
Affectionately known as "America's #1 Success Coach," Jack Canfield is the originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and a leading authority in the areas of self-esteem, achievement motivation, and peak performance. [www.jackcanfield.com]

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and Editor in Chief of the Huffington Post and the author of twelve books. [www.huffingtonpost.com]

Seth Godin is a prominent author, blogger and speaker. [www.squidoo.com/linchpin]

Krishna Kaur is the founder of YOGA for Youth, a program that takes yoga, meditation, and stimulating discussions on the philosophy of yoga to urban youth. [www.yogaforyouth.org]

Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film. He is also a political and social activist and philanthropist. [www.normanlear.com]

Leilani Münter is a professional race car driver and an environmental activist who uses her voice in the number one spectator sport in America as a catalyst for change. [www.leilanimunter.com]

By going undercover to meet slaves and slaveholders, Kevin Bales exposed modern slavery's penetration into the global economy. He co-founded Free the Slaves, which has helped to liberate thousands of slaves. [www.freetheslaves.net]

Sophie Chiche, lifebyme.com founder and curator, enjoys asking deep questions and living a life of meaning. Today she's launching Shape House, an urban sweat lodge, a place to melt away fears and fat. [www.shapehousela.com]

Entrepreneur and writer Mastin Kipp founded TheDailyLove.com, which merges pop culture with inspiration, and co-founded The Love Yourself Company, an apparel company that has started a global self-esteem movement. [www.TheDailyLove.com]

Liz Phair is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. [www.lizphair.com]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is Chairman of The Elders, a group of world leaders who address some of the world's most pressing problems. He works energetically for human-rights and in his ministry. [www.tutu.org]

Zainab Salbi is the founder and CEO of Women for Women International, a group dedicated to helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. [www.womenforwomen.org]

Despite his physical challenges, Sean Stephenson has taken a stand for a quality of life that has inspired millions of people around the world. He's a professional speaker, psychotherapist, and author. [www.timetostand.com]

Kia Miller teaches Yoga at Yoga Works in Los Angeles, leads teacher trainings, and runs retreats and workshops on meditation, chakras, pranayam, and mantras, and other practices. [www.kiamiller.com]

Simon Mainwaring is an ex-Nike/Wieden creative, former Worldwide Creative Director at Motorola/Ogilvy, branding/advertising writer, author/speaker/blogger, Australian, idea geek. [www.simonmainwaring.com]

Shannon Bindler is a style editor, life coach, and the co-founder of Get Up Girl, an empowerment company that inspires women to shine. [www.getupgirl.com]

Grammy-nominated art director/designer/photographer Mathieu Bitton has designed over 450 CDs and movie posters. He's a renowned collector of and authority on black films and their soundtracks. [www.candytangerine.com]

Opus Reps founder and agent-producer Jorge Perez travels the world producing photo shoots with great photographers and celebrities. He's also very involved with Meals on Wheels in Los Angeles. www.opusreps.com
sweat

My family of origin is obsessed with inches and pounds. How many gained? How many lost? It’s always the first thing talked about for the first three hours when we get together.
A few months ago, I went back to France for a family wedding. Before I went, I started having nightmares about the aforementioned pounds and inches (well, kilos and centimeters). When had I seen my family last? Was I fatter now? I thought so. So one month before the wedding, I started looking for quick ways to melt away a few extra pounds, to make sure I fit into the red gown I’d ordered online from China with my very specific measurements.
I compulsively started searching the Web for quick and easy. I found plenty. Sweating this. Freezing that. The world in general and Los Angeles in particular doesn’t lack ways to trim, melt, shape, lose … you name it. I decided to do three things a day. It worked. The Chinese dress fit, and I relaxed about family attacks on the shape of my butt.
What worked best was sweating. No question. I loved the feeling of releasing toxins, stabilizing my mood, and keeping my metabolism up. My favorite part was that the sweating occurred as I was lying in bed catching up on Netflix. Relaxing in a darkened room, wrapped in an infrared blanket, I allowed body and machine to do their things so I could do my thing of looking really sexy in that dress … and getting everyone off my butt back home.
So, being the entrepreneur and the sharer that I am, I decided to open a space where people can experience what I did. And Shape House was born. Shape House is an urban sweat lodge nestled on the charming street of Larchmont, in Los Angeles.
Shape House is a place to identify what matters to you, track what might be in the way of having it, and sweat that off – actually, physically, sweating off doubts, fears, and beliefs that have stopped you in the past.
I have a dream of people talking, resting, playing cards, laughing, sharing aha’s. People drinking coconut water in the hallways and deciding to create some kind of cool, meaningful venture. People letting go of their old fears and experiencing freedom when they emerge from their sessions. People gathering strength while they’re here and then going out to live big lives.
I know. I have big dreams.
Actually, the more I sweat … the bigger they get!
– Sophie Chiche


Explore More Meaning
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celluloid visionary. abandoner of ordinary. awe seeker.
Television personality, filmmaker and philosopher, Jason Silva has been described as "part Timothy Leary, part Ray Kurzweil, and part Neo from The Matrix." He recently launched a series of non-commercial micro documentaries exploring the co-evolution of human and technology.
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