#25: Executive Burnout & Chronic Stress: The Hidden Cost of a Dysregulated Nervous System with Simon Luthi

Your calendar can be packed and your life can still feel strangely thin. We’re surrounded by speed, noise, and nonstop inputs, yet our bodies are wired with a Stone Age nervous system that reads a tense email like a life-or-death threat. When that stress becomes chronic, it doesn’t just steal peace; it steals clarity, health, and the ability to lead well.

We’re joined by Simone Luti, best-selling author and former corporate executive also known as the Rocket Shaman. Simone shares how burnout, a mystery illness, and later cancer forced an unwanted season of stillness and ultimately revealed a deeper issue: identity misalignment. We talk about why constant stimulation fragments the nervous system, how “tiger or Tuesday” shows up in real physiology, and why coherence can become a true edge in an AI-driven world.

From hummingbird moments that invite playfulness to the intensity of a 10-day Vipassana silent retreat, Simone explains how stillness brings insight when we stop drowning it out. We also get practical with nervous system regulation, including heart-centered breathing, gratitude-based emotional shifts, and how to move from reacting to responding at home, at work, and in leadership. If you’re navigating executive burnout, chronic stress, anxiety, or simply feeling disconnected from yourself, this conversation offers grounded tools and a hopeful path back to wholeness.

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New here? Start with episodes 1-3: “Take Back Your Life”, "From Hustle to Healing",  and “5 to Thrive.” 

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Transcript

Welcome And The Case For Stillness

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We are living um in a Stone Age or with a Stone Age nervous system in an AI world.

Simone’s Path From Corporate Success

Gillian 0:09

If your days feel full, but your heart longs for more meaning, you're not alone. Between the screens, the schedules, and the never-ending noise, it's easy to lose your sense of peace. But what if the way forward isn't found in doing more, but in learning to slow down, to simplify, to be still. Welcome to Be Still and Live, a podcast for individuals, couples, and families longing for calm, connection, and a more meaningful way to live. I'm Jillian, speaker, coach, and founder of Sileo Health and Wellness. And I'm here to help you create space for stillness and step into a life that feels whole and good again. It goes without saying that we live in a world that celebrates speed, faster growth, faster decisions, faster responses, more output, more stimulation, more noise. And for high performers especially, slowing down can feel like falling behind. But what if stillness isn't a weakness? What if it's the very thing that stabilizes us, strengthens us, and actually sharpens our leadership and decision making? Today I'm joined by Simone Luti, also known as the Rocket Shaman, best-selling author, former corporate executive, and creator of transmutation design. Simone built his life after chronic illness, burnout, and cancer that forced him into a season of stillness he never would have chosen, but ultimately needed. In this conversation, we explore what happens when ambition outpaces coherence, how burnout can signal an identity misalignment, why constant stimulation fragments our nervous systems, and how stillness, when practiced intentionally, becomes a superpower. We talk about healing, presence, technology, leadership, and what it really means to come home to yourself in a chaotic world. If you're someone who's caring a lot, leads others, moves quickly, or quietly feels exhausted by the pace of your own life, this conversation is for you. Hello, Simone. It's so nice to have you on the show today. I'm so looking forward to this conversation.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Oh, thanks, Gillian. I'm thrilled to be a part of it and excited to where this leads, right? It's interesting to have a show about stillness, but we're actually going to talk a lot. Uh and uh just excited to unpack that a little bit for your audience.

Gillian 2:42

Yes, and it sounds like we're completely aligned. So I'm very much looking forward to seeing where this conversation goes. I want to jump right into your story. You were a corporate executive, successful, driven, high performing. First of all, what did it take to get to that level?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Well, you know, that story really began, I think, with my parents. Um, and I'm sharing this intentionally because we all, I think, have some expectations uh and information that we're getting early on as a child. So in my case, um, it was more important for my parents uh to see their children succeed and have uh an executive title. Um my mom proudly put all of our, I'm a in a in a family of six or four kids, uh, would proudly scotch tape all of our business cards on the refrigerator so that she could look at, you know. And so I think early on it was instilled in me that, you know, my title should at least uh you know have a CEO or president title on there. So I think um that's really kind of the drive. Uh so early on, got into management and I worked my way up from a call center agent um in the late 90s uh all the way up to a chief strategy officer at a at a big bank. So, in all sense and purposes, I lived the American dream um until it didn't work anymore and I got sick. And that's really where I um found myself again and had to really look again into the silence as to like what's working, what's not working. And my body literally started to rebel because I feel like I've been living a life that was not in congruence with my purpose. And my purpose, my soul's purpose, was vastly different than what my parents' idea of a perfect career, perfect life uh looks like. And I think I perhaps speak for many of you that are listening, right? We never really question the information that we're getting through our parents, and then you overlay that with maybe even, you know, negative experiences or positive experiences in your life and through adolescence and school and all that. And it forms an identity of you, and we never really question that identity um until something happens. And so my purpose really now is to um make people aware that we have way more power and connecting again with our source, with our soul, with uh our purpose, and doing this before a crisis like this hits.

Gillian 5:18

Absolutely, Simone. I I hear what you're saying and I know it's gonna resonate with so many people. Um, I know so many people in my personal life, in my circle, who have a very similar story. And I want to make a note that we can't really blame our parents for raising us this way. I think that they had our best interest in mind, but maybe they were leading with a bit of fear over faith. They feared that we wouldn't be able to achieve the things that were necessary to create a good life for ourselves. So they kind of pushed us in the specific direction that they trusted or that they were told to trust and pushed us along instead of trusting the true evolution of who we were and helping us to really trust the guidance within ourselves.

Illness As A Signal Of Misalignment

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, it's a generational thing too. I mean, my chat my um parents were World War II generations, and so they uh grew up in the 30s and 40s, and and so then coming out of this is like, oh my gosh, like, you know, we have this amazing economy that's uh that's starting to unfold, uh, and you know, you can make money and a good life and vacations and all that. Uh so they definitely um you know instilled a little bit of this that hard work was what is gonna pay off the dividend at the end of the day, right? You have to work hard. So it's it's more of a uh you know an interesting take on generations and what's being passed passed on. But the point that I'm that I'm really drive trying to drive home is have you ever questioned whether your beliefs are your beliefs or the beliefs that were given to you? And it's an interesting question, isn't it? Because um some of them are is really good advice, but you brought up the word fear, right? And uh in my book I talk a little bit about thriving in a fear-based world. Fear controls, and fear is something that holds you small. And when you strip that away, where you no longer have to feel fearful, um I I personally believe magic happens. And in my case, you know, the real interesting thing is so you know, picture I'm an executive at a at a big financial institution, and then I get sick, and then um, you know, I start to look into all the logical and illogical ways to heal. And one of the areas that I was really interested in is energy and how do we heal, how do we survive for thousands of years? And I became a Reiki master, uh, amongst other certifications. And I thought when I put Reiki Master on my LinkedIn profile, the world would come to an end, right? Fear-based of like, oh shoot, if people only knew me, deep down knew me, they're gonna um, you know, basically laugh at me and will disconnect what have you. But these are my perception, it's not the reality of everybody else. And then the fun thing was when I put it on, nothing happened. In the contrary, it started to open up really authentic dialogues with people that I would have never thought um I would have a dialogue with. So it's an interesting um, I think, observation, at least for me, um, of breaking free kind of from this generational expectation and really coming into my true authenticity.

Gillian 8:28

Right. And by doing that, I'm just picturing the people seeing that, you know, Reiki title after your name. You're giving people permission to do the same thing. And and I'm picturing people taking the sigh of relief. Oh my gosh, if Simone can do it, so can I. And I think that's what it looks like when we have the brave, the bravery and the courage to step out like that and step into who we're created to be. We really do pave the way for others to do the same.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Gillian 8:57

So I'm curious to know what your life looked like from the outside looking in, because it's really um, I'd say a slippery slope for us to look at people who appear to have it all. We often look at celebrities, sports celebrities, and uh, you know, the rich and famous in the world, and we just assume that life is perfect for them. So I'm curious to know from the outside looking in, would people have guessed that you were struggling on the inside, that you had some friction?

Stone Age Nervous System In AI Age

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Probably not. No, I think, you know, aren't we, even in social media, always very proud of displaying and posting perfect content, right? Perfect family, perfect, perfect life, perfect vacation, perfect meal. Everything has to be perfect or filtered. Um so no, I don't I don't think so. I mean, even as I uh as my body started to scream, I mean, I couldn't physically get out of bed. Um my my hands were swollen shot, I had muscle pain, and even the best doctors couldn't really uh diagnose me. So, in all tense and purposes, I had a mystery illness or an autoimmune this is the you know the term now that everybody's using. And um, you know, I just well, maybe quick story on that. Um, I went to a doctor and he was gonna describe or prescribe um malaria medication because um based on what he thought the issue was, that seems to have proven helpful. And I don't know, something inside of me at the time just screamed, don't do it, don't do it, don't fill this prescription. And that's really when I started to look into um other ways of of finding healing. I don't know, it was just this intuitive intelligence that I had inside. I I call them this existential guideposts that we have in life. And I found help in Europe. Um and what it ended up being is that I had uh heavy metal toxicity, had uh full of environmental toxins, and I had food allergies. So from the time that I cleared all that out, um I was healthy. So I've not taken any medication or any supplements at all. It was just a matter of getting to the root cause of what made me sick. But the bigger part of all of this, and that's really where my my life purpose now leans in as the rocket shaman and the book I write a little bit about, you know, becoming the rocket shaman, how I ended up here. But the short of it is um that I believe we are living um in a stone age or with a stone age nervous system in a in a in an AI world, right? So information overload, uh fast paced, but we've never really upgraded our our way of being. So if you think about this for a second, if you don't know whether it's a tiger or a Tuesday, so this fight or flight system.

Gillian 11:44

Yeah, we talked about that a lot.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Right? I mean, we are we're constantly bombarded. Um and when your nervous system is not regulated, um, there's a lot of things that can that can happen. And it was really interesting to me. Um, I was because I always do this, I get kind of to the okay, what can I do about it? And I was um studying a bit of my glucose. So I had a glucose monitor on my arm. This is just recently, and I see glucose spikes, and I didn't eat anything. And I whilst obviously some fluctuation is normal because it's the body, you know, kind of regulating this. But as I started to really observe what was going on, is I had these glucose spikes after a very difficult phone conversation.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

And then it happened again.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

I got a uh kind of a painful email. And so then as I started to research this, it was really interesting. So the body, you know, in this fight or flight, basically it's okay, now there's a tiger around that's gonna eat you. What happens? Adrenaline, right? You wake up, you're gonna do something, then the cortisol, the stress hormone comes in, and then of course the body has to feed it with glucose energy because you want to survive. And that was really the big aha for me that I go, shoot, if we are basically in constant hormonal stress and overload just from conversations andor our environments, you know, over time it starts taking a toll. And so, in my case, right, super stressful job. Um, and uh at the time I was married, and so this isn't uh criticism on my uh on my now ex-wife. It's really a realization that I don't think we were able to regulate our nervous system, and we were not able to really communicate in a way that that was uh conducive. So if you think about this, I had a home environment that was stressful, and I had a work environment that was stressful, so my body could never actually relax.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

So, what happens over time? I think in my case, this autoimmune and then cancer was a sign of the body saying, I'm exhausted, dude. I need I need rest, I need sleep, I need uh to do something. And from the moment that I realized I needed to make some changes, and really, again, be in congruence and having learning how to regulate my nervous system and being in interactions with people that uplift me versus that are you know stressful was a way of of getting healthy. And this is now you know almost 10 years in the rearview mirror. It's uh it's amazing. So, anyway, hopefully this is helpful in a way of just how I uh came about it because you asked me how you got there, right? So you have expectations of parents that that that want the best life for you, but maybe inadvertently I put so much pressure on myself to reach that that uh the top that I didn't think about what the negative uh side effects could be in in health, right?

Gillian 14:41

You kind of put your blinders up, right? And you just you say to yourself, if I just keep pushing, if I just get to this, you know, point here, or if I keep um getting to this job title, then everything's gonna feel better. Everything's going to look better in my life. But it really doesn't feel that way once you get there. This is the common story that I'm hearing from so many of the guests. You arrive and you're still feeling this void. And like you said, you often have all these health issues that start to surface midlife when your body just can't handle the chronic stress anymore.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Yeah, absolutely. And um, you know, specifically in in leadership, because I've lifted for so long, I feel like in this post-AI world, coherence becomes a competitive advantage. And by coherence, I mean you have a regulated nervous system. And the rat and the regulated nervous system uh helps you to make good decisions. And so I think that's the that's the takeaway here as well, that you know, we just need to be more aware of what we're doing to our bodies and our minds and our souls. And there are uh tips and and practices that we can do to counter that.

Gillian 15:49

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, at what point in time did you realize that stillness wasn't a punishment, which we often see it as when we're on the pursuits of the big shiny thing, the big shiny object that we're pursuing? At what point did you see it more as an invitation to return to yourself?

Stillness Lessons From Hummingbird And Silence

SPEAKER_00 16:06

You know, I recall uh a time um I live in Arizona, we have a lot of hummingbirds. And this was post-breakup, post-divorce, being completely alone in this condo, um, having one of the toughest um times of my life. Uh, but I was sitting there and all of a sudden this hummingbird uh is coming to my window. You know, if you know how hummingbirds they can kind of hover. And, you know, so zzz, there was it was gone, and then zzzom, it's back in my front of my window. And it almost was like an invitation for playfulness because it was persistent to look through the window. I sit on the couch and this thing looked through my you know living room window. Finally got up, and then it it zoomed around the building and brought me to uh a flowering bush. It was spring at the time. I don't recall what the plant was, but it was it was an invitation for more playfulness. Um, and I think if I had just kept busy during that time, I would have never really actually gotten to the place where I feel like it was almost a sign from spirit to say, hey, you know, there's more out there, and you're gonna get through all of this. Um and I think this was the first maybe experience where I felt like, oh wow, like actually sitting here in stillness and taking time, shut off my phones. Uh shortly thereafter, I got out of social media for about a year or two because I felt like I was endlessly scrolling in my loneliness, right? Sitting at home watching TV or scrolling social media. Um and there is this saying, I think, if you want answer, I'm not sure whether it's Bernie Brown or not, but I heard this at some point, like you know the stillness, you will you will find answers. Now, I'll I'll I'll share this with you. Probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life uh has been a vipassana meditation, a 10-day silent retreat. Oh yes, I've heard of these.

Gillian 18:06

I my sister and her husband did one back in the day, so but I have never, I've I would love to try it. I think it would be quite challenging.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Oh man, has it has it ever, right? Because I don't want to say silence is all is all uh rainbows and roses, right? That was probably the hardest thing because I was left with my own mind. Um and uh one of my favorite authors is Michael Singer. Um, and he in the Untouched Soul talks about uh if our mind was a roommate, we would have kicked him or her out of our apartment a long time ago because it never shuts up.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

And when he then in silence, right? A lot of that stuff and processing uh comes up, and I think about day four or five men, I thought I was not gonna make it. Um, but as you come out of it, um I had so many insights into my career, my path, where would I go from here? Uh, you know, if you had told me five years ago I would be a best-selling and award-winning author, I would have said, no way. Me writing a book, no way, you know, and here we are. Um, you know, if you had told that I would I would reach back into the uh into the corporate world in my capacity as an executive coach and transmuter, I would have said, no way, I want out. They got me sick in the first place, I don't want to have anything to do with it. But in that uh 10 days of silence, after I kind of got through a lot of the noise in my head, um, there's so much clarity that came out. Okay, so you've been sick twice, you had three near-death experiences, here you are, um in the complete silence, and we need you. Like it was it was a sign of like, okay, life is not over yet. Like we need you.

Gillian 19:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Um, and um, yeah, I highly recommend, but it's not for the faint of heart. It's definitely, you know, heart hardcore, and you would think it's the easiest thing. You just sit, you know, meditate for whatever 10, 12 hours a day. Man, it's uh it's not because we are coming, you know, from this very, very noisy world.

Gillian 20:13

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I can only imagine, but I mean, the the wisdom that you walked away with, it's been a gift to you and a gift to the rest of the world because you fully stepped into your purpose afterwards. That's the power of stillness.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Exactly, right? And and if we all are uh stepping into our superpowers, right? You think about the world, what the world could be, versus you know, again, going back to this fear-based world of suppression and not feeling good enough and not feeling you know empowered. Um if we can step out of that and say, I no longer have to live in fear. I actually want to live in authenticity and I want to really lean in with my gifts. Boy, um, you know, I think this world could really look quite different.

Gillian 20:58

Right. Absolutely. I mean, I have four children, and I always think about how differently our culture would look if we raised our kids this way. If this is the way the education system was structured, where we looked at each individual child for their uniqueness, and we really gave them the faith to truly understand who they are and how they can best serve the world around them. But instead, we have all these standards, right? And we're looking for a specific type of student and we reward certain grades and you know characteristics and personalities. I think this is a shift that we're gonna see in the future. I'm not sure when is going to happen, but I feel like it's becoming more and more necessary to step into the space of the unknown or faith, if you will, as to, you know, who you can be, what the potential you have is, rather than, you know what, I'm gonna fear the future. And and in fearing the future, I'm going to do what's very predictable, what um, you know, everybody is telling me is going to work. And as long as I stay in that lane, I'm gonna be okay.

unknown 21:59

Yeah.

Gillian 22:00

But really the opposite kind of happens.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think uh this next generation will will demand it. Um, you know, and and uh I think you you touched on that. We do the best we can. I think all parents do the best they can with the tools that they've been given. Um but now that you know we have a lot uh a completely different environment, I think we will see some shifts in in both the way we parent and and the way we live.

Gillian 22:28

Yes, definitely. I think if we all understand the power of stillness and then in the power of stillness, understand how to regulate our nervous systems. I mean, if we're gonna talk about parenting in the household, my husband and I are learning how to calm our own nervous systems and regulate our nervous systems while we're raising four kids. And every day that passes, we realize that they are mirroring our behavior. They're mirroring our energy. So the more we can do to heal ourselves, the more we're going to do to allow our kids to be launched into the world as whole healed beings. They don't have to heal from as much because they come from a household where the parents were regulated.

Responding Instead Of Reacting

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, and you know, we don't wake up with uh with a manual on how to regulate. And I would argue most people don't even know that they have a dysregulated nervous system. But because uh, you know, we talk about be still and live, um, one of my favorite um tools that I teach these days is the difference between uh responding and reacting. So, you know, so you have an argument with uh, you know, your boss or your spouse, in a dysregulated, unaware, you usually react, right? You blow up pressure cooker style, you know, cut somebody off on the on the highway. We've all been there, right? You've all been there. But when you actually start to tune in and even in the morning, start to go, all right, I want to be more aware, that's where uh the response comes in, right? So you go, all right, there's a difficult situation. Again, it's a tiger on a Tuesday, threat detected, whether it's it's uh you know something that's happening where you go, but you start to feel, you feel it, you feel the pressure building up, you feel the uneasiness, you feel the maybe even cold sweat of something that reminds you of a of a past traumatic event, and you just stop and you take note, you don't judge, you know, but it's a little bit of like, okay, here it comes, breathe. And then from that sense of okay, something is happening with me, it's probably not the other person, then you can respond in a more civilized manner versus blown up, because blown up is just you know, it doesn't really go anywhere. Right? We've all been there. You always do this, you always do that. So and I have gone to extremes probably that uh I now check in with me or with my nervous system after every interaction. It can be uh a five-minute trip to the to the supermarket, it can be an hour podcast, it can be a 90-minute coaching session, it can be a dinner conversation. After I say my goodbyes or I I walk away from that situation, I go, How are you feeling, Simone? Did that exchange um um you know bring you down, or did that elite you? Like, how are you feeling? Are you feeling positive? Are you feeling feelings of gratitude, or are you actually angry? And I started to do more and more and more uh activities and interactions with people in situations that lift me up versus having the need to like you know continue. And that was really hard. I mean, there was even, you know, I would say relationships that that are uh that are different now as a result of like, okay, I'm actually feeling super stressed in the presence of said person. And there's nothing against them, it's just I have chosen that input my story, I need uh the space to actually regulate so that I can live a long and healthy life. And if we all just were to stop before reacting, right, to just see where am I? Is this my I my favorite phrase is this my shit or your shit?

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

That's that's now come and bubble up. And then if we have uh circles where people can make space for for you to work through whatever it is that you're that you're working through, man, like healing can can really take place. But it's a it's an art form that you have to practice. And again, love your title. Uh, you know, be still and live is is like, okay, so go in stillness. And this doesn't mean you have to go for two hours, but just okay, stressful situation, stop and pause for a moment. It can be five seconds, ten seconds, thirty seconds and center, and then go on with your day.

Gillian 27:09

Before we continue, I want to offer you a quiet pause. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, mentally cluttered, or like your mind never truly rests, I'd like to invite you into a quiet reset. Fog to Freedom is a simple grounding exercise designed to help you slow down, release the mental load, and reset. There's no fixing and no pressure, just a quiet pause. So clarity can return and your nervous system can settle. Many people describe feeling lighter, calmer, and more clear after just a few minutes. And it's something you can return to anytime the noise starts to build. If your soul is asking for space, you're warmly invited to begin with talk to freedom. You'll find a link in the show notes or at salecoaching.com. Become exactly as you are and offer yourself the gift of space and clarity. Thank you for taking that pause. Now let's return to the conversation. I call it the power of the pause, and I'm sure that's been used elsewhere, but that's what I call it. It's so powerful. Even just to when you recognize that you're feeling dysregulated, and dysregulation could just be that stress in your body. It can surface in so many ways, right? Sometimes people hold it in, sometimes people take it out, and others. But you, when you get to know yourself through that stillness, you recognize when things are starting to bubble up. And when you take back your power and you pause and you recognize what's going on within yourself. And like you said, you separate yourself from the other person because you're not responsible for the other person or for the other people. You're responsible for yourself and the way you respond. Then you take back your power. And that really feels so amazing. And that's what allows you to heal because you recognize that you're not a victim, that you actually can intentionally step into your power to regulate yourself and to decide how you're going to respond to whatever you're dealing with.

Coherence Tools That Measurably Work

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Yeah, for sure, for sure. And you know what's interesting? I talk about these existential guideposts. I've just thought about that. My mom had a lot of uh stress in her mid-50s, I think this was, where I think the kids were starting to get grown. And so she, you know, she called it kind of this autonomous training that she was doing to kind of, you know, deal with panic attacks and deal with what she she's never really openly talked about what was happening. But I remember that she would, you know, take classes and courses. And it's it's in essence uh a way of slowing, slowing down and and you know, breath, like early ways of breath work and and mindfulness meditation. And um I'm now um a heart math institute certified um resilience coach. And they have had some amazing, yet probably the simplest techniques. I'm not sure whether you're familiar with them, but um on just heart-centered breathing and re and and and replacing whatever you're feeling right now with uh with uh a feeling of gratitude, care, and appreciation. And it's amazing. That's it's now measurable, right? So we can look at um at HRV, so your heart rate variability. You can literally, like an EKG, see when you are in coherence and regulated versus when you're not. Um and I found that to be super, super interesting that there are actually tools, again, that are not just woo-woo, but they work. And because we're in a fast-paced world, we can't always sit and hold hands and sing kumbaya for half an hour before, right? It needs to go like this. Four kids are on the dinner table, and probably you have sports practice and homework and all this. Lots of deep breathing. Come on, you know, you sometimes need in the kitchen a quick 30-second reset. Yeah.

Playfulness And End Of Life Clarity

Gillian 31:03

Yeah, absolutely. And going back to what you said about the saber-tooth tiger, is really telling your brain, or telling your brain is telling your body that you're okay. And when you're able to slowly breathe, you're able to calm your body down. And that's communicating with your body that you're safe. And once your body knows it's safe, it's going to release that stress, it's going to release the tension. So when we educate ourselves about what is possible, and it really is the simplest things like breathing that can allow you to calm yourself down in any situation because you have access to your breath wherever you are, as long as you're alive. It really does, again, it really does empower you to take back control and to take responsibility for your own response to the environment that you're in. I'd love to touch a little bit on your hummingbird story because I feel like that's so important. We've become so serious, right? When you look around, somebody made this comment the other day. They go to restaurants now and it's like they don't see people laughing anymore. They're not really witnessing people being light and having fun. Life has become a bit heavy over the last couple of years. But when you talked about the hummingbird, I feel like it's so important to hone in on that because there's something about this perspective of play and just enjoying life and going, I call it flow. When you step into the flow, life is just so much more enjoyable. Do you find that you're experiencing that more now that you've stepped into this space of stillness and, you know, executive, stressed out recovery?

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's there's so many examples of that where I think, and we kind of talked in a green room a little about about spirituality, um, you know, where even church felt serious to some degree. And the sermon felt serious. Or, you know, when's the last time you've been at church and you just laughed uncontrollably for half an hour, right? Probably never. Or maybe, you know, you have a pastor that is really good at this stuff. And um, you know, so I've I've really started to and probably in my uh in my uh end-of-life work and hospice work that I do, I support people in their last journey home. That's sort of where you get, wow, like life is short, and the stuff people worry about at the end of the uh at the end of the day, right, is crazy. Um and everybody we usually says, I wish I had more time, I wish I had, you know, traveled more, I wish I had, you know. And so to to the point of being, I don't want to call it funny, but like let's just say life, you know, we take life so serious sometimes. Um, I think it's an it's an it's an attitude of, you know, and I go back to what I mentioned uh earlier on. I have this expectation of my parents, you gotta be be somebody to be somebody so that you know you make money. I never thought about it. Yeah, right. And yeah, and I'm like, I never thought about, okay, so I'm gonna be spending eight, ten, twelve hours of my day in a job, which is the majority of my days not intentionally go like so, but how do I actually pick something that um lifts me up and and creates an environment where I actually want to go to?

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

And all of us have these Monday morning feels like, or Sunday nights. Oh man, gotta go back to work tomorrow, don't want to go, right? I think a lot of us are in that boat. And I think what the hummingbird has has shown me at the time is that I ask myself often, so what new adventures will I have today? And open up um the universe for you know the wonders that can be. And you just have to be open to things that might happen, uh, right, and and pay attention, even as you go to the grocery store, it could be a funny exchange with a cashier or something, you know. And animals specifically are are just the funniest creatures. I think we can learn so much more from you know, from the birds and and dogs and cats and you know, they all have personality. So it's um I think what I'm saying is ultimately don't take yourself too seriously. Because again, at the end of at the end of your life, when you look back and you go, okay, did I really live a purposeful, authentic life? Uh, you want to answer that with yes. You want to say, you know, hey, I've I've uh I've done the best I can and I don't have regrets. And that starts now, right? It's never too late. It starts now to live a life of purpose, of authenticity, and that sometimes requires to make some heart changes. But when I I don't I can't really tell you why I felt this way, but when I was diagnosed with this mystery illness and I knew that these pills weren't my way, I don't know why. I I could almost say to my kids, and I I I I tell that story a few times, it's like, hey, if I didn't get divorced, I would be dead in five years. And then sure enough, I had cancer in 2020 because I was still not regulated, even after going through divorce and all that, because I was still holding on to a job that was making me sick. But I I didn't want to go yet. It was for me, it was like, hey, it's not my time. I want to I want to be around. I want to be around for, you know, my grandkids, I want to be around for what my next life has to show. Um, but I followed that little whisper, you know, that that intuitive intelligence, this again, existential guide quotes I call them. And they happen when we pay attention. They happen in the stillness, this innate knowing, this is not my path. And if it's not my path, what is my path? Um and I am very, very proud of where I'm at now. Uh it it wasn't always easy, you know. There's definitely things that could I do things better, different, yeah, for sure. But because I was authentic in my being, and having had a lot of compassion for my own upbringing, for my own experience, I could look at this with a lot more um, I guess, care for myself uh and acceptance. Um, and so that's now really kind of in this uh, you know, again, what adventures will I have today? Because I I know I'm gonna live a long and healthy life.

Gillian 37:38

Oh, beautiful. A mindset of abundance. It really is healing. Yes. That that reminds me of a story. I I came across this story recently, and I feel like it's worth sharing because it was an end-of-life coach who basically took people who had stage five cancer and they didn't have long to live. And they took them under their wing and basically helped them through the process and encouraged them to do something that they always wanted to do, something they always dreamed of doing, but just never made the time for. So executives would start playing the violin or, you know, a stay-at-home mom would start working with preschool kids and just enjoying the innocence in that environment. And this coach said it was surprising how many of these people were able to overcome their cancer after releasing themselves from what they entrapped themselves in for a lifetime. And when they released themselves of whatever it was that was holding them back, their body was able to heal. Like this is real.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's it's totally real. I write in my book about, you know, the cancer and then uh throwing the kitchen sink at it, and then it haven't come back in early 2021. And I realized it was the power of the mind. My my mom would always say, uh, and I touch again a bit on why dysphere is so uh detrimental to some degree. She would always say, Hey, uh, you need to go get colonoscopies, colon cancer ones in the family. And although that's a sensible thing to do, and I'm not saying don't do it. My point here is I thought in my my in my brain, cancer is not my future. So almost the manifestation of like cancer is not my future. Some sources would say, well, the universe doesn't understand the word no or not.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

And from the moment that I realized that and switched it around into I live a long and healthy life and repeated that 20, 30, 40, 50 times a day, same desired outcome. Cancer is not my future, but I live a long and healthy life. All of that went away. Wow. And I think we have way more power um in our in our way of thinking, in positive affirmations. Uh, there is a uh, or it was a lady, her name was Louise Hay. She passed away, maybe many of you know it. Uh, and she was uh instrumental and one of the first ones that talked about uh the signs of illnesses and then having a reason why it's there and then a positive affirmation. And I'm a firm believer that we can do way more uh with our minds than than what maybe even science is is making us believe.

Gillian 40:16

Absolutely. I think we understand the tip of the iceberg. This is this is where technology becomes more interesting. As time goes on, I mean, we're gonna learn how powerful we are to be able to heal ourselves, be able to heal our families, our communities, and the world.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

So it's uh Yeah, I often say I could heal myself, and so can you. I've I 100% believe that with the right tools and the right mindset, that that healing can take place in a miraculous way.

Gillian 40:44

Absolutely. And creating these environments where we can have a little more fun and experience that flow and be encouraged to live that way. Another thing that I read recently, because we're in the thick of the Olympics right now, um, they were talking about how Norway has a population of 5.6 million people. So a fraction of some of these other countries they're competing against. But they always walk away with the the highest number of medals. And they were talking about how that happens. And they were saying with youth sports, they don't track any scores. They have no scoreboards, they're not, you know, they're they're mixing up the teams all the time. They they literally just have this experience of play and fun until the age of 13. And they compared it to countries like the United States, where at the age of 13, 70% of youth are dropping out of these activities at the age of 13. But in a country like Norway, 95% of youth are continuing to be active and participating in these sports because they enjoy it. So it's really that mindset shift of creating this environment where we could just play and have fun and explore what we're capable of instead of having to be so rigid.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that, right? And so then in that, let's just say you're being judged or you're being you get a score or you get a grade, the early mind starts to then believe I'm not good at this.

Gillian 42:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

And that gets engaged. Well, you know, I stink at math, or you know, oh well, is it really? Or has the brain maybe not developed yet to a point where you can actually grasp the complexity uh of all of that? So I'm I'm a firm believer that uh, you know, more positivity uh can only lead to healthier lives. And I love that that story about the Olympics. That's great.

Leadership After AI Needs Coherence

Gillian 42:28

And on that note, Simone, I I'd love to chat about your experience with executives and leaders. You said that when people are able to regulate their nervous systems, that they're able to lead well, they're able to make better decisions and be more confident. Can you explain a little bit more about that? I feel like that's an important point.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

Yeah, thanks for asking. Uh, you know, I have a lot of it is my own story of like, you know, realizing that I was not in coherence and trying to lead large-scale projects. Uh, and in my case, I mean, I've had a very um succinct career, and and the last job that I held was as a chief strategy officer, taking uh Chase travel from uh from 2 billion in sales to 10 billion. So it's a massive machine, right? Lots of people uh underneath, a lot of people uh looking up to you, and you have to be on. So it's you know, meetings every half hour, um, no real time in between uh 10-hour days, 12-hour days, and then sometimes even work Saturdays because you didn't get everything done. And the interesting thing to me now is that may have worked. And I advocated this early on, this is 10 years ago, when I had a uh uh a point I wanted to make with a boss of mine that look, under the disguise of lifelong learning, if you give someone a project that they're actually not skilled at, um you make them actually feel like they're not good enough. You you in you know, this whole what is this saying? Like if you If you if you try to teach a fish to climb a tree, it will feel stupid its entire life, right? Because it can't be done. So how would the world look like if uh if we actually did more strength-based leadership was laughed out of the room and whatever, you know. But it's interesting because if you then give people these assignments, uh, you know, you can very well say, okay, it's growth and you get better at it. But again, it's survival mode, right? So you then constantly are in this dysregulated um nervous system. And now, as AI comes in, the CEO that was the smartest guy before is no longer the smartest guy because you know the the entry level entry-level mechanic has access to information that he or she didn't have before.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

And that starts to change kind of the dynamic of what an organization looks like. And so in plain language, um, you know, there is an opportunity now to upgrade our human operating system. Right. Again, I I think I said it in the in the early days of our talk. We are trying to survive in a in a post-AI epoch with a stone age uh nervous system. And so what the work I do now is really I help leaders stabilize the nervous system. So we get into safety, regulation, coherence, and the ability to actually notice that something you know is not regulated. Then I go in and we help um them to rewrite what I would call the inner code, so the beliefs, identity, survival patterns that come in, and then embody the future self. So it's really around daily integration, aligned action, and consistency. And um what I found in this human OS upgrade. So when you get into nervous system regulation, emotional coherence, identity rewiring, embodied performance, and more soberity over pressure, we get into more stable, clear, and self-led in a world that is accelerated. Um and this isn't for everyone. You know, there's there's a a lot of leaders that are still stuck, what I would call in the old ways of doing business. I have a feeling and a prediction that's coming to an end. That again, the next generation demands a different kind of leadership.

Gillian 46:25

Yeah, the employees aren't going to tolerate it much longer.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

Right. Yeah. Um, but then again, when you come in and you actually look at um, wow, how would my day look like if I'm uh if I'm showing up authentically with a stabilized nervous system when I know what's what my beliefs are and not, and then how do I show up for for my team? Um that's really the work that I that I'm calling transmutation design because it does need um a new leadership model. Um the old ways are dying, and um there is a new new way of showing up. And I think that that to me is is um an absolute, it's almost like a non-negotiable, if you will.

Gillian 47:14

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Um and uh so I'm excited to uh to you know get this work into the world and uh and to kind of see what's what's happening.

Gillian 47:23

Wonderful. So transmutation design is what it's called, and that is the work you do specifically with leaders and executives to help them to change the way that they're leading, the way that they're living their life so that they're feeling confident, living in coherence. And and you're saying that the employees feel that it's an energy that they're bringing into the workspace that their employees are now going to be drawn to and want to be on board with.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

Totally, totally. And yeah, you actually took words out of my mouth, and it's perfect the way you said it. It's uh employees will feel the energy of a room, right? You can go in a Congress room and you know, sometimes you go, oh my god, like the energy is sort of you can you can cut through it, right? We are all not biological beings, we're electrical beings, and we all can feel this, right? Why do you have people that you're like, oh, don't come too close?

SPEAKER_01 48:13

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:14

It's an it's a it's a it's a mismatch in energy.

SPEAKER_01 48:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

And absolutely leaders that show up in this new way, um, they have a different energy about them. And and it will start to drive uh not only health and longevity for themselves, but it will start to drive healthier companies and it's gonna reduce the amount of turnover that you have because people want to work for a company that has an energy that's regulated, right? It's not just the leader, but the company.

Gillian 48:41

Yes. Well, if you understand that most people have a dysregulated nervous system right now, and it could be a combination of their upbringing, the environment they live in, but it's also the constant noise that is being imposed on them through social media, through the media, all of the things that are servicing right now, people are charged and everyone is seeking out this space where they can feel safe again. Imagine that space is your place of employment. Imagine you walk into your workspace and you take, you know, that breath of relief because you know what to expect. You know that it's a safe space. And if anything comes up, that you'll be able to go to your boss about it. And if your boss makes a mistake, your boss is going to own it, take responsibility, and deal with it in a calm and collected way. Like that just sounds it sounds to me like it's very achievable, but we have to have a certain amount of buy-in and you know, a certain amount of releasing of an ego, if you will, to allow that to be possible.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

Yeah, totally. And you know, if you think about your work environments, uh, I would argue most people are high functioning, but nobody actually, you know, when you kind of take back the curtain, would admit that they're chronically dysregulated. So the goal really in this human OS upgrade uh is to stay stable, clear, and self-led in a world that is accelerating. And um that I think is is going to be um it we can only all win, right, if we have more environments like this.

Heart Centered Breathing You Can Use

Gillian 50:17

Right. Absolutely. So let's talk about some integration here so we're not leaving people hanging. And and I always ask the guests to give some practical tips for the listener who has tuned in and they hear what we're saying, they understand it, but they're having a hard time understanding how to practically integrate it into their life. If someone's just feeling completely stressed and anxious, they know they're dysregulated, but they're not sure what to do about it. What are some tips you would give them?

SPEAKER_00 50:45

Yeah, I one of the probably the easiest yet most profound and impactful techniques um is really from the Heart Math Institute, and it's called Heart Center Breathing or Coherence Breathing. And it's really um quite simple. You sit comfortably somewhere, you don't have to close your eyes. Uh you do this with with eyes open, it's actually more powerful this way. And you just focus the attention on the area of of the heart, and you start breathing into the area of the heart a little slower than normal, a little deeper than normal. And you imagine this breath flowing in and out of your heart area. And as you're doing this, after you know, you can do this after 30 seconds or a minute or so. I think a minute is usually a good way of just kind of slowing things down, getting into coherence. You want to kind of focus on a feeling of of gratitude or appreciation. And appreciation, for instance, could be for yourself or your spouse or you know, just something. You don't need to um necessarily ignore that you have been stressed, right? But the idea here is that you actually slow down your breath, you breathe a little deeper, and you're replacing that depleting feeling that you're in with a feeling that is positive again, and and you know, they recommend it's really gratitude and appreciation care for somebody else, and just do that for two, three minutes. And why it matters, there's really a shift of the nervous system into coherence, which restores clarity, resilience, and self-control. And witness uh science has now proven there's lots of papers, so don't just take my word for it, you can Google this. Lots and lots and lots of um scientific papers are now recognizing the heart intelligence, and that the heart itself as an organ isn't just an organ and a muscle that pumps blood through our systems, but actually an intelligent being, uh, even some margue before the brain or or even more intelligent than the brain. And when we come, you know, out of this heart-centered um living, a lot of things around us starts to uh starts to change. And so it's it's been fascinating. They've been doing this work since the 90s. I came across about a year ago, where I was trying to find words for what I was feeling in my own work.

SPEAKER_01 53:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

Uh and again, yeah, just uh a little shout out to the Heart Math Institute. They're uh uh they're doing great work and especially now, like relevant more than ever.

Rocket Shaman Book And Ways To Connect

Gillian 53:25

Wonderful. And again, so accessible to to everybody. Everybody can take a minute or two to tune into their heart and and do that deep breathing exercise to calm themselves down. So, Simone, I would love to give you the opportunity as we wrap up here just to share a little bit more about your book and um everything you're doing right now and how people can connect with you if they're interested in working with you and getting to know more about what you do.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, thank you for the shout out. Um the uh the book came out in September. It's called Becoming the Rocket Shaman and Lessons in Healing, Chronic Illness, Emotional Pain, and Burnout when nothing else works. So it's part self-help, uh, part memoir, um, part uh encouraging, uh, you know, has some practical tips and tools in there. So yeah, anywhere you get your books, whether that's Amazon or your local bookstore, uh, it's available. It's also available as an audiobook. Um and um I compose music for it as well if you're more into the musical journey. Uh that is also infused with healing, with healing frequencies. We could probably have another show just on that.

Gillian 54:30

Uh oh, yeah, that would be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 54:33

And uh yeah, so I am uh, you know, I'm doing keynote about uh this transmutation design and and again uh the human OS upgrade in an AI uh epoch and and how people can stay stay and and live long and healthy lives. Um and then if you want more information, my website is www.therocket shaman.com. Uh should me a note there. Uh love to hear from you. And uh yeah, just want to say thank you for allowing me to be on the show and share a little bit about my journey.

Gillian 55:05

Oh, it was my pleasure. This was such a wonderful conversation. I'm just sitting here soaking it all up, Simone. And uh I really appreciate you giving your time. And I also want to say thank you for being courageous enough to step into your calling because I know how much this work is absolutely necessary right now.

SPEAKER_00 55:24

Thank you. Yeah, I think the future belongs to people who can stay coherent. And I think if we all upgrade our operating system, the world will become a better place and the worlds that we you know feel proud to leave behind. And uh, you know, that's at least what I'm what I've decided to do. But thank you again for the shout-out.

Gillian 55:43

Yes, let's stay in that mindset of abundance and we will we will be okay.

SPEAKER_00 55:48

I agree.

Gillian 55:49

Well, thank you, Simone, and uh I look forward to keeping in touch with you and following you along the way.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Thank you. Same here.

Redefining Strength Through Coherence

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Gillian 55:58

What I appreciate about this conversation is the redefinition of strength. Strength isn't constant output. And I think from Simone's story, we realize that if we keep pushing, especially if we are feeling these symptoms of burnout and overwhelm, we eventually come to a crashing halt. If we don't make the choice to slow down, our body certainly forces us to do so. True strength is coherence, it's slowing down enough to tune in with what's going on in your mind, body, and spirit. It's internal stability. It's the ability to remain present in the midst of pressure. Simone's journey reminds us that stillness isn't something we wait for when life calms down. It's actually something that's necessary to cultivate and nurture, especially when life breaks down and when life gets difficult. Perhaps today is an invitation for you to slowly understand what it looks like to pause. It's not asking you to do a complete overhaul for your life, but to pause long enough to notice where you feel disconnected, where you feel fragmented. Where are you performing instead of living? Where are you stimulated instead of stable? Where might stillness actually restore your clarity if you pause long enough to notice? You don't need to burn everything down or begin completely from scratch. Sometimes the smallest act of stillness, like Simone was explaining, a breath or a simple boundary, a moment without a screen where you just tune into yourself, is enough to start slowing down and tuning in. So thank you for being here. Thank you for listening to this conversation and for choosing presence in a world of speed. Because we've learned from Simone today that that is what allows you to step into who you're supposed to be, to the purpose that you're supposed to serve in the world. Thank you for being here and don't forget to be still and live. Thank you for listening to Be Still and Live. As always, my hope is that this conversation offered you a little more space. Space to breathe, to listen, and to come home to what matters most. If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to subscribe to the show and consider sharing it with someone who could use a little more space for clarity right now. That simple act helps this work reach the people who need it most. If you're ready for a gentle next step, you can begin with Talk to Freedom in the show notes or at Saleocoaching.com. Until next time, be still and live.

SPEAKER_02 58:51

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co or email Mike at mike at cardinalstudio.co. You can also find the details in the show notes.