testimonials

"I have found some very real benefits from completing the Mindfulness for Coaching process.  It has increased my ability to focus in some of my work, so that I tackle things more effectively.  I am also better able to quickly re-charge my energy in the midst of a challenging schedule so I stay at my best and am less weary at the end of the day."

Christopher Smith: Bath Consultancy Group

“The course material has provided me with new ways of seeing things and the practices have helped me to develop skills and strategies for responding to stress. But the most potent ingredient for me has been the one to one sessions with Michael and the kindness and acceptance with which he has greeted everything that I have brought. This has been a teaching that has been received directly by my heart.”

Joy Mackeith: Triangle Consulting

“In late 2006 I and a small group of Faculty colleagues joined Michael Chaskalson for a two-day mindfulness workshop. The insights he gave us went to the core of what we do as educators. Great teaching – in business or any other setting – stems from mindfulness of self, a mindful empathy with those we lead or teach, from sensing the shared experience as it unfolds and from staying mindful of purpose. Michael made sure that we all left very well equipped with practices to help us sustain this with a renewed sense of confidence, calm and fun.”

Professor Dominic Houlder, Strategic and International Management, London Business School

“Increased focus on the task in-hand: when faced with distracting thoughts likely to interrupt my concentration (e.g. up-coming deadlines, meetings, etc.) I find I can choose whether or not to attend to them. The programme has enhanced my listening skills – of key importance when working with coaching clients. It has shown me how to develop ways of being quiet, reflective – just waiting – so that the client can find his or her own answers. I now approach presentations and client meetings differently - with a more quiet confidence. As a result, I’m connecting more with my audience and getting better results.”

A lawyer, who now works as a coach.

“… you create a wonderful sense of safety through a non-judgmental attitude in the way you work with people.  You offer balanced viewpoints and practice what you preach - you demonstrate an 'approach' mindset all the time and I never got the sense that you were closing down options or falling into 'either/or' thinking, rather that you were able to hold several possibilities in your heart at once.  … I felt you explored into our comments too, and were truly interested in how we saw things.  Most important of all I think you are credible in what you are offering - it is obvious that you know your stuff intellectually and theoretically, but that you also practice it and have huge amounts of experience.  It was like being in the presence of someone much wiser in these things.  But all the time, you held your expertise lightly and didn't come down hard on what 'the truth' was (whatever that may be) - you demonstrated balance and a considered approach all the way.

Gina Hayden: Sphere Consulting Services

“I participated in the Mindfulness for Coaches course in 2006, and then have been on three further follow up sessions, including a very valuable one-to-one coaching session using Mindfulness. One of Michaels's gifts is his ability to make Mindfulness practical and relevant to you as an individual.  Through the programme I feel I have acquired a valuable life skill that has benefits not only for my work but personally. The benefits to my work include the ability to focus more effectively and access more of my creativity.”

Linda Woolston, Business Coach and Consultant

"Michael's extensive knowledge and wisdom about the theory and practice of mindfulness was manifest throughout our eight-week training.  His calm demeanour and groundedness helped to anchor our learning experience.  But even more than that, I know that Michael has given us some powerful tools, grounded in cutting-edge scientific research. That is what makes it so exciting."

Civil Service Coach

"The 'Mindfulness for Coaches' course turned out to be both as useful as I'd hoped it would be in enhancing coaching attentiveness - six coaching sessions I've conducted since finishing the course have demonstrated that to me, especially in getting quicker to the emotional subtext in 'whole-person' issues arising. Michael's sessions also provoked me further in a wider personal context, and I've found - and others have noticed - a more settled, content, and as one person put it, a more 'wise and measured' approach, to engaging with people and business issues. Certainly, I've noticed enhanced well-being, sufficient to make continued meditative practice a pleasure to look forward to, rather than a chore. And rather stunningly, this year's annual MRI scan didn't produce the usual claustrophobic panic...I put this down to prior practice, continuing for the duration of the examination."

Civil Service Coach