It was a great honour to be invited to deliver a keynote speech at the conference last month. Over two days, close to 200 HR leaders from across the UK met to share knowledge and gain insights and inspiration to take back to the workplace. The event – now in its third year – was an invaluable opportunity for the NHS’s key decision-makers to shape and deliver the People Plan that would meet the healthcare needs of our population.
My session, scheduled at the end of day one, provided much needed time and space for participants to ‘be’, rather than ‘do’. In a calm and settled space, I invited them to consider the purpose of change….. and to see it in a completely new light, rather than the traditional default where emotions run high fuelled by fear of the unknown, stress, and uncertainty. This is a default where the tendency is to resist the path of change by mustering resources or shoring up defences to deal with the onslaught…..all of which may be moderated and tempered by building resilience. I suggested an alternative – to see it as an opportunity to learn, and grow, and adapt by seeing the beauty of change….where we look to the more health-giving rhythms and natural resilience of nature to inspire us. Going with, rather than against, the flow so that change can be embraced – even welcomed – as a constantly evolving spiral of energy. Food for thought.
We moved on to explore the limitations of the finite, conscious mind of everyday matters and the expansive infinite, unconscious mind where insights and meaningful change reside. To fully embody the experience of calming the mind, I introduced the first of three practice sessions which are designed to integrate the mind, body, and soul. A breathing practice of only three minutes, it provided a gentle introduction to settling busy heads through conscious breathing – literally breathing space with valuable ‘time out’ from the day’s proceedings. I explained that, in the expanded outbreath, the brain is flooded with energy which creates space to see things more clearly – head space without clutter. With a clear head and a quiet mind, we are able to move beyond the whirring finite mind to find deeper peace.
I chose the next practice – longer in length – for participants to experience directly how it felt to take control and how to let go. As in all of Corporate Soul Bridging Minds practices, breathing was a key component, but I also introduced movement in the body through gentle stretching and then holding/releasing the tension. This worked well - it was clear from groans and deep sighs – as participants could feel for themselves the tension in their bodies, followed by the relief of letting go and relaxing the tension that they had created. By using this particular practice, I reinforced the importance of controlling what is controllable and letting go and releasing the uncontrollable in our lives. That seemed to have impact.
The third and final practice was perfect to end the session. As a healing meditation, it had a very different quality to the earlier practices – a deliberate choice on my part to give a flavour of our range of practices and to move gradually into a short meditation. This made it possible to step further beyond the finite mind and cross into the deep peace of the infinite mind. Deeply relaxing, an aura of perfect calm and tranquillity reigned in a room of 200 people…..
Once ‘back in the room’, I revisited what I had covered earlier on change and what the key takeaway from the session was – that the only way to change our lives is to change ourselves….by responding rather than reacting to whatever shows up in life. The Corporate Soul practices enable us to restore our natural resilience (no need to build it from scratch, it’s already within us), develop a calm and centred space, and to connect with an inner wisdom (the wisdom of the soul) so that our quality of life improves dramatically. Finally, I reminded participants that it was a matter of choice and personal responsibility for each one of us – to choose to live with the limitations of the finite mind or to move beyond into the limitless opportunities of the infinite mind.
The session was successful in creating an opportunity for relaxation and in introducing HR leaders to the benefits of our practices. Examples of feedback included: -
“I can’t remember when I last felt so chilled”
“I’m amazed that I was able to switch off so quickly”
“I could have listened to you all day!”
“I do meditate but I’m not very disciplined. This has reminded me how much better I feel afterwards”
“I really dropped off….I can’t believe I did that!”
Apart from the positive comments above, I was given the best evidence I could have wished. One of the HRDs came up to me after the session and showed me the change in his heartrate on the fitbit he was wearing. The reading before the session was significantly higher than afterwards. Delighted that the session had achieved what I had hoped.
Ann McCluskey
Senior Associate, Corporate Soul Consulting