Samantha Skelly is a self-made entrepreneur and CEO of the multi-million dollar Breathwork and Wellness company Pause. She's a highly sought-after international speaker, best-selling author, and coaching expert with a heart-centered approach to life and business.
A leading authority on trauma healing and stress release, Samantha has made it her life's mission to rid the world of anxiety so people can thrive using the power of their breath. Through Pause's signature trauma-informed coaching programs, breathwork facilitator training, and live events she provides uniquely accessible somatic and emotional healing resources, while also equipping clients with the tools and strategies to create and scale their own 6-figure wellness businesses.
With the mission of helping 1 billion people by 2030, Samantha started examining the underlying causes of anxiety, trauma, and stress in 2014 with the Hay House best-selling book “Hungry for Happiness.”
Samantha eventually grew the movement into the comprehensive wellness brand that Pause is today, supporting over 10,000 clients in 30+ countries worldwide.Her sustainable healing solutions have revolutionized the self-help industry, challenging the old “Band-Aids on bullet wounds” approach that kept people trapped in the yo-yo effect. She's been featured on the small screen on Global TV, Shaw, NBC, CBC, The Doctors Show, and BBC. And in publications like Forbes, The Huffington Post, The Elephant Journal, and The Prevail Project. Samantha hosts the top-rated podcast ‘The Sam Skelly Show’ which has had millions of downloads over the last 5 years.
A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Samantha currently resides in San Diego, California. When she's not challenging the wellness and self-help industry or positively transforming lives, you can usually find her surfing, dancing, and supporting anti-trafficking efforts through her philanthropic initiatives.
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Most Influential Person
- Her grandfather who recently passed away.
Effect on Emotions
- Then they're not overpowering. I've, I've been able to observe them, not identify with them. When I identify with them. I feel like they overtake my whole experience. When I observe them, I realize that there's a witness observing my emotions. And because there's a witness observing them, I know that I am not them. So then I can shift and change them.
Thoughts on Breathing
- Breathwork is the ability of using your breath to release the addiction to the cognitive mind, the monkey mind, the reptilian brain so that we can drop deeper into our bodies and actually use the energy of our heart to navigate the world, rather than the ego and the survival brain.
Suggested Resources
Bullying Story
- When I was going from grade six to seven, I got really into sports and playing outside. I was very active. I had a couple of extra pounds on me in grade seven, I was skipped, like so tiny. Because then I was a dancer and the rest of it.
- So this girl at school, her name was Isabella. She told the whole school that I went to fat camp, and that's why I was skinny and I was so upset, I was so pissed. And it just was like really awful. Because I was so young, I just tried to defend myself against her versus knowing in my truth that that's not true.
- Her projection of me isn't it has anything to do with me. I got really emotional rather than logical. If I hadn't mindfulness, then I would have saved myself a lot of pain from those words.
- So now, being an influencer of some sort, and having a social media presence, of course, you're exposed to people who don't like you. And I remember during COVID I put a meme up that I thought was really funny. But a lot of people thought that it wasn't, and I got bullied hard on that. And comedy for me is comedy is very healing for me. Breathwork
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