Mindy Thomas

Career Chat – Mindy Thomas Interviews Curt Woolford

Mindy Thomas:

Hi everybody. I’m Mindy Thomas, and this is Career Chat. We air every Monday at 11:30 AM and Tuesdays at 8:00 PM. As the job search continues for millions of Americans, we have had to take care of ourselves physically, and we have to look at our mental health today. Our topic is mindfulness meditation and the job seeker. And before I introduce you to my next guest, I want to give you some statistics that are pretty staggering. There’s between 200 and 500 million people that are meditating right now, we found that post traumatic stress syndrome has been reduced. The symptoms that is been reduced by 73% school suspensions in the last two years are down by 50%. Insomnia is reduced by 50%. And the most surprising statistic is that 52% of American employers are integrating mindfulness and meditation into their corporate institution. My guest today is Curt Woolford. He is a mindfulness coach and consultant. He has worked with large health organizations in the Philadelphia area, such as Crozier, Keystone independence, blue cross, and blue shield, and the university market as well. He’s a mindfulness coach. He’s a meditation coach, a yoga instructor, and a consultant to these large organizations. Kurt, welcome to career chat.

Curt Woolford: 

Thank you, Mindy.

Mindy Thomas:

It’s good to have you here. Curt. I’m really excited. I have a lot of questions for you and I’m going to kick it off with what can mindfulness do to help job seekers today?

Curt Woolford: 

Um, what can mindfulness do to help job seekers? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is, you know, reducing the anxiety that comes with, you know, the challenging job market and possibly being unemployed. And these mindfulness techniques in one sense are simple, but they’re, it’s very difficult to get us to do them on a regular basis. And that’s when they really have a significant impact. It’s a practice saying, you know, informally, you know, throughout the day it’s deliberate lives, there’s one way to practice mindfulness and the other, the other approach is in the, you know, the traditional sort of seated meditation practice, as well

Mindy Thomas:

As I understand it, mindfulness is about just being here in the moment, not worrying about the past, not thinking about the future, it’s taking advantage of this very moment. So if I’m twirling my pasta and I’m getting ready to eat my pasta, am I being, am I going to be mindful of that? And if I am, so what make me care about that Curt.

Curt Woolford: 

Lovely question. Now I’m hungry for that spaghetti lunch, but you know, mindfulness, when we integrated into our lives, when we’re preparing a meal, when we’re eating a meal, that’s an opportunity to practice in a, in a way that’s comfortable and not invasive and not effortful, but just noticing that where is my attention right now? That’s my attention on preparing this meal is my attention on eating this meal, the taste and sensation of food, or is my mind, you know, drifted into the past or the future, you know, which all of our minds so easily do, but it’s a bit like training a puppy. So you ask a puppy to sit and stay. And of course it doesn’t sit and stay really doesn’t quite get, it gets up and runs around the room and you ask it to sit and stay again, and maybe it’s stays a little bit or not it’s up and runs around and run. And that’s a bit like our minds, especially when we’re first practicing. So the mind drifts into the past trips, into the future very easily. And this is part of how we’re wired to protect ourselves when there’s, you know, threats in the environment and, you know, the way can get very, very triggered and very reactive and with the stressors that’s going on in our world right now. So the practices to find the present moment, again, it just come back again and again, just like asking the puppy to set again and again.

Mindy Thomas:

So if I am focusing in that moment, twirling my pasta, that allows what to happen. Then I’m not worrying about what’s going on out here. I’m just in fact worrying is the operative word. Um, I’m just working on this moment, like being right here with you right now, and my audience, I’m not thinking about anything else. I don’t think the mind can think about two things at once, but does that allow you to relax more when you’re, when you’re focusing in, on that moment with mindfulness,

Curt Woolford: 

It does. Um, we don’t always get, you know, that results. And when we practice on a regular basis that, you know, sometimes it’s practice and returning attention to the present moment may with the, the tube of release sense release and the learning goal and relaxation, other times, it may not, we may not get that. That felt sense of letting go in the moment. But what’s important to note is that when we practice and the idea is to practice in a way where we’re suspending strikes, we’re not trying to get anywhere. We’re not trying to do anything in particular. We’re not trying to make something happen. We’re just noticing where attention is. And then in a very gentle way where we’re doing our best to anchor it and reactor it on what’s right in front of us. So it might be making the pasta, it might be eating your food, or it might be just turning your attention towards the breath is we’re, we’re always breathing, could being a place to anchor attention. And of course the breaths in the body and the body moves a bit as we breathe. So it’s a very convenient place to, to anchor attention and capture and perhaps notice the body’s natural presence.

Mindy Thomas:

Well, I know that you are a mindfulness coach, and I know you do the consulting with large organizations. Can you talk a little bit about the training programs that you helped to integrate into the university and healthcare markets?

Curt Woolford: 

Yeah, I enjoy that work very much. And I have a background in corporate training and training design, which has helped me a lot as I brought the two together and then mindfulness and corporate. So when I go into organizations or universities and discuss, you know, what, what are their most significant challenges or stressors? And then I design a program that’s tailored specifically to their needs and then workshops, you know, maybe several hours over a couple of different days, or it might be one, you know, all day long workshop integrated with some team building.

Mindy Thomas:

Well, what are the challenges? Can you give us examples of what they’re facing right now?

Curt Woolford: 

Yes. As you know, the stress in the workplace is even more ramped up from what’s going on, is people that are working, you know, primarily to remotely. So that’s putting a twist on I’m working from home and the whole virtual world. And what we found with the research with, with mindfulness, as you practiced present moments, orientation, and you, you of create this and strengthen this muscle of present moment attention and increase your awareness. That increases focus. So even I can be more productive on the job when we practice mindfulness. And we’re all aware that, you know, when, when we’re distracted and we’re trying to get something done at work, that it takes longer, you know, our minds divided, it’s constantly going back and forth between past and future and concerns. And rather than fully focusing on what’s right in front of us. And it’s, it’s just fascinating that the more I practice this over the years and, and at moments, but when I’m, when I’m working in my office and there’s, you know, 10 days to do, or maybe 50 things to do, and when they can fully focus on what’s right in front of me, but I work so much more efficiently and with less effort then of course, other times, you know, the 10 things that are on my mind and on my to do list, keep running through me and running their shows.

Curt Woolford: 

So to speak to not until I, I focus and use some of these practices, do I get more productive?

Mindy Thomas:

I’ve been a big fan of Anthony Robbins for years. I’ve done the, the 40 foot firewalk. I’ve used a lot of physical challenges to get over the mental challenges that I once faced in my life. I remember Tony Robbins always saying, if you don’t run your brain, your brain is going to run you. And it seems like this mindfulness is a pathway to help us detach from the brain a little bit and, you know, get ahold of ourselves and get grounded in that moment. Um, I know that meditation is just another art. Can you talk to us about meditation and then the benefits of doing yoga?

Curt Woolford: 

Sure. So the benefits of meditation are considerable. And just to clarify that, you know, for some of us, you know, we’re new to meditation, we actually haven’t experienced it or have any we have just for a moment, but meditation is not about becoming a good meditator. Meditation is about improving the way we show up for our lives and in ourselves. So that when I sit and when I meditate, um, I typically practice in the mindfulness tradition, but when we practice mindfulness and we call the scleral practice, when we sit and meditate, we typically anchor attention on sensation of breath. And then of course the mind’s going to whine. And sometimes it whiners a lot, sometimes not as much, but we’re not concerned about that. He’ll resist. We don’t judge them wondering my, we just kind of watch it.

Curt Woolford: 

We grow this awareness and then we just bring it back into the sensation of breath again. And again, like I mentioned, with the puppy, we’re asking the puppy when a certain stay, he doesn’t, he gets up and runs around, sit and stay. Same thing with the mind. We love the puppy. We love her in my it’s doing what the mind does, but strengthening our ability to be present has so many benefits, certainly at work where they increase in focus. But if you think about anxiety, it’s future oriented and all of our minds run anxiety so that when we bring attention back to the present woman, each time we practice that return, we train the mind to be just a bit more present moment focused. This actually changes brain structure, that whole realm of neuroplasticity it’s fascinating. The research is, is conclusive. So the structure of your brain, the structure of migraine, anyone practicing mindfulness breathing structurally literally changes little by little as we practice. So the part of the brain responsible for present moments, orientation, uh, gets a little bigger than the part of the brain responsible for things. It gets a little SWAT and, you know, it gets much more complicated than that, but that’s an example of something that literally literally happens when we practice

Mindy Thomas:

Well, Kurt, there’s a lot of folks out there they’re saying no way I can’t meditate because they can’t break away. And the fact is what I found is, um, using an app is very helpful. Um, and what’s interesting is that you can define the number of minutes that you can meditate starting with a two minute app. I mean, not an app, but a two minute meditation sequence all the way up to maybe more than 60 minutes, if you choose. Um, that’s very helpful. I think because you can start out small and then build as you build your, uh, sustenance or, uh, your ability to the muscle. We were talking about the muscle, but we have to take a short break right now. So we’ll be back in just two minutes with a message from our sponsors right now. And then we will jump back on those meditation apps and how they can help you improve your lives. We’ll be right back

Mindy Thomas:

Hi everybody. And welcome back to Career Chat. I am with Curt Woolford. He is a mindfulness coach. He is also a consultant to large healthcare organizations and the university market in mindfulness training. We were talking about meditation apps. I heard this morning that Headspace is offering a year long free subscription to anyone who’s furloughed or laid off, which is fantastic. They really believe that they want to support the American unemployed right now. Um, I was discussing with you over the break that people, um, sometimes they just push back on this meditation. And I wanted to jump back into the discussion about how you can set up the meditation training guided, if you will. And look, if you don’t like their voice, just leave, just go to the next person. Cause there are some folks that have such a, a wonderful tone. The music’s beautiful. They walk you through that meditation, you shut your eyes, you sit back, you do the breathing and listen in five minutes in five minutes, you can feel better. It’s amazing. I think everyone should try that. I agree.

New Speaker: 

Um, Headspace is very well done, very well organized. It’s a great way to sort of be start sort of mindfulness practice to sustain the practice. The way to get curious about what mindfulness can can do for you. And I’ve had, you know, many students that work with me and mindfulness based stress reduction programs that that was their introduction to mindfulness and they got curious enough and they could start to see the benefits that they found their way to me and to study in the week where mindfulness based stress reduction program. I think that, um, I think that apps are, are, are fabulous, definitely helpful. I would recommend that anyone that’s, um, you’re diving into mindfulness with an app at some point, seek out light and instruction because it will take your practice to a much, much deeper level.

Mindy Thomas:

And getting back to the uncertainty, everything that’s going on in the world right now, if you can find some peace in just five minutes, 10 minutes to help you get yourself out of the funk because it’s hard. It’s so easy to go into the rabbit hole and go dark. And what I found is that my clients are using these apps and their insomnia. It’s being reduced. They’re feeling greater satisfaction and more positivity in their life. And God only knows, you know, we need that right now, especially in the middle of a job search. How are you going to go out there? If you’re like feeling depressed and anxious and stressed out in this job market, you need your mojo going. So Curt, a lot of people say, I can’t do yoga. That’s our third today. Um, you’re a fantastic yoga instructors. You know, I’m there every week. CURT’s amazing. He has a way of delivering the practice and getting you, um, into a space and into a mindset that relieves the tension and the stress. So I know you’ve been doing yoga for many, many years. Let’s talk about the benefits of yet another alternative tool that we can use to improve our stress levels.

Curt Woolford: 

Yeah. Yoga as, as mindfulness has become very important to me in my personal and professional life. I see, you know, yoga is as you know, meditation in motion in it, of course, you know, in the, in the yoga tradition, you know, all the postures were developed so that your body could be flexible and strong, that you could sit in a meditative posture for long, long periods of time. So the yoga tradition, you know, a little different than mindfulness and actually comes first, then mindfulness is born out of the yoga tradition, but it’s, it’s all about increasing awareness. And it says, you’re moving that body and yoga, you get more body awareness and you also get more groundedness in, in your body’s national presence. And of course, when you practice yoga, your mind can wander. So it’s the same thing. It’s another way to practice mindfulness. So where is my attention? Is it on my breath? Is it one in this particular posture? Or, you know, is it towards the end of the class? So I’m already out the door. So it’s very interesting that the wife’s, you know, the, the mind wandering, and again, this is absolutely natural that everybody’s bringing does this, but we can develop this to be more present moments oriented, which reduces anxiety and increases the quality of sleep.

Mindy Thomas:

Well, it seems like it always comes back to the breath Curt, right?

Curt Woolford: 

I’m sorry. Repeat that.

Mindy Thomas:

It always comes back to the breath in mindfulness, in the yoga, in the meditation. We’re always going back to the breath and sometimes we can feel that we’re not really breathing all the way down. We’re up here into our chest. Why is the breath so important?

Curt Woolford: 

The breath is, is very important. Cause you know, big picture is it sustains life. Um, in, in mindfulness, as I mentioned, you know, we’re always breathing and we’re anchoring attention in the body’s natural presence in the yoga tradition. There’s different ways to breathe. And in, in the modern approach and research around breath, it’s about stimulating the relaxation response. And this is something that’s actually really easy to do. And I’ve been coaching all my students’ friends and myself to do these slow at scales frequently throughout the day. And it’s very simple. It’s all you do is you count to two on the inhale. You count four on the exhale, exhale to be about twice the duration of the inhale. And you can exhale for the notes or you can exhale through the mouth, making a little sound like a psych, but you can experiment with this on your own weight, take a couple minutes to feel a shift in your body.

Curt Woolford: 

If you’re holding some tension and weight, taking them longer to notice the shifts for a mentally and emotionally. But if you practice these slow exhales long enough, maybe five minutes. And of course, if you get lightheaded or out at breakfast, reading loyally, as you find your way with these slow like a sales, you will feel significantly more of a lax. And what shows up in the body in terms of relaxation shows up in the thinking mind and the emotional mind. Here’s the beauty of yoga, relax the body and you relax the mind. So you can come to any one of those doors and get benefit.

Mindy Thomas:

That’s an important point. Can you please repeat that last statement? What shows up in the mind shows up in the body and what shows up in the body shows up in the mind?

Curt Woolford: 

Yes. I think we’re all, it’s all connected. And in the mindfulness world, we call this the triangle of awareness. So if you picture a triangle in at the top, you have thoughts when they’re thinking mine. I mean at the bottom right hand corner, you have feelings with the emotional mind, the left bottom of the triangle, and you had sensations in the body. So in any given moment, all three are going on, but one usually takes the lead that you just started. Your toe, for example, you buy is taking the lead, but then I guarantee you that your thinking mind and your emotional mind spin. It has something to say. And it’s the same thing when we’re dealing with the stressors in our life now with employment issues, employment, and working from home and it’s this, all these changes show up in that thinking mind, we show up in the feeling mind, they show up in the body.

Curt Woolford: 

So if you extend scan this, you can sit and say, I’m feeling tension in my body. And then you, maybe you turn towards some of these relaxing breaths that are slower on the exhale, or you notice your thinking mind is very active, tourists, concern, or anxiety towards the future. The breath work can help there too, or starting to practice, practice mindfulness with an app, for example, or experimenting with a bit of yoga, to get some tension out of the body and also turn attention towards the breath and all this, you know, affects the emotional mind as well.

Mindy Thomas:

Well, it really seems kind of complex within it. Doesn’t it? You know, it was interesting as you were walking through, the visual, as well as the steps and breathing, I started to do the breathing and I was feeling myself more relaxed and wondering how was I even breathing from the beginning of the show because it’s a very different sensation to take that breath, breath in and to exhale. Now I know that you’ve been booked heavily with clients, but you’ve now opened up. Um, the space has opened up for new clients. How can people reach you? I know you do national work as well as local Philadelphia and the Tristate area. How can people reach you if they’re interested in working with you on mindfulness, yoga or meditation?

Curt Woolford: 

Yeah, it’s simply go to my website, which is just my name. And my email address is curtwoolford.com. And I’d be happy to chat with you if you’re curious about these practices. And I love working with groups, learners, groups, small groups that love working with individuals to improve their life on this practice and integration of it into their lives personally and professionally. So mindfulness is a, is a practice where there’s always another stone to be unturned. We can always go deeper with that practice. There’s lots of different techniques and there’s ways to apply it in our lives. And that may not seem obvious out of the gate when, when we’re really stressed and when really stuck. And that’s where it’s helpful to have someone that can be objective and not only as a coach, but as, as a mindfulness expert as well.

Mindy Thomas:

Well, I can’t thank you enough. I’m counting on going deeper on my meditation practice. Curt. It’s been a real pleasure. Thank you for your time and you are quite welcome to my audience. I wish you a safe and happy week. Uh, if you have any questions, my program, you can reach at thomascareerconsulting.com. Remember your career is your business, and we need to run it like we’re a CEO. Have a great week. See here next week at career chat.