Stress Management with Disability Sports Coach ⚽️
It was a bright October morning.
I was a tiny bit stressed.
So I took 3 deep breaths and made a list 📝
But it wasn’t to make last-minute preparations for my mid-morning workshop with Disability Sports Coach. That was all done thankfully.
It was simply to remember what to bring with me across town! Working from home has certainly changed how my brain is wired. I’m sure it has for many of you too. And with in-person workshops being less frequent these days, the ‘stress’ of remembering things can quickly add up. Thankfully, my list meant I forgot nothing too important (except a laptop charger 🤦♂️) for our long awaited workshop on Stress Management and Wellbeing.
The irony was not lost on me, that finding focus and ‘how our brains and bodies respond to stress’, would be key topics I’d share on the day! But these everyday life and work challenges, really show us ‘how’ we respond to stress. They trigger the same physical, mental and emotional responses, which are at the root of so much difficulty in our lives.
So on a day when I was meeting the team at Disability Sports Coach - a team dedicated to supporting their mental health, happiness and wellbeing “so they can better serve others” - I was grateful for the repeat lesson, in mindfully managing my stress! And eager to share the lessons I’d learned over the years, and through Waking Waves 🌊
But first, who is Disability Sports Coach?
Disability Sports Coach is a charity using the unique power of sport, to enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of disabled people of all ages, impairments and backgrounds.
Their Community Clubs bring disabled people together to keep active, reduce isolation and connect with their communities. And they provide sport coaching, health and safety, school sports, teacher mentoring and training courses across the city.
What was the focus of our workshop?
Supporting the team’s mental health and wellbeing and keeping stress levels manageable, are a priority for Amardeep and the team. So, the workshop focused on:
building an understanding of stress
the effects of stress on our bodies and mind
Self-supportive ways we can manage stress in daily life and work.
Through group discussion and self-reflection, in-session meditation and breathing practices, we worked through several practical examples and scenarios we face. We also covered the basics of ‘Mindfulness’ and how building mindful habits, can reduce stress, fatigue and anxiety in our busy lives. While bringing much needed calm and focus in moments of difficulty too.
Key takeaways
Running in-person workshops of this kind, has a few advantages - not least the opportunity for the immediate feedback following a guided practice. But what I personally enjoy is that they provide a safe space for a close team (like Disability Sports Coach), to share and discuss how they respond to stress.
And it was great to see how involved, open and reflective the whole team were throughout the session. From recognising the impact of stress on mood, emotions and ability to focus, to understanding the role of supportive habits and ‘talking’ with others.
This provided many great discussion points, which I’d loved to have explored further. Another benefit and challenge with ‘finding focus’, when we dive deeper in-person!
“Mindfulness can be what whatever helps you to take a moment during stressful times and respond, rather than react. Only by looking after ourselves can we can better serve others”
Amardeep Gill, Head of Fundraising & Comms, Disability Sports Coach
This reflection on mindfulness from Amardeep captures the intention of session - to learn how to respond self-supportively, rather than always react in habitual ways to our stress. I’m really happy we had the chance to explore these in-session.
5 questions with Disability Sports Coach
I hope you enjoyed learning more about the work of Disability Sports Coach - it certainly inspires me to follow their wonderful work on Linkedin.
So, if you want to make a real impact in local communities, or are looking for an inspiring charity to support, or fundraise for, get in touch with Amardeep Gill, or read how you can support the team today.
Their engagement went beyond the day too, following up to ask for more ways they could revisit their mindful practice.
“It really helped that our small team could get together and focus on ourselves for a couple of hours. Perhaps there might be some tips on how we can revisit mindful practice as a team”
Disability Sports Coach
So beyond the free Waking Waves course and resources (see signature), I’m working on 2 more ways teams can stay engaged in practice and stay connected.
1) Drop-in session open to all
Join this live stream on Insight Timer on Thursday 1st December, 1pm - 1.30pm (GMT)
2) Waking Waves of Connection…
…coming soon in 2023
Get a 👉 quick preview here 👈 and join the waitlist :)
If you or your organisation would like to organise your own wellbeing or stress management workshop, or tailored course, please get in touch.
Have a wonderful day!
Derek
Waking Waves
📧 hello@wakingwaves.com
☎️ book a short call to discuss courses or coaching
🌊 Waking Waves of Connection 2023 - coming soon…
