Mindfulness for Professionals (ESCP Europe London Campus)

Wellbeing and Mindfulness are raising considerable interest within companies, and a rapid adoption of mindfulness training in the private sector to improve wellbeing and performance is underway.

Mindfulness is the act of increasing real-time awareness of physiological, mental, and environmental events without imposing judgments on their quality or meaning. The benefits of Mindfulness training are many and include reduced anxiety, improved cognition, and fewer mental distractions. Mindfulness is a practice that asks us to think outside the box.

In particular, a number of law schools (such as Harvard and Columbia) and law firms already teach Mindfulness tools in order to improve concentration and reduce unconscious bias in a criminal law context. Moreover, companies such as Unilever, Google and Salesforce are using Mindfulness training for their employees to improve leadership skills and collaboration.

ESCP Europe is active on this side, too. A Chair in Wellness Management and Performance will be launched in Paris this year. Here in London, we are exploring the possibility of introducing related courses, and a staff mindfulness workshop has already taken place over the summer.

Our first open-doors Mindfulness event took place on 25th October with two experts, Ben Harrison and Jamie Rylett. The talk covered how to select your ideal career path, how to escape from the wrong career choice, how to become a mindful organised professional, and the formula for creating happiness in all that you do. The two speakers had interesting stories to tell based on their experiences in both business and sport.

Ben Harrison has a background as an amateur Jiu-Jitsu fighter, competing in Olympic wrestling at National level and is an ultra-marathon runner. Ben holds a degree in Business and Management from De Montfort University and started his career as a Sales Executive at Saint-Gobain. He now teaches yoga full time and practices mindfulness and gymnastics in London.

Jamie Rylett has a background as an amateur MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter. After spending many years working in Sales within different sectors for several companies, ranging from SMEs to a company turning over $2 billion a year, Jamie then switched careers and started teaching yoga full time, and running mindfulness events and retreats.