I was working in a profession, which I’d been doing successfully for many years, when – for no apparent reason - I started feeling anxious. I became nervous about opening emails, apprehensive about returning calls, fearful that there would be bad news, that jobs were going awry. I would wake in the middle of the night, worried I’d made a mistake or not done something vital. More than once, I got up in the small hours to check (never was anything actually wrong). I stopped enjoying work.

No personal development work I’d done over the years seemed to help. Then, someone told me about a mindfulness course running locally. I took the course. I began meditating (or mental exercising, as I now think it). I read books. I studied for a qualification in mindfulness training. Today I have a healthy degree of peace of mind, resilience and calm. Of course, my life isn’t devoid of all stress – but I have effective ways of coping with it. I’m still capable of feeling worried or overwhelmed or over-thinking – but not for long or acutely.

So now I’m not an expert in personal development but I am an enthusiast and an evangelist. I want to help as many people as possible access the benefits that I and my clients have got out of mind-based training.

I run training programmes on stress management, resilience and peace of mind. These are for individuals or groups, in-person or on-line, from one hour to 12 months. In the same way we exercise our bodies for physical fitness, so we can exercise our minds for mental fitness. For my clients, I act as a personal trainer – but for the mind.

Potential benefits include:

• Quieter mind
• Attract and retain staff
• Responding rather than reacting
• Reducing stress and anxiety
• Improved focus and concentration
• Changing unhelpful mental habits
• More efficient use of time
• Increased understanding of self and others
• Gaining new perspectives
• Greater calmness, mental resilience and peace of mind
• Breaking unsuccessful habitual patterns of dealing with challenges
• Reduce staff absence