need to know every single kind of meditation so i kept comparing them to my mother-in-law it's three minutes i'm like well why does this have to be so long hour 10 days yeah why am i spending four days when and at the end of each thing because i was a producer and worked with good morning america and you know figured out

producing for Glamour a lot I realized that you in a television segment you have to sum everything up into five minutes yeah or less right actually two and a half or four four like five is if you are really lucky yeah yeah um so I was like wait how can I sum up everything everybody's saying in four minutes? And I realized that there was a formula in meditation that was the basic foundation for every single kind of meditation that there is. Step one, focus on a single point. Step two, let it go and just expand now. Be in the present moment. Expand it as long as you can.

Step three, brain hike. You have 50,000 brain hikes a day, by the way. And then you just bring it back to a single point of focus. And it's the thinking and the redirecting the thought to the single point of focus that's like brain conditioning. That's the curl you do for your brain. And that's it. That's the basis. Yeah. It's basically that in every single style. And I've spoken to every teacher. And at the end, I'm always like, so basically, step one, step two, step three.

And they're like, yeah. Yeah. They have all their own little flair or style or music or guided or not guided or whatever. Chanting or humming or something, right? Everyone's got their own. Again again so chanting would be step one yeah home or focusing on a mantra a hum a hum a hum a hum or focusing on my breath or smelling a flower or moving my hands all all the same thing.

That's step one. So every style can be put into that camp. Yeah, yeah. So you decided to master it. How long were you doing this for, like a year before? Well, what happened was, so I was kind of working in fashion at the same time that I was doing this. So I would get calls from Good Morning America

to talk about what the princess, what's the new princess, the woman who's married to Kate, what Kate Middleton was wearing. So every day they would come to my house and film me talking about what Kate Middleton was wearing. Here in LA. Yeah, in LA.

I'm like, okay, whatever. And then finally I'm like, I can't. I'm going to UCLA to take the UCLA six-week mark program. Or I can, I'm doing a Vedic program here in West Hollywood. I was so busy taking all these classes that I actually couldn't do anything. And then what I noticed was I didn't really care about fashion anymore.

But what I did care about was learning about sound baths, learning about crystals, learning about aromatherapy. You're a true LA person. Learning about mantra. I totally went LA. You became LA. You might as well live in Venice. Right, exactly.

They're like, don't go LA when you go out there. And I could not have gone more LA. So yeah, so that's kind of how it all happened. That's cool. And so when were you like, okay, this is happening. I'm going to create like the yoga studios of meditation or? When the thought first occurred so when i told you i had that like it's happening ding dong moment i'm like this is and

then i couldn't stop and then i became obsessed like when you're into something it's hard you could be the most boring person on the planet earth because all you want to do is talk about that thing and you're really into it and i was meeting people whose lives were just transforming and then i was noticing that my life was transforming and then i was getting into the fashion of it too like this teacher's hot not hot like looking but like everybody's going to this teacher yeah or um you know what do i want the studio to look like you know because i used to do stuff with Domino Magazine, so I'm like, okay, it's going to be white on white on white. And then what do I want the products to look like?

And how is it going to feel when you walk into the room? So when you walk into the door, you're bombarded by the smell's amazing. It looks amazing. The sound of the music chills your brain out. And then the lighting just like changes everything. And then the teachers are epic. I mean, we have the best teachers.

Yeah. It's the only place to go. Yeah. Well, there's actually other places to go. Now there's other studios popping up, right? There are other studios and they're all good. And I think like the more people doing this, the better. That's the goal.

I mean, what was it? Like 15, 20 years ago, it was like, you know, there was probably like 10 yoga studios in the US or something. I don't, the better. That's the goal. I mean, what was it like 15, 20 years ago? It was like, you know, yoga. There was probably like 10 yoga studios in the U S or something. I don't know the number, but probably around, you know,

I remember Jonathan Fields, you know, he is, he's another podcaster author and he had a yoga studio that opened up the day. Um, before nine 11 in New York city. So the day before day after after, like one of those. He opened it up and then that happened.

He was like, what do I do now? But he actually found that it was a great place for people to come and heal from 9-11 in the city. But there weren't many yoga studios back then. Right. Like there is now, right? They're like on every block, like a Starbucks. And it's, you know, I see meditation and I'm sure you do. That's why you were like, this is happening as the trend.

In India, when I went there to study at One World Academy, they were telling me that one of the teachers there used to be on TV with like a million people watching every afternoon for like an hour, just meditating with the teacher. It's like a normal thing on cable TV over there. I was like, this is mind blowing. But it seems like we've taken over these practices that they've been doing for, you know, hundreds or thousands of years that we're starting to implement.

Is that right? Yeah. And, you know, when I started, I reached out to this teacher named Steve Ross, who has his own yoga studio. And he was known by so many. I mean, we can't even fit the amount of people who want to go into his class at our studio. And he was just like, we have to chant mantras in this space.

And when I told him my idea, he's like, I'm in, whatever you need. Let's just make this happen. Because nobody ever had, I guess, the guts to just open up a place

where you don't do anything but meditate. No yoga and meditation, but yeah. People have probably thought about it before, but nobody did it. Yeah.

So, all the teachers who had nowhere to go actually for this were just so supportive. I mean, everybody was so nice. I'm sure. It's the nicest industry ever. Give me a place to teach, right? Right. It's not like fashion where they're competitive.

Yeah. No, this place is the opposite. Wow. This business is like. So from the moment you thought about it to when did you open it up? I thought about it November of 2012 and then I opened it up April of 2014.

Okay, so a year and a half later. Yeah, yeah. Wow. And then now I have about 36 teachers and we're expanding. We're going to open up one in Hollywood soon. I think that you should teach there now that you're a certified meditation instructor. Make happen near me i will make it happen i have

i have a spot hopefully that'll happen yeah so you're gonna expand yep um what was the first few months like for you was it scary to try to figure out how to get people on the door and like you know rent's expensive in santa monica what was that like i was never scared i started with a certain amount of money that i knew i could lose. I'm like, this is the amount of money that if I lose it, then it would suck. But at least I would not be out on the street. And that was it. And my husband's like, this is all you get. Make it happen.

I'm like, okay. So I show up and I didn't plan. I jumped. And that was probably not the wisest thing to do. I mean, I had like a weak business plan, but I didn't plan. I jumped. And that was probably not the wisest thing to do. I mean, I had like a week business plan, but I didn't really fully plan. And so the second that I opened up the studio, I was by myself alone with the teacher

for months on end. No one showed up? No, it was me. And I'm like, where's everybody? All my friends who said they were gonna come and all these people that said they would be there. Like we had a party, everybody showed up. But then when it came time to like pay to take a meditation, crickets. Really? And finally, I'm like meditating seven times a day. I'm like,

I can't do it anymore. I'm like, I don't want to hurt your feelings because I'll be showing up for your class. But like, no. And what happened was this guy came into my life and he's like you don't have any intro offer like you got to cook them you've got to start them off with an intro offer and then they're going to want to get their money's worth and then they'll get into it and then they'll become members or they'll come and it was that little thing that shifted everything what was that what was that hook that was september i was like a one month unlimited for 40 dollars like a yoga thing yeah it makes sense which of course i didn't know no i didn't know what i was doing i just did that's a thing i just did but you asked me if i was afraid or

no i've never felt fear because i honestly felt this was going to be the biggest thing ever. It was going to work out. But I'm an optimist like that. Yeah. I've always been that way. After a few months of no one coming, though, you were still like, oh, people are going to show up eventually. I still really knew it. Wow.

I had a knowing. Well, luckily, you were listening to the guy who gave you the recommendation. So you started this offer, and then people started to come? People started to come, and then they started to fly from all over the world like japan and everybody started hearing about it vogue covered it new york times wrote about it we were in on good morning america on the today show like all of a sudden people were like this is the new brain gym vogue wrote that equinox even did a story on us so all all of a sudden, everybody started hearing about it. And since I'm a journalist, all my friends work in publishing,

they're like, that's so cool. I'm going to write about that. Amazing. Do you think getting the press helped with the membership? I think getting the press helped get people there. Yeah. You know, we were in Goop and we were in the LA Times the exact same day. And that was one of the most interesting days because the people that came in from goop were all like these young gorgeous amazing fashionistas and the people that came in

from the la times were intellectuals and it was just an interesting day that day and that was kind of the start wow of all and that was 2014 so that i'm yeah i would say that was starting in september all the glossies and all the magazines started coming out. And so now it's been what, four years? Nope, three. Three years since you launched. Right. And I don't know if this stuff is public or not,

but how many members do you have or how many people are coming through every week? We have about 5,500 visits a month. Amazing. That's amazing. Visits. Could be the same person three times, could be whatever you have. Right. That's amazing. Visits. Yeah. People, yeah, yeah,

right. And so we have like over 300 members and we have people that are on the 10 pack and the five pack. We make it easy. So, you know, some people don't want to be members. They just don't have time or they're traveling between New York and LA or so.

And some people like to pay for like the full price for a single. So they'll just do that. Some people buy a 10 pack, five pack. I mean, so we've got a lot for like the full price for a single. So they'll just do that. Some people buy 10 pack, five pack. I mean, so we've got a lot of people coming in. That's cool. And it feels like a party every hour on the hour because it's about 25 plus people. So you just meet all these interesting,

and they have nothing in common, like nothing. Except for meditation. Except for meditation. That they're the class together. Yeah. So you have this like auschwitz survivor who's 96 years old and then you have someone who's like 23 years old and working in the tech industry right and then you have a stressed out mommy and a lawyer who's

working upstairs and the psychiatrist's patient that comes because they're they've been told that this will help the cancer patient the pain patient so it So it's just, you know, hipsters. It's like an open house party and you never know what you're going to get. That's cool. What's been the biggest challenge for you so far in starting like a new concept, you know, a retail space, which is challenging? What's been that no one's ever done before? Well, so everything I've been doing has not been done before.

But the challenging part is like trying to do all the things that are in my head. I have a million ideas. And I'm actually doing them, but I can't do them quickly enough. And so to me, that's the biggest challenge. Because I have three kids and a family and a husband that I'm keeping forever, I have to know I have priorities and I have they're split so I try to be present when

I'm at work I'm at work when and meditations definitely help me with that yeah when I'm at home and I'm at home but because of the time limitations of that I'm unable to achieve everything in my brain than I would like to. But I'm making a lot of progress. You have been. And I decide to jump in and then improve. Right. Instead of- Supposed to analyze and wait for the perfect time.

Yeah. Me either. That's a school of greatness too. That's a question I have for you, Lewis, is how do people do that? How do people do it? How do you do that? How do people do it? How do you do that? How do I do it? Get it out of my head and launch?

Get it out of your head, execute, and you've done a lot. Yeah, it's been fun. I think I like to strategize and research something for years. For example, this book. I was like, I want to be a New York Times bestseller. I don't want to just write a book and put it out there.

So I was creating other things along the way, but I was researching and breaking down every New York Times bestseller campaign for five years. Wow. I would study the authors. I would research. I would ask them questions about it. I would just watch how they did it and reverse engineer it.

So the time that I was ready, which I still felt like it was a little bit before my time being fully ready as like a writer. I wasn't really like a trained writer. But I felt like I'd done the research enough to know what it takes. And I was like willing to do whatever it took. But for me, I'm always launching stuff.

Did it work? New York Times bestseller. Yeah, it was fun. That's so awesome. That's not an easy thing to do, by the way. Yeah. It's impressive awesome that's not an easy thing to do by the way it's been fun but who is meditation for and who is it not for in your mind

it's not for anyone everybody can meditate if you can breathe you can meditate and if you are breathing you should meditate in my opinion I think everybody should and you know here's, like we're so hooked on our devices now. Meditation is what we, the way that, I don't know if you grew up like this, but I used to go and I would sit in the

field and chill. Yeah. Nobody does that anymore. Play basketball, play Frisbee in the grass. Yeah. And just hang out. Nobody hangs out anymore. They're either hooked on the device or they're actually doing something to stimulate themselves like sports or whatever. So for me, I think that meditation should be in every single classroom starting in kindergarten and it's already starting, but I believe that's going to happen in the next five years. And I think it's great for kids because there's a lot of anxious kids out there because of the internet. So I think starting there would be a great way to just blanket the whole world. Yeah. Or just video games that they're on all the time or whatever. They're doing it in Ohio now. Do you know that? I know. Tim Ryan is implementing it in schools

in Ohio. I think it's smart. I think that's the beginning. I think it's going to be everywhere. So I think they should be doing it. I think anyone who has an illness should be doing it. I think anyone who has stress, and here's the thing, like stress can kill you. So meditation can save your life because meditation deletes stress. That's it. So anyone with stress or anxiety or...

Yeah, I like going into a room saying, if you've ever experienced stress, raise your hand. And by the way, everybody's. So then those are all my clients. Yeah. And meditation really for me is just taking a moment to breathe. Right. And let go of the obsessive self-centric thinking with a fear that's consuming, that creates the stress.

When we let go of that fear, we're much more calm. Right. But we have so many more fears today now than ever with all the reactions to all the devices we have, all the things we're taking on. It's a lot more stressful because of those fears. So for me, that's why I think this morning, I do it every morning for about 10 to 14 minutes, depending on how long I go for. But for me, I just feel so much more calm and intentional throughout my day when I do it. And I talk about meditation a lot on this show.

And I think people are probably like sick of me beating it down their throats. But for me, it's like a game changer. And I don't feel like it's an option to not do it. I feel like it's a must if you want to reach your peak performance or be an optimal human being or strive for some type of optimal level of existence in my mind unless you're able to be calm and stress-free without it awesome right but i feel like if you have a dream or some type of passion or some type of hunger to create something in your life or to take a risk and be in a relationship or whatever it may be there's going to be some type of conflict and if you're on uh and if you're not making sure that you're practicing being calm in that conflict

then it's going to be a challenging experience so that's why i think it's necessary and when i started doing it in college actually for sports because i used to be like really nervous and stressed out all the time with with games coming up when i started doing it i felt like i was out all the time with with games coming up when i started doing it i felt like i was almost like in control the whole game it was like i was looking at myself from above and it was like i was just playing with everyone else in the field or in the court and things just started to become so easy like my vision was so clear i could see where the players were to go and how to score like before it happened and it's because I was just practicing meditation and calming down as opposed to being in fear.

I think that's important to think about. And also you were 100% present. I was present. And that is the gift. I think people are turned off by the word meditation. Yeah. And I love this teacher. Why? Why are they?

I love this teacher, David G. He's like, look, when I go into the military, I call it tactical breath. When I go into the schools, I call it mindfulness. And when I go into the military i call it tactical breath when i go into the schools i call it mindfulness and when i go into the buddhist temples i call it meditation so it's the same thing people don't understand it's really a technique of just centering and focusing and getting present and that's a weird thing is we're always in the now yeah but like our brain is dragging us out of the now all the time. So it's time to take back

your brain and just live your life as it's happening because that's where all the good stuff is. And that's kind of what I talk about in the unplug book is getting to where everything's good and everything's good in the present moment, like right now. I'm having a great time with you, Liz. Me too. Yeah. I mean, as an athlete, it's again, it's all about framing and kind of marketing it. You know, as an athlete, you want to talk about meditation, you talk about getting in the zone. Like how do I reach the zone so that I can achieve my goal and be the best athlete? Well, to get in the zone, you got to be presence. So how do we activate that right now? Well, you got to let go of the fears or the, all the things, the mistakes that you're potentially going to make or who's watching

or whatever's happening. You got to focus on the moment and the other things, the mistakes that you're potentially going to make or who's watching or whatever's happening. You got to focus on the moment and the play right now. And that's meditation. Right. That's just focusing, slowing down your breath, signals to your brain, everything's okay. And it helps you get present. And that's another thing. We should call, instead of calling it meditation, we should just call it the zone.

That's it. And if you called it the zone that everybody would be doing it. So let's just do the zone. Call it the zone. Get the zone. That's it. And if you called it the zone that everybody would be doing it. So let's just do the zone. Oops. Okay. I'm going to have to change that when it's in the fourth sprinting. Yeah. It's funny. I interviewed, um, actually this author here, Jim Afrimo, the champion mind champions mind. He's a sports psychologist and, um, talks a lot about meditation in, in the book. And he says with athletes, in practice, you want to try to kind of amp yourself up to be more present.

But when you're in a game, you have so much anxiety or intensity already that you want to try to slow your breathing down when you're in the game so you can be more present. Because if you're so amped up in the game, you're going to be tight,

you're going to be stressed, and you want to kind of slow down the breath and let things come to you in sports. but yeah i mean meditation is everything for athletes for musicians for ceos ceos you have to make serious decisions and if you're coming from an emotional place they're not going to be good ones yeah but if you're coming from a let me slow down let me press my inner pause button do i really want to do this let me press play and Let me press my inner pause button. Do I really want to do this? Let me press play and let me go. That's it.

And I do that every day. And people say, when do you meditate? I'm meditating. All the time. I'm meditating now. Yeah. I'm in it. Om.

No, I'm just kidding. Om. So what else is in the book that we should know about? What does this guide really do? Oh, wow. Okay. So for anyone, first of all, this was really made because I get the same question all the time. What's the best book to start off meditation? And there's a lot of great books out there, but most of them are

one direction. So it's either mindfulness or mantra-based meditation or guided imagery, but this kind of covers all of them in a very simple way. So in this book, you're going to start off with what is meditation? Why should I be doing it? How do I do it? And then 15 practices to actually do it. Starting at one minute, doing those for a week, and then bringing it to like five minutes to 10 minutes, and then basta, you're done. And after you read the book, 10 minutes and then basta, you're done. And after you read the book, we have an app. So if you want to learn from the best teachers, you can go on the unplug meditation app and actually click and play. And there's nothing else on that app. You just click it and play it and do these meditations or other meditations. My, some of my favorite are the guided imagery meditations, which are not

about curing stress. They're really about finding your purpose in life, achieving your dreams, knowing what people you should let go of, what things you should cultivate. They're so interesting. I mean, they're like going to the movie of your life. One of them is called Your Ideal Life. This guy's name is Johnny O'Callaghan, and he guides you into a movie theater,

and the movie theater opens and there you are Lewis in your ideal life and you mine was not what I thought my ideal life was I'm like throwing a dinner party and having fun not working not doing I was just like hanging out with my friends yeah so I mean you can discover one how to pause how to be present how to be happy how to centered, and then how to find what you want to do in your life, all in about 200 pages. And by the way, we say you could skip to page 99 if you just want to get to the meat. The beginning is a science simplified. So we talk about how age meditation slows down aging because this is one of my favorite facts 25 your brain's at peak and then it declines after that period and what they've done is a study of people who are over

the age of 55 who start practicing meditation 28 minutes a day for eight weeks and their brain became the same sharpness as the 25 year old and sarah lazar on our website um she has a ted talk also that we feature on our website she shows the before and after mris of the brain based on her study at harvard medical in massachusetts it's pretty amazing so meditation is anti-aging yeah and by the way, you get wrinkles when you're like, eh. But when you're not stressing. You look like you're 30. And I'm 50 and I have no Botox or anything.

Your skin is so clear and there's no wrinkles. Yeah, because I'm not freaking out. Because when I do freak out, and by the way, things amp me up. But I'm able to be like, it's okay. It's all cool. Okay forward amazing my kids are like just breathe mom i'm like okay okay now you're in trouble how often do you stress out right now with all the meditation you do practicing every day in the classes you're talking about a lot of time well like i stress out every day because i have three kids and i have to like get out of the

house so it starts there. But then I calm myself down and then I do step one. And then I might like go to work and there'll be like a hundred people coming at me and I'll feel like I can only do what I can do. You know, so I stress out, but I quickly, you know, regroup. So I would say I might be stressing out, but I'm not doing it for long periods of time. It's never over a minute. Sure. That's good. Yeah. And you're aware of it and you're like, okay, calm down. So as the person who studied all the different meditation techniques, we've been with all the best teachers in the world. You've practiced it

with everyone. You've gotten the best insights. What's the practice for you in the morning or at night that you do with yourself? Okay. Olivia Rosewood says that there are more ways to meditate than there are to make an egg. And I love all of them. And I have to say, I do all of them. So I will wake up sometimes and just do a breathing exercise. I will wake up sometimes and use one of my 60 mantras that I have. 60?

I have 60 at this point. Wow. I have more mantras that I have. 60? I have 60 at this point. Wow. I have more mantras than I do shoes. Wow. And I was a fashion editor. So, or I will do a gratitude practice, which I love. It depends how I want to feel. So every morning I would say I really just do a breathing exercise.

And that is a solid like 10. 10 minutes? 10 minutes. Yeah, just breathing. like 10, 10 minutes, 10 minutes, just breathing, just breathing 10 minutes. Then I try to hit a class or I'm filming all these classes all the time. So I'm going through them. So I might see my inner child or I might see my future self, or I might just do a three second, a three center check-in, you know? So I don't know what, what meditation I'm going to be doing. It's always a surprise. So, and then I will breathe periodically throughout the day. I like the traffic meditation

that's in this one. What's that? It's basically a, it's an ABC meditation, a attention to the road, eyes open, you're focused. It's now B body scan. So I feel my feet on the ground, You're focused. It's now. B, body scan. So I feel my feet on the ground, my rear in the seat, my hands on the steering wheel. And then C, I consciously connect with my breath. And then I'm like, I just close one in and I'm stuck in traffic.

So like traffic to me is great. It's another opportunity. It's therapeutic as opposed to traumatic. Never stressing about traffic. I don't do that. Right, right. Wow, that's great. Well,'s therapeutic as opposed to traumatic. Never stressing about traffic. I don't do that. Right, right. Wow, that's great. Well, most people do here in LA.

You know, the podcast School of Greatness started because of stress and traffic for me. Really? It did. My first year I was here, I was driving around. I can't remember which highway, but everyone was like stressed around me. It was traffic. It was stopped. And people were screaming and honking and flipping people off.

And I was like, people are really stressed out out here and pissed off and unhappy. I want to create something where they can listen in the traffic and feel inspired as opposed to stressed. And that's how the catalyst, that was the catalyst for me. That's amazing. I like traffic. It's funny. I heard about you because Lauren Ekstrom, who's one of our incredible teachers, said she listens to your podcast on her drive because she's driving from the Valley all the time.

There you go. And I'm like, I want to hear it. If she likes it, I'm going to like it. So that's how I discovered you and I listen to you in my car. I appreciate it. Yeah, it's fun. That's fun. What else do we need to know about meditation?

Anything else? Well, one is you can do it. Two is the three things, the hurdles I think I told you about that don't exist. And making time, like just waking up and getting it done. And if you just wake up and did 10 minutes every day, two weeks from now you would see your brain change. Even though the science doesn't back it up, I've actually seen it in my studios. So I see people changing in two weeks. Their physical appearance changes, their energy.

Their attitude. So there is this, it's like a jar that we fill with glitter and water in a mason jar. And we kind of say, your mind is a jar and the glitter represents your brain. And then we shake it up and we say, this is what your brain looks like when you're stressed or angry. And then as you notice, everything settles and becomes clear again when you breathe. Your thoughts and your feelings are still there, but everything becomes clear when you breathe. So if people just took the time to get in the zone, then I think the world would be a much better place. And I think this book is a foundation for that. I feel like the Unplugged book is your great go-to to just start and make it happen for yourself. What's your vision for the future of this?

Are you going to have studios all over the place? Or what do you think the trend is going to be in the future? If I was going to be honest with myself when I started, and my son has this huge map in his room, and I'd say, oh, there's going to be one in Tokyo. There's going to be one in Paris. There's going to be one in Milan. There's going to be one in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. I mean, my dream and my vision is to go big

because that's just the way I go. I would love to see that. I would love the app is already being seen in 35 different countries and used in 35 different countries. And we just launched it a month ago. Wow. That's amazing, right?

It's amazing. Um, the book is going to be published in 14 different languages on top of being in the U S. So I guess I want to just touch as many people as possible and get them to meditate for themselves. Because I would say, and this is a fashion term,

haute couture, which is clothing that's made specifically for you. It's super expensive, but it's like couture. This is couture. Because meditation is for you. You're an athlete. You need to focus. You use it.

For me, I'm a stressed out mom, an entrepreneur. I need to calm myself down and get centered and focused. For a pain patient, they use it to get away from pain for people with anxiety or panic attacks. Like it works up for panic attacks, like really well. They just press their pause button and breathe. So it works for everyone. There's no negative side effects. Yeah. I just want everybody to do this for them. That's my goal. That's great. I love it. And then who knows what my next thing will be. Right? Yeah.

I hear you. Yeah. Well, it's powerful. I'm so glad that you, you started this in LA. I know it's needed. And I know when I went to the class,

people were just like such at peace. And I saw different business people there and moms and everyone else who was feeling stressed out. And when they left, they feel like it's such a peaceful calm and they can go back to their day, you know, with more clear intentions. So I'm excited for what you're creating,

and hopefully I'll teach a class one of these days. Yes, you would be great. Now that you are a certified meditation instructor. I'll have to practice now. A few final questions for you. One is, what are you most grateful for recently? I would say my husband. I'm most grateful for him.

He helped me have three children. He is always there for me. He's just awesome. I would say my husband. I'm the most grateful for him. How long have you guys been together? Married? 16 years.

16 years. Yeah. Wow. Three kids. How old? 15, 12, and 10. Yeah. Very cool.

They're in high school now. How two of them are in high school? I guess the other thing I'm most grateful for is my attitude that I got from my mom, which is I'm always happy and I can always make the lemonade. Like I've never gotten, you know, it's hard for some people.

They get stuck. They're miserable. And they don't realize that gratitude can shift you to happiness. Just doing a gratitude practice every day, you can be an optimist. I'm an optimist. So I appreciate my own optimism because people are like, you're just an optimist. You can't do that. I'm like, I've done everything. Okay. So maybe I'm just an optimist, but it works. So I guess my attitude. So maybe I'm just an optimist, but it works.

So I guess my attitude. Yeah. I think it's important to have an optimistic attitude. It's hard to get things down when you're pessimistic, I think. Right. When you're negative and you're like doubtful and all these things. This is called the three truths question that I ask everyone at the end. So this is 100 years from now and it's your last day on Earth. And you've made meditation a global phenomenon.

There's studios in every major city, millions of people on your app. And then you went off to do 20 other big things in the next 100 years. And for whatever reason, everything you've ever created has been erased. It's been gone. And it's your last day. Everyone's there. You have a piece of paper and a pen. And you get to write down three final thoughts.

Your three truths about everything you've learned and experienced that you would pass on as kind of your three lessons on how you think people should live life. What would be your three truths? One, go for it. Two, everything's going to be okay. And three, don't forget to have fun. There you go. Simple. I love it. Two, everything's going to be okay. And three, don't forget to have fun.

There you go. Simple. I love it. Yeah. Um, before I ask the final question, uh, where can we get the book? Where can we connect with you online? Are you on social media? Yeah, I actually am the social media person for unplug meditation. So you can get the book at any Barnes and Noble store. it's in all the airports right now it's on amazon it's an indie bookstore so it's everywhere so that's or it's at the unplug meditation studio in los angeles 12401 wilshire boulevard um and obviously everyone should try to take the class because it should it's amazing in there right yeah um and then what was the other question this time um where can they get social so i am unplug meditation on instagram um and i am suzy aloff shorts on facebook and i'm also

unplug meditation on facebook unplug meditation yeah cool i'm unplug meditai because i couldn't finish it on twitter but i really never do Twitter. Yeah. Okay. So Instagram, Facebook. Awesome. Yeah. Well, make sure you guys go get the book. It's called Unplugged. Make sure you go pick it up. Go check out a class. Mention when you go to the class that you heard Susie on School of Greatness and maybe she'll give you a hug or something else for fun. Or five. Yeah. Give you five. There you go. And before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you for a moment, Susie, for taking the risk and for yourself to become a better human being and less stressed

and to inspire other people to be calmer, present, loving, gracious human beings and change their life. You're transforming lives by providing this service for people, for creating the information, for creating the classes. It's really inspiring that you took the risk when no one else was willing to create a studio, you did it. So I acknowledge you for jumping in and making it happen. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. The final question is what's your definition of greatness?

Thinking it and doing it. I think that's my definition of greatness. Susan, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you, Les. Appreciate it. It was great. There you have it, greats. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, make sure to share it with your friends,

lewishouse.com slash 473. And let me know what you thought. Tag me on Instagram stories, on your Instagram post, on Twitter, on Facebook, at Lewis Howes everywhere. And also, if you haven't left a review yet, if you want to be considered for the review of the week, go to iTunes.com slash greatness right now. We only get one life. There are many opportunities for your dreams. But if you don't take action every single day and continue to grow and learn and evolve and treat people well,

those dreams are never going to happen and you're never going to feel fulfilled. Make sure you're doing the best you can every single day. Be and give your best to your dreams and to others in the world. I love you. I thank you very much. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music you