Unwind and Reset With a Workplace Wellness Outing for Yourself and Your Team
Are you and your team feeling overworked and stressed without any release? Constant pressure from an always connected life at work and at home eventually leads to disengagment and burnout. When we find ways to reset we are inspired, creative, productive and resilient. What if you could regain your center and learn how to keep it in a experiential 3/4 day outing? Imagine returning from a transforming day on the water feeling rejuvenated, clear, calm, happy and relishing in the days experience. Welcome aboard the Fathom Blue Mind Corporate Wellness experience! A great health and wellness at work fit for individuals, employees and organizations.
Fathom’s Blue Mind Wellness experience may be a great fit to consider for both yourself and your team. The experience can be used as a team building activity and to support a corporate organization’s wellness efforts. The program can be customized to fit your team’s needs. We’d love to show you the water and to help facilitate your own Blue Mind experience.
We will help you to recognize how water impacts mental, emotional, spiritual and physical well-being. We will help you to understand the three states of mind we live in; red, gray and blue and how to determine which one you are living in the moment. Participants will discover how the seven ages or seasons we live are tied to water. Participants will create a simple personal plan to incorporate new Blue Mind awareness into their own every day lives, work and career. We will share, laugh, play and recharge!
The experience includes a narrated tour of the lake to better familiarize you with its storied history. We will show you some of the beautiful biodiversity, limestone structures and even life below the surface using our underwater drone. On the journey to our mooring area you will have a chance to engage in some opening discussion of Blue Mind Wellness and take in the beautiful sights along with some freshly prepared apps. Later after anchoring we will deploy our inflatable aqua marina platforms and you will be lead through gentle, mindful and strengthening yoga. If you need time alone and some space you can retreat to the air-conditioned salon to relax and have a refreshing beverage.
Fathom Blue Mind Wellness is the seamless extension of Fathom Corporate Training, one of Austin’s most recognized professional development firms serving individuals, corporations and organizations. Fathom’s trademark, Deep Insight, Direct Results has been taken to a whole new wellness experience and venue – the water. So whether you are on the lake or on the ocean with us, you’ll gain a new sense of Deep Insight and bring that new awareness back into your life for Direct Results afterwards. A full description of the experience and a timeline is included below.
Participants Will:
Recharge their mind and bodies
Recognize how water impacts mental, emotional, spiritual and physical well-being
Understand easy ways to incorporate water and well-being into every day life
Gain a new level of awareness of how mindfulness can effect every area of life
Create a simple personal plan to incorporate wellness and water into their own lives
Rediscover their personal relationship with water to help them navigate life
Learn the three states of mind we live in all the time; red, gray and blue mind
Understand seven ages of water we go through in life
Learn the relevant history of the body of water they are on
Discover ways to take the water and blue mind back to their lives and to work
Enjoy thoughtfully prepared healthy food and beverages
Play, laugh, converse, swim, energize and exercise
Enjoy gentle and mindful yoga on the water
3/4 Day Timeline:
(Can Be Modified to Suit Needs – Note Alcohol is Prohibited)
Departure: Safety briefing, yacht and facilities, introductions
Sea Fare: Healthy apps and refreshments
Guided Tour: The history of Lake Travis and the Colorado River
Blue Mind Introduction: The science of being near, in, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected and better at what you do
What’s Your Water?: Personal relationships we have developed with water in our lives
Water in Human History: From the beginning civilizations have connected to water
Types of Water: Wild, domestic and virtual water can all benefit us
Our Blue Senses: The effects of water on our mental, emotional, spiritual and physical well-being
The Price We Will Pay: Value humans place on being near water
Red Mind, Gray Mind, Blue Mind: Water and your brains state of well-being
Blue Mind Yoga: Session on water platforms for stability, gentle flow, stretching and mindfulness
Taking The Water With Us: Incorporating mindfulness and water into our lives everyday
Blue Mind at Play and Work: Ways water has been valuable to us at leisure and in our career and how we can keep in in our future
The Seven Ages of Water: Birth, play, lover, fighter, justice, ebb and flow, death
Protecting our Blue Havens: A personal commitment to stewardship for the places we love
Play Session: Dueling water stomp rockets!
Return: Relish in the day and goodbyes
Group size: Up to 6
Length: 3/4 Day
Experience Offered: Private & Public
At first I was ready to write off Blue Mind as a type of motivational speech, but I actually found myself really resonating with what he was saying…many people aren’t aware of what happens when you’re near water and the positive effects that come with it.
What I found most interesting about Blue Mind was the difference between someone blue minded versus red or gray minded…and to realize we are living in a red minded world at the moment with everything going on.
…humans can have an emotional connection with the water. I personally felt this because I grew up near the ocean and went to many lakes and rivers when I was younger. When I am on a boat in the middle of the water I get a feeling like nothing else, a peaceful feeling.
I thought that the blue, red and gray mind descriptions made it easier to understand the whole concept. I enjoyed learning about what actually happens within the body when it’s exposed to water. I also found it interesting how water being medicine is an ancient concept. With all the screen time we are exposed to now, we are often in the red or gray mind phase.
Learning how to use all the Blue Mind tools to incorporate them into my life and work everyday is going to be very helpful to me.
By the end of the day I had completely reset my mind and stress level and am thankful I attended.
Corporate Wellness Programs
A recent Aflac Workplace Employee Wellness Report shows that 54% of employees have a company sponsored wellness activity program. This is up from 32% in 2012. And of those offering a new or emerging wellness at work program like Blue Mind Wellness, over half said that the service has reduced overall employee health costs. Additionally, among team members offered a wellness program, 61% agree that they’ve made healthier lifestyle choices because of their organization’s wellness program. And perhaps most important, participants who participated in wellness program activities offered by their workplaces had higher levels of job satisfaction and engagement. So the question is not whether a wellness option or program can help team members, it is which experience is right for your own team and organization’s culture. Human Wellness is the New Corporate Wellness
A 2016 study conducted by LinkedIn reported that younger staff members tend to change jobs four times in the first ten years of their career. This means that the average tenure of an employee is only about two years. This is a wake up call for organizations needing to boost retention and loyalty. More than eighty companies in Austin, TX now offer wellness programs and are making progress through a culture of wellness. Wellness directors now need to look at a variety of programs and wellness activities that fit their own workplace culture to help increase employee engagement and reduce turnover. Companies such as Indeed offer many new options on-site and off-site to boost employee wellness. Patrick Mercer, Assistant VP and Wellness Director for Frost Bank says, “Our employees are our biggest asset, we’d rather provide benefits that individuals care about so we ask, what do you want?” Mercer says, “ultimately you want to bring the best version of yourself to work so if you prioritize healthy habits, mindfulness, resilience and community then you’ll take these values outside of the office and extend them to friends and family.”
What is Blue Mind Wellness?
Why are humans so attracted to lakes, rivers, oceans and other types of water? Blue Mind is wellness science, which has proven that being close to, on, in or even under the water can help us to be happier, healthier, better connected and performing humans at home and at work. What’s your water? What’s the water that you dream about and long for? Who took you there in the past?
The landmark bestseller Blue Mind, by Wallace J. Nichols helps us understand the remarkable effects of water in all of its shapes and forms on our health and well-being.
Since we are primarily made of water and the planet we call home is more than 70% covered in water this makes sense. Our physiology is hardwired to respond positively to water and water in its many forms can help us enhance mindfulness. Water is one of our oldest forms of medicine for physical, emotional and mental health.
“All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea — whether it is to sail or to watch it — we are going back from whence we came.” John F. Kennedy
Water Can Fix What’s Broken
We reside on a blue planet mostly covered with oceans, lakes and rivers. And since our own bodies and the bodies of many species in the animal kingdom are made of water and depend upon it for survival, what we do on this planet matters, especially our actions related to water.
Humans have understood the therapeutic benefits of water since ancient times. Early civilizations like Rome knew that baths were not only culturally important but also offered healing and relaxation. Ayurveda, Indian medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine, prescribe water for balancing the physical and mental body. Rivers have been known as sacred places and water has been a symbol of rebirth and cleansing. Our desire to be near aquatic environments may be explained by waters role in our evolutionary history. Clean water has always been critical to human survival. And remember, you were once floating in the saline water of your mother’s womb long before reading this.
Our human body is 60-78% water and the brain alone is made up of nearly 80% water. It then should come as no surprise that drinking plenty of water can support optimal brain function. Dehydration can affect our attention span, concentration level, memory, motor skills and our anxiety level.
Many of us have regular access to water in the form of lakes, rivers or oceans but we under utilize their potential. Whether it’s a relaxing vacation or a weekend retreat, water is a great way to reset. Many places can bring on Blue Mind and it’s not necessary to be near the ocean to experience it.
Writer Jane Austen said, “No person could be really in the state of secure and permanent health without spending at least six weeks by the sea every year. The sea air and sea bathing together are nearly infallible.”
Red Mind, Gray Mind, Blue Mind – An Always Connected Life at Work and Home
Our lives today are hyper-connected. And we have begun to understand the ramifications on our personal and professional lives. Higher levels of anxiety and depression are occurring. And many people self‐medicate. What’s the cost? We multi-task and then have a difficult time remembering what we were working on minutes before. We get addicted to the screen and have it with us all the time only to not be present for someone or something that may really benefit from our attention. And in our tech saturated lives we don’t give our minds much chance to relax. Personal and team engagement suffers and so does our productivity.
Blue Mind Wellness is not experienced or achieved on Facebook, Instagram or any other social media platform – never. It’s not going to happen. We need to log out and put down our devices. Setting an intention of doing this begins to free our minds for new awareness and opening to Blue Mind. A picture or a video of the water is a great virtual water stimulus to enjoy when we are at our desk and under stress, but we need to fully experience the water while we are near it.
Dan Adams, General Counsel for Austin based ESO Software says, “When you get to the beach it may take a couple hours or maybe a day, but eventually you become one with the water and the sand and feel the release.”
Blue Mind is Serious Wellness Science
The Blue Mind effect, Wallace J. Nichols the author of Blue Mind says, “May result at least in part from the action of catecholamine neurotransmitters. The neurochemicals, which relay stress signals in the brain, recalibrate in water to low levels similar to those delivered by meditation—reducing stress and anxiety.”
Blue Mind, is far from an abstract concept or a theory. It is supported by science. The University of Exeter Medical School in the UK looked into the idea that living near the coast improves both health and well being. They used census data and found this was true. Stress reduction near the ocean and beachside was profound. Japanese researchers, conducted studies with 500 residents and found those who lived near the sea had greater emotions like peace and calm when compared to others living inland. In 2017, Spanish researchers reviewed more than 35 different studies and the results revealed an overwhelmingly positive association between exposure to outdoor blue spaces and mental health, stress reduction and well being.
Water can have effects even in virtual forms. For instance, when cancer patients suffering chronic pain viewed nature videos that included sounds of the ocean, waterfalls and rivers, they experienced up to a 30 percent reduction in the stress hormone cortisol.
Water’s healthful effects are so great that aquatic therapists are now using water to treat addictions, PTSD, anxiety, autism and other conditions.
Surfer’s often describes a Zen-like state they get by being on the water and catching and riding waves. But the goal of surfing therapy is not to teach people to surf. It is to get them to use the activity of surfing to help change their brain chemistry to Blue Mind.
“There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.” Sylvia Plath, Poet
Blue Mind, Live Blue, Slow Coast & Groove ©™ (2009-2021) by WALLACE & Co. LLC
Blue Mind – Articles:
The Blue Mind Therapy Statement
Human Wellness is the New Corporate Wellness
Deep Insight = What Does Exploration Mean To You
Blue Mind Explores the Calming Effects That Water Has on People
Blue Mind: Why Being Near the Water Makes You Happy
Blue Mind – Why Being Around Water Is So Good for Our Psyches
Here’s Why Being Around Water Makes You Happy, According to Research
Why Being Around Water Can Make Your Calmer and More Creative
Want To Be Happier? Live Near Water, Research Shows
Blue Mind – Videos:
Fox News, Saying Goodbye to Stress, Inside the Blue Mind Theory
Yodi Insigne, Blue Mind Theory, Why Being Near the Ocean Can Make You Calmer
Wallace J. Nichols, Blue Mind Water is Medicine
Discover Boating, Your Brain on a Boat
Cabinology, Blue Mind, Why the Ocean is Good for You
CBS This Morning, Blue Mind, Mental Health Benefits of Being Near Water
