There's a word I've been thinking about a lot this week: grounding.
For me, grounding is about coming back to yourself.
Getting out of your head for a moment. Slowing everything down. Taking a proper breath. Not thinking about the next meeting, the unread emails, the Teams notifications or the ever-growing to-do list.
Just being where you are.
And it's made me wonder how often we actually give people the opportunity to do that at work.
Because we've become incredibly good at carrying on.
We move from meeting to meeting. Eat lunch while looking at a screen. Reply to emails while doing something else. Finish one task and immediately move onto the next.
And because everyone around us is doing it too, it starts to feel normal.
But the figures tell us something else.
According to the CIPD's Health and Wellbeing at Work 2025 report, 21% of employees say they feel under excessive pressure at work.
That's more than one in five people.
And pressure doesn't always look dramatic.
It can look like someone still showing up.
Still meeting deadlines.
Still answering messages.
Still getting everything done.
But quietly feeling like their head is constantly full and they never really switch off.
The Health and Safety Executive also estimates that 964,000 workers experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, resulting in 22.1 million working days lost.
Those are huge numbers.
But behind every statistic is a person.
Someone who might be doing their job brilliantly while feeling completely depleted underneath it all.
Someone who gets to the end of the working day with nothing left in the tank.
Someone who hasn't reached breaking point, but could really benefit from being given permission to stop for a moment.
Wellbeing doesn't always have to be complicated
A one-hour wellbeing workshop isn't going to fix an unhealthy workplace culture, impossible workloads or poor management.
And I don't think we should pretend it can.
Real workplace wellbeing has to go much deeper than that.
But I do think intentionally creating moments within the working day where people can step away from their usual pressures matters.
The CIPD also reports that 64% of organisations are taking steps to identify or reduce workplace stress, yet only half believe their efforts are effective.
That made me think:
What does workplace wellbeing actually feel like for the person experiencing it?
Not another thing they have to complete.
Not another webinar playing in the background while they answer emails.
Not something that accidentally becomes another item on the to-do list.
But genuine protected time.
Time away from a screen.
Time to breathe.
Time to use your hands.
Time to talk to the person sitting next to you about something other than work.
Time to feel grounded again.
What does grounding look like at work?
It doesn't need to be complicated.
Sometimes it can simply mean intentionally slowing things down.
That thinking sits behind my 60-Minute Boho Reset workplace wellbeing sessions.
We begin with five minutes of gentle breathing, giving everyone a chance to arrive properly in the room rather than rushing straight from their last task.
Then we spend around 45 minutes creating with natural materials.
No laptops. No notifications. No expectation to perform.
We finish with a short guided meditation and a few minutes to reflect and check in with how everyone feels.
For autumn, the creative activity is a woodland terrarium — bringing together nature, creativity and that feeling of slowing down as the season changes.
Everyone leaves with something they've created.
But for me, the terrarium isn't really the most important part.
The important part is the 60 minutes in between.
Grounding shouldn't just be a one-off
This is also why I've started thinking about workplace wellbeing seasonally.
Nature doesn't operate at the same pace all year, and neither do we.
My 60-Minute Reset changes with the seasons:
- Autumn — woodland terrariums and grounding
- Winter — natural festive wreaths and slowing down
- Spring — kokedama, growth and new beginnings
- Summer — beach terrariums and space to breathe
Businesses can book a one-off workshop, or the sessions can form part of a wider year-long wellbeing programme.
I'm also happy to work with HR, People and Culture teams to shape a programme around what they're already trying to achieve for their people.
Because workplace wellbeing shouldn't just be about offering something.
It should be about asking:
What do our people actually need?
And this autumn, I think many of us might need something very simple.
A moment to put both feet back on the ground.
A proper breath.
And permission to stop running on empty.
That's where I'd like the conversation about wellbeing to begin.
Beth Hodgson
Founder, Boho Workshops
Freedom through nature, creativity and energy.