Why Mindfulness is a Strategic Skill for Success and Leadership – An Interview with Ingrid Montague
Ingrid is a Mindfulness Instructor, MSc, whose work was reshaped by a life-altering health crisis in 2020, leading her to study meditation academically and teach it with both scientific depth and lived experience. This interview explores how she teaches mindfulness techniques to support embodiment, resilience, and empowered living. She also discusses mindfulness as a powerful strategy for both personal development and professional success.
Ingrid Montague, Mindfulness Instructor & Somatic Wellness, MSc
Your path into this work began with a serious health crisis in 2020. What changed in your relationship with meditation during that experience?
Even though I’d practiced meditation since childhood, I only returned to it sporadically throughout my life. My health crisis completely changed this, as I now meditate daily, and it informs my whole approach to life. I feel so much calmer, more resilient, focused, and empowered. I also feel compassion for myself and others, which greatly contributes to the quality of my relationships. Meditation has changed my life because it has changed my perception of life. I now know that I, as a human being, have the capacity to understand and approach my reality in a way that benefits me and, as a result, everyone around me.
How has studying mindfulness at postgraduate level changed the way you teach practices that are often presented much more simply?
Once I knew meditation was to become my life’s work (as a result of my health crisis), I also knew that I would need to study it academically because I wanted to understand the mechanisms behind how it actually affects the brain and nervous system to our benefit. In my teachings, I am just as passionate about informing my students how meditation changes their internal wiring as I am about teaching them how to meditate on their own. When people know how and why meditation works, they are much more open and motivated to give it a try. It isn’t just a ‘woo-woo’ practice. It is rooted in neuroscience and psychology.
I also teach my students and clients that the point of meditating is not to stop our thoughts - this is impossible – but rather how to change our relationship with our thoughts so that they don’t rule our reality anymore. I have had many students express self-shame because they never thought they could meditate, and once I’ve shown them how, they’ve had breakthroughs and the confidence to meditate on their own going forward.
What does combining mindfulness with breath, movement, and sound allow you to address that meditation alone may not?
I know how difficult it can be for people to sit in stillness to meditate. They believe their thoughts race too much for them to quiet down, so they prefer some sort of stimulation or movement in order to calm their mind and de-stress. This makes sense. We know from science (and athletes!) that a busy body can help calm the mind. Thankfully, there are other mindfulness practices besides sitting in meditation that feel easier for people to do, including breathwork, movement, and sound. They’re great examples because they are emotion-neutral, they are almost always readily available to us at no extra charge, and they each produce a myriad of physical sensations that we can focus on to practice present-moment awareness.
They’re also very effective in helping us to become more embodied (more aware of and connected to our bodies). One of my mentors would say we often live like ‘lollipop people,’ with our entire reality up in our heads, completely disconnected from our bodies. This is so unfortunate because the body actually stores so much wisdom for us to tap into! It’s where our intuition and insight reside (hence the term gut feeling), and the body often receives information before the brain does, which then travels up the Vagus nerve for us to receive. But if we’re not embodied, then we’re missing out on this phenomenon. So the breath, movement, and sound are all very useful practices for this reason.
You describe mindfulness as strategic rather than soft. Where do you see its greatest value in high-pressure workplaces?
Mindfulness is often seen as ‘fluff,’ but it’s an incredible strategy for success! It’s proven to decrease our stress response, increase resilience, improve focus and creativity, and it also trains us how to become responsive rather than reactive, which alone can make a huge impact on leadership and workplace culture. The brain is neuroplastic, so when we train it in new ways of perceiving and thinking, we are cutting away old thought patterns and laying down new neural pathways for a healthier, more productive, and yes – more strategic mindset. Once our mindset changes, this affects our emotions and subsequently our actions and behaviors. So a calm, focused, and empowered mind no doubt produces calm, focused, and empowered action.
Another beneficial outcome of mindfulness practice is improved interpersonal skills because mindfulness develops our self-awareness, self-compassion and empathy for others. Through mindfulness practice, we become aware of our own habits, biases, assumptions and triggers, and this empowers us to then be able to choose if we want to continue in this way or make self-improvements (of course, this is done from a place of non-judgment and self-acceptance, which I also teach). When we feel supported and nourished in this way, we then have a greater capacity to support and nourish the people around us, making for a much healthier workplace with a more productive and dedicated staff. It’s a win-win situation.
What do you think the modern wellness industry gets wrong about slowing down, rest, and resilience?
I see a lot of advice around how we should take more time out for ourselves to indulge in self-care. Find a class you like, take a walk, indulge in a good book or movie, take that trip you always wanted to take, etc. These are all great! But 99% of my clients and students say they want to de-stress and slow down, but they don’t have the time. This is why what I teach is so powerful: slowing down isn’t about changing your environment or seeking something external; it’s about approaching the circumstances you already live within mindfully. It’s about utilizing your own inner resources so that, no matter what your situation, you can nourish yourself from within, and this greatly strengthens your capacity to keep going. Because of mindfulness practice, I have found my own inner calm in the middle of busy airports, on crowded buses, in stressful work situations, and in the midst of challenging parenting moments. Sometimes, I feel like mindfulness is a superpower for its ability to keep me sustained, focused, and energized for longer than I previously thought possible.
Your Mindful Micro Rituals are designed for women who spend much of their energy caring for others. What helps them begin noticing their own needs again?
What helps women notice their own needs again through my work with them is threefold: present-moment awareness, embodiment, and self-compassion. Present-moment awareness helps them detach from their stress and racing thoughts, turning on their parasympathetic nervous system so they can see calmly and clearly again. Embodiment reconnects them with their innate wisdom and intuition that resides in the body but that so often goes ignored, and self-compassion strengthens women’s self-confidence and resilience for empowered living. These are all highly impactful practices that contribute to a woman’s quality of life, and sadly, they are very rarely done. But this is why I designed my Micro Mindful Rituals to be only 30 minutes, once a week. The two times - Sunday evening and/or Tuesday morning – were also chosen strategically: early morning and evening are optimal times for meditating.
When someone feels too busy to meditate, what is one small mindfulness practice that can realistically make a difference?
I love suggesting this one – no matter how busy life gets, we all have to brush our teeth, right? If you’re short on time, brushing your teeth is actually a perfect opportunity for mindfulness practice. We do it every day; it’s an emotionally neutral activity, and it produces a number of sensations we can tune into that will help us maintain present-moment awareness. Noticing things like the smell and taste of the toothpaste, the feeling of the bristles on your teeth and gums, the sound of the brushing, and even your own posture as you stand and brush are just some of the ways that mindfully brushing your teeth can pull you out of your racing mind.
Even noticing your feet on the ground and allowing yourself to feel held by the ground below, while you brush, can feel calming and centering. When done in the morning, this mindful activity can set a positive tone for your day ahead, and when done in the evening, it can relax the mind before bedtime.
You often speak about mindfulness as a way of returning to yourself. What does that idea mean to you personally?
Returning to yourself is an expression that describes how it feels when you turn your focus inward, reconnecting with your inner thoughts, emotions and physical sensations from a place of warmth and non-judgment. It’s like suddenly you can see yourself again – the real you that is constantly buried under the activity and pressures of everyday life. It’s a very healing and empowering feeling to ‘return to yourself’ through mindfulness practice. Of course, however, for people who have experienced deep trauma and who feel uncomfortable going inward, mindfulness practice can prove difficult, so it is important to seek a certified, trauma-informed instructor who is trained in accommodating this.
If someone feels stressed, disconnected, and constantly pulled outward by life, what is the first thing you would encourage them to begin practicing?
I would encourage them to pick one activity a day that they already do - brushing teeth, eating a meal, taking a shower, washing the dishes, etc. and practice doing it mindfully for a full week. This means narrowing their focus to their moment-to-moment experience of doing this activity. No distractions and no multitasking. Instead, tune into your five senses during this activity: what are you seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and/or tasting? Do you notice anything you haven’t noticed before? And we are not only tapping into our external environment but also our internal environment. Are there any judgments, opinions, or criticisms we’re experiencing during this activity? Are there any emotions arising? Just allowing any answer(s) to arise on their own – no forcing or fixing anything – just noticing and allowing.
This attitude of curiosity and non-judgment helps strengthen present-moment awareness because, for once, our biased thoughts aren’t getting in the way of painting a specific reality. Performing an activity mindfully also works quickly to calm and de-stress the mind by interrupting the brain’s habit of ruminating, worrying, and stressing. Suddenly, we can experience this present moment simply as a blank canvas, realizing that what we thought was reality was simply our own thoughts constructing a storyline that we were blindly following. Many people experience a feeling of ‘waking up’ from the trance their brains have put them in, and once they’re free from that, they feel immense calm, peace, and clarity.
I’m passionate about teaching others how to practice mindfulness because I know how life-changing it is. While some work needs to be put in initially – learning the skill of present-moment awareness and cultivating the attitude of kindness and non-judgment – you can progress from ‘practicing mindfulness’ to ‘living life mindfully’ so that it just becomes your mindset. I went from a highly anxious, self-critical person to now moving through my personal and professional life with calm, focus, resilience and empowered action.
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