#awinewith Cate Zoltan
MEET Cate Zoltan, Co-Founder of Undo App
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:00):
You are listening to Spark tv, where we bring you daily interviews with real women in business at all stages. I'm your host, Danielle Lewis, and I am so grateful to have you here. So good. Cate, welcome to Spark tv. It's so good to have you here.
Cate Zoltan (00:16):
Thank you very much for having me. It's really nice being here.
Danielle Lewis (00:19):
Oh, love it. And I can tell this is going to be a good chat. We've already just chatted for 15 minutes before we even hit record. Oh, amazing. Let's start out by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Cate Zoltan (00:32):
Yeah, so I'm Cate Zoltan and I'm co-founder of Undo App and Quiet Retreats, and I'm building an ecosystem around natural meditation. So as part of our ecosystem, we've got a mobile app, which I just mentioned, which is undo. But along with myself and my husband, we run a clinic and also meditation retreats. So they're the serious deep silent meditation retreats. And this particular approach to meditation is very cutting edge, I would say. And it's very unlike the rest of the meditations on the market. Matthew actually discovered it and developed it himself. So it's a body-based meditation, which you may not know the difference, but
Danielle Lewis (01:16):
No, I definitely don't.
Cate Zoltan (01:17):
Yeah. So there are two types of meditation. Fundamentally, there is a thought based or technique based type of meditation, and there's a body-based one. So as far as we know, we're the only body-based, true body-based meditation in the world. All the others are techniques as I mentioned, or thought based, which really means that you are adding something to yourself rather than with a body-based approach. It's coming directly from you. So with a technique or a thought, you are adding a state to yourself,
Danielle Lewis (01:50):
So
Cate Zoltan (01:50):
You're thinking your way into a state. Whereas with the body-based approach, you're actually feeling the sensations and feelings in your body, and you just let that lead your meditation and by feeling the feelings in your body and then sensations, you resolve any tensions that are in your body. And once those tensions are resolved, they're completely gone. They're dissolved. So yeah, there's a lot I could talk about with regards to feelings and how feelings run our life or they are the base. The fundamental decisions that we make in our life from day to day are feelings. When you're hungry, you go and eat. If you're tired, you go and sleep. All of these are feelings. If you distract or avoid a particular task throughout the day, then that's based on a feeling that you are feeling in your body that you don't want to do it.
(02:50):
And also if somebody's influencing you and you're uncomfortable with that, that's also a feeling. So my hypothesis, or I guess my theory is if you can understand your feelings and deal with your feelings instead of running away from 'em and avoiding them, then you get a lot more satisfaction and fulfillment and more purpose in your life. And there's also an aspect of that which relates to the body mind connection as well, which Matthew pioneered back in the late eighties here in Australia, in Western Australia actually. Yeah. So that's a preventative way of maintaining optimal health.
Danielle Lewis (03:35):
Oh my God, this is incredible. So you've just got me thinking because I'm feeling the feelings today. So I had an event happen last night, and I'm still not over it. I had a big cry and I woke up this morning, and when you have a big cry, you feel like blah. But I have this approach where I'm like, even though I feel like X, I can still show up and record this podcast or jump on that call or do the meeting or go to work or do other things. And so I've kind of almost taught myself to just bring the feeling along for the ride. So I love that you have this approach where perhaps we could move past the feeling like all I want to do right now is line a yoga mat and try and and feel the feeling away.
Cate Zoltan (04:26):
Yeah, well, that's what you do. That's basically what you do in the meditation. But of course, once you can't always feel the feeling to its end depending on the feeling that is coming up for you, it may take you, I don't know how serious the event that happened, it's not that serious with you last night, not that. So it might only take a few hours, but then it might take a few days if you are going through a grieving process or something that you don't really get over that in a day that is going to take a couple of weeks, I suppose, for you to digest and process. But yeah, the point you've made, a very good point there that yes, you still have to get on with your life even though you have very stressful or disturbing feelings inside of yourself. So it's very helpful, this particular meditation in understanding how to live your life and not get so involved in those feelings, but at the same time feeling them so that they actually, they will come to an end because there is an aspect of this that the feelings, if you're reacting to the feelings, then that process just goes on and on and on.
(05:38):
It's like the loop. It is the mental illness aspect of feeling a feeling. So unless you understand the reaction and you're able to stop the reaction or recognize the reaction, if you think about somebody who's going through grief, some people get over grief in two weeks or in a couple of days, whereas some, they just never ever get over it. So the reason they're not getting over the grief is because they're not actually feeling the feeling. They're thinking about the feeling and they're actually reacting and creating a story around the feeling. And so they just get stuck in this loop of thinking about, I don't want this. This shouldn't have happened. This is unbelievable. This is too shocking. I can't deal with it. All these reactions and reasons and stories around why they can't feel the feeling keeps them away from the feeling when in actual fact, if they just felt the feeling it would resolve because feelings are meant to be felt. That's what they're there for.
Danielle Lewis (06:42):
Oh my God, I'm not even going to lie. Just telling you that I was having a moment. And then you started talking. It's like, oh, I feel better now. I'm just put it out there. I'm like, oh, I'm not holding onto it anymore. This is fantastic. You've just given me some free therapy in five minutes. So I appreciate you, but I just think it is really powerful. And to your point, I have never heard about this before. I've always, so I've done plenty of meditations in my life and lots of them either having you focus on something or focus on nothing, or even a guided voice that's talking you through things. I've never actually gone down the path of a body and feeling led meditation. I just think this is really interesting. You've said you've got app versions and then the in-person kind of retreat full on versions. What would the process look like for someone? So if someone was showing up, how do you guide people through this process?
Cate Zoltan (07:49):
Yeah, well, mostly people come to us through the app actually, or I do a lot of podcasts. So they find us through podcasts like this, and then they'll download the app, have a look at the app, and if it resonates with them and they get really into it. And because it actually is about you as a human, it's the fundamental workings of you as a human. And once you understand the fundamental workings of yourself, then you just automatically feel a lot more relaxed about life. You can learn then to trust in your body and trust in yourself and trust in the decisions that you're going to make every day and your life suddenly becomes back in your control. So yeah, when people come to us, they come through this through the podcast, so they have a look at the app, and then if the app doesn't satisfy them, so it takes probably three to six months for people to have a really in depth look at the app.
(08:49):
There's active meditations and guided meditations. So the active meditations are exercises that you can take into your life and apply to your life instantly. But there's a lot of education because it's such an unconventional approach, and it's going against what we automatically conditioned as soon as we're born. We are conditioned to not feel our feelings. So it's really unconventional in that approach. So it's very foreign. So it is actually a whole new approach to life. It's a complete lifestyle shift, so it takes time and because it's actually very, very deep, so it takes a while to get the understanding. So that's why people come and they use the app for three to six months, and then if they want to go further with that, we also have live sessions in the app. We sit in on q and As where you can ask Matthew any questions that you like, and he'll give a live meditation as well and gives a talk as well.
(09:53):
And we also actually have online meditation days as well. And also you can come and join those either online or sitting in the room with us as well. So people just come through that way. And then we people, the people who come on our retreats, they need to have a certain understanding of our approach and a certain stability within themselves. We curate the retreats and we screen people coming on the retreats, serious healing retreats. So the people who are coming, they can't be disturbances from participants if they're not really serious. So we're very particular of who we have on the retreats, but the results from those retreats are just unprecedented, really, like you said before, it's a very powerful approach. So yeah, so I think, does that explain the process? Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (10:50):
Generally, no, I do
Cate Zoltan (10:51):
Love it. The app. And also you can have one sessions with Matthew, and I'm actually doing massage myself as well, because a lot of it, because as I mentioned, it's reconnecting the body and the mind. So with the deep tissue massage, we're relating the physical problem in the body back to the thinking patterns and the behaviors that are causing the physical problem in your body. So through the massage, that's a really great way for people to get involved and get more deeper understanding of what this approach and how it works.
Danielle Lewis (11:25):
Yeah. Oh my God, that's incredible. So what were you doing before this? How did you get into this?
Cate Zoltan (11:33):
Well, actually I was a qualified chef, so I'm a professional chef.
Danielle Lewis (11:37):
Oh, cool. Yeah.
Cate Zoltan (11:38):
So I did that for nearly 25 years. And then when I was in my late twenties, I was actually having mental health problems myself. I was diagnosed with depression, and I was put on antidepressants for a year, but then they weren't working. I was doing psychology and therapy and trying everything under the sun, all the alternative things as well, like reiki and other types of massage and Buddhist meditation as well. But nothing was really resonating. And then a friend of mine actually suggested I went, go and see this guy who was running the meditation retreats, who was his Matthew, but he was married and there was other stuff going on in his life, and I wasn't single either, so I just went to him for help basically. And then I think I sat on a four day retreat and then went back again for a 10 day retreat.
(12:41):
But as soon as I went to the first retreat, it just resonated with me. It's just like, oh my God, this guy is just making so much sense and putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together for me. How you go through life and you think or read things in a magazine, or you read books or self-development books, and there's pieces of that that resonate with you, but they something in them you can't really fathom or understand and doesn't quite click, but it stuck with you. Well, when I went on this retreat, all those little pieces that I had held onto was like, I can understand these now. It's like he finishes the sentence for
Danielle Lewis (13:24):
You
Cate Zoltan (13:26):
In the understandings, your understanding of life and how life works. So in that way, it puts all the pieces or the loose ends, ties off all the loose ends. And it resonated with me so deeply that I meditated every single day. Ever since I did that retreat, I, it just made me feel normal again.
Danielle Lewis (13:46):
Oh my
Cate Zoltan (13:46):
God. And then over time, I figured out what was wrong with me and had it went through a very deep healing process for about a decade and discovered I was abused as a child, and there was some serious, oh my God issues. So there was serious stuff there behind it, and I always knew something was wrong with me. And after discovering what had happened, I was relieved. And I was like, oh, wow, okay, now I know what was wrong. And then after that, once I went through my healing process, after about 10 years, I was like, wow, nobody knows about this. Nobody hears about this. We need to know that. Imagine if we were given this information from a young age and we're able to live our lives feeling our feelings instead of avoiding and distracting from them. The power that a person has and the strength that you get from just that one thing is you can't even fathom it at the moment sitting on the other side of the screen.
(14:53):
You can't even fathom what that's like, but it gives you your power back and you have so much less fear around all sorts of things. And I guess it's like when you see a bird landing on a branch and they've got no fear that the branch is going to break, they just land, and that's it. And that's what I feel like my life is now. There's just very little fear. And I know that if there is a problem, I can resolve it and live with that, and I know how to resolve it. I know how to keep myself sane and mentally stable. That was what I was doing previous then. I mean, that wasn't really what I was doing previous I was doing, I was a chef in restaurants and hotels and private chalets and working on private estates and working for high net worth individuals, but I still had this mental problem that I just couldn't resolve. And then I went and saw Matthew, and then further down the track, we got involved and married, and then I just stepped into the business with him, and it just has gone from there. Really? Yeah.
Danielle Lewis (16:11):
Oh my God, that's so incredible. I mean, your story is literally the poster for how amazing this process, this idea this is. This is just incredible.
Cate Zoltan (16:25):
Yeah, it is. And that's why I'm here on the podcast, and I'm talking on many other podcasts as well, and just promoting what we are doing because it really is, it's one of those things that you hit on in life. It's just a real game changer. And
Danielle Lewis (16:44):
I just think about every person listening. I mean, we were talking earlier that this audience is primarily women in business, and I can tell you we're all a bit stressed out at the minute, and I was listening to your words around how this has helped you get to a place where you can live without fear or live knowing that if there is a problem, you can find a solution. I just feel like every woman in business listening right now needs some of that in their life.
Cate Zoltan (17:18):
Yes, they definitely do. And I think there is a lot of stigma, honestly, around feeling your feelings because we've been so heavily conditioned to not go near them.
Danielle Lewis (17:33):
And
Cate Zoltan (17:33):
Also, I think a lot of people probably think that if they feel them, it's going to make it worse when in actual fact, it's the solution. The reason the feelings are there is because they're wanting to be felt. They're drawing your attention because they want to be felt. And as soon as you do that, your life, it changes. Like I say, you are in control of your life, then you are not buffeted around by your feelings, or you're not buffeted around by the avoidance of your feelings. So therefore, you are so much more focused. There's nowhere near as much overwhelm. Your anxiety is reduced, your overthinking is reduced. It's just got so many benefits. I, I can't understand how people can live without, but it takes honestly,
Danielle Lewis (18:25):
Oh my, I'm literally downloading the app as you know. I'm going to be like, this is what I'm spending my afternoon doing. This is so good. I want to ask, because you said something really interesting. You said that you've come on this podcast and you go on other podcasts to spread the message, to share, share this resource, to share this solution with as many people as possible. And so I am interested how you have grown the business side of things. So obviously podcast is working well for you. How else have you spread the word about this?
Cate Zoltan (19:02):
Yeah, so podcast has actually been a really good channel for us. The other way that we find people is obviously when people meet either Matthew or myself, there's a drawing, because I guess, and I'm not being bigheaded or anything, but because we are so healthy people, they just are attracted to us and they want to know, what are you doing? What have you got that I
Danielle Lewis (19:29):
Want to know?
Cate Zoltan (19:29):
Yeah, what's the secret sauce? So that was very helpful. I'm talking also at a lot of business meetings as well, but also we have just recently, well, not recently a year ago returned from Estonia. So I was living in Europe for seven years.
Danielle Lewis (19:46):
Oh, wow.
Cate Zoltan (19:47):
And we developed, that's where we built the app. So we've, I mean, our main market is the us. It's not a local business really. We're trying to make it local now, but actually our business is very still heavily international.
(20:03):
So with the app, we also have a mental fitness quiz, so we use that as a lead generation tool. So we get people filling out, and that gives you a higher quality lead on people. And then I run, so I've got a webinar next week, actually. So if you fill out the mental fitness quiz, then you get put into our system, and then you come along to a webinar. And then I explain the basics of our approach and how it helps. And then from there, again, they download the app, people download the app From that. We also, what else are we doing? I mean, I'm on LinkedIn actively as well, so we do have quite a large social media presence. Matthew's got a YouTube channel as well that we are building. We've only started that this year, though we haven't really been that big on social media, but we've just thought, we'll just test this out for a year to see if it actually is helpful. And yeah, I think that's about it. SEO, obviously we have a very strong presence on SEO and I love it. I think that's about, they're the main ones anyway. Obviously there's a few others going on as well, but that's the main ones.
Danielle Lewis (21:21):
Yeah, it's just so interesting. I love it because you have created a real solution to a real problem. And I love how you can just show up on a podcast, share the insights, and that's what connects you to your consumer. I think a lot of women in business feel you. They don't want to put themselves out there. And I just feel like you are doing it in such a beautiful way. It's just a, Hey guys, there's an alternative. Here's another way if you would like to experience this in your life, and it is getting you more customers, but it just feels so authentic. And so you have just done the world of service through your marketing. I think it's brilliant. I love it.
Cate Zoltan (22:12):
Thank you so much. But yeah, that's fundamentally why I am doing this is because, yeah, I really want to show women especially, but men as well, because a lot of our customers are men that, yeah, there is another way you can heal your trauma and you can heal day by day. You just need the right information to do that. And I'm just providing you with the information to be able to do that. And yeah, the power that gives you is, yeah, I said it before. I'll say it again. It's just unfathomable. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (22:54):
I think it's incredible. Incredible. And now you mentioned living in Estonia for several years and building the app there. What was that process like?
Cate Zoltan (23:07):
It was really cool, actually. Yeah, we moved there in 2019, 2000? No,
Danielle Lewis (23:16):
That was good timing.
Cate Zoltan (23:17):
It must've been 2017 actually. Okay. 2018, either one of those, somewhere between 2000, yeah, seven years we were there. And we came back last year, so it must've been 2017. So we went there to build the app because they were renowned for being the best developers in the world.
Danielle Lewis (23:35):
And
Cate Zoltan (23:36):
So we ended up going there and Matthew and I were looking for a new place to live anyway, so we just thought, we'll go there for business and see what happens. And then we were busy for the first year building the app and sort of enjoying living there. It was a pretty easy place to live because they've got this amazing governance model that everything's done online. They're super high tech, they're super, they've got this amazing tech community. They're an astounding country, actually. They've got, I think 10 unicorns and there's a population of 1.2 million people.
Danielle Lewis (24:11):
Wow. Oh my God, I didn't realize that.
Cate Zoltan (24:13):
Yeah, so Talin is actually one of the bigger tech hubs in Europe, and they're so, because they've recently came out of the Russian occupation or only 30 years ago, and what they did is they basically raised the whole government, all systems to the ground and said, right, we're going to rebuild this and we're going to rebuild it properly. And so they did. And so they're the ones the rest of the world are modeling their ego and IT system on. So in that regard, they're super productive. If you go from, we'd go for a holiday to Georgia, not in America, but the Georgia, the country, and then come back to Estonia and we're like, oh, it's so nice to be back. Or even Europe, even Italy or Greece or someone like that. And you come back and you're like, oh, it's so productive here. Wow. People do what they say they're going to do. And no, I mean, you can still walk into a shop and buy a printer and they'll invoice you and trust you to pay the bill. Oh, wow.
(25:18):
Yeah, it's a completely different world. And because they're very close to the Nordics and Scandinavia, so there's a heavy influence from that more than the Eastern European, so that everything's beautifully designed. The girls are just like, there's so many supermodels per capita there, it's unbelievable. So you are always feeling a little bit like, oh my God, I'm just not quite there. But in that regard, it was very nice, a really, really nice place to live. And they're very quiet people and they don't influence or impose themselves on anybody. So in that regard, you can really maintain your own presence and the business language with English speaking. Cool. We didn't have to learn the language. I mean, you pick up a little bit, obviously while you're there. Yeah, it was really cool actually. A really, really, and business wise, they're right up there.
Danielle Lewis (26:17):
Wow, that's so fascinating. I love it. I feel like I could talk to you all day. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. This is absolutely fantastic. So thank you so much, Kate, you are an inspiration. Now, I always like to wrap up these podcasts on one last piece of advice. So reflecting on your time in business, what would be a piece of advice that you would give to another woman on her business journey?
Cate Zoltan (26:48):
Well, anything's possible. You just need to break it down into those bite-sized pieces and just literally take that first step and set those first intentions and goals. And yeah, women are smart. Women are very, very smart, and they underestimate themselves and undermine themselves all the time. So if you can negate your undermining and undervaluing and unappreciation, then you don't have to actually do anything else after you've done that because all of that stuff that is not holding you back is not there. So therefore you can just go. All you can do from there is go forward. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (27:43):
I absolutely love it. As I said, you are absolutely incredible. Kate, I am so grateful for your time and your wisdom and sharing your business journey with the Spark community.
Cate Zoltan (27:54):
It's been my pleasure, and I'm so happy I could help you as well. Totally. I
Danielle Lewis (27:58):
Feel this is fantastic. That wraps another episode of Spark tv. Shout out to Spark TV sponsor IP Australia for their amazing support of the Spark Podcast and women in business. And if no one tells you today, you've got this.
✨ Thank you to IP Australia for supporting the SPARK podcast and women in business ✨
