How Driven Healthcare

Professionals Perform
in the Moment

The Science of Mindfulness Training

Everythings Gonna be Alright.
 Contents
1. What is Mindfulness Training?
2. Why is everyone talking about Mindfulness Meditation?
3. Queue the Science
4. Who is Whil?

This eBook provides an overview of the science behind mindfulness meditation

and highlights why its captured the attention of top executives across the globe.
Its intended for healthcare professionals who are not only interested in the health
benefits of mindfulness, but also want the proof points ... just like us.

1 WHIL.COM
 What is Mindfulness Meditation Training?
Mindfulness is Whatever you call it, Why is everyone talking
meditation and learning to be calm, about Mindfulness?
awareness training cool and collected is
used to reduce stress, one of the keys to Our culture seems to be taken with the
focus attention reducing stress, mindfulness movement these days.
and perform in the increasing performance Top sports teams use it to gain an edge.
present moment with and improving resilience Top insurance and healthcare businesses
a curious and in modern times. Its embrace it to help their employees
non-judgmental mind. also a secret weapon to perform while reducing stress, lowering
drive more compassionate absenteeism and related healthcare costs.
Mindfulness meditation caregiving in the And people everywhere are embracing
is also often referred to healthcare industry. mindfulness as a tool to live healthier,
as attention training, happier and more engaged lives. Its a hot
resiliency training, topic for individuals and healthcare
brain training, companies all over the globe.
situational awareness
and emotional
intelligence training.

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 The worlds fascination with mindfulness is driven by two key trends:

1 An explosion of scientific studies 2 Stress is the leading cause of illness,

showing the many benefits of costing the U.S. economy $300bn per
mindfulness, particularly as a tool year in absenteeism, turnover, diminished
for stress resiliency. productivity, and medical costs.

Stress-related burnout is
reported across nurses (66%),
physician assistants (62%),
physicians (39%) and
3 administrative staff (36%). WHIL.COM
 Queue the Science
In the past five years alone, more than 3,500 studies
have shown that mindfulness training leads to
many beneficial health and professional outcomes.
This includes reducing stress, anxiety and depression
and improving the immune system and the cognitive
skills that are key to high performance and
compassionate caregiving.

Much of this research focuses on neuroplasticity

(the brains ability to change in response to experience
and training ... like meditation) and the relationship
between the "thinking brain" (prefrontal cortex)
and the "emotional brain" (amygdala). When these
two parts of the brain work together well, people
act calm, thoughtful, and reasonable. When they
dont, people act stressed, unhappy, and tend to
lose their cool. Sound familiar?

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 The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation Training

Improve Reduce
Performance Absenteeism
Productivity Healthcare Costs
Focus Stress
Memory Anxiety
Relationships Depression
Cardiovascular Health Blood Pressure
Immune System Addiction
Healing Time Insomnia
Self-Control PTSD
Creativity Pain

The human brain hasn't changed much in 2,000 years. Its hard to keep pace with technology and the fast pace
of modern living isnt going to slow down. People are proactively seeking tools to cope with technostress.

Mindfulness training helps you increase emotional

intelligence, attention span, and working memory
while developing innovative problem solving
5 and compassionate caregiving skills. WHIL.COM
 Increase Productivity and Performance
Mindfulness training improves focus, attention, memory
and other cognitive skills necessary for sustained
high performance.

Increase focus: Professionals trained in mindfulness were

able to concentrate better, stay on task longer, multitask
more effectively, and remember what theyd done better
than those who didnt take the training.
(Levy et al., 2012)

Blink less: Mindfulness participants were able to shorten

the attentional blink. Human beings all miss a certain
number details - whether in conversation, emails, writing
code, etc. Attention training can reduce your personal
error rate and result in increased control over the
distribution of limited brain resources to process more
data. Its like getting more Random Access Memory
(RAM) in your brain. Yes, were geeks.
(Slagter, Davidson, et al., 2007)

Be happier and more energetic: Professionals who

practiced mindfulness reported less emotional exhaustion
and greater job satisfaction compared to workers who
did not practice.
(Hulsheger et al., 2012)

A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying
attention to the person in pain.
-Daniel Goleman, Author of Emotional Intelligence

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 Improve memory: London cabbies take 2-4 years to
memorize and navigate over 25,000 streets to get their
license. Research showed 1) training resulted in the part of
the brain associated with memory and spatial navigation
(hippocampus) is bigger and more active in London cabbies
than in the average person 2) the longer a cabbie was
driving, the larger and more active the hippocampus.
The brain is malleable, even in adults. We can intentionally
change our brains with training. Thats neuroplasticity.
(2000 and 2006, Neuroimaging Center, University College London)

Curb the wandering mind: Mindfulness training curbed mind

wandering and improved cognitive function. College students
who took a 2 week mindfulness training class did better on
working memory tasks, saw a reduction in their distracting
thoughts, and had 16 percentile points higher accuracy on
the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) than students with
no training.
(Mrazek et al., 2013)

Now that mindfulness meditiation has become
scientific, it has been demystified. Its going to
be seen as fitness for the mind.
-Chade-Meng Tan, Google Engineer
& Search Inside Yourself Pioneer

Attention training correlates to decreases in

absenteeism up to 76% and increases in productivity
up to 25%. Even 1 day less absenteeism and 1% more
7 productivity is game changing. WHIL.COM
 Improve Your Health and Healing Time

Mindfulness training improves your health including the immune

system, cardiovascular health and the bodys ability to heal.

Improve cardiovascular health: Mindfulness is positively

associated with good cardiovascular health, particularly shown in
risk factors such as smoking, body mass index, fasting glucose,
and physical activity. Practitioners with high mindfulness scores
were 83% more likely to have good cardiovascular health than
those with low scores.
(Loucks et. al., 2014)

Increase your immune system: After eight weeks of mindfulness

training, Biotech employees showed decreased anxiety and
significant increased activity in the parts of their brains
associated with positive emotions. Participants also developed
more antibodies to the influenza vaccine.
(Davidson, Kabat-Zinn, et al., 2003)

Increase longevity: Meditation increases longevity by slowing

the aging process. Compared to the control group, meditation
practitioners had 30% higher levels of telomerase, an enzyme
that repairs damaged telomeres, which protect DNA from
deteriorating as we age.
(Epel, et al., 2009)

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 Feel better and show up: Mindfulness training was
linked to a 50% decrease in cold and flu symptoms
and 76% decrease in absenteeism for those who
practiced vs. those participants who did not
practice. Hard to be a baller when youre home sick.
(Barrett et al., 2012)

Heal faster: Mindfulness training accelerated

the healing of psoriasis (a skin condition). All
participants were given the usual PUVA or UVB
treatments. Audio meditation instructions were
played to half of the participants during the
treatment. Just audio training significantly
accelerated the rate of skin clearing / healing
for mindfulness practitioners.
(Kabat-Zinn et al., 2003)

Lower your blood pressure: Mindfulness training is

similar to many drug interventions for high blood
pressure, and leads to lower risk of heart attack or
stroke. Patients who received mindfulness training
had significant decreases in systolic blood pressure
and diastolic blood pressure.
(Hughes, 2013)

Hospital employees are

admitted more than the
general public for obesity
(+46%), depression (+20%)
9 and asthma (+12%). WHIL.COM
 Improve Self-Awareness, Relationships, and Creativity

Mindfulness training helps you to be kinder (including

to yourself), increase empathy, be more open to
innovative solutions and less judgemental with others
(including patients). Time to ease up, Judge Judy.

Be a better friend: Participants found an increase in

size and activation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) after
mindfulness training. The PFC (thinking brain) plays
an important role in regulating the "emotional" brain
areas. Training the connection between the brains
"thinking" and "feeling" areas allows for more stable
emotional relationships.
(Farb et al., 2007)

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 Improve self-control: Build gray matter: The
insula is thicker in long term mindfulness
meditators. Its the area of the brain involved in
self-awareness and in processing information
about the internal state of our body. It integrates
this information with cognitive control parts of
the brain so that you can have an appropriate
response to that sensory information.
(Lazar et al., Neuroreport, 2005)

Be more innovative: In a survey of leaders,

93% reported mindfulness training helped them
create space for innovation. Step 1: Learn to chill.
Step 2: Unlock your next big idea.
(Institute for Mindful Leadership, 2011)

Any time you pay attention to body sensation
you are giving a workout to your insular cortex,
the part of the brain that is most needed for
self-regulating before, during and after stress.
This also sends the cue to the brain that the
body is supported and stable right now.
-Dr. Liz Stanley, Author, Researcher,
and Founder of Mind Fitness Training Institute

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 Reduce Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

Mindfulness training helps change the way you think about and respond
to difficult experiences. Train yourself to recognize and disrupt cycles
of needless anxiety, fear, and regret that can lead to depression.

Calm yourself: People with greater meditation training had less activity
in the amygdala (the fight or flight trigger in the brain) compared to
novice meditators when negative distracting sounds were played.
The more hours of meditation training the practitioner had, the lower
the activation in the amygdala. Enhance your ability to regulate
attention and stress factors.
(Brefczynski-Lewis et al., 2007)

Improve your mood: Mindfulness-based therapy has been effective

for improving anxiety and mood symptoms. In a randomized study
of patients with depression, mindfulness therapy prevented relapses
by 42%. Additionally, in a meta-analysis of 39 studies totaling 1,140
clients receiving mindfulness-based therapy, depression and anxiety
were significantly reduced.
(Kuyken, 2008; Hofmann et al., 2010)

Take things less personally: Mindfulness can help you not to take your
successes and failures so personally. Practitioners were able to shift
from over-reliance on their internal narratives to view life experiences
with more objectivity. Imagine moving from My performance means
X about my worth to This success or failure is a fleeting experience
not linked to my underlying worth.
(Farb, N.A., et al., 2007)
Resilience is the maintenance of high levels
of positive affect and well-being in the face of
adversity. It is not that resilient individuals never
experience negative affect, but rather that the
negative affect does not persist.
-Dr. Richard J. Davidson, Neuroscientist,
Author, and Founder of the Center for
Investigating Healthy Minds

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 The pace of professional life is increasingly intense,
especially in hospitals. The use of battlefield lingo, rules
of engagement, etc., can increase that feeling of
"being on the front lines." Intense environmental
stress affects performance and, left unchecked,
can show up with symptoms of PTSD.

Calm the healthcare warrior: Just four short sessions of

meditation training was shown to reduce fatigue and
anxiety and significantly improve visuo-spatial
processing, working memory, and decision making.
(Zeidan, F., Johnson, S. K., Diamond, B. J., David, Z., & Goolkasian, P., 2010)

Improve PTSD: After 6 months of mindfulness training,

48% of veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) had clinically significant improvements
in symptoms such as depression, behavioral activation
and experiential avoidance.
(Kearney, 2013)

Every day, youre training your brain

whether you know it or not. Why not
start being intentional about it?
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 Reduce Insomnia, Addiction, and Pain

Mindfulness training provides new mental tools to relate differently to

unpleasant feelings to better manage sleep, smoking cessation and
pain. Change how you relate to bad habits and change your world.

Sleep better: In patients with insomnia, mindfulness training produced

significant differences in sleep quality. It took them 22 minutes less
time to fall asleep, and their total sleep time increased by at least
30 minutes. Down and out never looked so good.
(Garland, 2012)

Quit smoking: Nicotine dependent adults who received mindfulness

training showed a greater rate of reduction in cigarette use, and
maintained these gains during follow-up. They also exhibited a 16%
trend toward greater abstinence rate at the end of treatment. And
they smelled less like smoke.
(Brewer et al., 2011)

Reduce pain: Just 3 days of brief mindfulness training was effective

at reducing pain ratings and sensitivity, producing analgesic effects.
(Zeidan, Gordon, & Goolkasian, 2009)

Medical costs for hospital employees take

up 68% of operating profits. That affects
everything from being able to hire more
staff to investing in R&D.
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 Hit the Ball Out of the Park
Just WOW: Aetna Insurance reported a decrease
of $2,000 annually in healthcare costs as well as
an estimated $3,000 increase in productivity for
employees training in mindfulness.
(The Atlantic, Pinsker March 10, 2015)

We saw a $3,000 reduction in their healthcare

costs through the next year. We saw 69 more
minutes of productivity a month.
-Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna

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 About the authors:
Looking for live training?
Dr. Kelly Werner is a licensed clinical psychologist committed to helping
people flourish. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the
University of California at Berkeley, and her Postdoctoral Fellowship at
Stanford University where she studied the science of mindfulness and
emotional intelligence. She is an executive coach, master mindfulness trainer Although
at the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (founded at Google), and were a
the creator of the team building game Tell Me. Dr. Werner specializes helping digital
professionals to connect with their inner clarity and wisdom, reduce stress training
and actualize their potential. company,
were
equally
Joe Burton is the founder and CEO of Whil.com. Hes an entrepreneur and excited
investor in the digital health & wellness industry, former President of Headspace, about the
and spent fifteen years as a global C-level executive running some of the growth in
worlds largest advertising agency networks. Joe is an alumnus of Harvard live
Business School and an advisor to nonprofits including Holistic Life Foundation, on-site
iBme, and the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. He discovered mindfulne
mindfulness as a super stressed executive after dismissing it as definitely not
for me and it changed his life.

16 Copyright Whil Concepts, Inc. 2015 WHIL.COM

 Who is Whil?
Whil is the leader in digital training in mindfulness meditation, yoga
and leadership for individuals and companies. We work with the
worlds best trainers and leverage the latest research in neuroscience
and behavioural science. All training is accessible on any computer or
mobile device. Anywhere. Anytime.

Were a team of developers, business leaders, yogis, data junkies, and Where + Will = Whil.
creative geeks in search of happier and healthier lives for ourselves
and the people we serve. Like you. Where are you in
life, and what will
Were building solutions for people like us. We like science. We want you create?
proof and use data to drive better products to help people live
healthier, happier, and more engaged lives.

Because people are stressed. And were here to help.

Current programs include:

Search
Inside
Yourself

450+ mindfulness 450+ mindfulness The famous emotional

and yoga training training sessions for intelligence and
sessions for adults. teens. Because leadership training
happiness begins program born
at home. at Google.

WHIL.COM Copyright Whil Concepts, Inc. 2015 17

 Contact Us!
To find out more about Whils digital mindfulness meditation, yoga,
FIND OUT MORE
and leadership training, contact customersuccess@whil.com.

Because life is stressful and were here to help, TRY THE APP FOR FREE

Team Whil

18 Copyright Whil Concepts, Inc. 2015 WHIL.COM

 Looking for live training?

Although were a digital training company, were equally excited

about the growth in live on-site mindfulness training programs.
So much so, that we invested in Refresh, a company specializing
in on-site, on-demand training.

Our partners at RefreshBody.com provide live on-site, on-demand

training for mindfulness, yoga and massage. Their app takes
the weight out of delivering in-person wellness and leadership
programming. Anytime. Anywhere. Simply select the live training
you want and the Refresh app handles the rest. That includes
booking Whil master trainers for your executive training needs.

19 Copyright Whil Concepts, Inc. 2015 WHIL.COM