Is prioritising my wellbeing the “new normal” at work?

During the previous 3 months, my teaching and client schedule has been very different from my previous 13 years of teaching workshops and client sessions.

The highly enjoyable workshop I taught in February, in a hotel event room, seems like such a long time ago. Like so many others, I had no idea that my entire practice would move swiftly online soon after that. I also didn’t realise the impact this would have on me in all ways.

I wonder what I would have thought then if I knew that shortly after, I would be hosting impromptu zoom webinars to large numbers of people, teaching techniques about how to cope with isolation and fear of a pandemic.

The beginning of lockdown felt totally surreal as I taught the Permissioning and Transformation techniques to people from every walk of life including frontline Doctors, nurses, mental health specialists and other keyworkers.

The level of personal growth that we have all experienced during this time has been immense.

Being a practitioner and wellness instructor through the COVID era has been a hugely inspiring learning curve.

I learned from Tony Robbin’s nearly 20 years ago that regardless of who we are and where we live in the world, we all experience the exact same range of emotions. I saw this so clearly in the last 3 months.

The free webinars that I taught during the height of COVID in the UK had us all sharing one online space, regardless of our titles at work and backgrounds.

This was very humbling and it felt like a privilege to have such brilliant tools and techniques to share with people from all walks of life, at a time when we all really needed to be uplifted.

Client sessions ranged from senior business people who felt totally isolated, a GP with high anxiety due to having COVID  to an anxious expectant Mother who was going to give birth with lots of COVID restrictions in the hospital.

How have people been inspired to move forward with wellbeing after lockdown?

As a result of the additional free webinars I gave during the height of our national state of panic, I have been invited by a public health advisor to share the mindfulness meditations on our HI CHI App with her large team of mental health advocates. She is keen to introduce some of the techniques learned on the webinar to staff in the near future.

I have also been asked by several clients to teach the Permissioning and Transformation techniques in their workplace to help employees overcome sleep issues and fears of going back to work.

Companies and organisations are so much more openminded now about learning new ways to enhance our wellbeing at work and helping with post lockdown anxieties.

This is an amazing time for all of us to really prioritise mental health and review how many personal resources we have.

It is also the perfect time for employers to provide all staff with a variety of opportunities to learn techniques that help to maintain a balanced state of mind.

A perfect example of this is a large charity I am giving a wellbeing webinar to, who are encouraging staff to take 10 minutes out of their day to listen to the Lunchtime Reset mindful meditation on our HI CHI App.

The current theme in my conversations with people responsible for wellbeing at work is about how can staff can be fully encouraged to listen to a quick lunchtime reset meditation, ideally away from their desk.

Whilst some companies have been promoting wellness at work for some time, this is a new concept for many others

When I first started teaching mindfulness, wellness and energy healing workshops in 2007, I would often teach people in senior management, who would keep their job title very covert in case their colleagues would find out they were interested in emotional wellbeing. It was ok to learn how to keep their physical body in top form, but learning how to balance emotions was kept quiet.

Today we have been propelled into a new era. Wellbeing in all ways has been fast-tracked onto the frontline as a priority for us all.

Whilst many now cover up with a facemask, the “new normal” is also thankfully to “take off our masks“, and be open about how we feel.

Providing staff wellbeing tools is now “the new normal” and this is all very positive

We have the opportunity to collectively achieve much greater levels of emotional and physical health, with a large amount of support from our workplace.

I have found it very heartwarming to see how much effort is being put into supporting people as they return to work.

Returning to work in the office is a big deal and there will be a re-settling in adjustment.

Whilst in lockdown I created the HI CHI App with a collection of mindfulness meditations as a supportive tool for people to continue to practice with after attending my wellbeing webinars.

It has been received with such positivity in the corporate and charitable world.  I am delighted to be part of a”new normal” where we all advocate equally for people’s wellbeing. Continually sharing beneficial resilience and wellbeing tools with colleagues at work is a new norm and I am grateful to be part of this shift.

If you would like more information about how I can help your workplace with techniques to ease the return to work and for much easier sleep, then please do get in touch.