Becoming a Mindful Entrepreneur with Sarah Anne Stewart

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I had one of the most enlightening and refreshing conversations recently with an entrepreneur that I just had to tell you about. You will find some truly fascinating people in this world in the limelight all the time, while others will be in the shadows waiting to have their voice heard.

I recently found one of the latter types that needed to be showcased, and her name is Sarah Anne Stewart who is an ex-model turned integrative nutrition health coach. She grew up in a holistic environment from a very young age and was introduced to practices like gardening and even did breathwork.

This was surprising to me since I’ve only recently started to learn about the power of breathwork. She witnessed her father cure cancer through the healing power of foods, natural treatments, and holistic practices.

In her teenage years, she ventured into modeling after being discovered by an agency at the age of 15. Which fueled an unhealthy relationship with food and her body for the next ten years. It was here where her life started to unravel between her eyes.

Modeling isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be, especially when you’re a young woman that is supposed to be a certain height, weight, and look all the time with no exceptions. Often models can fall into depression and experience eating disorders which was where Sarah’s life would forever change.

One day she would wake up and find herself lying in a hospital bed with a doctor looking down at her saying,

“ If you don’t change your life, I’m sorry to tell you but you are going to die.”

The Turning Point

This was a turning point in Sarah’s life and one that would make her realize that life was short and she needed to clean up her act.  Sarah recognized that to change her life, she had to free herself from her current mindset and revisit the lifesaving techniques she had previously learned in hopes they would help her recover. Sarah traveled and immersed herself in every holistic health program, seminar, and workshop she possibly could take to learn how to heal her body.  Integrating personal mantras with meditations geared to help repair her subconscious beliefs about self-image along with mental exercises to help create a new relationship with food.

Practicing day in and day out, slowly beginning to feel her sense of self-love return. She felt the grip of anxiety and depression begin to release. And finally, after a turbulent decade, she reclaimed her freedom, mind, and life.

After her life-changing hospital experience, she has dedicated her life to being a mindful and health advocate. After learning her story and how she has become a huge health advocate I had to dive deeper into finding out how entrepreneurs could start being more mindful in their life and business.

How to Become Mindful Today

I wanted some easy and actionable exercises from Sarah that I myself could implement or anyone reading this right now could. The best way to become more mindful is to start small and not expect to become a master of your mind on day one. 

I asked Sarah to give an entrepreneur like myself some tips as to how to become more mindful in an often stressful day as an entrepreneur.

Three-Step Exercise to Become More Mindful

1. Connect to your Breath

Inhale deeply and hold your breath, paying attention to your body as you seek reconnection to the simple fact that you are alive.  As you exhale the breath, focus on softening, letting go, and allowing your mind, and body to come back into alignment.

2. Be Present

Bring yourself into the present moment, into self-awareness, to gain clarity, and help you make decisions. The real shift in your journey happens when you come to understand that you can attract the life you want by being happy at this moment.

3. Visualize Success

To sustain motivation throughout your day, it’s crucial to focus on the ‘vision’ that you want to create for yourself. Becoming successful isn’t always just about the ‘willpower’ to stick to your goals. It’s about reprogramming the subconscious patterns to change habits so that living in an aligned way becomes second nature.

These tips that Sarah gave me really resonated because I use visualization multiple times on a daily basis and it started back in my hockey playing days when I would visualize making plays before they actually happened. It programmed my brain into that situation so when I was there I already knew what to do, and it became second nature.

There are a lot of mindful experts out there but of all the people I’ve met and had the pleasure of getting to know I would have to say Sarah is one of my go-to’s so make sure you go check her out on Instagram.

What’s Next for Sarah?

Sarah has a new book coming out that is all about healing your relationship with food and your body through mindfulness so that you can transform every area of your life.  

The purpose of the book is to debunk the myths we have been taught about how to be healthy and happy and blend them into a more holistic and healthy approach to life. This is powerful stuff that I know will touch many lives around the world. I highly suggest you follow Sarah on Instagram (@sarahannestewart)  and take a peek at her website to get some more information about her programs and all her latest updates. Before I go I want to leave you with one more dose of wisdom I gained from my conversation with Sarah.

“Remember, if you can master your mind, you can master anything.”