Breaking the Stigma: How Mindfulness & Wellbeing Can Transform the Workplace

This exclusive interview with Sheena Tanna-Shah was conducted by Sophia Hayes of The Motivational Speakers Agency.

Sheena Tanna-Shah is one of the UK’s leading Mental Health & Wellbeing speakers, blending professional expertise with lived experience to inspire lasting change. An optometrist turned mindset coach, she is also a bestselling author and qualified Rapid Transformation Therapy Practitioner.

Through her books Perfectly Imperfect Mum and The Power of Being Perfectly Imperfect, Sheena champions mindfulness, self-care, and authentic living. Her practical frameworks, rooted in NLP, meditation, and breathwork, help people navigate stress while building resilience.

In this exclusive interview with The Champions Speakers Agency, Sheena discusses breaking the stigma around mental health in workplaces, simple tools for stress management, and how mindfulness boosts performance. Her insights show how compassion and strategy can create healthier, more productive teams.

Q: Despite growing awareness, mental health still seems to carry stigma in the workplace. From your perspective, what are the main barriers stopping open conversations?

Sheena Tanna-Shah: “I think it’s a taboo topic for a number of reasons and the biggest reason is that fear of judgment. There’s still a fear of judgment around what mental health looks like and what that might mean in a workplace setting.

“And so because of that, I think a lot of people don’t want to showcase that or talk about it in the sense that there’s a fear of how they might be perceived. And if they do speak about it, you know, are they going to get judged?

“Do they think, you know, that people might wonder if it’s going to impact their work productivity, their quality of work, will it impact things like promotions? And so huge fear of judgment can hold people back in speaking about it.

“Considering that when people aren’t speaking about it, there’s still a lot of loneliness in that workplace culture. So from a flip side, I think education and awareness and training is, you know, such a huge part of a workplace culture and should be an integral part of a workplace culture so that every single person can get support wherever they are in that journey.

“You know, it’s no secret that overwhelm, stress, anxiety is on the rise and it has been for the last few years. And so it’s vital that employers and businesses and workplace settings are having strategies in place to support individuals wherever they are in that journey.

“And the key part of it is speaking out about it because the more we are talking about it, the more awareness there is around it, then individuals can feel comfortable that actually it’s okay. And again embracing that perfectly perfect self to be open about their journey. Not see it as a weakness but actually as a strength and see it as courage in speaking out to get that support.”

Q: Many leaders want to support their teams but struggle with practical tools. What’s one simple, effective strategy business leaders can use right away to manage stress better?

Sheena Tanna-Shah: “So when I’ve been working with instances small and large, one of the simplest techniques I give to them that they can use literally anytime, any place, in whatever setting is a mindfulness technique, and it’s a stop acronym, so S O P.

“So whatever their work day is looking like, whether they’re feeling maybe overwhelmed in the morning, maybe they’ve got a busy meeting ahead of them, maybe there’s emails coming out of their ears, you know, in the daytime, using the stop acronym can really help.

“So the stop acronym: S, just stopping for a moment, whatever you are doing, just for a couple of seconds, doesn’t need to take long at all. And then T, just taking a breath. So just taking a few deep breaths just to calm and regulate that nervous system because very often we are on the go, very busy, getting overwhelmed but taking that breath can slow us down and reset us.

“And then just observing your feelings, your emotions, your feelings in your mental and physical self and observing whatever’s going on with your feelings without any judgment whatsoever.

“So just taking that moment, taking those breaths, observing your feelings, thoughts and emotions without any judgment. And then P is processing and proceeding. So what am I going to do with my next step? So rather than reacting, which you might do, it’s better to then respond.

“So processing and proceeding by responding. So do I need to take a few more minutes out? Do I need a bit more clarification? Do I need to take a glass of water? So just taking those next steps in a much more responsive manner. So STOP is a very simple technique that can be done in a few minutes throughout the day.”

Q: Mindfulness and breathwork are often seen as “soft skills.” How do you explain their measurable impact on performance and productivity in the workplace?

Sheena Tanna-Shah: “They help immensely, one because they can be utilised any point in the day. So in the beginning, in the middle, at the end, they don’t take long at all. So a lot of times, you know, you don’t have to be in a quiet space, seated, doing certain hand gestures. So the mudas meditation, for example.

“Mindfulness and breathwork, you know, is such an easy thing to do. So taking breathwork for example, taking a few seconds out, taking those few deep breaths can really reset that nervous system.

“So very often we can feel stressed, we can feel overwhelmed and with that come the emotions of irritation or frustration or panic, chronic stress. And so taking those few breaths at any point can regulate that nervous system because very often if you are stressed, you’re in that fight-or-flight mode.

“And when you’re in that fight-or-flight mode, very often we’re reacting. So we might be panicky, we might be rushing, we might be trying to do multitask and not being productive when in any other tasks.

“So practising breathwork allows us to feel more grounded, allows us to feel more anchored and centred. It gives us better clarity, better focus. And same with mindfulness as well.

“There’s so many different things that you can do for mindfulness to allow you to feel present in that task as well because you very often might be thinking about the morning we’ve just had or yesterday or last week and if we’re not in that past sense, we might be thinking about the future. So tomorrow or the, you know, evening task or next week, our mind’s rushing and going in all different directions.

“But actually practising mindfulness just for a couple of minutes allows you to feel centred, present, so you can really dedicate a lot of your energy into that moment that you are doing that role or task and it just allows you to then reflect, to reset and then to respond going forward in whatever task that might be.

“So really simple, effective things that you can do just for a couple of minutes throughout the day. It allows you to feel much more positive and productive in your role.”