In a matter of weeks, our personal and business lives transformed due to global pandemic COVID-19 novel coronavirus.  Evolution Hospitality's Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Romie, discusses how to rise above the panic.  In a pandemic, the fear is often as or more dangerous than the disease itself.  In this episode you will hear: 1) What is COVID-19 novel coronavirus and how is it different than the flu? 2) How can we boost our immune system naturally, including the importance of sleep and...

Take a moment to pause and ask yourself, how do you feel after hearing our leaders speak at the Town Hall meeting or reading emails?  Change in any organization can create fear, even in times of success and growth.  Evolution Hospitality's Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Romie, discusses how to take ten minutes to destress your mind and destress your team.   After a period of intense focus, or when you’re feeling stuck, taking just a few minutes away from your desk and looking up from your...

What happens if you are not mindful of your energy as a leader?  Whether your energy is positive or stuck in discomfort, your team will pick up on your mood and mirror your attitude. Evolution Hospitality's Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Romie, hosts this episode of "Wellness Evolved" as we discuss managing through change at our properties. Campus & General Manager Michael Murray oversees operations at three hotels and over 200 team members on the Redondo Beach Campus. Michael shares how...

In the workplace, change is inevitable and also considered a four-letter word. The human mind seeks comfort in daily routines and rituals.  When our environment changes, our brain shifts into a high-stress mode and then feeds into fear.    In this episode, Chief Wellness Officer and host, Dr. Romie, breaks down the neuropsychology of why the brain's initial response to change is fear.  When fear sets in, the instinctual response is to question, "Am I safe?" and "Am I cared for?" As our...

As season two of Evolution Hospitality's podcast is launched, organizational restructuring, rapid growth, and personnel change have created the perfect storm.  Evo's Chief Wellness Officer & host, Dr. Romie Mushtaq interviews Chief Operating Officer, Will Loughran to discuss how to lead and manage stress during times of change. In this episode, we cover: Evo is a company built on a culture of practicing servant leadership, and the priority is making sure everyone reaches their full...

One of the most guiding principles of Evolution Hospitality is to work with gratitude and humility. Listen to John Murphy's perspective on gratitude. "I think there's a relationship between joy and gratitude." He speaks of being humble and grateful as being the keys to the kingdom. As we come back to the holiday season, we have busy days and busy minds. Remember, gratitude rewires our brain for true happiness and joy. We will dive into how the brain processes and transforms with gratitude....

As a vice president of operations, Mark Van Cooney, talks about how stress can interrupt sleep, and how mindfulness helped him welcome peaceful sleep.  Mark also introduced The Power of Pause to his children to help them not only sleep calmly but also shine in surfing competitions. Mark breaks down how introducing our Evo culture and mindfulness program to our new leadership teams in hotels helps us learn that "none of us is as good as all of us."  His leadership advice to new Evolutionaries...

As Campus Manager for Evolution Hospitality, Adam has worked from the ground up on our guiding principles and has been an essential figure in growing our corporate mindfulness programs, The Power of Pause. Adam started working for Evolution Hospitality 19 years ago. He was recruited in March of 2000 by John Murphy, who joined Tarsadia Hotels at Regency Plaza. With rebranding and renovation, they changed to DoubleTree Hotels. In 2011, the business became a part of Evolution Hospitality. Since...

As vice president of operations, Mark Van Cooney talks about how stress can interrupt sleep, and how mindfulness helped him welcome peaceful sleep. Mark also introduced The Power of Pause to his children to help them not only sleep calmly but also shine in surfing competitions. Mark breaks down how introducing our Evo culture and mindfulness program to our new leadership teams in hotels helps us learn that "none of us is as good as all of us." His leadership advice to new Evolutionaries is...

Award-winning General Manager, Justin Hart, overcomes his fear of public speaking to champion the Power of Pause at Evo corporate headquarters and join Dr. Romie on the Wellness Evolved Podcast.   Justin explains what happened when his team steered away from the habit of practicing mindfulness in the workplace.  The hotel's leadership team started to feel disconnected and chaotic, and Justin talked about how to "make it better than it was before."  You'll hear how the entire team at Domain...

Wellness is not just important in the workplace, but also now a required element in decision making for planning meetings. In this week's episode, Dr. Romie interviews two dynamic global female leaders in the hospitality and meetings industry.

Imagine your health failing you during a busy deadline at work. How do you pause to reestablish a nutrition plan and your health without missing a beat at work? In this week's episode, award-winning General Manager, Jeff Lawrence shares how job stress negatively impacted his physical health.  After a wake-up call in the emergency room,  he realized he needed to change his soda and sugar-fueled diet.  Learn the simple changes in mindset and nutrition that helped him to heal stress ulcers,...

In creating wellness, a core element to maintain wellness is our levels of Vitamin D.  In this episode, Dr. Romie discusses the one lab value you should request from your doctor today.  By optimizing vitamin D levels, you can optimize your hormones, immune system, gut health, and brain function.   You will learn foods that contain Vitamin D3, why people living in sunshine states still have low Vitamin D, and how to choose the right supplements.

There is no one diet plan that will work for everyone, so how do we create a nutrition plan for an entire company? Dr. Romie, Evolution Hospitality's Chief Wellness Officer, introduces the science behind food sensitivity testing. Learn the difference between a food allergy and food sensitivity, the symptoms you may be experiencing due to food sensitivities, and how to test for this problem. Evo's custom wellness program, "Nourish", is also introduced. Nourish is a day program created to...

As a busy senior hospitality executive, father to young children, and newly engaged- the last thing Scott Roby expected was that vague abdominal pain would turn out to be Stage 4 cancer.   On this week's episode of Evolution Hospitality's Wellness Evolved podcast, Senior Vice President of Operations, Scott Roby, shares his powerful journey on crushing cancer.  Today by focusing on nutrition, mindset, and love of his family he has reached his important 5-year survival mark with a poignant...

Evolution Hospitality has built their people-driven culture on a foundation of wellness to help Evolutionaries be the best versions of themselves. In the start of Season 2 of the Wellness Evolved Podcast, Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Romie introduces the focus of wellness initiatives at Evolution Hospitality.  "Nourish" is one of Evo's components in the Wellness Triangle, but what does it mean to nourish your mind, body, and spirit? Beyond fad diets or giving up the foods you enjoy, we...

Vice President of Sales at Evolution Hospitality, Gary Spencer, answers one of the most commonly asked questions from Evolutionaries, "help, I'm going to corporate, what do I wear?"  As one of Evo's founders, Gary breaks down how fashion is a mode of self-expression, and the style at Evo is really to show up as your authentic self. Learn about how "The Power of Pause," Evo's corporate mindfulness program has been adopted within the sales division.  Gary also discusses how Evo's guiding...

Use this guided meditation recorded by Dr. Romie before a team meeting, stand-up or huddle. Take three minutes to pause with this controlled breathing exercise to help quiet the busy brain, connect to calm, and feel focused. The Power of Pause is Evolution Hospitality's corporate mindful movement, and the program based in neuroscience, organizational psychology, and mindfulness.

In order to improve sleep, reduce stress, and feel energized, we promote digital detox before bedtime at Evolution Hospitality. Thirty to sixty minutes before bedtime shut down your digital devices, get yourself organized for bedtime, and use this 10-minute meditation to help clear your mind and welcome sleep. This recorded guided meditation by Dr. Romie is based in mindfulness techniques and can be used anytime during the day when you need to find your center and connect to calm. The Power...

Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed or having difficulty focusing during your workday? Use this guided meditation recorded by Dr. Romie before you send an email, enter a meeting, or make a telephone call. Take three minutes to pause with this controlled breathing exercise to help quiet the busy brain, connect to calm, and feel focused. The Power of Pause is Evolution Hospitality's corporate mindful movement, and the program based in neuroscience, organizational psychology, and mindfulness.  

When you feel like your schedule is controlling your day, your mind has lost focus.  Join Dr. Romie in this brief guided meditation for a brief pause for to refocus your mind.  By using this mindfulness-based exercise, we learn how to anchor our minds in present-centered awareness.  Once we anchor in focus, we then feel back in control of our minds and our day. This recording is a bonus meditation created for Evolution Hospitality as a part of our Power of Pause corporate mindfulness program.

Mindfulness is a state of present-centered awareness.  Challenges to feeling centered and focused arise from constant external stimulation and stress in our lives.  The body scan meditation helps us to distance our thoughts from our busy worlds and re-center ourselves. With this special breathing technique, we scan different areas of our bodies and release tension from our muscles.  Take 3-4 minutes and join Dr. Romie's guided body scan anytime during the day when you feel out or control or...

We are responsible for the energy we bring in the room. We cannot control negative situations in our lives, but we can learn to control how we respond with our thoughts, words, and actions.  In this brief guided meditation, Dr. Romie leads you through the process of facing and processing negative emotions.  By using this breath and movement technique, we release stress from our minds, bodies and our schedules.  By releasing negative energy, we become responsible for shifting our energy to a...

At Evolution Hospitality, one of our guiding principles is to do everything with gratitude and humility.  An attitude of gratitude shifts our minds, moods, and perspective.  How can we pause and shift our mindset to one of gratitude?  Join Dr. Romie in this brief guided meditation to take a journey to a moment of gratitude and learn how to carry this feeling throughout your day. This recording is a bonus meditation created for Evolution Hospitality as a part of our Power of Pause corporate...