Dr. Elise Bialylew explains how mindful meditation can benefit the workplace in as little as two minutes per day. She highlights the transformative power of mindfulness, supported by research, and offers practical ways to integrate it into work routines.
Being Mindful in May: Our guide for developing the 10 minute daily habit
Mindfulness meditation has gained popularity in various sectors, including corporate boardrooms in Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Dr. Elise Bialylew founded Mindful in May, an initiative offering 10-minute guided meditations throughout the month, introducing meditation and mindfulness to busy individuals. Proceeds from the program support Charity Waters, a non-profit building clean water wells in developing nations.
5 gratitude exercises to stop you spiralling into despair
Dr. Elise Bailylew underscores the significance of gratitude in tumultuous global times, presenting five actionable exercises for enhancing well-being. Her approach advocates a harmonious blend of future anticipation and present appreciation, grounded in robust research supporting the positive effects of gratitude.
Melbourne doctor Elise Bialylew's Mindful in May goes global
"Mindful in May is really about addressing two global health issues, number one is that of mental health and the second, more in the developing world, is the global water crisis," Dr. Elise Bialylew said.
Mindfulness guru creates calm among chaos
It was the posters plastered over the street corners that set Elise Bialylew’s life trajectory in motion. They were everywhere in West Africa, detailing dates for the funerals of children who had died from poverty-related diseases.
Conscious parents join Mindful in May global meditation movement
If you’re a parent, you’re likely all-too familiar with the unpredictable hurricane that is a toddler tantrum.
It’s hard not to get swept up in the swirling emotion, despite our best intentions of remaining calm.
How to become calmer in just 10 minutes
Dr. Elise Bialylew advocates for daily 10-minute meditation as essential mental hygiene. It helps combat unhelpful thoughts, build resilience, and empowers people to navigate life's challenges. Mindful in May has a history of success, supports Charity Water, and addresses pressing climate and mental health issues. With renowned experts and proven benefits, it's a valuable tool for mental well-being in today's complex world.
The Best Cure For
Post-Holiday Blues Is Another Holiday
Luxury Escapes' 'Holiday Lab' represents a novel approach to travel planning, aligning with the principles of mindfulness advocated by Dr. Elise Bialylew. In a world where the end of a holiday can often lead to post-holiday blues and feelings of dread upon returning to work, both the 'Holiday Lab' and mindfulness offer solutions to combat these challenges.
How to Find Calm When It Feels Like the World Is Falling Apart
In the face of a world seemingly in turmoil, cultivating calm and mindfulness is more important than ever. Dr. Elise Bialylew, author of The Happiness Plan and the mind behind the annual charity fundraiser Mindful in May, offers expert advice on maintaining balance during these trying times.
Luxury Escapes launches ‘Holiday Lab’ to help people find their next holiday
Luxury Escapes has launched the 'Holiday Lab,' an interactive sensory experience to help travellers find their ideal vacation. This initiative was created with input from mindfulness expert Dr. Elise Bialylew. Research by Luxury Escapes shows that many Australians experience post-holiday blues.
Mindful strategies to manage iso-anxiety
Dr. Elise Bialylew highlights the significance of mindfulness, especially during challenging times, as a tool to manage stress and anxiety effectively. She empowers individuals to lead more mindful, emotionally balanced lives through a number of helpful practices.
Finding Calm: How to manage parenting overwhelm
"As a mother of two young girls, I, like all loving parents, do everything in my power to keep them safe. Our role as parents is to keep our children fed, clothed, housed, educated, entertained and loved.
On an ordinary day in an ordinary world, this can be a tough juggle." - Dr. Elise Bialylew.
Three gratitude exercises to do today to help ease fear and anxiety
"Mindfulness helps us pay deeper attention to the ordinary ‘miracles’ in our lives that we so often take for granted. The more often we remember to do this, the more we build neural pathways that incline the mind towards seeing and remembering that which is wonderful and positive, rather than only that which is bad, scary and dreadful." - Dr. Elise Bialylew
Mindful strategies to manage iso-anxiety
Luxury Escapes is revolutionizing vacation planning with its innovative Holiday Lab pop-up. This unique experience involves six sensory encounters that lead to a personalized travel "prescription" powered by a custom-built algorithm. The input of Dr. Elise Bialylew, a mindfulness expert and founder of Mindful in May, adds an extra layer of expertise to this exciting venture.
How To Stay Focused When Working From Home
Discover four actionable tools for staying focused while working from home, shared by Dr. Elise Bialylew, a business owner and mother of two. Her techniques will help you effectively manage remote work challenges and maintain productivity in uncertain times.
Dr Bialylew found a lifeboat for challenging times
"When you can witness your anxiety or fear with compassion, non-judgment, and presence, it becomes clear that there is a part of you that’s not affected by the anxiety. This mindful witnessing allows you to find some ground and not get completely lost in the fear which can so easily spiral out of control." - Dr. Elise Bailylew
15 seconds can help calm the spread of coronavirus anxiety
Monash University researchers say a 15-second “comma”, placed here or there between our daily activities, can be enough to punctuate our day and clean the slate.This involves simply pausing to notice any tension in your body, the depth of your breath and how you are feeling. You then allow your body to relax, slow and deepen the breath, and name whatever thought or feeling you are having.
Lockdowns ended months ago, so why are we still acting weird?
“We may be through the acute shock and fear stage of the pandemic but we’re emerging from this with chronic stress,” explains Dr. Elise Bialylew, a doctor trained in psychiatry and founder of Mindful in May. “When our brains are under chronic stress, we have less capacity to regulate ourselves and manage emotions like anger, fear and frustration."
15 seconds can help calm the spread of coronavirus anxiety
“[It] is invaluable, even if you are not doing a regular meditation practice... For me, it’s about emotional intelligence and self-awareness and the ripple effect of that,” says Dr. Elise Bialylew.
15 seconds can help calm the spread of coronavirus anxiety
Meditation teaches “skills and perspective” around how we relate to our thoughts and emotions. It also makes you more likely to be able to release negative feelings, says Dr. Elise Bialylew.
Ep 37. Mindful in May | Dr Elise Bialylew teaches the science and spirituality of mindfulness
Discover evidence-based insights into its tangible benefits for mental and physical well-being, while exploring a deeper, contemplative, and transformative dimension of human experience.
BONUS Episode Mindfulness with Elise Bialylew
Explore how expectant and new mothers can harness the benefits of mindfulness practices to effectively mitigate stress and foster a sense of inner calm that empowers them to navigate the multifaceted challenges of motherhood with resilience and poise.
Mindful in may
Discover what you can achieve through a mere ten minutes of daily mindfulness practice, and learn the strategies to cultivate this life-enhancing habit consistently in your daily routine.
Dealing with unfamiliar anxiety
Explore the question of whether concealing our stress from our children is the best approach.
Media Release
Leading medical professionals urge Australians to adopt Mindful in May
April – A coalition of senior health professionals are calling on Australians to adopt Mindful in May to manage the impending mental health crisis that has been triggered by the CV-19 pandemic.
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University, Dr Craig Hassed, says that health services are dealing with an unprecedented volume of enquiries from Australians experiencing anxiety and stress due to health concerns, social isolation, unemployment, underemployment, financial strain and managing homeschooling and believes Mindful in May is a necessary lifeline.
“A lot of Australians are doing it tough as their lives have been turned upside down. While many people are laid off or stood down without duties to perform, they have an excess of time. Excessive time, especially when isolated, often leads to worry, rumination and if left unchecked it can downward spiral quickly. Now more than ever we need to manage our minds so Mindful in May’s 30-day program can be tremendously helpful for those seeking to manage the uncertainty, ride the emotional rollercoaster, or hit reset,” says Dr Hassed.
The alliance made up of psychologists, general practitioners, psychiatrists, gastroenterologists and nurses has thrown their weight behind Mindful in May stating that the program offers salvation to those struggling with their mental health. With the World Health Organisation stating that depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, the coalition believes it is essential that Australians build the inner tools to face the very real challenges of life, particularly in light of the pandemic.
“We have thrown our endorsement behind Mindful in May because it is soundly based on techniques with strong scientific backing and it has a great track record. There are all manner of mindfulness apps and gurus out there, but very few are led by medically trained experts with such strong mental health and mindfulness credentials.”
Research undertaken by Dr Neil Bailey, a neuroscientist and Research Fellow at the Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health at Monash University, showed that Mindful in May participants experienced greater focus, improved stress management, increased levels of self-compassion, greater positivity and reduced negative emotions.
“Our study also showed that daily mindfulness practice (as per the Mindful in May program) lead to more common experience of positive emotions than less frequent mindful practice,” says Dr Bailey
Led by Dr Elise Bialylew, a doctor trained in psychiatry, and a world class panel of global experts, the 30-day program consists of 10-minute daily meditations teaching the skills of mindfulness so that Australians can reclaim their minds and manage spiralling thoughts of worry.
“We are grateful to have the medical profession stand behind the program, it’s further endorsement of the measurable, positive health benefits that just 10 minutes of meditation can have on the mind. The program’s success is thanks to many years of rigorous assessment and research and a highly engaged mindful community,” says Dr Bialylew.
The medical profession has thrown its weight behind the global program with over 100 nurses at the Alfred Hospital participating in the challenge, along with staff and students at Monash University and RMIT.
“In the past 12 months, there were close to 1500 peer reviewed journal articles published that have reinforced the science behind mindfulness, and Mindful in May is a structured ‘brain training’ to train the mind away from rumination and worry about the past and hypothesising about an unknown future. It can help us to focus on what we need to focus on now and also to connect with others in more meaningful and compassionate ways,” says Dr Hassed.
Dr Bailey echoes Dr Hassed’s assessment, stating “stress and anxiety have been shown to reduce brain function. Our research shows that practicing mindfulness improves brain function, leading to more accurate decisions while at the same time less energy is expended, suggesting increased brain efficiency”.
“Our colleagues work in high pressure, roles at the coal face where distraction, complex multitasking, and rumination can have catastrophic impacts, so learning a practice of mindfulness is an important life-saving skill,” says Dr Hassed.
For the broader Australian society, the benefits are well evidenced. The practice is proven to shift the mind away from catastrophising, the mindless excessive use of technology, and living on auto pilot – all behaviours linked to a steady increase in rates of depression.
“There are any number of benefits to mindfulness including deepening our joy in living, improving our connectedness and relationships, improving memory and mental health, even driving our cars more safely, and of course lowering rates of depression and anxiety,” says Dr Hassed.
The alliance urges Australians to take the antidote to today’s global pandemic.
Health professionals around Australia will join Dr Elise Bialylew for 10 minutes of meditation each day for the month of May.
Signed,
Alliance of mindfulness advocates
- Dr Craig Hassed - Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University
- Dr Neil Bailey, neuroscientist and Research Fellow at the Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health, Monash
- Dr Richard Chambers, clinical psychologist and leading mindfulness expert
- Professor Marc Cohen, registered medical practitioner with degrees in western medicine, physiology, psychological medicine and PhDs in Chinese medicine and biomedical engineering
- Dr Ilana Prideaux, gastroenterologist
- Dr Emily Walsh, general practitioner
Registration and fundraising now open, registration open until 11 May.
About Mindful in May
Mindful in May—the world’s largest online mindfulness meditation and fundraising campaign—is set to return for 2022. Every May, thousands of people worldwide join the program featuring the world’s best experts and build mental resilience through committing to 10 minutes of meditation per day, while also raising funds to address the world’s most urgent global issues. To date over $1,020,000 has been raised to transform the lives of more than 31,843 people in urgent need of clean, safe drinking water!
Along with establishing a sustainable, evidence-based mindfulness practice during the month of May, participants gain access a world class mindfulness and wellbeing program featuring global experts in well-being, mindfulness and the brain, climate change, including John Kabat Zinn, Kelly Mcgonical and many more. Along with many leading experts, Mindful in May has also had the support of ambassadors such as Magda Szubanski and partners such as Google HQ in Silicon Valley.
About Dr Elise Bialylew
Elise Bialylew M.D is a mindfulness meditation expert, doctor trained in psychiatry, social entrepreneur and published author who’s on a mission to improve the wellbeing of our society and our planet. She was recognised by the Australian Financial Review as a 2019 AFR Women of Influence and was a Telstra Business Awards finalist. Find out more about her Amazon bestseller, The Happiness Plan here.
In times like these, we really can't afford to lose our mind. Spend a month training your mind through Mindful in May and step into greater calm.
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Monash Research: https://bit.ly/2u5295K
ARTICLES ON MINDFULNESS TO SHARE
Below are some articles written by the Mindful in May founder Dr Elise Bialylew. You can share them as guest posts on your website and share on social media with #mindfulinmay
If you’d like to publish them on your blog as guest posts, just copy and paste them. Please make sure you attribute any article to Mindful in May and the writer Dr. Elise Bialylew, Founder and host of Mindful in May. If sharing on social media please tag @mindfulinmay and #mindfulinmay.
- 12 ways to show love to yourself today
- A Lesson on being supported by others
- Four ways that mindfulness can help you manage the emotional roller coaster of motherhood
- Five scientific benefits of mindfulness meditation
- Four ways mindfulness enhances your happiness
- Overcome your social media addiction with mindfulness
- How to mindfully manage a tantrum
