EU Alumna, Rosa Navarro, on an International Career and Discovering Mindfulness

Rosa is originally from Barcelona, but she has also lived in Germany, Canada and the Netherlands. She now enjoys life in the Catalan countryside and the benefits of being surrounded by nature.

After working for several big multinational companies, a change in her health led her to adopt mindfulness, in which she has now developed a successful career helping others. It is her connection to nature that has also led her to collaborate with EWES, a wilderness and nature training center in the Netherlands, which provides out-of-the-box and out-of-the-office experiences leading to a more mindful perspective!

Could you tell us about your career journey since leaving EU?

I got a scholarship from the Catalan government to do some import and export studies, which was followed by a placement where I set up export departments. Then I started working in marketing research and decided to do an MBA to expand my career options. I also convinced the school to allow me to do an exchange program in Canada.

When I returned to Europe, I did an internship in Amsterdam for a big multinational where I was working for a business development team. I could have gone further in the company, but I met my now ex-husband who was living in Germany, so I decided to leave everything to be with him and started working for General Electric until I became pregnant. I then started working for a consulting firm until we moved back to Spain. At the time, consulting was difficult with a child, so I decided to do something different. I started a degree in Pilates and later set up a Pilates studio. A few years later, I got ill with cancer, so I had to sell the studio because it became impossible for me to give the classes.

This is where my career in mindfulness started. I was already practicing mindfulness and it had helped me so much that I needed to share it. My illness gave me the opportunity to take the next step and start helping others and I began studying to teach mindfulness in businesses and schools.

People are very disconnected from nature, so I wanted to integrate this into my business. I partnered with EWES, and together with another nature project we offer trails for business executives, called Wildfulness. They are not just trips to the mountains, but adventure trails to really get you out of your comfort zone. My objective is for everyone to connect to themselves and nature.

How would you describe mindfulness?

Mindfulness is being aware of what is in your head at all times. People talk about being present, of course that is important too. But it’s also about being able to see how you are behaving and understanding why you are behaving in a certain way. This helps you to stop feeling stressed, which in turn is beneficial for the people around you.

Why did you first get into mindfulness?

When I was working at high levels of business, I realized that there was frequently a lack of humanity. When colleagues interacted, they often did so without implementing emotional intelligence. If people don’t understand what’s going on in their own minds, it is impossible to understand others.

What are some of the benefits of mindfulness?

There are many. Physically, it can help with things like blood pressure, heart rate and insomnia. Mindfulness helps you to sleep much better and your cortisol levels drop, leading to less stress. It also boosts emotional growth, making it easier for you to be empathetic and compassionate. In social terms, there are many benefits in a sense of connecting, communicating and being able to see what other people need.

What are some of the common misconceptions around mindfulness?

People think it is about relaxing, but it has nothing to do with that. It is actually about accepting what is happening in the moment. If you are not relaxed, you have to accept that to be able to change it.

They also think it is about having a blank mind but that is impossible! It is not about not thinking, but about understanding your thoughts and trying to increase the moments of calm in between them so they don’t accumulate.

People also assume mindfulness is simple, which it is, but it’s not easy. It takes a lot of discipline as you have to actively practice mindfulness. I always say it’s like building biceps, you can’t just go to the gym once and expect to have muscles, you have to train. To become more mindful, you have to change your brain structure which takes a lot of motivation and dedication. You have to sit down and study, even if it is only for 20 seconds a day, but every day.

What is the motivation behind companies becoming more mindful?

Following the pandemic, it was heavily related to stress and this trend has continued. It could be due to a high workload or issues in teamwork. Coherence between teams after the pandemic was even worse because people weren’t used to working together anymore. We need to develop resonant leaders in a top-down approach so that everyone is aligned.

What has been your proudest professional achievement?

Helping a difficult school remain open because I was able to practice mindfulness with the parents and teachers. Every time they hired a new teacher, they asked me to introduce them to mindfulness and this is something we worked on a lot during classes. However, it was their hard work which led them to succeed.