Episode #35: Emily Fletcher
Emily Fletcher is the founder of Ziva, the creator of The Ziva Technique, and regarded as the leading expert in meditation for high performance. The New York Times, The Today Show, Vogue and ABC News have all featured her work. She’s been named one of the top 100 women in wellness, has taught 15,000 students and has spoken on meditation for performance at Google, Harvard Business School, Summit Series, Viacom & Wanderlust. Ziva graduates include Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Tony award winners, as well as NBA players, CEOs, busy parents and entrepreneurs.
“You cannot pour from an empty cup. And when you are the mom, you are literally the cup.”
Emily Fletcher found out she was having a miscarriage on her way to teach a meditation retreat. Or so she thought. As it turned out, when she had an ultrasound, the baby had a heartbeat. But at the three-month mark, she was told — again — that she had miscarried. This time, it was true. It closed one chapter of Emily and her husband’s up-and-down journey with fertility, but it wasn’t the end by a long shot. On today’s episode, Emily and I share a lot of laughs as we talk about the non-negotiable role that meditation plays in her life, how she revealed the news of her second pregnancy to her husband with an inside joke, and why she’s open about her miscarriage story.
“If you’re in the middle of a trauma, be traumatized. Feel it. Be sad. Be angry. Cry. Nap. Do whatever you need to do to get it up and out.”
Here are some of the things Emily and I chatted about:
The thinking behind her #ZivaPDM campaign (PDM = public displays of meditation)
How she helps people become self-sufficient at meditation, no props or apps required
Her high-pressure career on Broadway, and why finding meditation made such a difference
The strange but beautiful experience of doing a fertility ceremony with a shaman over Skype
Learning she was not only pregnant, but likely having a miscarriage, in the same conversation
Finding out she hadn’t miscarried, only to reach the three-month mark and hear no heartbeat
How her meditation practice helped her move on to the “new now” after the miscarriage
Learning she was pregnant again via pregnancy test in the public bathroom of Central Park
Telling her husband about the pregnancy with a Schrödinger's cat joke (you have to hear it)
Her smooth pregnancy, up until the excruciating four days of back labor before giving birth
The challenges she encountered postpartum, which, as she says, knocked her to her knees
The role that meditation and exercise play in her daily life, and why they’re non-negotiable
The physical and spiritual reasons she recommends meditation to people trying to conceive
Her just-released book, Stress Less, Accomplish More, which she also turned into an audiobook
“My self-care is non-negotiable. I feel like this is when I need it the most. And if that means me doing squats when I’m holding my baby, then I do it.”
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