mindfulness tools for entrepreneurs
TRANSCRIPT
Mindfulness Tools
for Entrepreneurs
Miriam BekkoucheFounderThe Brain Spa
General AssemblyFebruary 25, 2015
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Miriam BekkoucheFounder of The Brain Spa
Contact: [email protected]@miriam_leia@brainspanyc
Nadine BekkoucheFounder of NBE Education
Contact: [email protected]@NBE_education
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Our focus for the next 90 mins…
• Why Are We Here?
• Let’s Talk About Stress, Baby
• What Can We Do About It?
• Your Brain Waves on Mindfulness
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Happiness =
Connection (Love) +
Having and Pursuing meaningful goals that create
flow and engagement (Work)
The Psychological Price of EntrepreneurshipNo one said building a company is easy. But it's time to be honest about how brutal it really is--and the price so many founders secretly pay.
- Inc Magazine
Tech Has a Depression ProblemStart-up founders might seem like they've got it made, but long hours, isolation, and stress put them at risk of mental illness.
- The Atlantic
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• Stress has an extremely adaptive function: it allows us to go for longer, to work harder, and to survive traumas and hard experiences
• It’s also fun, and productive, and allows us to get into flow (“the zone”)
Benefits of Stress
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• But that’s all short term
• Performance is not meant to go on forever, leads to chronic stress
• Chronic stress does not have any benefits, it is simply extremely bad for the health
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• These are basically 2 stress systems in the body: the NS (NE and NA) and the HPA axis
• Both can get burned out, supposed to turn them off REGULARLY
• If you are cramming, or running around, or have a deadline, you are activating these systems.
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Chronic Stress
• Chronic stress is harmful to almost every body system
• Chronic stress also provides a good basis for the development of emotional and mental disorders
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Being Flexible
• We are not meant to spend long periods of time in a state of stress or performance
• We are meant to regularly and thoroughly shut these stress systems off
• The problem is we are creatures of habit, and being stressed out can become a habit
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There’s good news…
• We can practice feeling good
• Develop new psychological and physiological habits
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5 Stress Modalities
• EMG
– Muscle tension
• GSR
– Skin conductance
• Respiration
• EKG (ECG)
– Cardiac rhythms, HRV
• Peripheral temperature
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How?
• The body is very intelligent
• CNS = PSN + SNS
• Always seeking balance
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Mindfulness
• 1) Decrease chronic stress
– Get in the habit of feeling calm and peaceful at rest
• 2) Optimise acute stress
– Get in the habit of feeling engaged in the present moment
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Mindfulness MeditationChanges Your Brain in 8-Weeks
• Areas related to emotional regulation, positive emotion, self-control increase in volume
• Cortical thickness increases in areas related to awareness, focus, attention, and decision-making
• Grey matter regenerates
• Amygdala shrinks
“People have been transforming their minds for thousands of years. Every major world religion includes some form of contemplative exercise, though today meditation is often practiced apart from any belief system.
Meditation is pragmatic, the psychological and emotional equivalent of physical exercise.”
Sharon SalzbergCo-Founder
Insight Meditation Society
Miriam BekkoucheFounder of The Brain Spa
Contact: [email protected]@miriam_leia
Nadine BekkoucheFounder of NBE Education
Contact: [email protected]@NBE_education