← Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Francesca Sipma on How to Unclock Your Purpose Through HypnoBreathwork | EP 566
00:50:52
In episode 566, John speaks with Francesca Sipma, founder and CEO of Mastry, the creator of HypnoBreathwork® and author of Unblock Your Purpose: Breathwork, Intuition, and Flow State.
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- [00:00]
John R. Miles
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- [01:23]
Francesca Sitma
Need to use hypno breathwork to heal. Because if you've been numbing out, if you have a big ego, if you have a lot of protective strategies, you can't get into that higher state of clarity because all of that energy is just working on suppressing that ability to access your highest states. So you have to heal first. And then you can start to make creative connections and discover how your skills and your experiences and your obstacles and then turning those outwards will help you discover your purpose.
- [01:49]
John R. Miles
Welcome to Passion Struck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles, and on the show we decipher the secrets, tips and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions. On Fridays, we have long form interviews the rest of the week with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries and athletes. Now let's go out there and become Passion Struck. Hey passion struck fam welcome to episode 566 of the Passion Struck Podcast. Have you ever felt stuck? Like there's something more waiting for you, but you just can't seem to access it? What if the key to unlocking your full potential isn't working harder, but about rewiring your subconscious, releasing fear, and tapping into your intuition? Our thoughts, emotions and behaviors are deeply shaped by subconscious patterns, many of which were formed long before we were even aware of them. These invisible barriers can keep us trapped in cycles of doubt, hesitation, or even burnout. But what if you could break through them? What if you could reprogram your mind to step into the most aligned, purpose driven version of yourself? That is exactly what we're diving into today with my guest, Francesca Sitma, a transformational coach, breathwork facilitator, and the visionary behind Hypno Breathwork. But before we get there, let's take a moment to reflect on the incredible conversation we had earlier this week. On Tuesday, I sat down with Dr. Dave Vago, a leading neuroscientist and mindfulness expert, to discuss the neuroscience of mattering, why our brains are wired for belonging, and how mindfulness can help us create purpose and connection. If you haven't listened yet, be sure to check it out. Last Friday, I shared a powerful solo episode on Deep Work and the five Keys to Mattering in Life, breaking down how eliminating distractions and focusing on what truly matters can transform the way you show up in your career, relationships and personal growth. And don't forget, if you're looking for curated episodes on topics like emotional well being, mindset, Personal Mastery, Peak Performance, and alternative health, check them out on our Episode Starter packs either@passionstruck.com starterpacks or Spotify. For weekly inspiration and actionable insights. Be sure to subscribe to my Live Intentionally newsletter also at passionstruck, where I share exclusive tools and challenges to help you apply what you learn here to your own life. And if you prefer watching these conversations, every episode is available on our YouTube channel where you can catch video highlights, full episodes and more. And if you truly love today's episode or any of our episodes, please consider leaving us a five star rating and review. It helps us magnify our mission and bring more people into this community. Now let's talk about our guest today, Francesca Sitma. Francesca is a former New York City advertising executive turned transformational coach, entrepreneur and founder of Mastery Personal Development platform designed to help individuals break through subconscious blocks and unlock peak performance. Francesca is the creator of Hypno Breathwork, a breakthrough methodology that fuses breath work, hypnosis and visioning to rewire limiting beliefs, eliminate self doubt and activate intuitive decision making. Her work has impacted everyone from Fortune 500 executives, Olympic athletes and high achievers worldwide, helping them all to access flow states, emotional clarity and deep personal alignment. Her new book, Unlock youk Breathwork, Intuition and flow State, reveals how we can overcome fear, reprogramming subconscious mind and live with greater clarity, purpose and fulfillment. Francesca's work bridges science and spirituality provide a powerful roadmap for personal transformation. In our discussion, we explore why traditional goal setting doesn't always work and what to do instead. This is something if you want to turn back to it, you can also look to my episode with Caroline Miller where we did a deep dive in this very topic as well. We also go through the science behind hypno breath work and how it can rewire your subconscious. We discuss how fear and the need for certainty keep us stuck and how to break free, why intuition is the ultimate success tool, and how to strengthen yours. We do a deep dive into the role of breathwork in unlocking peak creativity, clarity and flow and how to take intentional action towards your highest potential. If you've ever felt held back by self doubt, struggled to trust your instincts, or sensed you were meant for something more, this episode will give you the tools, insights and inspiration to break through. So let's dive in. Here's my conversation with Francesca Sitma. Thank you for choosing Passionstruck and choosing me to be your host and guide on your journey to creating an intentional life. Now let that journey begin. Hey friends, Ever been stuck waiting weeks for a healthcare appointment or hours on a pharmacy line? It's the worst, right? Well, here's the good news. 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- [10:06]
Today to welcome Francesca Sibma to the Passion Struck podcast.
- [10:10]
Welcome Francesca.
- [10:12]
Francesca Sitma
Thanks for having me John.
- [10:14]
John R. Miles
So just to give you a little bit of background, at Passion Struck we explore how individuals can live more intentionally and we focus on purpose and how to create a life that truly matters. And as I was getting into your book and preparing for this, I found that your work is such a perfect example of this ethos. Helping people clear subconscious blocks, tap into their intuition, achieve peak performance. I am so excited to go into your new book and into your hypno breath work. So I thought a good place to start was you spent a decade in New York's advertising world, which I know how challenging that world can be before embarking on a spiritual sabbatical. And I think this is the first parallel that I saw between the two of us. We both had these big careers in large scale organizations, and then we both had kind of an awakening. Can you take us back to that pivotal moment when you realized something fundamental was missing in your life?
- [11:20]
Francesca Sitma
Yeah, I think for me, it was definitely when I got to the peak of the mountain, I had a very clear goal that I wanted to be an account director on one of the biggest brands in the world at the best agency in the world. So when I was an account director on Google, at a creative agency called Anomaly, I just thought I would feel so fulfilled once I got there. And I thought I'd be so proud of myself and I would just feel accomplished and my life would have meaning. And instead, as soon as I got that title and I got the projects and the recognition, I was just like, okay, what's next? What's the next goal? What's the next promotion? What's the next metric I need to hit? And I realized that I even tried then to go client side on the global marketing team at Bacardi. And that was a really glamorous job. And after a couple months of that, I was like, all right, what am I going to do next? And there was never a moment where I felt truly fulfilled. It just felt insatiable. It felt very empty. And that's what forced me to start looking inward.
- [12:19]
John R. Miles
Did you ever have this experience that you just felt so much apathy in a way that you were almost becoming numb to it?
- [12:28]
Francesca Sitma
I recognized that I didn't have gratitude for where I was, and I was numbing myself out with a lot of different coping mechanisms because I was working extremely hard, it was very fast paced. And then I would get to what I was working really hard for, and there was no internal reward. So apathy, a little bit of disconnection. Some aloofness too, because I just wasn't attuned to my feelings. There was also substances that I was using that was numbing me out as well. So it was just a mixed bag. Just what kind of happens when you're on the hamster wheel and you're just in this conditioned autopilot mindset and not really attuned to yourself and your values?
- [13:09]
John R. Miles
Yeah, I think one of the best stories I've heard of that is when I talked to Gabby Bernstein and how she was facing that same thing and then had that awakening that she could either keep going down the path that she was on, or she could do away with the bad habits she had, some of the things she was doing, and touch millions of people with her work. And I see the. The same connection to what you're doing. So you end up doing travels, as I understand it, through Bali, Peru, and India, and that led you into breath work and ultimately the creation of hypno breathwork. What was it about this practice overall that resonated so deeply with you and inspired you to dedicate so much of your life to it?
- [13:57]
Francesca Sitma
Can I ask, John, if you've experienced breath work before? Have you done it?
- [14:00]
John R. Miles
I have. I started doing breath work all the way back in my mid-20s, ironically, when I was working with SEAL teams. And we did a lot of yoga, a lot of mindfulness training, and a ton of breath work, both for when we were firing weapons, but more for keeping ourselves calm when you're in an operational state.
- [14:21]
Francesca Sitma
I've read about Navy SEAL training doing breathwork, and specifically box breathing. The style of breath work that I really resonated with or that I started off with was holotropic breath work. So that's a really intense experiential therapy where you're releasing suppressed emotions, you're healing childhood memories. Everything that you've basically been storing and holding onto in your body comes out. And it's extremely cathartic, but again, it's very intense. So I was very fascinated by physiologically, what was happening in my body, psychologically, the patterns and the insights and the awareness that were coming into the forefront. And I just found that in talk therapy, I was aware of my patterns and my behaviors and my voids, but it wasn't changing my behaviors in terms of what my nervous system was still attracted to. And I needed something deeper. And this breath work just took me right there. It took me to the source of emotions. It just brought to light so many things that I had really buried in my subconscious. And so I became really feeling fascinated by it. I studied it around the world. I traveled. I tried all the different instructors and the different styles, and I realized that there was a missing piece. There was a gap for people to really understand what was happening in a session and how to actually change their life. And so that's where the hypnosis comes in. It's just very specific vocal cues to help people focus their mind and rewire some of those negative patterns.
- [15:55]
John R. Miles
Yeah.
- [15:56]
So I understand that the methodology combines breath work, hypnosis, and visioning. And it was interesting because I'm not sure. I know you live in San Diego, so someone you might want to catch up with is Mark Devine. Mark is a former Seal and he really dives into these same three types of areas. And it was these things that helped him, I think, be the first leader at BUDS who ever had his entire boat crew get through all of the training because he got them to use breath work, he got them to use visioning, and he got them to really start looking at their challenges as if they were a rubber band. And that sometimes the challenge is so intense that you need to look at it as a contracted and other times the challenges is more elongated, like a rubber band spread out. And I bring him into my book because it was such a powerful practice. So I wanted to ask, is that as a build up, how do these three elements work together to help people clear blocks and then achieve flow state?
- [17:13]
Francesca Sitma
It's a great question. So breathwork on its own is completely transformative and extremely powerful. So you could just do two inhales, one exhale, laying down by yourself, no music, no facilitator, and you'll feel releases, you'll feel tingling, you'll feel physical sensations, and you'll likely access some memories or some visions. So alone. That style of breathwork is incredibly healing. Now the hypnosis again helps with the specific focal points and intentions, so we can start to rewire and reprogram the mind. And I find that it's really hard for people to just skip to having a positive mindset and having positive affirmations. They first need to release some of the fear, some of the shame, some of the guilt, the self doubt. So that's what we really do in the middle of a journey with the hypnotic suggestions. And then the visioning comes at the end where we have you see that expansive vision for your life. I think a lot of the reason that people get stuck in habitual thought loops or anxiety or depression is because they're either reminiscing too much about the past or they're just stuck and they just feel lost and they don't have a clear roadmap and clear direction for the future. So once we're clearing out the emotion, we're reprogramming the limiting belief. Then the last part of the session is seeing the life that you want to create, seeing the goals already attained, feeling the emotion of what that would be like when you're on the stage or you have your own company, it's successful. That home, that family, whatever, whatever that looks like. And then the very last Part of every single hypno breathwork session is what is your next intuitive action step towards that goal, towards that life, towards your higher self. And now they have a very clear, tangible action item. And if you do that every single morning for 20 minutes, you will be so clear, you will have so much direction, more intuition, sharper cognition, and you will start to live a life that you're proud of and a life that has a lot more meaning.
- [19:09]
John R. Miles
So before we got started today, I told you I got to listen into an interview you did with a mutual friend of ours, John Kim. And one of the things I like that you brought out that I'm going to ask you to bring out in this interview as well, is you went through a number of different examples of how intuition and this practice of hypno breath work influenced you to make some certain decisions that have led to positive outcomes in your trajectory. One of them was actually about John Kim. So I thought maybe that would be a good example of how you've pulled this together in a tangible way.
- [19:48]
Francesca Sitma
So when I was going through my spiritual awakening, John was somebody that I really revered, and he was someone I loved following and listening to his stories. I found him to be so vulnerable and so authentic. And I had seen in a breathwork session to reach out to him and see if he would partner with mastery and be an influencer or be an ambassador for us. And so I sent the email that came through in my breath work. He responded, we had a meeting, and I said, we want to turn your book, I used to be a miserable fuck, into a hypno breathwork session. We'll use your concepts, we'll use your words. And he really liked the idea. So that then started a friendship, and he had invited me to his retreat home. I did breath work on it. It was hell yes. We went and did cold plunge, and we did breath work, and our friendship really grew. And I was talking to him about the holistic psychologist, and I just really admire her, and I'm a huge fan. And he said, oh, she's going to be on my podcast. You should come out for that. And I was like, hell, yeah, I'm coming out for that. And then I. He had sent a text message to everyone saying, oh, Francesca is going to lead breath work after the podcast. And I was like, I am. But he sent it really early in the morning, and I did breath work as soon as I got the message. And in my breath work journey, it was like, cancel all of your meetings. Read Dr. Nicole's book today. And then Turn that into a session so that you're prepared after the podcast. So I did that, and then I drove it to the podcast and John's, hey, how's it going? I'm like, dude, I just turned Dr. Nicole's book into a hypno breathwork session. He's like, Dr. Nicole, come over here. Meet Francesca. She just turned your book into a session. And she goes, oh, I'm going to stay for that. And then I developed a relationship with her and she endorsed my book. They both endorsed my book. All from just series of intuitive actions that I had the courage to take and my mindset or my psychology. My blocks were, don't be a burden, don't ask for help, don't be annoying. But my intuition was like, go for it, add value, and then ask. And I did. And I mean, both those friendships have been great for personally and then also professionally.
- [21:49]
John R. Miles
Yeah, I love both those stories. And Nicole is another guest that I've had the privilege of having on the show. And love her books. They're so easily digestible and applicable. And I can see why, between that and the crazy stunts she does on social media, why she's so popular. But I think you brought up something that's really important. There is. I know I've been asked a number of times, like, how did I get some of the endorsements that I got for my book? And when you reach that, well, sometimes publishers do it for you, but in my case, I asked all the people directly. But what I found is, you can't do this cold turkey. It's not like I'm going to ask Seth Godin for an endorsement without knowing him. I mean, and it was over a few years building up a relationship with him that gave me the confidence that he knew who I was, knew what I stood for. I'd invested time in getting to know him. And even when I asked him, he said, look, there's no guarantees. I don't do many of these, but I'm willing to take a look at it and we'll go from there. So I think it's an important lesson because you've got to build that bond if you want someone to reciprocate.
- [23:01]
Francesca Sitma
I had a strategist tell me to reach out to 30 people to get the eight endorsements that I wanted. And typically, as a New Yorker and somebody who's used to going above and beyond and just forcing myself to the grind and the effort, I would have sent 50 emails or a hundred emails and just gone for gold. But I did breath work on that, too. And I was like, no, I want these six. And I'm going to highly personalize, highly customize these, this outreach, and I'm going to follow up and I'm going to nurture this. And that's what I did. I went against, again, my conditioning of just grinding and forcing it. And I just sent really heartfelt messages to these six people that I had developed relationships with. And one of them was my hero, which is Robert Greene. Are you familiar with his work?
- [23:48]
John R. Miles
Of course. I think the first time I heard him on a podcast, I think it was with Lewis Howes. And I think it was like, Lewis's first or second podcast he ever did, but love his work.
- [23:58]
Francesca Sitma
Yeah, he's the goat. To me, Robert is an absolute legend, and he's honestly shaped so much of who I am as a coach. I named my company after his book Mastery. That's how much I revere him. And he. This is an even crazier, intuitive story, is I saw he was speaking in Seattle with Ryan Holiday. I was like, oh, my gosh, I have to get tickets immediately. But I didn't do my morning breathwork yet. And I don't do anything before I do breath work in the morning. And in that breathwork session, just very clearly, it flashed in my mind, Row F. Row F. So I go back on my computer, and my cursor was hovering around Rho Ghost. I go to RO F, and in very fine print, it says meet and greet. And I was like, holy crap. I almost missed this opportunity to meet Robert. So I booked the meet and greet, and then my breathwork sessions leading up to that told me that I had to say when I had the opportunity to take a photo with him, I had to say, I named my company after your book. I do breath work and hypnosis. I would love to turn one of your books into a subconscious journey for your readers. And I had practiced that, and I had rehearsed it, and as soon as I got my shot, I said it exactly, almost a little too robotically, and he goes, breath work. I'm curious about that. And I was like, what? And that allowed me to actually facilitate a session on him and also develop a relationship with him. And that's how that sort of got rolling for him to endorse my book. And he's on the front cover of it because, I mean, again, he's a legend.
- [25:34]
John R. Miles
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- [27:10]
Well, that's a great story and a valuable lesson as well. I want to go back to something you touched on. Well before we do that, since we've been talking a little bit about the book, how did you come up with the title Unblock your purpose? Because in my subtitle, as you brought up as we were talking beforehand, I say unlock your purpose, you say unblock your purpose. And there's a. It's a slight but interesting and profound difference.
- [27:38]
Francesca Sitma
It really is. I came up with that title I think five years ago cause I created a digital course and I just felt that we have so many emotional and mental blockages. Blocks like I'm not good enough blocks like fear of self doubt, blocks like procrastination or perfectionism or self sabotage. I just felt like we had a lot of self imposed limitations and emotional blockages and so block was just the right word for me. And naturally John, as you'll know, that title came through in a breathwork session, so that's what we ultimately went with.
- [28:15]
John R. Miles
Well, I love it. Mine originally was going to be much shorter and it was almost going to be I'M not sure if you've read Robin Sharma's book the 5am Club, but he's got a very short subtitle. And it was going to be like that, and my publisher didn't like it, so they expanded it. So mine. But it captured the essence of what I was, what I was going for.
- [28:37]
Francesca Sitma
Yeah.
- [28:37]
John R. Miles
Well, where I wanted to go back to is you mentioned before some of the things that hold people back, and a couple of those things are fear, negativity, bias, imposter syndrome, the desire for certainty.
- [28:55]
Francesca Sitma
Yeah.
- [28:57]
John R. Miles
And those things keep people stuck in their track. How does hypno breath work help people to overcome those barriers and to embrace the unknown?
- [29:07]
Francesca Sitma
The first thing it does is it always finds the highest emotional charge, and I really want that to land. Breath work always finds the highest emotional charge. And we're not always aware of what our blockages are. And if we are aware, we don't always know the source or the root of where they stemmed from. So what breathwork has this uncanny ability to do is find the source. So if I'm say I'm triggered and I don't want to send this investor update and I'm having anxiety about it, I'll go into a breathwork session and be like, where is that coming from? Where is this, like, anxiousness coming from? And it's. Oh, okay. It's the need to prove my worth to my father. And I'm now projecting that onto these investors. Cool. It reveals the source of your behavior patterns, and once it reveals it, you use the breath to actually exhale out a lot of that emotion. So you're breathing out the stress, you're breathing out the tension, you're breathing out the guilt, the shame, the sadness, the grief, whatever's been locked and stored in your body. And then once we take you to that journey, and it's a, okay, visualize how you want this to go. What's that emotion? What's your action step? Then you've transcended the limitation, and that, again, suppressed energy that's been in your body, and you have a very clear next action step and direction so that you move immediately out of it. And I think that's something that you would really appreciate in my work is I'm extremely spiritual and intuitive, and by that I just mean my connection to myself. But were executors. In hypno breath work, the action is just as important as moving through the psychological limitations.
- [30:42]
John R. Miles
I love it. I just did a solo episode today that is all about how do you bridge the gap between Theory and action. So I love that that's a core focus area for you as well. So I have recently had a few guests on the show, specifically Lisa Miller and Susan Graust. Lisa, if you're not familiar with her, studies the science of spirituality. And Susan is a master in spirituality and a medium. And it reminded me of how your work blends science and spirituality in a unique way. How do you go about balancing these two seemingly opposing forces to create something that resonates not only logically, but also touches the emotional side of people?
- [31:33]
Francesca Sitma
This is really the sweet spot. I think that a lot of people skew too far on one end or the other end. I'm not about just living in love and light and having no strategy and structure and just hoping things fall into place. I don't think success works that way. But then I also have learned from experience, and I'm sure you did too. In the corporate world, that force and exertion and just having that discipline and consistent habits can also allow you to have limitations and hit ceilings. But when you can merge the two, when it's rooted in the science and you understand that the physiology of breathwork is changing the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide, which means it's shutting down your prefrontal cortex, which is your logical, thinking brain, which is that things have to be done systematically in the way that I've seen in the past. And you actually start to keep breathing and you activate different regions of your brain. You're expanding your capacity to tap into new information, to tap into knowledge that's been stored, to tap into infinite intelligence. You begin to make new creative connections. You begin to expand your mind. This is where innovation happens. So from a physiological standpoint, I know that we're oxygenating our body in a way that we're stimulating our brain to expand and see something new. And I believe that greatness really happens when you can merge both worlds, when you can merge intuition with action and you can merge spirituality with strategy.
- [32:58]
John R. Miles
I like that. Merge spirituality with strategy. Where is the first place someone would start in attempting to try to do that?
- [33:09]
Francesca Sitma
So we have a couple resources. I launched Mastery App, which is a wellness platform and it has 80 different hypno breath work sessions on our app. So anything that you're going through that day, if you're being impatient with your child, if you need more self love, if you want to get into a peak performance state, decision making, there's topical sessions that people can do in 20 minutes to get the benefits of this work. But then I also have the book now, which gives more context, which explains the why behind it, which allows me to go deeper into details of other people's stories. So if you're a skeptic and you need more of the information and the science and the physiology, start with the book. Unblock your purpose. If you want to dive right in and feel the benefits and have that experiential release and start shaking and convulsing and crying and letting things go and seeing that higher vision, then jump into mastery app.
- [33:59]
John R. Miles
Well, thank you for that. And I wanted to now go a little bit deeper into flow state. So in my book, I describe this as achieving the state of optimal anxiety. Because the way I think about it is it's almost like you're on a tightrope. And if the tightrope is not tight enough, you're going to fall off because it's got too much give in it. But if it's too tight, you can also have the same thing. So it's how do you balance that equilibrium between the two? So I guess as a starter, Francesca.
- [34:34]
How would you define flow state?
- [34:37]
Francesca Sitma
So my definition of flow state would be optimal consciousness. It's when everything's firing, you're in the zone. You have sharper cognition and clarity and intuition and creativity. And it's when discipline meets surrender. But my favorite definition is it's when productivity meets alignment.
- [34:55]
John R. Miles
I don't know if you have ever seen the work that McKenzie did on this, but they studied executives who were in the flow state and those who are not. And it actually their findings found that people who are able to get in the flow state are able to do the same amount of work in two hours that their peers doing a full day of work. It's pretty amazing.
- [35:15]
Francesca Sitma
Okay, let's dig into this. So first I want to tell you about how I trademarked flow state breathwork. And it started because when I was transitioning from corporate into entrepreneurship, I didn't really know what I was doing and I didn't know how I was going to monetize as a breathwork coach. So first I had to do breathwork for my ego to die because I wanted the status and the significance most of my life. And then I had to do a lot of breathwork to figure out how I was going to build a business and scale it. So I treated my bedroom like an ad exec and I had all of these white paper up on the wall. Physiological benefits, spiritual benefits, psychological benefits, partnership strategies, content pillars. All of these things were all over my bedroom. And then I would Breathe to binaural beats because I knew it was activating different regions of my brain, and I needed to get out of fear and scarcity and into those creative states. So I would do this breath work and I would set a very clear intention. What's the next thing I need to do to launch this business? What do I need to do to make this successful? And just boom, it was like these dots started to connect. This messaging with this person, with your old company, send this email, make this video, create this real. And I would just get all of these marketing and content ideas. And I did that every single day. Every morning, I would just breathe on how to build my business. And within my first year, I made back my marketing director salary. Within my second year, I more than doubled it. So I was like, I think I've really created something with this flow state breath work. At the time, breathwork was really the psychospiritual. Breathwork was only really known for healing traumas and anxieties. And I was like, no, there's a way for us to focus the vocal cues and choose different music and set intentions so that it can be about optimal performance and mental clarity. So I would go into companies and I would say, see your mission statement, see your 2025 roadmap. I want you to see the strategy. I want you to see how you want the audience or your consumer to feel. I want you to see the product development. Whatever industry I was working with, I would customize the cues so all of their teams could get into a collective flow state, feel the collaboration be more productive. And that's flow state breath work.
- [37:22]
John R. Miles
Well, man, I love that. And I want to get into that a bit more in a couple questions. I want to talk about something that I have found impacts flow state for me, and that's the role of emotions. For example, can processing negative emotions or clearing blocks through breath work actually create a better pathway to flow?
- [37:49]
Francesca Sitma
Oh, you gave me full body chills with that question, John. That's such a great question. Yes. In my book, it's in three parts, and the first part is all about healing. You need to use hypno breath work to heal, because if you've been numbing out, if you have a big ego, if you have a lot of protective strategies, you can't get into that higher state of clarity because all of that energy is just working on suppressing that ability to access your highest states. So you have to heal first. And then you can start to make creative connections and discover how your skills and your experiences and your Obstacles and then turning those outwards will help you discover your purpose. But what I've also found there's a bit of a chronological journey that I take people on to discover their purpose. And it starts with healing the past. But now there will be days when I'm like getting up in the morning and I can't wait to do my flow state breathwork. But my partner really pissed me off higher states because I'm so mad. And then I'm like, God damn it, I have to breathe on this relationship today instead of doing my strategic planning or my pitch deck or whatever that looks like. But you have to breathe out the emotion or you can't get it into those states. And sometimes it might be really heavy, something really intense might come up for me that day and it's another layer. And then I'm a little bit too emotionally rocked to get into that place. But then of course, the day after that I'll do a flow state breathwork. And whatever I come up with, whether it's media planning or it's acquisition or it's partnerships or it's influencers, I will get that done in a fraction of the time I would have paid an agency to do or other people who aren't using breath work would take to get something done.
- [39:30]
John R. Miles
Well. And I've got a great follow on to that. Because flow is often fleeting for most people. Let's face it, it is. People get in the flow state and they get out of it. How can hypno breath work or other intentional practices make flow more sustainable so that they can do what you were just talking about for a longer duration?
- [39:51]
Francesca Sitma
That comes with consistency. So I wrote an article about this for Forbes Business Council and then the chapter is also called Hacking Flow state on demand. And it's consistently doing this breathwork every single morning, the first 20 minutes of your day. We have way too much conditioning, we have way too many stories, limiting beliefs, issues from growing up, caregivers, childhood, all of these things that play a prominent role in our lives on a day to day. And so for me, breathwork first thing in the morning is clearing and cleaning the slate. So if you want to be able to get into flow state more regularly, more consistently, then you have to breathe every single morning. Take the action steps immediately because that's another block to your flow state. If you do a breathwork session and it's send the email and then you come out of it and you're like, oh, well, maybe I'll take that action step later. And then it's the next day you'll go into breathwork again and you're going to get the same action steps. So you've just wasted a day, you've wasted a session. So not taking the action steps will also block your flow.
- [40:55]
John R. Miles
Okay, thank you for sharing that. And I want to get back to using this in a business context. So you have worked, as you were describing, with teams and corporate groups to achieve flow. My question here goes into. We've been talking a lot about individual flow. How does the energy of a group impact the ability to reach flow state? And how, if you're a leader who wants to empower their whole group, how do they foster this dynamic trait in their teams?
- [41:28]
Francesca Sitma
Good question. So there's a couple ways I want to answer this. First, bringing flow state into your teams is, in my opinion, what every single company and what every HR department should be working on doing. Because you want your employees to be clear. You don't want them to be stressed and burnt out and not working at their peak performance. So bringing this into your teams, just as even a stress release, we can customize the sessions in so many different ways. I have six months worth of sessions that I can take corporate teams through and it can range from sessions on sales, management, leadership, negotiation. There's so many different topics that we can do to help people get into a peak state. Now, in order for it to be really successful, we can't just do the mental clarity and the focus and the creativity sessions. I like to start with those. Just ease people in. They feel super euphoric after a session. I did1 with 300 Deloitte employees online a few years ago. And when we started, I said, how are you guys feeling? And everyone said, burnt out, stressed, tired, overwhelmed. And 20 minutes later I said, how are you feeling post session? Rejuvenated, inspired, excited. Can we do this every week? Oh my God, that was amazing. And I said, what's your next action step? And they said, delegate the task, schedule the meeting. I mean, they had so much clarity coming out of that session. But there's other sessions that need to be done if we're going to work together over a long term and really make changes within the organization. And those sessions have to be around empathy, they have to be around compassion. And a lot of times there's a really big disconnect between upper management and their employees and their teams because upper management oftentimes feels like they're doing a lot more of the work or they have a lot of pressure on them and then their teams feel like there's no acknowledgment of work life balance, and they need more recognition. So we have to have different teams and different individuals see the perspectives of the other people so that it can be more harmonious within the group and more harmony allows you to be more productive.
- [43:37]
John R. Miles
I think one of the things that I think it's difficult to understand on both sides, having been a C level executive In a Fortune 50 company myself, I think it's difficult for the employees, especially a couple rungs down, to understand just how much pressure, how much politics, how much HR issues, how much demands there are on the executives, and why they might be a bit disconnected at times, as you were talking about. But I think the other thing that's important is the best box bosses, I think, do this framework that I talk about, which is speaking with their feet, which means it's not just sitting in your office or dealing only with your peers or only trying to manage above. It's getting out and being with the troops and being seen and just spending a few minutes every single day asking questions, trying to stay attuned to what's happening makes people feel like they matter. And so I think that's one of the things people miss out on, and they don't let themselves understand the feelings that their employees are feeling. So because of that, they can't be empathetic to them. Does that make sense to you?
- [45:02]
Francesca Sitma
100%. And it reminds me of I was doing a leadership summit for a group and the CFO came out of the session and he was like, I mean, this was so startling for all of us. He just goes, I just realized why I'm such an asshole to my team. And it's because I hate my mother. Whoa. All right. Well, we got some awareness of that massive projection and obviously with that allows him to do a lot of healing and completely changes the dynamic because he's showing up completely different for them. And it's something that I find in entrepreneurship as well, and even with my coaches. And I know that you'll relate to this, especially when you're building a brand and you have a book and you have a podcast and you have a company and you have startups and you're an investor and you have all these things going on. And then I'll get an email or I'll get a text message that someone's frustrated with me because I didn't do this XYZ for them. And in my worldview and in my landscape, that is the most trivial thing. And I can't even believe I've been disrespected that they would waste my time and my energy sending this to me. And it's so frustrating. How can you not send see all the things that I'm doing and where this lies. But then before I write something reactive back, I know I need to breathe and understand that this is a big part of their paradigm and how can I show up differently? Because we can't expect everyone around us to be more self aware and be more competent. The only things we can control is our own reaction. So I use it all the time for myself as a leader because I'm just not wired. I'm not wired in that way to see all the perspectives immediately either.
- [46:40]
John R. Miles
I can completely relate to what you just said and I've lived it from both sides, so, so much to think about there. Well, I want to take this from the business world back to the individual discussion. You've described hypno breathwork as disruptive in the best way. And one of the things that I know a lot of people struggle with is navigating resistance. How both in your own journey and as you bring this method to the world, have you found hypno breathwork to be disruptive in the best way about helping people navigate resistances that they face?
- [47:23]
Francesca Sitma
I think that the most hard hitting way is that it just provides clarity. Clarity. Breathwork gives you clarity. So if you're resistant towards change or making the transition or getting out of the relationship or launching the thing, when you breathe and you get that very clear vision or that very clear download, it's so loud and that clarity is euphoric. That clarity feels really good and it's like a deep inner knowing. And when your intuition is activated in that way, it's motivating, it's inspiring. And when you start to take the actions, what happens is you're building that muscle of self trust and the universe begins to reward that. You'll start to see opportunities coming your way. You'll start to see different synchronicities and then you'll be like, okay, there's a really beautiful exchange that's happening here. The more I breathe through the resistance and take the intuitive action, the more things are starting to go my way. And then you get a little bit of proof of concept, you start to build the muscle, it becomes a habit. And then all of a sudden your life has meaning and fulfillment and color and you have more joy, you have more peace, you have more mental resilience. So the breathwork allows you to breathe through the resistance. See the Outcome. See what's possible when you take the action and then just have the clarity to do it.
- [48:42]
John R. Miles
Yeah. It reminds me, I've got a good friend, Scott Simon, and he's got this wonderful book called Scare youe Soul. And he goes throughout the country getting people to do courage movements. And for him, it's using exercises encourage expanding to get your soul to move further and further out so that you go after the things you really want in life.
- [49:04]
Francesca Sitma
That sounds awesome. I love that.
- [49:07]
John R. Miles
So speaking of fear, I think one of the things people fear is going down the path of being an entrepreneur. Now, we've seen an uptick in it since COVID hit, but in your own journey, you've had to balance being a healer and a business leader. So my question to you is, what advice would you give to listeners and entrepreneurs on how do you navigate uncertainty like we've been talking about, while you stay true to your vision?
- [49:45]
Francesca Sitma
So let me plant a seed for everyone, because the relationship to uncertainty and what I found is that's actually the number one intention for most men is they feel this need to know, to control, to provide, and therefore they want all the steps lined out in front of them. But the beauty is really in the unknown. It's in the unpredictable, and it's in the limitless possibilities. If you're creating from certainty, that's a very limited pool. You're only pulling from past experiences and things that you've seen, and you're not allowing for any of the magic of the universe to skip steps or take you on a different growth journey. So I first want to just plant that seed that the unknown and being an uncertainty can actually be really exciting. It can be enthralling. It can be better than you ever imagined. So let that land first. And then I would just say that when you do this breathwork on a daily basis and you get one next intuitive action step, it gives you more courage to keep going because it doesn't have to be this huge, big leap. I don't even tell people that you need to quit your job right away and go into entrepreneurship. Sometimes it's intuitive for it to be a side hustle for you to start to build your audience first, for you to dabble in it before you go all in. And when you listen to your intuition and you have that guidance and you have the courage to do it every single day, it'll start to give you confidence. So it's small daily action steps versus this really big, scary leap that feels like you're going all in. Just make It a consistent practice and take those little action steps first.
- [51:18]
John R. Miles
I also want to go into this area you've mentioned one or two times today, this concept of autopilot. And I used to like to say that so many people are living on autopilot. And as I have been doing more and more research on this, I think it's the wrong word to describe people, because when you're on autopilot, you're typically going in a positive direction. I mean, if not, the plane would crash. And so I have come up with this metaphor that I think more people today are living their life like they're a pinball. They're living a pinball life, and they're the ball in the game instead of learning how to play the game. And to me, that's the difference between being intentional with the choices that you make and not. So using that metaphor, how does your book and hypno breath work? Encourage people to live more aligned to playing the game instead of allowing it to play them.
- [52:22]
Francesca Sitma
First of all, thank you for pointing that out. The difference between autopilot and pimble. I love when I have conversations that really expand my mind too, and I have little aha moments where I'm like, oh, okay, yes, I really like that. I think when I think of the term autopilot, it was less literal. So it wasn't actually thinking about the plane flying. It was just more of, like, the mechanical function of doing things without thought. And I think a lot of times when we make decisions, or even if it's something so simple as, oh, I don't like mushrooms, is that true? Or was that from when I was nine and I didn't like the texture then? Is that still true to this day, or am I just telling the same story of 30 years? And there's a lot of moments like that when you just react because it's a pattern versus something that you're actually present with, intentional about, and attuned to. And that's what the breath does. It disrupts the automatic reaction, and it allows you to actually pause and reflect and go deeper and say, is that true? Am I really afraid of this business failing? Or is it my ego? Or is it because my dad never said he was proud of me? What's the real reason? And how do I get out of that pattern and just functioning automatically or like a pinball, and start to make different changes and different choices and different decisions. Decisions. So the breath disrupts that again, that automatic reaction, and it allows you to choose differently and expand your options.
- [53:51]
John R. Miles
And, Francesca, it's been such a great opportunity to talk to you today. If you could leave our listeners with one key takeaway from your book or your journey, what would it be?
- [54:03]
Francesca Sitma
That your intuition is your superpower, especially in business. And we over index on logic and analysis and structure and strategy and discipline and consistency. But there's so much power and knowledge and possibility in intuition. So I would encourage everyone fill your mind with the information, listen to the podcast, listen to the books, know the strategy and the landscape. But then trust yourself, listen to your inner knowing and execute on it fiercely.
- [54:35]
John R. Miles
Okay? And then lastly, where can the audience go to learn more about Hypno breath work, your retreats, your app and your new book.
- [54:43]
Francesca Sitma
So you can find the book on Amazon called Unblock your Purpose. You can find Mastery app M A S T R Y on Apple or Google Play and you can find me on Instagram Francesca Sitma or my website.
- [54:53]
John R. Miles
Francesca sitma.com Wow, you got that nailed so well. Thank you so much for joining us today. It was such a pleasure to have you on the show.
- [55:01]
Francesca Sitma
Thanks for having me John. I loved it.
- [55:03]
John R. Miles
What an incredible conversation with Francesca Sitma. From unlocking the power of hypno breathwork to breaking free from subconscious limitations, today's episode has been a deep dive into how we can rewire our minds, access our intuition and live with more clarity, flow and purpose. Francesca's journey, leaving the high pressure corporate world to create a global movement for personal transformation shows us what's possible when we trust ourselves and embrace uncertainty and take intentional action as we close. I encourage you to reflect on your biggest takeaways from today's discussion. What limiting beliefs are holding you back? How can you tap into your intuition and take aligned action toward the life you truly want? The tools Francesca shared today aren't just theories. They are powerful practices that can help you unblock your purpose and step into your full potential. If our insights resonated with you, I'd love for you to take a moment to leave us a five star rating and review. Your feedback fuels the passion struck movement and helps us bring more impactful conversations to listeners worldwide. And if you know someone who could benefit from today's message, share this episode with them. Because sometimes one conversation is all it takes to ignite lasting change. You can find links to everything we discussed today, including Francesca's book Unblock your Purpose, her Hypno Breath work courses and her app in the shownotes@passionstruck.com you can also watch the full video version on YouTube and be sure to explore exclusive offers from our sponsors@passionstruck.com deals. Supporting our shows helps us keep the show thriving and allows us to continue delivering high impact content every single week. Speaking of impact, I am passionate about helping organizations, teams and communities bring these insights into actionable transformation. Today's episode sparked ideas for your workplace, team or leadership group. I'd love to collaborate. Visit johnrmiles.com speaking to learn how I can help ignite intentional change and purpose driven action through keynotes, workshops and executive coaching. The fee for the show is simple. If you have found value in today's episode, share it with someone who needs it. And remember, apply what you hear here so that you can live what you listen. Until next time, Live life. Passion Strike.
- [57:13]
Francesca Sitma
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