Mindfulness Mode

Dr. William Pawluk, MD, MSc, is a medical and holistic doctor who is considered to be the foremost authority on the use of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF) in North America. Dr. Pawluk has been trained in acupuncture, homeopathy, hypnosis, and bodywork. He held positions at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland. He is interested in new solutions to stubborn, chronic, frustrating health problems that resolve the cause and not simply put a Band-Aid on the pain. Dr. Pawluk and Dr. Ox both agree that pain management should be focused on healing the cause. holistic pain management. PEMFs provide the most benefit and allow safe, non-toxic, self-directed, self-controlled, at-home pain management. Contact Info Website: www.DrPawluk.com Email: info@drpawluk.com Flex Pulse Machine: $300.00 Discount Use Coupon Code found by listening to the episode Most Influential Person Jon Kabat-Zinn Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has stabilized my emotions. If you practice mindfulness enough, you become aware. I have to say, I know that most doctors are not aware of the impact of what they say to patients and how they present information to their patients. They only want to present information. The information is more important than the presentation. To me, doing mindfulness makes me much more aware of what I think, what I say and how I react to other people. You basically stabilize yourself from an emotional perspective. You cannot ignore your emotions; that's sick too. That's not healthy. What we need to do is recognize them and just let them get washed through us and understand the reason why those emotions happen and what you can do the next time your face it. Thoughts on Breathing It is almost impossible to do mindfulness unless you breathe. I used to teach meditation as well. The first thing you teach people is to do the breathing. What I found is, the more often you do the breathing, you train the brain. You train the subconscious of your intention. I used to breathe for five or ten minutes to quiet everything down. The more I did it, the less time it took. Now I can basically go into a meditative state with two breaths. Suggested Resources Book: Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn Book: Power Tools For Health by Dr. William Pawluk App: Inner Balance and also Stress Check (For Stress) Bullying Story In my experience, bullying has been an issue all my life. I’m seventy-one years old now. I’ve always had bullying in my life. I was born in a refugee camp in Germany after the second world war. My parents spoke Ukrainian so we were in a sense bullied by the Germans when we lived in this camp. Then we emigrated to Canada. My father had a very thick accent and so we were in a sense bullied; not physically but emotionally and psychologically. We were called DPs. DP stands for Displaced Person. My family came from the Ukraine, because the Germans took them to Germany to work in the factories. But they couldn’t go back to the Ukraine because of the communists. They were essentially people without a country like many refugees are. I wore glasses and was called four eyes. So how did I deal with it? You go quiet. You can get angry, you can strike back, you have that choice. But I was small so there wasn’t too often when I could strike back. I had to learn how to take care of myself. One of the reasons I got glasses is so they wouldn’t hit me in the face. It was a psychological defense mechanism. I was in corporate medicine and I was bullied there. A lot of doctors are bullies among other doctors. There’s a lot of ranking that happens in medicine. Where you went to medical school, where you did your residency, whether you’re a specialist or a general practitioner. You get looked down upon in many ways and you have to learn to deal with this. Mindfulness is just being aware; this person has a problem and I’m not going to go into this problem with them, but I’m just going to accept this because I know who I am. I know what I am and I know where I’m going and what I’m going to do. I’m not wrong and they’re not right. I had that in corporate medicine, I had that in medicine and you have it in your neighborhood and in the streets. Bullying is everywhere. I think it’s a principle of life. You have to learn to deal with people who are trying to impose themselves on us in all kinds of ways. That’s life.

Emerald Peaceful GreenForest is an arts visionary. She works with men who have already earned their financial rewards and now they want to make their mark in other ways; in the form of a legacy perhaps. Emerald is founder and lead visionary of The Creative Age Consulting Group. It has been said that Emerald is 'A Voice of Clarity in the Sea of Confusion'. Emerald is also the recipient of a Be the Change Movement To Watch Award. She is the Founding Visionary of ArtWalk Nashua which is now in its thirteenth year. Contact Info Website: www.EmeraldGreenforest.com Free Gift: www.EmeraldGreenforest.com/gift (Instant Clarity Exercise) Most Influential Person Marianne Williamson author of A Return To Love Effect on Emotions What I love about the mindfulness practices is what happens with my emotions is, I'm much better able to identify and have awareness when I am feeling something and being able to choose to acknowledge, okay, I'm feeling this right now and also be able to hold myself back one step. Enough to discern; do I need to do anything with this feeling? And be able to make a choice about that rather than be in reaction. I am so much less reactive than I was once upon a some. So much less reactive. Thoughts on Breathing I love breathing. Yoga introduced me to breathing back in 2001. When I was going through the divorce from my first 'was-band'. I was also in my own spiritual awakening at that time. Breathing was absolutely essential. I would sit at my desk with my bully partner and be on the phone with my soon to be X wasband who was also yelling at me about something. I had 'breathe' written in little index cards on my desk and I would just look at the index card. The word 'breathe' is seven letters so I had it written in the seven colors of the rainbow. I would take one breath and just let whatever was going on, go on, while I remembered, oh, I'm going to breathe now. This is important to breathe now. Suggested Resources Book: The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo App: Insight Timer Bullying Story I can tell a story about when I was in real estate. Both of my partners were bullies. During that time when we were doing that project, it was like, driving, driving, driving to get it done. There was so much anger and so much dysfunction in the relationship that I had with them. More importantly, the relationship that I had with myself; I simply shut down and tolerated it or I reacted to it and tried to fight the bully or I took it in and then tried to process it at home on my own, feeling like there was something wrong with me and it was my fault and how could I make myself into a pretzel to make this not happen anymore. If I had been well, and at that time I wasn't, the consciousness that I had then was exactly perfect for the time, but the me I am now, if I could go back to the me I was then, I would most definitely equip her with mindfulness tools. I would also whisper into my ear that this is not about you, it is about their stuff. I'd help her to create a sanctuary for herself where, even though that's going on out there, she's clear and healthy.

Mariko Hirakawa is an internationally known Yoga-Ayurveda Expert with over 26 years of teaching experience. She is the founder of Visionary Yoga, a personal development company dedicated to accelerating the growth of motivated individuals and companies. A former professional ballet dancer as well as an Ayurvedic physician trained in India, she is dedicated to positioning Yoga as something far beyond fitness – a technology for human consciousness evolution. Contact Info Website: www.VisionaryYoga.com Bonus: VisionaryYogaChallenge.com Instagram: @VisionaryYoga Facebook: @MarikoYoga Facebook Group: Visionary Wellness Most Influential Person My spiritual teacher Effect on Emotions Mindfulness really stabalized my inner world. With that came much greater confidence. It gives you self-control when you have control of your inner state. Thoughts on Breathing I'm amazed that more dance techniques don't encorporate the breathing. Breath has it's own innate energy. Inhilation is actually called inspiration. Inhiliation is literally receiving new energy from the universe. Exhilation, I call it the liberating breath, the cleansing breath, the releasing breath and for me it's a very under used resource that we all have. It's so close, and yet, because it's always there, we tend to be blind to it. Ancient systems like Yoga, and all of the mystical traditions really, use the breath as a doorway. The more we can be aware of it, moment by moment, I think the more it's enhances our quality of life and the way we show up into life. Suggested Resources Book: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by Shunryu Suzuki App: Relax Melodies (Mix and Choose Different Sound Effects) Bullying Story Yes, I have several stories about bullying. When I first came to this country I was nine and a half years old and we were in upstate New York where at that time there were very few ethnic people. I think my sister and I were the only Asian kids in an entire elementary school. It was actually a boom because we got so much attention from the teachers. I think that made a few of the other kids jealous. In the beginning, every morning we had to put our hand on our heart and recite the Pledge of Allegience to the United States of America. Those are some advance words like 'individual', I couldn't pronounce. I phonetically memorized it after a few months. I was just mouthing it and these two kids were sitting across from the table. They were sneering at me and started to push the table towards me saying, 'you don't know what it means, you can't say it'. They started to push me and at that moment I felt so humiliated and helpless. I didn't know how to counter that because ... the teacher was oblivious and so I let it get to me. I just sat there holding my tears back. If it were me now, I probably see that these kids were just acting out of jealousy. Kids can be quite cruel and it's really tough because when you're a child you're not equipped with the level of self awareness and self-confidence that allows you to fight back or to say something. I didn't have the words. I didn't know the language well enough to fight back like that. It was the first experience of being bullied and I was older than these kids because I was demoted two grades because I couldn't speak any English. It was a tough time. I think life gives us experience and it made me more determined to learn English and to work really hard to master the language. Guest Quote "Everyone's on a different level of evolution." - Mariko Hirakawa

Dr. Steven Masley motivates people to become healthier, starting with heart and brain health. He's a physician, nutritionist, best-selling author and he's also a chef. Dr. Steven Masley is the creator of the number one health program for public television called, 'Thirty Days To A Younger Heart'. Dr. Masley has recently written 'The Better Brain Solution", which is the first book to show how the brain can become insulin resistant through diet and lifestyle and to make clear how and why this has been directly linked to cognitive decline and memory loss. Contact Info Website: www.DrMasley.com Free Quiz - How's Your Brain Doing? Bonus: Better Brain Shopping Guide: The 12 Foods To Add and the 12 Foods To Avoid to Make it Easy For You To Be Mindful About The Choices You Make Most Influential Person My step father, Chuck. He had a procedure; and had a massive stroke. I learned what dementia was. It wasn't necessary, he didn't need it. I feel badly to this day that I didn't do more for him earlier on. He said, 'don't let this happen to others'. Effect on Emotions Mindfulness is calming on my emotions. It feels like love and stability in my life when I'm more mindful. When I'm not, I tend to be more anxious and depressed. I'd much rather feel loved and focused than anxious and depressed. That's a lack of mindfulness, is anxiety. Thoughts on Breathing I like taking a deep breath and filling myself with spirit. I even like to, after I stretch and workout in the morning, I like to take a deep breath. I feel like green energy pours into my body when I'm taking a deep breath. When I blow out, I'm just blowing out tension. I use my breath to help me in a kind of meditative, processing way of being more calm and focused. Breath to me is like breathing in spirit. Suggested Resources Book: Eating Mindfully: How to End Mindless Eating and Enjoy a Balanced Relationship with Food by Susan Albers Book: The Better Brain Solution: How to Start Now--at Any Age--to Reverse and Prevent Insulin Resistance of the Brain, Sharpen Cognitive Function, and Avoid Memory Loss by Steven Masley App: Heart Math[show-notes-resources] Bullying Story I got bullied as a kid. I got beaten up. I got kicked around. It was not pleasant. I can completely sympathize with anyone who has been bullied before. Part of it was just being susceptible. I wasn't being mindful, I wasn't being confident. It wasn't moving with purpose. Preditors picked on me. Do I know what it's like to be bullied? Sadly, yes. I think we've got to stop this. I think the food industry is bullying the American population today, making money off of them and killing them. I think we've got to stand up to that kind of bullying and be mindful and make right choices and not let that happen. Certainly, it's happening to our children. I would say the whole food industry is bullying our kids today too. When I think about it in the context of what it was like to be beaten up as a kid, and now realize what we're doing to other children today, that really gets me going. I think it's time for us to stand up and put a stop to bullying. It's also time to stand up and be mindful about our food choices and not let people feed our kids, junk. And us too. We have to be responsible for ourselves too, and stop eating sugary junk and food with toxins. We have to demand a clean world to live in so we can thrive and feel fantastic and be more productive.

Hailed as “part football coach, part loving dad, and part slightly crazed drill sergeant” Robert Kandell has spent the last sixteen years helping people re-energize their lives and build better relationships through more honest and authentic connection. In 2004, he co-founded OneTaste and took on the challenging task of bringing conscious sexuality to the mainstream market. He built the company from scratch to a high seven-figure international corporation. He left OneTaste in 2014 to start his own Consulting firm helping small businesses become marketable and profitable. Robert is also an accomplished teacher, coach, and lecturer. He brings his enthusiasm and acumen to his weekly podcast, Tuff Love, on subjects around relationships, intimacy, communication and gender dynamics. Contact Info Website: www.TuffLove.live Podcast: Tuff Love Most Influential Person My students and my children. Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has affected my emotions ... I have them now. Growing up, emotions were secondary. Mindfulness has connected me to my emotions. Emotions are my power. They are my superpower actually, because then I can feel and notice other people. Thoughts on Breathing I've done a lot of sitting meditation in my life and knowing the power breath, also Yoga and the 'suffering' in a hot Yoga class. Ok, find your breath. My ability to pay attention to my breath, connect me to my body and I can slow down and adjust and find the optimal pose. Suggested Resources Book: The Hero With A Thousand Faces By Joseph Campbell App: Insight Timer Bullying Story I have so many bullying stories. Bullying is something I'm very familiar with. I mentioned I was an overweight kid growing up and I was bullied by my school mates. The bullying ended when I was fourteen or fifteen. Really from ten to fifteen year old, I was bullied. My middle name is Barry and they would call me Barrier  and they would taunt me. For whatever reason kids bully, there was some thing that happened which made me the object of their bullying. In retrospect and in talking to a lot of people who were bullied, and a lot of bullies out there in the world, the main reason they did that was fear and their own lack of disconnection. My opinion is that bullying happened because bullies feel disconnected from their parents, from themselves, and there's some pain in there that needs to be expressed. What they choose is to bully another kid rather than address their own pain. Mindfulness would be for the parents to notice that about their kids. Or even the Principal or school Councils, to notice that about kids and just sit with the bully and not shame them for being a bully. Not shame them for what they do, but get curious and wonder and question and allow that space for that bully kid to be seen and loved and approved of. I think that is the cure for bullying; when we give someone space to speak and relieve their own pain.

Dave Lukas is an entrepreneur, father, and fitness enthusiast. His successful business, Grasp Technologies got off the ground with what Dave calls, our rag-tag crew of Misfits. Dave realized that we all have an inner misfit, an inner genius, maybe even a hidden genius that is in every single leader, employee, and even you. If only you can unpack that inner Misfit. Around 4 years ago, Dave and his wife traveled to China to meet and bring home their daughter, Hannah Jade. In his own words; it was a surreal and humbling experience. Around the same time, Dave decided to start his own Inner Misfit Podcast, where he would not only interview outstanding individuals with hidden misfit genius, he would also publish episodes where he would directly speak to his daughter, offering advice and wisdom she and others could refer to at any time. Now Dave enjoys life as a grateful, caring father as well as a successful entrepreneur and podcaster. Contact Info Website: www.MisfitEntrepreneur.com Social Media: Dave M Lukas or Dave Lukas or Misfit Entrepreneur Podcast: Misfit Entrepreneur Most Influential Person T. Harv Eker (Author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind) Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has effected my emotions in that, I've learned to control my emotions a lot better. When I was younger I used to be very quick-tempered and very quick to react to things. Later I would know that it wasn't the right reaction. So learning to control in the moment (and some of that is your conditioning too), but learned to control in the moment and stop yourself, I have a process I call, "Stop, Ask, Choose". Stop yourself, ask yourself how you want to respond in that situation, and then choose the right path forward. I've conditioned myself to do that in a split second over the years for decisions, so it's made a big difference. Thoughts on Breathing Every morning I have an exercise that I call "My Daily Prime". It takes about ten minutes. I make sure nothing's on, it's dark, I'm by myself, nobody's usually up. So I take the time to center myself, breathing, three or four minutes. Just to breathe in deep and get calm and clear in my head. Then I write the three things I'm grateful for on that day and sometimes they're very deep, and sometimes it's about the beautiful morning, whatever comes to me. From there I write down my "Three To Thrive". Those are my three things that are the most important I can do for the day. For instance for today it was this interview. I wanted to make the most out of it for you and for your audience and to be present. Then I end it with some deep breaths and visioning for the day, what I'm going to accomplish and then I get started. Suggested Resources Book: An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth by Colonel Chris Hatfield Book: Wild At Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge App: I use Pen and Paper as my process for planning. Bullying Story Bullying is an interesting thing. It's hard to answer that question now because of what I've learned over the years. It's like anything; you choose whether something affects you or not. This is from a mental standpoint; from a physical standpoint it is a completely different thing. If somebody's punching you in the face every day, that's a different thing. The key is to understand that you're only affected by the things you let yourself be effected by. You have that control. The minute you seed that control to someone, a bully, anyone, then you lose your power and you give it up. It's naturally yours, for you as an individual. With that being said, I do have an interesting story. Early on, when I was in Kindergarten or first grade, in my neighborhood there was another boy who was bigger than me. His older brother rode the bus every day. When we got off the bus, his brother would make us fight. The interesting thing was, that myself and the other boy had been friends because we went to the same pre-school together. Everyday he would make us fight and we would go round and round in circles and it was kind of the older brother who was the bully on both of us, making us fight. We did that for some time. We were actually best friends. He was the best man at my wedding. From a mindfulness standpoint, if we had both banded together and stood up to the brother and had the wherewithall and the mindfulness, the emotional intelligence to say, 'we're going to choose not to do this and you can't make us'. There was really nothing he could have done. That would have ended it pretty fast and he wouldn't have done that any more. That's an example of what I could have done if I had had that emotional intelligence or awareness and being conscious in that way to make a difference. You can use that across any situation as you get older. It happens in business a lot too. People try to throw their weight around. We deal with some of the largest corporations in the world and when it comes to negotiating things, they're a big company. So this is how it's going to be. It takes a lot of courage to say, that is not how we work, so that's not how it will be or we're not going to do business together. I think people respect that, if it's done tactfully and done in the right way.

Frankie Picasso is an International SocialPreneur, Talk Show Host, and Champion for Change who has been transforming lives and influencing culture for the past 30 years. Professionally, she is a Certified Life, Business and Master Coach Trainer, Author, Artist, Activist and Philanthropist in training, who just happens to specialize in the Impossible! As the founder of The Good Radio Network, (TGRN) Frankie is the host of Mission Unstoppable Radio, FrankieSense & More Radio. Everything that Frankie is involved in, has Social Impact built in. TGRN is one vehicle for social impact and her artwork is another. As a professional Artist, Frankie’s paintings have been featured in the International Book of Contemporary Artists Volume 6 and can be found on Fine Art America, Frankie’s book Midlife Mojo won her recognition and the Finalist WINNER award as one of the “50 Great Writers you should be Reading in 2015!” She is also a Huffington post contributor, and a member of the Women’s Economic Council and the Evolutionary Business Council. Contact Info Website: TheGoodRadioNetwork.com Email: CoachPicasso@rogers.com Facebook: Unstoppable Frankie Picasso Most Influential Person My dad Nigel Varty (Mountain Climber) Effect on Emotions I've learned to respond versus react. I learn to ask myself, who am I? In that I get to create the person I want to be in the world. Thoughts on Breathing I'm not very good at it. I try to do the slow breathing. I don't know why I don't want to take a full breath. I'm lazy. I have tried all the mindfulness techniques of breathing. Especially as a hypnotherapist I learn all these things. I do try to take that earth breath. When you need to get calm, I take this big earth breath; in for seven and out for ten. It does ground you. That is a good technique. I think it's a Hawaiian technique. Suggested Resources Book: Midlife Mojo: How To Get Through The Midlife Crisis and Emerge As Your True Self Book: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle App: Calm Bullying Story I've got two stories. I'm going to tell you a story from a female perspective. I bullied myself and it wasn't until maybe five years ago that I realized. I remember one day when I was so mean to myself; my thoughts were so mean. I screamed at myself out loud to 'stop it'. I said, 'you would never say that to anyone else. Why are you saying that to you? I know you would never, ever say those words to anyone else, living or dead, so stop it.' I think especially woman, as it relates to our bodies, we are very cruel to ourselves. We give ourselves cruel messages all the time and we need to stop doing it. The only way to do that is to be mindful and to hear the words that we're saying. It stopped. Now when they come up, I say, no, no, no. When you stop and you hear your thought and you go, do I believe that? We don't often question our beliefs. As coaches, that's one of the first things we do with people. We say, what do you believe. In the spiritual terms and the law of attraction, what you believe is what shows up in your life. If you don't have the things that you think you want, it's because you don't believe in them. That's another story. That's a really interesting way to look at bullying, but we do bully ourselves. The second story is, I was married to an abusive alcoholic. He was abusive emotionally and physically. He was a bully. He was my second husband. He wasn't my children's dad. If I were to kiss my boys goodnight, he would call them girls. That is a form of bullying. When it got so bad that I thought my oldest would get between us and hit him, I just stopped that right in it's tracks because I was afraid that he would have a record (my son) and he would never be able to do what he wanted to do in his life. Second Story. After my accident and I was in the hospital, I had a lawyer and he was extremely mean to me. This is a story about how I learned to respond instead of react. He would have me in tears, he would send me nasty letters. I thought, wait a minute, you work for me. It was a big case and he was crazy, but I had a really good friend who had the same lawyer and he was so nice to him. I thought, why is he so mean to me? Does he not like girls? What is it? Eventually, he got fired, but I learned that I didn't have to accept that. I learned that I could choose not to open those letters. I could choose to do things that made me feel better. I want everyone to know that that's your choice. You can choose to react or you can choose to respond.

Scott is an Ecopreneur meaning he puts people, purpose and the planet before profit. Scott’s mission is to inspire a daily practice of health. To fulfill this mission, he created three social businesses. In 2004, he co-founded the Padua Centre, a community wellness. In 2006, he cofounded DESTA Black Youth Network, helping marginalized youth aged 18 to 25 get back on track. In 2006, Scott founded Organik a wellness broker company. Scott is also a yoga teacher, personal trainer and health coach since 2006. According to Scott, his greatest source of inspiration is found in his daily practice of health. Contact Info Company: Organik Website: www.BeOrganik.com Email: scott@beorganik.com Instagram: organikmtl Podcast: The Spirit Bros Podcast (Coming Soon) Most Influential Person Steve Sims / Jon Kabat-Zinn Effect on Emotions Mindfulness helps calm down my emotions. It's hard to slow down the reaction. The reaction is always going to be there, we want it to be there; the fight or flight. Mindfulness has created a bit more space between the reaction and the response. Initially it went from one second to [longer]. Now if someone cuts me off on the highway, I can see the emotion come up. Emotions are beautiful, it's just how we deal with them that's the problem or the solution. I'll see the anger coming up and I'll choose my reaction much more now. I used to be much more reactive and I could get mad very quickly. I could be explosive at times but now I've calmed that down and created the space between the reaction and the response. Thoughts on Breathing The foundation to optimal health is breathing and more specifically conscious breathing. We breathe about 20,000 times a day. How many of those are unconscious? Really, the link between relaxation and stress is one conscious breath. I'd say, at the foundation of my meditation practice, and even before that, is the breath practice. It's to just catch myself in any situation. It's pretty much the informal meditation practice. When I'm driving, I'll come back to the breath. When meeting with a client or in my yoga classes I'll come back to the breath as much as possible. Just to know that I'm responding from there and not reacting from the ego. The breath is the most effective tool to tame the ego, to tame the mind. Instead of that mind being an enemy, or a mean voice in your head, it can become your ally, your best friend, your consultant. Suggested Resources Book: Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn Book: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle App: Insight Timer App: Respi Relax Bullying Story I was born in Quebec City, a very French city. I only learned French when I was thirteen. I knew a bit of French, but I went from English elementary school, to French high school. Back then, being the English kid and coming from a big English family, I was an easy target to laugh at with my French accent. I never got bullied in terms of physicalness but in terms of laughing at my language, that happened a lot. It would really get me to react in the beginning. I would take it very personally. It took me years before I learned not to take my French accent personally. Now I just accept it and I speak much better French. In the beginning, that's where people would pick on me the most. Normally the bullying would make me more more shy and I wouldn't speak as much. Sports really helped me out. I got really good in basketball and I got more and more friends. I got more respect through the sports and people wouldn't laugh at me as much. I was six foot three [inches] and a bit taller than the others so I could defend myself. I think with the practice of getting better and better at French, as people were getting to know me they didn't pick on me as much. In the beginning, it wasn't super rough but it wasn't an easy ride either.

Courtney Carver is an advocate for the simple life. She says, we are often on a quest for more; we give in to pressure every day to work more, own more, and do more. For Courtney, this constant striving had to come to a stop when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Stress was like gasoline on the fire of symptoms, and it became clear that she needed to root out the physical and psychological clutter that were the source of her debt and discontent. Courtney shows us how to pursue practical minimalism so we can create more with less—more space, more time, and even more love. Carver invites us to look at the big picture, discover what’s most important to us, and reclaim lightness and ease by getting rid of all the excess things. Contact Info Website: www.BeMoreWithLess.com New Book: Soulful Simplicity Most Influential Person My daughter. Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has encouraged me to under-react, which has been a game-changer. Thoughts on Breathing I use breathing for everything. When I breathe during meditation practices, I breathe in traffic. I breathe intentionally when I have MRI's to check my brain out. It just helps me slow everything down. Suggested Resources Book: The Artist's Way by Julie Cameron App: Headspace Bullying Story I feel really grateful that, while growing up, I didn't experience any bullying and in most of my relationships, not. I was married in my twenties for seven years and there was a lot of bullying. It was a really bad situation for a long time and mindfulness wasn't part of my life then and neither was simplicity. I was really stressed out and I know for a fact that I could have handled things differently. I don't think I would have over-reacted or reacted the way that I did in certain situations and I would have known myself better, had I been more mindful. I wouldn't have thought that, the things my exhusband would say about me or accuse me of, I would know that wasn't about me, that was about him. I wouldn't have tried to change myself to be someone different to fit. Instead I would have just not reacted and let him change or walk away. Instead I really tried to hold on, to fix myself. I really took everything he said to heart and now I can look back and say, it had nothing to do with me. It could have been anyone in that situation and it still wouldn't have worked out.

Julianna co-founded and runs UnifiedMindfulness.com. With 17 years of experience, she has trained thousands of people in groups and individually. Julianna was drawn to mindfulness 20 years ago, to manage severe anxiety and depression as well as the dramatic emotional ups and downs of life as a professional singer/songwriter. With over 100 weeks of immersive silent retreat training in both mindfulness and zen, Julianna has racked up 12,000 plus hours of formal practice time, rewiring her brain and creating a new normal for herself. The result is exponential growth and the ability to truly be of service to her clients. Contact Info Company: Unified Mindfulness Website: UnifiedMindfulness.com Facebook: Unified Mindfulness Sign Up: https://unifiedmindfulness.com/mindfulnessmode Most Influential Person Shinzen Young (A monk) Effect on Emotions It accentuates the positive, makes me a much happier person, and its made me much more able to process challenging emotions when they come up. So I'm much more resilient overall. Thoughts on Breathing The breath is a place that is often a good place for people to start. In fact, at the very beginning, before I was introduced to Shinzen, breath was the first place I started. I focused on the tip of the nose, but I like to teach people how anything at all can be a focus in meditation, because that frees people up. What we want is to motivate people. We want them to get engaged in this practice. So, I like to introduce people to a technique that right off the bat shows them how they can focus on anything. As long as they're developing skills of concentration, clarity, and equanimity, they are practicing mindfulness and are getting those benefits that research has shown they can get. Suggested Resources Book: The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works by Shinzen Young App: Brightmind Bullying Story I was bullied as a kid. When I was about twelve an incident happened where these two boys decided that I had done something at a birthday party, that I had said something that got someone into trouble. They decided that I needed to be punished for that. So for a month or two after that, every time they saw me in the halls, they would kick me as hard as they could. I was terrified. I changed my pattern so that I could avoid them. I rearranged the whole pattern of where I was going. To get from class A to class B, instead of just going up the stairs, I would go down to the basement and around, so I would miss the boys kicking me. I would go to school everyday and would think about the fact that I was going to have to see these boys. I really felt terrorized by them. The day that it finally shifted, was the day that I shifted. I dropped into a natural state that shifted everything. These [mindfulness] skills are naturally occuring. We all know what it's like to be in a heightened state of mindfulness. We've all had some kind of peak experience where there's a level of clarity there. Where we're deeply absorbed, we're concentrating fully. We have a sense of harmony or we have a sense of willingness for things to be as they are and that's the overriding experience. All we're saying with mindfulness is that you can strengthen that. You can experience it with greater regularity and greater depth. Looking back on that event [with the bullies], there came this moment where I didn't run from it any more. I became willing to turn toward it and I remember vividly. I chose the route where I knew I was going to pass them because it was the shortest route to my class and I didn't want to run anymore so I started up the steps. As they were coming toward me, I saw this kid, Bert. He was gearing up to kick me as hard as he could. I found myself saying, "ok you wanna kick me? Go ahead, kick me." In that moment he was totally nonplussed. He stopped and he never did it again. It was because of the way I went into it. I just went into it with an absolute fierce willingness that I was not going to be intimidated and that I was going to stand my ground. So whatever came out of my mouth, (go ahead and kick me), that wasn't the point. The point was that I managed to fully embrace where I was at and that strength of anchoring myself in my complete willingness. It just blew him out of the water.

Dr. Julie Jaffee Nagel is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. As a concert pianist with two degrees from the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, Dr. Nagel repeatedly experienced stage fright and performance stress.   She eventually decided to gain a more thorough understanding of what interfered with doing what she loved and was trained to do. That’s when she returned to school at The University of Michigan and graduated with degrees in Social Work and a Ph.D. in psychology. Now she has treated hundreds of individuals and helped them discover and peel back their barriers to feeling competent so that they can pursue and fulfill their professional and personal dreams. Dr. Nagel has recently published a book called, Managing Stage Fright: A Guide for Musicians and Music Teachers. Contact Info Website: http://www.julienagel.net http://julienagel.net/blog-standard-list/Blog Book: Managing Stage Fright: A Guide For Musicians and Music Teachers by Dr. Julie Jaffee Nagel Most Influential Person My Grandfather Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has helped me understand myself and feel good with myself despite some of the harsh winds that have blown and will continue to blow. I can go inside my mind. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing simmers me down; deep breathing, slow breathing. Thinking about the breathing and trying to know that I have resources in myself and that breathing will simmer me down when I'm boiling over. Suggested Resources Book: The Relaxation Response by Dr. Herbert Benson App: n/a Bullying Story Stage fright is a bully in itself. Stage fright is a bully that makes competent people feel like they're incompetent. I think bullies tend to do that. Whatever we can do; whatever technique or therapy works for an individual to help build a strong sense of self and self-esteem so that these bullies, whether they come from inside your mind or from some person at school or at work, that we can withstand that because we have a sense of self that says, I'm not going to allow myself to be treated that way. I'm not buying into what you're saying about me. I think that mindfulness; if you can think of yourself as successful and competent. It's kind of like developing a sensitivity to, that's not my problem, that's the bully's problem and then to be able to speak up and find help whether you're a child or an adult. If you can't simmer yourself down to the point that you do believe in yourself, then hopefully you can find someone who can help you. I think stage fright is a giant bully that can undermine the more competent, talented, prepared person. We can help innoculate people to dealing with that kind of a bully. Special Offer JJ Flizanes (www.MindfulnessMode.com/227) is offering an event called "Releasing What Weighs You Down" in Los Angeles in January 2018. Limited seating. Virtual tickets available. Sign up for this Mind / Body / Soul Event and transform your life. Complete JJ's survey to see if this event is right for you: www.MindfulnessMode.com/JJ2018quiz More Event Details here: www.MindfulnessMode.com/JJ2018

Susan Blais is a leadership coach on a mission to transform the world of work one leader at a time. She made the long climb from receptionist to CEO of a billion-dollar division of a Fortune 100 company over 26 years in the health insurance industry. She helps leaders understand and implement the critical balance between relationships and results, so they can unleash their people's talents to achieve bottom-line success and fulfillment for all. Contact Info Website: www.SusanBlais.com Telephone: 818-444-seven-seven-four-four email: susan@susanblais.com Most Influential Person Roy Masters Effect on Emotions It has leveled them out. I can be radically up and down and all around and I have, because of that practice, been able to get much more centered and calm. The highs and lows are more moderate instead of crazy. Thoughts on Breathing Because I tend to do everything quickly, in the old days I would want to skip the warmup and go right to the workout. I think, oh yeah, breathing. I have come to appreciate how powerful it really is and that's one of the techniques I use with my clients when they start getting upset. I say, let's take a minute here and take a couple of deep breaths. It's amazing how the simple act of taking a quiet calm breath or two or three can change your whole outlook. Suggested Resources Book: How Your Mind Can Keep You Well by Roy Masters Book: Cure Stress: How Your Mind Will Keep You Well by Roy Masters App: Cure Stress (By Roy Masters, Get it at the App Store or at the website: www.FHU.com) Opening Quote You can go into that refuge and have a place of calm so that no matter what life throws at you, you can handle it with grace, with calm, and with quiet. - Susan Blais Bullying Story One of the CEO's that I worked for; it was one of those situations where I was the golden girl for the first few months that I came in and I was doing all these amazing things. I was brought in to start a new division and was making great gains and doing all kinds of wonderful things and at a certain point I crossed him by inadvertently telling the truth to the chairman of the board when I guess I was supposed to massage the message a little bit in a different way and I saw it happen. I thought to myself, uh oh, I'm in trouble. And from that day on, for the next two years, he bullied me horribly, doing things like: embassassing me, calling me out in front of my team, having conference calls with my peers, and just treating me as if I was an idiot. All kinds of things like that where it was just miserable. That kind of behavior destroys people. Unfortunately, it really does. It really bothered me. I was going to quit but then fortunately the company was acquired and I got to cash out in a much more positive way. But I was going to leave because I realized that I was not being my best. If you bully people, and try to beat them down; guess what? Their performance goes down. It's like, we're going to beat people into success? That doesn't work very well. I definitely used elements of mindfulness during those years to keep myself strong. I used my Roy Masters meditation; you can do it in seven minutes. I would do it several times a day. I'd have to go into my office and calm down, because I would be upset coming from a meeting with him where I had just had my head beaten in, figuratively, and now I'm going to meet with my team. So I've got to get myself together. I'd go into my office for a few minutes and calm down, get myself back on center and then go out to them. That's another critical thing that happens in organizations is, you have the waterfall. It starts at the top, the head person beats on the next level, and they beat on the next level, and they beat on the next level. I used to literally have an image of an umbrella and I would say, "no, it stops here. I don't care what you do to me, I'm not going to treat my people that way." I always treated my people well. We had our own little corner of the world that was fun and functioning and positive. But that took a lot of effort and mindfulness to do that because I would have to bring myself back to center before I interacted with them again.

Michele PW (Pariza Wacek) is the best-selling author of the "Love-Based Business" series of books that share how to sell more with love and build a solid, profitable business on a foundation of love. In addition, she owns a copywriting and marketing company along with writing and publishing fiction. To grab your free book "How to Start a Business You Love AND That Loves You Back," visit LoveBasedBiz.com Contact Info Website: www.LoveBasedBiz.com Blog: www.LoveBasedBiz.com Podcast: Love-Based Money Free Book: How To Start A Business You Love and That Loves You Back Most Influential Person Christina Rio, My Spiritual Mentor Effect on Emotions Because of mindfulness, the vast majority of the time I feel inner peace. It's like a contented feeling. Sometimes fear-based emotions will come up and sometimes I'm also full of happy or joy. For the most part, mindfulness has allowed me to live my life in an even keel where I feel peaceful and contented. I think that's what a lot of people would like. Thoughts on Breathing So many of us do shallow breathing. The problem with those shallow chest breathings is that it's not very good for your physiology. Focus on the belly breath. Even just putting your hands there gives you something else to focus on. It's a lot better for you as you go through it. Suggested Resources Book: The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks App: The Mindfulness Bell Bullying Story I was horribly bullied as a child. In elementary school, in middle school, and even my first job I was bullied. It was both boys and girls, mostly girls though. My boss was a woman who was really bad about it. Yes, I do think knowing mindfulness would have helped. You can actually change your environment when you change yourself. I know that my reaction caused it to get worse. If I had simply just stood there and didn't react to what they were doing, they would have left me alone. That's what the key is. They were preying off me crying and getting more upset and off of me just not knowing what to do. That's where they're getting their power from. If you don't give them the reaction they're looking for, then they have no power over you and they likely will find somewhere else to go. Because I had such a strong 'only-child'. My mom didn't go to a lot of play dates. This is absolutely not my mom's faulth. I don't remember having friends my age until I was older, school-age, like five, six, seven. I know I had trouble dealing with social situations. I think that's what made me a target. Over the years I learned how to read social situations better. I slowly learned how not to put myself in the situation where bullying would happen.

John Stix is a transformation specialist. John co-founded Fibernetics; the 5th largest telecommunications company in Canada. He has implemented a holistic shift in culture, strategy and values-based actions within the company. John credits his personal transformation with enabling him to lead his company through a significant shift in mentalities. John’s success with workplace culture and helping others discover the same journey for themselves, has led him to consulting and speaking across the world. While continuing to lead his organization and build several others, John has delivered keynote speeches at venues from private insurance firms to a group on behalf of the White House. John witnessed the positive change that occurred within his own company when he decided to focus on unity, teamwork, empathy, happiness and gratitude. After introducing his “I’M IN™” corporate initiative, John received the Best Employer Branding award in 2015 from the Canadian Human Resources Association and was also a finalist for Leader of the Year. As an entrepreneur, John has been a visionary, thought leader and mentor taking start-ups to enterprise level organizations and figuring out innovative ways to keep all employees highly engaged, through all stages of growth and transformation. John’s most recent venture as president of KidsWifi, is allowing him to transform the way parents view the internet and to protect kids globally while online. John’s plan to deeply care and empower employees and allow them to be their true selves, not only translated into a passion, but to happiness. Happiness then led to productivity and productivity led to the results. Contact Info Company: Fibernetics Website: www.Fibernetics.ca Website: www.LivingInward.com Most Influential Person Jody Schnarr (My business partner and best friend since I was sixteen.) Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has allowed me to be able to understand what deeply matters to me because mindfulness to me is connected to the inward journey. Without living inward, how can you find out what truly matters to you? It’s almost like, over time we’re become numb within all of the pattern and busyness that we think is living. That’s through no fault of who we are, that’s society, it’s busy. It’s going to be for the rest of my life and I think for all of us for the rest of our lives. Mindfulness for me has allowed me to feel what truly matters to myself as an individual more and have the confidence and understanding on how to process those feelings and communicate them and live my life within them. Thoughts on Breathing When I practice prayer, (my own ways of being mindful), that peaceful area and then focusing on the peace inside me, my breathing changes. Throughout the day, if you really could look at your breathing, I think it’s safe to say we all shallow breathe. We’re breathing rapid, not deep. I notice that when I enter into a really peaceful, mindful state, my lungs fill up. I’m not even planning for it. I breathe deeper. I feel wholistically more relaxed. Sometimes I use breathing techniques to try to center back to breathing. I think breathing and mindfulness is so connected. There’s tremendous anxious wisdom embedded within all of the yoga teachings and yogi teachings. Breathing techniques and understanding the power and importance of proper breathing seems to be incredibly important. Suggested Resources Book: N/A App: N/A Bullying Story Being bullied comes in so many different forms. Sometimes the verbal accusations can be so terrible. I remember as a young boy, not confident in who I was, like any young child trying to figure out their place within schools. I moved around a lot. At the one school I was going to, I remember this one individual for whatever reason didn’t like me and wanted to focus on me as an individual that they thought they could bully me. If I would have known more of these types of thoughts of how I could take time to be in a state of peace or to try to find these centering moments, even as a younger boy. I think a lot of this stuff, mindfulness techniques, but also the understanding that for children, their own way of mindfulness is important so that they don’t feel intimidated by techniques. That would have gone a long way to helping me stay in a peaceful state through these sets of experiences. I believe within mindfulness you can also think of a tremendous amount of solutions to your problems. Because you’re in a peaceful state and your mind works much better in that peaceful state. That would have helped me try to figure out as a young boy, how I can also come up with solutions to help me understand the problem I was in. Thankfully what happened was, love ended up dominating that and we became friends. A peaceful state ended up emerging from what was looking to be a terrible state.

Sophia Wise One is an expert in the field of vagina therapy. She's also the creator of the skill building, 'I Love My Life' card game and Oracle Deck. Sophia is fiercely passionate about helping her clients find and express their true self so they can discover their inner wisdom. Sophia has done bodywork for twenty years and has worked as a certified Holistic Pelvic Care Provider Tm, Reiki Master and LMT - Child mystic & shamanic practitioner. Sophia Wise One can help you move through pain, blocks, trauma, stagnation, and difficult transitions to find healing, creative renewal, embodiment, and juicy living on the other side. She is always asking, “Who would you be if you were truly yourself?” Contact Info Website: www.SophiaWiseOne.com Instagram / LinkedIn / Twitter: @SophiaWiseOne Podcast: Vagina Talks (To be launched soon) Most Influential Person Larry Ward (Peggy and Larry Ward are two Dharma teachers) Effect on Emotions Mindfulness has resulted in my ability to feel my feelings. I used to weep and when I would weep three to five times a day, that is what I would refer to as a motive dissociation, a hyperactive dissociation, like a hyper shutdown dissociation. I would leave my body while I was weeping and screaming. Mindfulness and the practice of really being with what's happening has brought me into an experience of actually feeling my body, feeling my feelings, which allows them to come and go. It allows me to actually have a peace inside me that I thought people were lying about happiness and peace; that inside space. On the hardest days now, there's a peace and a happiness that's grateful to be here, even if I'm sad and exhausted and vulnerable. Thoughts on Breathing Breathing is a part of everything. It's just like, in - out. Meet the space in between. Like in - meet the space, the turning point. We're inhaling life force, we're exhaling life force. We're creating life force and we're birthing life force. The breath is the energy, is the life force. We're either actively in the flow or we're fighting with being and existence. Just recently I got in one of those edgy, not pretty patterns. I was screaming and crying and I couldn't get my breath. I watched myself. I watched my stubbornness not want to breathe. I watched my stubbornness want to hold my breath. I said, ok, you know what stubbornness. You can be stubborn but I'm still going to breathe. Suggested Resources Book: Wild Feminine: Finding Power, Spirit and Joy in the Female Body by Tami Lynn Kent Search "Wholistic Pelvic Care" and your State or location for information online. App: Insight Timer Bullying Story I was blessed with some beautiful education while growing up, so I was made fun of. I've been the weirdo my whole life, even amongst a hippy school. They said she is even weirder than the rest of us. So I got called a lot of names: a freak, a weirdo, etc. In high school, my best friends would make fun of me, but they were funny so I would laugh and then they got mad at me. I'd say I don't mind being the butt of a joke. So there were elements of bullying and there was shrinking there that happened. I'm also really blessed because I had a lot of mindfulness in a lot of those circumstances and had a lot of compassion for the people picking on me. The real answer that I want to share with you. I was my worst bully. I was probably about 20, I had dropped out of college school. I had followed my hands to massage and become a bodyworker. I was weeping anywhere from two to five times a day. I had just found out that I was in the process of tracking and kind of getting in the process of managing my PMDD. Somehow I found myself in a meditation and I went to visit my inner child and there she was. It was just an empty space and there was this little girl in a corner and she was very upset and I went to walk towards her and she was pulled away from me really hard. I looked at her and she was bloody. It was terrible. I was standing there in this vision and I said, 'who did this to you?' What happened? She wouldn't look at me. She wouldn't turn towards me at all. I looked down in my vision and I was standing on a pile of bricks and every time that little girl asked me for something, I would throw a brick at her. Every time she said that something hurt or that she needed something, or she was scared, I would say, stop it, you're the problem, go away. It was so clear that this innocent, sweet being, who just didn't want to be hurt by the world or by the person I was dating or by family patterns. Anything she asked for, I just begged her to go away and would scream and throw things. So I started a practice right then and there and it took a couple of weeks, but every day I would go back to this vision. From right at that moment, I said, I didn't know I was doing this. I would never do this on purpose. I can't believe I'm that person, but I am. No one else is here and you're terrified of me. And so I stepped away from the bricks and I said I didn't know, but now I know and I won't do it again. I understand that you're mad at me. So I went every day in my vision and say to her; I'm here and I'm sorry and I'm not going to do it again and I'm just listening. Slowly she softened and I would say just four or five days of going back to her and pleading my case, but giving her space. I  always had that image of beauty and the beast when she's cleaning the wounds. The rag and the bucket. She came towards me and I said please let me tend these wounds. I know I  created them, but please let me tend them. So I cleaned the blood off her arms and then I would bring this balm, healing oils, and I cleaned her up and I would balm the wounds. She wouldn't talk, but she would let me do that. Then about two weeks later, I would go and the wounds were starting to heal and she started to talk. She talked the way that kids talk. I'd asked her serious and sometimes playful questions and she would answer. Then slowly the wounds healed and she began to play. The bricks were gone and she would come and sit with me. I would go and do this journey and we had to come up with a new system. I said, if I'm not paying attention to you, you've got to pull on my skirt. That's my most powerful bully story.