From Homeless to 7 figure CEO & Nervous System Regulation Hacking w/ Ava Johanna

What's up guys, welcome back to the podcast. I'm recording this from North Carolina because we are down here at my parents' house for— we're going to be here for about 2 weeks. We've been here for a few days already, but we came down here for Memorial Day weekend because my brother and sister-in-law and nephew are here along with my parents, and Jaime and I came. So it's a whole big family event. We're going to be together for a week just hanging out and spending time together.

Hopefully get—

we get some good weather to go out on the boat and enjoy some pool days. It was really, really cold when we first got here, and I was not prepared.

I showed up in my tube top, fully in my Florida vibes, like ready for summer, and it was shockingly cold and rainy when we first got here.

But the sun is starting to come out, and I think it's going to get nice hopefully in the next couple of days. So we're here on a little getaway, a little family vacation of sorts, and so we're hanging out in North Carolina. But I'm excited to bring you this week's episode. I'm joined by Ava Joanna and And Ava is the founder of the Academy of Breath, which is a 12-week breathwork and meditation certification that has now certified over 500 students across the globe. And it blends science, mysticism, and business, and is really blazing a trail in the breathwork industry, making the practices more accessible than ever before while providing teachers, coaches, and leaders with the tools to be able to increase their quality of life, lower their stress, and make a global impact on the world. So I love Ava's work, but also our conversation in this episode is super inspiring. We talk about Ava's journey from literally being homeless and couch surfing to becoming a 7-figure CEO, entrepreneur, online business owner. We talk about how Ava was introduced into the spiritual world and how she came across the power of breathwork. We talk about alchemizing our fears in order to really become who you're meant to be, how social media has kind of distorted what entrepreneurship really looks like and some of the behind the scenes of that, why you can do hard things in the energy of ease, which was a total mindset shift for me. I absolutely love this part of the conversation, and I think you're really going to enjoy it too. And then also how to know if you have a dysregulated nervous system and some simple ways to start fixing it and regulating your nervous system. So this is a fully packed episode. I think you're really going to enjoy it. And also, if you are looking to become a certified meditation and breathwork instructor, the next cohort of Viveva's Academy of Breath is going to begin on June 29th, 2023. So in just about a month from this episode going live, what you can do is go to the description of this episode and just click where it says see more so that you can see all the text and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the show notes to find where it says join the Academy of Breath Summer 2023. Using this unique affiliate link is going to help support me and the podcast. So if you are interested in joining the next cohort of Academy of Breath, be sure to use this link, and I appreciate it. Thank you guys always for listening to the podcast. I hope you enjoy. Let's jump into the episode. Welcome to the Makeshift Happen Podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life. So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go makeshift happen.

Welcome to the show, Eva. I'm so excited to have you. I can't wait to get into your story a little bit more because I know that you have a really incredible, like, come-up story. You, you talk about it like rising from the ashes and creating your own fairy tale. And I really want to give the audience some insight into not only the amazing, powerful businesswoman that you are today, but also the contrast of where that journey started and where you came from. So could you kind of give us a little, like, behind the scenes, take us back a little bit like, how did you go from being homeless to building a 7-figure wellness brand? Like, what happened in that time that allowed that to be possible?

Yeah, well, first and foremost, thank you for having me on your podcast. And it's kind of crazy even like hearing that back. Like, how did you go from homeless to building a 7-figure brand? I have to kind of like take a step back and be like, whoa, like that was the actual journey. Because, you know, as you know, and I'm sure so many of your listeners know, when we're in the everyday experience, it feels kind of mundane. On a day-to-day basis. Like most of the time we don't have these huge milestone moments. We're just showing up, taking care of ourselves, putting ourselves out there, and then it all adds up over time. And, you know, for me in the beginning when I was first starting to enter the world of spirituality, wellness, even like physical fitness and like taking care of your body and not just like destroying it every weekend with drugs and partying, I really had a fire lit under my butt because I wanted to run as far away as possible from my upbringing and like the chaos of my teenage years. So for anybody that doesn't know my story, I grew up in Agoura Westlake area, Calabasas. It's like where the Kardashians are from. Justin Bieber lives there. Like it is a wealthy area. And at first my family did have money. However, I don't even know if I should like say this on a podcast. The way in which my stepdad made money wasn't the most legal, and my mom really obviously had a problem with this outside of also the emotional and manipulative abuse that my stepdad caused not only her but myself after my sister was diagnosed with autism at about 2 and a half years old. Like, he really blamed my mom and blamed me for what my sister was born with and, and her disorder. And so a whole slew of reasons led my mom to leaving my stepdad. And very, very quickly after that, we were not able— or she was not able to take care of us. She was literally working a part-time job at the preschool and elementary school that my sister went to so that she could be close to my sister in case she had any type of breakdown or needed my mom's support quickly. And because of that, she wasn't able to take care of our rent. She wasn't able to pay our bills. She wasn't able to pay for her car. And so over the course of like— it happened so quickly. Over the course of maybe like 6 months, we were evicted from our house. My mom's car was repossessed. We were forced to sleep on couches, um, sleep at my boyfriend's house, my friend's house, neighbor's houses for the better half of a year. And that entire experience really created this like extreme duality from what my life was, but also the life that I saw modeled around me for so many of my friends. Like one of my best friends drove a Range Rover when she was 16 years old. Like I just saw so much money around me that I could really feel the difference of being insanely broke and on your ass and having more money than you knew what to do with, which when I look back now, I think is a massive blessing because so many individuals that grow up in poverty do not see a reality where wealth or overflow or abundance is that close to them. And so it really gave me this opportunity of like, well, this is my scenario, but I know that this isn't all that there is and that there is actually something else available to me, but I have to be the one to create it. And so at the very beginning it was like, I'm going to do whatever I can to create this, which led to a lot of hustling, a lot of like very scrappy, I'm going to figure it out. And over the course of, I mean, really my entire 20s, I would say maybe a little bit starting at like 23, my early 20s was like definitely a fun party period. But I just devoted myself, I think first and foremost to understanding like what money mindset was, manifestation, energetics, and personal development and personal growth and like really just taking a hard look at what I needed to do and what I was responsible and control of in order to change my reality. And since then, you know, my business has taken on many different forms and there's been many seasons and iterations to what it is today. But I think for me, from the very beginning, I've always known that like I have to be the one to create it. No one is going to do it for me. And I think in an unhealthy way, a part of that was like, you can't rely on anybody or you can't like have expectations expectations of anybody because that's what I saw my mom go through. So that's definitely something that I'm starting to unpack now that I'm in a healthy relationship. I've got my business up and running. I'm like, okay, let me see how other people can actually support me as well too.

Yeah, but I love the point of, of course, there was like a stark contrast of where you were at in life and being in Calabasas, California, surrounded by all this wealth. But at least there was the vision of what was possible. Like a lot of people that grew up in poverty, there's no— like you were surrounded by expanders essentially. And a lot of people don't have that privilege. Like there are no expanders. And so that can create the belief system of like, life is just hard and this is how it is and it's hard to make money or, you know, we're never going to get out of this because people from neighborhoods like me or lifestyles like me or parents like me or backgrounds like me or whatever it is, you know, they don't become wealthy. But you kind of had like a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, of like this vision of like what— that wealth was available, that there is a lot of money to go around. I just have to figure out how to get over there in the flow of it. Like, what are all those people doing that I haven't figured out yet? What do you think? Like, do you remember the first entry point for you into personal development or money mindset? Because we all have like the first domino where you go from literally not knowing that this world exists at all to someone like unlocking the first door. And then it's just— I feel like it's a stark before and after of your life of like— so do you remember like that one door? Like, was it a book or something that you saw or something that someone said? Like, what was the one thing, maybe a certain teacher that unlocked that door for you?

Yeah, you know, I think it's— there were like several moments that just came up in my mind as you were asking me this. The first was, as silly as this is, the first was that I decided to turn my Instagram into not just a personal Instagram, but like a yoga Instagram. And I wanted to start a blog. And at the time it was called Kicking Asana. And I didn't even know that I wanted to like build my own business yet at that point. That's so cute.

Thank you.

I know I tried to get it trademarked and someone had the trademark already, so I was like, all right, let's go to my name then. Damn it. Yeah, yeah. So unfortunately I couldn't go with Kicking Asana for too much longer than that, but I decided to enroll in like one of those 30-day yoga challenges that people do on Instagram. And that was the first time I started connecting with really cool people and and seeing that there was this other world available where— and, you know, I had really cool friends. We were super supportive of each other. We had the time of our lives together. But, you know, as a lot of friendships in your early 20s are, there's a lot of gossip, there's a lot of shit talking. It's not always the most healthy environment. And so in this yoga challenge, I started experiencing different communities and different levels of support where I started feeling differently about how I was interacting with people, and that opened up this doorway of maybe there's this community out there and these opportunities out there outside of this individual silo of my comfortable, easy desk job where I like literally will watch Beyoncé's Lemonade on one screen and like pretend to work on the other, going out on the weekends. And so I think that that was like one aspect of it was like, there's bigger community out there and there's other ways that you can feel and interact with people, and there's opportunities for impacting people in ways that I just had never been exposed to before. And then from that, I started realizing that I could actually do something with the knowledge that I had prior to entering this world, like in my past life, working in digital marketing into a world that I really loved, which was yoga and wellness. And so I had this like spark of excitement of, okay, well, maybe I could like start a business out of this. And then there were 3 books that like were— this is the other piece of it— the 3 books that really impacted me and like was the beginning domino starting to fall. The first was— and these are so random— The first book was What If It Does Work Out, which was all around like going after it, starting a business, just putting yourself out there and shifting the way that you think from what if it doesn't work out to what if it does work out and like how would you show up if it did work out? The second was The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhani, who's the founder of Mindvalley. That was a really important book for me as well too, that I remember reading while I was backpacking through Central and South America. America. And then the third, as so many other white girls, The Universe Has Your Back by Gabby Bernstein. And I read those 3 books within like a 6-month period, I think. And that was really like when the domino, like, really officially fell. And I was like, this is my purpose, this is my passion, this is my soul's calling, and I'm going to run in this direction.

Yeah. Oh my God. The Universe Has Your Back. It's so funny how, like, honestly, good for Gabby. Just the fact that that book was like the domino for so many of us is so many. So many. I'm like, if she doesn't say this book, like— but it's funny because I'm like, if you say Yoga Girl, because I literally did a 30-day yoga challenge with Yoga Girl. I don't know if you're familiar with Rachel Bracey.

I think it was.

And that was— it was like 2017. And that was like—

yeah, that was it.

I'm literally shook. Yeah. And that was like how I started sharing more on Instagram, like, because you had to post every single day for the 30 days, like, your yoga practice and share something from the heart. I think she had just started her podcast, like, Conversations from the Heart, and that was like the first podcast I ever listened to. And I was really just trying to get back into my yoga practice. And so then I did that 30-day challenge, and that is what started to transition the way that used Instagram essentially. So that was like a huge part of my initial steps in the journey as well. That's so crazy.

Yeah, that's hilarious. Shout out to Rachel for starting my Instagram career, literally.

Oh my God. Yeah. Oh my God. That is so crazy. Okay, so you have— you have this kind of like tumultuous couple of years in childhood where things go wrong. Finances change, you're sleeping on couches in other people's homes, trying to find a better way. Like, at what point do you feel like you're standing on your own two feet? Did you go to college? Did you, like, get jobs? Like, how did you start to feel like a sense of stability with money where you could even be open-minded enough to look at a deeper relationship with money and mindset around money?

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Yeah, you know, honestly, I feel like after— so I left that area immediately after high school, went down to San Diego, followed a guy, and, um, shocker, that did not work out. 2 weeks weeks in. You know what's so funny, actually? He had a girlfriend that he never told me about, and that girlfriend is now like one of my best friends. We were roommates. It was— I mean, I, I love him for it because he introduced me to like all of my friends in San Diego and some people that mean the world to me. Um, but yeah, it's always funny to think like my decision to go down to San Diego was like straight up for this dude that I met at a music festival on New Year's Eve that I had met for like 10 minutes. Um, but anyways, that's a side tangent. Um, I went down to San Diego immediately after high school, and I started going to community college there. Like, I was the girl in high school that didn't even apply for college because I didn't think that I was going to get in. And I was like, I don't want to be rejected. I, I will just not apply, and I'll go work in a restaurant because that's what my dad does. And my dad worked, um, for 30 years in LA in Wolfgang Puck's restaurants. And so I saw like, you could have a career as a server and like have a lot of fun and make a lot of money and meet celebrities and stuff. And I was like, well, that sounds good for my early 20s. Let's just start there and go to school. And I don't really know what I want to do anyways, so I'll just go to community college and figure it out. And I was down in San Diego for 2 and a half years working at Nobu, actually, which was the most fun ever. Um, highly suggest for anybody in the service industry to go work at Nobu. The food is so good and it's just such a fun vibe. Um, but I was working at Nobu and all of my friends were starting to get internships working Monday through Friday, and I was like, I just want a desk job, I want to work 9 to 5. And I had this whole like distortion of like the desk job is the stability. And I mean, if I'm being honest, that was my first time finding stability. Once I finally got that job working at a desk 9 to 5, knowing how much money was going to come knowing that my, like, health insurance and my 401 was all taken care of, I feel like that was like the grounding foundation that I needed to feel safe enough to be able to explore these other levels of self-actualization. I mean, and if we look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we need those foundational needs met before we can really explore ourselves. And so I understand why when I'm living on a paycheck that is going to be different every 2 weeks and also taking on so many of the bad habits that I had spending-wise and, um, spending and saving-wise, that I wasn't in a place of like really creating safety within myself to be able to explore money mindset or manifestation or any of like the personal development stuff that we do today. So it really was I was like 21, 22 when I finally got like my corporate desk job that I finally was able to go deeper with myself and address the things that had been playing out in my life in a really unhealthy way.

Mm.

Okay.

And at what point in this journey do you stumble upon breathwork and how does it unlock— like, what does it unlock for you? When, when does that, like, come into the picture?

Yeah, I mean, I would say like 3 or 4 years later. So I found breathwork when I was 24, I think 24 years old. So it's been like 6 or 7 years now of being like so devoted and committed to this daily practice of breathwork. And for me, I always say it was like that next spiritual high that I had been craving after being in doing a typical consistent asana, like yoga practice, going to vinyasa almost every single day. Like, it just kind of felt like I had plateaued and I was craving something deeper. And I went to a breathwork workshop and I think it was Wim Hof. That was the first breath practice that I had ever tried. And I remember calling my friend afterwards and just being like, oh my God, I don't even know where I am right now. Like, that was the most amazing experience. And she's like, girl, go stick your toes in the sand. Ground yourself. It sounds amazing. And like, I can tell you're just like on another planet right now. And it really was, I think for me, having been like very much a party girl in my early 20s, this insane feeling of, oh my gosh, the feelings of ecstasy that I could create from like actually taking ecstasy, I can just create with my own breath and feel this good in my body, feel this connected, feel like this much love. This is amazing. And And at the time, I was really wanting a healthier lifestyle. I was wanting to slow down more. I wanted to take care of myself more. So breathwork was like a spiritual high for me at first. And it wasn't until I really started diving into the practice during my breathwork training and getting certified in breathwork and getting certified in meditation that I realized, like, going back to what I said about safety, these practices work with our nervous system in a way that like truly can transform every single area of our life, first by transforming the brain. And that's really, and I was like, all right, what do I got to do to get this out to every single person on this planet? Because this is straight medicine and magic all wrapped in one.

Yeah. Breathwork is so cool. Like, it's just so crazy that you can create that sort of like psychedelic effect in your body from the breath. I mean, it's insane. It's so cool. I have like a— I have a love-hate relationship with breathwork. Like, I hate doing it and I don't know if most people feel like that, but like, I hate doing it. It's kind of like working out. Now, for a lot of people, you're like, oh, I hate getting myself there to do it, but love like the experience of what it feels like and the aftereffects. So is that the thing that like got you to start really like start and build your business, or were you already building a business at that point and then you integrated breathwork? Kind of talk to us about this journey of like going off on your own and building your own thing and starting an online business.

Yeah. So I actually, I was doing breathwork in my own personal practice and I was using it every single day as actually a way to help me meditate better because I was the girl also that was like, oh, maybe meditation just isn't for me. Like, I don't, I don't need it. Again, very naive to the impact and like actual neurological benefits of these practices. And so when I found breathwork, I realized that it was actually so much easier for me to sit in meditation and that the feelings of like overthinking or anxiety or like, oh my gosh, like what else is on my to-do list? Or just like so many thoughts that run through your head when you first sit down to meditate. When I was practicing breathwork before meditating, it was like the moment I stopped doing the specific breathwork technique, I would just instantly enter this space of peace and ease and like be able to connect to my intuition, creative ideas, feel like I was getting just like inspired guidance as well. And so I was using it in my business as I was building my coaching business, as I was building my podcast. And it really wasn't until— well, when I brought it online was at the beginning of 2020. But prior to that, I was teaching yoga in yoga, breathwork, and meditation in studios in San Diego and then with Alo Yoga and Bandier up in LA when I moved up to LA. So I was doing it as like one of the limbs of my business, but it wasn't as like integrated as it is today. And the— I think the point, like the apex of when I started really integrating it was when I decided after living in LA and driving around LA constantly in traffic going to studios, I was like, I'm so done with driving around to studios. I don't like teaching meditation but being annoyed up until the moment I enter the studio because I was sitting in traffic. So I just want to bring my whole business online. Like, I'm already doing my podcast, I'm already coaching people. I want to bring this other work that I'm doing online. And that was December 2019. So I was like 3 months ahead of the pandemic, getting everything prepared to go online and just praying every day, asking like, how can I be of service? Like, how can I, how can I make a bigger impact? What is like the ripple effect that I am here to make? And I remember it was like maybe like March 25th or 26th, like literally a day or two after the shutdown officially happened, that I was sitting in an Airbnb in San Diego meditating and had just finished my practice. And I had this vision. Do you remember the Queen movie? I forgot what it's called, where Freddie Mercury like comes out at on the big stage at the end of the movie and just like tens of thousands of people. So I saw that for myself and I saw that as in a vision of everybody teaching or not teaching, everybody breathing together. And it moved me to tears. And I don't even know how that directly connected to certification, but I, in that moment, I just had the entire download of like, it's going to be called the Academy of Breath. This is the structure of how it's going to be. Like, I literally built the certification within several hours, built out the sales page for it within several hours, and I think launched it like 2 days later. Like it was just like this crazy collapsing of time. And the entire time it was just like, it felt like I wasn't even doing anything at all. Like I was just receiving the download for like how to actually like birth it into this world. And the Academy of Breath was born from there. So that was March 2020. We launched our first round in June 2020, and I had like never— there was one group program that I had like successfully done before then, and that group had like 7 people in it. So I was prepared to like support like 13 people in the certification. I was like, that would be so cool if like 13 people signed up. And we had 64 people, and I was just blown away at the response. I mean, it was June 2020, so the world was really, really needing these practices. But since then, as the world has opened up, like, we have not slowed down at all. We've certified over 500 students through our certification. We've created a 6-month advanced practitioner training, and then we also have a 6-module personal practice course for people that don't necessarily want to be teachers but want to bring breathwork and meditation into their daily life. So it really has been like, honestly, the most like divinely guided experience of building and scaling this business. And I really believe that The reason why is that from the very start, my prayer and like my ask to the universe has always been like, how can I be of service? Like, show me how I can help other people. I'm here like willing and ready. So whatever it is, like, I'm on it. I trust in whatever guidance I'm going to receive. I'll do it. I'll bring the thing into form. Just show me what it is and I'm going to go.

What divine timing that— I mean, that I think that that period of time for so many of us that were building online businesses was so— I don't know, it was so kismet. Like, a lot of things kind of like clicked into place for me and my business as well at that time, because as you said, so many people were needing this work and they were finally waking up and being ready to receive the information and wanting to change their lives or take, take a deeper look at their past or their belief systems or trauma or whatever it is and have these modalities to use to work through through it. And I love that so much. Oh my God, it's so hilarious how we always think like, oh, wouldn't it be nice to get— it's always when you think that it's going to be so small that it's then like so crazy or something like that. I remember like when I launched my first like mastermind, I was like, I would be happy if 5 people joined this because I know it's the first time I'm doing it. Like, it'll be great. And then like 25 people signed up and I was like, okay. So it was just hilarious how that happens. But I'm sure you've experienced even now today, we all do so many like as you go through the new levels and seasons of business, there's new challenges and new layers. And now you also do business coaching along with, you know, the Academy of Breath and certifying all these practitioners. And so there's a lot more going on and you're bound to kind of run into these challenges and hurdles. And you posted something on your Instagram, which I loved, where you said, I just want to encourage all of you not to be scared of overwhelm, not to be scared of failure, not to be scared of putting your whole heart into something and things not turning out the way that you want, because it's these moments that are going to develop you into the person that you truly know you can be. And I want to talk about that for a little bit, about kind of alchemizing the the challenges or the fears or the overwhelm or the scarcity or whatever it is into a path to becoming the version of yourself that you need to be, want to be, know that you can be.

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Yeah, I mean, I just think that having the mindset of this is for me is like the— it's the only way. Otherwise we fall into victim mindset. Otherwise we let the failure, the rejection, the challenges stop us in our tracks. And I think for me in this journey, sometimes, and I probably need to get better at this, sometimes I will, you know, log online and compare myself and I'll see other people who have potentially been in business for a shorter amount of time for me making like millions of dollars. And I'll get into my head like, but I've been working at this for so long. I feel like I have a very like real girl next door type of story with my business where like I didn't start my business in 2020. Like I started my business in 2016. It has been a journey for me in like really having to chip away, chip away, chip away and face a lot of rejection, face a lot of failure, face a lot of like moments where I've wanted to give up. But every single time in those moments, I've also held the duality of like, well, if you do give up here, then first and foremost, what's the alternative? You go back to working for somebody which you know that you hate doing and you're not going to actually do that. And two, if you give up right now, then like you're the one responsible for not seeing this all the way through. If you know that you are the one that's responsible for seeing this through or not seeing this through, then very much like, you know, when my, when my marriage ended, I was, I was very like grounded in like the decision to walk away because we had exhausted all options. And I feel the same way about my business. Like I'm going to show up no matter what. So at least I know at the end of this, like if I don't succeed in the way that like I want to or like the big visions that I had, at least I know that I've tried my all. At least I know that like I've given 100% to this thing and have really like become a woman and a leader that I'm proud of. And so I think that that's always been the through line is— and again, this goes back to like the beginning of my story, like I'm the one responsible. No one is going to do this for me. So in this process of becoming, in this process of my evolution, in this process of scaling my business, How do I want to see myself? Who do I want to know myself as? Do I want to know myself as the woman that gave up, or do I want to know myself as like a badass who's willing to show up and take the things that are shitty and turn them into gold, like truly alchemizing them and seeing like what I'm really made of in this process. And I feel like that's like, that's how I'm going to be proud of myself. That's how I'm going to live with no regret and know that like I really did show up and do my best.

I love that so much. I think I, I also love what you said about your journey of, of growth, because I think we, especially in this space, it's really idealized so much, like the super fast growth, the big numbers quickly. I think a lot of people can relate to that, of feeling like that's not my story, that's not my journey. Of course, because that—

those are—

those people are typically the outliers, you know. That's not like the natural or general trajectory of how building a business goes. But I think because we see so many of those people online, it's like a microcosm of extreme success stories that you can start to think like, oh, well, you know, because I'm experiencing so much fear or doubt or uncertainty or wanting to quit, or I have these thoughts where I go back and forth with myself, or I bargain with myself about should I, you know, go back to the regular job or keep doing this, or how much am I going to keep trying, that maybe we can then think, oh, this must not be my path, this must not be my purpose because it's hard and because it looks like on the outside for everyone else that it's so much easier. I think that's where a lot of us get into trouble, is that, that vision, outward vision of thinking that it shouldn't be this hard, right? Or like, yeah, kind of maybe, maybe we do ourselves a disservice with the belief of like it gets to be easy in some ways. Um, like, yes, it does get to be easy, but also sometimes maybe we take that a little too far and we assume that by having these challenges or by feeling the overwhelm or being scared of failure or comparing ourselves online that we're like, oh shoot, you know, like, is this too hard? Does this mean it's wrong for me? I think, you know, I've talked to a lot of people that wonder that. They're like, is it normal for me to be having these these thoughts or should I just be like way happier in this journey of building a business?

Yeah, I mean, I love that our conversation has taken this turn because I really think that social media has distorted what entrepreneurship is. And while I love from like the depths of my bones that we are creating a new paradigm of what entrepreneurship can be, like spiritual entrepreneurs are the fucking coolest entrepreneurs because it's so much deeper than just the strategy, the hustle, the grind. Like there's so much love and depth brought into building a business, which I do believe creates an energy of ease. But that doesn't mean that it's easy. Building my business is actually the hardest thing I've ever done. And if honestly, I I did— I don't know if I would be where I am today or would have even started if someone were to like hand me over a welcome packet to entrepreneurship and be like, you're going to look at all of these things that you're going to have to sit with this. You are going to be rejected this many times. You are going to have seasons where it feels like it's not going to work. You are going to have seasons where you feel so disconnected from like yourself or your business or you're comparing yourself. Like, I don't think that I would be an entrepreneur if I knew that going into it. I would have been like, oh, you know what? You know what, I guess the 401 and the health benefits and the capped salary is, is fine for me actually. But what I've found is that what we can do while building our businesses, even if it is hard, is ask ourselves, what does it look like for me playing my part? To do this in the energy of ease. Something being easy is different than approaching something with the energy of ease. And I think that's the thing that I've consistently come back to. And this is why I love breathwork and meditation so much, is that like it really drops us into our heart. It shifts our emotional state. It shifts the way that we think. It shifts the way that we feel. And through our thinking and feeling, that shifts the way that we act and show up and like what we believe to be true about the world. And so So when we use practices like breathwork or meditation, or when we're just intentionally asking ourselves, how can I approach this with ease? It completely shifts the way in which we show up and do the thing, whether it's showing up for a podcast or doing our taxes. And on top of that, creates more levity in the experience of building a business. Like, you can go the hard way, you can climb and scale your way to the top kicking and screaming. Don't you worry, there are people that have proven you can make make it that way. But again, like what we're doing right now is creating a paradigm where it doesn't have to be that mentally and emotionally challenging. And I think that's where the energy of ease comes in. We can do really hard things and we also are the ones and the only ones responsible for the mental and emotional relationship we have to doing the hard things.

Oh my God. Like, that's unlocking something for me right now. And I feel like people listening to this, like, that's going to be a huge huge shift. You can do hard things in the energy of ease, because I, I do think it— we've confused ease with things being easy. And if you want a path where things are going to be easy, entrepreneurship just isn't the one.

Like, she just said, I wish it was, I wish it was.

I know, right? Um, yeah, that's just not the one if you want it to be easy. But if you— I love that shift that you've offered of like like, yeah, you can do hard things in the energy of ease. And what I've realized about myself is that I love working alongside people who have really figured out how to do that. Like, sometimes you get so in your head and you're really frustrated with something, or something seems really complicated and hard for you. Like, oh, I gotta figure all this out. It's a new technological thing. For example, we're starting to film the podcast and it's all this equipment and all of this stuff and lights and this with the SD cards and the dummy battery and all these things and upload speeds. And I'm just like, oh my God, this is like annoying. Like, I don't like technology stuff. Like, it's hard. It's just annoying. But I love being able to, like, work with people and have, like, a video team where their energy is just in ease. Like, oh, no worries, just do this, or let's do it together and I'll show you how. And you're just like, oh, like, it's like, it's like a deep breath. So you can do the hard things in the energy of ease. And I feel like it's kind of like that, that Marie Forleo mindset of, like, everything is figureoutable. Even when something seems really complicated or hard, if you approach it with the energy of like, everything is figureoutable and I guess this might take longer than I expected, but like, I'll get there, is so much better than like the pressure of like, I need to know the answer now and I need to figure it out faster. That's what makes it hard doing the hard thing.

Yeah, for sure. And, you know, I think especially when we're talking about building a business that like is your true passion, when it's your passion, you don't want to like layer on— I mean, some things, you know, do suck, and that's just how it goes when it comes to building a business. But you don't want to layer on like unnecessary stress or unnecessary mental or emotional heaviness or chaos. And I feel like a lot of people will do that, and then they end up not fully seeing the vision to its fullest potential because it's built in a really unsustainable way. I was thinking about this, and I just posted about this on Instagram today, I am protecting my peace at all costs at this point because I've been through seasons where I didn't protect my peace, where I was just pushing, pushing, pushing. And in those seasons, I really do believe that the lesson for me there was like you are meant to do this from a sustainable energy. So we're going to hold back on like giving you all of the things that you desire until you learn this lesson of like, do it from an energy of ease, do it from an energy of peace. Because, you know, I think about those, those times where I've really been pushing and in those moments I've literally had the thoughts of I can't do this forever. And when it comes to— I'm sure everybody listening to this podcast, when it comes to the work that you're doing, when it comes to the work that I'm doing, like we are here to make a massive impact on this planet. I truly believe that, like, the work that we're doing, the conversations that we're having, the coaching that goes down in your spaces, the healing that's happening, like the collective vibration that is rising, like we are really creating, like I said, a new paradigm, not just of entrepreneurship, but of relationships, of money, money mindset, of friendships, of collaboration. And this is like world-changing. Work. And so world-changing work not only doesn't happen in a 2-year period or 2-year sprint, but also needs you for the long run, needs you for the marathon. And so when I think about not doing things from the energy of ease or not being intentional about the energy in which I want to bring into whatever it is that I'm doing and just like take on that victim mentality of this is hard or I don't want to do this or this sucks or whatever it might be. I bring myself back to this because I know that like if I stay there too long, then I'm not actually going to be able to have the energy or the bandwidth to be able to do this in the long term. And I think a lot of people that are building businesses, when they're in comparison or when they are kind of misguided in like what really matters and like only focusing on hustling, I just think that they burn themselves out too quickly. And it can be heartbreaking because they're meant to make such a big, big, big impact on the world, but because of the relationship to the business or to success or to scaling, never actually fully get to see what it could turn into because they burn themselves out too quickly.

Mm-hmm. One of my mentors said to me once, she was like, if this truly is your life's work, which is exactly what you're talking about, right? It's a— there's a big mission. The impact that we desire is massive. You're going to be doing this for a long time. And also, what else would I want to be doing, right? Like, I don't want to have any other sort of job, so I've got to build this in a way that's sustainable for me to be able to do this forever, hopefully for as long as I want to. So she's like, if this is your life's work, then what is the rush? And I have held on to that for— I always come back to that. I'm like, if this is my life's work, then what's the like I don't need to like whip out new programs and new features and new things all the time, like so quickly and be in this like speed race with everyone, like looking left to right in the lanes of, you know, who you're running with on Instagram or whatever, but really thinking about the longevity of like your own mission and the impact that you want to create and being able to do that in a sustainable way. I— we have to talk about nervous system regulation before we finish because I really want to pick your brain about this and I'm sure everyone's interested to hear about it, because it's kind of like, you know, we go through cycles and phases of things that get really popular in the industry. And I feel like nervous system regulation is like the buzzword right now. So, and it kind of like flows into our conversation nicely of like, you know, building and scaling a business and expanding to hold way more money, responsibility, problems, challenges, all the things like our nervous system has to be able to flux and flow and become regulated to these new levels as we grow. But I think a really good place to start would be to just kind of look at for people that maybe are like, what does this even mean? What are some of the signs that you might have like a dysregulated nervous system? Like what? How would we know if that's like relevant for us?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, the conversation we were just having is a really perfect example, especially when we look at the lens of entrepreneurship. If you're starting to feel burnt out, if you are quick to react, if like things that usually wouldn't faze you turn into these like massive ex— emotional explosions, that's a sign that your nervous system is dysregulated. And we can have little moments of dysregulation every single day. And sometimes when I say this, I feel like I'm scaring people, but like literally something as simple as opening up the refrigerator door and getting a hit of blue light causes the nervous system a moment of dysregulation because it activates the sympathetic arousal in the brain. Not in a big way. Again, not in a noticeable way. But the point is, all of these little micro moments add up. And so most of us in society are walking around with a dysregulated nervous system, and it's just become so neutralized and normalized that we don't even know it. However, then we have these moments where something that isn't even a big deal turns into this massive deal for us and we're completely pulled apart. Or we have these moments where something really incredible and like this is on the total flip side, something really incredible happens. Like you have your biggest month yet or you sign a really big client or you get an opportunity for XYZ or you invest invest in a mastermind or a high-ticket coach, and it's the biggest investment you've ever made. And then the next day you're like, oh my God, I can't believe what I just did. Oh my gosh, how do I feel? Like, I feel so down. I just did this really big thing that was good for me, or I just received this really big thing, and for whatever reason, I just feel so down and I don't understand it. And that's also the nervous system, like, trying to find a regulated space. And so it can happen on both ends. It can happen when when something less gratifying comes into our life, but it can also happen when really gratifying things are coming into our life. Because essentially what the nervous system's, uh, responsibility is, is to be able to understand and discern from moment by moment by moment all of the different stimulation that's coming into our brain, which is just essentially data that it's scanning through. So what is a threat? What is unknown? What is known that I can store in the filing cabinet that is my subconscious? And anything that is unknown or anything that is a threat is going to weigh heavier on the nervous system than something that is just like a habitual pattern or habitually experienced. And that's because the nervous system's primary responsibility is for us to survive. So we're kind of operating on these prehistoric brains that are trying to catch up to society. Society trying to catch up to the fact that we live in this hyper-connected world, all the while being so interconnected to our ability to be able to operate as normal human beings. And on top of that, as entrepreneurs, I mean, it's just, it's so important for— I know it's a buzzword right now, but it really is so important for entrepreneurs and for anybody to really know how to first and foremost, discern when their nervous system is in a dysregulated state so that they can utilize practices to help nourish their nervous system. And then second, to be able to work with their nervous system on a continuous basis so that they don't have those moments where they go into a massive stress response or a dysregulated state.

So let's talk about then some of those, those practices to help nourish the nervous system. Like, could you give listeners a couple of things that are easy, tangible, accessible that you can start to do to work with your nervous system and help regulate it?

Yeah, absolutely. So if you live in somewhere where you have close proximity to nature, literally putting your feet on the ground in grass is the— grass, sand, in the ocean, whatever. I'm like thinking of being in Miami right now. I'm so jealous of you. Um, getting, getting your feet in the sand or being in the ocean, being like, even taking a bath, like things that just help you slow down. Are going to support your nervous system and grounding. Being in nature supports your nervous system and grounding and regulating. Co-regulation with another person, like being with your partner and cuddling and just like breathing together without the frickin TV on or without any other stimulation. Like, that's incredibly grounding. There's bilateral stimulation, which is— excuse me, bilateral stimulation, which is literally like grabbing your arms, touching your own body. Scanning your body, putting your hand on your heart. Like, these are really simple ways to just regulate yourself. And so, like, if you're a busy business owner in between your meetings, taking a moment to, like, just put a hand on your heart, close your eyes, take 3 deep breaths, and, like, just check in with how you're feeling or scan your body to relax your muscles is going to help you regulate your nervous system. So it's really not like intense things that you have to invest thousands of dollars in. It can be very, very simple. And that's, you know, that's why I'm such an evangelist of breathwork, because while many people may at first glance think of breathwork as like the really activating psychedelic experiences or Wim Hof, or where you're like really breathing heavy, my favorite breathwork practices and the breathwork practices that I often use with my clients the most are the ones that are regulating your nervous system and activating your parasympathetic response, creating that safety in your body. So they're really like actually gentle calming practices that for you sharing earlier, like, you know, like I got to get myself there. For me, the calming practices are so simple that we could be sitting here right now and you could be doing it without me even knowing. And just like not so much about the efforting, but more of an effortless approach to creating more presence so that you create safety in your body and your mind's not all over the place.

You know what I'm obsessed with? I'm obsessed with alternate nostril breathing.

It's the best, right?

It's literally the best thing ever. Like, it's one of the first things that I ever shared on video on Instagram because I did— after I, you know, had done my yoga teacher training stuff, I was just even more obsessed with it. Nadi Shodhana. Like, so, so good. Like, that's like a really good one.

It's like the lazy girl breathwork practice for me. Like, I don't love doing the more like transformational breath or holotropic breath. Like, that's— I've done it multiple times before, that's not really my jam. I like pranayama, and pranayama I feel like is the everyday breathwork practices that you can really incorporate into your day-to-day. And in my opinion, and I might get some flack from this from the breathwork community, like, these are the safer practices. These are the practices that, like, you and I can have a conversation on a podcast and someone can listen to, and we don't know where they are, where they're coming from, what kind of trauma they hold, and they will safely be able to do these practices versus some of these sensationalized breathwork practices that yes, there is a time and place for them, but they are, you know, there's a delicacy to it. Breath, breath is medicine because it works with your nervous system and your nervous system is connected to all of your organs, your immune system, like your emotional responses, your trauma, your subconscious. And so for me, utilizing easy practices that you can incorporate into every day is not only more accessible for for a mass market of individuals without us knowing who they are and where they come from. But on top of that, if we think about changing your identity, shifting your belief system, creating new habits, it doesn't happen from just going to one breathwork workshop or just going to one, like, working with one breathwork facilitator one time during a 2-hour session. Like, that might be a catalyst for you to start having breakthroughs or seeing something through a different lens. But the way to creating a new version of yourself is how you show up every single day and the habits that you have. So I'm like, I love all forms of breathwork. I'm so stoked that breathwork is as popular as it is today. And I do believe that the techniques that come from like the traditional yogic like the traditional yogic tradition, from the yogic tradition, from hatha yoga, are the practices that personally I think should be pushed more than any other practice because of the science behind how the nervous system works, habits and patterns work, subconscious beliefs work. We can't just— you have to do it on a day-to-day basis in order to upgrade your identity.

But it's the same thing that we just talked about with business of like, it's not as sexy, right? So the stories about people that like skyrocket and grow super fast and millions of dollars and this, like, that's the story that people want to see and want to share because it's like crazy and sensational. And it's sort of like the same with breathwork. When you do the transformational breathwork where you, you know, you get the clenched hands and you literally like have a spiritual experience and you see God or whatever happens for you in that ceremony of of sorts, that's what makes people go, holy shit. No one's saying holy shit over taking 3 deep breaths in between their calls. However, it's the longevity of that practice. Again, that's what you can sustain for a longer period of time realistically as a practice in your life. You're not going to go on a retreat every single week and do those transformational breathwork practices, but you could do these like small things like box breathing or alternate nostril breathing or whatever it is, right? That's like kind of more more simple, I guess, more accessible. But the longevity and the benefit over time with those practices is immense. It's just that because it takes longer, not as many people are like shouting about it because it's not as sensational for sure.

And I think it's like the same as, you know, I'll use my ex-husband's mom as an example. She went to Costa Rica to Rythmia and did an ayahuasca like 7-day retreat, which I was just like, good on you. Like, I, I could not do that, um, at least there. Um, and you know, she had the breakthroughs, she had these moments of, of enlightenment while she was there, but when she went home, she didn't change anything. And so what happened? She just went back into who she was. And I think that that's the same thing with these like sensational experiences that people are having in breathwork. If you don't have anything to continue that journey that you went on or to continue to integrate that journey that you went on, then you're not actually going to change the, the things that you want to create, what you want to heal. You're not going to actually be able to heal without some sort of integration coming from there. And I think that that's what I love about these practices, is that when we integrate it into our everyday life, like, who we, who we are changes. And there are ways to make it sexy to have psychedelic experiences. And, you know, when I think about it, actually, when we go to these like transformational breath workshops, you're there breathing for like an hour and a half, right? So like you're still efforting for a long period of time when you do pranayama practices like Bhastrika, for example. I don't know if you learned that during your yoga teacher training, but it's a forceful inhale, forceful exhale. It's very similar to circular breath or to Wim Hof. I actually call it like the, the granddaddy of Wim Hof and circular breathing.. And if you do that for 45 minutes, you're going to have a very psychedelic experience as well too. And so I think that it's funny because the way that transformational breath and holotropic and all of those practices, which again, I don't— no shame on those practices. I do love those practices. But I think the way that it's packaged is like this psychedelic experience that you, that you can also have and achieve in with these other practices. It's just packaged in a different way. So it's be interesting to see like the rise of this industry and this practice and like the many different limbs of breathwork itself. I think that we're kind of just getting started and I'm excited to like really be at the forefront of witnessing all of this and also leading all of this. And I'm pretty like firm in my stance as far as— and it'll be so funny, like this is going down in history on a podcast, but I'm pretty firm in my stance on like the importance of everyday breathwork versus these 2-hour classes and how when we can incorporate it into our everyday experience, that's actually where we can see the greatest benefit.

I think that's right. I think that's like hitting the nail on the head. Because if you just think about with anything else, like exercise, movement, like there's so many other things, meditation, it's like, yeah, you could have this like one really big explosive, sensational experience. But over time, being able to actually have a version of it that's realistic for you to implement in your day to day is going to ultimately, I think, have the bigger impact. So I definitely agree with you on that. And same thing with personal development seminars and all that stuff. I went to Tony Robbins last year and there were so many people there that were like, this is my 5th one. And I was just kind of thinking like, I hope I don't need to come to this 5 times. You know what I mean? The goal for me is not to need to come back here to like get reinspired about how I want to change my life. The goal is to go and to feel the energy and learn something and experience something and then go home and integrate it and become a new version of yourself so that you don't have to like keep coming back. I mean, I'll do something different, but yeah, just— I think that's sometimes we're a little bit like misguided in that arena of just like wanting to repeat these sensational experiences versus integrate a steady practice and really learning how to do exactly what you said, which is like become a new person, like change your life, like actually integrate it and make change.

Yeah. I mean, on a neurological level, it's a chemical addiction to the high, to the, to the actual chemicals that are being released when you're at Tony Robbins or when you're in the breathwork workshop. And so I get it. But the way that I see it is like that gets to be the spark that lights the fire, and the fire is what you decide and who you choose to be. On a day-to-day basis from that point forward. And that's what really matters.

Absolutely. So good. Oh my God, thank you so much for this conversation. I can't wait for people to hear this and kind of dig into all things breathwork and nervous system regulation in your world. Obviously, you're an incredible business coach and guide. I love your content on Instagram. So let everyone know, like, where they can find you, how to get into your world, world and learn more about the work that you do?

Yeah, absolutely. So we are on Instagram, the pod— or excuse me, not the podcast, the certification. And my entire breathwork platform, which is a whole slew of online education resources from personal practice courses to certification to a membership even, is @academyofbreath on Instagram or academyofbreath.org. If you want to follow me personally, @iamava.johanna. And I would also just to offer your audience. We have a quiz that is your soul calling archetype, and based upon what your soul calling is, we created a custom breathwork and meditation practice so that you have something daily to basically fuel your fire so that as you're moving about your day, you're really in alignment with the energy that you want to create from, whether it's the energy of ease or whatever it might be.

And utilizing breathwork and meditation as like the vehicle and doing So, um, I love that. Okay, we will link everything for you guys in the show notes, including that quiz so that you can access your personalized little breathwork practice to start digging into that if you're interested. And make sure that you follow Ava. And if you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot, share it to your Instagram stories, tag us both, let us know what you loved about it. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll see you next time. Bye.

Woo!