AgConnect Conference
I presented a workshop on Mindfulness Based Stress Management to a group of employees in the Perth CBD who had free access to a range of wellbeing offerings from the generous host building managers, Hawaiian Group. It was engaging and conversational as I challenged them to find ways they could apply mindfulness in their busy day without doing a stillness meditation.
From that session, I met a lady who was on the board of AgConnectWA, a wonderful organisation put together to develop the agriculture industry in WA. She said “I practice mindfulness and meditation a bit and I was really surprised by how much I learnt today and how easy the information was to take on. I would love for you to do that same style of presentation to our members at AgConnect. Just because they are regionally based, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get the same leading research-driven approaches to staying well as a person, and a business!”
“Absolutely!” I replied. I loved her WHY. Hell yes, the agriculture industry deserve this knowledge too.
So fast forward through one COVID-related delay to the conference and 15 months later, I get the chance to present to these legends. The man before me was an enthusiastic old bloke talking about robot-tractors and drone sprayers. Aside: The tech in farming is going bananas to improve the efficiency and decrease waste, awesome to see.
I was on just before lunch and the crowd had not moved from their seats in hours.. so when I hopped up to the front, I could see that in their bodies. “how long since you had a chance to stand up?” I said. Great ice breaker! We got into some mindful movement and straight on to a short guided meditation to experience the transition of our focus from broad without purpose to narrow, open and finally broad again (sounds crazy? you had to be there).
I went on to explain how mindfulness works. What does it really feel like to observe and accept judgement in the present moment. There were some “ah-ha” moments for people, I could see it in their body language. One lady, a reporter for Farm Weekly came and spoke to me afterwards. She said “I had heard of this mindfulness stuff before but I didn’t think it was that interesting. But the way you explained it [pauses and flares her eyes] and the way you made us feel it helped me to really understand it. I am going to ACTUALLY apply it now”
This kind of feedback warms my heart, its exactly why I do what I do. I put my hand on my heart and thanked her.
For the rest of the workshop, we discussed stress, how it feels, why the body and mind react in that way (they are doing their best). Then we learnt to shift the perspective on that and accept it, after we notice it. Then, from a place of acceptance and equanimity with the present moment, we learnt to practice intervening, changing how we feel with 1 simple 10 second exercise. I took the audience through a safe and healthy stress cycle using simple breathwork that was completely in their control… at the end, a nice little hit of dopamine is released to encourage them to want to try that cycle again… to practice the transition between being experiencing stress and creating a physical and mental relaxation response.
Light bulbs went off around the crowd. Question time was active, and we went into lunch with an enthusiastic vibe. I got to speak to lots of keen audience members over lunch and even had the chance to given them a post-lunch focus session to get their minds into gear for the next presentation.
Photos to follow when the photographer shares them.
