Meet Susan Schaffer | Owner of The Live it Well Place & yoga instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susan Schaffer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
When I first started working, I was in the emergency medical field and ran several different personal companies and it was all work. Taking only bits of time for playing like hiking or waterskiing. For several years after I left the medical field, the choice was personal private time only, retreating from busy life to an introspective quiet lifestyle. Certainly giving myself the opportunity to rejuvenate my own self and health, and for 20 years developing my own yoga practice and finding joy in horsemanship, but still felt out of balance. 3 years ago, I decided to fulfill a long time dream and vision to bring a mindful movement/yoga & health space to our Arizona community. A business that allows me to now help others to balance those two separate parts I feel I did not experience in my life. A business which allows me a challenge but also to explore and integrate the multitude of modalities that people could use to be more mindful and balanced. Starting a new alternative health center in these confusing times which is offset with exploring and putting into practice the balance required in everyday life for others has given me the opportunity to be balanced, finally.  Realizing that practicing and now teaching skills that are important off the mat and into daily is rewarding and continues to show me a better way of maintaining balance.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The Live it Well Place is an Alternative Health place with wellness services, such as therapeutic massage, integrative health, and reflexology, along with 19 mindful movement classes a week. Our Mission: To empower individuals to progress toward improved health and well being through the application of the teachings and practices of yoga, to include asana, restorative pose, mantra, meditation and pranayama and several wellness services. After opening our doors in May, 2019 we have evolved and grown to be what we are today. With a new business, and a difficult year for all small entities we embraced this time as a blessing in disguise. It allowed us to complete the vision and the dream of providing a place for a complete package of Health and Wellness with movement, meditation, and mindfulness to the community of Gold Canyon under one roof. Our stand alone 5,500 sq. ft. building remodeled to a place of peace and quiet, of movement with stillness has easy access to our community and is located just off US Highway 60. Most of the team of instructors and practitioners have been with The Live it Well Place since the beginning three years ago, with a new team member joining within the past few months.

We are unique in that we encourage individuals to succeed and offer the best experience possible, by engaging them with structural postural and physicals readiness evaluations along with offering guidance for their personal goals, with this attention to health and wellness, we can provide for this unique opportunity. We are also providing the opportunity for education in mindful movement, our Series to Learn: which starts with 4 weekly 75 minute classes, starting with the very root of movement, students can continue on to another 4 week of growth in their practice and the last 4 week session where they learn and practice off the mat and on the mat life skills learned.

We are so thankful to our community for their continued support and enthusiasm as we shift to create this safe, neutral and serene place. Every day is the Best day to Live it Well.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Having lived in the shadow of the Superstition Mountain since 1984, there is no place I would rather take my best friends but to the mountain and the small communities surrounding it. Starting with a hike, up Flat Iron or Peralta on first day and then a day road trip up to Canyon Lake and Tortilla Flats and stopping in a Del al Cruz for a Mexican dinner. For my friends that Golf, there are several golf resorts with a view of this majestic mountain and there is nothing like a sunset dinner on the deck at the Gold Canyon Golf Resort. One of my absolute to do is the Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, and there are now several really amazing restaurants to choose from in Superior, making an easy day adventure. And no visit would be complete or more perfect than the opportunity to practice a mindful movement classes, get a massage, or a reflexology treatment at The Live it Well Place in Gold Canyon.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I always say that I am the dreamer, the one with a vision, I rarely identify myself as the owner of The Live it Well Place, because it is a team approach. The shoutout I have is to the team, who have made our place what it is and all that it can be. Their encouragement through this past year, thru the struggles of the business environment changing and for the final push and support for my own training as a yoga instructor is priceless. To the Team: Lance, Diana, Nicole, Tina, Joanne, Cheryl, Jan, and Gail, We would not be where we are, without all of you.

Website: www.liveitwellaz.com

Instagram: liveitwellaz

Facebook: liveitwellgoldcanyon

Image Credits
Joanne West, Photography