Sonia Satra on the Life-Changing Power of Movement, Mindset, and Asking This One Question
At 56, Sonia Satra seems like both a creative veteran and a woman still in her iridescent first bloom. It's not just that her work has spanned the stage and screen; she started her career as an actress, earning roles on hit series from One Life to Live and Guiding Life to Baywatch. It's also because Sonia has been helping people radically evolve their lives through her work as a certified life coach and speaker. "At first, it wasn't really this intention that I was going to be a coach," says Sonia about her pivot from being a performer to helping people. "Then I loved it so much. And I started to work with people and see them transform and change and thought, this is so fulfilling."
One of Sonia's signature tools is Motocise, a mindfulness and movement program she created that weaves physical and mindset practices to help people unlock their power to go after what they want. It's simple and freeing, and she writes about it in her recent book, What If It Were Easy: Using Movement & Mindset to Create Success in Life, Love, and Business.
As for her book title, that's another one of her tools, which we explore in our conversation. "It's so interesting because we get locked into what we think we should do or what everybody else says we should do. But when you ask that question—What if it were easy?— that's when the truth comes.
Chatting with Sonia Satra
You share a powerful story in your book where your husband had just lost his job and was spinning. It was a challenging moment and also a catalyst. Take us back to it and why it sparked a light in you.
It was years ago, and we had just had a baby. I was out of acting and had started coaching. We lived in New York then, and my husband had a first-look deal [in Hollywood]—he was paid for ideas. Things were going well for him, and the company wanted him to come out to LA. We thought this was for him to sign a new contract, so we turned it into a celebration trip. I was sitting in the car when he came out from the meeting white as a ghost. He told me he was fired, and he proceeded to freak out. 'What are we going to do? We just had a baby,' he said. At that moment, he felt like the entire entertainment industry was closing in on him. He kept going on and on. Since childhood, he'd always believed that it would all be okay if he made a million dollars. He kept saying, 'Has anybody made a million dollars in this business? It's impossible!'
At that moment, my coaching mind was thinking, do something, say something. Suddenly, I blurted, 'What if it were easy?' He said, 'It's not easy in this industry.' And I replied, 'But what if it were? What would you do?' And that's when he said, 'I'd start my own company.' Now, that had never been on the table. It never came up in conversation. That was the light bulb moment. I said, 'Why don't you?' The next day, he called up a friend; they started an LLC and joined their contacts. A year later, he made a million dollars. It was such a big moment because it went from desperate to brilliant. And as a coach, it made me appreciate the power of questions and the power of that question.
What magic does that question—what if it were easy?—hold for you and all of us?
As I've gone on with this book, people will say, but it's not easy. And I say this is not meant to be Pollyanna. Most things that are worthwhile will have some things that aren't easy. Some will be, but some won't. But it's about the mindset—which is everything. When you give yourself permission to flip into what if it were easy, suddenly, you tap into your heart and go into another place. You think, Well, if it were easy, then I would do this. And I can't tell you how often that has happened with clients, myself, and friends. I've asked the question, and they say, 'Well, I've got to do this and this and this.' But when I ask, 'What if it were easy?' and they come up with something totally different. Then I say, 'Let's explore that. Let's see if that's a possibility.' I say nine out of 10 times, this is the track they went on.
Every one of us has a dream, maybe many, inside us. What holds us back from realizing those dreams?
In the book, I say that fear is the biggest showstopper. And these fears can span across so many things:
I'm not good enough.
This person can do it, but I can't.
I don't have the right education.
I'm too old.
I'm too young.
It's too hard.
It's some combination of all those things that are programmed in us. Or, we've had experiences that have given us evidence [of failure], even though we have so much evidence of what we can do. Human beings, by nature, tend to focus on the things that we can't, which is why it's so important to dig deeper and be intentional about focusing on what you can do and remember that because you have a long history of success. So it's about tapping into that place inside you, that dream, as you say, that says, I'm gonna step over that line and go for it.
Let's dig into Motocise, which is profound and underscored by research that shows movement and mindfulness do work in helping us change courses. Walk us through how and why you created this program.
I had Motocise before to get acting jobs, which I write about in the book. It really was my first huge ah-ha! about both mindset and movement. Going way back, I was working but then decided to leave Guiding Light by choice. Right after, I second-guessed my decision. I was thinking, what did I do? That was a great job; who am I to quit it? I'm never going to work again. I was overwhelmed by all these negative thoughts, and they took over every area of my life. I was auditioning, but I was not getting jobs. I was walking into rooms, imagining how I wouldn't get it—and people feel that. A year and a half passed, and I hadn't worked a single day [as an actor]. And I had chances, but I didn't work. I was turtle-sitting—it was very glamorous! And I was waitressing.
One day, I was sitting there in this beautiful house where I was turtle sitting, and the thought crossed my mind of how I had used positive mindset tools to create success for myself and to help me get acting jobs, but I also used negative tools to create my current failure. When I first arrived in LA, I didn't know anything. I kept imagining being on TV and having success and all those things. I kept asking positive questions like, Who can I meet today? What action can I take? After I left Guiding Light, I asked questions, but they were all negative. Why can't I get a job? Why won't they hire me? I was taking action in both cases, and the results were directly correlated to my mindset. It was amazing.
That's when I started to create Motocise before I ever even dreamt I would turn it into anything. But I wanted to change my mindset and get into shape. I started going to Will Rogers State Park in Santa Monica. I would run up the trail to a bridge, all while visualizing, and I'd ask these positive questions. When I reached the bridge, I'd yell out what I wanted to hear. So I'd say, 'You got the job!' And then I'd hear it echo back. And I would celebrate as if it had already happened. So this was my start to projecting what I wanted and embodying that success instead of the failure I imagined. Three weeks later, I booked a national commercial. And three months later, running down that trail, I got a call from my manager saying, 'You got the job.' That's when I got One Life to Live. That was when I realized the impact of the exercise.
Fast forward many years. I was now in coaching and doing some acting, and I had my second child, and my husband was working around the clock. I was on a treadmill, probably not a mistake, and at that moment, I was envisioning a vision board. It would be so effective if I could use that time [exercising] while getting some coaching. That was when I really thought of making it into something. And I came up with the name Motocise, which is motivational exercise. I started to test it with my assistant and husband and added more people to the beta group.
This was when a lot of brain research was exploding, as you say. What is the science behind your movement and mindset program?
Around this time, the neuroscientist Dr. John Ratey, who wrote the book Spark, had started to discover that when you exercise, a protein called BDNF, which was nicknamed Miracle-Gro for the brain. BDNF increases neurogenesis, the growth of brain cells. And when you connect those sorts of cells with emotions or thoughts, you can create new neural pathways. Our neural pathways are like a path in the woods. You go down the normal one, and it gets trampled down. That becomes our habits. And so when we're looking to shift, it's almost like we must bushwhack a little. And exercise is a really fantastic opportunity because we're so much more creative and focused. When you move, it actually taps the motivation center of your brain, so you're more motivated, make better decisions, are more resourceful, and tap into this inner knowing of what you really want. And you put all those things together, and it's a superpower. When I was learning this, I thought it was an underutilized opportunity. We all have access to all of this through movement and mindset.
It's about harnessing this magic and being intentional about your thoughts. I created a seven-step process that we tested many times. It's the order of the questions that really help people around a goal. And that was what became the Motorcise mindset reset process. Initially, it started as aerobics, and I went to great lengths to match the movement with the mindset. When you get your heart rate up, that sweet spot happens. But not everybody loves aerobics, and not everybody can, so I've also done this spinning and walking. I've had tremendous luck with people walking, which is accessible to almost everybody.
Considering the accessibility part, we all have different abilities. What would you say to a woman, no matter her ability or mindset, who wants to do something right now to start unlocking her dreams and potential?
I would say to move, in any way. Just try. We know it's physical, but it's also energetic. When you start moving your body, you start activating your life and moving things in your life. Have you ever been sitting at your desk trying to work on something and you can't think of it, but then you go out for a walk or take a shower, and all of a sudden, you're like, Aha, I got it? That's what happens when you move. It's not a mistake; it's because of all these different processes happening in your body. The simple act of going for a short walk can start this. I coached a woman who barely could walk. So, she created her own Motocise in the pool, which was awesome. So yes, that first thing is to just move.
Then, the next thing is to think of the question: What if it were easy? What would you do? Give yourself permission to dream. It's incredible how much we block ourselves from dreaming and allowing ourselves to even go there. We're so used to squashing those thoughts and ideas. We think that's crazy, that's silly, I can't do that. Sometimes, I tell people to set their clock for five minutes and let themselves dream whatever they want. Think, What if it were easy? What would I do? Allow yourself to imagine it. Because as you imagine it, you start to feel it. And that can begin to shift a lot.
When we shift our focus, we start to feel better. Combined with movement, that will open our hearts to the lens of possibility.
Learn more about Sonia and order her book at soniasatra.com.
Interview and words by Stacey Lindsay.