Spotlights by Melissa Westphal 5/5
Interview with Jessie Syfko
Vice President, Group Training & Studio at Life Time
What inspired your transition from entrepreneurship to your current role at Life Time?
Two words: Bahram Akradi!
Meeting him was like meeting an old friend you hadn’t seen in ages but nothing had changed. As odd as it seemed to make this type of career change, I could not deny the that I was intrigued to be part of something so big with such a powerful history. The funny thing is that I told him he would not want me. I repeatedly stated I was too bold, too disruptive, had too many ideas and was not willing to fit into anyone’s box of expectations. I guess that did not faze him.
Like a lot of entrepreneurs who fought day by day though the pandemic I was ready to re-imagine myself. Truthfully, I was visualizing and meditating on what I wanted to experience daily in my career and three months later got a call that changed my life as I knew it. I had no idea it would be Life Time, but once I met Bahram it all made sense that this was what I was looking for.
I was asked to think and act like an entrepreneur, build a national mind body brand (without compromising quality) and lead with the same fire I had come to truly love inside myself. Oh yeah AND be backed by the best fitness brand in the world. How could I say no to being mentored by the best, being teamed with the best and living on purpose delivering it daily?
Three years later we have thousands of people changing their lives through the power of mind body connection, movement as medicine, and true self-mastery through it all.
Can you elaborate on the principles behind MB360 and how it differs from traditional fitness programs?
MB360 is a mind body training program that combines mobility, functional strength and conditioning and meditation. Each day of the week focuses on a different part of the body and style of training to create a better deep core engagement, improved posture, and a more empowered understanding of mind-body connection. This program optimizes both vitality and longevity of movement while challenging people to seek and transcend their own edge in more mindful ways. Off the mat, it trains how you own your energy for any setting.
The goal is to help each seeker shorten the distance between awareness and intentional action, which translates into self-mastery and peak performance in any area your life.
What strategies do you recommend for individuals seeking to align their mental and physical health goals?
Aligning your lifestyle is the best way to achieve any goals for mental and physical health. Time management is everything, especially when you are starting something new. We are what we do most often, so start by doing an honest audit of the things you do in a week that take you away time and energy from where you want to be. This will help you prioritize what you can subtract.
Step 1: Subtract and prioritize. I have found that too many people focus on adding to an already full plate of responsibilities, rather than subtracting the things that aren’t in alignment with current goals or state of mind.
Step 2: Own your am. I recommend that you start your day with quiet time, meditation or sun rise observation. This time is your sacred space to connect and design the best outcome of the day in your mind. Set a timer for a period of time that allows you to be consistent. No technology, no to do lists, just time to breathe and root seeds of intentionality before you get going. We have the perfect window right after we wake up to begin setting the day’s intentions while re-wiring our brain to look for those opportunities from the start. When we develop a mindset that see life as our co-creation to learn and grow from; we can re-program ourselves from the inside out to naturally improve our mental and physical wellbeing.
What advice would you give to someone just starting their fitness journey?
Stay present. Own the day one at a time. Remember that you already have everything you need inside of yourself. The fitness journey is not about creating something new as much as it is about connecting to what was there from the beginning.
