Published on 30 April, 2019
Here at Beyond, we simply don't want our team to burst into a flaming ball of stress, which is why we take our employee well-being extremely seriously. As you may or may not know, April has been Stress Awareness Month, so what better time to give our team some extra TLC and make sure our people are being properly looked after.
Yoga Mondays
To make sure everyone had an enjoyable and of course - relaxing Stress Awareness Month, Beyond put on some very exciting events across the weeks. The events kicked off with Yoga Mondays held by the lovely Laura Spinney. Each Monday Laura, a qualified yoga, Pilates and dance instructor based here in Bournemouth, ran 40 minute yoga sessions for our team helping us to cleanse our busy minds and stretch our tired limbs.
It’s safe to say that Laura’s yoga classes were a big hit with our team, and we certainly wouldn’t be surprised if she was back visiting again very soon!
Stress & Coping Mechanisms Workshop
For those who preferred a less physical approach to mindfulness, the delightful Paul Kinkaid from Selfless Leadership visited us to deliver workshops on stress management, teaching us how to remain calm and make measured decisions. As a fully qualified Mental Health First Aider and someone who has worked extensively with ex-Army veterans to aid with PTSD coping mechanisms, Paul is naturally extremely knowledgeable and came along with some great tips to keep our team as tranquil as can be.
Sometimes being given some great methods of dealing with high-pressure situations can be all you need to process stress and figure out the best way to cope. By having Paul visit, our team learned some valuable ways to keep their cool, even in the most stressful of times - a.k.a waiting in the queue at Cribbys, the Aviation Business Park’s most delicious food destination!
Food for Thought
Of course, we’ve never truly taken care of our employees until free snacks have been provided, which is where the uber-talented Louise Jones from Food for Thought Cookery School arrived to provide some tasty treats, and much much more…
Louise tempted our team with some super speedy (and healthy!) cookies and some truly heavenly guilt-free chocolates, before giving us the low-down on how to keep things healthy, without losing any of the ‘happy’ in our lives.
Whilst some of our participants may have initially been enticed by the notion of free food, it’s safe to say everybody learned some pretty important tips for looking after our bodies and improving our lifestyles - sans any misery!
Meditation & Mindfulness Sessions
Some of the final sessions for our team were delivered by Linda from Mindful Life, who came in to introduce us to the concept of mindfulness and deliver some easy-to-pick-up meditation techniques. If you think you’ve felt true relaxation before, trust us when you say you haven’t until you’ve experienced one of Linda’s sessions!
Linda holds regular meditation and mindfulness events around the local area, and we’d put money on at least half of the Beyond Retail family taking her up on these sessions - we’ve never felt so relaxed!
Desk Massages
Our final and perhaps most well-received treat for our team was delivered by the delightful Helen Richards of The Little Calm Company! Our team were lucky enough to have the opportunity to book a delightful 15 minute desk massage focused on the upper back, neck, and shoulders, during which Helen melted all of our troubles (and knots!) away.
After a month of relaxation and health-based activities, our team are certainly feeling refreshed. We can most certainly say with confidence that Stress Awareness Month 2019 was a success - we can only look to 2020 with excitement and hope that more massages and free tasty treats are on the horizon!