Welcome to Sustain youn Vitality, the podcast that gives you a nurturing kick in the ass so you can take action every day to feel better, not older.

Your lifestyle holds the power to change how you feel.

And no matter your age or health issues, you are in the driver's seat.

I'm your host, Zoa Connor, and I am a PhD level physicist, a well being lifestyle alchemist, a travel strategist, and a retreat leader.

Zenin Vitality with Zoa is my functional wellness studio.

Join me for an intentional vitality retreat for a whole new way to use travel to support your well being.

I'm here to help you figure out how to lower your stress, increase your energy, put yourself into a healing state, boost your drive and pleasure in life, prevent disease, and feel the best you ever have in your whole life with no regrets later.

Let's go.

I am delighted to have Sasha Davis here with me and I want you to know a little bit about her before we get into our conversations about retreats.

Sasha, can you introduce yourself?

Yes.

My name is Sasha Davis.

I live on a ranch in Southern Oregon.

I have four kiddos, a bunch of horses, dogs, cats, chickens, all the things keeping me pretty busy.

And I run a business that helps women scale their businesses and I also offer retreats.

So I was very intrigued to have this conversation with you today.

Yeah, it's great when we get to talk about retreats, when we come at it from a different angle.

Yeah.

Well, Sasha, when I was looking at your bio, I was fascinated, of course, because I met you via LinkedIn because of your sales mama course.

And you know that program about, you know, how, how do you, as a woman business owner, make the sale and make the revenue, right?

Get, get the things happening through your business that you want and accept that you're also a wonderful horse equine person and you're also a ranch owner and you're also a mom and you're also a reiki healer.

So you've got so many dimensionalities that I know you bring them all together into your retreats, right?

Yes.

So I was hoping that we could talk about why your overall well being is so critical for how you do your job, support your business and support your family.

Right?

Well, this is a loaded question, but I.

It is.

But people, people come to people like you for making more money, figuring out how to do their better at their job, do better at their business, right?

And you give them the systems, right?

You give them the information, but then it's all about actually applying it, and that's where the well being comes into play, right?

You've got to have energy, you've got to have the motivation, you've got to have the nutrition on board so you can think.

Right?

So how did you come to blend all of these things together?

Oh, so funny story, I, I actually took a 200 hour yoga certification as well.

I am, I am just a junkie on learning all the things and being to implement them right away.

I also have done nutrition courses and I went through the National Academy for Sports Medicine.

So I know all of these things on like how important movement and mindset and connecting with your body and you know, and with the Reiki master, like I'm a Reiki master.

And so with the energy, like everything is energy.

And so when women come to me, they are typically burnt out, overwhelmed, depleted, doing all the things.

And one of the first things I ask them is, well, what are you doing for yourself?

I don't have time for anything.

And that's, that's the thing, I don't have time for myself.

I never do this for myself.

I'm not exercising, I'm not drinking enough water, I'm not eating healthy.

Some people aren't even eating.

Like they're not eating until like the end of the day.

They're just.

And I get that there's intermittent fasting and all this stuff, but this is different.

This is like depletion.

This is not intentional.

And so there is a difference.

And so I, I just tell them, you know, there's the whole analogy of would you leave your house with your phone on 5% battery, right?

You know, would you leave your, would you leave here to go to, you know, California, to New York with 50 miles to empty and expect you to make it there?

No.

And so what I tell them is we can't work on your business until we get your nervous system regulated, till we get you grounded and until we get some energy, some life, some vitality back into you because otherwise you're going to keep running yourself into the ground.

And so we look at their calendar and I say what are the things that have to happen and what are the things that are just a nice to have, want to have or somebody else can do them?

Because I attract those hyper independent women so they feel like they have to do everything themselves and they will do it all at the fault of themselves.

And so absolutely, you know, making sure that they start their day with them.

Because otherwise how I feel is if you do not start your day by pouring into your cup, you are telling God the universe Everybody else, Everybody else is more important than you.

And without you, you can't take care of your family, you can't take care of your home, you can't take care of your business, you can't take care of your community.

So what happens when you're not there because you're not taking care of you, none of the other things can happen.

And so I take.

We tend to think we're invincible, right?

Yes.

And sometimes I liken this to the airplane safety rules, right.

If you're a mom with kids, right.

What do the steward, what do the airline people tell you all the time, if there's ever a problem, the oxygen masks will drop down from the top.

And which one do you put on first?

Yeah, right, Yours.

Right.

Because then you can encourage your kids to do it.

So if you're not taking care of yourself first, it's really hard to do a great job taking care of anyone else.

Right.

But they don't see anyone else taking care of the things that they prioritize.

Right.

But they also don't have anyone taking care of themselves.

Right.

That's what people come to me, right.

And my private retreats and my, my brick and mortar studio.

Right.

Is I'm the mom.

Right.

And so it's really awesome that you address that first because then that gives them the energy, the power, the brain function to be able to do what they think is more important.

Yes, 100%.

Yeah.

And most people, I shouldn't say most people, some people can become upset with me.

I will say when we first get started, because I'm like, listen, here is all the strategy stuff, but until you do this, this and this, I'm not going to give you this because this isn't going to matter.

And so I'm like, minimum, 10 or 15 minute walk outside a day, minimum drink your water, minimum, feed yourself, minimum shut your phone off for a little bit, you know, or put it away for a little bit.

And so I asked them to do these things and it can be really difficult at first, but then once they do it and I, I have them create boundaries around work and boundaries around family and boundaries around toxic people in their life.

And within a few weeks they come and they're like, things have, like, I have so much more energy.

I have time for my kids, I have time for this, I have time to actually work on my business.

And we reprioritize their life, we reprioritize their business.

Because I think when you fall into those ruts, you just, that's just what you do.

You just rinse and repeat, rinse, repeat, and then before you know it, you're spiraling out of control and it's like, stop the pattern.

Let's focus on what actually matters so that you can move the needle forward.

And I like to remind my clients that when you're stressed and you're just go, go, go, trying to get all the things done, your brain functions differently.

There are certain parts of your brain that are just off.

And one of those parts is the one that makes sense.

It's your logical, it's your ability to reason.

Right.

You're just, you' just existing, you're just surviving.

Right.

It's kind of like, yes, you can make the car go when it's on empty by getting out and pushing from the back, but it's not the most effective way to go.

No.

Right.

But it does get you some forward progress.

Right.

And I often tell people, you know, my, my story about, about that is from when I was working on my PhD, and you know, you've got these things, these big tasks, these big problems, and you're trying to solve them.

And so you just stay at your office and you just work and you work and you try to like, be patient and wait and like, I can do this.

And here it is like four hours later, after you wanted to go home, and you still haven't solved the damn problem.

Right.

But if I did eventually learn that if I went home at the time that I planned to be able to have dinner and sleep, the problem was solved in my mind in the morning when I woke up.

Yeah, that's so much more efficient.

How come it took me so long to figure that out?

Right?

Because I wasn't thinking clearly.

You're, you're absolutely right.

And I find that it's interesting that we do that with mental processes and with work and with our self care.

But then if you think about like the physical component of like strength training, people understand that that needs rest.

You need to rest in order for you to build stronger muscles after you've, you know, executed some type of lift.

But when we think about it for our brains, we're like, no, let's just push, push, push, push, push.

We don't need to rest.

And so I often say, slow down to speed up, slow down to speed up, slow down to speed up.

Because you, you can't keep going.

At.

110 all the time without burning out.

And then when you're burnt out, I say, it's not fair to your family, to your community, to your clients.

Because you're not showing up as your full self.

They're getting a half assed version of you.

And that's not what anybody wants.

And I think part of this is more true for people who do not think that body, mind and spirit are all connected.

Oh yeah, right.

Body is separate.

I can push the body fine.

Right.

But then like that makes sense.

Like you, you go, you lift heavy things, right?

You, you do an intense workout of some type, you rest.

Right.

And rest doesn't mean do nothing.

Rest means do something different.

So that kind of makes sense to them.

But when you talk about it from the mental perspective or the emotional perspective, that seems somehow like you're just supposed to be able to keep going.

It can't possibly be the same.

Right.

Except that we know that we hold emotions in our body and we know that our body affects our brain function.

Right.

But if you're a little too scientific or a little too body centered, then you don't give enough credit to the body, mind, spirit connection.

Which would only help you if you let it.

Yes, absolutely.

Yeah.

I wish more people would just take a minute to understand that it is all connected.

It's all connected.

What affects you in your daily life, what affects you in your business life, what affects you from previous experiences.

If you don't talk about things that hold emotional weight, like all of that, if we're going to go back to energy, like it all is stored in your body and most people will just shove it down, shove it down, shove it down.

I don't want to talk about it.

I'm just going to push through because that's what our society has told us to do.

Don't talk about emotions.

Don't be vulnerable, don't be emotional.

Work, work, work, work, work.

That's how you get to the, you know, the carrot at the end of the stick.

And that is so not true.

It's if you do.

But those trapped emotions drain energy and they cause pain and they cause dis.

Dysfunction.

Even if you wish they didn't.

Yes.

They can manifest into so many different things.

I mean, if you think about like repressed emotions, repressed trauma, like that's where you know, anxiety, depression, you know, people can have actual muscle spasms.

Like when I've worked with my massage therapist, she's like, have you had a rough month?

Because I can feel it in your shoulders, you know, because when you're tense, you do, your body reacts to it.

And, and your breath changes and your brain function changes and even your eyesight changes, right?

Oh yeah.

Looking close up, as we do at our screens, at our books when we're a kid, all these things, right?

This is a stress state for your eyes, right?

So when I.

When I choose retreat locations, I'm choosing them where there's a really good view far away as often as possible.

Because that action of changing your focal point from looking far away automatically calms your nervous system, right?

So I just came back from a retreat in Iceland where, you know, you could go stand on the edge of the island right there.

All the world is in front of you, right?

You could turn around and you can look past the volcanic mountains, right?

You're not looking at things that are within your house, within your office, right?

And so that's an automatic relaxation, which means now you can start to think not from a survival, but from a philosophical.

Right?

And this is what I want.

Maybe I need to be a little more discerning.

Maybe I need to change my patterns.

Maybe I need to give myself an hour in the morning.

Right?

You can actually kind of acknowledge those things rather than be told them and then fight it.

That's so interesting.

I didn't.

I mean, I realized that taking a break and looking at, like, nature or something other than your computer, because I tell my clients this all the time.

I'm like, work for 45 minutes or an hour.

You know, go stand outside for a minute.

Go walk around, you know, walk around your house outside, go, you know, down the block and back.

Do something.

But I didn't realize that, like, the.

The distance.

And what's interesting when you say that is all of the retreat locations that I have chosen have had.

They've been on, like, top of a mountain or, like, you know, they've had this incredible view.

And that's one of the things that we would do is, you know, sit out and, you know, have that morning view or that evening view.

And so I. I love that I didn't.

I wasn't aware of.

Of that part of it.

So subconsciously maybe, but not fully aware, but yeah, yeah.

But again, subconsciously you knew, because you picked those places, Right.

But now you know why you picked them.

Yeah, I find that fascinating.

Yeah.

Because that's what we would do.

We would sit out there, and that would be like our journal spot.

You know, we'd ask questions, and then people would just kind of like, gaze off and then write.

And so it all makes.

Because.

Because then.

Then you can think in the way that you want them to think.

Right?

Not from a.

Did I get my task list done?

But, like, what are the big picture things here.

You know, what, what are my goals?

What are my dreams?

I love that.

Yeah, that worked out perfectly well.

Pat myself on the back for that one.

And also keep in mind that that's now an important part of your selection.

Right.

So if you're pondering which city should I go to?

Well, maybe the question is how high up in the building can I get?

Yes, exactly.

Yeah.

I always try to look for a place with the view, like calming nature, somewhere that's off the beaten path, that's kind of tucked away, where there's not a lot of noise, there's a lot of n. That's kind of the places that I, I like to go for.

And so when we do retreats, we have a location.

We have some goals about what the location is going to give us.

Right.

That are, well, being oriented.

Yep.

But it's not about the location only.

No.

Right.

The location facilitates the goal for the retreat.

The location facilitates the transformation.

Right.

It makes it easier and possible.

Right.

And that's why we pick places with great food and great views and plenty of places to move your body around.

Right.

And lots of activities for the body so that you can think.

You think better when you move.

Oh, yes.

Yeah.

That's why we do a lot of the walk in talks, either in the morning or in the afternoon before we do the big workshops or the big group stuff, so that people feel connected, they get the body moving.

And that forward momentum, plus the connection.

Connection makes those workshops and that group setting a lot more impactful because they've just had movement and they've just had connection.

Absolutely.

I'm thinking I need to attend one of your retreats for something.

We do have a lot of fun.

We laugh a lot, we cry a lot, but we have a good time.

Sasha, thanks so much for this great conversation.

Can you let the listeners know how to find you?

Yes, absolutely.

So my most active places would probably be Instagram and LinkedIn.

You can find me at Sasha Davis S A U S H A dot D A V I S or Sales Mama School.

I have both on Instagram and you can find me on LinkedIn there.

I also have my podcast, the Sales Mama podcast.

So I'd love to, you know, if you want to hear me talk even more, you can come on over there and then all of the links are over on my website, Sales Mama Biz.

And I really enjoyed a lot of your podcast episodes.

So thanks for sharing that.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

You too.

Thanks.

If you liked what you just heard, and want more?

You can check out my book Wellness in Sustainable Travel and Embodied Practices for the Midlife Earth Conscious Woman or you can check out one of my two websites using the links in the Show Notes.

I have two great ways for you to start working with me.

I would love for you to take my Wellness plus Travel Profile quiz and discover which Greek goddess travels like you do.

You will get tips for planning your next trip sent directly to your email.

I would love to meet you with a free new client Wellness Consultation where we can discuss what working with me might look like for you.

The Show Notes have the links for both the quiz and my calendar to make an appointment.

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The Sustain your Vitality Podcast is a gift from Zenin Vitality with Zoa LLC and Intentional Vitality Retreats based in the State of Maryland, usa.

All the parts podcast things planning, recording, editing and producing have all been done by me, Zoa Connor, Ph.D. even though you can call me doctor, I'm not a medical professional and your safety is your responsibility.

By listening to this podcast and understanding any movement, nutrition, lifestyle or health protocols discussed, you understand and agree to take full responsibility for your actions.

Zen and Vitality with Zoa are not responsible for any injuries or issues that may occur.

This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical, wellness, nutrition, lifestyle or movement and fitness advice.

Always practice any fitness or movement related activities in a safe environment.

I make no claim to about the effectiveness of the techniques or protocols discussed or any specific results you may achieve.

I recommend you consult with your health care professional before changing your diet, exercise, routine or healthcare plan.

Zenin Vitality with Zoa and the guests of this podcast are not liable for any injuries or health problems that may arise from following the information presented.