How mindfulness has helped me personally and professionally in my role as a trainer, supervisor and teacher
“There is a ripple effect with everything that we practice and cultivate. Compassion, care and commitment to values.”
Ruth Sequeira is a senior trainer, supervisor and mindfulness teacher for the Sussex Mindfulness Centre. She is also a psychological therapist and the Mindfulness and Compassion Training and Retreat Lead at the Mindfulness Network.
This blog post is based on an interview by filmmaker, Sarah West. It’s part of a blog series “My journey with mindfulness” curated and edited by Tamsin Bishton. You can see the film here.
How I came to mindfulness
I was working in the NHS and struggling with high workloads as well as stresses in my personal life. Previously, I had tried meditation classes and workshops, and although I really benefitted from them, I struggled to stick to a personal practice. As part of the NHS support for staff, I was offered a Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) course. I wasn’t sure about it but decided to give it a go. At the time there was a lot of hype around mindfulness, and I was a bit worried that it was a rebranding of Buddhist ideas. However, I found it to be such a helpful and effective course for me.
I was already trained as a therapist and I believed I was quite self aware in terms of my own mental health and wellbeing. Yet, I learned a lot on that course. I found the exploration of my internal patterns and my relationship to my thoughts and feelings really helpful, and it also enabled me to re-establish my connection to my body. The combination of contemplative practices, cognitive behavioural therapy and explorations around the stress response was hugely beneficial. It was the first time that I managed to keep going with a form of mindfulness practice that supported me in my daily life. I found it so transformative that I decided I wanted to share it with others. So I went on to train to be a mindfulness teacher.
Personal benefits of mindfulness
Mindfulness has helped me to feel like I am here for, and able to appreciate, the small and bigger moments of my life, that could just so easily whizz by without me realising. I notice enjoying those little moments like when the sun comes out, moments when my kids make me laugh, moments of connection with colleagues, with people in my life. It really helps my wellbeing and helps me access a sense of joy and meaningfulness at times.
It has also been extremely helpful for times where things have been really difficult, like bereavements and family breakdown. Mindfulness doesn’t take away the pain and the difficulty but my practice does provide a real sense of support and stability through those times.
And when I’ve had times of stress and difficulty, I find I’m much better at noticing when I’m getting stressed and noticing the kind of behaviours that come out. That noticing really allows me to take a pause and to consider what I might need to support me at that time.
Broader benefits of mindfulness
People can respond to mindfulness in different ways. What I found for myself is that the impact of mindfulness has changed over time. I think lots of people find moments of calm quite quickly when they come to mindfulness. Other people can find the compassion that comes with mindfulness really helpful. For some it’s appreciating how busy their minds are, and finding out it’s not just them that has this constant overthinking. We all have negative thinking at times. This seems to be part of the human experience.
Mindfulness can really help us notice our patterns, both internal in terms of emotions and thought loops we can get sucked down into, and behavioural patterns that don’t necessarily work well for us. The noticing gives us an opportunity to change the pattern, and to bring in more compassion. We’re often so harsh on ourselves, particularly when we’re stressed or triggered. So mindfulness can really help with things like mood, anxiety, relationships, sleep, and choices around how we spend our time. What I found for myself is that mindfulness has gradually filtered into all aspects of my life and that journey keeps on going for me.
As a therapist, I have found that MBCT has supported my relationship with clients. It has both enhanced what I offer and helped me to feel more present with clients. In busy NHS services you’ve often got a high caseload, and there’s a lot of stress. You’re hearing a lot of emotionally laden material, and it’s really important for us to support ourselves as therapists and to have space between clients. It might be just a moment to pause, to notice the effect of a previous session, to reground and recentre yourself, before opening to the next patient.
Compassionate Leadership is improving organisations
More recently I’ve become involved in teaching on Sussex Mindfulness Centre’s Compassionate Leadership Training courses. There’s been a lot of research into compassion within staff teams and organisations, and particularly around compassionate leadership. The research is clear on the benefits, both for staff, and for the people that the staff are serving. There is a ripple effect of everything we practice and cultivate; compassion and care and commitment to values.
Compassionate Leadership supports staff to work in a way that is meaningful to them. It makes organisations more innovative, more supportive, staff sickness is lower and staff creativity and productivity is higher.
Join a free taster
If you’re interested in learning mindfulness for yourself, then please do come along to one of our taster sessions (scroll to bottom of page). They’re free. You get to experience a practice as well as hear a little bit more about what’s involved in the various mindfulness courses that we offer. Most of our courses are online and can be booked by individuals, including Compassionate Leadership Training. We also are happy to run courses for organisations.
And if you are interested in teacher training, you can join a free online information session.