Retreating, as in ‘the art of stepping back’, is important. Sure, its amazing to be able to drop everything for a week or two and disappear, away from your life and responsibilities for a little while. However, we can’t go on a big holiday every month, can we? So, how do we find space and time to recharge on a regular basis? Where can we retreat to every month? Every week? Perhaps even every day?

Relaxation means different things to different people. What counts as a retreat is up for debate. However, I believe that the following list offers a range of ways to find mini retreats in a regular, normal life. Which one suits you best?

1.     A Still Start

It’s a simple one. A daily one. Don’t dive straight into the noise of life as soon as you get up. Don’t switch on the news, don’t open your laptop, and, under no circumstances, look at your phone! Start slow and silent. Get up. Put the kettle on. Look out of the window as it boils and notice things; the weather, the trees, the sound of the morning. Drink your hot drink in silence, or with some classical music, or with a chapter of your current book. Go for simple pleasure first thing in the morning. Don’t shove the world right into your face before you’ve wiped the sleep from your eyes!

2.      A Five-Minute Floor Ritual

Lie on the floor, palms open, eyes closed. Meditation music is optional.

Let your body be held by gravity. Imagine the floor coming up from the centre of the Earth and pushing against your back. Imagine it is holding you up, not that you are pressing down.

Then work up your body in your mind, focusing on each part, from the feet to the head.

This simple exercise grounds you. It releases your muscles. It brings you back to yourself. No fancy props needed, just you and the earth.

3.     A Wander

All without a destination. We are always going somewhere. Even when we aren’t, we tend to plan a walk. Try not to do this. Notice the world around you and be present. See where your feet and your interest take you. Just let your curiosity take you where it wants to.

4.     A Special Shower

I know that, for me, I all but disappear in the shower. I lose all sense of urgency and time. My mind wanders. And that’s just a normal shower on a normal day. It puts me in a good place. So, what if you make it even more special? Dim those lights, add a scent, move slowly, use the fancy scrub. Let the water wash away the day. It’s not just hygiene, it’s healing.

P.S…. this works just as well if you are a ‘bath person’!

5.     Tech-Free Teatime

Brew a cup of tea (or coffee, or chocolate, or Bovril?) and sip it without distraction. No screens, no scrolling. Just warmth, breath, and the experience of being. This simple act becomes sacred when you’re fully present to it.

6.     Finish as You Began

Just as you did not leap into the day, do not put the emergency brakes on it just before you go to bed. Try to wind down to your bedtime. Turn off the big lights, screens off an hour before sleep, take time washing your face and teeth. you might even like to do a short meditation. This helps your nervous system to gradually shut down, as opposed to surprising it with a demand for sleep!

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Mini Retreats: Creating Sacred Space in Everyday Life appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Negotiation sounds like a big scary word to some people. And yes, some negotiations are big, scary, high-steaks situations that can have knock-on effects for large numbers of people. Negotiation also happens on a daily basis, for us all, in a number of smaller and more pedestrian instances.

All relationships, large and small, personal and business, require compromise, communication, resolution and empathy. That said, this is not always easy, and when things get heated, it can be tricky to reach a point where both parties are happy that they have been seen and catered to.

There are many ways in which you might be able to improve your negotiation skills. However, in this article, we’ll be focusing on what mediation can do for you in that arena.

1.     Being in the Present

One of the pillars of meditation is the ability to focus on the here and now. Negotiations can often get messy. Lots of people bringing in different arguments and points of view can easily knock the situation off the rails and make it about a bunch of other stuff that isn’t necessarily relevant. The practice of being in the present not only improves your ability to focus on the situation at hand without getting distracted by peripheral thoughts, but it also helps you to stay calm if things begin to get a little spicy… and perhaps allows you to cut through the noise and get back to the point!

2.     Breathing

The heat is rising, and you begin to get flustered. There is information and noise everywhere, and you are getting overstimulated. Nothing brings you back to the centre and grounds you again like meditative breathing. A stressed and overwhelmed negotiator tends not to be a very effective one… this can often be dealt with by returning to the breath.

3.     Emotional Consciousness

Mediation teaches you to check in with yourself; to recognise your emotions and have an awareness of what triggers them, therefore providing the tools to recognise and regulate how you feel during an interaction. In negotiations, emotions can run high. Frustration, anger, and even excitement. These reactive emotions can easily lead to rash decision-making. By improving your emotional consciousness through meditation, you gain the ability to pause, reflect, and separate your feelings from your logic. It also helps you to better understand the emotions of others, which often leads to enhanced empathy and communication.

4.     Pause

A pause can be incredibly powerful in a negotiation. When tensions rise or a big moment presents itself, it can be very easy to jump the gun. However, a pause, a moment of stillness, can aid a successful negotiation. To my mind, this adi manifests in two ways. Firstly, it allows you to reflect on how you are going to answer and react. Second, the confidence required to pause before acting has significant power in it. Silence is very powerful.

5.     Active Listening

Active listening is the cornerstone of effective negotiation. Nay, any effective communication. It’s not just about hearing the words being said, it’s about really digesting and understanding the dialogue coming towards you. Meditation improves your ability to listen actively by training your mind to stay present and focused. In listening actively, you become significantly more receptive to the other party’s concerns, needs, and emotions. Remember, a negotiation is not about you winning and the other side losing, it is about understanding the other side and finding ways to solve the situation in a way that it mutually beneficial.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post 5 Tips: Meditation To Improve Negotiation Skills appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

If one is not in the habit of meditation, then meditating regularly might seem unsustainable. I flit in and out of being consistent and not. What I know by now, is that, when I have decided to ramp up my mediation practices again, going straight back into long, deep sessions is a recipe for failure. Just like building up to a 5k run from having no running experience, you need to start small. Although an hour-long meditation after a period of not meditating won’t leave you with a torn calf or sprained ankle, it might leave you thinking that an hour is far too long to be doing several times a week.

Not only do micro mediations make it easier to get back into the habit, and to train your brain to go to that place, but they fit into a schedule whenever and wherever you are. Here are a few micro mediations that I like to use, and some that I am going to try in the coming months.

1.     Sit and Watch

I sometimes fantasise about the time when we had no mobile phones. Once, if you had time to kill in a public place you had very few options for entertainment. Sitting down somewhere, be it a bench, a wall, sometimes even the floor, and watching the world go by is incredibly relaxing. Watching humanity exist in a moment when you, yourself, have no immediate pressures, is a great way to allow the mind to wander.

2.     Peruse

Another thing I do when a moment of time needs filling is wander around a shop without the intention of buying anything. Again, this is a way of connecting to the tangible world in a moment of downtime that is much more organic and mindful than scrolling. Bookshops are my favourite. I love the gentleness of the atmosphere. I love book covers. Most of all I love the smell. Go into a store and notice it.

3.     Close My Eyes

 I did this in the wings of the theatre before going on stage the other day. My castmate prodded me because she thought I’d nodded off. I now know why my grandfather liked ‘resting his eyes’. There is something freeing about shutting off one of your senses for a moment. It makes you pay attention to the world in a totally different way, and, for me, helps to turn away from whatever was dogging me.

4.     Lie Down

I also do this backstage. But that doesn’t make it exclusive to performers. I’ll find a quiet corner to lie on my back, stare at the ceiling or sky, and listen to what is going on around me. Oddly, it allows you to be in the world for that period without having to be actively involved in it. Present yet somewhat invisible. Another wonderful way to allow your mind to relax.

5.     Think Happy Thoughts

In moments of irritation, I often search for a memory that gives me some perspective. For example, I have clawed my way up the career ladder and know full well that my eighteen-year-old self would be thrilled with where I am now. I like to imagine that version of myself. Or perhaps I conjure up a memory of a job I had way back down the ladder that wasn’t so great. This rarely fails to offer up some perspective and gratitude.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Micro Meditation Ideas appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Recently, I have been suffering from high anxiety, stress, overwhelm and a general lack of resilience. Resilience, unfortunately, is not something that is retained without conscious effort. This is true with me, for sure. No matter how good my ability to pick myself up and stay in motion at some points in my life, it all gets forgotten when my brain gets too crowded.

Ironically, for someone who writes about the mindful lifestyle every month, I am remarkably bad at putting this knowledge sometimes. Meditation is something I know a fair bit about but I often forget that it exists as a resilience tool. It is useful for so many issues. Not only this, but it is a remarkably simple thing to access if a simple tool is what I need at a certain moment.

Here are some examples of how everyday mediation has helped me in recent months…

1.     Keeping Calm with My Kids

Parenting is stressful. It is hard. If you are a parent, you will likely feel the same way (unless you are some kind of miraculous super parent!) My wife and I are right in it at the moment. I work from home, and in that home, we house a four-year-old and a six-month-old. We are in the heavy graft years. Needless to say, we are tired, dealing with growing people who are constantly developing, and short of temper.

When my four-year-old will not listen, get dressed, eat his supposedly favourite dinner, leave for school or stop jumping on his brother, it takes all the will I can muster not to scream at him. However, what has really helped recently is returning to my breath. If I have enough reflective energy in a potentially explosive moment, I close my eyes, take five deep and conscious breaths, and return to the situation. Sure, I’m rarely 100% calm when I’m back in the room, but I certainly have much more patience for it than I did mere seconds earlier.

2.     Juggling Jobs

I’m a freelance writer, right? This means working for several clients at a time. Also, each client requires writing in a different style or voice, and they tend to have vastly varied opinions as to what is good and what is not (my work, by nature, is subjective to the consumer). Therefore, code-switching is a daily practice for me, and weeks with a lot of different projects can become incredibly overwhelming. The people-pleasing part of my personality can also take a massive hit in these situations. Just sitting where I am sitting (often with rainfall or ocean waves plugged into my ears), and observing my surroundings (its sights, smells, details) is a fantastic way of pulling away from those worries. This meditation often leaves me a little less stressed and more clear-headed when diving back into those workplace expectations.

3.     Domestic Worries

My flat needs fixing. My kitchen needs decorating. I need more work. The kids need new shoes. My mum’s coming to stay tomorrow, and we have no clean sheets. The bins need taking out. We need to move house. The emergency service light has come on in the car. I haven’t put that shelf up yet. We don’t have any more cat litter. What am I going to wear to that wedding? Who’s going to take the kids when we are at said wedding?

There’s so much to think about, sent there. Things big. Things small. Things that all need to be addressed, but in what order? When will I have time to simply do nothing?

Essentially, the best way to take all of these things is to slow down, make a priority list, and do them one at a time. Even though I feel as if I have not time, I try to set aside a time at the beginning of the week to lay out a plan (that time usually involves coffee and toast). Also, when I am taking on the tasks, I do my best to focus only on the moment and the task in question, and not to worry about any of the other things on that list!

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post How Meditation Has Helped Combat My Resilience Issues appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

There is no avoiding the fact that adult life, whether the professional, circumstantial, or personal area of it, comes with periods of stress. Resilience is crucial to getting through these periods in a successful way. Indeed, resilience is defined as one’s ability to adapt to stressful situations, to retain physiological wellbeing, and to come out of the other side having grown in some sense.

There are many ways to bolster your resilience and to be more equipped to adapt when life becomes hectic and demanding. Here are some thoughts on how best to adapt to stress using mindfulness as your tool.

1.     Meditation

Times of high stress often involve a mind that is far to full of far too many thoughts, problems, fears, opinions, musical earworms that you have no idea how they made their way into your mind-stream… all sorts. Meditation, in all its forms, is a way to cut through all of that mental noise and focus your attention on a single thing; an image, the sounds of the world around you, the breath (we’ll come to that later). Meditation helps you to adapt as it gives you the mental space to arrange, discard, and troubleshoot all the things that are on your mind, aiding you to plot a clear path through the situation.

2.     Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is another great way to focus your mind on something other than the brain jumble piling up in your head. Mindful eating is all about being conscious of what you are eating. It is about focusing on the sensations of it; the aroma, the texture, the temperature, the taste. Once again, this act will have you refreshed and thinking more clearly by the end of it.

3.     Exercise

Exercise is good for you. Who knew, eh? Of course, it makes you stronger and fitter, gives you improved blood flow (great for the brain), and all-round better physical resilience. In terms of mental resilience, however, it is brilliant for making you feel good. It makes you feel more positive, inspired, and mentally clear. This is because exercise manages stress hormones, releases physical tension (which is often a knock-on effect of mental tension), and increases endorphin levels.

4.     Being Conscious of Your Inner Life

Simply being conscious of your feelings and how certain events and subjects trigger them is very helpful for resilience. The more familiar you are with your own emotions, the better you become at managing them, and not leaving them unaddressed for longer than is ideal. In order to do this, it helps to get in the habit of checking in with yourself regularly (daily even) and reviewing how the events of a day have affected your inner life.

5.     Body Scan

Lie down on the floor or a bed on your back and close your eyes. Bring your attention to your body and concentrate on individual areas, one at a time. Whenever you come across a particularly tight or tense area, pause and direct your breath towards it until it releases. Again, this focus work helps to release a lot of the tension around stressful situations.

6.     Returning to the Breath

The simplest thing you can do in a stressful moment, a thing that takes no time at all and can be done anywhere, is to return to the breath. It is, perhaps, the simplest form of meditation there is, and it’s amazing how effective it can be. Stop. Close your eyes. Focus on the breath, but do not amend the breath. Simply notice it. Focus on it solely for a few minutes to create am ounce of calm and clarity.

7.     Focusing on a Finite Memory Exercise

This is a personal invention (as far as I know). My job, as a freelance creative writer, very rarely has finite answers. Therefore, finite thinking is also a rarity. What I mean by this is that everything I produce is subjective, and there is never a right or wrong answer, as everything comes from my imagination. Therefore, when overwhelmed, I like to focus on some facts. A list of facts. At the moment, I’m learning all the British Prime Ministerial administrations since World War 1 in order. I am also now trying to memorize the years they were active and the parties that made up those governments. Sounds weird, I know. Intense, perhaps. Maybe you think it’s boring. However, I sometimes need to shift my brain from an exhausted creative space to a fact based space in order to reset my mind. Maybe this will help you too.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Mindful Ways to Adapt to Stress appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

I am writing this at the end of the summer holidays. My kid is about to go to school, and we have spent the last month visiting family, enjoying treats and days out, and throwing rules out of the window. It has also been a very social time, with outdoor hangouts with friends and family crammed into the spaces between work and child play. And so, because of that, habits and schedules have fallen apart.

We are conscious of this. Indeed, we knew this would happen, and are OK with letting it happen. That said, with all the indulgence that came with August, our bodies feel tired, not as well-nourished as we would like, and in need of some love and respect. My body is screaming out for some mindful attention. Some vegetables. Some sleep. Some steady exercise. It is time to lock back into some important habits to get myself, body and soul, functioning in a comfortable, stable place once more.

1.     Working Out

Exercise is one of those habits that can appear lofty and unattainable, especially if you don’t really like sporting activity or have mobility issues. However, exercise can be as simple as a walk. What I really mean is that moving more, whether it’s cleaning the house a bit every day, walking the station instead of getting the bus, or using the manual whisk instead of the electric one, will make your body feel more engaged and energised.

2.     A Conscious Diet

I’m not advocating a diet, cutting out foods or demonising meals that you enjoy and make your heart sing. No. However, if you are anything like me, you can sometimes feel like you are losing control over what you are eating. I’m referring, really, to passive eating. When I’m not paying attention to what I’m putting in my mouth, in other words, not eating consciously, I often feel lethargic and slightly out of control. I control this by going back to square one. I meal plan for the week, putting thought into the meals that I plan. Yes, this generally means that my intake is more balanced, but most importantly it gives me a sense of control over my nutrition; another step to making my life feel more ordered and comfortable.

3.     Your Habitat

The place you come back to at the end of the day, to relax and unwind, can get out of hand fast if you are busy. I have had a whip around this morning… vacuumed, put my sones toys away, sorted through a few papers… and now the lounge from which I work feels much more uplifting. I sometimes forget how much mess and clutter affects my mood, and a regular morning tidy-up can result in a very tidy house in just a few days.

These are all habits that help me feel more secure. Perhaps spend a moment dwelling on which habits you have let go of that you would benefit from rediscovering.

4.     Relationships

One of the habits that have been trickier to get into of late is making the effort to connect with others. Once we had all been in lockdown for a while, there was little we could say to one another, as it had all been said. It is an effort to reconnect with those we love and miss, but an effort probably far less strenuous than you might think. It starts with a text.

5.     Meditation and Mindful Moments

Meditation is one of the easiest ways to keep your mind clear and all the noise in your head in check. It is something, as referenced in last week’s post, that can be easily employed in times of mental stress when many thoughts are cluttering up your mind. However, regular meditation, even five minutes a day, will go a long way to prevent such build-up of mental clutter from ever occurring. A simple focus on the breath, in a quiet place, every day will be enough to make your daily existence more focussed and clear-headed.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Post-Holiday Reset: Back in the Habit appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Neil Seligman has been leading highly popular Transformational Mindfulness Retreats at Champneys Forest Mere for almost a decade. His retreats are designed for intelligent professionals who might be feeling a bit stuck in their life, aged 30-55, and are looking for a meaningful and impactful experience. These retreats are known for their nurturing and inspiring environment, where participants are encouraged to welcome their roadblocks, understand them more clearly, find tools to overcome them, and envision their next steps.

During this retreat, Neil will offer a dynamic series of four sessions, each crafted to help you access your own inner wisdom and cultivate the clarity required to move forward. The process will include group discussions, creative explorations (no artistic ability required!), mindfulness exercises, and interactive reflections. Each participant will delve into their own material while supporting the explorations of others, creating a fun, dynamic, and inspiring atmosphere where everyone is encouraged to step into new potentials.

The retreat’s schedule is thoughtfully designed to guide you through a journey of self-discovery and transformation:

Friday Evening Session: The Beginning – Arriving at Your Own Door with Acceptance and Compassion

This session focuses on grounding and centering yourself as you begin your retreat journey. Neil will guide you through practices that promote self-acceptance and compassion, setting the stage for deep inner work.

Saturday Morning Session: The Vision – Gaining Clarity on Your Truth and the Path Ahead

In this session, you will explore your inner truths and gain clarity on your life’s direction. Through mindfulness exercises and creative explorations, you’ll uncover your authentic self and envision the path that aligns with your true desires.

Saturday Afternoon Session: The Discovery – Noticing what Seeks to be Born within You

This session is all about discovery. You will delve deeper into your inner world to notice what seeks to be born within you. Neil will guide you through reflective practices that help you identify and nurture your inner potential.

Sunday Morning Session: Wisdom in Action – Practical Steps to Take You Forward with Authenticity, Purpose, and Joy

The final session focuses on putting your newfound wisdom into action. You’ll develop practical steps to move forward with authenticity, purpose, and joy. This session will empower you to implement the insights gained during the retreat into your daily life.

Participants have raved about their experiences in Neil’s previous retreats:

• “Enlightening!”
• “I would recommend it to my nearest and dearest.”
• “This retreat has brought me back to life.”
• “A beautifully deepening experience of the most precious part of me.”
• “Neil is an excellent and perceptive teacher.”
• “My soul is re-ignited!!!”
• “Nurturing, restorative, it provided guidance and much food for thought, with a gentle, invitational approach that was calming and reassuring.”

The retreat includes:

• 2 nights’ accommodation.
• Arrival from 3.00pm on Friday.
• 4 inspiring sessions as detailed above, starting with a welcome reception and dinner at 6.30pm on Friday.
• All meals: two healthy buffet breakfasts and lunches and two three-course evening meals.
• Unlimited use of Champneys facilities.
• Access to up to 20 different classes per day.
• Complimentary robe hire and flip flops.
• Optional upgrades for one-to-one life-coaching consultation or energy healing with Neil.

Whether you’re a beginner to meditation or have experience, Neil’s secular approach to mindfulness makes this retreat suitable for all. Anyone who wishes to commit to personal development, self-exploration, and transformation will find this workshop powerful and enriching.

Recommended Reading: “Conscious Leadership” & “100 Mindfulness Meditations” by Neil Seligman. Available on Amazon.

Optional Pre-Course Preparation: “Zen in Ten – The Mindfulness Accelerator For People Who Need To Slow Down.” View course: Zen in Ten

Dates: 30th August – 1st September 2024

Location: Champneys Forest Mere, Old Portsmouth Road, Liphook, GU30 7JG

Pricing: From £608pp

Booking Instructions:

1. Call Champneys on 0343 226 2222 and request a place on this retreat, giving the name of the retreat and the dates.
2. Alternatively, book via email by writing to cer@champneys.com.

Don’t miss this opportunity to transform your life and step into your full potential. Join us for a weekend of enlightenment, growth, and connection.

The post Transform Your Life with Neil Seligman’s Enlightening Retreat appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Anxiety is out in the open. It’s something that we, as a society, are much more aware of, something we talk about, and something I think it’d fair to say most of us experience at least from time to time. Anxiety manifests itself in a number of ways and does not feel the same to everyone, but I think it is fair to state that it can really get in the way of living a productive life.

My workdays and weeks are periodically stunted by rising anxiety, and I feel it for a number of reasons; overwhelmed at the amount I need to get done, imposter syndrome, tasks that confuse me to the point where I’m afraid to complete them incorrectly, and, of course, the distraction of whatever other issues are happening in my wider life. I have no doubt that most of you reading this will find some of those triggers familiar.

Dealing with anxiety is a big job. It takes weeks, months, and years of consistent self-work. The thing is, when you feel it rising in your chest and need it gone so you can crack on with your day, it’s tricky to squeeze in ‘years of self-work’! So, here are a few techniques and tricks that I find useful when battling an anxious day at work…

1.     Short Bursts of Work

If I can’t strap into a task for a long period of time (by which I mean, something like an entire morning of consistent work… like about four hours), I break my day up into very short bursts of around half an hour. This means I only have to dig deep for a short while before a period of rest. It also helps me to break down tasks into bitesize, half an hour chunks (and goals) which, in turn, prevents me from getting too overwhelmed by the entire body of work for the day.

2.     Be Productive During Mini-Breaks

When I break between short bursts, it helps to engage with something productive. I am lucky enough to work from home, and so, when I break, I will get a small chore done. The washing up, some meal prep, running the vacuum round and putting laundry away are some of my go-to’s. If you are working in a specific workplace, maybe go and make a drink, organise your desk or workspace, or run an errand. Whatever it is, make sure it is something removed from your work.

3.     Get Distance from the Task

Distance from a project is something that really helps me. As a writer, sometimes I just can’t think of the next thing to write. Sometimes I stare at a blank screen for ages as my imagination shuts down. What helps is to spend some time away from it, as very often, my subconscious brain will have come up with an easy solution to my problem while I’ve been focusing on something else for a few hours. But what do you do with those few hours? Well, you may be able to do some project switching.

4.     Project Switching

If, like me, you often have multiple tasks running at the same time, you may find it helpful, instead of doing them one after the other, to switch between projects. I will often be writing on more than one project at a time so that, if one project comes to a dead end or I am starting to feel anxious about what comes next, I can switch to the other and be productive on something else for a while. This means that I am always moving forward, even if it is not always on the same task.

5.     Meditate/Clear Your Head

If none of these are working… if your brain is just too scattered… if all you can think about is that sharp panicked feeling in your chest… then it might be time to just go and shut everything down for a moment. Go outside. Get some fresh air. Have a walk. Grab a coffee. Engage with the world outside the reality of your work. Engage with nature. Engage with another person (or a dog) in the park. Clear your head. Return to factory settings and try again in a bit.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Tips for Quashing Rising Anxiety at Work appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

If one of your resolutions is to get into meditation this year, but you are not sure where to start, then might I recommend this very post?

Meditation is not, although it may appear this way, some mysterious and complex state of mind, but is nothing more than the pursuit of clarity in the mind. It offers space in which to order your thoughts around you, as your consciousness sits in the centre of the mind, in silence, with a clear view of the world around you. You don’t need to be sitting in that cross-legged position with your eyes closed to do it either, it can be achieved in most positions and environments (the cross-legged position is pretty comfortable though, to be fair!)

Finding time to focus the mind is important, especially as both spare time and genuine silence are hard to come by these days. The world is noisy. The world is fast. Getting on in the world is much easier when mediation is a friend, not an obscure, inaccessible mystery.

Here are some tips on how to get going…

1.     Carve Out As Much Time As You Can Find

As life builds up again, spare time becomes harder to find. So, think of meditation time as part of your routine, not an added extra. Maybe you could implement it into your morning routine, or as an add-on before or after exercise? Meditation can be performed in as small a time as five minutes and as long as… well, as long as you like frankly. However much time you manage to carve out for it, make sure it’s consistent.

2.     Find A Calm Place

Meditation can be performed anywhere. You can plug your headphones in and meditate on your commute, you can find a secluded place in the city like a library or museum. However, when meditation is new to you, it is a good idea to try and find a truly calm, quiet and secluded place to practice. Your living room is ideal. Or perhaps there is an empty studio at your gym or an empty space at work.

3.     Create an Atmosphere

It’s not just about creating a calm atmosphere; it is also about avoiding things that create an unconducive atmosphere. You don’t need complete silence, but a bustling atmosphere full of busy people, a very bright room, or putting on thrash metal will probably not be ideal. Close to silence with a calming bit of music or nature sounds in the background works well. Brown noise is also fantastic, as it brings your brain down to a more meditative frequency. A room or place with gentle light is also a good move.

4.     Get Comfortable

Comfort is not only important because it’s nice to be comfortable, but if you are uncomfortable you are likely to be distracted by the fact. Wearing comfy clothes, and sitting somewhere comfy and in a comfy ambient environment will elevate your meditation session, helping you to get the most out of it.

5.     Focus on The Breath

The easiest meditations begin with focusing on the breath. Don’t push the breath to do something unnatural, just focus on it. This will soon bring you to a state of mental calm and clarity. Simply focusing on the breath for ten minutes will do you a lot of good.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group,  The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Meditation Tips for Newcomers appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions,

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny.” – Gandhi

There’s sometimes a misconception about good habits, that if you fall off the wagon then it’s all over. Never again. It’s done. This is something I used to struggle with when it came to food. I would put some personal rules in place to ensure I ate in a more balanced and healthy way, but as soon as I ordered a pizza or ate a bar of chocolate, designated the whole operation as a failure.

Good habits often fall by the wayside after a while as normal life makes them trickier to adhere to. This is normal and absolutely not a disaster. But, if you are feeling a bit all over the place at the moment, maybe it is time to wipe the slate clean and start again. Time to take a deep breath and put some good habits back in place to help you to feel more positive, energised and, well, happy.

1.     Meditation

Meditation is one of the easiest ways to keep your mind clear and all of the noise in your head in check. It is something, as referenced in last week’s post, that can be easily employed in times of mental stress when many thoughts are cluttering up your mind. However, regular meditation, even five minutes a day, will go a long way to prevent such build-up of mental clutter from ever occurring. A simple focus on the breath, in a quiet place, every day will be enough to make your daily existence more focussed and clear-headed.

2.     Your Relationship With Food

I’m not advocating a diet, cutting out foods or demonising meals that you enjoy and make your heart sing. No. However, if you are anything like me, you can sometimes feel like you are losing control over what you are eating. I’m referring, really, to passive eating. When I’m not paying attention to what I’m putting in my mouth, in other words, not eating consciously, I often feel lethargic and slightly out of control. I control this by going back to square one. I meal plan for the week, putting thought into the meals that I plan. Yes, this generally means that my intake is more balanced, but most importantly it gives me a sense of control over my nutrition; another step to making my life feel more ordered and comfortable.

3.     Exercise

Exercise is one of those habits that can appear lofty and unattainable, especially if you don’t really like sporting activity or have mobility issues. However, exercise can be as simple as a walk. What I really mean is that moving more, whether it’s cleaning the house a bit every day, walking the station instead of getting the bus, or using the manual whisk instead of the electric one, will make your body feel more engaged and energised.

4.     Valued Relationships

One of the habits that have been trickier to get into of late is making the effort to connect with others. Once we had all been in lockdown for a while, there was little we could say to one another, as it had all been said. It is an effort to reconnect with those people that we love and miss, but an effort probably far less strenuous than you might think. It starts with a text.

5.     Your Home Surroundings

The place you come back to at the end of the day, to relax and unwind, can get out of hand fast if you are busy. I have had a whip around this morning… vacuumed, put my sones toys away, sorted through a few papers… and now the lounge from which I work feels much more uplifting. I sometimes forget how much mess and clutter affects my mood, and a regular morning tidy-up can result in a very tidy house in just a few days.

These are all habits that help me feel more secure. Perhaps spend a moment dwelling on which habits you have let go of that you would benefit from rediscovering.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Reset: Putting Good Habits Back In Place appeared first on The Conscious Professional.