Louise Chester
Yes! We have people come and stay at the Retreat all the time who are looking to re-evaluate their lives. People sometimes book a 'What's Your Purpose' session which brings things sharply into focus. But just being there gives people the 'headspace' to get the clarity and perspective needed.Or ask your company if they can book one of our trainers for a Mindfulness is Now course for the workplace. It's often only a couple of pounds a day per person for the course - and the results are great. And often, people who were on the verge of leaving a company actually find that with an established Mindfulness practice, they find that they can actually enjoy their work again!
Ex-City Director teaches 'the edge' through Mindfulness
A long-term Mindfulness practitioner, Louise quit as Global Head of Telecoms and Media for RCM to start a retreat for the weary and frazzled and to offer corporate strategy consultancy to senior executives and entrepreneurs. Then she co-founded http://www.mindfulnessatwork.com/" rel="nofollow">Mindfulness at Work - a low-cost, science-based programme teaching employees to have 'the edge' and be more effective and happier at work.
How I can help Esc members
We have people come and stay at the Retreat all the time who are looking to re-evaluate their lives. People sometimes book a 'What's Your Purpose?' session which brings things sharply into focus. But just being there gives people the 'head space' to get the clarity and perspective needed.
Or ask your company if they can book one of our trainers for a http://www.mindfulnessatwork.com/courses/?PHPSESSID=f4718759ba6028f7bf6746410a12adf0" rel="nofollow">Mindfulness is Now course for the workplace. It's often only a couple of pounds per day per person for the course - and the results are great. And often, people who were on the verge of leaving a company actually find that with an established Mindfulness practice, they can actually enjoy their work again!
Currently...
I spend most of my time either working at C-level within corporates on strategy or deploying our Mindfulness trainers through the organisation.
Our Mindfulness training enables a happier, more effective workforce to embody the values of the company's brand and contribute more to the company and the wider community.
The http://www.mindfulnessatwork.com/courses/?PHPSESSID=f4718759ba6028f7bf6746410a12adf0" rel="nofollow">4-week 'Mindfulness is Now' programme is trained weekly in the workplace for 45 minutes, and reinforced with a daily email prompt and a downloadable MP3 for a daily 10 minute practice.
Before I escaped...
I was a Director of several investment banks for many years, working in the Telecoms and Media sectors, culminating in running a global team advising on billions of dollars of assets at RCM.
Having used Mindfulness to help get me to this very senior position (and help keep me there), I decided that I had done all I had set out to do, couldn't face the idea of repeating myself and decided to quit to do strategy with former clients and found my Mindfulness-based Retreat, Witherden's Hall.
My moment of truth...
The moment of truth was when I realised that the senior executives of many of the companies I was investing in were really interested in my Mindfulness-based approach to investment and to life.
I found myself most energised when talking about this because it was my Mindfulness practice that gave me 'my edge' - and they wanted to learn the techniques themselves to apply them in both business and in their wider lives.
I knew I could have a really satisfying career as a strategy consultant and I had a ready-made client base. And all my City colleagues were perfect candidates for my retreat.
Planning for it...
I had already bought a beautiful property near Canterbury, which was heaven-sent to be used a boutique retreat. And I signed up to LinkedIn so ex-colleagues and other contacts could find me. I got a couple of websites up and the rest just followed, with word-or-mouth being key to our growth.
With Mindfulness at Work, I didn't plan at all but had a strong intention wanting all cadres in the workplace to have the opportunity of learning to practice Mindfulness, not just the senior leaders I was working with.
When the science showed that both the grey matter of the brain and the neural pathways show positive change from 4 weeks of 10 minutes daily practice, I knew the time had come to roll out a programme for the workplace.
The worst and best bits...
Being without a regular income and with no IT help desk or other support was really challenging at times. And having to structure my working time while still maintaining some semblance of work-life balance does not come easily to me.
Having an amazing business partner, Caroline Hopkins, has more than compensated though. Plus being named top spa retreat 'to Change your Life' by the Times, having lots of amazing endorsements by clients and guests. But the best bit has been reading the testimonials from people doing the Mindfulness programme - they really do feel happier, more able to do their jobs.
Best advice...
The best advice has been to be more present, in the moment - being mindful about the waste of energy that comes from projecting into the future, letting the 'what ifs' run round and round my head for hours.
My advice to others is to understand your purpose and make sure your business ambition is aligned with it. Then make sure you really want to get to the destination, acknowledging that you have to enjoy the journey on the way. Otherwise you can waste your whole life waiting for a business success which might never happen the way you planned it.
Useful resources and information...
- I have found Jon Kabat-Zinn's and Mark Williams' writings on Mindfulness incredibly helpful.
- Also, Deepak Chopra's 'The Soul of Leadership', taken from an MBA course he taught at Kellogg Graduate School.
- I thoroughly recommend Richard Jacobs work on 'Purpose' too.
My senior women's networks have been invaluable to connect with like-minded women who occupy senior positions in all areas of life. The kindness and generosity of these women knows no bounds!
And LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have been wonderful tools for connecting and communicating.