Hoda Kotb She knows firsthand the importance of prioritizing her own well-being and now helps others do the same.

For a long time between 25-27 October Today anchor hosted the opening ceremony”Making Space: A Healthy Weekend” activity miraval austin. Weekend-long event named after Kotb Making Space The podcast offered guests the opportunity to explore the broadcaster’s personal development foundations. Participants also had the chance to attend various personal development sessions, chat, participate in mindfulness exercises and more.

All “hand-picked” guest speakers, including renowned journalist and philanthropist Maria Shriver and business woman Jamie Kern Lima Kotb, who has “played a role” in her own journey to happiness and personal growth, tells PEOPLE what that journey looked like for her.

“I think for me it was realizing that I was someone who thought happiness was going to a concert or drinking with friends. And that was nice. It was fun, nothing lasted long,” says Kotb, 60. “This lasted for moments when I did that thing. So I reflect on (guest speaker) Arthur BrooksIt’s a real explainer that happiness isn’t the last thing or sitting at the club or bar or knocking down a few drinks and you’re laughing and coming back to yourself three hours later. It’s about finding things that go beyond that.”

Kotb says Shriver, in particular, has proven to be “really effective” in the process. “He basically said to me, ‘Here’s a plate. ‘Just take a piece of paper and cut it out and write on each piece every part of your life that requires your time or attention or emotions.'” she says.

The master publisher states that he writes about his two daughters, his career and other important areas in his life. Shriver then instructed him to “split them into sizes appropriate to how much time they would devote,” which led Kotb to realize that “he wants family to be bigger than work, but work actually is bigger.”

“I looked at my plate and said, ‘This is your life. Did you like it or not?’ “I said, ‘It doesn’t look so good,'” he said, adding that he realized he needed to make a “change.”

“Sometimes you have to get up to 35,000 feet and look down and figure it out,” he continues. “These different things made me take a look at my life and practice what was given. I once decided that telling the truth means your body relaxes. If you are content, you are not telling the truth. But if you tell the truth in the spirit of Kindness, it relaxes your body.”

“So every time I told the truth a hundred times, I felt better. Every time you do something wrong, your body tightens up and you wonder, ‘Why do I keep getting sick?’ “Anything that causes your body to freak out is tension and stress,” he adds. “It’s just a way of calming things down and trying to be on your own.”

Kotb says that after initially thinking “everything was under control,” he “experienced a bit of wellness” in his 50s. “I said, ‘I’m fine. My life is great. I have a great job. I’m running around. Everything’s fine.’ “I was exercising, I was eating right, I was feeling healthy, I was feeling good physically, but somehow it wasn’t working,” he recalls.

“I’m always eating salmon and on Peloton Allied Lovepeace girl. And he doesn’t do what he always does. … Something’s missing,” he continues. “I found some good friends who said, ‘Why don’t you try breathwork?’ Have you ever tried it? I say, ‘Look girl, I’ve been breathing for 50 years, so no, I don’t need you to show me how to do it.’ But all of a sudden they gave me a course, and throughout that course her lower abdomen was like her chest was high.”

Kotb later admits: “I did this over and over again and burst into tears.”

“‘What’s this?’ I thought, ‘It’s just stress. It’s okay,’ they say. “It was a pleasure. It caught my attention. So after this started, I became a student. I said wait, I’m clear. I noticed this at work because we are up at dawn. To process things, I was at work and realized, wow… everything was going well.”

“Usually you think: I have to read it seven times. I thought, ‘What made this happen? And then I did the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing, which was breathing work. This was meditation, this was trying this, going to a healing place, and suddenly my life was “I felt stronger physically, emotionally and spiritually, which was something I had never experienced before,” she shares.

Given that Kotb’s event’s hand-picked guest speakers and experts are a big part of what he calls his “wellness path,” he mused: “Since I’ve benefited from these guys, why doesn’t everyone come and try this? See what it does, what it does.” No way and give it a try.”

During the three-day event, sessions were held in areas such as breathing work, meditation and yoga. And according to Kotb, Miraval Austin was the “perfect spot” to provide “health and healing.”

“I’ve been to a few other retreats and loved the feeling. When you get out of the car and walk around, you feel your shoulders drop three or four inches,” she explains. “‘What’s going on here?’ “You think: It’s such a quiet, beautiful place.”

Speaking of the magic of Miraval Austin, Hyatt Hotels Corporation’s President of the U.S. and Canada, Susan Santiago, also told PEOPLE that Miraval (which also has locations in Tucson, Arizona, and The Berkshires) is a “thought leader when it comes to this.” well-being.”

“Our mission over the last 30 years has been to strengthen connections, inspire transformation, and essentially create a safe space for our guests to explore their own wellbeing journey and find balance,” she says. “The way we define Miraval and balance is balance of mind, body and spirit.”

“When we met with Hoda and her team and learned how passionate she was and her dedication to creating awareness and space, it was literally a perfect reflection of the Miraval spirit. It aligned perfectly and it was like, ‘This is just the perfect fit.’

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Kotb’s “Making Place: A Healthy Weekend” event is just the beginning of his work in this area. In fact, he plans to dive deeper into that world next year after he leaves Today.

“I work in the wellness field. This is my new thing,” he concludes. “I’m working on a practice and retreats and stuff. It will all be nutritious.”