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BE SAFE, BE FREE

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Mark McMordie reports on the transformative power of feeling safe, and how mindfulness can help, boosting innovation, creativity, connection and collaboration   When a marketing director of a global sportswear brand invited me to facilitate a mindfulness offsite for her team to refuel creativity and innovation after a particularly intense 18 months, she shared as inspiration an article about highly successful record producer Rick Rubin (Blatt, 2014). The article explains how Rubin consistently brings out the full potential of the diverse artists he works with. It suggests that his success lies in his lifelong practice of meditation and the non-judgemental […]

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CARE PACKAGE

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Increasingly, coaches are seeking ways to take care of themselves, and mindfulness and self-compassion are ideally suited to support them to do so, argue Mark McMordie and Michael Chaskalson in their new book. Mark McMordie reports When Michael Chaskalson and I ask participants why they sign up for the Mindfulness for Coaches programme on which our recently published book, Mindfulness for Coaches (Routledge, 2018) is based, many simply state “I’m here for me”. When we as coaches spend so much time extending ourselves to others, it’s important we have reliable ways to nourish and renew ourselves. Coaching can be emotionally […]

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NEW MINDFULNESS SUMMIT AND JOURNAL LAUNCHED

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Coaches, leaders and academics gathered in the Spanish mountains near Madrid on 25-26 May for the 1st International Summit for Mindfulness & Compassion at Work Speakers included Dr Megan Reitz from Ashridge who spoke on mindful leadership, Aberystwyth University’s Rachel Lilley who spoke about mindfulness and social change, and Wisdom at Work’s Dr Joel Levey and Michelle Levey who highlighted the roots of mindfulness and shared stories from their 40 years’ experience introducing mindfulness into organisations including NASA and the US Army. Dr Reitz shared her research with Michael Chaskalson into the impact of mindfulness on leadership, which revealed mindfulness […]

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WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

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How the ancient mindfulness practice of loving-kindness meditation can turbo-charge your coaching. Paul Heardman reports We all know those quintessential lightbulb moments, when how we see the world suddenly shifts and things are never quite the same again. One of the great joys of coaching is being present when our clients experience such moments. I had my own flash of insight on a small Spanish island a few years ago and it transformed my approach to coaching. It was May 2013 and I found myself in Menorca for a week-long mindfulness course, my first foray into the world of meditation. […]

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Bring back joy

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Unprofessional, fluffy? The idea of mixing mindfulness with ‘hard’ business has faced a difficult press. But the tide is turning, including within coaching. Mindful coach, Liz Hall, shares the results of her Mindfulness in Coaching 2012 survey and other research. Meditation used to be seen by many as the preserve of hippies and ochre-robed monks, not fit for the tough, hard-nosed corporate world. Coaches with meditation practices, myself included, would steer clear of mixing mindfulness with business, for fear of being branded unprofessional or fluffy. But this is changing. Mindfulness is being embraced in a number of secular settings, such […]

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Mindful insights

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Coaching supervisor Graham Lee has been using mindfulness in his work – with positive feedback. By enhancing emotional tolerance, even experienced coaches say they now feel more available to their clients, holding open the door for deeper insights to emerge Providing coaching supervision for individuals and groups has been an important component of my work for many years, but it is only in the past two to three that I have brought my personal commitment to mindfulness explicitly into my work as a supervisor. Judging from the feedback from coaches, the approach has been very useful. Even experienced coaches describe […]

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News: C@W conference roundup. Survey: mindfulness helps clients’ self-awareness

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Mindfulness boosts resilience, health and wellbeing, and helps us be more creative and able to embrace change and uncertainty, said Liz Hall. Practising mindfulness helps us develop our attentional control, become more attuned to others, regulate our emotions, generate positive emotions and reframe/reappraise positively. It decreases cortisol, helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, calming the autonomic nervous system, boosts the immune system, and improves a range of medical and psychological conditions, she said, sharing conclusions from a literature review, and interviews with around 50 coaches, coaching clients, neuroscientists and mindfulness experts. Mindfulness also helps us embrace change and uncertainty, and […]

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Power up

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Tired? Weary? Retreat coaching is beginning to gain ground as a way of helping clients recharge and re-evaluate their health, values and beliefs. Retreat coach Dorothy Larios creates time and space for her clients on coaching retreats. The age-old practice of retreating and connecting with self and source is the most valuable gift one can give oneself or someone who is tired and weary, says certified retreat coach Dorothy Larios. Coaches are well placed to offer this. “There is much to experience in the practice of retreating safely. Modern-day coaches can become well-equipped to meet the needs of those who […]

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How to… Coach for mental toughness: part 2

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Most people know what it’s like to have a ‘poor’ attention span. They also know that it’s hard to stop doing favourite tasks. In the final part of this series, Peter Clough and Doug Strycharczyk consider how to improve performance through better concentration. Research and feedback from practitioners shows that the most useful interventions for developing mental toughness fall under five broad headings: positive thinking, visualisation, anxiety control, goal setting and attentional control. The latter, which is about focusing better and for longer, is one of the least exploited areas of intervention, yet it has the most scope for significant […]

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HOW TO… COACH FOR WELLBEING

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By SARAH DALE AND HALEY LANCASTER Most people understand that money can’t buy you happiness. In fact, beneath most presenting issues in a coaching session is a drive to increase wellbeing. So coaches really need to start bringing it into their mainstream work. Could the Five-a-Day model help? “If we are to prosper and flourish in this evolving environment, then it is vital that we make the most of all our resources – and this is as true for our mental resources as material resources 1” Professor John Beddington Modern life is a paradox. Western societies have found that wealth […]

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