Well with Arielle Lorre - 41: AVA JOHANNA - Meditation, Spirituality and Living in Alignment

Episode Date: January 29, 2020

In this episode I talk to spiritual business coach, host of The Alchemized Life Podcast, and celebrity meditation teacher Ava Johanna about all things spirituality and living as our next-level selves. Ava gets candid about her struggles with drugs and alcohol (in fact we discover that we are, in many ways, the same person!), and has great advice for how to step away from destructive habits. We also talk about meditation, slowing down to find our truth, living in alignment, being in faith rather than fear, spirituality vs. religion, spirituality in business and conscious internet consumption — like, don’t follow people who are posting from a place of “lack” or not-enoughness. There are lots of pearls of wisdom and tips in this episode that you’ll love!   If you like this episode, or the podcast in general - please rate, review and subscribe! ❤️   About Ava Johanna https://www.avajohanna.com www.instagram.com/avajohanna     Follow me! www.instagram.com/ariellelorre www.instagram.com/theblondefilespodcast www.theblondefiles.com      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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go to your reisadviceur or sunikars. I'm Ariel Lorry, and this is the Blonde Files podcast, where I talk to experts, influencers, and inspirational people in the world of wellness and beyond. Whether it's mental health, spirituality, nutrition, gut health, hormones, exercise, meditation, entrepreneurship, beauty hacks, and procedures, I cover it here with real conversations and even realer guests. I know you're as curious as I am, so I'm asking the questions for you,

and you get to listen in. Welcome to the show. I hope everybody is having an amazing week, and I'm so happy that you're here. And this is a really fun episode for me. I felt like I got to sit down with a girlfriend and just talk about real shit for like over an hour and record it and call it work. So one of the things that I love so much about podcasting, which I've talked about before, is how it has brought some really amazing people into my life beyond the screen. You know, I get to sit down and look at somebody and have real deep conversations about struggles and in this case, spirituality and meditation and just our life

experiences and ups and downs. And it's just such a refreshing thing in this day and age. So I really think you guys are going to enjoy this one. I always get lots of questions about meditation and spirituality. So we really delve into that. and more. So my guest, Ava Johanna, is a spiritual business coach, host of the Alchemized Life podcast, and Celebrity Meditation Teacher based out of Los Angeles, California. Whether on the podcast or in her one-on-one VIP program, Ava works with individuals to activate their soul's purpose,

create powerful daily routines, and elevate every area of their life simply by adjusting their mindset through fully embodying the energy of empowerment and confidence. She has been featured on major wellness publications such as MindBody Green, Wanderlust 35 Under 35, Lifestyle Magazine, and Yoga Journal. If you guys like this episode or you're enjoying the podcast in general, please take a second to rate review and subscribe. It goes a really long way in supporting the show and what I'm doing here, and I really appreciate it.

Welcome. Thank you so much for coming. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me. You're here. For everybody who doesn't know, I recorded an episode on Ava's podcast, and it's probably going to be out around the same time that this gets released. So go listen to The Alchemized Life. So good. I was binging it before you came here. Oh, my gosh. I was listening to the episode with Mar-R-What's her name? Marla. Marla. Marla. Marla-Mattinson. Oh, my God. Isn't she phenomenal? I was like, I need to go see her with my husband. And we were. we need to do the work. Yes. I was blown away and it's so funny because my girlfriend recommended her and she's like, you know, she's pricey and I'm like, we'll do whatever it takes. And so we go to, or we don't go, we have her over for a session and I did not realize that she was like the creme de la creme of relationship coaches and like experts. Like we went and saw a therapist afterwards that was different. And I was sitting there just like, oh, my God,

I'll never be the same. I'll never be the same because she was so phenomenal. So yeah, highly recommend. Can I ask what led you guys to go see her or to see other relationship therapists? Yeah. So we got married in April of this past year. And, you know, when you get married, you don't really go into the relationship with a lot of, or usually with your first marriage. Most of us don't go into the relationship, having conversations about what it means to be married. A lot of like different values, I think deeper down of like just agreements that we have as far as what makes a good wife and what makes a good husband. And so we started exploring those questions together and realized that we really wanted support from someone in getting clear on being on the same page and making sure that

we were right for each other. And this is like the first time that I'm actually sharing anything about this. we just dove right in yeah dive right in um and i think that for us it was just recognizing that there was so much love in our relationship but wanting to make sure that both of us were able to really thrive as individuals too and not compromise or you know mold ourselves into what the other person wants like all i want is for him to be the most fully expressed version of himself and vice versa and not also lose a part of me in him doing so so yeah therapy and talking to someone else and holding space for us to have those communication that communication

was really essential and just supporting us not like being in this echo chamber of our own issues. That's so healthy. Yeah. I'm very impressed. I mean, I feel like therapy and especially like any kind of therapy around like couples, there's a stigma right. And you think like, oh shit, like how did it go so wrong? Yeah.

You know. But I think it really is healthy. I love what you said about like an echo chamber. because when it's just the two of you, you just go in circles. You're going in circles and you're reinforcing the same stuff, right? And like it's very hard to have perspective. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think to also like take your ego out of it too.

And so to have someone there to just like kind of also like pause and like call you out on your bullshit too and be like, do you understand Eva that you are like asking to be supported but also like saying that you have to be in control. Right. So it was definitely eye-opening and helped us a lot. And, you know, Corey initially when we went into it, I was like, I want to go see a therapist with you. And he had a lot of that resistance come up of, I didn't realize that we were so bad. And there was a little bit of like unraveling this story that we're all told that like therapy equals unhappy life or unhappy marriage.

And instead look at it as this opportunity for us to grow together. And like as Marla says, like if your relationship, needs to be built on growth, not just on it being a marriage and that's it, you know, or else it's dying. Yeah. I think Dax Shepherd, I listen to his podcast religiously. Oh, he has a podcast? Oh, my God.

It is so good. Armchair expert. Okay. It's, you're going to like bench. Yeah. It's really, really good, really interesting conversations. But he and Kristen have been going to therapy their whole marriage. And he's like, that's why we're still married.

Yeah. That's it. Yeah. And so he's kind of like, I don't know, he's a proponent of that. It's funny, though, like having somebody call you on your shit. I was in therapy this morning, and we were talking about my marriage. I said, we see things differently. For example, he sees that every time we sit down to watch a show, we can't find something that we agree on.

So I go upstairs and read. Whereas from my perspective, I see it as we find things that we like to watch often. but sometimes we don't, in which case I go up to read. And she said, well, why don't you just stay all the time? Because obviously it's important to him. You guys don't get a lot of time together. And if he just wants to relax and watch something with you, like, even if you don't like it, maybe you should stay.

And I was like, oh. Yeah. It had never crossed my mind before. You know, I was like, oh, yeah, I guess that's like the compromise. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, even if it's just like staying while he watches some show and reading at the same time, just like being in each other's presence because I'm kind of like the same mentality too.

I'm like I don't want to just like watch TV to watch TV. Like I want it to be something. Yeah. Or else I'm just going to do something else. And I think more than anything, it's just like being in the energy. And that kind of like reminds me of the love languages. It's just getting really clear on like whatever your partner's love languages are and being really aware of.

Yeah, Netflix. Netflix is my love language. But being really aware of the way that they express and receive. and receive love and just making it a priority to make sure that you're hitting that. For me, like, my love language is gift-giving. Like, that's the way that I show love and that's the way that I would love to receive love. And so it's hard for me to, like, take a step back and be like, wait, this isn't Corey's love language. So even he knows that, like, when I'm giving him a gift, that it's me expressing love.

But to take it a step further and show him love, I should really be touching him or giving him words of affirmation. And so, you know, it's all about awareness, though, and, like, really getting out of your own way and asking yourself, like, what's important? What's my priority here? Is my priority to, like, show my partner love and make sure that they know that, like, I'm here for them or am I going to get stuck in, like, me, me, type of mentality of making sure that, like, only I'm covered. And I think that's where I was coming from a lot is, like, making sure that I'm okay because my entire life has been me against the world or carrying the whole weight of the world on my shoulders. So being in a relationship and being in a marriage, is a totally different dynamic. Like, I'm not used to, like, having someone there to fall back on. Right. So it's new. Yeah. Yeah, so let's talk about that.

How, let's rewind and talk about, like, your younger life and kind of how you got to where you are today. You were homeless at 16, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I grew up in, like I said, Calbas, as a Gora area. As you know, it's very affluent. And I had a great life.

And around 16 years old, my mom and my stepdad does. decided to separate. And before that, things weren't great between them. So I was waiting for that moment to happen and really excited and celebrated my mom for finally gaining enough strength to make that decision. However, the systems weren't in place to really support us as a unit after she made that decision. And so very shortly after they separated, we were evicted from the apartment we moved into. The car was repossessed. We found ourselves living with different family members. neighbors, friends of my moms, and eventually like going to the food bank every other Saturday to get food and groceries. And so it was really hard to be in such an affluent area and feel like I

had nothing. Even though I know that I didn't have like absolutely nothing, I was just shown so much wealth around me that I really crumbled. And I turned to different drugs and vices to get me outside of this nothingness. And it was like really like something that made me feel full, full of life, full of energy, away from all of the like reality of my situation. And it was really hard because it impacted how I showed up as an individual. I stopped caring about school. I stopped caring about what my career was going to be. I really just like went into this full on survival mode. and I dropped out of school and went into independent study and started working full time and I worked at a restaurant and eventually was able to graduate high school luckily like don't know how that happened but I did it and I didn't apply for any colleges or anything because I didn't think that I would be good enough to get in and I wanted to spare myself of any disappointment I had experienced enough of it and eventually just decided to move out of the area altogether and start fresh in San Diego so I moved down to San Diego so I moved down to San Diego. Diego about 10 years ago and just went to community college. I worked at different restaurants

and continued the partying and the really like bad spiral of drugs and alcohol and abusive relationships and eventually ended up moving back up to L.A. because I couldn't live with my roommates anymore. I had a really negative relationship with both of my roommates that I moved in with and while I was up in LA I got a DUI and that was kind of like the first instance of me being like I need to get my shit together. Did I never drink again? No, did I never drink and drive again? No, but it was the first instance that I knew that what I was doing wasn't working and the way that I was operating my life was either going to hurt me or hurt somebody else. And so that was kind of that first step of, okay, maybe there's a better way. And I moved back down to San Diego after that. I got in

with a little bit of a better group of friends that were more supportive and cared about me more and started working in digital marketing and social media. And I continued party and continued drinking, but was starting to kind of like figure out what I was meant to be doing in my life and got really excited about work finally and felt like I had a little bit of a purpose. And that purpose turned into, okay, like, I could be a CEO one day. I could, like, really do this. I could be, like, that boss babe that, like, no one thought I could be. Like, I'll show them at my 10-year reunion.

And so I kind of, like, took that fire that I had for, like, partying and that fire that I had for, like, not being ever in that position of being homeless again and applied it towards work and just turned into this like crazy work monster basically where I was working done to 12 hour days. What were you doing? I was a account strategist project manager. Okay. At a digital marketing company, we did marketing for the multifamily industry.

So it was like not fun at all. But it was interesting to be able to do branding campaigns and creative design and work on websites and social media. So I got to learn a lot about the digital space throughout all of it. So I'm grateful for that. But the culture at the company that I was working at was just so awful. It was so awful. It was like the structure where they like take you to cool dinners and fun events.

Like our Christmas party had a, we bought out this nightclub and little John performed. So it had all this like cool stuff. Right. On like the weekends that was like team building and fun to make you think that like it was a fun, cool environment. But then like Monday through Friday, if not Saturday. and Sunday, you were working like 12-hour days and almost like shamed if you didn't get all of your work done and like just really, really abusive types of situations that I knew were not going to be supportive of like my long-term mental health or my physical health. And I at the same

time, I was still partying just as hard. So I remember like I would work up until lunch, sit out my car and like either nap or like be throwing up off the side at the side of my car because I was so hungover and so sick from the day before like it was just such a like vicious cycle that I found myself in and even though I was like making all of the money had like the cool house the cool clothes was like in a okay relationship oh no no no I was with my husband so I was in a great relationship um good catch yeah good catch um um and even though I I was in a great relationship. I was still miserable.

I was so miserable. And so I think that at that point, that was when my intuition started saying, like, Ava, this is like, you're not in the right direction just because you think that money is going to, like, make you happy just because you think that status is going to make you happy or having X, Y, and Z is going to make you happy doesn't mean that it's actually going to make you happy. And at that point, I got a promotion. And when I got that promotion, my intuition was like, nope, there's no amount.

of money on a paycheck that is ever going to make you happy. And so I ended up putting in my notice at my job. My now husband and I decided that we were going to move to South America. And I decided that when I moved to South America, that would be the last time that I would ever work for anybody again. And when we got back, I jumped straight into the wellness world and started teaching yoga, doing my coaching and my mentorship, eventually launching the podcast. And yeah, just like really, really starting to fine tune what it meant to be living in alignment and letting go of all of the you know external influences that played such a big role on my life in the first place and stepping into a place where I was living and acting in integrity with what I knew to be true in my heart

and what I knew to be authentic and just feel so real and good and like just living from a place of love Okay, I have so many questions. I know, I showed a lot. No, I love it. Okay, so first I want to ask what you think the drugs and alcohol were doing for you that whole time. I know for me and something that you said about like when you were younger was that you were using things to like fill something, right?

And I get so many messages from people on Instagram who aren't necessarily like, quote unquote, alcoholics. Like I believe I'm truly an alcoholic. Like there was nothing, you know, that would make me stop, not ending up in hospitals, not being no DUI. I mean, something that you said about like the DUI making you like think, oh, maybe it's a problem. I feel like that differentiates like hardcore alcoholics between people who like abuse it. Yeah. Because there's just nothing that would come between me and my drugs or alcohol.

That said, it was definitely doing something for me. It was spilling what I think now was a spiritual void. But anyway, so people message me being like, you know, I don't think I'm an alcoholic, but I think I'm like, I need to examine my relationship here. And I always think, and I always suggest to like examine what it's doing for you. So I'm curious like that whole time because you had a relationship and you had a job and you had the things and obviously you were unhappy. So what do you think the substances were doing for you? I think that it lubricated my life in a way to make it feel. acceptable you know we look at I mean so many of us say it's like a social lubricant it makes you feel like more comfortable to like be this like big bubbly version of yourself but I think for me yes it was that but it also made the awful job okay because I knew at the end of the day I could just go home and drink or like do blow or whatever it was that I was doing and I'm also like pretty open about like what drugs that I was doing sometimes I listen to podcasts and I'm like what drugs were

they do, you know. Okay, so what were you doing? Um, but yeah, I mean, like, I would go home and be really excited because me and my, like, roommate would egg each other on and be like, yeah, let's snort a line of Adderall, which is so disgusting. Like, not good at all. I can still taste it when you say that. Oh, God. Yeah, it does not taste good. Um, but we would just, like, egg each other on. And I mean, that's kind of a whole different story, but it was this, like, lubricant to life that I knew that regardless of how bad my day, and, you know, it was, like, at work was or how bad a fight was that I got in with a friend or in my previous relationship before Corey, regardless of how bad he treated me, I knew that I would feel better once I had a

couple drinks or once I smoked some pot or once I took some Molly. Like I knew that I'd feel better because I had that first high, that first buzz and that was everything, you know? So it just allowed life to be, allowed all of the shitty things in life to be easier rather than actually looking at those things and asking myself, well, why can't I just fine tune all of this and shift it so it actually is good? And I don't have to just accept

and settle for a job that I don't like. I was in that mentality that so many of us have is like, you don't actually have to like your work. Like, work's not for liking. You know, I think so many of us have that mentality. And I got to a point where I was like, wait a second. Like maybe that's not true. Maybe I can actually do something that I enjoy and not have to like numb myself for every other hour that I'm not working.

Yeah, like makes the intolerable tolerable. Yeah, exactly. So that's kind of like instead of maybe examining the relationship, I mean, you can look at the behavior or the substance use or the drinking or whatever and ask like what is it doing for me. But you could also look at like examine everything else in your life and be like what isn't working for me. Why am I, what am I avoiding? What am I avoiding feeling? So how did you shift out of that? Curiosity.

Curiosity and spirituality, I think, you know, my girlfriend invited me to a yoga class and I had taken yoga before I actually took yoga as an elective in college and literally was like, who are these crazy people? Like I was like sitting in a straddle at the back of the class just texting. I'm like, fuck this. Like, no, I'm not doing this. And then, you know, I'm not doing this. know a girlfriend invited me to a yoga class while I was in the midst of all of this mess and it was

this coming home I had never felt that connected to my body before and I had never felt a sense of peace and relief that that being sober had like ever given me it was always like I had kind of almost felt something similar to that that like high from actually being high but I had never felt a like spiritual high before. Yeah. And so it was just getting curious. And once I had that like first taste of a yoga class, I started questioning how else can I get this?

So I started reading books in personal development. I started journaling and creating vision boards and having deeper conversations and stepping away from spending my Friday and my Saturday at the same nightclub in San Diego. and then waking up and having like Trader Joe's appetizers that are the frozen appetizers and mimosa's with my friends. So wait, that was like my life to a tea. Oh my God. The Trader Joe's. Oh my God.

The little, yeah. Like the Gioza. Yeah. Yeah. We used to, we literally would go to the nightclub on Friday. And it was, it smelled like, it smelled like shit. It was called basement. It's still around, actually.

And it literally smells like a basement. And we'd go there, get so blocked out drunk, go home. go home, wake up the next morning, and our hangover would be fed with Trader Joe's frozen foods, champagne, like cook's champagne, not good champagne. What's the other one? Like Arbel or something? Corbel. Corbel.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, either of those. And like a little bit of Coke. And then we would go to that same exact nightclub that smell like shit and do it again that same night. Like it was wild that that was my life for so long. That was before I met Corey. That was when I was in a really, really abusive relationship.

So I just send that girl, that past version of me so much love because she was just so lost. Yeah. So lost. But yeah, it was stepping away from all of those and opting instead for like yoga on a Saturday morning instead and spending my Friday night with my girlfriends watching Gilmore Girls or like creating art at the house. I was still smoking pot though. So I was smoking pot and like having like fun creative girls nights and arts and crafts and stuff and like would wake up on Saturday. Yeah, it's definitely lesser evil. And I would wake up on Saturday and feel good and we'd cook brunch and go to yoga and then go down to the beach.

And I was like, wow, this feels amazing. This is so cool. It was unlike anything I had experienced from like 16 years old to 20 years old. And I just kept like chipping away at that curiosity and continuing to get interested. in breathwork and meditation, eventually hiring a mentor and really just like diving into the spiritual lifestyle. And I'm just so grateful for that first yoga class. I'm so grateful for all of the mess, too, because had I not hit the rock bottom, I wouldn't have been searching for these tools. Yeah, it takes what it takes. And everybody's bottom is different, but I can totally,

well, I can relate to every single thing that you just said. It's so crazy. like I hear my story over and over again in recovery. Yeah. But like not that specific. Like that was like we would have been friends. Yeah. 100%. I'm always, I'm just, I'm impressed when I hear other people's stories of like what it took

them and then how they turned it around. I'm impressed that like a yoga class was kind of what changed the trajectory. Like for me, it was dying in a hospital. Yeah. Yeah. For other people, I know so many people whose rock bottom was just emotional. I really like hearing other people's stories, but at the same time, I think people kind of, instead of looking for ways to identify, they look for ways to like separate themselves and especially people who have substance use problems. Yeah.

You know, yeah. Yeah. You'd be like, well, my bottom wasn't that bad. Yeah. So I don't need to change anything. But I think it's just, you know when you've reached it. Right. Yeah.

And you also know when you're like, you're bullshitting yourself, you know, you, I think we can become our own greatest bullshit. shitters and if you have that feeling whatsoever of like maybe I should like reel it back a little bit that feeling and that voice inside is only going to grow louder and only going to grow louder and you can either be in service of answering that call and searching for a better way or you can continue to be in service of the voice of I mean what I think is resistance and fear and ego because that's where we play small, that's where we keep ourselves in the pain of whatever our existence is and whatever it means to settle or to just accept or avoid. So we can choose the path of, you know, stepping into our fullest expression, our greatest expression of ourselves,

or we can choose to continue being in pain. But we have the option and we're the only one that's going to make the decision for ourselves. No one else is going to make it for you, you know. Yeah. Okay. I kind of, I want to ask you, like how you would define spirituality because I think a lot of people confuse spirituality with religion or like even for me I would say I'm spiritual but not religious but I believe in God. Yeah. So people are like, wait, what? Yeah.

Yeah. I start crossing. Yeah. And when I told people on Instagram that you were coming on, I had some people sending questions like how how do I become? spiritual if I don't believe in God or like if I'm an atheist or if I don't understand religion. Like how did you get in touch with spirituality and how would you define that? Yeah.

I mean, I think that that's such a good question and I think it's a moving target for every single person. Just like, you know, hitting your bottom is different too. I for so long, I don't, I find myself exactly in the same. Like I think we're the same person. I think we're holding up a mirror to each other right now. But I find myself in the same boat where I don't find, I don't think I'm religious. but I do believe in God and I definitely think that I'm spiritual. And initially going into all of this, there was this resistance that I had that was like, wait, but I'm not religious.

I don't believe in God. Like, God would never have done all of the things that happened to me when I was a kid, had I, like, if a God existed. And I remember, like, so often I would be, like, crying in the shower, just, like, asking, like, why God? Like, if you're there, why? why and I mean now I realize that everything happens for a reason and that's why I'm here today but I think for someone that's starting their their spiritual journey it's asking like how do I feel connected how do I feel connected to to myself and to this place where it's almost hard there there aren't words to describe it I would say but this kind of like I said and when I experienced that yoga class this

coming home feeling that feels so natural and it's so authentic and and just feels so true. And I think we can find it in so many different ways, whether it's our meditation practice or journaling or walking on the beach and being in nature, staring into somebody's eyes and just having a conversation with them, we can find that connection. And for me, my spiritual practice is a daily, consistent practice of simply coming back to that space of knowing that like I am connected to absolutely everything. And so whether that means I'm connected

to the chair that I'm sitting on or I'm connected to my breath or I'm connected to my heartbeat or I'm connected to my angels and my guides and all of my past loved ones, whatever it might be, just coming back to that space of knowing that I'm connected, knowing that I'm supported and knowing that I'm guided. Because we can look at it from the perspective of that. I'm guided and I'm supported and you know I don't know why this is happening but everything happens for a reason and I'm sure one day I'll know why or maybe I won't and that's okay or we can look at it as I'm alone and no one's looking out for me and the weight of the world is on my shoulders and I'm responsible for everything coming to place in my life and I've been in that position before and it's fucking lonely it's so lonely

and it feels so much better to know that whether it's God or my highest self or whoever that I am supported and that I'm not alone and that there is purpose for any of my pain, there is purpose for any of my pleasure. Yeah. Yeah, and that is so important. I think the greatest gift of all of this, and I don't know if you agree, but it's being able to use the hard things that we've gone through and the struggles and all of that and turning it into purpose.

And everybody has that opportunity somehow. like we're not unique just because we have a platform or whatever there are so many ways to to use whatever you've been through yeah to help other people yeah I mean and I think I really am hoping that over this next year like a lot of us are going to start to wake up and realize that having a following or having a platform does not mean that you have like any more validation over what you're sharing and your life and what you're here to offer. In fact, I remember the first time that I like recognize this. I was at Mind, Buddy Green revitalized two years ago.

And there were phenomenal speakers talking about all these different topics. And some of them had little to know social media presence at all. And they were making such a big impact on me. And I realized at that point, I'm like, your following does not matter at all. It does not matter at all. You can still have such a powerful. message and a powerful purpose and an impact on so many different people, you just do it in a different way. And I mean, I think that a lot of us still do think that the only way to be

successful or the only way to have an impact is to have some massive following. And I just, I really hope that over these next few months in this year of 2020, we like get out of that mentality because I think it's preventing so many people from like really stepping up and shining their light that the world like desperately needs. Like for you to, hold back and not share your message or not share your story or not share your gifts means that you are like literally not answering people's prayers like people are praying for the support and the guidance that you can give and by holding back just because you don't have the ability to swipe up or whatever it might be is really just doing a disservice yeah and i i have that same hope and i think

maybe it's just my perspective but i feel like people are being more cognizant about where where they're putting their energy, who they're allowing in, right? Like who they're following. Like we have control over that and over what we see unless we like go on the explore page. Yeah. Which just don't do that. But and I think people are like people are craving. How do I put this?

I think people are like craving this feeling of relating to other people. I think like even though we're more connected than ever, we're more alone and like isolated than ever also and when people are following like just like Kylie Jenner and like all these people not to call her out and you know that's that's what you're feeding yourself and I think people are getting more conscious of that hopefully and following someone who they can relate to even if they have 500 followers or 50 followers or whatever like if someone's posting recipes that you like and they have 100 followers like keep you know like follow them you don't have to yeah you know you know One of the things that I've been really diving into is like the energy of what like the energy that we are creating in.

And so when you were saying that about like Kylie Jenner, like the Explorer page and stuff, there are so many people that are online just like creating from an energy of comparison and lack and just a not enoughness. And whether we like it or not, when we're looking at their photos, when we're watching their stories and they are sharing from that place, that's what we're absorbing to, you know? And so that's why I think you like when you are watching. someone's stories that's like really living in alignment and just like excited about what they're bringing to the world or just not like creating and cheering from a place of lack or doubt like you feel that you're like I want some of what she's having like give me some of that you know so I think that it's it's important that all of us recognize that when we are on social media like are we are we consuming content that not only is making us feel comparison but is likely

created from this element of comparison. And I don't like calling out too much stuff. But like, you know, the pages that are just like tagging fashion nova or whatever those brands are, like are those really supporting you and feeling good? Or are you just thinking, oh gosh, I wish I had that outfit or I wish I had her hair. Right. Or, you know, if that's, if those are the thoughts that are going through your head when you're on social media, you're walking away in a like fragmented state where you're feeling less than. Right. And it can happen so quickly. Like, I know for me, I'm very choosy, I guess, about who I follow.

There are people who I've followed since four years ago. And then, but, like, I've, I don't follow anybody who makes me feel worse about myself. Yeah. And, but all it takes is, like, seeing one thing. Like, it's so crazy how it can completely just change your mood in, like, a fraction of a second. Yeah. If you see, like, just anything that triggers whatever it is in you. And so, like, the fact, not to go off on a tangent, but that, like, there are young girls and women, like, who are following not to call out accounts, but, like, the ones that are just posting, like, gratuitous selfies and money and, like, you know, obviously not coming from, like, the greatest place.

It's just kind of heartbreaking. Yeah. I can't imagine, like, seeing that as a younger person and being like, well, why don't I look like that? Totally. I have that. Yeah. I mean, my little sister is 17 years old. She's autistic and is so connected to her phone because she doesn't know how to like have a conversation like that.

She doesn't have the verbal capacity to have this type of conversation. And so she feels most connected through her phone. But at the same time, all that she's seeing is all of these different accounts of women that don't look like her or people that are, you know, not showing up online. as like role models you know there's just because we all have the ability to like be a celebrity on social media that it's just different like I think about when we were younger like we had actual role models you know like we looked at I'm trying to think of like some actual role models that I had besides like Britney Spears I know um but you know like everyone you have access to everyone's life and so you can easily like romanticize these other people that are your age or maybe a little bit

older and think that the way that they live and how how they've presented themselves is like the end-all be-all and if you're not living like that you get yourself into this space of comparison or doubt or influence and it's like we were saying before we hit record you know it can be so nuanced too where we don't even know that we're walking away with this comparison or this lack or this doubt but then you know an hour later we start having all of this negative thoughts in our head and we're like how did I get into the space like where did this come from yeah and I think especially if you're kind of being fed that all the time and that's kind of your baseline like you might not even realize that it's impacting you because it's just constant yeah exactly so oh okay okay so can you

just talk about like the most impactful things that you did to like tap into your spiritual life yeah yeah so meditation has been the biggest and I know you and I like totally nerded out in our conversation about meditation and that was something that I had so much resistance to I literally was like maybe I'm just not the type of person that needs meditation now like I look back at that version of myself and I'm like how sweet how cute meditation and breathwork have been the biggest for me those are the two practices that I come back to every single morning and make sure that I do before I do anything else with my day and it just helps again support me and like connecting to that power within me and also just taking a moment to ask like how can I be of service today how can I live

intentionally today and from my heart space today. And rather than take five million actions that I don't know which one's working and which one's not, maybe take a couple aligned actions, work a little bit less, work smarter, and be more in tune with like what is actually fulfilling me in my personal life and in my career. So my meditation practice is, um, to sit down and to just visualize a like gold spotlight coming down over me and I almost as if like you can feel like yourself bathing in the sun like that feeling of like warm sun on your body I just like visualize that shining down on me absorbing it and I kind of just like make this visualization like that is me receiving the support of my guides and of my highest self and my intuition in the universe

and God like that is me receiving and I just take a moment to receive and in that space, I will silently say to myself, thank you for showing me how I can be of service today. And after that, I give myself anywhere from like 10 minutes to 20 minutes of meditation and whatever comes up throughout my meditation of different ideas and things that I can talk about on my Instagram stories or ways that I can support my private clients or podcast themes that I can move forward with. I'll get out of my meditation and write them down and search a journal for a little bit. Before I move into my meditation, I'll do some type of breathwork. I'm trained in pranayama, which is an eastern breathwork practice, breathwork practices and are really powerful ways for

just moving out energy from the body. And so I need to do that. Yeah. I mean, that's definitely where the most resistance comes in. For me, meditating is so easy. The breathing, because it's a little bit more action, I'm not just like sitting there receiving. That's when my ego will be like, you don't really have to do it today. But I know that when I'm not doing it. But I know that when I'm not doing it. I'm just like basically like stepping on the hose of like releasing energy of like whatever I've like picked up from other people throughout the day, especially like we were saying like living in LA. You know, I just absorb energy left and right. And so the breathward practice for me is really a way for me to release that energy. So I'm moving forward throughout my day with a clean slate versus

taking in whatever anyone else had like projected onto me beforehand. I need that so bad. Yeah. It's powerful. I have some videos on my Instagram. Okay. But those are the two practices that have, like, made me feel the most connected that I default back to every single day. And that has really allowed me to, like, step into that next level version of myself, you know, not the woman that plays small, not the woman that lets fear or resistance or her ego guide the way.

But instead, the leader, the healer and the guide and the woman that already has it all, the woman that feels really confident that's able to hold space for herself and for other people and really embodies the light and that abundance that we're all kind of searching for. Love that. Yeah, meditation is powerful. And I don't know if you feel this way, but like I, so I've only been doing it like a year and a half. Okay. But I've been doing TM, which I talk about all the time, which is 20 minutes in silence twice a day. And if I don't do it, I feel like off my rocker. Yeah. It's crazy. And I didn't do it today. but like it's just it's such a powerful way to start the day the question that I get all the time is well

kind of like what you said like I think people feel like well maybe it's just not for me I think people have a misconception right of like what meditation actually is yeah like you have to turn off your brain and turn off your thoughts yeah and not think of anything and like of course nobody is going to feel capable of that because that's like the function of your brain yeah to think and like you said like for me that's when so many of my creative ideas come and when I think like like I'm I'm given the answers to things that I can't come up with on my own and all about it's like such a time of receiving like you said so how should somebody try to start if they are one of those people that feels like I can't do it or maybe I don't need to yeah and they're just lost so my biggest thing

I think is that like one for hundreds of years ago, maybe not even hundreds of years ago, but a while ago, people didn't think that they needed to brush their teeth every day. And now if you don't brush your teeth every day, people think of you as a crazy person and you likely don't have teeth. And I think that 100 years from now, people are going to look at you as crazy if you don't meditate and if you don't take time for stillness for yourself because it is such a essential practice of like cleaning your brain and cleaning your mind you know and like you said it's a time when you're able to receive support and answers to things that you're not able to figure out on your own when you're just moving through your day like so caught up in noise and so I think

the most important part for people to know is that this practice is not just for the eyes closed experience it's really for your eyes open experience you are enhancing your life outside of your meditation cushion or your bed or wherever you choose to meditate. It's not about the 20 minutes or the 10 minutes or the five minutes. It's about the other 98% of your day. I mean, meditation itself, if you're doing a 20 minute practice once a day or twice a day, that's 3 to 5% of your day impacting your brain, which is responsible for 100% of everything that you're doing in your day. And so why would you not take that 3% of your day to help support the 97% of your day? And if you really struggle with the I can't sit still or I can't get my mind to turn off, just allow yourself to be compassionate about that because it gets easier. It does get easier. And then some days it's hard. You know, that's what it means to be human. We don't just have this like linear trajectory of like once we start on a path, everything is easy from that point forward. I mean, what part of your life have you actually experienced that to be true? So I think just understanding that you're

human and that some days you're not going to want to sit still and some days your mind is going to be moving a million miles a second but that's not the point the point is that you're carving out time to sit with yourself and if you can sit with yourself you can create space for anything in your life you can create space to process hard emotions you can create space to be creative and connect your intuition you can create space to feel things in a way to way that you may not have been able to feel before. And sometimes that's uncomfortable and sometimes it feels really beautiful. But we all need to do it. I mean, like at a certain point I was, I remember, I was like, I'm not going to like really push people to meditate if they don't want to.

And now I'm like, you need to meditate. You need to because there's so many things, there's so many benefits to it. I mean, we are in a constant state of fight or flight. And within the first 30 to 45 seconds of meditation, our bodies, our brain start to release all the feel good chemicals of serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin. And what we're doing is sending alkaline receptors throughout the body. And so all of the chemicals of like the stress hormones and like cortisol are getting sent throughout our body when we're in a state of fight or flight. And so when we take that time to meditate, we're sending the alkaline chemicals through

the body. And so that prevents aging. It prevents inflammation in the body, which then prevents disease. diseases and cancers. And so it's just, for me, it's such a no-brainer that anyone would want to do do this healthy habit for themselves. Right. It's like if you could take a pill that would do all of that, you would take it in a second. Yeah. No question. Yeah. It's just like taking a pill for 10 minutes, you know. Yeah. And you come to crave it. I know I do. Yeah. Because once you, once you experience that feeling like it's better than a nap. It's better than a cup of coffee. It's

better than like anything yeah that I can think of and like literally better than a nap and literally better than a cup of coffee yeah and more energizing yeah more it's just yeah yeah and like something that they say in TM but I'm sure this applies to all kinds of meditation is that like even if you do struggle because any everybody is going to like I have times where I'm like totally in the zone and times where my brain is just monkey brain and it's like did to it and like will not stop but they say, you know, you don't judge the meditation. You judge how you're, they don't use the word judge, but like how you feel after. Yeah.

And like it has tentacles, right? So like even if you feel like you weren't able to get into it and whatever, like maybe later on in the day, something happens and you're not like reactive. Yeah. Like knee jerk, you know? And so it affects reach everything. Yeah, absolutely. And my meditation teacher and the program that I went through,

It's called One Giant Mind. He shares that, you know, when anything comes up in your meditation, whether it's a thought or wanting to move around, it's actually just your body releasing any of the stress associated with it. And so good. That's a good thing. We want that to happen. Yeah.

It's like the inward strokes and the outer strokes or something. Yeah. Yeah. I think of that every time because it's crazy. Like your brain, I feel like especially in the beginning, isn't used to slowing down like that. Yeah. And I would notice, like, I would have the urge to, like, do something with my hands and, like, reach for my, play with my hair or, like, shift. And, like, it was just, and I would think, like, oh, this is just stress being released. And sure enough, like, it passes. And then you're, like, deeper. Yeah. It's so bad. Now I want to go meditate. I know. I'm going to this afternoon. I've been like, all right. I can do, like, three o'clock. If I do after four, it just keeps me up. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. You're not really supposed to meditate, like, after, like, five or six, I think, because then you're just going to be wired. the rest of the night. It's crazy. Nobody believes it until they do it. I know. Okay, so let's talk

about spirituality and business. So how did you get there? So by getting sick of my own shit, to be honest, I mean, like I said, I had this like hustle mentality. Once I entered the corporate space, that was what I was shown. Like, if you work hard enough, if you work enough hours, you will be successful. You will get the promotion. If you are the best, that's how you will be successful. And I didn't really realize until this past year that I had adapted that in my wellness business and in my career as a yoga teacher and with my podcast and my mentorship that I was running in 2019. And I realized that I had taken all of the energy and the hustle and the muscling through that I did in my corporate job and simply just applied it to my own business

and building my own business, which was great. You know, I was able to be successful. I was able to work with top brands. I launched my podcast. My podcast does great. I filled out my coaching program. Perfect. But it was still operating under that same way. And part of the reason why I didn't want to work for anybody else was because I didn't want to continue working in that same way. And so I, again, came back to that knowing there has to be a better way. And I think that that's kind of like the theme of my whole journey is that I'm constantly like in this state of there's got to be a better way for me to do this. And spirituality was really that answer to it. I realized that buying the webinar, buying the program, enrolling in the course wasn't actually going to bring me success. But the common

denominator of all of those successful launches and all of those successful entrepreneurs was the energy that they had behind what they were bringing into the world. Same exact thing as we were saying with like how people show up on Instagram. Are you actually excited about what you're bringing or are you bringing it into the world from the space of I should be doing this because I saw someone else doing this or I should start a podcast because everyone else is starting a podcast. We can get out of that mindset and instead come back to our meditation practice or breathwork practice or journaling or walking on the beach, whatever it might be, and ask ourselves what feels really authentically true and in alignment for me? Like, what do I get so jazzed up about and so excited about that I would, like, in a

moment as a consumer would buy this. And as a creator, I'm going to be so lit up about sharing this with my audience. And so I stopped focusing so much on the strategy of the business and building it and instead started focusing on the soul of the business. I hired a business coach that I knew was rooted in spiritual practices and energetic practices and decided to just like fully immerse myself in how she built her business and be supported by her in that way. And it has been honestly like life changing for me because I'm not operating from this masculine like do do do role anymore instead I'm allowing myself to like sit back and receive which was what I wanted all along and just like taking that first yoga class that coming home feeling I experienced it again

in my business and so I knew that because I had experienced it in my own business that there was an opportunity for me to share those same practices those same strategies so to speak I'm doing air quotes for everyone of tuning into your soul, tuning into your heart versus trying to just build a business out of like full on marketing strategy and because someone else created this roadmap of A to Z of how to get it done. Right. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like that's such a hard thing to to do now because we are able to see what everybody else is doing and how and it's like it's going back to the comparison thing. Like how do I not compare myself? to the next person who's doing something similar in the same realm.

But they did this and why am I not doing that? And why do they have this and that? And it's really hard to kind of detach from that, I think. Yeah. I'm curious to hear without you giving away, you know, all of your strategies, like what the most transformative things were, like the shifts. I know for me, like I got to a breaking point again. Like, that's how I operate.

I have to hit bottoms with everything before I'm. willing to make a change. And like I had a bottom, which I talked about a few podcasts back, or last spring. I was like, okay, I have to like sign with a big agency. And that's what's like going to be the next thing because that's what all the other influencers are doing and the ones that I want to do what they're doing and get the book deal and da-da and all of that. And I had this like in my head and they reached out to me and like we were interviewing and it was this was going to be it. And then they just ghosted me. And I was like, I mean, I still think it's rude. I'm like, you can just tell me like it's not a good fit but I like spiraled out because everything was riding on

that and and it it steered me though which is like the amazing thing right like I feel like um and I was talking about this with Shanae Alexander and another podcast where we were like the struggles in our life are like what guide us right yeah and that steered me into like a lot of meditation and a lot of reading and a lot of like conversations with other people in the industry and spiritual people and like my husband and realizing like that's not what's true for me like that's not how I operate that's not what my mission is like not and it like brought me home to the truth yeah so I'm curious like what how did you kind of shift how you were operating yeah before to now yeah I mean one I'm happy to share like anything because I like to operate from a place of abundance and I feel like

holding back on anything is just like feeling like this like me, me, me energy again. So I'm happy to share anything and always love sharing different tools and practices on my Instagram and on my Instagram stories and through my podcast too. But it was slowing down a lot, you know, just like you did, coming back to meditation and having really deep insightful conversations with people that I wasn't comparing myself to. and starting to turn all of my attention inward and ask for guidance inside of me versus look at what other people were doing. Because I found that so many times that I would and then try to like replicate what someone

else was doing and it wouldn't work out the same way that they did it, I'd be like, well, something must be wrong with me then. Right. And then I started to doubt myself. I started to find that I felt unworthy of success. And I think that when we get to that point, it's like, no, no, no, no, no. We need to, like, take a step back. And I think that's why it's really important for us to instead focus on, like, the energy

of our business and our excitement behind our business and the soul of our business versus trying to follow what someone else is doing because we don't want to get into that position of feeling like what is wrong with me because something didn't work out because that's not the case. It's just that we're not taking action from a place that's in alignment with our truth. We're taking action from a place that's in alignment with someone else's true. So again, it was getting really, really quiet and meditating a lot and journaling and getting to the bottom of one, why I was operating from that place for so long, recognizing that it was my intense need to control and my intense need to be in a state of action because that's how I felt safe and just allowing myself to release those beliefs and those stories that I had stored up from my teenage life. and decide to choose a path that felt much more in alignment with who I wanted to become.

And so I stopped reflecting on who I used to be and started asking myself, who do I want to become? And what is required of me to become that woman? What is required of me to operate a business that makes over six figures? What is required of me to hold space for a higher caliber of a client that's ready to really take massive action in our business? and make five figures a month, like, what is required of me to be that woman? And I asked those questions in my meditation practice, and I would journal afterwards, and I would write down who that woman was, how people viewed her, how I felt about success, how I felt about love and money and career.

And I realized that a lot of what I had been thinking wasn't lined up with those qualities and those characteristics of what I call Ava 2.0, my next level version of myself. And then from that point forward, it was intentionally making sure that every single morning when I woke up, I put on that version of myself. I would visualize myself putting on that woman. Like, I literally have like a Pinterest board with the outfit that she's wearing at the end of 2020. And like really, really had fun with it and got into this energy of like playfulness and lightness and allowed myself to lean into what it meant to build a business from a place. lightheartedness and not a place of muscling through but instead a place of faith and trust that I am being guided and I am being supported and the money is of course going to come and my work is

of massive value and I just kept showing up every single day being in service of that message, being in service of the women that I wanted to support and being in service of that next level version of myself and every single time that resistance would come up every single time and still comes up, let's be real. Every single time that it comes up, I ask myself, would Ava 2.0 be, like, how would she respond to this and checking in with myself? And from that point forward, it's the awareness and then taking action. Like, like I said earlier, you know, you're the only person that's going to like make the choice to change your life. And so if you know with pretty like sure clarity, whether something is in service of your past self or whether something is in service of your future

self, at that point, it's, it's on you to make the choice. And it's okay if you, you know, misstep along the way. Again, we're human. But the goal is to over time focus more on being in service of our future self because that's how we become her. Hmm. I love that. I'm going to visualize Ariel 2.0. Yes. I'm not even kidding. I am like so into this. Yes. It's powerful. It's so powerful because it's getting into a place of like feeling it in your body, you know? And do you follow any of Dr. Joe Dispens's work? A little bit. Okay. So, So when we talk about manifestation, it's not only just like thinking positive thoughts or like visualizing yourself, but it's actually also like feeling into what it would mean to manifest that thing. And so when we can feel in what it means to have the cookbook deal and like to be, you know, on tour and sharing all of these recipes and getting all of these DMs from people, which I'm sure you already do, that are like, oh my God, I love these cookies.

Like my family's so healthy now, whatever it might be to like feel into that and get really excited by that. we are literally breaking down electrons in the quantum field. And in the quantum field, all of these different realities exist. As Dr. Joe Dispenza says, I'm probably not quoting him in the best way, but the book is breaking the habit of being yourself for anyone interested. And when we can really feel into it, we bring our manifestation closer to us because we start to embody that reality. And the more that we embody that reality, the more that it becomes a reality.

And we don't have to worry so much about the how. instead we just have to worry about getting ourselves into that space every damn day. Like that is my priority every damn day to be that version of myself that already has all of the things that I'm manifesting. Powerful. I love that. Okay, so I'm curious how in business, like you kind of touched on it when you were talking about that, but like how you can still pursue growth and because obviously like you have

to have goals, right, of some sorts. So how do you have those without compromising the spiritual aspect of it? Yeah. I mean, I think that they don't have to be separate. Like, I think they can coexist together. We can still want to make $250,000 or $500,000 or $1 million and be spiritual. You know, there's nothing spiritual about being broke. And I think that it is having them both on the same page.

So we have our goals and we also have our spiritual practice because we know that the two, influence each other, you know, and knowing that, like, without our spiritual practice, without a practice of, like, connecting to ourselves on a daily basis, we likely will not be able to bring the goals to fruition, or it's going to take longer, or it's going to be a path of a lot of resistance. And so for me, my spiritual practice is my opportunity to take the path of least resistance towards all of my goals. And to also trust that I might not know the entire journey of how I'm going to get to those goals, but I have faith that if I stay committed to these practices and that I stay committed to being in service, that those are going to come to fruition. I have a question. Do you think that

our paths are already formed for us? Or do you think it's all predestined or do you think that we can carve our own? I think that we have soul lessons to learn in our lifetime and how those lessons are expressed are kind of up to the choices that we make. But overall, we come into this lifetime with carmic lessons to learn and to karma to rid ourselves of. And it's so funny because I've been asked that question on a podcast before. And I think I gave a very similar answer. I think that, yeah, I think that their lessons are what we're meant to learn. How we can express that, though, is dependent upon our choices. What do you think? I kind of feel like you do. I mean, I feel like you can either live in alignment with the universe or your higher power or your God or whatever, your spirit, you know, whatever you want to call them. You can live in alignment with that and you'll be guided or you can live willfully and not in alignment with that. And I don't know. I guess I'm not really answering it. It's something that I'm curious about which is why I ask. I mean, I think to a certain extent, like, like I think, to a certain extent, like.

like it's mapped out. Yeah. But then at the same time, like, obviously there are different twists and turns and you can look back on your life. That's the best thing. I think it's like looking back and seeing how like little things that happen have guided you to where you are. Totally. Yeah. I mean, I work with my clients and have them build out synchronistic lists and I'm like, write everything down.

Like even the shitty stuff that's happened, write it all down that you can recognize have guided you to this point. And I think it just really highlights that like even in the times when we are asking ourselves like what is going on, why is this happening, you know, what does this all mean? You know, as your example of like the management company last year, we can look at it as, oh my God, things aren't going as I plan or, okay, I don't understand why this is happening and it sucks. but I know deep down, like in the depths of my heart that there is a reason for this. And, you know, like I said earlier, to just be in that state of faith just feel so much more comforting than feeling like we have to do everything on our own. Yeah, I was going to say that's like something that I've learned to do over the past six years as to live in that faith. Even if I don't fully understand it all the time and it's constantly, my understanding of it is constantly evolving. Yeah.

But just like you can either be in fear or you can be in faith. You can't really be in both. Right. Yeah. They can't exist in the same plane. Right. Love and fear can't exist in the same plane. Yeah.

And love, I mean, have you read a course in miracles? No. Okay. You should read it. Or do the lessons at least. But the first line, I'm going to butcher this, but it's, it basically says like that no, no fear is real and only love is real. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I heard that. I mean, I didn't say it right. No, I know. I've heard it before. That's the just of it. That's funny because I saw somebody else talking about a course in miracles like maybe six months ago and I was like, oh, and I read about it and I thought I ordered it for some reason, but I never got it. I have it on Kindle. Maybe this is my sign to do it. I have it on Kindle. Like when you're ready. Yeah, exactly. It's definitely like heavy reading material to get through in the beginning. Yeah, it's dense, right? Yeah. But I actually had someone on the podcast recently who teaches a course in miracles and I was like, so I'm about 3% through. course in miracles how can I like get a little bit more of that red and she was like start with the lessons first the daily there's 365 lessons and each day you read a lesson and like adapt that into your life okay that's manageable yeah I know I'm like okay I can do that okay so let's see if there are any listener questions that we didn't touch on I feel like we kind of did um okay how can I get in a

habit of starting my day slowly. Okay. That's such a great question. So it's a little bit easier if you work from home, obviously, because you have control over your schedule. But starting your day slow doesn't necessarily mean that you have to carve out an hour of time to yourself. You know, it doesn't mean that you have to follow the prescription that you see of a wellness

influencer on Instagram who wakes up in the morning, meditates for 20 minutes, then makes her matcha and does some stretches. Yes. And like, I mean, I feel very grateful because that's me too, except with my bulletproof coffee. But I realize that like most people don't have the leisure that we have. And so instead it's asking what does it mean to start your day slow? Sometimes that means not grabbing for your phone and being thrown into the world of like super fast speed, you know, not checking your e-mail. or not logging onto Instagram and instead waking up and allowing yourself to walk into the bathroom

and maybe taking a couple deep breaths before you brush your teeth or before you wash your face and staying disconnected for as long as possible because I think we throw ourselves into the digital world so quickly and that's why we think that everything is moving so fast and that our morning is slow or is quick and hectic and often what we'll find too and I know I did this this morning I woke up and grabbed my phone. I woke up at 7. And then like before I knew it, it was 7.40. And I was just scrolling on my phone.

And I'm like, it didn't even feel like 40 minutes. Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. And so being really mindful about how you wake up is an opportunity for you to really slow down and not just throw yourself and immerse yourself in this digital world that of course is moving fast because it's all at our fingertips. So I think it's one, knowing that like slow to. doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be an hour or two hour routine in the morning to disconnecting from your phone for as long as possible. And you can even challenge yourself. Like I remember my husband

and I when we were like really bad on our phones in the morning, we first started challenging ourselves by saying, okay, the first 30 minutes, I'm not going to check my phone. The first 30 minutes of waking up. And then after, you know, 630 or 7.30 I can check my phone. And what I found 30 minutes into my day is that I didn't even want to check my phone after that. So challenge your stuff. Like if you are in a relationship or even if you're single or maybe you have roommates, challenge yourself to wake up, you know, turn your alarm off or use an alarm that's not on your phone, like buy an alarm clock crazy. And challenge yourself for a week to give yourself to not check your phone for 30 minutes

before you wake up and see how that feels and see like how much one you can get done in that 30 minutes when you're not like checking your phone or checking your email or changing the song on Spotify and just like really being present with yourself because I don't think we actually need that much time in the morning. I think time time is wonderful. But when I was doing, I was doing a streaming meditation every morning, Monday through Friday and I had to be ready by 745 for that. And I'd wake up at 6.45. And I had so that was an hour to be like fully camera ready and also make my coffee and meditate and journal about what I wanted to talk about on the meditation. And so I really didn't need that much time.

But I was really intentional that that hour I wasn't on my phone. Right. And I was being in service again of all of these things that I knew filled me up in a way that allowed me to connect to myself and be present. Does that make sense? Does that answer? Totally. Yeah. And something that I've been doing is like when I get in bed at night to read.

to read and yeah when I get in bed night to read I plug my phone into the charger in the bathroom and I've been leaving it there I mean luckily my body wakes me up 630 every single morning on the dot so I don't need an alarm clock but like in the beginning I mean it was like it's like an addiction it was like a physical withdrawal a pull to go get my phone and then like and then I realized and something that I was struggling with was waking up at like five every morning and then not being able to fall back asleep and my phone would be right there so after 15 minutes of not being able to fall asleep I would just pick up the phone and then I'm off to the races yeah exactly so now that I have it in the bathroom I even if I wake up early I fall back asleep and it's like a totally different

thing like I'm not it has like a magnetic pull on my brain if it's near me yeah same thing like I can't meditate with it near me or anything yeah I think also one of the things that has been has been really helpful for me at least in the beginning is um making sure that that like if I am going to grab for my phone, whatever I'm grabbing for is going to be something really positive. So whether that's turning on, I have like morning affirmations that I listen to or I created my goddess's guide to the galaxy, which is a daily email, email series that is a positive message every single morning that was really made for the woman that goes into her email every single morning to make sure that at least you can. Yeah, exactly. At least you're like giving yourself some

positive messages to start. So that was like one of the things that was really helpful for me that, okay, if I am going to grab for my phone, let me at least be intentional with what the first thing that I'm looking at is. I'm not opening the email from somebody that I've been expecting. I'm not going on Instagram. I am going directly to read my own message that I sent basically sent to myself or putting on a meditation that is going to like start flooding my brain and my subconscious with positive

messages. Yeah. Yeah, and it's like there's always going to be people that need something from you and want something from you on your phone. And there's always, it's not going anywhere. No, it's not. It's not. Yeah. It's such a bad way to wake up. But it's so hard to break the habit. Yeah. But yeah, what you're saying is true. Like all of a sudden now that like I try to leave it in there, I'll go downstairs, make my macha, which takes five minutes and then meditate and all in, that's 25 minutes. Whereas like if I'm on my phone, like I can lay there in bed. And like, so. scroll the New York Times and then like go check Twitter, which is never a good thing. Like her news and like whatever. Instagram and then before you know it, like time on your phone is different from real lifetime. Oh yeah.

No, absolutely. And I think that's why like when we talk about slow, like people, I think people initially think like, oh, that means like how can I carve out more space and more time actually. No, it's just more intentional. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. One more question, which we kind of touched on, but for somebody who,

is feeling like totally out of alignment and maybe like doesn't really have a concept of like spirituality and all that what's the what is one thing that you would recommend to start? It's kind of a broad question. I mean I think meditation is great but not always the best gateway drug into the world of spirituality because it can be intense. And if you don't have someone to hold space for you or like guide you through what's coming up, you know we all have trauma from our past and usually in the beginning of a meditation practice some of that can come up whether it's remembering something or just like again having an impulse to do something

it needs to be expressed and released out of the body and that's why meditation is so beautiful but with that being said if you're way out of alignment and you're just like I need something I wouldn't say like start meditating right away like I think that having other points of awareness with yourself are more powerful to like hook you in and it's going to vary person by person so i think it's just taking a moment even as you're listening to this unless you're driving but just taking a moment and closing your eyes and like asking yourself what is it that like brings me to a place of feeling love or what is it that brings me to a place of feeling confident and when i think about my life where do i see myself six months down the road or 12 months down the road and how do i feel that

that in my body right now. Like what is the energy that I feel in my body? Because our body doesn't lie. It's a lightness that we feel, you know, from thinking about the things or dreaming about the things that really excite us. And tuning into when we can feel that lightness in our body, when we can feel that expansiveness of like hope and of faith and of trust. And when we can feel that in our bodies, we can kind of peel back and say, okay, well, like, how can I create this? How can I create this in my life? Maybe that means you feel inspired to drive down to the beach today and watch the sunset. Or maybe it means that you're going to pull out that pad of paper and your Sharpie and start to doodle tonight. Or maybe that means that instead of grabbing a drink after work, you'll get

a moktail instead and be really present with your coworkers or whatever you might be doing. I think it's the little tiny changes that we can make rather than trying to overwhelm ourselves. When we bite off more than we can chew, we end up just throwing it away altogether. Again, it's coming back to the, if I can't like stick to this huge new practice, then I'm a failure. And so I always tell people, you know, start where you are, use the tools that you have and do what you can. And from there you get to grow. And we constantly are up-leveling and understanding our new best. So as long as we can continue to do our best as that grows and grows and grows, then we are on the spiritual path.

You know, we are moving back into alignment. And when we're out of alignment, we know because our body hurts. We have those gut feelings, the cringiness or the thoughts when we open up our email that are like, I cannot work with this client anymore. I can't do this job anymore. So we know, we know when we're out of alignment. Yeah. And the moment that we start to tune in and close our eyes and find that stillness, our intuition will be like, ah, she's listening.

Yay. Okay, let's give her just a little bit of breadcrumbs. We won't overwhelm her with like some big psychic development or something, but we'll give her like a little bit of breadcrumbs to get her back onto her path of alignment. And the more that you say yes to that, the easier that it becomes and the more fun that it becomes and the more like, like I said, just expansive that life gets to be. Oh, so good. So how can people work with you? How can they find you? Yeah. I'm all over. Oh my gosh. I'm actually not quite as all over as I used to be. But my podcast is called The Alchemized Life. And I work with women one-on-one. I have a VIP coaching program and it's really for spiritual business babes that are ready to show up for their business and show up for their soul's purpose and get paid for

their gifts. Like I said, there's nothing spiritual about being broke. And I really have the intention with everyone that I work with, everyone that I talk to to to know that, like, they are so worthy of receiving a shit ton of money and manifesting absolutely everything that they desire because I've been there and I've felt the other end of it. And I know what it's like to move through all of those money stories and those beliefs and the unworthiness and the lack of confidence. And so being on the other side, 98% of the time, I'm just like, hey, let's go. Let's go ladies. So yeah, I do my VIP coaching program. It's all one-on-one. I also create different in-person experiences, whether there are smaller weekend retreats or long-term week retreats in different

locations across the globe. And in addition to that, I have my course Be Your Own Mentor, which is a really inaccessible way to experience my one-on-one work in a self-guided course format. It's 10 weeks long. The first five weeks are all about personal transformation and really getting down to the energy and soul level of why we're doing the work that we're doing. It's really great for either women that have no experience of a spiritual practice and want to dive into all of it, or women that have some experience and want to gain more tools. And then the second five weeks is all about career transformation. So really starting to wake people up to the fact that they are so powerful and create a career that they love, whether that means becoming an entrepreneur or simply

pivoting into a line of work that's in greater alignment with their soul. So that course is coming out, probably around the time that this episode goes live. Amazing. And where can everyone find you on Instagram? Oh, yes, at Ava Johanna and at The Alchemized Life. And my website is Avajohanna.com. And I link all of that in show notes. So everyone go down to the description if you can't remember all of that.

Yes. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for coming on.