Skip to main content

Why consider mindfulness training to build resilience in teams?

I read recently that the Indian military had introduced mindfulness training to train minds to manage extreme emotional distress, strengthen mental acuity and prepare their workforce for the journey ahead. This reminded me that my training programmes go way beyond the alleviation of workplace stress, and that mind training, when delivered by an expert, with experience in organisational learning and development and meditation pedagogy, has the potential to turn individuals, teams and businesses around in they deal with pressure, conflict, trauma and loss.

Mindfulness training is as much about how we interact with each other as it is about how we deal with stress. It elicidates how our core values and beliefs drive the decisions we make and how we behave with our colleagues. Interwoven in the meditation skills development is an introduction to the neuroscience of how mind works and how we have the potential to overcome life-long obstacles in emotion regulation with our innate neuroplasticity, allowing us to literally grow new neorones to by-pass earlier wounding and sources of overwhelm and mental illness.

Training takes place on an upright office chair, at a desk, like any other professional training. It involves reading source materials around scientific baseline, drawing on an increasing wealth of research into it's effectiveness. It necessitate daily practice, if only for 20 minutes a day, in order to build new neural pathways that becomes the foundation to new thinking patterns and behaviours. This explains the recommendation of a 6-8 week programme, the time taken by the mind to learn and embed new thinking pathways, so that the learning doesn't dissolve into the distant memory of another workplace training that never changed how we think, relate and work.

Of course, I would say this. I spent 20 years in organisational learning and development, then another 20 years turning old learning upside down to return to the as a mindfulness coach, dissolving the divide between professional and personal development, in favour of mind training for sensitive curious individuals who want to transform how they go about living their lives. I work in offices, in hospices, in woodlands and in rivers, as the Mindful Green Coach and Wellbeing Trainer.

Mindfulness training is as good as the skills and wisdom of the trainer in front of you. As with everything in this life, it comes down to relationship building, heart connection and a leap into the unknown. 

There’s so much good that comes from even the smallest mindfulness practice in one’s day. I’ve started trying to take mindful walks in my local park and the early results have been dramatic for me! Reduced stress, better sleep, easier time focusing, it’s been amazing.

I wonder how some of our community members incorporate mindfulness into their very busy days?

​@JHBEM ​@HannahPorteous-Butler ​@FWolfenden ​@damayantichowdhury09 ​@HRJoy ​@xtine08 ​@nicolegoodlord ​@People Person ​@jwilliams79 

Always! I book the time in my diary so i do it, too….if it’s scheduled then you are more likely to do it. I try for 2 x 10 minutes a day….but sometimes even if it’s only 5, or even 1 min, that’s ok. The important thing is to celebrate that you did do it - for however long - not judge that it was ‘only’ x minutes. You have to just ‘show up’. And keep showing up. The only way to create a new habit is to just start. And I have never regretted taking the few minutes to be mindful! 

Completely agree! I too have recently incorporated mindful meditation into my daily routine, for 5-10 minutes before I go to sleep. I find that for myself, keeping a fixed time to do it everyday helps me remain consistent. And it has definitely helped me keep calm in my day-to-day affairs and manage stress a little better in everyday life. 

Can’t speak to Indian military training - but for British military I don’t know if this has been introduced. However the focus on precision repitition of drills such that members of the MoD are able to dissamble and reassamble their assault rifle blindfolded and operate almost instinctively rather than cognitively is a large focus.

What was previously lacking and still today, but most famous following WWI and WWII as well as more recently conflicts in the Iraq War etc. were PTSD. This certainly is where mindfullness would help as both a coping and recovery technique.

 

 

There’s so much good that comes from even the smallest mindfulness practice in one’s day. I’ve started trying to take mindful walks in my local park and the early results have been dramatic for me! Reduced stress, better sleep, easier time focusing, it’s been amazing.

I wonder how some of our community members incorporate mindfulness into their very busy days?

​@JHBEM ​@HannahPorteous-Butler ​@FWolfenden ​@damayantichowdhury09 ​@HRJoy ​@xtine08 ​@nicolegoodlord ​@People Person ​@jwilliams79 

Moe, delighted to hear how much you are benefitting from a simple tweak in your daily routine, taking mindful self-care, and gifting yourself what you need... Space, fresh air, a break in routine, a release.... 

Always! I book the time in my diary so i do it, too….if it’s scheduled then you are more likely to do it. I try for 2 x 10 minutes a day….but sometimes even if it’s only 5, or even 1 min, that’s ok. The important thing is to celebrate that you did do it - for however long - not judge that it was ‘only’ x minutes. You have to just ‘show up’. And keep showing up. The only way to create a new habit is to just start. And I have never regretted taking the few minutes to be mindful! 

I totally agree, Hannah, about commending yourself on what you have committed to, and allowing small breaks from the thinking routine to replenish and take perspective. 

Completely agree! I too have recently incorporated mindful meditation into my daily routine, for 5-10 minutes before I go to sleep. I find that for myself, keeping a fixed time to do it everyday helps me remain consistent. And it has definitely helped me keep calm in my day-to-day affairs and manage stress a little better in everyday life. 

Yes, Damayanti, committing to a routiner is a wise move. In this way, it becomes as naturally and essential as brushing teeth in our self-care routine. 

Can’t speak to Indian military training - but for British military I don’t know if this has been introduced. However the focus on precision repitition of drills such that members of the MoD are able to dissamble and reassamble their assault rifle blindfolded and operate almost instinctively rather than cognitively is a large focus.

What was previously lacking and still today, but most famous following WWI and WWII as well as more recently conflicts in the Iraq War etc. were PTSD. This certainly is where mindfullness would help as both a coping and recovery technique.

 

 

Yes, we now know that a certain type of mindfulness training, alongside other evidence based therapies can be very effective in alleviating the suffering associated with PTSD. However, we also know that how mindfulness is taught and how skilled and qualified the teacher is essential when addressing such wounding and traumatic experiences. From a workplace perspective, it is also important that the trainer engages in some form of assessment to identify particular vulnerabilities before starting... 

As well as helping manage workload and work-life balance, there's evidence to suggest effective training can result in more harmonious team communications, because of increased empathy around colleagues' experiences and perspectives. You could say mindfulness training is communication skills training or even conflict resolution. 

There’s so much good that comes from even the smallest mindfulness practice in one’s day. I’ve started trying to take mindful walks in my local park and the early results have been dramatic for me! Reduced stress, better sleep, easier time focusing, it’s been amazing.

I wonder how some of our community members incorporate mindfulness into their very busy days?

​@JHBEM ​@HannahPorteous-Butler ​@FWolfenden ​@damayantichowdhury09 ​@HRJoy ​@xtine08 ​@nicolegoodlord ​@People Person ​@jwilliams79 

Moe, delighted to hear how much you are benefitting from a simple tweak in your daily routine, taking mindful self-care, and gifting yourself what you need... Space, fresh air, a break in routine, a release.... 

It can be so easy to get overwhelmed by daily work routines. Heck, even just idly scrolling on my phone or reading the news can immediately raise stress levels. But a nice walk, no headphones or anything, just focusing on the sounds and sights around me, has worked wonders. Partly as a result of this, I’ve started reading way more about the benefits of mindfulness. Learning so much!

Completely agree! I too have recently incorporated mindful meditation into my daily routine, for 5-10 minutes before I go to sleep. I find that for myself, keeping a fixed time to do it everyday helps me remain consistent. And it has definitely helped me keep calm in my day-to-day affairs and manage stress a little better in everyday life. 

I am 100% with you here. I wish I tried meditation when I was doing my MA back in 2020. Would’ve been a great year to try some stress-relief tactics 😅

The case for mindfulness training in the workplace: I’ve enjoyed reading your experiences of how regular mindfulness practice helps you keep steady and manage the persistent drain on our mind resources with constant noise and stimulation. I’ve noted that you have taken upon yourselves to learn mindfulness meditation skills and commit to its practice, as well as keep informed about the neuroscience of mindfulness and how it promotes wellbeing. I’d like to ask you and others, do you think it is the responsibility of the employer to include this wellbeing maintenance skills in its portfolio of staff training? I’m referring to the statutory requirement of employers to include the monitoring of stress and staff wellbeing under health and safety duties, not to mention other statuary requirements like reasonable adjustments around disabilities, including mental health. I look forward to reading your thoughts and beliefs.

Your reply


Terms & Conditions of the Personio Voyager Community