On the couch: a blog on running a successful kitchen from performance psychologist Mike Duckett

This is the next instalment in a series of blogs from performance psychologist Mike Duckett of Coaching for Success, helping chefs to raise their games in the kitchen. Are You Stressed or Performing Under Pressure? Mind-Body Wellbeing I'm sure that as a professional chef you know very well that the mind and the body are intimately connected - indeed you could say they are one and the same, unless you subscribe to Cartesian Dualism (there's a phrase to drop into conversation!) but I digress. The point is, we've known for centuries that it's the way your mind interacts with external events that determines how you perceive them. Take your own bread and butter subject (all puns intended) - flavour. Flavour doesn't come from the foodstuff itself. Scientists distinguish between taste, which is derived from the food, and flavour which is what you actually experience, which is a combination of taste and other senses plus your mind's interpretation of these things. Previously we talked about how the ancient practice of mindfulness has become popular as a means to stay focused on what's happening in the present moment just as elite athlete's do when they are performing. Well one of the big areas of mindfulness application is in stress management and that's a subject that comes up a lot with chefs! There's no denying that when service starts the pressure often builds and it can keep building. However, it's important to remember pressure is not the same as stress. Pressure can come from the outside world or inside your own head; staff can put pressure on you by making demands and on the other hand, you can put pressure on yourself by deciding something must be done within the next 10 minutes. Knowing where the pressure is coming from is useful in managing it but the important thing is to realise that wherever the pressure is coming from, inside or outside, only you can turn it into stress. You must have heard many people say they work best under pressure but have you ever heard anyone say they work best under stress? Through mindfulness and other mental techniques you can become aware of the thoughts you are using to turn pressure into stress and make some changes. In this blog though I'm interested in some of the simple physical interventions you can make to protect yourself from the debilitating effects of stress. Make no mistake, stress can have debilitating effects on your mental capacity: your judgement,