WMH Season 2 Ep 13: Mindfulness for Personal and Professional Growth

This is a transcript of Watching Mental Health Season 2, Episode 13 which you can watch and listen to here:

Katie Waechter: Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Watching Mental Health, and I'm very excited because today's episode, I think is opportune on this. We are recording on November 6th, national Stress Day, and we're bringing in an expert on mindfulness, which I think is the perfect episode to talk about today. And this gal is quite the expert. Leticia Escamilla is a certified meditation teacher, mindfulness coach, public speaker, and the author of me Time. She founded Mind Fuel in Motion to deliver transformative mindfulness experiences to the workplace. And her engaging programs empower organizations to nurture their team's personal growth. So on this episode of Watching Mental Health, we're going to be breaking down mindfulness for both personal and professional growth and why it's so important for our mental health to de-stress and find peace. And so with that, let's bring to our show, Leticia Escamilla, welcome to the show!

Leticia Escamilla: Hello. Hello!

Katie: Thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited. I met you a few months ago, maybe six months ago now, and you gave a talk and I was so impressed and inspired and I really just loved what you had to say, and I knew that I immediately needed to get you scheduled. So I'm so glad to have you here today.

Leticia: Oh, likewise, Katie. Thank you for having me. So I

Katie: Gave a quick bio, but tell me in your own words who you are and why your work matters to you.

Leticia: Yeah, so you mentioned a lot in the bio, but I founded the company Minefield in Motion about four years ago. And so as my work as a meditation teacher, a mindfulness mentor and consultants speaker and author, my whole goal is to talk about mindfulness and bringing into the workplace as well as your personal, easy, practical, mindfulness techniques and strategies that you can do anywhere at any time. And I got into this work about over 10 years ago when I started my first business with my partner at the time, he's my now husband. And during that time in my life, I never thought I was going to be an entrepreneur or business owner. I was fine working for corporate and small businesses and he really stretched my mind to be able to see this idea of owning my own business. And with that came a lot of unknowns

And a lot of stress and overwhelm, and I wasn't equipped to handle that kind of stress and overwhelm that it comes with starting a business. When you go into a job or anything, any title role, usually focus on your title, your role, those tasks that have to do with that title and role. And then there's other people in your team that handle the other pieces of that bigger puzzle that you all are putting together every single day. So when you start a business, you are now wearing all the hats and you are putting the puzzle together all on your own with all being all the pieces. And so there came a lot of pain from going into business where I learned just a lot about myself. I started to see parts of myself that I liked and I started to see parts of myself that I wasn't too happy with. And I was like, how do I change this? Where do I begin? And I was already on this self-care journey with working out and taking care of myself, but I knew that I needed something deeper, something more. And that's where yoga and meditation came in as my teacher and really in a sense saved me, saved my relationship, and saved my business and completely turned my life around. That's why I do the work I do now.

Katie: I love that. That's so fabulous. Because you're right, starting a business is really hard and people will often say, well, I don't have what it takes so difficult. But the truth is nobody has what it takes without the right tools and training, without the right support. And it does take a lot. And so I think that that's really cool, that instead of allowing the stress of being an entrepreneur to crumble you, and you opened up to a whole new world that then went on to become your now business. So I think that's really an amazing journey.

Leticia: Yes, thank you.

Katie: That's so great. And mindfulness is a scary topic for a lot of people. I know that they hear it and meditation, they kind of curl up and they think, oh, I can't do that. I don't know what that is. I've tried I, and I think that we should help break down that stigma a little bit today because mindfulness does not have to be scary and it doesn't have to be hard. And I like that really. You mentioned that you don't just teach mindfulness practices, you teach practical ones, you teach ones that and are helpful I think on both a personal and a professional growth. So tell me more about how you came about to teaching the practices you do and what are those specific practices in mindfulness for somebody who's maybe kind of a newbie and a little scared to approach the

Leticia: Subject? Yeah, so first of all, mindfulness is about just being present in the moment.

Katie: So

Leticia: Most of the time our anxiety, our worries, these feelings that are coming up for us is because we're thinking so much about the regrets and the guilts of the past, and we're fast forwarding to the future and thinking about the worst of something that could happen. And so mindfulness really is this opportunity for us to just be present in the moment. And when we take time to be present, we realize that there's nothing to worry about, there's nothing wrong. We don't have to go into that fight or flight mode because when we look around, everything's actually okay. And so that's what a mindfulness practice helps us to do is be more present. So the ones that I focus on are three, but then I throw in this bonus one. So I do focus on meditation and teaching people meditation and the myths about meditation and what it is and what it's not.

I focus on breath work as another practice or tool to use when you're practicing mindfulness. And that third one is journaling, and then the bonus one is movement, but not necessarily the movement that we think it is moving your body. But I'm not saying go to the gym or go run a mile or three miles outside. It really is about just taking moments to shake it off, to use your body to release some of that tension, release, some of that worry and stress that's physically on us. And so those are the four ways that I use mindfulness and teach mindfulness when I'm going into the different businesses and corporations with my program, we're talking about those mindfulness practices and then breaking it down of how you can do them anywhere at any time.

Katie: Oh, that's really great. When stress hits at any time, you want to be able to employ a tool of some sort. And I think all four of those tools are fabulous because they touch on different aspects. So let's say I struggle with meditation, but I can write down and I can journal, I can move my body. Let's say maybe I do struggle with movement. I maybe was injured and it's hard for me to get up. Well, there are other ways that I can practice. So I like that you take this kind of different tiered approach to it. And I think that that's really cool. I myself suffer with anxiety. I've had it for a long time, and so I know that feeling of kind of fear, but then that idea of, okay, wait, let me just be present for a second. Let me just look around. Am I safe right now in my body, in my environment, in my space? Yes, I am. And so that's okay. And just that moment is a mindfulness moment. And for so many people, just taking that moment is a start to it. And so you deal with both professional and personal. Do you find that you're employing the same techniques for both? Do you find that it all comes down to the same kind of mindfulness practices or are you doing something slightly different for people who are maybe looking for mindfulness techniques for professional growth or versus personal growth?

Leticia: Yeah, it's the same techniques. So what's cool about what I do is I go in and work with different businesses and corporations and I'm part of either their wellness program or I'm bringing my own program and now implementing a wellness program that wasn't there before. And so they're learning these different techniques with their team members, with their boss, with their leaders. And so this work, as you know, is individual work. I'm not going to meditate for you, you're not going to do breath work for me. But the cool thing about it is that even though it's individual work, you are doing it as a collective, as a team, they fit together. So this work is now one, it's being amplified, doing it with others, but then also because you're doing it together as a team, you have something now. You have something that ties you all together so you can support one another with this practice.

If you see someone needs to go for that walk or you can tell that they're just taking that moment of pause to give them that respect, honor what they're doing, and they will also do that for you. So it's one and the same. The practices work for you personally and professionally. And the really cool part about it is I'm coming into your professional setting talking about something that still is, it's known now, but it's still kind of one of those things like, oh, I'm not sure. I don't know if I should. I'm not familiar with it. And I go in with the approach of letting them know what it's not and what it is not just like, Hey everyone, this is this beautiful thing you get to do. It's like let's break it down a little bit more. And I also ask them what do they know about it?

What are those stigmas that they've heard about it? And break those down as well so that by the end, they're comfortable knowing what this practice is and they get to experience it right then and there. I'm teaching them the different ways that they can use it. And so now they're having their own experience because nothing experiencing for yourself. I can talk about meditation all day long and how great it is and what it's like and my experience, but if you don't experience it for yourself, you'll never know the benefits and how it can help you when you are stressed. And the whole idea of a mindfulness practice that I also like to share with people is don't just do it when you are stressed or when you are at your most worried self, that's a good time to do it, of course. But the idea of the mindfulness practices and how they really work is that you have to be consistent.

You have to do these practices every single day, and they can actually be very preventative to you, getting very stressed out, burnt out, overwhelmed. And that's really the whole point of them as well. So that's why I love coming into businesses too, because now it's like, Hey, before we get stressed out, let's do some of these practices and you can implement them into your routine, into your daily, however you run your day, you just implement these into them so that when the stress does come up, because it will come up. I mean, I've been doing this almost 10 years. Of course I'm stressed, of course, not that I'm stressed, but stress is coming, but I now know how to recognize it and go, oh, let me take a step back. Or naturally, my body breathes in and out now and certain things just start to happen naturally. That didn't happen before I was doing these practices.

Katie: Most definitely. And what kind of results have you seen in these companies that you've come into?

Leticia: Many results. I think the main results that I continuously see is how they see these practices as being easy for them that they didn't realize that they didn't have to sit for 30 minutes in a lotus pose on the ground. They're like, oh, when I was feeling this way or something came up, I was able to just take a moment to take a few deep breaths in and a few deep breaths out, and then I felt better and I was able to reply back to that client better. I was able to go and talk to my team member better or whatever it is. So what I've come to find is that they're realizing that they don't need a lot of time. They don't need all these special things that maybe we've been told we need. They just realize that if I just do a little bit every single day, I'm able to handle things a lot better than I was able to before when I wasn't doing it at all. So I think all of us, we get caught up in anything that we're like, oh, I need to spend an hour doing this. I need to block out all this time to do whatever it is. Even if it's just go to the gym.

We give it so much. We make it seem bigger than what it is, and it can be really small. And those really small moments can actually be huge because we make it so big, we either try to go after that big thing and accomplish it, and then what ends up happening, because we made it so big, we end up just not doing it at all. Or it looks so big that it overwhelming and it's doing the opposite effect and you're not showing up for it. So the whole idea is that they see that it's easier when they do it in small increments and they get those benefits that they're looking for and their personal and professional life is changing from it.

Katie: Yeah, absolutely. That's really powerful. And it's doing things like preventing burnout, which I think we're just so used to experiencing in this country, just kind go mentality. And mindfulness just kind of teaches you to just stop for a second and just take a breath. It's really been helpful in my life. So tell me more about your services. On a personal level, do you offer individual coaching or do you offer individual breath work or meditation services?

Leticia: I don't at this time. I really found that I love working with groups. There's something that's about working with groups that is so much more powerful, it's supportive. And here's the thing that I've learned too, is that the answers are in the room. So I'm just here as a guide. I've curated the curriculum and the way that I teach these workshops, they're very intentional. I am coming in obviously with an agenda and things we're going to do and fun activities and exercises you're going to learn, but there's nothing more powerful than everyone sharing their experience, everyone sharing how this is working for them or having questions in the room that maybe somebody wouldn't have asked or whatever it is. So there's just something really powerful about working with a group and seeing these teams do it together because that's another thing that mindfulness is going to become more of the norm when we see each other doing it more, right?

It's just like anything, if I see you doing it, then it's like, oh, okay, it's okay to do. But if I'm the only one doing something, then we get a little nervous or we're not sure we stand out. So I think that's the other beauty of it. It's like, oh, we're all doing this. So it kind of gives it even more permission and to do this all the time now, because we're all doing it. It's not just me doing it alone. And I find mixtures of people in the teams. Some are already doing some of these practices or they've dabbled in it, or some are completely new and they're all on different journeys of it, which is really cool. But at the end of the day, it's really fun to see them do it as a team and now have something they can support each other on and remind each other on. That was something I've seen as well. When they see their team member getting stressed out or feeling like, Hey, remember, just go take a moment to breathe or go take a moment to take a walk. And they're supporting each other because now they know too of that's what they want, that's what they need, and it's helped them. So they want to see their team members also feel better and not feel so stressed and overwhelmed by everything. So they're encouraging each other in that way.

Katie: Yeah, most definitely. And I love that you brought up the idea of the group. I was going to mention that earlier when you brought it up before, because I have found that even on a personal level, when I am in a group and we are doing something like group breath work or meditation or even our good friend, she hosts a women's group, that kind of feeling of group, I think it really is powerful. And I've noticed that, especially with breath work and meditation, if I'm going to do breath work in my home versus going and doing it with another small group of people, just the kind of power and the energy that comes out of that,

Leticia: It's

Katie: Just something you have to experience to feel it.

Leticia: Yeah, I mean, because all aiming for the same thing and collectively doing it, it just raised that vibration. It raises the energy. So just when I'm breathing and you are breathing and this other person is breathing, now we're amplifying this vibration energy that honestly we can't do alone, but it does take us to do it ourselves. So it is this mixture of like, I have to do it myself. I have to show up, but when I do it with others, what I'm doing now amplifies and what they're doing amplifies. So they're helping me. I'm helping them. And yeah, it is a beautiful experience. So if anyone watching has not had this experience, please find a breathwork class, a meditation class and go experience it. Something that, yeah, we can't explain. We can't give you that, the essence and the magic that comes with having that experience.

Katie: Exactly. Yeah. The magic. It's magic. So tell me a little bit more, running a business is hard. We talked about that earlier and you are in the space teaching this stuff. So tell me a little bit more about what you do for self-care. Are you applying all four of these? Are you doing other things as well? What are the kinds of practices that you do for self-care?

Leticia: Yes, I definitely practice what I preach. So I am all about morning rituals. So I wake up very early in the morning and take a few hours out of my day to do these practices. I'm doing yoga, I'm meditating, I'm journaling, and I'm doing other things as well, enjoying my cup of tea. I water my plants when it's time I am taking walks outside, just different things to really nourish myself in the morning so I can set the tone for the day. And then even throughout the day, I'm taking time to meditate. Right now, as we mentioned, I'm running a business, so I'm wearing different hats, so I'm making sales calls and doing those things, and then I have to kind of switch from one hat to the other to now work on my workshops or work on something that's coming up for a client or a speech I'm doing.

So that takes a different type of thinking and mindset and energy. So I'll take time to go meditate or do some breath work just to kind of reset myself to going from one thing that I worked on that took one side of my brain or energy to go and reset to go and work on the other side of my brain and take up a different type of energy. So yes, I'm definitely using the practices. I don't know if the speech or presentation you saw, I had you guys do the alarm, but I always do this thing where I have the audience set an alarm for a particular time of day so they can do one minute of breath work. So my alarm goes off at that time as well. And so when that alarm goes off, I take a few moments to breathe and take that time for myself because just like everyone else, I get caught up in that go, go, go, got to get things done, have that deadline and that alarm goes off and instantly I'm like, oh, yep, I got to breathe. And every time there's a shift, every time I just feel better. Every time I'm like, I could be working on an email and all of a sudden now I know how to write that email even better. Now I'm not rushing through it, I'm just kind of taking my time. Okay, I want to make sure this says exactly what I wanted to say, the intention, the message, whatever it is.

So yeah, I'm definitely using the practices and others as well, going for walks. Pretty much everything I teach, everyone I do. I may not do all of them every single day, but I am definitely using them when I'm feeling called to them. And that's the power of all these different types of mindfulness practices. As you mentioned earlier, if meditation is hard for you, okay, that's not the only one out there. Maybe breath work would be better for you, or just taking some time to journal. And a lot of these things we don't don't need anything to do while you're brushing your teeth, you can be practicing gratitude while you're, that's a journaling practice, but you can do it in your mind of just looking around you. I'm grateful for my teeth, I'm grateful for this new day. I'm grateful for the sun out. I'm grateful for the roof over my head. I'm grateful for the towels. You can look around you in your space and just practice gratitude and just that little bit can shift your day and how you set the tone for it.

Katie: Wow, those were so many great nuggets. Thanks.

Leticia: I know they went by

Katie: Fast. Sorry. And I can say that I love that. No. So yeah, the idea of pausing and doing a mindfulness practice in between tasks as an entrepreneur, oh my gosh, that's powerful. That's so helpful. And then, yeah, setting your alarm clock, I think I might do that. I am feeling called to do that because I think you're right, having that alarm, you can be so stressed out in the day to day, and then we just need something to kind of snap you out of it for a second and be like, oh, wait a minute, I'm alive and it's beautiful and I'm safe. And that's amazing. And gratitude is such a great mindfulness practice. So I just love that so much.

Leticia: If you set the alarm, or sorry, if you set the alarm and if everyone watching sets the alarm, do it for 2:11 PM okay, that's the time that I have mindset, but it's the time that I set. I let everyone else know to set theirs when I'm doing any presentations or things like that. And it was actually from an audience member that pointed it out that she said, my alarm went off. I have this whole thing where I say, you can do breath work while you're driving. You just can't close your eyes, so please don't close your eyes. This is recorded. Don't close your eyes. But you can do breath work while you're driving, while you're stuck in traffic or you're feeling like you need to rush, just kind of breathe and take your time. We want to get there safely. We want to make sure everyone else gets to where they're going safely.

And so she was like, I was in my car when it went off. I didn't close my eyes. I'm like, okay, good. Glad you heard that part too. And she was like, I breathe and I felt so much better. But she was like, the other thing that actually inspired me was not only I was taking time to breathe for myself was that I was thinking about everyone else in that room that was with us that day or that evening that is now breathing with me, and I get chills every time I say it. And so from that moment on, she was like, do you set that time every time? And I didn't. I was giving different times. I was like, oh, this time, that time. So now I say the exact same time for every presentation, every interview, whatever I'm doing where this comes up, because now it's the same when that alarm goes off tomorrow for you, right at two 11. We're past that time. It's not just you taking the time. Now everyone is doing it. And it goes back to what we were saying before of the power of the group, the power of the collective doing it together.

Katie: So

Leticia: Not only are you may be in your office or in the car or wherever you are, even in the grocery line, that happens too where you're breathing. And yes, you're doing it alone. And if you're in a public place, no one else is probably doing it the way you're doing it. Everyone's breathing obviously, but they're not taking the conscious breath. But there are so many other people around our community everywhere around the world breathing with you at that time. So it's very powerful. So I wanted to share that with you as well.

Katie: That's amazing. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, two 11, the power of the collective. It really is. And also maybe a little bit of accountability. You know that I'm not the only one doing this, other people are doing this.

Leticia: Yeah, you can't let them down, right? Yeah,

Katie: I love that. That's so cool. So we have about five minutes left, and I wanted to bring this back to mental health. Mindfulness is great for professional and personal growth, but it's also really great for mental health. And I know that today happens to be one day, and I think about half of our country is feeling immense stress right now, maybe a little bit of anxiety about what's to come. And I think that this might be a good time for mindfulness. And I think that in any case of mental health challenges, mindfulness maybe doesn't solve problems, but it certainly helps and it's certainly a great toolbox, and I have seen the numbers. And so I wanted to ask you, because you're the expert here on mindfulness, what have you seen from a mental health perspective, and if people are really struggling with their mental health, how have you seen mindfulness help?

Leticia: Yeah, I think mindfulness in a lot of ways can actually help solve things. Because again, going back to what I mentioned earlier is mindfulness is about being present. And so a lot of the times when we're not present, we're either thinking about the past or thinking about the future. And the reason why this is hindering mental health is because the past and the future don't exist. It's gone past is gone, and the future is yet to be told. And even when we are in the future, we're actually now in the present. So we're always kind of living in the future, but always in the present moment anyways.

And I always like to say too that I don't want to disregard the past because our past is what it is, it holds. And many things, our memories, our experiences are lessons. What I think gets kind of jumbled up in all of that is we get stuck thinking about the past in these negative ways. What I could have done, what I didn't do, what they did to me, the traumas, instead of looking at the past and going, okay, how can I take that and let it be a guide for me? What experiences did I learn from what failures can I not feel from again and be better at? And that, I think definitely help with more of our mental health because the more that we can see life in this present moment and use everything around us as guideposts, we're able to manage things a little bit better. Speaking of the future and the election, the reason we're feeling stress is because of all these unknowns, but the unknown is not a bad thing. The unknown is okay,

Katie: It's just the unknown.

Leticia: It's just the unknown. And if we focus on the present and we focus on love, focus on what we're here to do as individuals, our mission, our purpose, and not just our job titles, but our sole purpose, we always know if we want to look back at the past and take a glimpse, everything always works out. It just always works out. Even the worst or the worst of something, it always ends up working out in some way. And so I think that knowing that's the one thing we can know for sure is that it's going to work out. It's going to always work out. And so the more we can practice mindfulness and be in this present moment and see where we are here, more of that clarity, more of that awareness reveals itself to us, and we can move forward with that unknown and kind of embrace the unknown and go, okay, cool. What does the unknown have for what's in store for me in that unknown? Because if we just open it up with embracing it and with grace, things will definitely show itself and be much better than we could ever imagine. Even when we think when we are in fear, we usually think of the worst of the worst, and it usually doesn't end up being that bad.

And it's also the same for the other side who we dream these big dreams and if we just kind of let go of what we expect that dream should look like and be like, will actually get even a better, bigger dream than we could have imagined.

Katie: Right? Yeah.

Leticia: So that's what I feel called, I don't know if you've ever seen the meme or not a meme, but it's like a photo. And I am mentioning, I'm not talking about religion when I say this. You can put any name in that, but technically the photo, it's with Jesus in it or the depiction of Jesus. But it could be any source you see or you want to replace that with. But the main idea here is that there's this little girl and she's holding onto a teddy bear. And Jesus in the sense is reaching out his hand, his one hand to grab this tiny little teddy bear, and she's hesitant, but he's holding behind him this big huge teddy bear.

And so I always use that as a reminder even to myself when I don't want to let go of things, or I'm afraid of the unknown if I let this go or whatever it is that I'm going to lose something or I'm going to miss out on something. And if by doing that, there's something bigger and better that's just waiting for us, but we have to step into that unknown. We have to let something go that maybe we know is right for us to let go, but we're scared to let go of, right? Because of the unknown. If I let this go, what will happen if I let this relationship go? If I let this material thing go, if I let this job go? Right? What's on the other side of that? And we're in fear of that, but it's always something bigger, better, much more than we could have ever imagined. So that's my take on that.

Katie: That's beautiful. Well, thank you so much. And I think we need those words of encouragement. We can't control change. And change can be scary, but it can be hard. But like you said, there's something waiting for us that's better, and we have to be willing to be okay with stepping into it with grace, and we can control how we react to things. We can't control what happens, but we can control how we move through it in our present moment. And I think mindfulness to bring it back really helps us to have a better sense of control of how we handle things

Leticia: 100%. And that could be another story for another day Katie could share, but yes, hundred percent.

Katie: I love that. Well, I'll have to bring you back then, and we'll have to tell that story. Absolutely. And thank you so much for your time today, Leticia. You're quite an expert and I loved listening to you talk before, and I loved our episode today. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, and I hope to have you on again soon.

Leticia: Thank you, Katie. It was a pleasure. Thank you so much.

Katie: Absolutely. And we are here live every first and third Wednesday, but we are approaching the end of the second season, so only two more episodes left before the end of the year. So tune in, but if you can't tune in live, always check out all of our episodes @katierosewaechter.com. And Leticia, what is a good way that people or corporations can get ahold of you if they're interested in learning more about your services?

Leticia: Yes. So everything is under mind, fuel in motion, M-I-N-D-F-U-E-L in motion, I-N-M-O-T-I-O n.com. LinkedIn and Instagram.

Katie: Wonderful. Thank you again and thank you everybody out there and we look forward to seeing you again soon. Bye everyone. Have a great one.

Leticia: Bye!