How the concepts of mindfulness, non-duality and zen can help make you feel more alive, less anxious, more connected to yourself and others and like you’re really ‘here.’
Watch a PREVIEW of the chat with Frances Trussell below:
Watch or listen to the FULL CHAT with Frances Trussell below:
The numbers are in and we are officially stressed
Do you find modern life stressful? Does it make you anxious? If so, you’re not alone. Between 2012 and 2015, the Mental Health Foundation found 21.8% of women and 18.3% of men were reporting high levels of anxiety. By 2023 the number for women had jumped to 37.1% and men were up at 29.9%.
So, what’s going on? And what can we do about it? Well, Frances Trussell who has shared mindful meditation, non-duality and zen to thousands of people believes separating ourselves from fearful thoughts and external noise is a big first step to reducing anxiety levels.
“On the retreats I run it’s a proper retreat. So there are no phones,” Trussell told Sport and Life.
“No phones, no reading, no general conversation. People can be a bit fearful going into that but time and again I hear just what a relief is is to have that permission to switch off and disconnect.
“And by the disconnection, we actually get to really reconnect with ourselves, what’s really going on.”
Who are you?
Trussell pursued a successful career in broadcast journalism before hitting a psychological and emotional tumult that lead her to mindfulness.
She appeared on ITV’s Sugar Free Farm as a Mindfulness Coach, has worked as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and has worked with a diverse range of clients from Olympic athletes to homeless people.
But whoever you are, whatever your level of societal achievement, she maintains that spending quiet time figuring out who you actually are and what you want is pivotal to good mental health.
“We have mindfulness on one hand where we have our mind full of what we’re doing like in flow states in sport. And then on the other hand we have this non duality, this non-separation brought together in a powerful combination that makes people truly step into the truth of who they are.”
You are a part of something bigger
Mindfulness is probably a relatively mainstream concept in 2026. But I wasn’t; wholly sure what non-duality meant. A quick bit of online research indicated it was a concept rooted in Buddhist teachings and the idea the world isn’t made up of separate entities but rather we are all part of a ‘whole.’
“We live in a time where we’re creating this very fixed sense of identity and having to project stuff out into the world and constantly create and reinforce a persona.
“It’s really hard this solid sense of individualism. And that’s where this non-dual, non-separate understanding, once we know that for ourselves we can be so much more freed up.”
The idea is appealing but it’s difficult to divorce ourselves from the notion we’re separate from the world.
Although Trussell says the way to arrive at that realisation is by closely examining one of the foundational questions: who am I?
“When we really know the truth of who we are, there is this clarity, this strength, so much of this me-mind twittering on all the time, it can fall away.
“We over identify with our thoughts. Actually thoughts are just thoughts. We don’t have to believe everything we think.”
Be here now
Being able to step back from our thoughts is also the key to achieving connection with loved ones in our lives, claims Trussell.
“Connection comes from this ability to be really present. How present am I really being?
“How much am I showing up to this conversation with my child or my partner or my friend when we’re at the pub?
“Or how much am I just in my head thinking?”
Trussell herself practices breaks from tech to keep feeling present in every day life. Might be worthwhile – just check back in with the Sport and Life website from time to time!
For more about Frances Trussell and the retreats she runs:
