PROGRAM INTRO
Thank you very much for your interest in this leadership development program. I am very confident that if you embark on this program with me, you will finish feeling and functioning better, as a leader, and as a human being.
This program has existed in my body and mind since I stopped triathlon coaching over 15 years ago. I have always been passionate about exercise. It’s part of who I am. I have always thoroughly enjoyed coaching others to help them discover their personal best. This program has enabled me to bring together these two passions of mine.
So, why do I call this a leadership development program? In my experience, as a business leader, you may be in a particularly challenging time in your life - responsible for increasingly complex business challenges, while still being a great human being to your friends and families. Often home life is at a tricky time, with growing children and aging parents. Your work requires you to be a 'cognitive athete'. Performance and success is dependent upon how well you are able to use your thinking brain - make decisons, solve problems, be creative and innovative, communicate clearly and stay calm under pressure. Not only, as a leader, are you subject to high levels of pressure in your role, but your ability to manage that pressure had a direct influence on how pressured and stressed other people around you feel.
As an athlete, I became fascinated with how our mind influences our physical performance – what and how we think can mean the difference between success and failure in sport. This led me down a path of studying the neuroscience of human performance and the discovery that, as a ‘cognitive athlete', how you care for, and move, your body, influences how effectively you think. Looking after your body can mean the difference between success and failure in business (and life).
How you move, eat, sleep and breathe lay the foundation for an optimised body brain system and high human performance. This Body Brain Reset program is built around these four foundational drivers. Over 8 weeks, we will progressively develop deliberate daily practices designed to help you (re)discover your personal best.
Read on below to see testimonials, the nuts and bolts of the program, the 8-week plan and our annual cohort schedule.
Listen to Katie talking with John Merkus on the "Rise and Thrive" podcast about her background as a triathlete and consultant, and how she has combined her experience and knowledge to create the Body Brain Reset program.
TESTIMONIALS
Delivering results for real people
MICHELLE BLOOM, DIRECTOR OF CONSULTING AND LEADERSHIP, THE ETHICS CENTRE
The BBR could not have come at a better time - with lockdowns, menopause and a difficult few years I had found my energy low and was experiencing constant exhaustion.
I am now a consistent mindfulness breather, calming my nervous system and allowing it to operate optimally which has impacted my ability to handle stress more productively -Â in problem-solving situations at work and with my rebellious teenage son. My strength and flexibility have increased.
Not only do I feel healthier but my bio feedback stats are telling me objectively that this is the case.Â
These changes are now embedded into my lifestyle which makes sustaining them possible.Â
Katie is a fabulous mentor, coach and positive inspiration who is thoughtful, knowledgeable and a supportive leader of the program. She lives the program and shares her wisdom participants, empowering them to apply the insights practically and sustainably.
THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF THE PROGRAM
Just as physical athletes train their bodies and brains to perform at their best, business leaders are ‘cognitive athletes’ and also need to train their bodies and brains to perform at their best.
The way we move, eat, sleep and breathe lay the foundations for a body brain system that is optimised to perform as its best. The Body Brain Reset program will introduce you to deliberate practices in each of these areas that will have significant benefits for your clarity of thinking, effectiveness of communication and problem solving creativity – not to mention your overall sense of wellbeing, energy and performance.
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The program has five supporting tools
BENNY BUTTON PROFILER
This neuroscience based instrument explores 8 factors that research has time and again shown us are the most important elements for our wellbeing and performance that help us to live and work at our best. The profile helps you to build a better understanding of what is currently going well, and what you would benefit from improving over the short to medium term.
BODY BRAIN RESET 8 WEEK PROGRAM
WEEK 1 - ASSESS AND PREPARE
Focus for this first week is on getting a baseline assessment from which to personalise the program, including daily HRV monitoring, Benny Button profile and 1:1 coaching call with Katie. The two GMB training sessions will introduce the first two basic movements.
WEEK 2 - ADDRESS AND BREATHE
In this second week, we will focus on introducing biofeedback breathing as a daily stress mastery and HRV training practice. The GMB training sessions will introduce the next two basic movements.
WEEK 3 - RESTFUL SLEEP
This week we will continue to apply our new practices and abilities, playing with new variations of the basic moves we learnt in the first two weeks and focusing on winding down at the end of the day to be ready for restful sleep. This is the peak volume week for the first half of the program, before a recovery week in week 4.
WEEK 4 - RECOVER AND ADAPT
At the half way point in the program, we bring the volume down to allow our bodies and brains to recover and adapt. We will introduce a new stress mastery technique, FLARE, as a short and effective practice you can use to manage negative emotions.
WEEK 5 - CHECK-IN AND BUILD
Half way through and it’s time to check-in on our progress. In the mid program 1:1 coaching session, we will re-assess to gauge progress and adapt the final four weeks of the program as needed. We will start the build our training volume again and hopefully will notice the benefit of the recovery week.
WEEK 6 - CONSISTENCY AND COMBINATIONS
As we move into the final weeks of the program, our focus is on embedding new practices as consistent habits, and playing with new combinations and variations of the basic moves.
WEEK 7 - TURN UP THE VOLUME
As the second last week, this will also be our peak week in terms of volume and effort in movement. The focus this week is on pushing that little bit harder through a progressive overload, ready for final recovery and reassessment next week.
WEEK 8 - CELEBRATE AND CONTINUE
The end of the program and time to celebrate, reflect and reset to continue. Final 1:1 check in with Katie to reflect on the impact of the program so far and set a personal plan for continuing. We will celebrate the conclusion of the program as a cohort.
COHORT INTAKES
We have four program intakes throughout the year. These align with the seasons and each has a slightly different motivation that drives participants. This also practically aligns with school terms to make it easy for parents.
