om body
TV funny girl turned mindfulness guru – and reformed overly
competitive yoga student – Ruby Wax tells OM that we need to find
ways to cool down our brains before they overheat
R
uby Wax is the absolute woman
of the moment. Continually
selling out tour after tour of her
shows, proud recent recipient
of an OBE, script editor for the
great new Absolutely Fabulous movie and
queen of the mindfulness movement in the
UK...and she says she’s tried pretty much
every style of yoga out there too.
In her latest book, A Mindfulness Guide
For The Frazzled, she sets out simple
mindfulness practices and solutions to help
adults, kids and teens get through the day
with greater calm and clarity.
Now a poster girl for mental health - she
was awarded her OBE for services to mental
health last year - her interest in all things
mindfulness and meditation stems from her
own breakdown years earlier, when stress
and the fast pace of modern life got the
better of her.
After taking an MA course in mindfulness
at Oxford University, she’s now passionate
about passing on to others all the things
that have helped her.
As well as her books, she’s now on tour
passing on Frazzled tips and techniques
to live theatre audiences in the UK and
overseas. And, in March, she announced a
partnership with Marks & Spencer to roll out
Frazzled Cafes across the country, to allow
more people to open up about mental health
issues in a welcoming high street space.
So what exactly does it mean to be
‘frazzled’?
“It’s being stressed about stress, it’s
meaning that you’re burning out,” she tells
OM. “It’s actually a technical word – I didn’t
know that – it means that your cortisol is
burning too high. And the more you are
thinking, the more you are pumping, and it
means you can’t keep your eye on what you
want to focus on, because all you’re thinking
about is how bad you are.”
Unfortunately, it’s become part and parcel
of modern life, this permanently switched on
culture surrounded by technology, where our
brains are unable to take a moment off.
“It’s an inevitability, because we put it
there,” she says. “There’s got to be be an
antidote to all this other stuff, which is
brilliant, but it’s killing us.”Hard research
And she thinks that mindfulness could be
our secret weapon.
Through all her work, Wax says that
humour plays a key role in how she presents
these often challenging subjects to a
mainstream audience.
“It’s how to do mindfulness but from
my point of view,” she says, adding that
her new book (Frazzled) has been given a
blessing by Oxford University mindfulness
guru Professor Mark Williams (one of the
pioneers of mindfulness-based cognitive
therapy, or MBCT).
“It’s a practical book, except it’s still
coated in comedy because I think that’s a
good way to feed it to people.”
While her earlier book (Sane New World)
is more about how our minds work and the
effects of evolution on our poor, overheated
brains, fuelling the stress and issues that
we face today, Frazzled offers practical
solutions to our troubles - via mindfulness.
“Now I’m giving you exercises: for you, and
for kids and for teenagers, and for how to do
it on the move; so it is a moving mindfulness
which, I think, is also like yoga.”
Backing this all up with science and hard
research is another important aspect to her
work too.
“I won’t do anything unless I understand
the impact,” she says. “You know, otherwise
why do it? The evidence is most impressive,
so that to me is why mindfulness is
interesting. If that wasn’t the case I would
never do it. I don’t do something unless I can
see evidence.
“I only went to Oxford because of the
empirical evidence; otherwise, you know,
Oxford wasn’t offering ‘witchcraft’, so I
thought maybe there’s something to do with
‘mindfulness’.”Yoga student
It’s also something that has helped her
get more out of her time on the yoga mat,
appreciating what the whole experience is
about, rather than the need to perform or
perfect postures.
“It is mindfulness; if you’re watching
where your thoughts go and then bring it
all back, that’s all it is, it’s not different ...
it is mindfulness. You know, otherwise you
could just pummel yourself in a gym and
just look good.”
Wax admits she has tried a whole range
of yoga styles through the years, among
them Iyengar and Hatha, although she’s
not so keen on Hot Yoga. Whatever the
style, mindfulness techniques have helped
her moderate her behaviour.
“Yoga’s a big deal now. I do like yoga,
I just get very competitive. I like it, but
if there’s other people in the room, my
nature is to be better - so I can be known
to break my spine,” she jokes.
“So, yes, I do yoga, I just have to hold
back from being competitive. I think it’s
the best thing for stretching. I mean it is
mindfulness in movement, that’s what it is.”“Yoga’s a big deal now.
I do like yoga, I just get
very competitive. I like
it, but if there’s other
people in the room, my
nature is to be better.”