Written by: Andrea Cristancho, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Building your business from your gut, core, lungs, and pelvic floor with KPIs in all the colors of the rainbow.
It was 6:00 am, a misty morning winter in Shanghai in 2010. I was heading to my yoga teacher Waylon’s class. He was in his next stay in Shanghai throughout his yearly Asia tour, just starting his regular classes at Anamaya, the yoga studio our friend opened recently in the heart of the french concession.
Shoes off as usual inside the shala, I walked in, and the smell of fresh incense greeted me on this wet morning. I dropped my stuff in the changing rooms and headed to practice. There he was, the same old smiley Waylon, hyped up at 6:15 am already awake, guiding us to take a seat, but first: “go blow your nose,” he said, “because we are going to practice kriyas.”
Back then, my normal was to wake up with a stuffy nose, and I totally blamed the pollution, so I went to the bathroom to do as I was told.
We slowly came back and sat in our places, started with soft pranayama, and in no time switched into deeper forceful intentional breathing sequences that, oh my, were clearing airways and getting me high. I was curious and delighted, happy and nervous at the same time. I was experiencing a new sense of peace, and it was intentional. We carried on for a couple more minutes. After that, we sat in meditation and began our asana practice.
90 minutes later, I was walking out of the studio alive, awake, feeling fresh, feeling powerful, and my brain in alert mode. I could only say that was great… and it was, as I made my way to the office.
On that day, my regular kriya practice began. My journey on the mat is long and ongoing. It extends over 11 years now, and I’m nowhere close to retiring yet. But, now I’m on a mission to share the secrets among my fellow coaches and dear clients because it is possible to integrate business with a healthy lifestyle.
The regular practice of kriyas got me to tap into the power of my breathing in business and life. When speaking on stages, when hosting a team presentation, when in session with a client 1:1, even when jet-lagged. Kriyas work! This experience got me to research the energy centers inside the body, or as I like to call them, the energy pockets. The places where we can store and tap into energy as we are pleased. Breathing is one. Now allow me to introduce to you three more: the gut, the pelvic floor, and the core.
Inside our gut lives our gut bacteria, the essence of our immunity. Did you know you can rebalance your gut with the power of the rainbow? And I’m not talking about unicorns here. The rainbow you find in your fridge, at the farmers market, on a lovely whole foods meal. If you’re curious, I invite you to research and experiment with the awareness of your food intake. As an entrepreneur, dealing with mental fog and running low on energy is common, but it doesn’t have to be. Remember, you have the ability to tap into your power sources!
Next up, the pelvic floor. In yoga, we call it “Mula bandha,” and mastering these techniques allows for real awakening and direct access to your highest self and purpose. Something entrepreneurs could absolutely benefit from, don’t you agree? Imagine having access to your superpowers 24/7 by simply controlling the muscles that sit on your pelvic floor. The exercises are super simple, in combination with your breath count and hold, no equipment nor gym time required, only mindfulness and commitment. Women, in particular, tend to work hard at recovering the pelvic floor, and as a result, gain tremendous strength after the delivery of their children. But not all, unfortunately! And man can absolutely master this too! Google it.
And last but not least at all, the core. Yes, we can aim for the 6 pack, good for you. However, be mindful of the inner muscular wall that holds up your body structure, prevents lower back pain, gets you to gain your confidence like anything else, and keeps your posture upright. Alright, alright, the last one sounds like a fantasy, and I’m sure you’ve tried the reps at some point in time and failed. However, my invitation to you is to examine it from a micro-commitments daily perspective for at least 10 minutes a day. As we commit to building habits of highly effective individuals as business people, we can start with building our energy pockets 10 minutes a day.
Did I get you interested?
As a holistic business coach, I bring to the table that integration, not balance, of running a business and a healthy lifestyle. Really combining a lifestyle that you can design and put together, keeping in mind that fuel for your business is your own energy. And building all the pieces of the puzzle upon that energy level and level of intelligence and expertise you already have. There’s nothing less or more missing from the equation. It’s all about designing and strategizing that roadmap. And that’s exactly how we integrate the creation of your Flagship Offer and your lifestyle as an entrepreneur inside my holistic business coaching world.
But of course, I’m biased. This is why today is special. I’ve asked my first business coach - who focuses on helping health coaches launch their businesses —, Dawn Friedland — to answer the top 3 frequently asked questions I get asked the most for you.
1) Q: What’s your take on burnout?
Dawn: Burnout is a symptom of fear and scarcity at play in your mindset. When an entrepreneur begins her journey of building a business, she likely has big dreams, big visions, and lots of excitement for future possibilities. She starts out with an abundance mindset. "Plenty of business to be had!" she thinks. But then the realities of how difficult the path will actually be start to sink in. The revenue doesn't grow the way she expected it to. She has a bad month and maybe goes into debt. She gets scared it might happen again and doubles down on her efforts to make up for it (fear.) She starts to take clients that aren't perfectly aligned for her because she needs every dollar she can get (scarcity.) But then, next month, she exceeds her goals and gets re-invigorated about the possibilities again, so she keeps going. The following month isn't so hot.
The cycle continues, and each time the fear and scarcity increase a little bit while the workload and doubling down continue to grow. Eventually, an entrepreneur will burn out if this problem is not addressed due to overworking for too many months. The solution is to find a balance between your big visions & dreams and what actually can be accomplished in your first 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years of business. Keep that abundant mindset ever-present and stay tuned in to the future possibilities while accepting and expecting a bit of a roller coaster as par for the course. When you believe that the path from A to Z is not a straight line and you will hit some bumps in the road and few detours, it can be easier to stay present to your abundant vision and pace yourself on the journey towards that vision.
2) What’s your top 1 advice to aspiring online business entrepreneurs?
Dawn: In the online marketplace, alignment trumps all. To win in the online space means to attract perfect clients into your perfect offer. You can have all the funnel pages, complicated technology, and budget for ad spend in the world, but if you are not in 100% alignment with who you help and what problem you solve, no amount of marketing will work. Here's why the success of your business is a direct function of your ability to communicate what you do and why people should work with you through copywriting and content creation.
Communication is essentially an expression of your inner beliefs, deepest understanding of the problem, and most importantly, an expression of your empathy for their struggles & challenges. All humans want to be heard and understood. Most of us don't get that from the people we interact with daily because most people just survive and get their own needs met. Most people don't make it their mission to make other people feel heard. It's just how the world works: bosses are hitting KPIs, spouses are trying to get the kids to school, be at work on time, etc. So often, this need to feel understood and be heard goes unmet.
So when you can express your deepest understanding of what they are struggling with and what they want, when they see your content, they're going to resonate with it. They're going to feel heard. They're going to be drawn in. If you aren't 100% aligned, it's going to be difficult to create that experience for them - you'll get crickets on your posts, your ads won't convert, the leads won't buy. But when you are 100% aligned, everything becomes easier, and the business starts to flow in because of the aligned energetic pathways you've created through the resonant communication in your content.
3) Do you believe it’s possible to integrate business with a healthy lifestyle, for real?
Dawn: Not only is it possible to integrate business with a healthy lifestyle, it's required! If you interview the founders of the most successful online businesses, you will find something they all have in common. They have a morning routine. They actively work on their mindset. They exercise. They meditate. They drink lots of water. They eat well. They minimize clutter and manage their calendar tightly. They invest in healthy relationships and avoid toxic or draining people.
Successful online business owners know that business success is an extension of their personal energy. Personal energy is created through daily acts of self-care and business care. When an entrepreneur allows her state to go into an unhealthy state, energy blockages in their mind and body show up as energy blockages in their business. "As within, so without," as the saying goes.
I hope our approach gets you inspired, and if you need further support, you know where to find us. My online community - Health & Business Integrated, The Club - is the place where all my teachings and practices come together and evolve as our community grows. More on this coming soon. To your success!
Andrea Cristancho, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Andrea Cristancho, the founder of www.andreacristancho.com, is a Holistic Business Coach helping female entrepreneurs in the wellness space. Through her signature program, The UpLevel Method, Andrea integrates the entrepreneurial mindset with practical business tools that re-engineer existing businesses to achieve their next growth level. As an international business mentor with Latin roots and serial entrepreneur, she has run her own businesses in 3 continents in many different industries. In the process, she has discovered that having a signature program, a personal brand, and the right mindset is the key to taking off your entrepreneurial success.
