Sandy Abrams, BREATHE TO SUCCEED
[0:08]Hi, I'm Zive Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast,
[0:11]Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Thanks so much for listening to my podcast.
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[1:04]by it is a gift to housewarming if you actually go somewhere or just give it to yourself. Everybody
[1:09]needs a treat. We've had a long spring. PageOneBooks.com. Okay, don't get too sad, but today is the
[1:15]last day of my 10 days of a July book blast. I hope that you've enjoyed all these 10 days,
[1:21]and if you miss them, go back and listen to memoir Mondays and debut Tuesdays and body blast,
[1:26]and all the rest of the episodes that hopefully will have made to your July just a little bit better.
[1:31]Today's our last day, and it's a self-help inspiration empowerment Friday. So let's just call it
[1:37]empowerment Friday. I hope that you feel encouraged, inspired, and just awesome after listening
[1:43]to these episodes today. Sandy Abrams is known as the CE founder, not CE. She has written two
[1:51]books, your idea, Inc., from 2010, and breathed to succeed. She shares her simple and powerful
[1:57]breath and mindfulness tools that fueled her entrepreneurial journey over the past 25 years.
[2:03]And now she is a CE. And currently leads the breeds to succeed, and beverages and breath workshops,
[2:10]customize, breath, and mindset training for entrepreneurs, leaders, employees, women's groups,
[2:15]and she speaks at a variety of conferences. She also just launched the CE podcast, which she says
[2:22]inspired her to do, which makes me feel just awesome. Welcome, Sandy. Thanks so much for
[2:27]coming on mom's and have time to read books. Thanks for having me. It's pleasure to be here.
[2:31]Oh, so breeds to succeed, increase workplace productivity, creativity, and clarity through the power
[2:37]of mindfulness. That pretty much summarizes the book, but why don't you tell us, and I just
[2:43]a little more about it and what inspired you to write it? Yes. So I wrote breeds to succeed
[2:48]after practicing breath and mindfulness on my own in small moments for 30 years. And I felt this
[2:58]SOS in the business sector a few years ago. I had written a book in 2010 called Your Idea, Inc.,
[3:06]which was to help other first-time entrepreneurs launch their own business. And that had
[3:11]me speaking at a lot of business events and women's conferences. And that's where I began to see
[3:17]that technology had hit the tipping point. And we were all sort of had this new level of
[3:24]low-grade stress from constantly being connected to our devices. And I felt like I had something
[3:31]to share about my simple, but powerful breath tools. That's awesome. And you have an acronym for
[3:38]3D breaths, the 3D B or something. I call them 3D B. And that was my go-to breath tool, the most
[3:46]simple thing, the 3D B. That's all it takes to actually transform energy. And I mean today
[3:54]between pandemic and George Floyd and the stress and anxiety of our times right now,
[4:01]we all have time to breathe 3D breaths. Einstein, one of my favorite quotes is from Einstein,
[4:08]it says, we cannot solve problems with the same energy that we created them, and breath transforms
[4:14]energy. So right now I'm sort of on this mission to help everyone, not just the business sector,
[4:19]but help everyone just go inward for a few seconds every day with simply 3D breaths. Great for
[4:27]parenting as well. And moms do have time to breathe because we can multitask one more breathing.
[4:34]We can be doing, we can be making food for the kids. We can be doing whatever. And you can take
[4:39]3D breaths, mindfully wall. You are busy doing all the other things that moms do, right?
[4:45]Yeah, totally. I did. I loved how the angle of this excuse to entrepreneurs and CEOs and how you
[4:53]call yourself a C. E. C. Instead of a CEO, a CEO, which is self-lever because I do think there's
[5:00]something specific to business leaders or people really stressed out at work who need to
[5:06]reframe how to manage all of that and to give people tools not just at home, but also in work
[5:13]is amazing. So what are what are aside from the 3D breaths? What are some like, what's a go-to
[5:18]thing that somebody right now who's sneaking time at work to listen to this could do to have a
[5:22]better day? Yes. Well, first of all, there's a lot of science behind the power of breath and
[5:28]mindfulness for wellness and for mental health and for boosting immunity and and so much science
[5:34]behind that. I'd love to read you an excerpt from the book about that and then I'll share a tool.
[5:41]Is that okay? Sure, that's great. Okay, so I have these pop-ups throughout the book that share
[5:49]just scratching the surface of the science behind breath. And here's one. In an article titled
[5:56]Neuroscientists have identified how exactly one deep breath changes your mind,
[6:01]Morgan Surf of Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University says, breathing at different
[6:07]paces or paying careful attention to the breaths were shown to engage different parts of the brain.
[6:14]Humans ability to control and regulate their brain is unique, i.e. controlling emotions. These
[6:21]abilities are not trivial when breathing changed with the exercises the brain changed as well.
[6:29]The findings provide neural support for advice individuals have been given for millennia.
[6:35]During times of stress or when heightened concentration is needed, focusing on one's breathing
[6:41]or doing breathing exercises can indeed change the brain. So on that note, one rule of thumb with
[6:48]breath is that if you make your exhale longer than your inhale, that taps into your parasympathetic
[6:56]nervous system, which is the rest and digest part of your nervous system. It brings on a
[7:02]feeling of relaxation and calm. So I'll walk you through this and because everybody breathes at
[7:09]different paces or but for people who haven't had any breath practice before, I love doing an
[7:17]inhale of four and an exhale of six because it's just very simple, but keeping that exhale longer
[7:25]than the inhale is the science behind getting into that feeling of relaxation. So are you up for
[7:30]a breath or two? I'm up for a breath or two. Okay, so through your nose, take a long slow deep inhale
[7:37]to this count of four, two, three, four and then slowly exhale through your nose or mouth, six, five,
[7:47]four, three, two, one. Let's do one more. Inhale, two, three, four and exhaling slowly, six, five,
[8:01]four, three, two, one. So that can be done anywhere anytime to when you for when you really want
[8:12]to feel relaxed or calm. Makes me feel like I want to go back to sleep. Well, I've got a breath
[8:18]to energize as well. Okay, okay. The breath is that I love to say there's a breath for every energy
[8:25]that you want to manifest and breath alone is super powerful. But when you pair it with mindset
[8:32]tools, meaning you tell your body how you want to feel like right now, you just said, okay,
[8:37]now I want to go to sleep. But if you start telling your body, I am energized now. I'm rejuvenated
[8:43]and we do a lion's breath, which I'll share with you right now. You will feel more energized.
[8:49]And so that's where the magic begins really is when you pair breath with mindset tools. And
[8:54]lion's breath is a breath that I taught my kids when they were little. They're 22 and 24 now.
[9:00]And I'm happy to say they still do lion's breath. It's a great tool because it's immediate
[9:06]and it gets rid of any stagnant or negative energy. And if you do three of them, it's really energizing.
[9:13]So I know we're on audio, but I'll try to explain this as best I can. So close your eyes.
[9:20]And inhale through your nose, a long slow deep inhale on the exhale, bulge open your eyes,
[9:26]stick out your tongue and sigh everything out. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that.
[9:35]You are. And what happens is this. Usually when I do lion's breath in group setting in your life,
[9:42]it makes everyone laugh like you just did. And that's another thing you can do is laugh out loud.
[9:49]Even when you're not feeling it, it's energizing. And again, it's science. It changes the
[9:54]counts during your body. You begin to feel happy simply by just laughing. So
[10:00]Those are great things to teach the kids to laughing out loud and lion's breath.
[10:04]I will do the lion's breath to my kids because they're used to seeing me look ridiculous,
[10:09]but I'm not going to do it to you because I just can't.
[10:14]All right, but now at least I have the tool. That's awesome. That's so awesome.
[10:19]So I was really interested in your book about how you ended up even becoming someone who's
[10:24]on the other end of this call, helping people with their breath, and how you started out
[10:28]as an entrepreneur and sold a business. You had some expression like unbeknownst to me or like
[10:33]to my own greatest surprise or something that suggested that you were as surprised as anyone
[10:38]to have sold a business as like a multimillion dollar sale and you know became a beauty product that
[10:43]was in all these you know everywhere. You just like killed it. And tell me a little about that
[10:49]and then how you transitioned to this. Okay, so first of all, I didn't sell the business. I actually
[10:55]still have it, but it launched quickly and it was I built this business as I said much to my
[11:01]surprise. I have a broadcasting journalism background, not a business background. And I was just one
[11:08]of those people that saw a void in the marketplace for a product moisturizing gloves. My product
[11:14]was called moisture jams. And I wanted to make something that I needed. I was really embarrassed
[11:19]of my hands when I was in my 20s. I really dry ugly hands. And my grandmother told me about this
[11:26]beauty secret that's been around for generations, which is simply put on any moisturizer. Her preference
[11:32]was Vaseline. This was back in 1993. My grandmother at the time was 93 years old. And then you
[11:39]just slip on white cotton gloves and it helps to heal your hands and make them look younger and
[11:45]healthier. And so I tried, you know, I lived in Los Angeles at the time. Beauty conscious LA,
[11:52]there's tons of beauty supply stores. But the only product that they had was a thin white cotton,
[11:59]all cotton glove that just fell off my hands and it wouldn't stay on. So I decided I could make a
[12:05]better version. There was also at that time a very robust garment industry in Los Angeles.
[12:10]And so I just pounded the pavement and I learned about fabric. I learned about pattern making.
[12:15]And I created a product and I started sharing it with people. And before I knew it, I had gone
[12:23]to get a manicure and I had given a sample pair of gloves to the manicurists who was in Beverly
[12:30]Hills at the time. And in style magazine, put it in one of their first three. I forget it was
[12:36]one of the first three issues of in style. It was like a full-page picture of moisture jams. And
[12:42]that sort of, I was like, wow, this is really working. I had no credit card to accept payments at
[12:49]that time, you know, no merchant account or anything like that. But I realized people are interested
[12:56]in this. And so I just started figuring it out. And that's the great thing about building a
[13:02]business. You can learn it on the go. And so that's why I wrote my first book Your Idea Inc. And
[13:09]that's what led to this because I tapped into the power of breath and mindset so frequently
[13:17]building my business that I really felt like the time was right to share that. And so that's what
[13:24]led to this book because without those tools, I wouldn't have had the confidence to do, you know,
[13:32]to walk into 50 sewing factories and find the right one or to ask questions of the Bed Bath
[13:39]and Beyond buyer. I didn't know what wholesale retail, what priceings and margins. And so breath
[13:44]constantly gave me the confidence to keep going every day when I really felt like I didn't know
[13:50]what I was doing. Long when do they answer, but there you go. And now you lead groups and teach
[13:55]people like Oprah how to catch her breath. Oprah really inspired me. I did breath with her and grateful
[14:05]for like Oprah and other people who, as you mentioned, I do call them CEO's, people who lead
[14:12]mindfully. She is one of those people. And I think that it's so inspiring that some companies
[14:19]like Google many years ago started with a chief happiness officer. And today companies like Vayner
[14:26]Media have a chief heart officer. Hyatt has a chief well-being officer. There are companies big
[14:32]brands now that are realizing the power of mindfulness and breath and meditation in the workplace.
[14:40]So workplace wellness is my passion. I'm on a mission right now to share breath. You know,
[14:46]one deep breath at a time really. By the way, in the book you quoted Bill Gross from my deal
[14:51]of and I worked there after college for a couple years. I was like the 20th employee and I hadn't,
[14:56]I like never see him in books. It was amazing. So anyway, small world. I love that. Yeah, too funny.
[15:04]Are you working on another book now? I should ask. No, I, there was nine years in between my books
[15:09]after my first book and I'm sure you can relate to this. I never thought I would write another book.
[15:13]I'm not a writer. But when I feel like I've got something to say something then I'm willing to share
[15:21]and I'm willing to do that labor of love and write another book. As of right now, I feel like
[15:27]this book has so much time and space that I can share with people that I'm not looking for book
[15:34]number three yet. I feel like you do about how writing inspires you all the time and it's sort of
[15:40]how you, you know, it's like cathartic. That's how I feel about breath and I just want to share
[15:46]breath for several years. So for someone else who wants to write a book but doesn't even really
[15:51]love writing. What tips would you have having survived too? My number one tip for people who ask me
[15:59]that is just write like you're talking to a friend because I made the mistake of starting my first
[16:06]book as sort of using my journalism background and trying to make it sound very journalistic and
[16:14]then I had asked my editor, could you just take a look at my first two chapters? I don't want to
[16:19]write everything and then find out I'm on the wrong track because I'm not a writer per se.
[16:25]And she looked at my first two chapters and said, okay, hit the lead part over and she said
[16:33]when you spoke with me, I felt your enthusiasm and I felt your passion and that's not what I'm
[16:39]feeling when I read this and that was the best advice ever and since then I've written
[16:44]hundreds of articles about entrepreneurs and business and wellness and I'm always using that advice
[16:50]just writing as if I'm talking to a friend giving advice and then I realized that it cares my
[16:57]voice that way in a written on paper. So that's the advice I would give people. Amazing.
[17:03]Well Sandy, thank you so much for coming on my podcast and thank you for my little
[17:08]the only breaths I will probably take today that I will be aware of.
[17:13]Thanks for something that will break my kids out of their next tantrum by looking at how crazy I look.
[17:18]I promise you they will love Lions Breath and thank you for having me Zippy and thank you for
[17:23]everything you do for authors and for lightning the energy in the world right now. So thank you.
[17:30]Thank you Sandy. That was nice of you to say. I'm trying.
[17:34]Thanks. Have a great day. You too. Bye. Bye. So that's it. That's the last day of the July book blast.
[17:41]That's the last of the Empowerment Friday episodes. Go back. Listen to the last 10 days.
[17:46]There's so many amazing episodes. I really hope you've stuck with me and listened and sampled
[17:52]and gotten inspired to read more and gotten some great life tips along the way and above all
[17:58]felt connected through the power of storytelling. Thanks for listening.
[18:02]Thanks again for listening to my podcast. Moms don't have time to read books.
[18:06]If you liked this episode please follow me on Instagram at zippyowans and at moms don't have time
[18:12]to read books and sign up for my mailing list at zippyowans.com so you can always hear about
[18:17]the latest things I'm up to. Thanks a lot. Thanks so much to page one books for sponsoring today's
[18:22]episode. I hope you'll all check out my summer beach bundle at page one books.com. Thanks so much
[18:27]to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound for the sound editing and thank you to Morning Moon Productions
[18:32]for providing this fantastic intro and outro music. Thanks for listening. You could always email
[18:37]me at zippyowans.com.