Ali Smith, Executive Director, Holistic Life Foundation

Ali Smith (0:00)

Meditation isn't going to be easy right away, just like I couldn't go out, and I couldn't go out and run a marathon right now. You know what I mean?

I couldn't do it. I have to train myself up to be able to do it. And I start off slowly, and I slowly build myself up to be able to do it. And that's the way it is with meditation. Like, it's not going to be easy right away. You are going to have to put in work.

But it's going to be fun. Like, you're going to feel yourself becoming more relaxed. As long as you can realize that every meditation was the exact way it was supposed to be. And you're not grading yourself on your meditations or beating yourself up or just judging yourself. Like, if you can really just be with your meditations when you're doing them and put the time in, you'll notice a difference and you'll get to know yourself very, very well.

Michael Gervais (0:47)

All right, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm Michael Gervais.

And by trade and training on a sport and performance psychologist, and the whole nature of these conversations, this podcast, if you will, is to sit down with people who are on the path of mastery to better understand what they're searching for, to work to understand their psychological framework and to dig to understand, to illuminate the mental skills that they've used to build and refine their craft.

I want to take a minute here to announce a really exciting event that we have coming up. As you continue to navigate the challenges and opportunities of 2024, I want to pose a question. What are you doing right now to be great with stress? How are you working with stress on your pursuit towards your most important ambitions and goals? And I just want to get right to the heart of the key elements, one in particular, for what it takes to excel in today's high heat, high stakes world. Because stress is not the problem that we think it is. Stress is a synonym for change. And our ability to be agile with change, that is the real opportunity at hand. So if you're wanting to unlock extraordinary results and sustainable performance in your life, it's not about avoiding or reducing stress. And as simple as that sounds, it's very tricky to do, but it is about fundamentally changing your relationship with it.

And that's why I'm so thrilled to invite you to a special event. It's a free virtual event that we're offering and it's called The Power of Embracing Stress. It's on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. So to sign up, just head over to findingmastery.com/training, whether it's advancing in your career or improving your health or cultivating stronger relationships.

I think a new approach to stress can be one of the most powerful unlocks for you in your life. So join us for this free virtual training The Power of Embracing Stress on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. Go to findingmastery.com/training to sign up once again. That's findingmastery.com/training. And I'm really excited to see you there.

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This week's conversation is with Ali Smith. Now, Ali and I met probably about five or six years ago at a conference called Wisdom 2.0. It's where high tech meets mindfulness and he's just got a great way about him and he's got an incredible story that he's been able to amplify in his business efforts. So Ali co-founded the Holistic Life Foundation in 2001 where he's currently the executive director. Now what they've done, you've probably heard buzz or read about it or heard some controversy and some storylines around what they've done with mindfulness in schools. So he was early on that program, introducing mindfulness to public and private schools. He's had to practice himself for 15 years, teaching yoga and mindfulness to a wide range of populations. And what they've done is they've developed a pilot in yoga mindfulness programs in public and private schools, like we've talked about, drug treatment centers, juvenile detention centers, mental crisis facilities, retreat centers. And he's done all this nationally and internationally. So in this conversation, we talk about how he got schools, large institutions to buy into his mission. And it's not him alone, it's he and his team. And we also talk about the way that he is making impact on kids' lives and how that's likely paying forward in dividends.