Dr. Joe Flanders is the founder and director of Mindspace as well as the host of the Mindspace Podcast. Joe discovered mindfulness through one of his professors while studying to become a psychologist. Seeing lots of potential in meditation and how mindfulness could help people, Joe stepped away from the traditional full-time clinical psychology career and opened up Mindspace, a Centre for Well-being, where they offer Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to individuals, groups, and organizations.

Joe’s Growth Story Book Title: 

“Finding mind space”

What you’ll learn:

• Joe discovered meditation through one of his professors while studying in Toronto and developed a strong interest for the practice.
• Joe did his first mindfulness training for an organization with a group of leaders from the McGill University Health Centre in 2014 and simply loved it. He saw a great potential and need for this activity in organizational environments.

Notable quotes:

• “That was the entrepreneurial piece: mediation could be cool! They were doing it in Silicon Valley, celebrities were talking about it…” – Joe on seeing meditation as a great opportunity from a business perspective and something more he could bring to his therapy.
• “You don’t have to be a monk, you don’t have to be a hippie burning incense to meditate, you can simply be riding the bus and training your mind.” – Joe on how mindfulness and meditation can seem a bit woo-woo from afar but it’s really accessible and beneficial to all.

Show notes:

02:10 – Dr. Joe Flanders is the founder and director of Mindspace and host of the Mindspace podcast.

02:20 – Joe has a Ph.D. in psychology from McGill University. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is now an assistant professor at McGill in the psychology department and is also a licenced psychologist, member of the Quebec order of psychologists.

09:30 – Joe grew up in Montreal and has always lived there except during his undergrad when he studied at the University of Toronto and post-doc at Madison, WI.

57:30 – Joe met Carl Lemieux, experienced management consultant, who became co-owner of Mindspace and his partner in expanding the wellness in organizations side of the business.

01:08:50 – Joe recommends a few books on mindfulness stress reduction:

• Wherever You Go, There You Are and Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn;
• Ten Percent Happier by Dan Harris;
• Waking Up by Sam Harris, who also has a podcast and great app with the same name;
• Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright;
• The Craving Mind by Judson Brewer.

01:15:25 – Joe invites you to connect with him on social media @DrJoeFlanders on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram.