I just did a facebook live from the hot tub and shared a deep insight straight from the heart.

If you have ever touched a dream, you just might get it and realize you’re not crazy and you’re not alone.

Here is what happened.

I’ve been on a mission to help people achieve peace and clarity through meditation and I want Zen&Now to be, as Gary Vaynerchuck put it …

“The Starbucks of meditation”

Just like coffee becomes a habit and an addiction, never more than 100 feet away when you need a hit, I want to provide people around the world a physical and mental space they can walk into that is super peaceful and quiet where you can just sit and meditate or pray or just sit.

Like your favourite spa. Relaxing music, essential oils, soft lighting, waterfall running, bamboo, comfortable and peaceful.

And I want one in every office and school.

I’ve been dreaming about this for years but kept finding other distractions. Creating an online meditation program, meditation hikes around LA, which I love doingr, all the while dreaming about this space.

It is as if the dream of the zen space was so beautiful that I didn’t want to wake up and realize no one would care or care so much that the whole thing would explode and take over my life.

I was wrong about the not caring. We opened our first room for a private customer in the San Francisco Bay Area and people went crazy over it.

I have absolutely EVERYTHING I need to make this a massive success but that doesn’t make it so.

It hit me that I now have a responsibility to my family and the world. And if mess it up or the success messes me up, I have absolutely no one to blame.

So while I was riding high after the incredible launch, it drove me to a low I hadn’t experienced in a long time. To the point where my 20 year old daughter said:

“Dad, I think you need to meditate more. ”

The irony.

I have never been an olympic athlete but I can imagine that they go through the same type of low. They make it to the big show. They’re in contention. They have the opportunity to finally achieve that big goal. They can touch the gold.

And then the fear sets it.

What if they blow it after all the sacrifices they’ve made?

What will their family think if they blow it?

What if they win and it isn’t what they thought?

What if they win and it takes over their life?

You know that once you achieve your dream, you’ll try to hold it but it will run through your fingers like sand no matter what you do.

And you feel guilty. You’ve achieved more than almost anyone you know and you feel like crap. What is wrong with you!

Look – I’m a meditator. And I teach people how to transform their mindset and life through meditation and mindfulness.

So today, I tripled my dose.

I meditated. And I meditated.

Then I moved to the hot tub and meditated some more. No thinking. Just feeling.

The flog cleared and the clouds parted.

I’m ready to change the world again and I hope it helps you change the world too.

Because we need you.

PS. Thank you for staying with me to the end. I’m sure just this isn’t an intellectual masterpiece but it is … straight from the heart.

Author(s)

  • Allan Isfan

    Tech Entrepreneur, Co-founder Zen&Now

    I'm a lover of life and was put on this planet to create products and experiences that move civilization forward. I'm an electrical engineer, start-up entrepreneur, husband and father of three amazing daughters in their late teens and early twenties. I was born in Romania, lived in France and spent most of my formative years in Quebec and Ottawa Canada and now make Los Angeles my playground. I have co-founded several startups including a successful app company. Despite the success, the experience was extremely stressful and it nearly killed me. I re-kindled my love for meditation, a practice I had developed 20 years earlier when I contracted Myasthenia Gravis. Meditation saved my life then and it saved my life now. I promised myself and the world that I would do everything humanly possible to bring meditation and mindfulness into the workplace. This is my gift. I co-founded Zen&Now with my wife and high school sweetheart because, in this fast paced, anxious society, we can all benefit from a mindfulness practice and special space to practice. We launched mindset meditation hikes in the Los Angeles area and saw with our own eyes the massive mindset shift experienced by participants, form tired and a bit lost at first, to energized, happy and hopeful at the end of the long hike. These hikes are now part of AirBnb experiences! We then created an online program to help participants experience our unique approach which combines mindset and mindfulness. When this program started changing lives, we knew it was time launch phase 3: creating unique meditation spaces and programs in corporate offices. These programs consist of online programs, outdoor events and a unique zen space any employee can go to, complete with meditation pods, pillows, essential oil diffusers, special lighting and premium headphones. Over time, we will add advanced tech like biofeedback to help participants accelerate and deepen their practice. The first space is launching in spring 2019. It is an absolute thrill and privilege to have been invited by Arianna Huffington to share our story with you.