Our Solutions

We offer three different solutions:

SMART

SMART (Stress Management and Resiliency Training) is our flagship four-module solution that offers an innovative, modern, uplifting, highly scalable, and scientifically proven approach to decrease symptoms of stress and anxiety, and increase well-being, resilience, mindfulness, happiness, engagement, and positive health behaviors.

SMART addresses two aspects of human experience – attention and interpretation. Research shows that our brain’s attention, in its default state, incessantly wanders and instinctively focuses on threats and imperfections. Scientists have shockingly discovered we spend half our day or more with a ruminative mind. This excessive ‘dwell time’ in the default mode correlates with symptoms of anxiety, depression, low engagement, and attention deficit. It also fatigues our brain, one reason you might feel completely wiped out by 6 o’clock in the evening.

SMART offers a way out of this human dilemma by engaging the brain’s focused mode – not only to experience more uplifting emotions, but also develop better focus, enhance creativity and productivity, improve engagement at work, deepen relationships, and to find greater purpose in life.

SMART solutions help its participants with three closely integrated and inter-related steps:

Awareness – As a first step, participants develop a pragmatic understanding of the causes of stress, and deficits in thriving. These are somewhat customized to the specific group that is being addressed. The participants learn three key neural vulnerabilities that generate and multiply our stress. The neuroscience is shared in an evidence-based fashion while keeping the format simple, participatory, and fun. The self-awareness that emerges from these understandings empowers the individual to take the first step toward more fully realizing the potential of their brain.

Attention – As a next step, participants learn skills to develop authentic, undistracted, and intentional presence. SMART fosters such engagement by training attention, a process that helps one discover greater novelty and meaning in the world. Trained attention finds deeper more nurturing connection with people (friends, strangers, and loved ones alike), fulfills greater purpose, and helps one direct and sustain deeper focus. Such an attention is flexible and relaxed, yet passionate and purposeful. The outcome of positive engagement is less fatigue, greater creativity and productivity, and a more empathetic disposition.

Attitude (positive mindset) – SMART offers individuals a disciplined yet flexible focus to reframe their thinking with a more adaptive and pragmatic perspective that is conducive to calm temperament as well as passionate engagement. Such perspective helps enhance gratitude focus, nurture greater compassion, creatively work with ‘what is,’ explore life’s higher meaning, and strengthen forgiveness skills. The result is greater emotional intelligence, which in turn fosters more rewarding relationships, better emotional regulation, and thus enhanced ability to deal with adversity, complexity, and conflicts.

The solutions share application of these skills to daily life, both personal and professional. SMART has been tested in about thirty completed research studies at Mayo Clinic and elsewhere, with the results showing consistent and strong improvement in stress, anxiety, burnout, resilience, mindfulness, self-regulation, happiness, and positive health behaviors.

For most organizations, SMART is offered in two phases: Train and Sustain.

The train phase entails sharing the core insights and skills of the four-module program. For most groups, this training is offered in two one-hour sessions supplemented with collateral materials. Alternate approaches include:

  • Two-hour workshop

  • Half-day workshop

  • Full-day workshop

  • Digital solution such as the online Mayo Clinic Resilient Mind Program.

  • Mobile app (In development)

In the sustain phase, participants integrate and deepen their practice, that build toward creating a culture of resilience and wellbeing in the organization. The sustain phase is delivered leveraging teleconferences, emails, short videos, webinars, video conferences, books, and more. A mobile app to deliver sustain is in development.

We are happy to offer SMART workshops as well as Train-the-trainer courses at your location, to help you bring SMART to the entire enterprise.

In addition, Dr. Sood presents a few keynotes every year on topics related to stress, resilience, wellbeing, engagement, performance, mental health, meaning, and other related topics. Please contact us if you are interested in Dr. Sood presenting a keynote to your group.

Transform

Transform is the core component of our train-the-trainer program. Transform entails a two-day in-person immersion in the science, stories and skills with Dr. Sood, followed by ongoing connection via emails and teleconferences over three months. In addition to train-the-trainer program, we occasionally also offer Transform to small groups as a stand-alone experience.

MyHappinessPal

MyHappinessPal is a collection of 15-minute meditations that offer a combination of relaxation, deep breathing practices, attention training, and uplifting emotions.

Here is a complete list of our solutions and products:

SOLUTIONS:

SMART: Individual and group two-hour training for consumers, employees, students, and patients. This is also available in one hour, half day, and full day versions. Digital program available at resilience.mayoclinic.org.

Transform: Train-the-trainer course.

MyHappinessPal: Online meditations to help experience relaxation and uplifting emotions.

PRODUCTS:

Books:

Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress Free Living

Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness

Immerse: A 52-Week Course in Resilient Living

Mindfulness Redesigned for the Twenty-First Century

Stronger: The Science and Art of Stress Resilience

The Resilience Journal

SMART with Dr. Sood: The Four-Module Stress Management and Resiliency Training Program

Happier Mornings Calmer Evenings: A Gratitude and Kindness Curriculum (In Press)

Websites:

resilientoption.com (stressfree.org)

resiliencetrainer.com

myhappinesspal.com

resilience.mayoclinic.org

Customized Programs:

SMART: Our core stress and resiliency solution

Certified Trainer (resiliencetrainer.com): A certification program for resilience trainers/coaches

SMART-HP (Health care professionals): A licensing package for hospitals, health systems, and corporate comprising of Transform + SMART + Mindful meals + Narrow lanes + 80 minutes of follow up videos + Blogs.

SMART-E (Employees – Corporate, Law firms, Education): A packaged program comprising of SMART (Two-hour version) + Six weeks of follow up (webinars + videos + emails).

SMART-P (SMART for Patients): A customized program for patient populations. Currently has been developed for depression, heart disease (including rehab), cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, addiction, women’s health.

SMART-C (SMART for Caregivers): A customized program for caregivers of patients with chronic conditions.

SMART-S (SMART for Students): A customized program for university students. A K-12 curriculum is in development.

SMART-T (SMART for Teachers): A customized program for K-12 and university teachers.

Strong Neuron: Stress and burnout solutions for the military and police.

Mindfulness Redesigned: Mindful adaptation of the SMART program for consumers.

Meditations:

Accept, Blend into infinity, Breathe to heal, Breathealing, Calm and energize, Conscience, Content, Equanimity, Expectations, Fearless, Feelings, Forgiveness, Fortunate, Fulfilled, Good people, Gratitude garden, Heal your past, Honorable, Hopeful, Humility, Innocence, Inspired, Intermission, Kind grateful breaths, Let it go, Light, Loved, One, Pampered, Present, Priceless, Pure, Purposeful, Realistic, Recharge, Rhythm, Role model, Roundtrip, Sacred, Self-Forgiveness, Serene corner, Simply grateful, Simply human, Small pleasures, Tethered, United, Wisdom, Your north star

Social Media:

@amitsoodmd