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John Boccacino: Hello, and welcome back to the 'Cuse Conversations Podcast. My name is John Boccacino, the Communications Specialist in Syracuse University's Office of Alumni Engagement. I'm also a 2003 graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in broadcast journalism. You can find our podcast on all of your major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. You can also find our podcasts at alumni.syr.edu/cuseconversations and anchor.fm/cuseconversations.

Olivia Bowser: Mental wellness feels really heavy and your loneliness or your anxiety or your stress is this weight that is just weighing on you. And it doesn't have to feel that way. And that's the whole reason I started Liberate, it's because when you have a community supporting you, and when you are empowered to work through your anxiety and work on yourself, it takes a lot of that heaviness away.

John Boccacino: Well, folks, today on the podcast, we have such a timely guest for our alumni audience. Her name is Liv Bowser, and she is going to talk about mental wellbeing, the mental state that we're all dealing with right now. There's so much anxiety, there's so much uncertainty that comes with life in the year 2021, with the pandemic, with the political landscape. And who better to talk about this than someone who is a certified meditation and mindfulness teacher. She graduated with a Marketing Management Degree from Whitman in 2016. She is the Founder and CEO of the LA-based Liberate Studio, the first ever mental wellness studio in Los Angeles on a mission to bring human beings together through movement, community and mindfulness. And her name is Liv Bowser. How was that for an introduction?

Olivia Bowser: That was pretty perfect. I think you covered everything. Thanks for having me.

John Boccacino: No, it's great to have you here on the Alumni Podcast, you've got a really interesting story to tell, and we always try to bring relevant guests on here. During this pandemic, we all, whether you've lost a job, whether you've lost a loved one, whether you've been teaching your kids at home and your whole world has been turned upside down, we've all been dealing with anxiety. We've been learning to cope with this anxiety, but it can be uncertain times that we're living in right now. So what advice do you have for people about how we can train our minds to better deal with and cope with this anxiety?

Olivia Bowser: Yeah, I think, a lot of my anxiety and my anxiety overwhelm in the past came from not understanding it, not understanding the source and also not understanding that I could coexist with. It whenever I felt anxious, it just completely took me over. It was a little bit paralyzing. And what's really... What the good news is about anxiety is that you can coexist with it and you can befriend it.

Olivia Bowser: So, a lot of the meditations I do are around saying hello to your anxiety and welcoming it into your mind and just hanging out together, not trying to push it away or run away from it and just sitting with it and realizing that it's

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manageable and it will pass just like everything else. That's I think the best advice I could give is that nothing is permanent. So, those really intense pockets of anxiety you feel are going to pass, and it might pass in five minutes, it might pass in an hour, but you're not going to feel like that forever. And a lot of the time, when we get anxious, it feels like it's never going to go away. And that's what can be so tough about it.

John Boccacino: Yeah. That permanent fear, if you will, that the situation you're living in, whatever you're dealing with on that daily basis, that it's going to resonate forever and not going away, is a hard fact to come to grips with. You mentioned not being afraid of your anxiety, sitting in the room, if you will, with your anxiety and coming to grips with it, it can be easier said than done. So, how do you recommend that people, because there's such a stigma, I think, associated with anxiety, how do we fight through that stigma of the fact that, you know what, it's okay to be nervous, it's okay to have fears that might not be resolved easily?

Olivia Bowser: For me, what was really helpful, was finding more of a community around the practice. Mental wellness feels really heavy and your loneliness or your anxiety or your stress is this weight that is just weighing on you. And it doesn't have to feel that way. And that's the whole reason I started Liberate, it's because when you have a community supporting you, and when you are empowered to work through your anxiety and work on yourself, it takes a lot of that heaviness away, and you feel this sense of levity, even when working with an uncomfortable emotion.

Olivia Bowser: So, there are so many different apps you can try for mindfulness and meditation, but for anyone seeking more of a community around it, to feel a little bit more supported in your practice, that's what Liberate's for, there are other different live Zoom classes for yoga or live Zoom classes for meditation you can try too, and just find what works best for you. But there's a lot of power in making the practice something that you can do with others instead of feeling like you're on this journey alone.

John Boccacino: When we say the phrase, meditation and mindfulness, that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. What does that mean to you? And how has this become your life's work, where you really feel like you've got a talent to give back to people who are looking for these tips and these pointers?

Olivia Bowser: I think meditation still has a little bit of a woo-woo connotation. So, we're working on that. But what's really beautiful, and I feel fortunate about this is meditation is, it's been around for a very long time. It's been a format in Eastern culture for since before time essentially. And it has a lot of data surrounding it.

Olivia Bowser: So, even if you think it's a little woo-woo, or it's not up your alley, or you're just simply really uncomfortable sitting in silence, you can Google the benefits of meditation and they're truly endless. It actually changes the way your brain works. It creates an inner state of calm. It boosts productivity at work. It boosts

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performance at work. So, even if you think like, "This is a waste of time, why would I sit in silence for 20 minutes?"

Olivia Bowser: There are so many benefits that can't be denied around it. And for me, I mean, I still have anxiety, but I used to be pretty anxious and I did not have a good grip on it and it really scared me. And I think that was what stood out to me most is when I was anxious, I needed to go outside, I needed to get moving. It was like I was trying to run away from it, but it was just me.

Olivia Bowser: And so, mindfulness is being aware of that and existing with that. And meditation is working to create space around it and create calm around it. So, you just feel better all day. I mean, I feel really calm as a baseline emotion and that was not the case for, I would say, majority of my life. So, I became a certified teacher because I think it's a life-changing modality that has a little bit of a stigma around it. And my goal is to remove that and to empower people to use whatever tools feel right to you. It's not a one-size-fits-all, but whatever tools feel good to you and help you feel better, do that. And that's my only goal.

John Boccacino: Why do you think it is that people are so willing to... We're in a new year, people want to work on their physical selves, they want to go get workouts in, they want to change their dietary habits to make sure that they're getting a healthier lifestyle, but it seems like people are a little bit reluctant to get to that mental space when it comes to improving themselves and bettering themselves. Why do you think that people are so slow and there might be that stigma to welcome working on yourself in your mental side of things?

Olivia Bowser: I think there's definitely a mentality of, "It's fine. I'm fine." Like when someone asks you how you are, you say, "I'm good, how are you?" Even if you're not good, even if your sky is falling, it's our default to be okay. And it's pretty uncomfortable to admit that you're not at first. So, it's easier to be like, "I want to lose 10 pounds and I'm going to go to the gym. And then I'm going to see the immediate results or the near future results of those bicep curls I did, or that run on the treadmill." And people are going to compliment you on it too.

Olivia Bowser: They're going to be like, "You look so good. Have you been working out?" And they don't do that when you've been meditating and you are less anxious, no one comes up to you and is like, "Hey, you look less anxious. Have you been meditating?" And I think it's slightly less gratifying from the outside to work on that inner work, because you can't [inaudible 00:09:06] it on vacation or post it on Instagram, but it feels so good.

Olivia Bowser: And so, what I try to educate on at Liberate is mindfulness and meditation is a practice the same way physical fitness is a practice, and you train for a marathon and you practice your yoga so you can learn how to do those more advanced poses. And it's the same for mindfulness. You have to continue to build on your practice to get stronger. You don't just meditate once and reap the benefits. You have to keep up that consistent work.

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Olivia Bowser: So, I think it's more difficult to keep with, because you maybe don't see the results as much, but once you start to notice that change in yourself, it's impossible to stop. I meditate every day. I can't imagine not. Because I know what it does for me.

John Boccacino: How did you come up with the idea for Liberate?

Olivia Bowser: like I said, I had some anxiety of my own in college and it got worse after college. I think, high school and college do a really great job of preparing you for so many things, but no one really tells you about all of the transitions post- college that you're going to have to go to on your own, whether it's a new job, a new boyfriend, moving apartments, losing a grandparent, getting married, having a baby. The list of life transitions goes on.

Olivia Bowser: And it can feel pretty lonely, and anxiety-inducing to go through all of those transitions if you don't feel like you have the tools to feel confident or to exercise resilience or to manage your anxiety. And I didn't have any of those things. And I really wanted them and I didn't know how to get them. I turned to physical fitness to exercise and to get those endorphins and to feel like I had a community supporting me in the physical fitness studios that I went to. But it wasn't enough and I didn't leave any class feeling like I had a better relationship with myself or I had a healthier mindset and that was really what I needed.

Olivia Bowser: So, the idea was really just to take the model of a physical fitness studio, like SoulCycle or a yoga studio or anything like that and just focus on your mental wellbeing instead of your physical health. And that didn't exist, which was pretty mind blowing to me, but that's why Liberate is here.

John Boccacino: And clearly, you chose a great time to try to open the studio, during the middle, or right before the pandemic struck. What kind of challenges did you face and how did you navigate those challenges? Because eventually all your classes have gone online, but I'm sure it wasn't like that at the beginning. So, take us back to the February, March timeframe. How did that whole process go of launching Liberate and then what were the conversations? Did you ever face that thought of, "Holy cow, we might have to close this down and we just got started?"

Olivia Bowser: Yeah. So, I had my dream was to open a brick and mortar studio in LA, which is where I'm based, and was in the process of working on the business plan and working on the brand and did not have everything secured by Feb-March. And then, we started to hear about COVID, wasn't sure how it was going to affect the States. California is doing such a great job. And then that obviously changed.

Olivia Bowser: And so, we never had classes in person. We never had that studio, because everything changed really in March for us. And I saw what was an epidemic, before COVID, of loneliness and stress only increase as everyone was staying at home and as the state of the world was really scary. And I just decided to launch classes virtually, over Zoom, in May and see, what do my friends think? And I'll

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just have people come for free and we'll just try it up be a resource for people to feel a little better.

Olivia Bowser: And it was very... The need became very apparent. We asked people after class, "How did you feel coming into class? And how did you feel after?" And everyone said they felt anxious coming into class. And afterward, everyone said they felt calm or strong. And that, I mean, was all the data I needed to know that this is necessary. And we've been leading classes ever since online, we have classes six days a week, we have four other class leaders, two of them are SU grads, which is really fun, building that, that [inaudible 00:13:56] system from school doesn't die.

Olivia Bowser: But, it was a really important move for myself just as a human being to feel like I was doing something purposeful and I am following what matters to me. And it's not an easy decision to decide to start something and leave a comfortable job. But I feel really fulfilled and really excited about just being able to evolve with the times and who knows what the future looks like. I'd love to have a brick and mortar studio down the line, but for now, for the foreseeable future, we'll all be digital, which is really fun because we're supporting people everywhere instead of just in LA. We have a community all over the country, even globally too. So it's been definitely challenging, but it's been really fun and really rewarding.

John Boccacino: Now. I'm glad you mentioned fulfillment. I think that we all should be striving to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. And there's an article that Liv was quoted in, where you're talking about your life before Liberate, can you give our audience, you're working for a startup, that's focused on consumer packaged goods and you've got this great management marketing degree from Whitman, but something was missing. What was missing from your life and from this great job in this great startup? And how did you get from that moment of having a gap to realizing, "I've got to change this," and you go and pursue Liberate?

Olivia Bowser: I have been fortunate to have really wonderful jobs. And I started working at startups really right after graduation. I've never worked for a big corporation, because I knew I wanted to be in a role and at a company where I felt like I was needed every day and everything I did made a huge difference. I was able to see the impact I was making for a brand's growth and things like that. And that was really fun for me.

Olivia Bowser: But I knew I wanted something to be mine, because I just knew I would never care about something as much if I didn't create it and birthed it and grow it. And I was honestly patiently waiting for the idea to come to me and was getting amazing experience from these really successful brands, working with really smart people, working closely with C-suite teams and learning as much as possible.

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Olivia Bowser: And just had the thought in the back of my mind like, "When I have an idea I'm excited about, that's what I'll do. And whenever it comes to me, I'll go for it." I didn't just want to be an entrepreneur to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to start something that really mattered to me. And I had the idea for Liberate probably, I think, 2018 and spent some time thinking about it and talking to experts and writing a business plan, like a good business student would.

Olivia Bowser: And the more I learned and the more I thought about it, I was like, "This is a no brainer. This is the future of human wellbeing." And yeah, so it was not easy to leave the world that had been so good to me and that, honestly, I really enjoyed. But my desire to work on Liberate just outweighed everything else.

John Boccacino: And it's almost as if the gods conspired again with the pandemic to teach you yet another lesson in resiliency, because unfortunately it was challenging and you couldn't just up and open the brick and mortar store. You had to transition your classes online. Someone who considers themselves so based in meditation and mindfulness, what have you learned about your own resiliency based on the challenges you've had to confront during the pandemic?

Olivia Bowser: This is from my own experiences. It's also just from witnessing humans over the past year. We are so capable of anything and that's a double-edged sword, but it's really powerful to be like, "I can't do this anymore. I'm so sick of this. I'm so over it." And then six months later, you're still doing it and you're doing just fine. And that is in reference to this lifestyle. But it's also in reference to just working nonstop and running into a roadblock and wondering how you're ever going to make money and asking yourself all these tough questions, but continuing anyway.

Olivia Bowser: And we have a whole theme at Liberate called get resilient, where we will do resilience training and a huge pillar of resilience training is aligning with your purpose and what matters to you and your goals. And because I think I have such a clear alignment on those three things for myself, nothing really feels... Of course, things feel challenging, but nothing feels impossible, everything feels doable. And that is something that I think is a huge mindset shift that really everyone is capable of, but it takes a lot of work to start thinking like that. And doing what you love definitely helps.

John Boccacino: Oh, for sure. You have to follow your passions. And one of the fun parts about this podcast, Liv, is bringing on passionate Syracuse Alumni who want to talk about their journeys. And I don't know, I think it's fascinating to look at what you've done and you take this leap of faith and you pivot during a time when a lot of people might've said, "Oh, well, you know what, let's stick to what we know. Let's stick to the known."

John Boccacino: And you threw caution to the wind and took a leap at this. And I'm so happy to hear that Liberate is doing well. You've been able to successfully navigate these transitions. Given what I know, which is limited, about mindfulness and yoga

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and meditation, it seems like it would be a little difficult to replicate the intimate atmosphere of being in a studio online and through Zoom. How do you try to go about creating that same safe space and that same space to grow in the online situation?

Olivia Bowser: Great question. I think, honestly, luckily, I didn't have an in-person studio, so I wasn't trying to replicate anything that existed, because I didn't know what that felt like. So it was just online from the get-go. But I have been blown away by how willing people are to be open, how willing people are to put themselves out there and try something new.

Olivia Bowser: Because, I mean, mental health is not mainstream. There is definitely a stigma around talking about your mental wellbeing. And yet we still have participants come to class and be open and share and create a safe space for everyone else too. And our leaders, who lead class, we're not called teachers or instructors, we're called leaders because we're really just creating a space and leading you through an experience to connect to you and to connect to others.

Olivia Bowser: Everything is optional and open for modification, and it's really safe and accessible for every human being. The only obligation is for you to have an open mind and just allow yourself to go wherever comes naturally. And so, I think that's a really unique piece of Liberate that doesn't exist in any other studio, because a lot of studios and classes in life feels super performance-based.

Olivia Bowser: And you're going to a boxing class and I'm like, "Okay, I got to go after I have a protein shake. And when I am stretched out and hyped up." And you're performing at work, and you're performing in life and it feels like it never stops. So to be able to come to a space that is just holding space for you to give and to take, as you'd like to, is really unique. And so we think, most participants just feel really safe knowing that that's why we exist. It's for no other reason other than that.

John Boccacino: I want to ask you a bit of a personal inspirational question when it comes to meditation and the power of the mind. Is there a quote, something that you've come across, that really resonated so well with you that has influenced your teachings and influenced your classroom spaces with Liberate? What's your go- to inspirational quote that, if you're having a bad day or you tell your peers in classes, what really stands out as being that inspirational quote to you?

Olivia Bowser: Yes, there is a Confucius quote that I am really passionate about. I think they actually discovered it in college and he says, "By three methods we learn wisdom. First by reflection, which is the noblest. Second by imitation, which is the easiest. And third by experience, which is the bitterest." And that helps me, because, I mean, I'm constantly learning. I've never started a company before, and there are so many different ways to absorb and move forward.

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Olivia Bowser: And knowing that everything has a purpose or choosing to believe that everything has a purpose has been really helpful for me to allow myself to move without boundaries and just create and talk to people and be okay with failure and know that failing is learning and know that reflecting is helpful and know that imitating and choosing to have inspiration by other existing brands or existing founders is meaningful too. And that's just been helpful for me to understand that there's no one right way to move forward, but everything has value.

John Boccacino: Reflecting back on your experiences then, to pivot off of that question, was there an a-ha moment during your launch when you realized, "You know what, I mean, this is a risk, but this is going to pay off." I know you mentioned the demand and people having an interest in this, but personally speaking, what was that a-ha moment when you realized, "All right, Liberate's going to make it."

Olivia Bowser: I had, like I said, we have a team of four other class leaders now. And most of them, I think all of them actually came to me and said, "I'd like to be a class leader. Are you hiring?" And, "I found Liberate on Instagram and I just feel like I manifested this." And there was so much passion to be involved, that I was like, "Okay, we're onto something." This is really something that it's not just my vision and it's not just like, "Oh, I care about this and nobody else does." There are people coming to me and wanting to be involved because they wanted this too, and they saw a need for this in themselves. And that was just really encouraging to know that I wasn't alone in my desire for something like this.

John Boccacino: It's a great story. It's a great adventure you've put together of navigating against tricky circumstances, following your dreams and having those goals. And we're very happy to hear about the success that you've had with the LA-based Liberate studio. If you have any questions about Liberate and their classes, it's Liberatestudio.com, all one word, that's Liberate Studio. Liv Bowser has been our guest on the podcast so far. And Liz, I want to now do a little bit of a history lesson with you. Take us back to Syracuse University and why you chose to attend the beacon on the hill in Central New York? What drew you to Syracuse in the first place?

Olivia Bowser: Well, okay, I have to confess that I'm from 45 minutes outside of Syracuse. So, I was like, "There's no way I'm going to SU. I'm going as far away from my parents as humanly possible." But, in the end, I considered all these other city-based schools. And there was no denying that SU was such an incredible school. Whitman was a really great business school, my older sister was going to be a senior there, so we could be together. I knew that there were so many different clubs and organizations I could join and really get involved on campus. And it was just the right choice for so many reasons.

Olivia Bowser: I ended up studying abroad twice and I knew that SU had really great abroad programs too. So, I just decided I would avoid my parents if they ever wanted to

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come to campus. And I [inaudible 00:25:57] to go to SU and it was honestly, I mean, I feel like I'm already so old to just decide that it was the best four years of my life. But it really has so much to offer from an educational standpoint, from a communal standpoint, just from a growing up in a safe and happy environment. I couldn't have picked a better school. And yeah, I love being involved with SU as an alum too, because it's a lifelong relationship for me, for sure.

John Boccacino: Yeah. And the power of the Orange Network. I'm very happy to hear you employ fellow alumni at Liberate. We always talk about the power of that 241,000-person network. We love to hire Orange, and we're glad that you're practicing what we preach here with hiring Orange alumni to fill those positions with Liberate. What is the most valuable piece of advice you ever received at Syracuse? And how does that really stick and resonate with you today?

Olivia Bowser: Yeah. I had a really wonderful woman professor who had us read the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, in a sales class. And I think that was the most valuable class I ever took at Syracuse. And it was because it translated not to sales and not to business, but just to life and how to communicate with people and how to listen to people and express that there's not like a one-size- fits-all and everyone has different communication needs and everyone receives things differently.

Olivia Bowser: And it was really eye-opening, I think, especially as a college student to realize like, "Oh, it's not your way or the highway, there are so many different ways to create meaningful relationships," and relationships are really the foundation for everything we do at Liberate. So, that class is... Any Whitman student listening to this, that class is a must if it's still around, because it was really, really helpful for me just to grow as a human and as a business student.

John Boccacino: And when it comes to outside of the classroom, you mentioned you got to study abroad twice, you did downhill skiing competitively here for Syracuse. What are some of your favorite moments and memories in being a student at Syracuse?

Olivia Bowser: Oh my gosh. I can't even pick. So many. I mean, the basketball games were always the best time. The tailgates, of course, at Castle, I don't even think it's called Castle anymore. But I think the most memorable moments for me were anything that involved the group of people that I was able to make friends with at Syracuse through my sorority and different organizations I was part of. And I don't really think I ever found my people in high school like some people do. And for me, finding really meaningful human connection through Syracuse was the biggest benefit and the happiest moments and the best friends, who are still my best friends and they just make everything brighter. And I think that was what Syracuse gave as one of the biggest gifts is allowing you to be who you truly are and then find other people who like you. And that was just so fun.

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John Boccacino: Well, we always try to pay it forward here too, Liv, on the podcast. So I have to leave you with this question here. What advice do you give to students who, we do have a pretty strong audience of students who listen to our podcast, so if a student's listening and they hear your story, what advice would you give them about how they can find that same level of fulfillment with their career that you have found so far here with Liberate?

Olivia Bowser: I would say, be open-minded and be okay with changing your mind all the time. Mental health was not on my radar in college at all, it wasn't on anyone's. And just by listening to myself and spending time with myself, I was able to uncover what really mattered to me. And I think that's the same for most people. So if you're not sure what really matters to you, that's okay. But just spend some more time with yourself and be open to whatever thoughts come into your head, explore those. And there's no wrong answer, I think, is another really huge learning. Anything that feels right to you is probably right. That's what I would say.

John Boccacino: It's a valuable piece of advice here from Liv Bowser, the Founder and CEO of the LA-based Liberate Studio. We wish you nothing but the best of luck. And hopefully you'll get that brick and mortar studio opened up sooner than later. But for now I know you're in good hands with those online classes through Zoom. Best of luck with everything, Liv, and thank you for stopping by the podcast.

Olivia Bowser: Thanks so much, John. Talk soon.

John Boccacino: Thanks for checking out the latest installment of the 'Cuse Conversations Podcast. My name is John Boccacino signing off for the 'Cuse Conversations Podcast.

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