Practicing Mindfulness: The Importance Of Mental Fitness

The Breathing Edge with Shane and Angelina Saunders Podcast

Mindfulness is a growing trend in the health and wellbeing industry. Bringing your attention to experiences happening right in front of you is something that can be developed through meditation and breathing techniques as well as through other training like journalling. Its benefits are endless, especially for mental health. More and more people are waking up to the benefits and it’s a common practice for most high-performing, energised leaders. In this episode, we’re chatting to Marc Champagne, the founder of KYŌ (kee-oh), an app that acts like a digital journal to help people practise being mindful. KYŌ, meaning “today” in Japanese, is where Marc got the idea for the app. Users are prompted to answer questions from some of the world’s most inspiring figures and are encouraged to focus on today, on the present. Marc is also host of the KYŌ Conversations podcast.Here’s what to expect from this episode:The main driver behind the KYŌ app - Marc’s morning practices and doing something different to stand outMarc’s morning practice so he could start the day on his terms - reading positive material, asking himself motivational questionsHow Marc got into breath workMarc turns the interview around and asks what defines usOne of the most powerful practices for being mindful - being aware by paying attention to your breathingWhat Angie has learned from being aware of her breathingBy opening up your breathing, you open up your awareness to everythingQuestions Marc asks himself each day - What would make today great? What made me smile today? Why Marc receives a prompt to answer questions about his week each Friday at 4pmGathering questions from other interviews and people he’s metThe context of the prompt or the question is where the magic livesCreating new neural pathwaysAutopilot is like a chronic disease - Marc wants to encourage everyone to just slow down and thinkBringing direction to running commentaryIs your mind organised? Can you navigate it? If you can’t navigate, ideas can’t surfaceIf you’re mentally hoarding things, new opportunities can’t present themselves to youTaking your breathing out of automatic and into manual modeAltering your state - how breathing can take you to a blissful stateShane’s religion - his spiritual experience from breathing, being in nature and being in cold waterHow Angie learned to trust in the process of breathingMore of Marc’s powerful prompts: Who do I have to be right now? What do I have to let go of in this moment? One of Shane’s favourite statements - “It’s not in the words, it’s in the practice”Angie’s go-to prompt - What do I need to feel today and how can I create that?A trick to help you socialise with more peopleWhy Marc does what he does - conversations, connecting with people that are passionate about helping others, and helping others connect with themselvesThe mission behind the KYŌ app - to solve a problem Marc and his team members were havingKYŌ quickly shifted to a social responsibility- to share and help othersUseful links:Marc Champagne on LinkedInMarc Champagne on TwitterKYŌ WebsiteKYŌ TwitterKYŌ InstagramKYŌ FacebookBreathe Me LinksAngelina Saunders LinkedIn Shane Saunders LinkedIn Breathe Me Instagram Breathing Edge Facebook Group Breathe Me Facebook Breathe Me Website