Great Read on Mindfulness for Employee Wellness and Productivity

Here is a link to an interesting and informative article about the practice of mindfulness by organizations that seek to improve employee health, wellness and productivity.  The article is authored by two consultants from the Boston Consulting Group and cites mindfulness programs from innovative companies like SAP, Aetna and Bosch.

How Companies Can Instill Mindfulness

A Story of Tweens and Hypnosis

This past weekend I had the privilege of performing my Hypnotic Experience show at a birthday party for an 11-year-old.  Rather than accepting gifts, the birthday girl asked her family, friends and guests to make a donation to KaBOOM!, a charitable group that constructs playgrounds in underserved communities.  She raised more than $600 for this wonderful organization.  

Admittedly, I was a bit apprehensive about this show because the tween age group is atypical for me.  Most of my entertaining is for high school and college aged students, as well as young professionals and adults.  

Would the kids demonstrate the level of focus required for hypnosis?  How would the content of my pre-talk resonate with tweens?  How would parents react to a hypnotist?  These were questions I considered as I prepared for the show.

I elected to stick with my standard approach with some minor content adjustments, based on what I believed would resonate with tweens.  The party came together well and, based on the feedback I have received from the hosts, the Hypnotic Experience was a success.

Here are a few of my thoughts:

--Kids this age are just starting to develop the attention span that makes a 45 minute to an hour hypnosis show fun.  I made the right call to streamline the pre-talk content by cutting down on a couple of the anecdotes related to applications of hypnosis.

--Similar to older kids, tweens absolutely have an interest in hypnosis.  Rather than the health and wellness, academic or athletic benefits, it’s more of a natural curiosity.

--Nearly every kid in attendance volunteered to try hypnosis, which presented some challenges for me.  Of the 25 or so kids who participated, my guess is a handful truly reached a state of hypnosis with heightened suggestibility.

--Thankfully, the birthday girl was one of the kids hypnotized which allowed me to use a basic suggestion to demonstrate her creativity.  Her friends truly enjoyed that.

While I plan to stick with my performance niche, I do anticipate having the chance to introduce hypnosis to tweens when I perform this summer at the Arlington County Fair and Burke Centre Festival.  

Good Read in Soul2Work: Fear as a Root Cause of Stress

Through this blog I like to share articles I come across that offer insight and guidance on how to achieve a healthy and productive lifestyle.

I have included below a link to a good one from Scott Mabry on stress management in a professional setting.  He appropriately identifies that the root cause of stress is often fear, and then offers a methodology to for a busy professional to find focus and balance.

The Power of Creating and Holding Space

Soul2Work Blog