Maria Quayle-Guppy
A little bit about Maria Quayle-Guppy and her work with Reset Mindset.
Tenacious and Resilient
Mindfulness and Affirmation coach:
Breathwork Pilates and Sensory Support teacher:
Training and Development Manager:
Mum and Wife
27 years ago I trained internally within Transalta as a Human Resources Training and Development Manager.
Corporately I was responsible to inspire and connect together large groups of team members who were facing their pending Redundancy in the company I was working for. My empathetic role was to support with positivity and direction so, the workplace was as efficient as it could be in such challenging times.
Ongoing block courses in Mindfulness, Breathwork and Mat Pilates certification added mental and physical components to my work to support others.
Coaching with MAPS
MAPS is an acronym for Mindfulness, Affirmations, Pilates and Sensory Support. These were already long-standing techniques I had used with clients. Collectively together, they made an impact without one being more important than the other.
Life lived differently
We can exist day to day or work towards the vision and dream you have. Sometimes life feels so muddled you may be struggling to identify a dream to work towards. It’s easier to succeed and overcome challenges when you have an optimistic plan in place. With that plan, it is then important to visualise where you want to be and really feel inside what that will be like.
While working towards that dream – embrace ‘your now’. Don’t miss out on the ever-changing landscape of the short term. Mindfulness helps your find fun in the times that run smoothly and face disappointment at unexpected life changes, knowing ‘stress shall pass’. Giving your brain breaks from intrusive thoughts with mindfulness and focusing on one thing at a time will give a sense of being in greater control.
There is no better person to encourage yourself than you! One thing is for sure – ‘you’ is always around. Self-led Affirmations give an optimistic mental lift to help to reduce stress so you to move forward independently with greater and confidence and conviction. Repetitive positive statements are great at warding off procrastination and developing a can-do attitude.
Pilates and Sensory support give gentle deep touch pressure (proprioception input). Proprioception input is a popular Occupational Therapist tool to help your brain organise itself better resulting in a feeling of less stress. The sensory resources I created, and use were overseen by a qualified OT and give a greater sense of relaxation and a quieter mind to be able to action what you need to get done. Pilates gives a physical measure of control and tension release. Movements that can be done by anyone no matter their current fitness level.
You can pace yourself to avoid burnout, enjoy momentous moment and intentionally manifest that ideal future.
“I’m fun and have the calm, peace and empathy when you need it the most. I’ll pull you back to the here and now all while helping you dream big for your future. If you think you can or think you can’t you will be right! I have a strong emphasis on coaching to stop runaway thoughts which are maintaining stress. I’m going to help you attract what you want with patience while you live right now. ”
Where are you on your feelings map?
A feelings identification model helps to identify a feeling faster and also articulate a feeling when everything is overwhelming. Are you mad, scared, frustrated, isolated, lonely, calm or inspired? Feelings are never constant, and a range of feelings is very normal and important to have. It’s easy to try and avoid uncomfortable feelings where it is better to acknowledge them and make changes to reduce the physical and mental health impact they can have long term.
The map I created that is used as part of my coaching toolkit enables you to quickly identify feelings so that personal changes can be made to move through an uncomfortable feeling faster. The optimum feeling to feel most of the time is like that under the TREE (calm focused and inspired).
It’s not always easy to be in a calm state if you have a propensity to catastrophise or find the negative quickly in a situation.
Once feelings are identified there needs to be action with simple ‘options’ learned in my coaching to help get back to the tree feeling state as quickly as possible.
The map was to represent the beauty in all things depending on how you look at it.
A Volcano is majestic as well as violent, a Storm can be exciting as well as tumultuous, an Iceberg has the ability to float as well as be cold and the Tree is a place of peace and reflection.
The map was to represent the beauty in all things depending on how you look at it. A Volcano is majestic as well as violent, a Storm can be exciting as well as tumultuous, an Iceberg has the ability to float as well as be cold and the Tree is a place of peace and reflection. The simple imagery is easy to remember for young and old and a great way to put stressful feelings into perspective. Life will always be a varied landscape and a journey – life will never be perfect, and neither will we. We grow and bounce back with resilience from hurdles of rough terrain.
The map also pictorially has links to our nation Aotearoa and her people from all walks, races and regions. The wild west storms, the volcanoes of the land and the Southern icy passes are some of our country’s beauties. I felt drawn to create a map so that it would spread a wider connection. The map had to demonstrate that no matter where you are on your road, the human challenges and struggles with mental health and feelings are similar and the need for calm for most of the time is the same for everyone.
Options to change feelings
All of us need options that will help the need at the time of stress depending on what the stress is… No one needed LOADS of options, or it all becomes overwhelming. Simple solutions were drawn down from my years of experience teaching Mindfulness, Affirmations, Breathwork and Pilates. Learning to burn off adrenaline, dodge arrows, stops ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts), affirm self-worth, move the body for calm, apply sensory support and breathe for mental health are all important options to change a mood state that you learn within our coaching time together. You will become familiar with changing options depending on what suits you and what is happening for you in your life right now.
Then and now
My interest in behaviour management (Training and Development) stemmed from my own challenges at a young age. Adversity forced me to be a Victor instead of a Victim following a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress as a teenager. Through therapy I learned and applied desensitizing techniques and noticed I had become very resilient. Discovering I had the ability to juggle a number of responsibilities with an optimistic mindset without the same incapacitating anxiety I had formally felt was freeing.
I added Mindfulness training to my skillset in 2013 once our four eldest children were 14, 11, 10 and 3 years, to learn how to stay present in life’s ups and downs and let go past hurts and trauma. Parenting at least one neurodivergent child in the family was made much easier with applying Mindfulness. This training enabled me to coach others in effective ways to navigate significant life events and made me a better parent.
In 2015 I certified as a Mat Pilates teacher which added a physical component of life balance training. This same year I certified as a Youth Mentor to work alongside parents of youth navigating difficult years – and the years of our own teen children maturing.
My Marriage to my husband temporarily fell apart in 2016 after many years not coping well with each other. Other areas of my life felt great. I was struggling in my relationship, however. We bounced around the Family Court for the first 6 months of our separation. I was confronted by how intimidating this arena was, which equipped me to work alongside family harm victims in the future. We matured through this experience and became a strong resourceful team. Without applying what we learned in this difficult season, we wouldn’t be where we are today living a healthy life together.
Our youngest child was born unexpectedly in 2017 and he nearly didn’t make it. The 12 months to follow was a time most challenging for myself personally. Nasogastric tube fed and a grim outlook for being able to eat and speak propelled me into learning about sensory regulation. Now we can’t stop him talking! Sensory regulation with weighted and proprioceptive resources has helped us and others self-regulate in times of feeling out of sorts.
2020 was a messy year for everyone globally with the Pandemic crisis. Loss of control, fear and unable to make significant long-term plans rocked most people. In the middle of Winter that year our property and home flooded. We lost most material possessions to a thick tide of black river water. Displaced and afraid the experience taught us that it was routine, optimism, family and friends was what mattered most.
Being able to navigate life with genuine optimism led me to Life Coach contract in 2020 with Mid North Family Support. My role to coach women experiencing family harm and survivors of sexual assault… Until I was mandated in my role with vaccine restrictions in 2022.
Was I beat? Absolutely not!
Life is good. Life is actually as I had always dreamed I wanted life to roll. Flexible, varied and predictable because I run it this way. Yes, to what I can do and boundaries for what I can’t or don’t want to. Changeable enough that life never feels dull. I have a mindset of an overcomer.
I keep my mind focused on silver linings in day-to-day life happenings and it works. Appreciating the small things, putting into perspective the challenges and keeping my days full but not chaotic. Life is not perfect, but my life is happy. I have strong friendships, a healthy marriage with kids/young adults who like to be at home and visit us. Parenting our neurodivergent children is no longer chaotic anymore however of course that never comes without its own challenges.
