Is Mindfulness for Everyone?
Do your toes curl at the mention of ‘mindfulness’ or are you already focused on following your breath without further invitation? My experience at Henley Business School tells me that mindfulness is a little like marmite; people either love it or they hate it. Given the demonstrated benefits of mindfulness, as coaches, do we need to find a way to make it more palatable to those who are less keen?
PositivePsychology.com lists 10 reasons why people may not engage with mediation, including things like believing it is a fad, finding it too hard or boring, believing that they have to practice for years to see the benefits or believing it to be a selfish pursuit.
So what can we do to help clients engage with mindfulness? Firstly, if we truly embody a coaching mindset, we have to drop any attachment to clients ‘needing’ to take up mindfulness, it must be their choice. However, there are a few things that can allow clients to appraise the benefits for themselves objectively and therefore make informed decisions:
1. Change the branding. The terms mindfulness and meditation can raise lots of assumptions in people’s minds because they have been used frequently in popular culture. Using a term like centring can prevent people making snap judgements about whether or not the practice is for them (thank you Sarah Leach for this alternative term).
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2. Provide some psychoeducation. There are many misconceptions about mindfulness. Explaining what it is and what it isn’t can help to rectify any incorrect assumptions about the practice and allow clients to make a more informed choice. This has to be offered lightly though, not as a lecture! Using the Ask – Share – Ask technique can help. Ask the client what they already know, if you have more information that may be useful ask for permission to share that, then ask what they make of the information (thank you Tim Anstiss for introducing me to this technique).
3. Ask clients to experiment with you. Positioning a mindfulness practice as an experiment to see what happens can lessen resistance. I once had a class of undergraduate students take an anxiety test, then offered them the opportunity to trial some mindfulness, then asked them to do the anxiety test again. Guess what? Anxiety levels went down in those who tried the mindfulness. One student told me at the end that they hated ‘all this stuff’ and would never have done it, but now they had tried it they were going to download an app and practice some more!
If you have other suggestions for how to help clients decide objectively whether mindfulness is for them, please share them in the comments.
Aon•4K followers
2yOoo this is entirely me - I don't like the 'M' words and took a long time to connect with them. So your three suggestions are really helpful.
Stride Coaching & Consulting•3K followers
2yGreat article Holly Andrews. Depending on the client I may introduce the word mindfulness but to be honest it's rare. I talk about breathing, or acceptance, or presence, or getting centred (as you say!). I was only talking to a client this week about the concept of visualising the verbal onslaught of a particularly challenging client of theirs as a wave in the ocean. It's coming, no matter what you do, but it will wash over you and disappear in just a few seconds. Accept it for what it is, and keep on swimming! This metaphor really helped them to find a way to deal with their emotions in the moment. It is actually a mindfulness technique from acceptance and commitment therapy, but there was no need for my client to understand that at any level, just to visualise the wave and move on 😉.
Inclusive Leadership Company•13K followers
2yThank you for such a practical article Holly. I am only finding myself now becoming more comfortable with mindfulness and mediation through my own yoga practice and for many years I felt that it just wasn't for me as I found it so hard to switch off. These are extremely practical tips that coaches can use to help clients who may find mindfulness beneficial but are struggling with their buy-in.
I-THRIVE•2K followers
2yGreat article Holly. Your thoughts certainly reflect some of the findings in my MSc Dissertation entitled Mindful Beginnings which evaluated the impact of beginning a coaching session with a mindfulness moment where coachee clients used worlds like centred, presence, etc. Totally agree with Tim Anstiss perspective that psychoeducation including the neuroscience behind mindfulness is a great way to introduce the value to coaching clients.
Sarah Gledhill Coaching and…•1K followers
2yHolly - I find even taking 3 slow deliberate breaths can help switch off from the previous activity and enable focus on the next. And, strange as it may sound, I try to practice mindful tooth brushing! It is one of the things that we do twice a day that is a bit rote, and lots of thoughts can crowd the mind, especially first thing in the morning as I am thinking about the day ahead. By focusing on the action of brushing, it clears the mind. Not sure what mindful practitioners would think of this technique, though! @