Noa Shaw Just Wants to Help People
Trigger Warning: This article mentions attempts of suicide.
“I’m so grateful to be alive. Say that every day when you wake up.”
It’s a Wednesday night in Soho and Noa Shaw is hosting a conversation on gratitude. Not because he’s perfected it, but because he’s constantly practicing it. When you’ve lived a life like Noa’s, you probably would too.
At 16-years-old, Noa had already proclaimed himself an alcoholic. He has a vivid memory of driving to school with his best friend drinking whatever they had just purchased from the liquor store.
For many years after that, Noa’s relationship with alcohol only got worse. He spent more time doing and dealing drugs than holding a job. He was in and out of rehab at least 13 times. And when he called his father to tell him he was thinking of killing himself, he didn’t stop him. Yet that was Noa’s wake up call.
When Noa got sober, he immediately put himself in a position to help others do the same. He worked as a counselor at a rehab center in LA. He got so used to redirecting people out of negative thoughts and conversations that he developed new vices in smoking and eating and he eventually gained 300 lbs.
You wouldn’t think that the Noa you’re reading about is the same Noa who is now an in demand SoulCycle instructor. But life has a funny way of working itself out. Teaching primarily at all three Brooklyn studios, he leads his classes much like he led that conversation on gratitude. He’s open about his past, knowing that his story will reach someone who needs to hear it.
“Because I talked about my alcoholism and my drug addiction from the podium, 10 riders that I know came up to me to say they started going to meetings. To have that impact and bring that beauty to people is a gift,” shared Noa.
While Noa has an attachment to SoulCycle and the fitness industry by association, the podium is just the medium he uses to bring his life experiences to listening ears. In reality, Noa has always had an ability to coach people.
“I’ve been doing it forever. In high school, people called me Uncle Noa. I don’t know why, but they’ve always seen me as an older character with some knowledge and wisdom. When I turned 30 and was living in Boston, everyone called me Poppa,” added Noa.
It was only recently that he decided to become a certified life coach to help people in other areas of their life.
Noa shared what his sessions initially look like. He assigns his clients a meditation practice, a gratitude practice, and a book and then chooses to focus on whatever resonates with them the most. He’ll often have his clients write a letter to whatever it is they wish to get rid of; a person, a past relationship, a fear of theirs and he’ll encourage them to mail it without addressing it to anyone.
From the 30-minute phone call I had with Noa, I could understand why people look to him for guidance. He has a surprisingly soothing voice coming from a man who has 120 tattoos and loves rock and roll. And he let me walk through my own personal conflict with him. I told him I was freaking out because I was moving out of my childhood home and into my first apartment.
“Is the freaking out helping?” he asked. “No. It makes you less focused, less productive, and zaps you of energy.”
Noa convinced me that I was on an adventure. That I should be observing every moment of this experience because it will only happen once. Wouldn’t I want to look back on it and remember it with fond memories rather than know it as that period that I was ‘freaking out’? It seemed like a no brainer from Noa’s perspective.
If Noa had a tagline for himself, it would be, “I’m here to help.” It’s in his email signature, it’s the name of his podcast, and it’s ultimately what he considers his calling. Though his podcast has taken a bit of a hiatus since December of last year, he promised that an updated version was coming, as well as a book and a TV show. His last episode talked about comfort zones, which Noa also calls hiding places. For a man as bold as he is, I wondered what his comfort zones were.
“My apartment, my bed. Sometimes it’s really good for me and sometimes I can get totally lost and lethargic, so I have to keep moving and motivating.”
Noa acknowledged that working with other people is essential to his own mental health. If he’s helping someone else, then he’s automatically thinking about himself less.
“Helping other people is the way that I stay alive, I stay sober, and I stay sane,” he declared.
As someone who’s literally responsible for motivating other people, he shared what he does to prepare for his classes and his coaching sessions.
“I mediate. I allow my brain to settle down a little bit. I follow a lot of accounts on Instagram that are inspirational and things that are funny. So, if I can laugh about something, my mood is up, then I get inspired.”
For his classes specifically, he discussed his music choices.
“Playing a truthful playlist gives my message strength. Listening to music I love makes me feel great, which inspires me to speak more to what’s going on in the world and allows me the freedom to speak my message,” explained Noa.
It’s been about a month since Noa’s conversation on gratitude and I find myself referring back to my notes often. Every now and then, I recite the gratitude statement. And I remember that if someone like Noa can still find it in himself to be grateful for the life he has lived and the cards he has been dealt, then so can I. My guess is that was Noa’s intention all along.
Author’s Note: This article was originally written in August 2019.
