237: Meditation for Business Owners

As an entrepreneur or leader, all the responsibility is on your shoulders and there is no place to unplug from the performance and metrics of your business. And when you're always on, you can't recharge, make room for new ideas, or enjoy success when you create it.

That's why meditation is so important for business owners. In this episode you will discover:

• The different types of meditation and how you can use them to manage your mind and energy
• Why many people fail to make a habit of meditation and miss its long-term benefits for health and well-being
• How to avoid getting frustrated when meditating and why the goal of quieting your mind can backfire

To join the 5-day Meditation Exploration for Entrepreneurs and Leaders, starting soon, click here.

Episode Transcript

Steve Haase  0:04  
Welcome to the Superabound podcast with master coaches, Erin Aquin and Steve Haase, where business owners like you learn tools that help you clarify vision, clear up static and overcome challenges. You are listening to episode number 237. Meditation for business owners. Welcome, everybody. Thank you for joining us. Today we're talking about meditation for business owners. Why qualify it? Here's the thing. We all know that being more present is helpful that being less stressed, could be helpful as well. But how many people actually do it? Are you doing it every single day without fail? Probably not. Heck, I don't even do it every single day without fail. And yet, it is something that when you bring it into your life in a way that makes sense for you can create enormous benefits, not just to your personal, physical, mental, spiritual well being, but also in your business, too. And this is something that Erin and I had quite the conversation about, when I said, you should not be instrumentalizing meditation shouldn't be for a purpose, right? It is significant of its own. And she said, Steve, if it doesn't make a difference in people's lives, I don't want to be talking about it, it should have an impact in the world. So that's what we're going to talk about today is how the practice of sitting there and doing nothing can help you create an amazing business.

Erin Aquin  1:38  
So I actually would love to start with maybe just a little bit of background. So if you're newer to the show, you're newer to us, or we're newer to you. That's it were you may not know that Steve and I actually met in a spiritual community. And meditation was one of the major central practices of that community. But it's also something that we have both independently practiced for a really long time, I was a yoga teacher for 15 years. And meditation was something that was definitely part of my yoga world, studied the magical arts, since I was 13. Not like magic tricks, not pulling rabbits out of hats. But the the mystical, metaphysical, various traditions of magic. And meditation is kind of an essential practice for anything, because you can't visualize, you can't manifest, you can't, even with mindset work, in fact, for all my coach friends out there, it's really hard to see yourself as a person you want to become and do all of that beautiful future self work. If you can't actually visualize, and if you and in order to visualize, you have to be able to be with yourself in some kind of stillness or silence long enough to make that happen. So all of that to say meditation is something that's been part of my life since I was 13. And Steve, your life for four decades as well. I share all this because I also want to say that I don't find meditation to be the world's easiest practice. So I've been doing it for more than half of my life. And yet, meditation is one of those things that I think many people aspire to do wish they could do, no would probably be helpful. And then don't do it because they have some pretty common misconceptions about what meditation is and what meditation isn't. So before we talk about meditation, specifically in the way that I think would be helpful for more business owners and leaders to take on, I want to just talk about some of the biggest misconceptions that we've both heard time and time again, fun fact, we actually ran a meditation teacher training program back in the day 10 years ago, so we, you have some things to say about it.

Steve Haase  4:26  
So let's start with the misconceptions. I think there are so many. There's so many we could spend the whole time talking about misconceptions, but let's begin with one that it doesn't matter. Like I don't need to do it. I'm fine. You might be feeling fine. Or I don't need to do it. I'm too busy. Right? Whatever. The reason is that you say it doesn't matter. Even if you say it matters. If you're not doing it, you're still believing that it doesn't matter. Because when you take the time to meditate, what you realize is that you were Still following the thoughts in your mind, before you actually took that moment to step back, you were connected to stuff in subtle ways. Maybe it was a contract that went bad or a conversation that's coming up with an employee, when you sit, those things come to the front of your mind, you become aware of them in a way that, you know, in my experience that I just wasn't before I actually sat down and was still. And that experience of increased awareness. Number one, it is so refreshing. I find it energizing. And it also lets you know what you're up to. Right, it gives you a window into what you might be chewing on, that you might not even be aware of, in the back of your mind. And so for everyone whose main reason they don't meditate is because they don't have time. The misconception that is causing you to believe that and actually have that be, what you're doing is that it doesn't matter.

Erin Aquin  6:04  
My favorite misconception about meditation is that when people say I can't meditate, because I can't clear my mind. When I sit down to meditate, even for five minutes, oh, all these thoughts, all these things come up, clearly a terrible meditator. And this is such a misconception, because, and I know people teach this. So I'm not saying that you like people kind of get this one wrong, because there's probably a fair number of folks out there that teach that meditation is about somehow stilling your mind or quieting your mind or, you know, something like that, I totally disagree. And I'm happy in that position to disagree. I think meditation is actually creating space, for whatever's coming up for you, and your mind, and your body, emotionally. For it to exist, without you needing to do something about it. I just had this conversation with a client, actually, last week, who was saying that she just can't steal her mind, you know, she lays down in bed and something about her work situation, or someone who's working with her or client issue is coming up. And she just can't let it go. She has to like turn on the light, get out her notebook, or sometimes, you know, for me, it's not always problems, it's often like really good creative ideas that come up. In moments when I just want to be meditating, or I just want to be sleeping, what you're doing when you're meditating is you're taking a in my mind, it's like you take a position with yourself that it doesn't matter whether you are having some brilliant thought that's going to change the world, or, you know, you're seeing an annoying song from 10 years ago that stuck in your head on a loop, it doesn't actually matter what's going on, because you're holding a position of some might call it presence. Some may call it witnessing, I tend not to use the word detachment because we're not trying to like detach from, from anything in particular, at least the way that I meditate. But it's a really eye for me, it actually kind of feels more like trust. Like, I trust that no matter what my mind throws at me to try to distract me or get me out of this little five minute session I'm having, whether it's a brilliant idea, or something really annoying, or something, I don't want to spend time thinking about that whatever's coming up, I am just able to be with myself. Regardless, I can trust that I can totally make it through this couple of minutes. I don't have to respond, the world will not stop turning. And I actually think that that's kind of a clue as to why maybe this is so good. As a practice, especially for those of you who own a business or lead in a business.

Steve Haase  9:08  
That's so true. Because oftentimes, we get focused on a thing that takes up our entire mental screen. Right? There's this feeling of there's a problem at the office, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to solve it. Right as the leader, you are responsible for that problem. And you're with it your whole waking day. You wake up and you're thinking about that personnel issue, that conflict, the thing that's on your mind. And meditation is that slot, it's that window that you give yourself to just let it let that problem be. To not have to be Like a dog on a bone with it doesn't mean you're giving up responsibility for it. But it means you're allowing space around this thing that you might tend to hyper focus on. And like Erin mentioned, whether it's a problem or an opportunity. As leaders, part of the thing that got us to where we are is the ability to hyper focus and get it done and seize that opportunity. But Meditation allows you to shift into a different gear. It says, I'm okay, as I am, and you know what there might be other entrances to this problem, I might be able to find a side door back door, maybe grace will appear in some way. And taking that position of trust. I love that word, Erin, is one way that you can allow multiple possibilities, for the opportunities and for the problems that are on your plate. Up to this point, we've been speaking about meditation in a more traditional sense, where you just are still and you trust, you're just present with your experience trying to change nothing. Now lately, I've been really excited about meditation that is a bit more active. Erin, you mentioned the mystical Arts where you're doing more visualization work, you're doing manifestation work. And this, it gets subtle. There are some people who think well, if you're just sitting there thinking, nothing's happening, right? How could you make the change in the world by just thinking about stuff, you got to get out there and get after it, answer those emails, create that next sales page. But when you sit there, and you quote, just think about it, you're actually activating possibilities on different levels of reality, reality flows from idea to creation, most things that existed least in the human world had to start as an idea, and the stronger that idea is within you, the more powerful that creation is going to be. And so there are ways of creating those ideas that are very full bodied, that are, you know, that have emotion in them that have color in them that have tactile sense to them. And the deeper you can get with that visualization, the more present you can make that reality in your life, before it's ever a thing that other people can see. And as a leader, your job is to have a powerful vision that other people can follow can get excited about and move towards before it ever exists in the world. And so that is one of the ways that meditation, beyond just the sitting still and letting everything be, but actually actively using your mind your creativity to project your intention into the future, right to project your will into the world is a powerful practice for leaders and business owners.

Erin Aquin  13:10  
Yeah, I think both are really important. And I know that those of us who are creative types who like to make our ideas are reality in the world, tend to be a little more drawn, as I definitely am to the creative visualization style of meditation, which is great. But I also think that that needs to be in harmony with a practice that is just sitting, just sitting with nothing to do, where there's no point there's no box to check, there's no accomplishment. There's no like, special, like breathing technique that you're trying to, like there's so many ways in which we can still be busy even when we're meditating. So I know for me, I kind of need both. I kind of need those days. And I can tell I can usually tell when I when I sit down. If I need something that's a little bit more of like an energetic or subtle body cleansing for you know, if I'm just in a rotten mood may not always be the day for me to just sit with my my mind. It's not it's not a bad thing. I know a lot of people and for many years that was my practice, I just would sit with my mind, let it be sit with my body as it was. But now I let it be a little bit more dynamic. On days when I need an energy shift, I will tend towards doing more future focused meditation, some kind of a creative visualization or more of an energetic cleanse. On days where I just feel busy, where I feel like there was a lot going on and my creative juices have been really utilized. Those are the days where I tend to just want something that is very simple. And I don't say simple, meaning easy, I actually think that meditation where you just sit down, and you sit and you do nothing, and you have no mental object or breathing practice or affirmation of any kind to focus on, that's actually a more advanced meditation style in most schools of practice. And it's sometimes exactly what is needed. So it's good to know yourself, it's good to know your tendencies, if you tend to be a little bit more hyper focused, and always looking for the next thing to tinker with in your business or in your life, five minutes of sitting, without letting yourself get too drawn into whatever fun mental drama your brain spins up, can be very powerful. And if you feel like maybe you don't have a lot of ideas, you're feeling like you do need something that's a little bit more fiery, a little more active to support you and get, get you motivated and inspired. creative visualization might be a really exciting thing to try.

Steve Haase  16:21  
So we are absolutely thrilled to be creating that space for you to join us, we're going to be offering a five day meditation exploration. For leaders and entrepreneurs. It's happening soon after this episode comes out, to learn more about it and register head over to besuperabound.com/meditate. It's only $18 for the whole five days. And that includes replay access for six months, the practices that we're going to be leading you through will span the spectrum of what we just spoke about from just sitting and being to energy resets, and creative visualizations and real activation, meditations. So it will be a powerful time to be there in person. And having access to those replays over time, will allow you to bring the practice into your life more deeply, if that is something that is calling to you. So head over to besuperabound.com/meditate and join us there, it's going to be amazing. I don't know how I'm able to get excited about meditation, but I do. It's like, hey, let's just sit there and do nothing. But my experience of it is such that I want to be doing it with everyone. I just want the world to join me in meditation because the experience of being myself without any other expectations. And without trying to do another thing. And yet being completely conscious and present is just so fulfilling. And it's so beautiful, that I want to do it. That's why I do it most days. I want to do it with you. So join us for the meditation exploration.

Erin Aquin  18:16  
Yeah, and you know, just another reason why we're going to have these meditation practices that are really specific to you as a business owner. But I think that as somebody who doesn't always get excited about meditation, and does find it a little bit challenging, I do know how powerful it is to do this with other people. So if you can come to the sessions live, that will be amazing. But even if you can't, the residual energy of knowing that there were other people, and there are other people out there doing these practices is beautiful. It's so rare, as business owners that we get a chance to come together even virtually, in a space where nobody's keeping score. Don't we all kind of keep score. All day long in our businesses, we're always checking the revenue, we're checking how many leads came in that week, we're checking how our team is doing, there are so many metrics about how we are doing in our business. And I know, for so many of us, it's hard to sometimes step away and untangle those metrics from your own inherent self worth. Too many people are using their business to tell themselves whether they are doing a good job at life or not. And so this is going to be an opportunity for us to all come together and be in our most true essence without any of those metrics mattering. And I think that the more you can carve out spaces in your life, where you see yourself as whole and complete and totally fine even as the storm of the mind, they rage or some really good idea wants your attention. And you can just sit and be in the face of all of that. I actually think it builds resilience for all of us in our businesses.

Steve Haase  20:22  
It builds resilience for you. And it creates a more stable environment, for your business to thrive in for your people to do their best work. And for you to be the best possible leader for those around you. Thanks for listening. Head on over to besuperabound.com/meditate to join us for the meditation exploration. Hope to see you there live.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai