ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Sarah L. Brightwood is the president of Rancho La Puerta, a destination fitness spa and resort. She reflects on her upbringing and the privilege of being raised by a village in a nurturing and joyful pace of life. Sarah carries a role of a dedicated healer and has a profound connection to the land of the ranch and stewarding both the people and the flora/fauna with a spiritual touch. Her desire to ensure fairness and equity ripples outward from her business and touches everyone they engage. She believes that taking care of your employees, empowering them, and allowing them to grow within the company will allow them to embody the ranch's culture in turn making the customers feel connected to the ranch and nature.
In This Episode:
- [01:43] Meet Sarah as she opens up about how her childhood and growing up in a mixed cultural heritage contributed to her being a conscious leader.
- [10:38] Choosing the leadership that continues the culture, language, and DNA of her company.
- [17:57] How it is important that leaders, especially during these vulnerable times, are supporting, helping, lifting each other up.
- [23:08] The values of self that we learned going through COVID.
- [27:45] The actions Sarah took with her staff when COVID forced her ranch to close.
- [33:07] Having a holistic approach to running the Rancho La Puerta
Key Takeaways:
- There is no one right way to do things.
- To start living in a culture of conscious awareness, you need to stop and look at the unhealthy patterns that are repeating themselves.
- We need to strengthen our microbiomes and our digestive fire. We can only do that if we have some downtime, a place where we can hum to our Vagus nerve, and do all of those practices that bring us back to the center.
- Having the ability to return to the center when you get thrown off, to respond, to change, adapt, and to listen to non-human instructions is much greater than any individual.
- COVID has taught us that the illusion that we live in these separate boxes, in separate houses or separate bodies or separate countries, no longer holds.
Resources:
Website: https://rancholapuerta.com/Rancho La Puerta LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rancho-la-puerta/
Meet Sarah:
Sarah L. Brightwood is the president of Rancho La Puerta, a destination fitness spa and resort located in Baja, California, Mexico. She is the daughter of the founders of the ranch, Deborah Szekely, and her professor-husband Edmond Szekely. Sarah spoke Spanish before English and was lovingly cared for by the Mexican families working at the ranch. She continues the family legacy of tending to the same land for almost 90 years and continues to oversee major upgrades at the ranch that have kept up with changing times. During the COVID lockdown, they worked on a huge project called The Residence, which is an upscale eco-village that’s designed to support health and wellbeing.
