Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the MBSR course, has said: 

“Our dilemma is that we are beings with a Stone Age brain, living in a digital world”. 

Here, he is referring to our ‘fight or flight’ response: It is there for a reason, and can be tapped into when required – the fact is though, these days it is rarely needed. However, in modern life our reaction to perceived threatening scenarios put us straight into fight or flight mode, flooding the body with stress hormones.

Situations such as IT glitches, poor sales, looming deadlines, rude behaviour and our own failures and flaws, real or imagined, provoke the same reaction in us as a bear attack did in our ancestors. 

The similarities end there; nowadays we seldom need to run or fight, which would effectively use up the cortisol and adrenaline inundating the circulatory system, thus eliminating them. No, in modern life the end result is that these fight or flight hormones continue to slush around in our bloodstream, and we carry them around for some time after the episode that triggered their release. They linger in the body, with potentially toxic effects.  

Unfortunately, we are good at producing cortisol throughout life, whereas our ability to produce the hormones which neutralize cortisol – the counter-stress hormones – declines from the age of 30, so it becomes even more important to keep stress levels down in order to maintain hormonal balance.   

The good news is that by adopting a regular mindfulness and self-compassion practice, the need to eliminate damaging stress hormones from the system declines, as the occasions they are triggered also decreases, with great results: fewer days off due to sickness, increased productivity, heightened potential for creativity, more empathy and kindness for the self and for others, and lots more resilience. We become skilled at juggling our different roles, and everything flows. 

Research has shown that training ourselves to be in the present moment can enhance overall wellbeing, due to its efficacy in reducing stress and anxiety levels. This is great for our physical, mental and emotional health. As you (and your colleagues, if you decide to share mindfulness and self-compassion at work) gain skills in effective stress-management and resilience – building, everyday obstacles turn into interesting challenges, or else lose significance.  You grow increasingly adaptable to change and ever more contented, creative and productive

Your commitment

With mindfulness you learn how to come out of auto-pilot – to stop living in your head and come back to inhabiting the body, connecting with the present moment. How do we achieve that? Well, by studying the basics of how the brain and nervous system work, why we react as we do and then, by learning and practising over and over, the practices you will experience on our course. So, apart from studying some theory, the learning is mainly experiential – you’ll be doing it yourself, and experiencing the effects of the practice within yourself; in the mind, the body and the emotions 

You’ll need staying power; we are building mental muscle here and, just like at the gym, we need to be disciplined and consistent to get tangible, long-lasting results: Mindfulness and self-compassion require dedication. It is well worth the effort: The positive effects of all these practices are underpinned by research; and it isn’t all about life’s obstacles: included in our course is the practice of gratitude. Whilst recognising and being open to moments of challenge, it is just as important to recognise and embrace those golden nuggets of goodness and sheer joy.

It isn’t about survival of the fittest; we do survival of the nurtured!