Entrepreneurship, Mindset, Networking, Online Business

How To Use Meditation For Success In Your Online Business

February 4, 2026
By itssophiebiggerstaff.com

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How A Meditation Retreat In Thailand Taught Me About Meditation For Success In My Online Business

Last year, I completed a meditation retreat in Thailand, and honestly, even as an advanced meditator, it changed me far more than I expected, specifically when it comes to what I learned about meditation for success in my online business.

The insights I took away from this meditation retreat in Thailand changed not just how I think about success in business, but how I show up as a leader, how I run my online business, and how I take responsibility for my own health as an online business owner.

This wasn’t a cute wellness retreat – you know the ones you see on Instagram with daily yoga and smoothie bowls for breakfast. It was four days of silent walking meditation, conversations about Buddhist concepts and shifting through thoughts and beliefs to give my nervous system a well-needed reset… something my body had been asking for a long time! I didn’t go on a meditation retreat in Thailand because it sounded like fun. I went because my body forced me to take a break.

A break that was desperately needed so I could show up as the best online business owner I can be, and find success in business without succumbing to stress or hustle culture.

Because when your physical and mental health starts dictating your capacity as an online business owner, and your energy to work, focus and think clearly begins to deteriorate, you can’t ignore the signs your body is giving you anymore. And this meditation retreat in Thailand brought that into sharp focus, so I could learn how to use meditation for success in my online business.

Why I chose A Meditation Retreat In Thailand To Support My Health and Online Business

Before I share the benefits of meditating for success in your online business, let’s rewind back to the reason I went on a meditation retreat in Thailand in the first place, because it was actually directly connected to my mental and physical health, as well as my work.

For most of my adult life, I’ve struggled with a nasty histamine intolerance. For those of you who don’t know what that is, our bodies produce histamine. Most normal bodies can break histamine down, and it’s not an issue you have to worry about. My body doesn’t break histamine down like a normal body, which means if my body produces too much histamine, I have an allergic reaction.

Histamine is found in many foods – Bananas, Avocado, Shellfish, Eggplant… the list goes on! (basically everything yummy), so if I eat said foods, my body can’t break them down fast enough and triggers an allergic reaction, aka histamine intolerance. For low-level cases, I can take something like an anti-histamine to relieve symptoms. For severe reactions, I’ve previously had to be put on emergency steroids (which come with a whole load of other complications). So it goes without saying, I try to avoid high-histamine foods at all costs.

Another super fun thing my body does is overproduce histamine when I’m stressed or overheating. And when this happens, depending on the severity of the reaction, it can present as a rash, my sinuses closing up or in extreme cases, a mild “anaphylaxis” style shock after which I am hit with extreme fatigue and bed-bound for a couple of days.

I have been to countless doctors about this, but very few will recognise histamine intolerance as a real issue. Doctors feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but from my understanding, it’s not something they are very well educated on. You just have to search the internet and see that it’s 100% a real thing, and many people suffer from histamine intolerance, just like me!

I first became aware of this when I was living in Bali, and a friend of mine was describing her same symptoms that matched mine, and she explained what was causing it and my mind was blown. This was something I’ve been battling for years and never really understood. So I gave her suggestions a go, and it really helped.

The suggestions – reduce high-histamine food and take quercetin as a supplement.

Long story short, it’s something I’ve been managing myself on the surface, but never truly addressed at the root. In 2025, despite trying my best to manage my histamine intolerance symptoms, it was getting worse and worse.

I was experiencing daily food reactions, my body overheating, my sinuses forever blocked and extreme fatigue. It felt like my body was just shutting down and working against me.

I hit a breaking point with the histamine intolerance during a yoga class in Thailand. The room was super hot, I overheated, and my body reacted; symptoms flared up as I was trying to balance in a half moon, and I went home after the class feeling wiped out for days after. That was the moment I realised living like this wasn’t sustainable. That flare-up alone cost me 2 days off work. And this, unfortunately, isn’t the first time this has happened.

I couldn’t keep running my online business whilst my histamine intolerance was so bad. And I was no longer willing to let my success in business be determined by this!

I bought in a naturopath to help me understand my histamine intolerance on a deeper level. Although I’d reduced many of my food-related symptoms, she taught me that because my nervous system was constantly in fight or flight (thanks to years of chronic stress and living in hustle culture mode), my symptoms were still presenting. This is because we hadn’t treated the root cause of the problem = my gut health!

That’s when I committed to a gut reset and a diet for histamine intolerance, guided by my naturopath. The plan was simple but intense – strip everything back so my body could heal. But the second week of that detox was extreme. Rice and greens only. No distractions. No work.

And that’s exactly when the meditation retreat in Thailand came into the picture.

I needed something that would fully occupy my mind while my body did the nervous system healing it needed to help fix my histamine intolerance. And if I was going to step back from working on my online business anyway, I wanted to do this properly.

So I signed up for a meditation retreat in Thailand, and I was not prepared for how much I would learn about meditating for success in my online business.

What Actually Happens On A Meditation Retreat In Thailand

This meditation retreat in Thailand wasn’t about sitting, eyes closed, on cushions in silence all day. It was actually a walking meditation.

We would walk for four hours a day. In silence. Back and forth on a 15m long concrete platform surrounded by jungle and nature. No phones. No talking. No distractions. No looking at other walkers. Just me, my feet and my thoughts.

The daily structure was intense:

A short teaching each day around themes like awareness, karma and gratitude
Four hours of walking meditation in silence
A sharing circle at the end with fellow meditators

To give you an idea of how intense this was – Nine people started this meditation retreat in Thailand, and only four of us completed it.

That alone tells you something.

When you strip away any stimulation, productivity, and constant noise, your mind doesn’t go quiet immediately. It actually gets louder.

Because walking on a 15m concrete platform is… well boring! There’s nothing fun about it, and it’s surprising that this was what taught me how to use meditation for success in my business.

I’ve done a meditation retreat now a couple of times, and I meditate daily. I thought I’d find this pretty easy. And on the meditation side of things, I did, but physically it was actually really hard to walk for this long every day, barefoot, on a hard concrete floor.

What I noticed in this particular meditation retreat was that thoughts come in waves. Business ideas and decisions surfaced. Emotional patterns presented, and my control habits were heightened.

At first, I tried to control the experience. Counting steps. Timing myself. Doing anything to feel in control. And then I realised – that’s exactly how I approach life and business sometimes.

The retreat forced me to let go of control and simply notice what was happening. I started meditating for success. And that’s where the real work and transformation began.

One thing I am so grateful for, whilst I was on the meditation retreat in Thailand, was that my online business was ticking along for me in the background, thanks to me putting some work in beforehand to set it up with solid foundations to run with minimal input from myself at all times. If you want to learn how to set your online business up with solid foundations so it can support your life, not take over it. Click here to learn about My Freedom Model Method, which can help you do just that!

What Meditating For Success Taught Me About Choice

My intention for this retreat was to use meditation for success – considering how to create success in my business, in my life and even determine what success meant to me.

What came through on day one for me, however, was a huge insight around the topic of choice.

What do I mean by that? Nine people from completely different backgrounds all made the same initial choice – to show up at a meditation retreat in Thailand. But not everyone chose to keep going. Not everyone was meditating for success. And that was a powerful realisation for me.

It reminded me that no matter where we come from, whatever our background is, we always have choices. And those choices we make compound.

I chose to show up and learn meditation for success in my online business, my health and my life in general. The choices I made during this meditation retreat will have a compounding effect on all areas of my life, and this really showed me I was on the right track with everything I was working on in my online business at the time.

So many people choose to start businesses based on what they think they should do, rather than what actually works for them.

During the retreat, I had clarity around how important it is to choose to build a business around alignment – not pressure, not comparison, not external expectations. Choose to build a business that allows you to achieve your version of success. The great news is that, as entrepreneurs, we are in control of that choice, but many hustle culture gurus will lead you to believe you are not and that business has a one-size-fits-all box.

Well, spoiler alert – it does not! You get to choose how you work, where you work from, what success looks like for you and how you achieve it!

That’s something I now anchor deeply inside my work. If a decision doesn’t feel aligned, it’s not the right one. And when you consistently make aligned choices, everything becomes more sustainable. Personally, I use meditation for success as a method to help me unlock clarity on these choices.

This is exactly why I created my signature programme, the Freedom Model Method, it’s built around decision-making that supports the lifestyle and business you actually want – not one that drains you.

👉 If you want a business that works for you, not one you feel trapped by, this is what I teach inside the Freedom Model Method.

What Meditating For Success Taught Me About Scaling A Business

By day three of meditating for success at the meditation retreat in Thailand, boredom was hitting hard.

Walking back and forth on the same concrete 15m platform. Again. And again. And again, it was starting to take its toll.

But remember, my intention was to use meditation for success, so instead of focusing on how boring it was, I came to a conclusion – boredom doesn’t mean something is wrong. It usually means something is easy.

In business, the tasks we procrastinate on the most are often the ones we’ve already mastered. They’re repetitive. Predictable. And that’s actually a signal.

If something feels boring:

You’re probably good at it
It doesn’t require your full attention anymore
It’s probably time to automate, outsource or simplify

This retreat made it painfully obvious where I was still spending time doing things I didn’t need to be doing anymore. And that’s now shaping how I structure my days and my business. Meditating for success was giving me some serious insights into how I could scale my business.

More automation, outsourcing repetitive tasks, and simplifying everything I am doing.

I used to think that if I wasn’t working hard, I would get the results, after practising meditating for success, I realised that just because something is easy, it doesn’t mean there’s a lack of ambition or that business goals won’t be hit. It means you’re working smart and being efficient.

What Mediating For Success Taught Me About Leadership

Meditating for success also showed me something I couldn’t ignore anymore – leadership requires space.

My body wasn’t breaking down randomly. It was responding to years and years of high cortisol, chronic stress, and never fully switching off. My histamine intolerance wasn’t separate from my work – it was directly connected to it.

True holistic health isn’t just food or supplements. It’s the nervous system regulation. It’s having healthy boundaries. It’s allowing rest to happen without guilt.

If I want to be a leader in my online business, I can’t show up fully if I’m running on empty. And taking four days off wasn’t irresponsible – it was necessary.

My meditation retreat in Thailand showed me something I now live by:

I have to create space daily for ME, and my meditation for success practice, not just on retreats
Taking digital detoxes is important to clear the noise
I get to choose what business success looks like for me and how I create it
Letting myself receive support instead of always giving is important
Owning my experience and taking up space without minimising it

All of these realisations make me a better leader and directly impact how I run my business.

This is the kind of leadership I help women step into inside the Freedom Model Method – so they can build a sustainable, embodied, and nervous system-friendly online business that works for them, not feel like a job they work for.

What Meditating For Success Taught Me About Receiving, Not Just Giving

Another unexpected lesson from this meditation retreat was around receiving.

I’m a business coach, meaning I’m a natural giver. On a daily basis, I offer up my Energy. Support. Guidance. I give easily. But when it comes to receiving? Not so much.

Whilst surrendering to my intention of meditating for success, it became clear to me that giving without allowing myself to receive creates imbalance. Whether that’s help, rest, or space.

If you want to grow, in business or life, you have to allow support in. And that’s something I’m consciously practising now.

You don’t have to do everything alone. And you don’t get bonus points for struggling silently.

Why Taking Space And Meditating For Success Is The Fastest Way Forward In Business

The biggest takeaway from this meditation retreat in Thailand was simple – taking space for myself and meditating for success creates momentum.

I’ll caveat all of this by saying I am an advanced meditator, and I know meditation is not for everyone. It never used to be for me either. If you’d have told me 8 years ago I’d be doing a meditation retreat in Thailand I would have laughed in your face. I couldn’t even sit still for 5minutes, which, to be honest, is partly how I’ve ended up here. Because, as I mentioned earlier, about my nervous system and body crying out for help – I had to make a change. I had to find my own ways to slow down, or, quite frankly, my body was slowing me down instead.

Even if meditating for success is not something for you, I encourage you to find something that is. Even if you started small with 1 minute a day of sitting in silence, or 1 minute a day of journaling about a recent choices you made to see if it was the right one for you, 1 minute a day of doing absolutely nothing, 1 minute a day of staring in to space, closing your laptop 1 minute earlier – I bet it’s going to help you.

It might not sound like much, but changing something for 1 minute a day will very quickly compound, and soon you’ll be at 2, 3, 4, 5, then 10, 15, 20 minutes. Don’t try to force yourself to meditate for success for half an hour if you’ve never done it before – you’ll hate it! Start small and work your way up from there.

Although it might not feel like it at the time, taking time away from your laptop, taking full time off, switching your phone off sometimes and closing your laptop at a reasonable time actually can propel your business forward.

After the retreat and detox, my energy came back. My clarity came back. Motivation returned naturally.

Nothing was forced. Nothing was hustled.

If you’re feeling:

Burnt out
Disconnected
Foggy
Unmotivated
Anxious
Memory Loss
Nervous System Ups and Downs
Or even suffering from histamine intolerance like me

Your body is probably asking you politely for some space before it full-on demands it. (like it did to me)

If you’re nervous about setting up an online business as you’re prone to overworking, I teach you how to build a nervous system-friendly business in my signature programme, the Freedom Model Method, helping you create an online business that doesn’t require constant output to be successful.

Summary: So What Did A Meditation Retreat In Thailand And Meditating For Success Teach Me About Health, Business and Choice?

Meditating for success isn’t just about mindfulness or taking time off to heal. It’s about awareness.

This experience reinforced everything I believe about building a business that works for you, not one you work for – aligned decision-making, and sustainable business growth.

Your health and business are connected
Space creates clarity
Boredom is a signal, not a problem
Leadership starts with self-responsibility
You’re allowed to rest without guilt

If you want to build a business that feels supportive, aligned and expansive – not exhausting – meditating for success might just help you get it.

👉 The Freedom Model Method is where I teach this approach in full.

👉 If you’re ready to make decisions that actually support your life, this is your next step

👉 You don’t need more work – you need alignment

👉 This is how you build a freedom-fist business without burning out

👉 Everything starts with the choices you make

meet the writer

I'm Sophie

Online business coach, podcast host, mental health advocate, speaker, founder of TINAH, community builder, full-time digital nomad, and general trailblazing, rule breaker…

I tried to live a “normal” life: I spent 11+ years working my way up in the fashion industry, working for brands like Ralph Lauren and Burberry. I had the apartment in the city, I lived for going out at the weekends, spent money on designer bags and holidays – until I realized this lifestyle DID NOT FULFIL ME – I was waking up with anxiety every day – surviving, but definitely not thriving.

So I quit. I left my 9-to-5 behind to start an online business that supported the lifestyle I actually wanted. Now that looks like slow mornings, daily beach walks, co-working with like-minded entrepreneurs, yoga, meditation, and lots of social connections.

Since 2020, I’ve built multiple online business offers – from online business coaching and consulting to online courses, digital products, and a mental health marketplace – all while travelling the world and living life, and earning money on my own terms.

Now… I’m on a mission to help more people break free from lives that don’t feel good for them and create more freedom through starting and growing an online business.