How to Achieve Balance, Freedom, and Health with Amber Susa, Founder of Allomi
About this episode:
Founder and owner of Allomi, a sanctuary for holistic health and healing, Amber Susa join us on the She Built It™ Experience. She shares how her love of meditation gave her the idea and the courage to start her business and why she is dedicated to sharing her experience and to inspiring others to live their best life.
Topics Discussed:
What Amber offers her clients and how she inspires and empowers others to live their best life
What Amber wishes she would have known when starting her business
How important it is for Amber to stay in touch with her inner child
Importance of asking the question: What did you love to do and dream when you were a kid?
Amber’s tips on how to find and live your joy
About Amber:
Amber Susa is the founder and owner of Allomi a sanctuary for holistic health and healing in Redondo Beach, CA. She currently lives in Palos Verdes with her children Dawson and Will. She is an entrepreneur, business owner, fitness expert, holistic health coach, inspirational speaker, and spiritual teacher.
Growing up as an actress and dancer, Amber was naturally drawn to creative expression, storytelling, and performing. She has spent the last two decades in the fitness industry and has been an entrepreneur for the last 10 years. After becoming a mother to two beautiful children, severe low back pain led her to meditation practice and a spiritual journey that called her to open Allomi (all-of-me).
Amber is dedicated to sharing her experience and to inspiring others to live their best life. It is her desire and intention to elevate the community through movement, meditation, and mindfulness.
Resources:
Click here to read a raw, unedited transcript of this episode:
Melanie Barr: [00:02:44] Thank you so much for joining us today, Amber. [00:02:45][1.8]
Amber Susa: [00:02:47] Oh, I'm so happy to be here, Melanie. [00:02:48][1.3]
Melanie Barr: [00:02:50] Please tell us who you are and what gave you the idea and the courage to make your leap to launch Allomi. [00:02:55][5.7]
Amber Susa: [00:02:57] My name is Amber Susa and I am the owner and founder of Allomi Your Holistic Health and Healing Studio in Redondo Beach, California. What gave me the courage? I started having really severe and debilitating, low back pain, and I couldn't work out, working out was always the thing that helped me manage my stress and get through the tough times in life. And I was here I was. I couldn't move. A friend of mine had started a meditation practice, and I had tried meditation about 20 plus years before, and I absolutely hated it. I had decided it was not for me. I was the intense go go go type, not the relaxed Zen Yoga meditating type. But life has a way of inviting you to discover other parts of yourself that through pain, through trauma. And so here I was debilitating pain, desperate. So I was open and I tried the Oprah Winfrey Deepak Chopra, the 21 day meditation experience. And you know, it started out as something I was just desperately trying to do to bring me some sort of relief emotionally, mentally and physically. And it turned out to be so much more. It was profoundly life changing. It woke me up to o many other possibilities for my life, for healing. I was able to heal my back. When I am passionate about something that helps me, I want to share it with every single person I know. And so that's really what happened. It's not like I came up with some business plan and decided to open all of me. It was like life threw me a curve ball out of desperation. I tried meditation. It changed my life so profoundly, and that is what gave me the courage. [00:05:36][159.0]
Melanie Barr: [00:05:38] I love how you followed your passions and turned it into a business. Isn't it amazing how we hit those rock bottom moments where we're like, I'll try anything. And sometimes the best things come out of those moments, and we don't think about that as it's happening to us because it's terrifying at the time. But you've built this beautiful business and life and something you're passionate around out of that moment. And do you have advice for anyone that is the go-getter type, how they might be able to start a meditation practice? Because I agree with you, I think meditation is a little bit different for everyone, and it's great that you found what works for you. [00:06:24][45.7]
Amber Susa: [00:06:26] I love everything you just said. People have these preconceived ideas of what their meditation practice needs to look like in order to be effective. And oftentimes, that looks like being still for a really long time and having absolutely no thoughts going on right. And that's not the case. I mean, we all have stops going on all the time.It cracks me up when people come to me and they say, Oh, well, I have that not like monkey mind kind of, you know, my thoughts are racing all the time and I say, Yeah, join the club. We all do. Start with two minutes slowing down, taking some deep breaths. And guided meditations are really helpful because if you just sit down and try to be in silence when you've never done that before, you're probably not going to get too far without going. Well, this is terrible. This is awful. I hate this. So if you can hear somebody else guiding you for a few minutes so that you can focus your attention on what they're saying, that will help you come into the present moment more easily and more quickly and then go from there. Let it, let it change as you continue to change. [00:08:30][124.2]
Melanie Barr: [00:08:31] Isn't it amazing how sometimes we have to slow down in order to move forward and kind of in order to speed up. [00:08:38][6.4]
Amber Susa: [00:08:39] That is what I have found, if I am if I am feeling like a nervous energy or like, I got to do this, I got it, you know, like it's coming from more of that frenetic force place, I always know that I need to stop and breathe and pause and wait. The answers come when I paused and give myself permission to just listen. So far, the most exciting part of it introduced me to my inner voice that I can trust. And I spent the majority of my life listening to everyone else's voice. Tell me what was the right thing to do for me. That little voice that, that kids have kids are tuned in. We lose that. We disconnect from that and we get really concerned about what everybody else is doing, what everybody else thinks. So meditation really reconnected me with that inner voice that I can trust. So if I'm confused, if I'm afraid, if I don't, if I'm feeling indecisive, I need clarity about something, The answer is always to stop, just breathe and slow down and listen.[00:10:19][99.6]
Melanie Barr: [00:10:20] The ability to learn to trust ourselves is so important, and you just reminded me of a moment that I had Ah, ah, wife, I went out and so I had to go to California, so shut down and I was hosting a live event. I couldn't do it with a mask on somewhere else, so I had to find a friend's house to go to in order to do this live event. I was trying to feed the kids trying to get out the door. I thought I hit the microwave for 30 minutes or 30 seconds. I must have done 30 minutes because I ran upstairs for a minute. It was probably up there for three minutes and Elliot comes running upstairs. The microwave is smoking. This isn't like me to do these things, but I was in that moment where I was trying to do too much and frazzled. That was a moment where I just needed to slow down and just say that everything is going to be OK and we can get to where we're living our lives that way, living our lives not necessarily almost set in the microwave on fire. But to hear we're in that pace of go, go, go. It's so important just to slow down and take that time for ourselves and to kind of honor ourselves, right? [00:11:38][78.1]
Amber Susa: [00:11:39] Well, absolutely, and it's also, well, two things that I'm thinking about with that story. Number one, it's a reset, right? Because if we get up and we start our day by just like hitting the ground running without tuning in, slowing down, checking in, breathing, we're going to be on that adrenaline rush all day. And so it's a reset button. And also, it's a really great opportunity and that moment to show your children. Right? Like, in that moment, it's OK. We have time to pause for one minute. We’re teaching them. We don't have time for that. We don't have time for that. We're in a hurry. Let's go, right? And they're getting swept up into this energy of frenzy. Yes. And and so in that moment, if we go, Oh boy, Elliot, thank you. This is such a good time for all of us to just take a deep breath and reset. [00:12:40][61.0]
Melanie Barr: [00:12:42] And that's what I did. The microwave almost setting on fire was like, OK, Melanie, we're going to take a minute and slow down. And the kids were so surprised because it's not like me or to set anything I'm potentially on fire, right? So you're so right. And that moment I was like, OK there's no emergency. Thankfully, I got to slow down. I got a pause. Everything's going to be OK. What are the classes and what do you offer your clients today and how do you hope to inspire and empower others to live their best life? [00:13:19][37.6]
Amber Susa: [00:13:21] Oh, I love that.[00:13:27][6.5]
Amber Susa: [00:13:32] I have three categories movement, meditation, mindfulness, so the movement classes, we have yoga, we have cardio dance, we have fitness, we have pillock sing, which is like a blend of parties and boxing and dance. We have mat pilates. Anything that helps you move your body, And then meditation. We have mindful guided meditation, where we have people come in and get on their mats and just get still and get quiet. And mindfulness. We have something for everyone, wherever they're at on their journey. If you just want to come in and sweat, you can come in for a workout, right? It is fitness and wellness. But if you're interested in taking a deeper look into things more, more spiritua[00:15:28][115.4]
Melanie Barr: [00:15:30] And how do you hope your classes and what you've created inspire and empower people? [00:15:35][5.0] Amber Susa: [00:15:36] Yes. So I hope to inspire people to be their best selves by being a living example of someone who is constantly saying yes to my inner voice, whatever that looks like. I have a lot of people who join my class on Thursday nights in particular where they're just beginning this journey. They're starting to wake up to the truth of who they are. Oftentimes that comes through, you know, physical illness. It comes through, you know, bodily injury. It comes through traumatic life events like divorce or job changes or whatever. And these situations and experiences are all meant to help us wake up to the truth of who we are. It doesn't feel like that at the time. It feels like it really sucks and it's really scary. My whole mission of having Allomi is to be able to provide a space where people can come at whatever place they are on their journey and have somebody else to look at and go, OK. I know that she's been here and she's OK. Like I and I and I'm an open book. I share my life experience is my teaching right and everything that I've been through, I share so that I can inspire others so that they know that they too can have. They have the courage and strength and the capacity to expand beyond what they ever thought was possible for themselves. [00:18:04][148.1]
Melanie Barr: [00:18:05] And it's so great that you can be such an inspirational guide. You have built Allomi, and I know you built a business also before Allomi. Is there anything that you wish you would have known when you started your business if you could turn back time? [00:18:22][17.1]
Amber Susa: [00:18:26] That's a really interesting question because, on one hand, I think that every experience that I've had, even the experiences that may be perceived as mistakes or failures have been huge learning opportunities for me. It's incredibly important to have people around you that that will help you hold that vision. If you're starting out on a new adventure or wanting to take a leap or feeling called to step into a greater version of yourself, surround yourself with people that have already done that right and are living proof that it's possible and that will help you hold your vision and believe in your vision with you. Right. Because that was not always the case for me. I definitely had people around me that thought I was crazy for wanting to take this leap, and they didn't see my vision and it didn't make sense to them. And that was really challenging. So choose a circle of people that, you know, will help you hold your vision and that will support you and love you and tell you that absolutely, you're capable of this. Let me help. Let me support you, you know, and don't share it with the people that you know are going to say, Oh, you know, that's crazy. Let's be realistic. Who do you think you are? A lot, a lot like we already have enough of that. Yes, crap.
Melanie Barr: [00:20:41] Yes. So true. And sometimes the people that are closest to us, they might not mean to. But sometimes it can be those people that put those thoughts in our head that make us doubt ourselves. You are so right about finding those cheerleaders in your life or the people that can bring you additional knowledge and share in your vision or just cheer you on.[00:21:05][23.8]
Amber Susa: [00:21:06] Yeah. And I just want to speak to what you just said because yes, the people in your life sometimes are the closest to you, and their intention is not to crush and palm. Their intention is to protect you. And if they're afraid for you, they're going to want to protect you. And I totally get that and I have come to see that now it's not necessarily that they're trying to rain on your parade or ruining your life. It's that they're afraid and they don't see the vision. But that's why meditation is so absolutely vital when you are looking to expand into the highest version of yourself. Because that inner voice that tells you,you were meant for this, you can do this. That voice is so important to hold on to. And that voice is what helps you keep the faith when you are afraid, when you have self-doubt. We all do, right. We all take leaps through the self-doubt. [00:22:09][62.9]
Melanie Barr: [00:22:10] I love that you encourage people to listen because you're right. We all have it, but we have to teach ourselves to listen and to hear it. [00:22:18][7.4]
Amber Susa: [00:22:19] Absolutely.
Amber Susa: [00:23:21] When I'm teaching, there's there's so many things to look at and when you're looking at expanding into the higher version of yourself. And a lot of it is taking a look at and letting go of old limiting beliefs. And one of those beliefs is in order to be successful, you have to go, go, go, go.The harder you work, the better. The more hours you work, the better, right? Like, the less sleep you get them like you. You must care more about what you're doing.Taking all of those beliefs and just flipping them, you know, upside down and say, that's not necessarily true. Like, I'm actually more effective when I'm just relaxing and slowing down and tuning in to what feels right and [00:24:13][52.2]
Melanie Barr: [00:24:14] present [00:24:14][0.0]
Amber Susa: [00:24:15] and I'm present. Yes, absolutely.
Melanie Barr: [00:24:31] How important do you think it is that we stay in touch with our inner child and that we find ways to move our body? And how do you stay in touch with yours today and how does that help you in life? [00:24:47][16.2]
Amber Susa: [00:24:48] Oh, I love that question. First, I want to just share with us the story of my daughter that happened recently. We were at a pool and it was a public pool, tennis and pool club and there's tons of people. And my daughter's in the pool and I'm sitting on a chair just observing everybody, watching everybody. And she's in the middle of the pool by herself, singing and dancing her heart out like passionately. Like, she's like, No, I'm not like so big and mooch and my heart is just bursting with joy as I've been watching her. Because what I'm noticing is I'm looking around to all the adults. And I know that every single one of these adults had moments like that when they were kids. Of total freedom and abandonment and not worrying about what anybody else thought and just complete self-expression. My son is seven years old. I don't think he's going to be a dancer. But you know what? He loves to sing and dance. It's fun for him. We get away from playing. We get away from giving ourselves permission to be free. And so. By tuning into the inner child we do like gain access to that part of ourselves that is free, that is free, and that does believe that everything is possible.[00:26:51][122.4]
Amber Susa: [00:26:54] I mean, If you ask my seven year old son what he wants to be when he grows up, he will tell you he wants to play for the NFL. He wants to be a professional football player like Tom Brady. And then he wants to go on to coach. There's no follow up with. But it might not be practical. So I have to have Plan B. Nobody comes into this world with the thought I might not get to do what I love to do, because it might not be practical, that is a thought that we are given by the people in our lives. So by tuning into our inner child, we are able to gain access to the part of us that still believes that everything is possible and still believes that we are meant to do what we love. That's why we love it so much. It comes naturally to us. It's it's part of our makeup, so we have to sift through all this other crap that we have accumulated over the years and tune into that inner child that plays that is free. [00:28:11][76.9]
Melanie Barr: [00:28:13] I love that you went back to that. And Parker, my daughter, as she loves art. And there was so much art going on in her room glitter everywhere that expanded into the garage. So now she has this table that's just full of art. Maybe if you're listening, someone who used to love art but doesn't do art anymore, or maybe you played hockey or football and you don't do that anymore. But you're so right, it's connecting to those things where you think, Wow, I really used to love to do that, but I don't do it anymore. And when we make that leap to actually try it, really incredible things can happen in our lives. [00:28:51][38.0]
Amber Susa: [00:28:52] Absolutely. In fact, that's one of the questions that I ask people when I start coaching them, I ask them, What are some of the things that they love to do when they were kids, right? What were their dreams that they had when they were kids? I get people all the time coming to me who are they're in their job that they hate because that was the practical job to get. And it was the job that they could make this amount of money and they could they'd have their own ticket. And I'm not saying anything bad about that. I'm all for like making a lot of money and being really happy and successful and abundant. But it's if you get too far away from who you really are and the things that you love life is unfulfilling, [00:30:20][88.4]
Melanie Barr: [00:30:21] there's so much more than just checking the boxes. [00:30:23][1.7]
Amber Susa: [00:30:24] Yes, absolutely. And I tell people all the time, I'm not asking you to quit your job and go become a ballerina tomorrow. I'm just saying, how could you start to invite some of these things back into your life. Do some art and art and [00:30:53][29.3]
Melanie Barr: [00:30:53] You can even go watch a ballet? [00:30:55][2.1]
Amber Susa: [00:30:56] Yes. Years ago, this was before kids. I went to New York with my now ex-husband. And we watch, we saw Jersey Boys and I grew up in musical theater, and I thought for sure that I would be on stage performing for my career. And that's not how my life turned out. And I sat there in the audience and tears streamed down my face because I was I was watching these performers and I was grieving and mourning the fact that that would never be my life. I was early 30s, like plenty of time, right? Plenty of time. But I just said, Well, you know, that's not my life. My life was either going to do that or it's going to do this. And I guess it's doing this. And I shut my heart broke. I mean, I loved watching them that my heart broke and I thought to myself, Well, maybe in another life. And here I am. Who knows what's going to happen with it. But I'm writing a one-woman show and I am set to do a reading of it next month. So who knows? [00:32:27][90.8]
Melanie Barr: [00:32:28] I love it. Good for you. [00:32:34][5.7]
Amber Susa: [00:32:35] Yeah, it's never too late. Right? It's never too late to live your dreams. [00:32:39][4.3]
Melanie Barr: [00:35:39] Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business, that brings us joy. What is one tip that you can leave with us today about how you find and live your joy? You've given us so many good ones. [00:35:50][10.9]
Amber Susa: [00:35:54] Any time you start to feel dissatisfied in your life or focused on what's not going well? Stop. Look around. And choose a couple of things that are really going well in this present moment. We lose joy every day, because we're so focused on where we think we should be or what we don't have. This morning I woke up and I thought, I have this beautiful home that I get to live in. We take things for granted. We really take things for granted. We have so many things to feel joy about if we are mindful about paying attention to what those things are. I do a gratitude thing with my kids every single day on the way to school, in the morning or at night. What are three things that you're grateful for? It's very simple. Three things that you're grateful for that will bring you back to joy right there. Bring you back to the present moment. [00:37:02][67.4]
Melanie Barr: [00:37:02] It's so simple, but super empowering.
Amber Susa: [00:37:17] And also think about how, how much energy you put into worrying about things that never actually happen. Love is our default as a child until we get to a certain point and then all of a sudden, fear becomes our default. And that's how we live. We live in that default of fear, making choices and decisions. And so how can we shift back into love? How can we make love be our default? All this time? We spend worrying and in fear when the majority of those things actually never come to pass? And how much energy we've wasted. So come back to as soon as you notice yourselves shifting into fear, bring yourself back to love, and gratitude is one of the easiest and simplest ways to bring yourself back to love. [00:38:19][61.3]
Amber Susa: [00:38:40] Yeah, and it's not I mean, it's crazy how many lies we believe. My business is still open after having to shut down for COVID. Like all the things that I played out in my mind of the worst-case scenarios, they didn't happen. And it's actually turned out better. So imagine if we walked around every day rather than worst-case scenarios playing around, what if we just walked around with best-case scenarios playing around all the time in our minds? would not be like a different world? [00:40:24][103.6]
Melanie Barr: [00:40:24] such a beautiful way to live. [00:40:25][1.0]
Amber Susa: [00:40:27] Yeah, expecting the best. [00:40:28][1.0]
Melanie Barr: [00:40:29] Amber, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for sharing all of your stories. The story of how you felt when you watched Jersey Boys and how you've come full circle, how you took something that you loved as a child and turned it into a business and now might be even going further and being on the stage again. So inspirational, empowering and inspiring. Can you tell our listeners how and where they can find you? [00:40:59][29.8]
Amber Susa: [00:41:00] Yes. Thank you, Melanie. I always love having conversations with you, and I love what you do. I really, I want to thank you for all that you do in providing this opportunity for women. You are amazing. And the businesses that you build that are all around supporting women are just wonderful. You have followed your heart and you courageously to say yes to your inner voice. Thank you for that and for having these open conversations. People can find me at allomi.com. So it's spelled a l l o m I dot com. Find me on Instagram at Allomi Health, Facebook, email me at amber@allomi.com [00:41:57][57.5] [2275.4]