His relationship with the career he chose changed when he was introduced to mindfulness. She was certified in the Spanish Nutritional Coaching, five years ago, to later pursue a master’s degree in Nutrition Psychology.
At that time, mindfulness was not so well known, even Pérez Ayala had to look for an international school because in Mexico he could not find any that had it in its educational offer. Later, the young woman began to give mindfulness sessions and therapy focused on conscious eating, without imagining that the knowledge of the practice would take a turn for the Covid-19.
“During the pandemic, it happened that everyone had to be confined at home, but also everyone wanted to be well, to be sure that this was going to end and they had to find a way to find peace of mind. From there, the practice was capitalized, above all, in companies”, says Armando Arrevillaga, psychologist, sonotherapist, specialist in psychoanalysis and mindfulness.
Like Pérez Ayala, Arrevillaga affirms that the first schools that offered mindfulness as a diploma, bachelor’s or master’s degree were in Spain, years before the coronavirus broke out. However, the practice dates back to Tibet and has a history of more than 50 years.
Why did it become so popular with the pandemic? Because of the benefits that the practice offers, the most notorious being managing emotions and reducing stress, says Rosalinda Ballesteros, director of Tecmilenio’s Institute of Well-being and Happiness Sciences.
“Basically by controlling the breathing process, we generate dominance over our thoughts. That spills over into other aspects of life, such as enjoying certain situations, managing chronic pain, becoming more problem-solving, more resilient and adaptive through constant practice. Three times a week, 10 minutes can even prevent cardiovascular diseases from being expressed, ”he points out.
The practice, then, is timely considering that in the world cardiovascular diseases head the list of deaths and that in Mexico 75% of the population suffers from fatigue due to work stress.
The business opportunity
But mindfulness is no longer just a practice for well-being. Now it is possible to find it as an educational program in various formats and modalities. The UTEL University, for example, offers it as an online master’s degree and the promise is to train experts capable of consciously and effectively managing emotions, using them as a tool to increase and sustain well-being in personal and professional spheres.
“This online master’s degree will allow you to specialize and develop skills with which you will be able to lead current organizations with a human sense and with a focus on well-being, as well as their tools, methods and techniques. Leading work teams, valuing the human factor as essential in any organization and linking continuous improvement to their professional role”, says the school on its official website.
Another case is Aprende Institute. Martín Claure, CEO of the school designed for students to acquire knowledge that will allow them to generate income, reveals that mindfulness is not the most powerful of his range of diplomas, that is, people choose it as a complement to other embedded programs at the Wellness School.
In addition, those who take it do it more for a personal issue than to start a business and generate income. “These are people who want to take care of their minds”, points out the manager.
Of the branch of well-being, only 7% of the students enrolled in Aprende Institute are taking the mindfulness diploma. 17% chose to study Emotional Intelligence and Positive Psychology, 14% Nutrition and the rest Care for the Elderly and Personal Trainer.
For Arrevillaga, it was a matter of time before mindfulness went from practice to an educational program in the country. In his opinion, this is an important advance, since a few years ago not only was there no access from the academy in Mexico, but it was believed that this type of practice was like therapy: only for crazy people.
Today, it is proven that it is key in personal and professional development. A leg of the human and conscious leadership table because it takes tools from meditation and psychology to transform the mind. Despite this, the challenge to overcome when practicing it is to believe that it is difficult to control thoughts.
“The ability is developed little by little. Formal mindfulness is everything that is guided and has an end. On the other hand, the informal is everything we can do during the day, like paying attention when we are eating or doing something at work. It is about being present when we are doing things”, explains Pérez Ayala.
Now, is it necessary to study a diploma or master’s degree in mindfulness to be a Zen leader? Ballesteros considers that not necessarily. It depends on what you want and look for the person. On YouTube or the Wellbeing 360 platform there are free guided meditations.
As a profession, Arrevillaga assures that it is profitable, it is an area that has been opened little by little, but for that it is necessary to study it. Pérez Ayala refers that each of his sessions costs 900 pesos.
“You can use the internet tutorial as a tool for a particular moment in your life, but it is not a substitute for therapy. Not studying it there are risks if the person dares to want to guide other people. For example, not knowing what to do if someone overwhelms you in a session, if they bring up a situation that you don’t know how to resolve or that you act from yourself and that you believe that your experience could work for another”, comments the expert.
Therefore, if the person wants to study to be a better leader or for a personal matter, the specialists consulted recommend doing a little research on the school, who created it, who is the faculty and where they are practicing.