Liv Bowser is the CEO and founder of Liberate, a mental fitness studio. She started it less than two years ago, after struggling with her own mental health.
“I was working in startup culture in Los Angeles, experiencing a high level of burnout and overwhelm,” Bowser said. “I just felt really anxious and stressed out constantly, and I didn’t really know what to do to feel better.”
She started practicing mindfulness, meditation and yoga, and it helped her so much that it inspired her to help others.
“What I wanted to do was to create a way to reap the benefits of mindfulness, while still having that dynamic energy that you’d get from a physical fitness workout.”
Currently, Liberate works with major companies like LinkedIn, Google and Uber to combat stress and burnout, as well as focus on their employees’ mental wellbeing, in 30- or 60-minute virtual sessions.
“Instead of coming in and lifting dumbbells to tone your biceps, you come to Liberate and we move, we journal, we have conversation and we meditate to tone our mental muscles, like courage and resilience.”
Founded in May of 2020, Liberate ended 2021 on a high note and in the national spotlight, as Bowser presented her company on Shark Tank, a show she grew up watching.
And as 2022 gets underway, she suggests that we shouldn’t focus on new year’s resolutions. Instead, we should focus on a single word.
“Ask yourself what’s the one word that you want to just radiate in the new year.” Bowser said. “People meet you and describe you as this word. You feel this word everyday. Maybe it’s love, or enthusiasm, or freedom, whatever it is for you, try to think of one word that you just want to represent your whole year and let that be your guiding north star when times get tough.”
