Episode 21 transcript
00:05
Hi, good peeps. Welcome to the flexible neurotic podcast. You know that friend that you can call to ask anything? That's me. Dr. Sarah Milken. I'm known to my friends as the flexible, neurotic. What does flexible neurotic even mean? Let me be neurotic while I take out my golden shovel to dig deep for all the golden nuggets in the hottest topics, from parenting, to education to neuroscience, and maybe even some beauty secrets. So we can all start living more flexibly. Come join us for edgy conversations with rad moms. Innovative thought leaders and well being practitioners helping you find that sweet spot between chaotic and chill. If you're craving that sweet spot, grab your golden shovel with me. You will walk away with nuggets you can start using today. My good peeps. This is the next episode of the flexible neurotic podcast. I'm Dr. Sarah Milken, the flexible neurotic. Today I have a very cool guest. She is a mom and founder and CEO of unplug meditation the world's first drop in non religious meditation studio, author of unplug a simple guide to meditation for busy skeptics and modern soul seekers and the creator of the unplugged guided meditation app, and most recently a podcaster. She was recognized for her many years in the fashion magazine world as fashion director at Vogue also at Marie Claire and glamour. You might know her for her makeover, fashion and beauty segments on Good Morning America. CBS Early Show Oprah and the today show. Her name is Susie
01:59
shorts. Hi, Susie. How are you? I'm excited. I wasn't fashion director of I was an assistant. And then I was an associate. Okay, I went on to be fashion director. Oh, okay. But you know, I'd like that I like I like the I'm just correcting because I literally started at the bottom now. We're amazing. And amazing. A lot of people in this world now are just like, starting at the top. They're like, I want to do this. I'm going to do this. And then they do this. Yes, for sure way was like you start at the bottom, and then years and years and years and years and years, and then you get to the top.
02:45
I know we're going to talk about that because I can't figure out where the self recreation journey is in that because sometimes I'm like, this is my thing. I can start here. And then sometimes I'm like, Oh my god, I'm starting over again. I'm starting at the bottom and we're gonna have to talk about that. But first I want to say, you know, we're always talking about synchronicities these days and small worlds. So Susie and I share some common friends. We live in the small world of Los Angeles and our kids went to sleepaway camp together. I called Suzy in late August, and I was getting ready to launch my podcast. I wanted to talk to a successful female business owner who had experience in brands and Instagram. She could not have been more receptive and supportive. She made me feel like I could do it. Suzy asked me great questions. It made me think about what I was doing. Get ready. We're going to talk about a million things meditation why meditation, how meditation can help all of us and how using meditation and building meditation practices. Help Susie self recreate in the second half of life for a magazine editorial makeover expert to meditation, unplug founder, take out yourself recreation golden should shovels out. We are going to dig deep with Suzy. So here we go. I love that. Susie, I'm so happy you're here. Okay, so you worked in the fashion magazine business. You were not the fashion director for Vogue. But you were the fashion director for glamour. Can you tell us what that was like and what the pace of that felt like and how you felt in that.
04:27
I really did start from the bottom actually started with Giorgio Armani. That was my first real job after college. And I worked as an assistant to the PR director. In those days, we would literally have the celebrities like Glenn Close come into our offices like our little showroom. And I would just like dress her. Wow stylist that was no middleman there was like, you know, Lauren Hutton. Like everybody came in at that time. And it was just Like they loved our money. And then he left to go to Barneys. And he said, you have a call in the private room. So I pick up and he goes, area want to sue me? I'm like, Yes. And the person that be here tomorrow morning at 10 hung up on me. I'm like, Hamilton, who was that? He said, that was candy Pratts price, the accessories director of Vogue magazine. All right, we need to get you dressed, we need to do the whole thing. He put me in high heels. He told me exactly what to wear, what to say, the whole entire way. And Gosh, I went in on that interview, and I had great experience with candy. And then I went to go meet Anna Wintour, who was interviewing every single person who would get accepted into vogue. I don't know if she still does that. But at the time, she didn't.
05:46
Were you just having a surreal moment. Like I wasn't as
05:50
intimidated by her at that time, because I know her as well, as I started working with her before her. So I walk in there and she's like, perfection, you know, perfect hair, perfect glasses, perfect outfit. And she said, Who are your favorite design designers? And because I was doing these editorial reports, I knew every single editorial boards where I would open up the magazine and see how many times Giorgio Armani was credited versus Ralph Lauren Chanel visa, like all those So
06:22
you knew your shit.
06:24
I did, because my job was to really kind of see who was getting what kind of credits etc. So I looked at her and I looked her up and down. And I went, like literally mentioned every single thing she was wearing from her earrings down to her sheets as my favorite designer. And I think she was like, impressed by that. What do you love to do when you're not working? And I was really unprepared for that. Because the truth was, I was never actually not working. I was like going in really early, working really late. They passing out and doing it again. But I you know, gave some kind of soundbite that apparently worked because I got the job at Vogue and that's why I started as Kennedy's assistant. When I was an incredible job. There were stylists like grace Coddington, Andre Leon Talley Callie melon, Carlene surf to do them, you know, was just unbelievable. And I loved it. I loved I loved the whole experience. It was intense. It was crazy. It was a lot like the movie, but maybe even more crazy, because we were living late. We got a free dinner.
07:34
Oh, you were living in New York City, with your husband. And I was not with the husband. Oh, that was not with the husband that that obviously you were so young when you started but then you but you spent a long time doing the magazine thing. Then you have a husband then you have three boys? The three boys were born in New York. Yes. Correct. And you were a full time working mom?
08:02
Mm hmm. And how was that? I've always been working Sarah, like I never stopped working. So I don't know what it would be like to not work. I think it's easier when like some people say it's easier. Some people will say it was harder. Fortunately, I had a job that allowed me to get help while I was at my job. Got it. So I was able to like work and not be worried. And that's a lot that says a lot. So I think in some weird way, when you're working on something you absolutely are so passionate about and love. And you have three kids, I was really present for both. So when I was at work, I was at work when I was at home, I was at home. And it was like never so
08:42
you didn't feel guilty?
08:44
No, I didn't. I felt lucky.
08:47
Yeah, I know. I've talked about that in this podcast with my you know, my mom being a full time career woman like people are like, well, how was that for you with all the other moms not working? And I said, I don't know. Because I don't know anything different?
09:00
Yeah, my mom worked too. So for me, it was like, my mom always worked. And I always worked.
09:05
And it was so weird for me because like I've said before, I didn't expect not to work. And so it was sort of like this transition mode of like, wait, I'm going to be home with my kids. But like, what about their career? And I guess for me, I felt like you can do it any different way you want. It's just finding what's gonna make you happy because you never want to be in a place where you always feel like you're you wish you were somewhere else, right? We know my mom didn't feel guilty just like you. She's like, I have her career. I love it. It's meaningful. You know, my kids are being well taken care of. And I'm going to do both things and I'm going to be okay with that. Yeah. So how did you how did you get from fashion magazine fast pace executive makeover queen to Los Angeles. to unplug. I got I have to have you unpack this cell free creation journey.
10:00
What happened was I had this dream job by the end where I was on television about five days a week, you know, doing makeovers covering red carpet, traveling the entire world covering collections. It was really unbelievable position as I was at the end, the executive fashion editor at large for glam, and a regular on the Today Show. Good morning, America. Oh, boy, I did all the shows. It was fun. sounds fine. It was and I was out here for the Oscars. I was dressing Robin Roberts, who's an anchor for Good Morning America. And I had like five hours. So I called my friend Joe Flanagan, who's an actor, and he and his ex wife, Catherine Kizzy, who I love to both live in Malibu and their three kids were running around a tree, and in heaven, and I looked at them, I'm like, Oh, my gosh, my three kids are climbing the walls, and the man had an apartment. And his three kids are running around, like free. And so as a joke, I said to my husband, we should move to Los Angeles. Two weeks later, he gets a phone call from someone who says there's a job in Connecticut. And as a joke, he said, Well, easier to get my wife to move to LA. Oh, really? I didn't know you would move to LA. There's a great job in Los Angeles, no way legend named Eli brode, who I think you know him. The breath was amazing. So marks like, wow, I would love to meet him. Let me just interview for him. So he flies out to Los Angeles. He interviews for Eli really likes him. He comes back. He's like, we should do this. Now. I'm like, What are you talking about? At this great job, my family's here. My dad had just died, like a few months before that. My mother moved to New York City to be near me again. Oh, wow. Like, what do you mean? And so go to work that day. And I'm talking to one of the editors who's 60 years old at the time, and she's like, don't be me. Do not do the same job over and over again for the rest of your life who do not want to be me. You should try something new, you should take a chance. I have regrets because I never did.
12:09
That's so interesting
12:10
was like, Whoa, that is huge.
12:14
It is huge. I had a conversation the other day on clubhouse, and there was a woman talking about that exact thing of how do you leave something that seems perfect and ideal for something else when you absolutely don't have to. And she sort of described it as like in a Marie Kondo way like you bless that job, you bless that experience, and then you move on to the next thing. And I thought, wow, and that's sort of what you're describing right now. We who said that, I love that. I'm going to find out for you. I'm going to look back at my notes. It was amazing.
12:44
So for me, I said to my mom, how would you feel if we did this? My mom's like, you'll go for five years, you'll be back, I'll come visit you don't no guilt, just go for it. What a cool mom, she I have the coolest mom in the whole world. And so it's like, I could be exciting to try something new, you know. And then I just did it. And my husband asked me to quit my job. So I had no job for six months, I was like, trying to like deal with putting my kids in the schools and understanding the whole flow. I was not a driver. So like also kind of learning how
13:24
I can only imagine and LA traffic. And so
13:30
I did it. And after three months of being a stay at home mom, I was being invited for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was getting fat. I was talking to moms about other moms that weren't even at the table. I'm like, why are we talking about other people like I'm here with you this field, it didn't feel like it just didn't feel like what I wanted to be doing. And I was talking to this beating store on Montana. Oh my gosh, I remember that all the time. called, like, semi precious. The woman's name is Amy. And I'm like sitting there beating bracelets calling my mom and there was one thing at the school where they had us kind of bubble wrapping casseroles and I said, I am sitting in your bubble wrapping casseroles. And my mom said, you need to go back to your right eye. But
14:18
the thing is, because I've been on both sides. People have to remember there's no judgment in that. Not that you're too good for it. It's just that's not what you were used to or what you had sort of signed up for. Because there are some people because believe me, I was like miss school elementary school. I felt like I lived there. I needed my own parking space there. But at the same time, like the moms would come in who were working and I was like, Oh my god, she's so lucky. She's so well dressed and put together and she's going to a meaningful job. And I'm standing here like collating papers or making brownies or whatever. But I felt like The grass is always greener on the other side. And then there were the working moms who were like, Oh my god, I so wish I could like host the holiday party. Yeah,
15:09
you're right. You're so right. Because there were certain moms that were just like, my ideal mom, that I really like. Michelle O'Brien is an example of my ideal mom. She just like, always looked good. her kids are amazing. She was like, the one making all those dishes all the time organizing every single vessel, making everything look gorgeous. I'm like, how do you do that? Right? Like I? That wasn't me.
15:38
She was creating in her own way. Yes. In her. Like, how do you do this? Yeah, I couldn't, I was never that I was like the helper bee. I was never the, you know, developer of the idea. The only thing I did have in my domain was that I was in charge of all of Halloween for the private school that my kids went to. And that was like, my big week, or like, that was my job decor, all of it. And like after a few years of that, I'm like, I think I'm retired.
16:07
Well, when you were describing the flexible neurotic to me, I loved it so much, because what you said was, I'm the person that does like all the reset search. moronic? I find that he answered every little thing. And then everybody comes to me and just like gets the information and doesn't. Yes, that's kind of what I was doing. I was finding the moms that were like you, who were the incredible researchers and found the best of everything, and basically like asking them what to do, because I had no idea. And I was learning from them. And I was just, I never felt good enough until someone as a mom, in that situation. Yes. Until Michelle Bryan said this to me. Because I'm I remember, I was working in the beginning. And she was like, and I missed the game or something, one of the soccer games and one of my friends who was like, not even playing Right, exactly. And I felt horrible. And she said, Susie, a 90% is still in it. You can screw up on 10% of parenting and still get an
17:10
act. That's so good. I mean, that's sort of the flexible, neurotic, it's like, I'm gonna get some of it right. And I'm not going to get other parts of it. Right. And I have to be okay with that. So I love that it made me think because yesterday, I was on the phone with Jake's advisor, high school advisor. And we were talking about like, courseload in AP classes and all this stuff. And I said, No, no, I told Jake, he has to drop one of the APS. And she was like, Wait, what? And I said, Yeah, I am not having him be a complete and utter stress case for junior year. And she said, I totally get what you're saying. But most parents aren't saying that most parents are saying no, no, my kid has to get the take these classes. And I just felt like, it's sort of like what we were talking about. It was like, You know what, 80% of doing the courseload. That's college bound. That's enough. For me, that's enough for him. And it's not always the most popular opinion. But I feel like you just have to find the middle sometimes the sweet spot, otherwise,
18:10
it's too much. And I think you're right to where when you think about like stay at home parenting and working moms, the kids are going to be the kids that they're going to be totally whether or not their mom stayed home or work. Kids have their own personalities, kids are going to make mistakes, kids are going to do things that are unpopular, they're going to do things that embarrass you, they're going to do things that make you so proud, we're going to have the whole spectrum, all of it. And it doesn't matter if you did this. Or if you did that. I've seen the best parents on the entire planet with kids who've like made bad decisions. And the worst parents on the planet with the kids that's made the best decision.
18:54
It's like, when therapists have kids with all sorts of issues. You're like, Wait, how did that happen? You know, I think it's smart. Because I feel like we have to sort of, you know, not judge and let everyone live in their own lane. everybody's having a different experience in the same life. And it's so easy to sit at a lunch table and judge other moms or sit at a lunch table and be a middle schooler and judge other kids and not let other kids to sit down. And I always just say to my kids stay in your own lane, stay in your own lane and it goes for moms and parents and women and all of us.
19:31
I think the key is to just open your arms and accept at all like someone was saying, Okay, how are you going to do this? reopen your studio with COVID restrictions. How are you going to you know, are you going to have the anti maskers come in or do you have people with mass come in, you know, because in my community, I have both. I like double backs and are hardcore on that end. I people who really are anti vaxxers and At the end of the day, I just have to open my arms and love them all, and have no judgment. And I think having no judgment is the key to everything because we all are here, and then we all go here. And then we all go here. Like, life is like,
20:17
I know. And I say to my kids, I'm like, karma is a bitch, you know, like, put out into the world what you want to get back. You know, my daughter came home from school yesterday, and she was telling me how this kid was being so mean to this other kid. And I was so heartbreaking for her that she's sort of like, stood next to the other kid to try to, like, absorb some of it. And she was so upset by it. And I was like, okay, at least I have a kid who's not being mean, most of the time, you know, right. And all we can do as parents is do our best. That's it. And you're right, kids are going to make bad decisions and bad choices. And I talk to my kids about that all the time. Like, we're all teenagers, I was like, Jake, you have your license. Remember the story I told you about my brother driving on a rainy night, and my dad said, Be careful. And somehow my brother ended up with his car in somebody's front yard, you know, like, we all have these crazy stories. So I want to know, you come to LA, you're not working for six months, you're going bananas, you want to get back to working, what happens,
21:23
I go back, and I get a job working for Lord and Taylor doing all the text, the TV commercials, writing them, starring in them, creating them, helping them with their creative directions, and stores and like, marketing, all that stuff. And it's great. And then I'm going to New York, and I'm kind of freaking out because I'm leaving my three kids that I have never left in LA without me. And I didn't have the support that I had when I was in New York. So I was really worried. And I started like, almost hyperventilating. And my mother in law said you need to breathe. And I said, What's that? And she
22:02
find that we hold our breath a lot. It's weird.
22:06
So she guided me through a three minute breathing exercise where I slowed down my breath. And I visualized myself in Jamaica. And after those three minutes, I felt incredible. And I said, What was that? And she said called meditation you should learn how to do it. So when I came back to Los Angeles, I started Googling places to meditate. And it was three, What year is this? This is 2012. Okay. This is like, yeah, two years after I moved to LA.
22:38
So is this like before meditation is like, part of like, the daily ritual. This is like, wait, it's so Whoo, I don't get it. I don't understand that this
22:48
was the old world where you'd have to go to a guru with flowers and fruit and get your mantra and your day experience or the six weeks UCLA program or retreat, sir. It was just that simple. Yeah, not accessible. So I started taking all those courses. And then I had an aha moment like, this needs to be like the dry bar, where I can go in, it's clean. I know, I've got a good Pro. And in 30 minutes, I feel fantastic. And I can leave. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I wonder if that exists. So I start googling, you know, places to meditate, like studios to meditate. And all I find are yoga studios. And I'm like, there's not one meditation studio in the entire world that's just devoted to meditation that has classes like a yoga studio. And I'm like, I should do that. So I go home to my husband. And I said, you know, there's not one meditation studio in the entire world. I want to open up a meditation studio. And it'll be like the best teachers, white on white on white walking into heaven. And it'll have everything like she gets, you know, like a metaphysical store. But handle is insane. Oil without the dirtiness of it. Yes. And he's like, don't you think that if it was a good idea, somebody would have done it before? And I said, No. And then he said, Well, don't you think you should learn how to meditate first? Okay, so like, I'm gonna learn how to meditate, then I'm gonna open up the studio, and you're gonna see. So at the time, I was still doing stuff for Good Morning America and different TV shows. And I was kind of talking a lot about what Kate was wearing on the red carpet, you know, before she got married, actually. And I was taking all these different courses. And as GMA kept calling, I was like, I can't do this segment because I actually have of course that you sell like, I can't do this because I do and then all of a sudden, I realize I don't want to do that anymore. I want to do this. So I I called up one of the smartest people I know, which is this woman named Jennifer chef. I don't know if you know her, but she I do know her actually smart. And I said, Can you help me with business plan because my husband said I had a business burned. I have no idea how to do it.
25:14
But let's tell the listeners what your husband does for a living because it's similar to mine,
25:19
the financial guys. So he basically helps people manage their money and manage investments. He's so smart. He's just, yeah, he's a bit but he's like structured. He's
25:30
finance. He's not woo woo, he's not gray. It's like black and white, because I've lived with one of those. Yeah. And you and I like border between black and white. And Whoo, oh, yeah. You know, it's like we dance between the two. So he must have been like, Suzy, what's happening here, you know, he
25:47
was actually really cool about it. So he's like, here's the deal. This is how much we can afford to lose. Right? So I basically had to come up with a certain amount of money. And I basically did. And I was so frugal, I was changing, exchanging my closet fashion makeovers for legal advice. I was getting free graphic design for training people how to be on television. And I was kind of bartering all of the skills that I had to help me move this thing forward and not spend any money.
26:24
That's a great point for listeners who are trying to start something new. It's about using the resources that you have, and your own internal resources to help other people in trade.
26:34
And then there was a mom who said that their daughter was really interested in business. And she had heard that I was doing a startup monitoring work with me, and I'm like, I'm not even sure I'm definitely going to do it. She's like, please just take her for the summer. So I said, Okay, great. So she worked with me for free for a summer because she was about to go like into her junior year. And I said, drive up and down 10 mile maximum for my house, like 10 minutes maximum for my house, and see if you can find a space. And she found what is now unbutton, meditation,
27:06
the locate, which is right near my house, yes.
27:08
which turns out to be the greatest location in all of our lives. So good. So anyway, so that's kind of how it started. That's how the whole thing started. It just was an idea. And I could think of nothing else, but this and I was like, I have to do this. I didn't even know why I had to do this. It was just like, this huge idea inside of me. And I couldn't stop until I got it done. And that was there was no negotiation on that.
27:38
So that's how you knew that magazines and TV shows for magazines, like it was done. You just had this feeling of, I don't even want to be there anymore. Yeah, but you had never planned on ever leaving it
27:52
not just interested now. And then I fell into this. And then pretty soon I realized, I'm on all the same TV shows, good morning, America today show all the different TV shows, talking about this. I'm writing books, I'm doing things like it's still it's there's a lot of similarities, though all the editors from New York coming to LA and then they're coming to the studio because they want to see it. And then they're reading about it in vogue and all the different magazines. So it was like, just this amazing thing. And every person was asked to work at the studio. Because I was asking these top teachers, which is like, yeah, I want to be a part of this. This needs to happen. I'll do whatever you need. They don't care about money. They didn't care about anything. They just cared about the cause. And they want to spread meditation as far and wide as they could. Especially there was one person in the beginning named Steve Ross, who owns a studio. Oh my gosh, I
28:51
used to take yoga with him at Maha yoga.
28:53
Oh my gosh. So he was a great meditation teacher. And he was unbelievable. He was the first person I reached out to he loaned me his studio manager named Susie chef when she I mean, not Susie Chaplin, the other CV. And she came and she helped me set up everything because I had no idea what I was doing. I went to this thing called Mind Body University, which is the mind body platform where you book they had these University things to teach you how to use mind bodies. I went to New York and did that for four days. Like I basically taught myself everything as I went along. And I met this woman who worked at a store across from the Brentwood school, and it was this like resale store and I'm like, how do you sell something like how do I buy this and then give me my credit card? How does that work? She's like, come back here and she showed me exactly how to swipe the credit card and do the whole thing.
29:49
I love how granular you are because that's like what this podcast is about. It's like specific things right in the self recreation journey that seems so Straight forward, but they're not. It's like you don't know how to swipe a credit card. I don't know how to like, do a tattoo, you know, plug the microphone in properly when I first started the podcast, but that doesn't mean you don't do it.
30:13
And that's what I love about you, because I also heard you talk about this sort of concept of learn as you go, right? So she told me that she's like, don't worry about it, as you go, you're gonna have to learn all these things. And she was right, I was the front desk, I was parking cars in the back of the studio, at some point, I was doing sweeping the floor, I was plunging the toilet, I was hiring the teachers, I was creating the website, I was, you know, I was doing every single aspect of this business. And basically, everybody who's worked for me has gone from the bottom, starting at the front desk, and work to the top. So I really think it's important to know all the aspects.
30:56
I agree with you. I mean, even with my podcast, I mean, I don't necessarily edit out all the coughs or sneezes in the in the Five Guys, because doing some very specific editing work would be almost impossible for me. But who knows, but I do so many of the aspects of the quote podcasting job that people are like, That's amazing. And I'm like, I had no idea what I was doing six months ago, remember when I called you I was like, I'm starting Instagram, I have zero followers, I don't even know how to post Instagram, I don't even know how to get followers. And I think that that's what's so hard about this self recreation journey. It's like, we get so focused on what we don't know. And we and we don't know what the outcome is going to be. And we don't know the steps to get there. But it's being okay with the unknown and being okay with. And I'm not saying you have to sit around and you know, think that you're manifesting things to come because you have to put the work in for manifest manifestation to happen, you know, you can't just sit in your house, and hope that things are gonna happen. It's all these tiny little steps, like you walking into the clothing store and saying, Can you show me how to swipe the credit card? And I love that, because it's so specific.
32:16
Well, I also feel and I think I told you this in the beginning, that the best way to do this is to literally go on YouTube, and search. I'm a visual learner. So for me, that was the best Yeah,
32:30
me too.
32:30
How do I do this? How do I do that? How, and then you find these people that are incredible. And pretty soon you start taking their courses. So I've taken I think, four really impactful courses that were not about meditation, but more about business. One of them has been the Louise Henry, up level with Asana course, that was unbelievable. I've now put my entire business on Asana and so much more organized. Because
33:00
I chose the air table over a SATA for like for now, because I felt like Asana was not intuitive for me at the beginning. So I was like, Okay, I have to find something really fast. But I'm gonna go back to it because I know people love it. I took
33:12
her course. And that made it so easy. And then I took another course with her about Squarespace. And that has made it so easy. And Instagram course with a woman in capital. I know
33:25
I took that because you told me to.
33:28
Yeah, that was so well. She's amazing. And then I did the Harvard Business School online strategy execution. And I took that six week course, which is fantastic. So I keep taking courses. But one of the best ones that have done was there was a guy when I started launching my app, I realized, I didn't know anyone in this biz, in the tech business, no one. And his name is Steve p young. And he calls himself the app master. And he had all of these incredible videos on YouTube. And he was having a two day retreat in Los Angeles. And I called and I gave my credit card, and I did it. And it was different types of people in there that I normally would never have met. And I learned so much. And he really helped me structure it so that Apple would know that we existed. And then I actually went to Apple and then Apple invited us to go to Apple entrepreneur camp. So we lived at Apple for nine full day's which was unbelievable. It's amazing. It's all because I found Steve p young on YouTube. So that's the thing. We don't know what we don't know. Things will constantly be coming up and we will have to like master it. And when you look back at yourself in business, you'll realize that your favorite part is not the business itself. It's learning. It's learning that you are capable. Trouble of doing all of these things that you had absolutely no idea.
35:05
I couldn't agree with you more,
35:07
you now have a whole new vocabulary, you have a whole new network, you have a whole new skill set. And who cares about what we do? And if it's successful or not, I mean, yes, it's important than it is. But at the end of the day, it's really about the relationships we make the people that we meet, and how we feel about ourselves.
35:28
Yeah, and I also think, going back to the synchronicity thing, it's like, you talk to this person, and that person introduces you, the next person, then another door opens, another door closes, you're upset about it. But then something else pops up. And it's sort of figuring out how to be comfortable in the unknown, and saying yes, sooner to certain things. I remember when I was interviewing Pamela Salzman, she said, You know, one of the things I wish I had done was say yes sooner to teaching that cooking class, because teaching that cooking class that I was so scared of, at the beginning, was the beginning of the next journey for me. And so had I done it earlier, it might have been different, right?
36:09
I'm a firm believer in saying, Yes, I love it. Because I'm so passionate about what I do that it almost doesn't even feel like a job. meditating every single day is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. The fact that I've locked it in and made it a habit, it's changed my life. The fact that we have this teacher training program, where we're training people from all over the world, we had a woman from Hong Kong, just take our course. Now, she's spreading meditation in Hong Kong, he's spreading meditation in Ireland, we have someone doing like, it's just, it's amazing, the ripple effect of this company, that I feel like I'm a part of, and it's not just mine, it's really all the teachers who've ever come into it. And, and all the people who've helped me, the teacher really make it amazing. The ripple of this is just, it's so huge. And the more people meditate, the better the world will be. I firmly believe that.
37:11
Now I've heard you talk about the ripple effect in terms of meditation and how it's changed your life and how you can sort of choose your ripple.
37:22
Can you talk about that, because I just love the way that sounds? Well, I believe that secondhand stress is real. And I believe that when someone's stressed and they walk into the room, they can cause us stress. I believe that stress and we walk into the room, we can cause stress for everybody else around us. So are ripple really matters. We're affecting not only ourselves, but we're affecting everyone else. And stress is like chronic stress causes chronic illness. It's a fact it is a fact chronic stress is the worst thing that you can do to yourself. And it doesn't have to be that you do not have to walk around like that. What we teach it unplugged are simple techniques that help you move away from chronic stress, and access, calm and stillness inside of yourself. And then that ripples out calm and stillness. And when you feel calm, and when you feel present. You can actually do more, you can feel better, you can think clear, and you feel happier. And the people around you want to be around you because you make them feel good. Because you build that and it's got that ripple.
38:45
I know even it's like a you even think about like your kids like when I pick up Marin because she's not driving from school. Like if she if I'm on a call in the car, and I'm stressed like she can feel it. It's like an automatic thing. And so I've been really trying to like compartmentalize it's hard, especially in this past sort of like pandemic zoom, you're, where you're working, where you're sleeping, where you're eating, where you're living, I really had to think about meditation and separate myself, like in my bedroom and take that few minutes because all of us were in the same space all the time. And like, you know, she would be you know, in a tiff with a friend or Jake would be screaming on video games or whatever. And there was this just this energy in the house and I'm like, Oh my god, I have to like take a minute before a heart attack in here
39:34
was There's a famous yoga expression, and I don't know how to say it in Sanskrit. But David g talks about all this. Oh, I
39:42
love David g is the best voice ever. It's
39:45
a fantastic teacher and he's actually a head of our teacher training program. So for me, that's one of the highlights of my life and two times a year has been game changing, but He always talks about this one thing in Sanskrit. And then translates it to this in English is from the Bhagavad Gita and I always pronounce that is called what meditation is. and meditation is really about establishing yourself in the present moment. And then taking action, hmm. establish yourself in the present moment. And then take action. I love that because I love what you need to do in our life is you're in the car and you're on the phone, you're not present for the person in the car for you. And when you're not present for yourself, and when you're not present for others, and you're driving, you might miss the exit, and even more, you're going to miss moment. So you really need to try to be present in everything that you do. So right now, I'm present. And I'm here with you. I'm not thinking about what's after this not thinking about you're
40:59
not checking your phone.
41:00
No, because I'm enjoying the present moment. Right. And the present moment is really like where everything gorgeous happens.
41:09
I know, I think we always think that we're missing something. And especially with social media, and phones and access, it's like you're doing something and then you like you find yourself looking back at your phone, and you're not where you thought you were supposed to be. And then somehow you're in like a scrolling rabbit hole of things. They're not even relevant to what you're doing at that given moment. When you have FOMO, you're actually missing out on the present moment. Totally. I agree with you. But I love this idea of the ripple effect. It's like your energy is affecting the next person's energy. And I know you talk about that even as being a leader in a company, that your energy that you bring to work is going to ripple through that often 100%.
41:53
And that's why for me, meditating, first thing in the morning is a non negotiable. If I don't do that, I know I have the tendency to move at 200 miles per hour. And I'm a taskmaster, I'll be like, did you do this to do that? You do? And then everybody scram. But you have a really nice sweet voice. So
42:15
it probably comes out nicely. Well, it's funny because I was writing about it. about this concept on Facebook, I think it was like four years ago or something. And one of my oldest assistants from glamours that I wish she was meditating when she worked. Right? I wish I was too sorry. Lexa Pope. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. And that's like my son, if you say to my son, the 16 year old like, oh, what do you think about your mom's podcast? He's like, honestly, it's amazing, just for the sheer fact that she asks me like three questions a day instead of 300. focused on what I'm doing right and what's at hand, and I'm not micromanaging him, he like has to sort of fend for himself. And he's not used to not being supervised every second, probably so happy. Oh my God, he's so happy. He loves that. Now, if you if someone were to say, Susie, I'm 40 something years old, I've been a mom or I'm in a job that I don't love. Like, how can someone visualize or just think about what else there is for them? Like, if you don't know you're an expert at this or at that, and you can't think of what that thing is? Do you have any advice for that? I
43:39
do. Look at what you're googling. Huh? What are you? What are you interested in? What are you googling? What's turning you on right now. And then sit in silence and see what pops up something may something might not. But the truth is, is when we think about the biggest ideas in the world, they don't happen when we're plugged into a computer. They happen like Albert Einstein is floating in the ocean in a boat. That's where his biggest ideas happen. It's more more unplugged. And when we are just giving ourselves some space to daydream. And that's kind of what meditation is for me too is it gives me the space to expand,
44:25
and you feel like there's an internal expansion framework. Well, they just won't pop up. That's a Do you feel like people will get frustrated if they're like, I'm meditating, I'm meditating and I can't think of what my next second half of life journeys gonna be like, what do you say to those people? And I say,
44:43
That's not what meditation is, yes, we're gonna have a million thoughts. Maybe your second life journey is to unsubscribe to some of the thoughts that you're having that are making you feel like you're not good enough.
44:55
I like that.
44:56
So maybe it's the editing negative self talk, maybe it's the beginning of creating some habits that will actually change your life for the better. Like for me, for example, I always knew I need to work. And I don't enjoy working out. Now I'm like that to working out has been the one habit that has been so difficult for me to just lock it in. But I recently figured out how to schedule it and do it so that it happens every day. And what I do is I wake up first thing in the morning, and I think about my prompts. So before I get out of bed, I put on my meditation mask and a plug in my app, and then press the meditation of the day and then do a 10 minute meditation. Then I put my feet on the ground, and I walk directly downstairs to my patio, where there's a yoga mat set up already for me, and I do this thing. It's this app that I love. Actually, there's a couple that I love, I love Beachbody on demand, which has great programming. And I love this other thing called the home gym, which is just like, really easy. And every time we do an exercise confetti pops up and
46:17
you're like, right, Lord, do you mean Well, that's the
46:20
thing we need to have that dopamine hit. So we have to celebrate the fact that we're doing things immediately. So right after that, I'll then go to my kitchen then we'll have a Shakeology, which I love so much the chocolate games. Oh, I haven't tried that. So good. I love it. And it makes me feel good. And I don't know if that's placebo or I might even matter. Do you drink coffee? I do.
46:46
Yeah, I have to have my coffee. I don't think I could work out before I had a habit stack. There's
46:52
a philosophy. There's two people. BJ Fogg wrote a great book called tiny habits, which I
46:57
know I just got it because you talked about it on Instagram is the greatest book,
47:01
listened to it. I think I said go to chapter five and start there. Okay, you're not a reader. But I think you'll love that book. Then she actually taught a class at Stanford, James, Claire took one of his courses and then wrote atomic habits. I have that too. That's on my nightstand. And that's basically about habit stacking. You have the coffee every morning. Okay, so put some habits before that so that you reward yourself with the coffee.
47:27
Do you want to hear my ding dong habit stack? I do. Okay, so I was like, God, I feel like I want to bleach my teeth. But I have panic about that sensitive feeling on your teeth from the bleach. And the dentist keeps reassuring me that it's not going to happen. But I know what's going to happen because all my friends talk about it. So I'm like, I don't even I can't handle that. So I got I had him make the bleaching trays rather than doing that like hour and a half whole thing in the office, which seems like such an aggressive treatment. And he gave me the bleaching gel. And you're supposed to refrigerate it. So I'm like there's no way I'm going to walk downstairs and get the bleach right out of the refrigerator. So I bought on Amazon, you know, like a $50 little pink, maybe it was less refrigerator that goes under my bathroom counter. I loaded up with the gel. And when I put makeup on every morning, I bleached my teeth for 10 minutes.
48:21
That's my habit stack. Okay, well, now you can do something with working out.
48:26
Yeah. Now I have to do the workout thing for sure. Because the problem is, is I feel like I never get to shower because the whole day disappears. So I shower before I work out sometimes I'm like at least I got the shower in, you know, he sits in. That's good. I agree with you. It's so much about creating habits, and they just take so long to create. Yep. But we have to stick with
48:50
them. Well, it's not about consistency. It's about actually celebration,
48:58
celebrating the small wins that you did it.
49:01
And that's the thing they'll make you have a habit.
49:04
What happens if you forget to meditate? Are you like kind of Yeah,
49:07
you get medicine because I wake up and it's the first thing I do.
49:11
Oh, cuz it's on your app. Okay, we didn't talk about the app so that you didn't start with the app. You started with the sort of Dr. R of meditation, which is so funny because I was getting my hair done the other day. And I was sitting next to Allie Webb, the Dr. Our founder. And I was like, I'm interviewing Susie Schwartz. And it's so cute. Like she calls it like, she had this dry bar of meditation idea. And what did she said? She laughed. She goes, Oh my god, I hear that from so many people because it's sort of like that notion of you get what you want in an in and out framework without huge commitments, and it makes sense right now.
49:51
She's so nice. She met with me when I was creating my idea. So I met with some people so
49:56
nice. And she's like, I know Suzy I love Suzy and I was like I thought, Oh, I
50:00
love her business. It's just so good. So basically what happened was, I had this idea. And then one of the clients became addictive. People were coming, loving, didn't want to leave.
50:14
Can I tell you to interrupt you again? Lisa Breckinridge. I interviewed Lisa Breckinridge and Dorothy Lucy yesterday, you know, the fox, the fox news girls from LA. And we were talking about meditation. I was like, how does meditation fit into your life, blah, blah. Lisa went on like a 10 minute thing about unplugged meditation about how she would just drive her car there every single day, she couldn't help herself. She just needed to get into the doors of unplugged meditation. And what an incredible experience it was for her and continues to be. And it really helped her developed her meditation practice.
50:53
That makes me so happy. So God, she's amazing, too. So people were like getting to that place like Lisa, where they did not want to leave the studio, they just fell in love with the teachers, and they fell in love with the space and the community. And it was so friendly, easy atmosphere where you walk in and our job working here is to make sure that every client is feeling 10 times better than they did before they walked in. That is what the that's our you know, when you have these core values that you tell the front desk and everybody works here. That's our number one, like an internal carwash. Yes. Okay, like that. One of the clients used to work for ESPN as a producer, and he actually wanted me he said, I wanted me for ESPN. And I really think you need to record these teachers and you know, not only to record them and put them on nap, but make it live. This was 2017
51:51
were you like what are you talking about? He's
51:53
like, I do I need more of a headache up, please. I'm traveling. I don't like to leave. I'm really attached to one of the teachers they more an extra, fantastic teacher. Can we just record her just get some stuff on, on tape. So when I go, I can least make sure I'm meditating every day. So I said, Do you know a cameraman? Yeah. Do you know that? Yeah, I know. I was like, Alright, let's do it. Oh, my gosh. And we set up the back studio. And we just started filming. And once we first started with Lauren, and then we started with other people were like, Oh, I want to do it. I want to do it. I want to do it. And then the next thing you know, that business is even more. Yeah, I would say it's a bigger business than the studio business because it's global. Yeah, you can meditate anytime, anywhere. 24 seven with 850 plus different meditations. By 80 plus world renowned teachers, anytime, anywhere, and it was designed you can
52:57
top and you have it by topic to
53:00
topic time. So whether you have one minute or 45 minutes, whether you want to do it for work, we were called the number one meditation app for work. So we before the meeting, when your boss is driving you crazy. 60 seconds, superpower focus different things like that. Or if you want to just feel less stress, less anxiety, sleep better. Or if you want to get hypnotized to lose weight, or hypnotized to see your ideal life and future self. We have like crystals in the room therapy. We have everything in there. Because anytime a client would say I need one for divorce. Who do we know who is divorced? Which teacher? Okay. Heather Hayward. She calls him her three was binz she's the Pro. What's better? For she's like, well, what phase of divorcing they in? So she did this great one that everybody loves like so. We have a meditation.
54:01
We need to sell free creation one. Oh, I think we have that. Okay, yeah, I'm
54:06
gonna have to find that I want to listen reinvent me by Camilla sticker dollar.
54:10
And my gosh. She's actually yeah, I she sent me her book. I'm supposed to interview her.
54:15
He's also she's unbelievable. I should definitely interview her. Camilla is an NLP hypnotherapist meditation instructor, one of the top instructors that I'm planning, but she also used to be on Dancing with the Stars, the UK when no way and thing she was the star. And she travels to New Zealand as Judge. She's like huge. She's amazing. Oh, that's amazing. Her whole thing is about reinvention. So people will come to us in a book a private session with her more kind of private hypnosis sessions with her. She has a lot of celebrities
54:53
and I heard you also have a panic button. I haven't seen it yet.
54:57
Yeah, me about that. On the panic button. It's basically before you overeat before you do that, when you're feeling completely overwhelmed. And so there's so many different ones. But basically, all of those things were going to literally scorch the villages, David, you would say that screaming everyone, you go to that section, you press it, and there's like a meditation for any kind of situation. Panic attacks, PTSD, whatever you ask. Okay,
55:28
now, everyone says they know that meditation is good for them, bla bla, bla, bla bla, can you just tell us just like highlight the tip of the iceberg of what the research shows.
55:42
There is a woman Her name is Sarah lazaar. And she's a Harvard neuroscientist. He does study for massgeneral, where she took 15 year olds who had never meditated before. And she measured their brains. Now, at the age of 25, our brains peak focus, memory, executive decision making are better than they will ever be. And what happens is, once we turn, we get older, it starts to slowly, slowly, slowly decline. So by the time that you're 50, it's down here. So what she did was she took the 50 year olds, she put them on a eight week program of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, which is just kind of anchoring into the present moment. And it was supposed to be 28 minutes a day, but the average was 23. And she took before and after scans of the brain, what she found was, by the end of the 25 year old brain, and the 50 year old brain were at the same level, memory, executive decision making and focus increased. And stress and anxiety, the area of the amygdala literally shrunk. So she saw that they changed the physical structure of the brain, just by doing these practices for 23 minutes for eight weeks. And do you know what kind of meditation they did? Are they listening to music? Are they doing mantras or doesn't didn't even matter? They're placing their awareness on the breath. They're basing their awareness on the present moment. But the truth is, is that I've seen all different types of meditation. Tm has done so many studies on how tm works, wonders, and it does. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, same thing, mindfulness, same thing, whoever paying for the study is finding the same exact thing in all these different studies. And that is that sitting in stillness in silence, or being guided, works,
57:37
it's so incredible. And I really tried to get more into it over the past year, because we were all home. And we were all thinking about stressful things in the world. And I was like, if I'm not going to use this time, to at least meditate a few times a week, then I've sort of wasted the year in my mind. So I can't say I do it every day. But I'm getting better at it. Because I think now if I look at my unplugged meditation app, I think I'm an ad. I know your people who are like 1000s, but I think I'm an ad. So I'm like, okay, baby steps, baby steps, you know,
58:11
I think what, what would be great for us, or for anyone who's thinking about and wants to start meditation practice, he doesn't know where to start, is to keep it tiny. Yeah. So what I would do is buy this thing called the meditation mask. It's so great. It's my new favorite toy meditation mask that has built in earphones and it's like dark, and you can lift up the rock road, like stories. And you and you plug in the meditation of the day, you plug it in like this, and you press the meditation of the day, then you close this thing, and then you lay back your husband or fish sleeping with someone won't hear anything. Ah, you meditate for five minutes, you can do the one minute section, you go to the time section, keep it under five minutes. That way, if you want more, you see it like extra credit, as
59:04
Oh, yeah, totally like the other day I did three. Yes. And I was like, Oh, my numbers going up. Because I had the time and I was like, I'm super chill right now nobody's here. I'm just gonna do it. Right? It just depends on your mood. It's like you have to go with your mood.
59:21
But I think if you set yourself up for success, and you keep it tiny, you will feel successful. And then you will want more. And if you haven't become predictable, location, location, location, you know where you're doing it. You know, when you're doing it. It will start to just infiltrate your entire life. And when it does, it's like a superpower. Someone stressed outside of me. Okay, noticed, I'm back to my breath. There's an expression that you're only as happy as your least happy child. I know. Oh my gosh. I heard that, here's what I'm telling you, that doesn't have to be true. You can have unhappy children and notice, oh, this one's unhappy. Coming back to my work. Oh, this is this, coming back to my read. Oh, that just happened. That's not good. I noticed back to my brother. And it's kind of like Bob Ross, who's a famous TMT teacher in New York, this concept of like, the surface of the wave is very choppy. At the surface. It's like, almost volatiles. But when you go beneath the surface of the ocean, there's always stillness and silence. And that's like we are,
1:00:38
it's like this too shall pass. It's so hard to get yourself into that space. But I guess that's what meditation does is that it takes you to that place
1:00:47
where you have to plan for it. So if you don't plan for it, it's probably not gonna happen. So if you don't say, I mean, just try it for one week. And tell me how that feels for you. I'm curious to see if you can do it for one week. Just a one minute meditation everyday for a week. First thing in the morning, not do not take a vote. Should I or should my right to just
1:01:11
know I'm going to check back with you because I need an accountability on that. Yes, you and then you text me done. Okay, I'll add to all add to my 83 I don't know, I sort of feel like meditation is like flossing. Like my dad's a dentist. So I floss twice a day. But like you, you know, it's good for you. But you don't always do it. And it doesn't take that long. So there's really no reason not to do it. Right?
1:01:36
Well, the what happens is people start to do it. When their doctors are like, Oh, you better start doing this.
1:01:43
Oh, my doctor told me that too. He's like, Sarah, your cortisol levels are like for 12 people you need to meditate. That was like his number. One. solution for me was meditation.
1:01:55
If you don't take care of you, nobody else will. Totally.
1:01:59
We always that we have to learn to pick us. And I feel like that's the self recreation journey, too, is like I've said before, I was like waiting for an Amazon box to show up at my house with this, like new identity and new passion and new thing. It never came. And then I was like waiting for my husband to come up with some great idea for me. And he's like, what, like, you know, he has a full time career. And he's like, sir, you know what you're good at, you know what you like, do it and I'm like, but what is it but what is that? So I had to choose me and do it myself. I had to just say, okay, Sarah, I'm picking you. I'm tapping you on the shoulder. Here we are. We're gonna do this. It's gonna feel bumpy. And we're gonna call Susie and we're gonna call Alyssa Goodman and Eve Brodsky and Ryan hat. Like, we're gonna call all these people call in like, some favors like, Hey, I'm doing a new podcast. Can you help me? And like what happened? And look, people do it. They want to help you. Yeah. You know, and I think there's a very big movement right now for this kind of women supporting women. Let's get out of the middle school mindset of you know, wanting to tear everyone down and bring people together and to collaborate.
1:03:11
Human supporting humans. Oh,
1:03:14
God. It's like, it's like the ripple effect of energy, you know? Now, let's talk about your book for a second. You mean, this one? Yeah. I mean, now on unplug? Yep. A simple guide to meditation. For busy skeptics
1:03:30
and modern soul seekers?
1:03:33
Did you write that for your husband and my husband,
1:03:35
I wrote this for myself, which is about here. So what happened was, I was actually approached by someone to write a book. And I'm like, I can't read a book right now. I've written one before. I wrote a different book way back when, okay, and my mother, who's the writer wrote 14 novels said, He's three kids, you're starting a new business, there's no way you can write a book. You can't do it unless you have someone helping you. And I'm like, Alright, so call back the publisher. I'm like, I can only do it. If you can have hire someone who's like can help me write it, I'll dictate the entire thing. But I need someone else's, like an editor can write it for me. So they hooked me up with this woman named Deborah Goldstein, who was fantastic. And I kind of told her the concept that I wanted, I wanted it to be very simple. I wanted people to be able to pick this little book up and know everything that there is to know about meditation, all the different types of different styles, how to do it, the science, etc. and the greatest quotes from all the greatest teachers who work at the studio, and that's all easy. That's what this book is. This book could have been one page, your eyes, take a breath. Inhale the good ship, exhale, the ball shed. Let's go.
1:04:53
That might be the quote of the whole podcast. Oh my gosh. Now for the skeptics like if you take people Like my husband and your husband, people who are like finance, very black and white, how are you taking skeptics into meditators? You know, it's
1:05:09
funny because a lot of people talk about meditations, not from material anymore. And nobody believes that anymore. It's so common at this point that it's on every single television show. It's an every single advertisement. everywhere we look, we see people meditating everywhere, whether it's like LeBron James, or Winfrey, or, you know, just like the most famous people in the world, and most successful people in the world are meditating. So I don't think that people are questioning why the science is there, you know that it works, it changes the structure. But I
1:05:41
think but you talk about how there are certain people who are less woowoo, who are like, I'm not opening, you have these trigger words, I'm not opening my heart. I'm not listening to the universe. Okay, you know what I mean? And like it, my husband, when he takes a spin class, he's like, it's really hard for me to listen to the like, woo talk. And I'm like, but that's the best part. But everybody has a different thing
1:06:06
I like to talk about, and I'm talking about David g all the time, because I just love him so much. But he told me this funny story. And it's so true, because we do the same thing here. When we go into the schools, we call it mindfulness. When we go into the ashrams or to like the more woowoo companies, we call it meditation. But when we teach cops and physicians, we sometimes call it tactical breathing. So it's really all the exact same thing. It's different wording that might turn pts Yeah, sometimes teachers who are really tapped into the spacious consciousness can go out into the universe, have you do a couple, three sixteenths and beaming back into your body. They want to do that, because they're so tapped in. And that's actually one of the funnest parts about it. I agree. But for many, like athletes, professional athletes, they'll do guided visualization like Serena Williams visualizes every single game from the beginning until the end, and visualizes herself being successful. Elon Musk does guided visualizations. The most successful like performance, people will do more of a visualization. But some people will just breathe, like cops need to breathe to focus. The Navy SEALs use the tactical breathing method of the box breath, which is inhale for form for exhale for for more support, in order to calm themselves down and become fully present. So it's really the question of who and how there's more ways to meditate than you can ever possibly imagine. I've done all of them except for, like, boring that are just too if I want to stay married, especially Yeah, there's some that are like, okay, that's not meditation.
1:08:00
Do they involve like plant medicine or other people?
1:08:04
Yeah, there's plant medicine and other people. There's a lot of interesting ways.
1:08:08
Yeah, I'm sure. That's so funny. Now. Okay, so you have a drop in studio, you have unplugged the app? And now you're on zoom classes because of COVID? Or is that over? Now?
1:08:22
We're live streaming every single day, eight classes a day, okay. Because our classes are, we kept going. We kept the live classes going for all of the members. So we still have all these amazing members of staff within you
1:08:37
come into the studio yet?
1:08:39
No, but we're going to reopen in July. I mean, amazing.
1:08:43
Amazing. And you have a book. So what's next for you?
1:08:46
I feel like you've checked so many boxes, you know, the next space is everything's really good. I think hybrid classes are going to be the next big thing for us, because the people who are using us at home, like we've people work, who are a teacher from the UK. And we have people meditating with us in Abu Dhabi. And they don't want us to stop live streaming, because we started during COVID. So we're gonna figure out a way to do hybrid classes inside the studio for some, but still be able to access the entire world that way. That's one thing that's going to happen. The next thing is we are making the app even more about easy, even more easy to become like a habit that sticks. So more features that are going to start to happen inside the unplug app. And growth. It's really about now everything is really solid. Just expanding to get more people because we might be the greatest app that nobody's ever heard of.
1:09:50
No, so many people have heard of it. Are you kidding? Oh my gosh. Okay,
1:09:55
so you're the one using it. No, just kidding.
1:09:58
No, yeah, totally. But wait now, I talked about this in the podcast a lot like for me, I want to maintain my inner and outer beauty. Obviously you keep your shit together. What are your secrets? Like? Do you have a what? Do you have a beauty secret? Do you? What's your workout secret?
1:10:16
My favorite beauty things are obviously the dry bar. I feel so much better whenever I get to blow out. I know isn't that great, frizzy hair you can never imagine. And then I also use space oil. When I was working in fashion. Bobby Brown told me that face oils life changing. Doesn't matter what time you use. So I use beauty counters. Number one, they soil smells like orange. I love it. My sister in law Clarissa Potter is a beauty counter person and I get everything from her and age them obsessed. Amazing. I
1:10:55
you know, it's funny because you know, you always have that fear that oil is gonna give you acne. And I had to get over that. But now I'm obsessed with it. Like I put oil on at night, I mixed oil into my tinted moisturizer in the morning. And I've totally become obsessed with it. And then I also bought oil cleansers. Right? I just love it. I mean, it's I think especially as you get older and your skin gets more dry. It's like, Oh my god, like what's going to happen here?
1:11:23
I've been using it and I am prone to acne. I've been using it for 20 years now. Well, now
1:11:29
I'm getting like,
1:11:31
amazing. It looks great. So amazing. I don't have a scan of the 54 year old. I don't see a dermatologist. It's all because of base oil.
1:11:42
Yeah. And good jeans, obviously. Yeah. Good jeans. Yeah. I have loved talking to you. I have loved hearing about your unplugged teacher training program, your app, your drop in studio, your book, you're an inspiration for all of us. It's impressive. It's introspective. And in this podcast, we're talking about small steps with our golden shovels. What small steps can I take today? It seems like you had a passion for acquiring a new skill like meditation. And you knew how you could curate it and simplify it and make it accessible for everyday non meditators like myself to do it. And that's really hard to do. You had the courage to take a step into starting a new business on a new skill of meditation and you were learning as you went. I hope that people take that message away from this episode is that we really can learn as we go and we don't have to have everything mapped out and we can evolve it right. You don't always need a plan. Yeah, that's hard for people like us, right wing it. Oh, that's so hard for people like Suzy. Now that we have shit shoveled for today, I hope you have loved Susie's golden life nuggets as much as I have. Susie I love digging deep with you with our golden shovels today on this podcast. Thank you for your love and your support and your encouragement at the beginning of all this in August. If listeners want to find you where can they find you.
1:13:18
Unplugged calm, unplugged meditation on Instagram or Susie lF Schwartz on LinkedIn. Okay, spell your name because Susie spelled weird and your last name is hard, sci fi sci fi. Then yell off white elf and then Schwartz sth Ws s. tz.
1:13:38
Do you know how many times I've spelled Suzy wrong? I'm like, Why isn't she coming up in my contacts? You
1:13:43
know, I EME is actually Suzanne, which I've never gone by. So that's why
1:13:49
I want everyone think about what shit we can start doing today. One small step. I want to thank Suzy for sharing why meditation is important. How we can do it more easily. And her own meditation makeover and cell free creation journey and going from fashion magazine exact to unplug meditation company founder and CEO author and podcaster Suzy shorts. Blowing A kiss to you Susie, love you talk to you soon. I'm going to check back with you in a week after I've meditated every day. I would love that. I'm coming. Thank you talk soon. Hi, it's me again. I listened to this episode was Susie shorts from unplugged meditation so that I could summarize the golden nuggets for you to have actionable items that you could start using today. I know that when I listen to a long episode, I'm like oh my god, I love that. And then I can even remember when I go to tell my husband at the dinner table or even entertain my children. This is why I come back and do a golden nugget summary. Also if you go to my website and click episodes, then show notes. It's all written out and the links mentioned in the episode are there too. I tried to do your homework and my homework for all of us and put it there. In this episode we found the sweet spot and learning how Susie built her glamorous magazine career and makeovers in New York City. Then she moved to Los Angeles and discovered meditation. She learned about her new meditation passion and built a very successful meditation company and community called unplug. We learn about unplug her meditation secrets and how she was able to midlife REMAX from one career she loved, just starting over and pursuing something totally different in the second half of life that she loves also, Golden Nugget number one, do not do the same job over and over again for the rest of your life. Growing up, we all dream about the jobs we want to have and strive for making our careers a huge success. But no one tells you that you can have more than one career in a lifetime. You don't have to choose one thing and live with it for the rest of your life. Susie loved her magazine glamorous life in New York City. But then she also found something else that she loved meditation and created a whole company around it, we have the option to change it up. Sometimes she says and appreciate what we had, and then move on to the next journey. Doing the same thing over and over again can make us bored and over time, we can feel not as fulfilled. Golden Nugget number two, when starting a business. It's really about the relationships we make, the people we meet and how we feel about ourselves. Suzy says that of course when we think about starting a business. We want it to be a success, but we shouldn't focus only on that. The real reason for your business's success is the people that contribute to it. So get in touch with your community grow those relationships, because business is really about who we meet and how we feel about ourselves and our connections with others. Golden Nugget number three, secondhand stress is real. Susie says sometimes we can't just help but absorb the stressful energy given off by others. And this can cause a ripple effect. As soon as someone enters the room. We have to take notice and establish ourselves in the present moment and then take action. We must take care of ourselves because no one else will. Susie says what we teach and unplug are simple techniques that help you move away from chronic stress and access calm and stillness inside of yourself. And then that ripples out calm and stillness. And when you feel calm and when you feel present. You create that you can actually do more you can feel better, you can think clearly and you will feel happier. Golden Nugget number four, the biggest ideas happen when we are unplugged. Susy explains the big ideas don't happen when we are plugged into our computer or phones. They come to us when we give ourselves space to daydream. This is why meditation is so important because it gives us space to expand our mind and take a break from the distractions of life. Golden Nugget number five, three things that happen in every meditation one we place our awareness on our breath to we slip into the gap, which is being aware of the present moment and being fully present in it. And then three, our mind starts to think we think about the future. This process allows your mind to be outside of your body and then bring it back into your body because you're coming back to the breath. The gold is dripping off these nuggets, grab it use it the resources and products mentioned this episode are in the show notes. Go to the flexible neurotic comm click on episodes and then click on show notes. subscribe to the podcast and sign up for the sweetspot newsletter. It will give you sclusively updates about my podcast and secret golden nuggets that are not mentioned in the episode. some really cool stuff. Also follow me on Instagram at the flexible neurotic talk soon. Good peeps. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed finding our sweet spot today, and digging through layers of shit with your golden shit shovel, subscribe, subscribe. Subscribe. DM me on Instagram at the flexible neurotic. Tell me which golden shit nuggets resonated with you? The ones that you're going to start using today to start getting your shit together to find our sweet spots. screenshot it, send it to a friend. This is Dr. Sarah Milken, the flexible neurotic, inspiring you to gather, curate, incorporate, maybe even meditate
MINISODE
00:00
Hey, it's me the flexible neurotic, I want to tell you about my new mini Podcast Series A minisode. It's called mid life's 10 things. I am taking my guests from the flexible, neurotic and putting them through a rapid fire series of questions that cover midlife secrets self recreation, small bites, favorite beauty treatments, and shit. We just want to know I hope you enjoy it. It's super fun. Let me know what you think. I asked what's next on the bucket list? You said growth. Right? Anything that you've learned that's now on your bucket list after
00:37
quarantine? is actually my heck yes list. Oh, like saying no, or just not doing things anymore. I feel like I want to do everything now. That's so much. I want to be doing so and want to be learning so my yes list is basically I would like to read a book every single month and take a course every single quarter. At least one.
01:05
That's a big commitment. I like that and you're then you're forcing yourself to stay in that learning mode all the time. Okay, do you have a secret pleasure?
01:13
My secret pleasure is absolutely disgusting. Should I share?
01:18
Yes, for sure. Now that you said that,
01:21
I would say it would be food and it's my cup his liver were sandwiches. That would be my secret pleasure.
01:27
Okay, that is so weird. Susie I can't I don't even know what to say about that. Because like I would say chocolate. I would say massages i was i mean Wow. How often do you eat those from probings? Oh my god. I grew up going to from my grandparents. That
01:47
reminds me of my dad. Totally. But I actually like the taste of it too.
01:51
How often do you eat that?
01:53
I would probably say at least once a quarter.
01:57
Oh my god is your husband like What's wrong with you? More? What does is your husband like? What's
02:02
wrong with you? And don't get near me ever see me do that. No. You said it was a secret pleasure to be here knew about it. What about to share with anybody? What about a favorite beauty treatment? In mirabel. I went to Miramar I loved it so much. They have an ru VEDA treatment where they work oil. Oh my god.
02:24
I've done it. I've done it here area spa.
02:27
I love it. But I've only done it once but
02:32
they have it. The Surya spa is in the proper hotel now in Santa Monica. Whoo. I didn't know that. Yeah, so we could like have launched go for the oil drip. It's it's like the weirdest. It's the coolest yet weirdest experience. I've tried to explain it to my husband. He was like, okay, whatever. As long as you enjoyed it. And now I usually ask people what whoo things they do. But I feel like I have to change that question up for you as to what we will things have you not done yet.
03:03
Oh my gosh, I've done all of it. The one thing I have not done, which I would love to do, but it's just like, not possible for me so far, is astral projection, which is basically I know if I know what that is. It's people say they can do it. I've tried It's never happened where they you can physically separate from your body and go to different locations. They I've heard from many people that they've done it. I've never done it. I've tried several times. That's one thing. I was like, do you have to use plant medicine to do that? No, you don't. You just are in your conscious self in your conscious self and how Okay, hey, Ben Decker, who's a great teacher from unplug? has told me that he can actually help me get there. So
03:57
yeah, can you call me and let
03:59
me know that go out? I'll actually come over and visit you.
04:05
Totally you're in the Palisades. I'm in Santa Monica. That's amazing. Oh, really project over there. Oh my god. Okay, favorite TV show or anything you're watching now. Right? This very moment is that song, and I love it. I love it. I don't know even why I love it. I don't know why either. I love it. It's Yes. deisel. It's like about Orthodox Judaism and the family and the rituals. And I just love it to
04:34
snoop all day and talk and but it's about the relationships totally. And it's not about anything other than human relationships. And I kind of loved seeing on the relationship.
04:45
I love it. It's so good. I was so happy when it came back. Okay, last thing you order from Amazon.
04:52
These wooden covers that go on top of mason jars with metal straws. Oh my My gosh, my
05:00
daughter is obsessed with those two. Oh really? I love us. She's like loves the mason jar with the lid. She makes her latte with the straw the whole thing. It's hilarious. Okay, was it was intuition natural for you? Or have you had to work out at all?
05:17
introverted intuition comes naturally for me. However, I can't say that it's always correct. Hmm.
05:23
So how do you know when I listen?
05:26
Well, I listen anyway, all the time. But one of the things I laugh about is, I genuinely love people. So I love everyone. It's kind of a problem when you're hiring people because I like meet them. I'm like, I love them. And maybe they're not the right person for the job. But like I genuinely and you see the best in everyone? I do. I mostly do. I let somebody that's been my problem with intuition. Is it sometimes too open? I see things and I'm should be like, no, I need to be a little bit more funny
06:04
story. A friend of mine, I told a friend of mine that from middle school, actually, that I was interviewing you and she goes, Oh my god, she's the nicest person ever. She goes, I remember when they first opened somehow I had like a Groupon coupon thing for five classes. But I was like sick, and I missed the I don't know, it was a whole story. And she goes, I called Suzy answer the phone and she goes, you know, you sound so nice, Heather that, just don't worry about it. We're going to extend it for you. You can come anytime you want. That's my feedback for you.
06:39
Thank you, you know, I probably was the worst business person ever. Because people are like, I want my money back. I'm like, here. I was. Basically, I anything people needed. I'm like, sure, you know, wasn't it's not about the money for me. This business, it's really about the impact. Yeah, it's how you can see
07:02
it, you can feel your energy, you can feel it.
07:05
I'm the number one user By the way, actually, I'm not. There's someone who comes more often than I do to the unplug classes, and not Lisa Brock and rich, she'll probably she's probably up there. Not number one, there is a number one. And he's very close to my heart. She comes maybe once or twice a day, and has to stay consistent for the last six years of unplug. She's brought all of her friends. And now she Devastator this past year, I literally closed and became a virtual studio the next day. Because of her, she was with me. And there was one other person they're like, we can't plan you can't stop. This is when we need you most I'm like, okay, but I don't want you to get COVID. So this is what we're gonna do. I have no idea how I'm gonna do it. But we'll figure it out. And it'll happen. I promise you that. And it happened. And she stuck with me as a member. Long story short, I love this business for myself as client. I always say I'm the client. And the teachers are to me like the stars like fashion designers use? Yes. So it's kind of feels very similar to what I used to do. In the way that I see this now is I get to work with the most incredible human beings on the planet. I get to meet people outside of my bubble, because I used to be so judgmental when I was working in fashion like, yeah, I can't deny that I do look at someone's outfit and say, maybe Yeah. And now I just like to care less about that stuff. I don't even notice what people wear. It's really about the salts that are meeting and I'm meeting so many incredible human beings. This,
08:52
you just made me think of a non sequitur have can you get
08:55
your teenagers to meditate. My teenagers do meditate. My son is actually studying Buddhism now in college, which was crazy. He told me today here to stand up for secular practices because because of me, they're all great about it. And my other sons use breath, like they use their breath. sounds dumb, whether they want to call it meditation or not meditation. They're pretty calm and present. And kind human beings, right? They're using it, even though they don't technically want to admit that they are. Oh, please, but nothing. They're not gonna admit to anything that like I forced mom. By the way. Of course, all of my kids take meditation classes. I've forced them all to take the meditation programs at the studio. They didn't want to. I'm really happy that I did know. And you guys are going into schools now. Right? Oh, yeah, I mean, we go we do. Call colleges, so USC and Wharton School of Business, they'll fly us to different locations, and different schools. So we send teachers all over the country, to colleges, and actually really haven't done that many since COVID. But we're doing a lot of unplugged for business. So we go into corporations all the time where we'll go talk to Google. And or we'll talk to ABC News, da, the producers of names like 100 people on there, and we're guiding them through on zoom like this. It's their favorite takeaway, you'd say from those, I just love, the people always think that they can't meditate because they think too much. They think they can't quiet their mind. What they don't realize is that thinking is actually a part of meditation. There's three things that happen in every meditation. One, we place our awareness on our breath, to, we slip into the gap, which is just being aware of the present moment and being fully present in it. And then three, our mind starts to think we think about the future or we think about the past, but we're no longer meditating. Can we bring it back like a bicep curl? awareness breath, let it go. mind wanders, bring it back awareness breath. And that's what meditation is the dance between thinking and being present. Having your mind be outside of your body, and bringing it back into your body. So
11:24
do you think some people get tripped up because they think, Oh, I can't do it, because my mind keeps going in different places. But you're saying, Don't judge that your mind's going to different places, just bring your breath back and bring yourself back,
11:36
your mind will travel to different places 100 times in one meditation, because we have 50 to 80,000 thoughts every single which is so crazy, so you're never going to be able to shut them down. It's kind of like our phone, you know, like, constantly get these phone emails. I like sometimes it gives us a dopamine spike, sometimes it gives us you know, whatever. Cortisol spike, we don't know, because we don't know what we're gonna get. That's how our thoughts can treat our body to. They pop up like alerts, and we don't know what they're going to do on Monday. But we can always use our anger, which is our breath to get into the present moment.
12:18
What's the smallest thing we can do today to start our shift towards self recreation? meditating? good answers. The answer for everything I know I'm boring. I like it. No, it's so good. Well, what's your bottom line advice be on finding the sweet spot in the second half of life? Well, you
12:38
know what I know but take fear clean a box and put it under your bed and revisit it in the next decade.
12:49
That's a good answer. Now that we have shit shoveled for today, I hope you have loved Susie's golden life nuggets as much as I have. Susie I love digging deep with you with our golden shit shovels today on this podcast. Thank you for your love and your support and your encouragement at the beginning of all this in August. If listeners want to find you where can they find you?
13:12
unplugged calm, unplugged meditation on Instagram or Cz lF Schwartz on LinkedIn. Okay, spell your name because Susie spelled weird and your last name as hard as c e s e. Then Yella y e lF and then Schwartz sth wr Tz
13:32
Do you know how many times I've spelled Suzy wrong? I'm like, Why isn't she coming up in my contacts?
13:37
You know I EME is actually Suzanne, which I've never gone by. So that's why
13:42
I want everyone think about what should we can start doing today. One small step. I want to thank Susie for sharing why meditation is important. How we can do it more easily. And her own meditation makeover and self recreation journey and going from fashion magazine exact to unplug meditation company founder and CEO, author and podcaster Suzy shorts. Blowing A kiss to you Susie, love you talk to you soon. I'm going to check back with you in a week after I've meditated every day. I would love that. I'm coming. Thank you talk soon. The resources and products mentioned in this episode are in the show notes. Go to the flexible neurotic.com click on episodes and then click on show notes. subscribe to the podcast and sign up for the sweetspot newsletter. It will give you exclusive updates about my podcast and secret golden nuggets that are not mentioned in the episodes. Very cool stuff. Also, don't forget to follow my Instagram at the flexible neurotic talk soon. Wait, don't hang up. I hope you enjoyed mid life's 10 things rapid fire, go to my Instagram at the flexible neurotic or go to my website. You ww the flexible neurotic.com and sign up for the sweet spot newsletter. I know newsletter have but this is a cool newsletter. I'm sending you golden nuggets straight to your inbox shit that I would want to read to join me