Welcome to Practical Mindfulness!

Are you struggling to cope with all the stress in your life? The Practical Mindfulness program can help you with that!

Practical Mindfulness is relevant for you if you answer yes to any of these questions:
Q: Is the overload of priorities getting to you? 
Q: Are you juggling too many balls? 
Q: Do you feel  anxious about the future?
Q: Have you learned a mindfulness meditation and/or some mindfulness basics and now you’d like to find a way to apply it more effectively in all areas of your life?

THE KEY to performance in a world of complexity is knowing how to simplify! The Practical Mindfulness program is all about that. You’ll gain a simple and clear—and therefore very powerful—model through which to view your thoughts and emotions (in other words, your thinking and emotional processes). Instead of having to analyse your thoughts and emotions for hours, you’ll be able to see directly what’s causing them to go in a particular direction, and you’ll know what practical steps you can take to move them in a more positive and functional direction. That means you’ll spend less time worrying, ruminating and analysing. Instead, you’ll be equipped to make quick, clear decisions based on what’s real and what’s relevant.  The result will be a more peaceful, balanced and effective movement through life.

This is not just another mindfulness program. It’s been developed, firstly, by an ICF-accredited life and executive coach trained in Consciousness Coaching and various forms of meditation, including Vipassana—and who has decades of experience with both. And secondly, by a clinical psychologist with nearly three decades of experience, and who specialises in CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy), which is the most evidence-based form of psychology and which has incorporated mindfulness because it’s so effective. The tools and techniques of both modalities are presented through a mindfulness lens, made simple through their Three Key Elements. 

New or experienced?

If you’re new to mindfulness, this program will empower you to develop a mindfulness practice that suits your lifestyle and which enables you to remain calm, stay focused and make the best decisions in any situation!

If you’ve had some experience with mediation and mindfulness, this program will empower you to take your mindfulness practice further by mixing in some coaching tools and CBT techniques and learning to apply it in all areas of your life. 

With the Practical Mindfulness Program you will:
— Gain an understanding of your own mind and its habits;
— Learn a simple method to focus your attention in a relaxed manner;
— Learn to read situations accurately and make clear decisions based on what matters;
— Find the clarity and confidence to remain calm no matter what’s going on around you;
— Develop the time and space to think clearly, even when under pressure.

Listen to Neil describing the benefits of Practical Mindfulness in three minutes:

Format
6 x two-hour modules: each module features a particular practical application of mindfulness. There are live workshops (public and corporate) and the entire program is available online.

‘A must for anyone wanting to understand and apply practical mindfulness in everyday life.’ – Fiona
‘I left the workshop with much more confidence and renewed enthusiasm to live in the present.’ – Claire
‘Interactive, logical and very inspiring.’ – Resia

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Breathing Meditation

The Practical Mindfulness program was developed jointly by clinical psychologist and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) specialist Dr Colinda Linde, and high-performance life and executive coach Neil Bierbaum.

COLINDA has been a clinical psychologist since 1993 and is the former chairperson of SADAG. She specialises in CBT for anxiety disorders (panic, social phobia), and works extensively in the areas of stress management, work-life balance, sleep issues, assertion and mindfulness. Colinda also practises and teaches meditation and founded the self-help CBT website thoughtsfirst.com.

NEIL has been a life and executive coach since 2005 and has practised and taught meditation for more than 20 years. The author of six books on mindfulness and personal effectiveness, he has worked with large corporates, SMEs, entrepreneurs and private clients—many of them looking to manage the enormous stress and increasing complexity in their work and personal lives and make sure they achieve their potential in an uncertain world.

“We believe that everybody can learn to manage themselves in order to have a different, better experience of life.”

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Get the Sensation Meditation download.

The Practical Mindfulness program consists of six modules. The first module is an introduction—or refresher—and the remaining five are all about how to apply what you learn in Module 1.

THE FIRST module introduces a simple, yet powerful model of the mind and our Three Key Elements of mindfulness. You’ll also learn two forms of meditation. While this module is essential for beginners, it will also be beneficial to those who are more experienced. It will help you to tune in to the practice again, and you’ll become familiar with our models, which we’ll refer back to throughout the course. We are confident that whether you’re new or experienced, you’ll gain a few perspectives and insights that you haven’t heard elsewhere before!

The remaining five modules are all applications of the learning in the first module. You’ll learn how to apply the Three Key Elements to your emotions (Module 2), to managing stress (Module 3), to making decisions (Module 4), to getting into the flow state (the state of optimal experience that arises when you’re completely present and performing at your peak, no matter what the task or activity—that’s in Module 5), and finally to your relationships (Module 6).

You could treat the first set of three modules (Modules 1-3) as basic essentials for getting through daily life, and the second set of three modules (Modules 4-6) as advanced-level applications.

The outcomes of each module, plus some supporting media, are provided below.

Outcomes: What You Can Expect from Each Module

1  Essentials of Presence & Mindfulness
Know what mindfulness is and how it can benefit you. You will walk away with a simple practice that can be used anytime, anywhere.
Outcomes:
Gain an understanding of your own mind and its habits;
Learn a simple method to focus your attention in a relaxed manner;
Learn to read situations more accurately based on what’s real and what’s relevant;
Find out how to ground and presence yourself no matter what’s going on around you.

Here’s a short (3½-minute) video of Neil presenting the Four Quadrants model from Module 1 that explains why the mind is never at peace.
Click on the image. 

 

 

 2  Emotion Regulation
Learn a mindfulness-based practice that will enable you to manage and direct your emotions in a way that is purposeful and constructive.
Outcomes:
Gain an understanding of your own emotions and how they work;
Learn to identify your triggers and know when you are in the “red zone”;
Know what to do when are you are experiencing high levels of emotion;
Be better able to regulate your responses to emotion.

You can also visit the Practical
Mindfulness YouTube channel for
short videos describing each of
the modules. Click on the image. 

 

 3  Stress & Building Resilience
Learn to apply your mindfulness-based practice to stressful situations and thereby recover more quickly and build resilience.
Outcomes:
Gain an understanding of the key determinant of stress from a mindfulness perspective;
Learn to identify your own “red flags” for when you are entering the stress zone;
Develop your ability to instantly reduce your experience of stress in any situation;
Be able to identify and clear out one of the main causes of stress from your life and keep it clear.

Link to the YouTube channel.

4  Complexity and Decision-Making
Learn a mindfulness-based practice that will enable you to read situations accurately and make clear decisions based on what matters!
Listen to this audio description of the module content and outcomes: 

Outcomes:
Gain an awareness and understanding of your dominant decision-making drivers;
Learn to self-observe and balance your three “centres of intelligence”;
Be able to distinguish between what matters and what doesn’t matter;
Learn how to manage uncertainty and deal with paradox.

Link to the YouTube channel.

5  Presence & Flow for High  Performance
Learn a mindfulness-based practice that will enable you to develop presence in a way that can activate and sustain the flow state.
Listen to this audio description of the module content and outcomes: 

Outcomes:
Gain an understanding of the power of presence and the nature of flow;
Learn how to recognise – and how to activate – the state of flow;
Learn to integrate “making happen” versus “letting happen”;
Discover the main obstacle to remaining in flow when you find yourself in flow.

Link to the YouTube channel.

6  Authentic Being & Relating
Learn to integrate your mindfulness-based practices in a way that can lead to a more authentic way of being and relating to others.
Listen to this audio description of the module content and outcomes: 

Outcomes:
Gain an understanding of the link between awareness, presence and authenticity;
Learn how to generate authenticity from being present, aware and non-judgemental;
Learn to apply mindfulness principles and practices to the relating context (work, personal and public);
Start to develop an authentic personal or leadership brand using the three key elements of mindfulness.

Link to the YouTube channel. 

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Sensation Meditation

The entire Practical Mindfulness program is available online! Yes, that’s right! All six modules can be done at a time and place that suits you!

BEFORE CORONAVIRUS was even a thing, there was online learning. OK, it was still unfamiliar to many who insisted on live interactions. But ever since half the world went on lockdown, and people were forced to try it, most have found that the online life is quite tolerable, and sometimes even better than the real thing. For one thing, there’s no traffic to deal with, and that not only saves time, it does a lot of good for the planet, too.

There you go, you have all the reasons you need to try the online version of the Practical Mindfulness program! Oh, one more thing: it’s ridiculously cheap! The cost of the entire program is just a little more than a single consultation with one of us. So now that we’ve got that out of the way, what are you waiting for? Oh, you want more information? Sure. Read on.

What’s in the Practical Mindfulness online program?

The online study program covers all the content of the live program and more. It includes video introductions, guided meditations, excerpts from the book, plus exercises that are unique to this format.

Each module consists of between ten and 14 lessons. Each lesson consists of a video introduction (sometimes two), followed by downloadable documents that feature reading(s) and/or written exercise(s). There are audio versions of the downloadable documents so you can listen instead, if that’s your preferred learning style.

It’s easily accessible via laptop or mobile phone. Plus, once you have your login, you’ll have it forever. That means you’ll have ongoing access to the material once you’ve signed up for the course, so you’ll be able to watch the videos as refreshers and use the guided meditations for your ongoing regular practice.

Lessons are between 20 and 40 minutes in length, depending on how fast you read and how fully you engage in the exercises. Videos are mostly about five minutes long; some are shorter, and a couple are about 15 minutes long. Total length of time that you’ll spend on each module is therefore about 3 to 5 hours. You’ll be able to break that down into shorter 40-minute or one-hour sessions.

There are two guided meditations, one of which has two versions: a 10-minute and a 20-minute version. You’ll have continued access to all of them once you’ve completed Module 1.

Here’s a sample video from the course:

Still not convinced? If you go to the Courses page and click on each course, you’ll find some lessons are available for a free preview! Or click here for more detail on the module outcomes. Otherwise, sign up now using the link below.

What are you waiting for? Wherever you are, is the entry point!

Sign up now!

 

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Support your people to develop mindfulness-based practices that suit their busy lifestyles and which can enable them to remain calm, stay focused and make the best decisions in any situation!

RESEARCH SHOWS that as many as 25% of employees in some countries have been diagnosed with depression. Many of these report having too many competing priorities and not knowing how to cope, plus increasing complexity and anxiety about the future.

A great number of the problems that we as consultants are presented with by our corporate clients can be dealt with through the application of mindfulness in the workplace. This applies not only to anxiety and depression, but also to performance related issues. For example, one group of people who benefit greatly are project managers! They learn to manage their attention so that they only focus on what they can control.

In fact, elements from this program are nearly always among the solutions we provide. After all, as we said on the Home page, the key to performance in a world of complexity is knowing how to simplify!

Mindfulness in the workplace enhances the impact of other interventions and programs

In other words, mindfulness is not just about being more present while eating and taking a break from your phone. In fact, it’s not just about reducing stress either. Mindfulness, properly applied and taken to its logical conclusion, is a powerful tool for improving performance in all areas of life and work. It also helps to improve one’s experience of life and work. That’s why we say that mindfulness provides the “salt in the mix”—it enhances the impact of other interventions and programs.

In the video below, Practical Mindfulness co-founder Dr Colinda Linde talks about the ways in which cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and the school of Behaviourism in general, has recognised and embraced mindfulness as a key enhancer to its own processes.

The Practical Mindfulness program is popular and respected in the workplace among its corporate clients. It can be offered live and in-person, or online, either tailored as a once-off event or in its native format as a series of modules.

With the Practical Mindfulness Program, your people will:
— Learn simple a method to focus their attention in a relaxed manner;
— Learn to read situations accurately and make clear decisions based on what matters;
— Find the clarity and confidence to remain calm no matter what’s going on around them;
— Develop the time and space to think clearly, even when under pressure.

Formats:
The program can be delivered in any of the following formats:
— 6 x 2½-hour nano-sessions delivered live or online;
— Once-off talks and workshops delivered live or online;
— A white-labelled (custom branded) version of the online program is available.

Modules:
1  Essentials of Presence & Mindfulness
2 Emotion Regulation
3 Stress & Building Resilience
4 Complexity and Decision-Making
5 Presence & Flow for High Performance
6 Authentic Being & Relating

Click here for more detail on the module outcomes.

Enquire now!

 

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Webinar Recording | Building Resilience through Equanimity

At the height of the coronavirus lockdown, Neil was invited by corporate wellness consultants Maureen Kark & Associates to give a lunchtime talk via Zoom to one of their clients. The theme was “Building resilience during lockdown” and he approached it through the lens of developing and practising equanimity. Below is a recording of the full presentation.

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