Presence, Compassion, and Resilience - Mindfulness Exercises
Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Sean Fargo, Founder of Mindfulness Exercises, located in Berkeley, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Mindfulness Exercises is an online platform that shares free and premium mindfulness resources for mindfulness practitioners and mindfulness meditation teachers alike. Founded in 2014 with the intention to help people live with embodied presence, compassion, and resilience.
Practicing mindfulness allows us to relate to ourselves and others with greater care and wisdom. As we engage with our world differently, we notice our own experiences of life shifting in fulfilling ways.
Over 6 million people have benefited from our site's free and premium resources, including downloadable meditations, guided meditation scripts, mindfulness worksheets, courses, content, and live online retreats. By 2023, we hope to have shared mindfulness with over 20 million people in the following ways:
- By supporting individuals in their pursuit of consistent and meaningful mindfulness practice.
- By training and resourcing mindfulness and meditation teachers to skillfully and compassionately share mindfulness with others.
- By bringing mindfulness to organizations to inspire more conscious business practices.
Tell us about yourself
- Former Buddhist Monk of 2+ years
- Official Instructor for the mindfulness program born at Google
- Mindfulness Consultant and Teacher for Tesla, Facebook, Ernst & Young, and the Environmental Protection Agency
After deeply immersing myself in mindfulness practice as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, I noticed a shift in the way I related to myself and others. I felt called to use my experience to help others and chose to shed my robes and return to the US.
At Spirit Rock Meditation Center, I worked alongside mindfulness pioneers such as Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Joseph Goldstein, and Sharon Salzberg.
I've taught mindfulness and meditation for corporations including Tesla, Kaiser Permanente, Facebook, Ernst & Young, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and health and government organizations, prisons, and hospitals around the world.
As a father and a husband, I understand how hard it can be to remain fully present in the seemingly ordinary moments of daily life. But also, I have experienced first-hand the power of mindfulness to transform those ordinary moments into experiences of total joy, gratitude, and awe.
I have dedicated myself to teaching mindfulness in a way that’s simple, clear, and practical. Mindfulness Exercises teaches mindfulness not as conceptual but as a practice that we can all apply in our day-to-day lives.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I've taught over 1,000 people how to teach mindfulness in professional settings around the world. And we've shared more than 2,000 free mindfulness exercises with more than 10 million people worldwide.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Running a successful business requires a lot of planning, thinking, analysis and wit. The intellect can become quite strong, but it may come with a price. If we prioritize living in our heads, and always thinking about work, then we can neglect the loving wisdom of our bodies, hearts, and spirit. If we don't find balance each day, then it's easy to become dry, reactive, judgmental, fearful, and even ego-centric.
It's important to find balance each day, to check in with the wisdom of our heart, body, and spirit, and to allow ourselves the time and space to simply "be," halting the momentum of intellectual burnout.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Meditate for 1 hour per day to find balance and peace of mind.
- Lead with generosity rather than requests.
- Be open to receiving feedback, opinions, impressions, and constructive criticism.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://mindfulnessexercises.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exercising.mindfulness
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulness.exercises/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindfulness-exercises/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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