Office Om
  • Home
  • Free stuff
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

Movement, Mindset and Mindfulness

Ideas and tips

What a difference a year makes

23/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Do you ever come home with tight shoulders, headaches or feel a bit grumpy? Well I’ve been there. I was working long hours, putting myself under huge pressure to exceed targets, then studying and extra voluntary work as well. I had pains in my neck, shoulders and wrists from sitting at the computer all day and was not in a good mood. Meanwhile, I was having one lovely calm hour a week in a yoga class which made me feel brilliant, but only for a little while. And I didn’t connect the two. Until, someone suggested to me moving more at work. Ding – an idea - I Googled ‘Office Yoga’ and found out it really was a thing.
Picture
You know that feeling when you know exactly what you want, but can’t find it anywhere. At work, I happened to have a small budget on a team organising fun stress-busting events in the Office and thought this would be a great opportunity to bring in some office yoga classes. Only, I couldn’t find anyone who taught office yoga anywhere. I was enjoying the benefits of practicing myself – just easy stretches that can be done at a desk throughout the working day. These simple things were making a massive difference. I knew this was something I wanted to help others with and I consequently trained as a yoga teacher.  Sometimes, as they say, if you want something doing, you need to do it yourself.
​Meanwhile, I had been doing counselling as a hobby outside of work and was becoming fascinated by the places that counselling and yoga overlap. I was also learning how improving mindset and practicing mindfulness can have a huge impact on everyday life. The idea of Office Om was born – a fusion of all of these things.
Picture
​This idea lived in my head for years before I began to manifest it into real life, putting it on pause whilst I became a mother. Then, after the birth of my third child, it seemed totally the right time to bring my fourth baby, Office Om, into the world too. I ran my first workshop this time last year and this blog post is to celebrate. Since then, I’ve run workshops for various organisations, such as The Intellectual Property Office, Cardiff University, Admiral and Natwest Bank. I’ve had loads of positive feedback with 100% of participants to date saying they’d recommend Office Om to colleagues.
Picture
​I was also lucky enough to achieve a place in Entrepreneurial Spark, a brilliant business accelerator.  Through them, I’ve been encouraged to take part in some customer discovery - actually speaking to customers - hello! Through this, I’ve been re-shaping what Office Om offers. For example, I now offer shorter workshops of just 30-45 minutes which staff can do on their lunchbreaks and these are proving really popular. I’m also starting to offer services to individuals with Office Om’s first workshop for individuals running in Pen-y-lan in Cardiff in December (click here for details).
​It’s exciting to see the power of wellbeing interventions to reduce stress and help people thrive, particularly at a time when so many people and organisations are investing in their own wellbeing. I’ve got so many ideas of how I’d like Office Om to grow and I’m really excited for the next stage of the journey. And yes, I still get tight shoulders, headaches and get a bit grumpy sometimes, but now I have a whole toolkit of things that help.

​If you’d like to see where Office Om goes next, please click on this link to join the mailing list and follow Office Om on Twitter (@OfficeOm) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/officeom).  Thanks so much for being with me at this stage of the adventure.
0 Comments

10 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health

9/10/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
Hello, to celebrate World Mental Health Day here's Office Om's first Blog. Do you ever feel stressed, overwhelmed, anxious or low in energy? Or maybe you feel generally pretty good and you want to feel even better? Here’s ten tips from Office Om to help look after your mental health.

  1. Talk talk talk talk talk about how you’re FEELING. Feelings can be pesky things when we keep them inside. And how often do we have this conversation: “How are you?” “I’m fine.” And it is fine to have this conversation. But it’s SO important to speak about how you’re feeling as well sometimes. I’ve seen first-hand in the counselling room how often just speaking feelings out loud can have an incredible transformative power. And if someone is telling you how they feel, listen, really listen, they may really need you to just to hear them. Anyway, how are you?
  2. STOP, yes that’s right, STOP what you’re doing every now and then. Just check in with yourself, at intervals during the day, and ask yourself what you need. A cup of tea? A stretch? To close your eyes for a minute? Paying attention now and then to what you need in a given moment can be incredibly powerful for your mental health.
  3. Get moving. You might have heard the phrase ‘sitting is the new smoking?’ It’s getting easier for our lives to be increasingly sedentary and this can prove harmful both for our bodies and our minds. Whether it’s going for a walk in your lunchbreak, hoovering, dancing in your kitchen or some office yoga, moving can make us feel so much better. How can you move more today?
  4. Gratitude. Think of one thing you can be grateful for today? How do you feel when you think about this? An attitude of gratitude has been linked to good mental health. Try listing things you are grateful for once a week and see how your mood improves.
  5. Bring your mind to the here and now. Often if we aren’t feeling so good, our minds are stuck in the past or in the future. You may have heard of mindfulness, the practice of deliberately focusing our minds in the present moment in a non-judgmental way. Whilst this could be (and will be) a whole Office Om blog post in itself, just try noticing when your mind drifts to the past or the future, and gently guide it back to the present moment. Notice how this makes you feel.
  6. ​Building relationships. Good relationships have been linked to good mental health. Whether you are feeling lonely or feel you have millions of people in your life, we can all do something to improve our relationships with others. What one thing could you do to improve a relationship this week?
  7. Ask for help. We all need help sometimes. I used to think I was Miss Independent and it has taken me years to realise I do need to ask for help. Whether that’s help from people around you or professional help, recognise when things are getting too much and ask for what you need from someone who is able to give that to you. You have a right to ask.
  8. Does something need to change? Sometimes, however much we are looking after our own mental health, external factors can cause problems. Whether it’s bereavement, a difficult work situation or a printer that’s jammed. What, if anything, can you do to help yourself with this situation? Who else can help you? Sometimes whatever we do internally, external action is needed.
  9. Karuna –compassion. Many of us have an internal critic who has a special talent in telling us what we do isn’t good enough or needs to be different. Notice how you are feeling when you listen to this critic. There is a yogic concept called Karuna, meaning compassion, which is echoed in different forms of counselling. Developing an internal compassionate voice can be a welcome alternative to our critic. What can you say to yourself today to be more compassionate to yourself?
  10. Try a different perspective – sometimes we can keep things in our heads and see the world a certain way, which can keep our thoughts trapped in a certain space. If something is stuck in your head, try seeking out a different perspective. Talk to someone you wouldn’t normally speak to about it. Or write about it and see how things look then. Try looking out of a window when you think about it. Sometimes looking at the world in a different way helps us feel better.​

Picture
​So what works for you? Share your ideas in the comments below, and like Office Om on Facebook (www.facebook.com/officeom) or follow @OfficeOm on Twitter for more inspiration in the future.​

Cathy Bailey

I'm a qualified counsellor and yoga teacher who's founded Office Om, to help people decrease their stress and increase their wellbeing, using a mixture of mindfulness, office yoga and wellbeing. I love helping people by teaching simple strategies to help them feel great.

Picture
3 Comments
    Picture
    Find out about how Office Om's online course can support you. Limited time offer.
    PictureDownload 140+ ways to feel less stressed in just a few minutes or less

    Cathy Bailey

    Founder of Office Om, BACP registered counsellor, Yoga Alliance 200hr trained yoga teacher, Mental Health First Aid instructor and promoter of making  daily life just that little bit better.

    View my profile on LinkedIn
    PictureContact Office Om

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    Archives

    March 2020
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    May 2018
    October 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All
    Christmas
    Mental Health
    Office Yoga
    Public Speaking
    Starting Yoga
    Stress
    Wellbeing
    Yoga

    RSS Feed

more info

Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Terms and conditions
​Contact Us

Search

Get social

Copyright © 2015
  • Home
  • Free stuff
  • Testimonials
  • Contact