Do you want to gain more autonomy and improve your relationship with stress?
Isabelle Campbell explains how.
Isabelle Campbell is director of commercial finance at the Financial Times, a yoga and mindfulness teacher and also an accredited coach and speaker. She works with businesses and individuals on all aspects of wellbeing and personal development, including work-life balance, resilience, stress management and personal branding.
Our Wellbeing Manager speaks to Isabelle to find out more about her journey and to discuss how we can harness more autonomy and improve our relationship with stress.
- Isabelle, tell us about yourself and how you got to where you are today?
I am a finance professional, my daily life is rather corporate and financial, I am also the mother of 2 little boys and I have had a solid yoga practice for most of my adult life since my teenage years. It was always there in the background, but what I discovered as I entered professional life was that I was really struggling with my well-being and my ability to cope with things, the more I As I took on more responsibilities in life, the more I struggled.
I just got to a point after having my first son where I felt like I really wasn’t coping, I wasn’t exhausted per say, but I wasn’t fulfilled and I wasn’t. I wasn’t happy. So I started using my yoga practice to incorporate some of these ideas about being more present and not having to reach out all the time.
Since then, I have created my own training firm as a coach and speaker. I also adopted a stronger yoga practice by completing my teacher training and mindfulness teacher training. I had my second child, so the challenge of doing more hasn’t stopped at all, but what has changed is my mindset and the way I approach life.
- When we reach a point where we reach burnout and experience high levels of stress, we often feel like the only option is to stop everything and start again, but this can lead to more stress, anxiety and of fatigue. While quitting our job and jetting off somewhere warm to become a yoga instructor may seem appealing, it’s often not attainable or financially viable. What is your advice on this?
It is very common now for people to want to escape life when things get stressful and move to a different place, idealizing retirement and starting over, but it is very important to remember that feeling happy and empowered comes from interior.
We are so focused on externalizing happiness – if I can just go to this yoga retreat, or move on to 2 days a week at work or if I can just earn this salary – whatever it is – then I will be happy, then I will be filled. In fact, knowing that I have the power within me to reframe my situation and shift my mindset is what has been powerful and empowering for me.
10 years ago I didn’t have a coaching business, I didn’t have kids and I was in a more junior job so I had a lot less responsibility, but my PERCEPTION of what I could cope was weak and I just thought I could I’m not doing that. Fast forward to now and I have a lot more responsibilities but most of the time (not always, because that’s progress!) I feel able to cope and it depends on my state of mind and the belief that I can.
- What kinds of things do you bring into your daily life to help you maintain that mindset and stay mindful and present?
First, we need to be careful not to try to supplement wellness and approach it as another to-do list that we check off – I have to go to yoga, journal, do affirmations, check off, check off , tick – as this can create more pressure!
It’s not about becoming a wellness expert, it’s about living every day – I don’t need to sit down and do formal meditation, although I love it and it’s great – but I can bring mindfulness into my life, especially during busy times. For example, yesterday there was a lot going on, it was my son’s birthday, I was putting out the laundry and listening to a podcast about burnout and mindfulness and they were saying “every day take 10 minutes to do nothing.
For me, it’s as simple as taking those times out of the day to be, rather than doing, and bringing awareness to those times.
Awareness is key to any type of change. Being aware of your own response to things, your own inner monologue, the voice that was saying – you need to do more or you’re not good enough – and realizing that and saying – OK, that’s interesting, I don’t I would never speak like that to a friend but yet I speak like that to myself.
Awareness was therefore the priority and, from this awareness, these thoughts had to be reframed and questioned. Ask yourself: is it true that I can’t do this or that this person is better than me? Not necessarily, so let’s start reframing things.
- We know that stress levels are higher than ever and often doing nothing can be very difficult! How can we truly dive into these moments of mindfulness without being distracted?
It’s about becoming aware of the reaction, or perhaps resistance, we encounter when presented with the opportunity to do nothing throughout the day. Try to tell yourself – OK, for now, I’m not going to do anything, I’m going to put my phone down, I’m going to breathe and I’m going to switch off.
For example, when you’re walking around London, instead of getting absorbed in your head, in a podcast or on your phone, simply look up a few meters higher than usual and it becomes a mindfulness experience and you absorb something. different.
Most of the time our nervous system is heightened because we are always in need and there is always something else we can respond to. It’s about resetting your nervous system and being aware of that response. The power of learning how to transmit these signals to your nervous system is enormous!
For me, it gave me space to choose my response and I believe giving yourself space between action and response is empowering. It can be very difficult not to have an instant reaction and it’s all about realizing this.
It’s about taking the time to observe your reactions and beginning to develop the awareness to choose how you respond and create these very small, but impactful mindset shifts.
- It’s great to hear that small changes can be powerful, so ultimately, where can we put these tools into practice?
Watch the full interview and series on Wellness TV with a 30-day free trial. In this series, Isabelle shares the self-help practices that helped her manage her relationship with stress and lead a happier, healthier and more balanced life.
https://wellnesstv.moreyoga.co.uk/new_watch/empowered-practices—interview-with-isabelle-campbell-