Women In Wellness: Dorsey Standish On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Wanda Malhotra

You are going to fail again and again. Adopt a growth mindset so you can see each “failure” as a learning opportunity…and make sure you have a strong community around you to pick you up when you fall down!

Today, more than ever, wellness is at the forefront of societal discussions. From mental health to physical well-being, women are making significant strides in bringing about change, introducing innovative solutions, and setting new standards. Despite facing unique challenges, they break barriers, inspire communities, and are reshaping the very definition of health and wellness. In this series called women in wellness we are talking to women doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists, fitness trainers, researchers, health experts, coaches, and other wellness professionals to share their stories and insights. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dorsey Standish, MS.

Dorsey Standish, MS is a mechanical engineer, neuroscientist, and wellness expert who brings evidence-based mindfulness and emotional intelligence to clients worldwide through her company Mastermind. Her personal mission is to help Type A people like herself slow down, destress, and optimize their performance through research-backed brain health training. Dorsey’s teachings draw on multiple technical degrees, her training as a teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and deep experience on regular 7-day silent meditation retreats. While Dorsey has studied with meditation masters, she believes that her best mindfulness teachers are her beautiful wife and two young sons.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

I am a recovering perfectionist and Type A engineer. I started my career as an engineer and project manager at a Fortune 500 tech company, traveling the world, working on new tech products, and climbing the corporate ladder. In the spring of 2015, I had a burnout and mental health crisis that forced me to pause and prioritize myself and my health. That experience was terribly challenging, but it inspired me to begin my study of brain health and stress resilience, which ultimately led me to a daily mindfulness practice. Within a year, I stepped away from the corporate world and stepped into the wellness world, and began a deeper study of mindfulness and brain health, which led me to UT Dallas where I earned a master’s degree in Neuroscience. Through my own wellness journey and extensive neuroscience research, I’ve learned that taking time for wellness isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity that ensures brain health, longevity, meaningful relationships, and sustainable workplace performance.

I now have my dream job leading Mastermind, a woman and LGBT-owned brain health and wellness firm that works with companies like Toyota and American Airlines to grow happier, healthier workplaces and more resilient employees through our neuroscience-based wellness programs. Our research-backed approach at Mastermind sets us apart from many other mindfulness and wellness services because it allows our clients and students to really understand the brain, how it works and what is required to protect and care for this vital organ that supports so many other parts of the body. Ironically, up until the past two decades, the brain has been one of the least studied and understood organs of the body, and each year we learn more and more, so our work is not only relevant and impactful, but also constantly evolving.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

March 2020 seemed like the beginning of the end for Mastermind, which at the time was an in-person wellness events business. As Covid spread and things started to shut down, I remember feeling dejected and hopeless as client after client called to cancel their upcoming speaking engagements and workshops. I was thinking to myself, “How am I going to make this business work???”

What was initially a huge curse turned out to be a big blessing. In the period of uncertainty and initial lockdown, I spent a lot of time journaling and reflecting, acknowledging my fear and also determined to harness this challenge as an opportunity…and it was! Within a week of shutdown, I was supported by friends, family, and long-time clients who started hiring Mastermind for virtual mindfulness sessions for themselves and groups of their friends. Then, as it became clear how much Covid lockdown was affecting employee mental health, companies started calling us to do virtual Mindfulness for Mental Health sessions. The pandemic had accelerated an already growing trend of mental health being top of mind and top of conversation, and companies were searching for sustainable ways to support and retain employees. One-time sessions turned into monthly contracts as employees clamored for healthy ways to come together and stay well, and our corporate business expanded threefold in 2020 as we transformed our business model to serve global companies. Amidst the pandemic, a time of challenge and suffering for so many, we were grateful to be part of the solution.

From this story (and many more similar ups and downs since then), I’ve learned that change and challenge are inevitable. As a business owner, it’s my job to continue to uplevel my resilience and adaptability and look for ways to harness obstacles as new opportunities to adapt to best carry out my company’s greatest purpose — to make work a place of wellness as together we build a happier, healthier, more compassionate world.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I left the corporate world in the summer of 2016 to pursue corporate wellness work full-time, I had limited savings and no formal plan for my next steps. While I had taught free yoga classes at my company, I had never made money teaching yoga or mindfulness! I didn’t even one job lined up working at any local studios. Even when I finally found a local yoga studio where I could teach, it was a major adjustment to go from making a six-figure tech salary to earning $25 per class. I had many moments of thinking, “What I am going to do???” I applied to drive Uber and to work at Trader Joe’s, designed websites, and ultimately stuck out a few years of cobbling together enough money to live on to continue pursuing my ultimate dream — to lead a wellness company that would support mental wellness in the workplace.

While I eventually connected with, bought into, and relaunched my company Mastermind, it was a longer (and more harrowing!) journey than it might have been if I had started prototyping the life I wanted while I still had the steadiness of a corporate job. Now, I always tell people to follow their heart AND use their brain — start doing the job they want to have in the future where they are now. A great resource for distilling different career path options and taking intentional steps forward is the book Designing Your Life — I read this in February 2017 and the steps eventually led me to Mastermind!

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

I believe in being the change we want to see in the world, and I’m doing that through leading Mastermind, a brain health and wellness firm based in Dallas, Texas. We partner with companies like Toyota and American Airlines to create healthier, happier workplaces and more resilient employees through our neuroscience-based wellness programs.

We believe that work should we a place of wellness, so we partner with forward-thinking organizations to offer services like wellness keynotes, leadership trainings, corporate wellness assessments, and annual brain health partnerships. Our offerings combine neuroscience learning, relatable storytelling, and transformative mindset practices to elucidate topics like “Mindful Digital Detox” and “Building Stress Resilience.” Our signature Mastermind 20–30-minute mindfulness & brain health sessions have been shown to lower attendee self-reported stress levels by an average of 27%!

In addition to working with organizations, we also support individuals through our popular courses like Mindfulness for Brain Health and our Mindfulness Facilitator Certification. We are on a mission to grow a happier, healthier, more compassionate world, and we hope you’ll join us!

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing?

We can’t stop the waves, but we can learn how to surf! Stress is inevitable, so we can invest resources in upleveling our resilience and inner strength to surf the waves of live.

1 . Sleep should be your #1 priority, as it is the foundation of physical and mental health and performance. When we get good sleep, we have the brainpower to make good decisions, treat ourselves and others well, eat well, move, and do good work in the world. It seems so simple, but it’s not easy to prioritize sleep in today’s overstimulating, always-on world. Engaging in the practice of intentional rest through non-sleep deep rest (NSDR, inspired by the ancient practice of yoga nidra) can train your nervous system to relax and rest more easily. NSDR can be used in the morning or as a midday break to help make up for lost sleep, or as an evening practice to prime your body and mind for sleep before bedtime.

2 . Take mindful moments. Life is too short to rush through! Engaging in a mindfulness practice even for a few minutes per day will train your brain for presence and full engagement in all aspects of life, contributing to greater stress resilience, mental health and even workplace performance.

3 . Practice a daily digital detox. Technology is omnipresent in our lives, and most of us subconsciously associate technology with work. Practicing a daily digital detox will allow you to fully detach from work and restore your ability to pay attention. Pick one activity or time every day when you can put your devices away for 15–75 minutes and be fully present for a tech-free immersive experience like taking your dog on a walk, enjoying a hot bath, playing with your kids, painting, or eating dinner with family or friends.

4 . Live your values. Reflect on your top values, and then connect your daily actions with what’s most important to you. This might inspire you to shift how you spend your time (e.g., logging off work earlier to spend time with your #1 priority of family), or to shift how you see your current engagements (e.g., connecting your HR work with your value of service and helping others). When we connect with meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in how we spend our time, we can be happier, more energized, and more productive in our pursuits.

5 . Access common humanity. Find a community that can understand and relate to whatever challenges you’re going through, whether it’s new motherhood, caring for aging parents, managing across generations, or switching careers. Don’t underestimate the power of connecting with others who can relate to your unique story and share their own. When we feel seen, heard, and supported in our challenges, we can move through them with greater grace and resilience.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I am already doing it through my company Mastermind! ☺ I believe that approaching wellness through a foundation of mindfulness and neuroscience allows for sustainable shifts that ultimately transform the practitioner and the world overall. When we are empowered with scientific knowledge and self-awareness, and connected to others on the same journey, amazing things can happen.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1. Your business only grows when you do. As an entrepreneur, your personal and professional growth will be the main driver of business growth and success, and of your personal fulfillment.
2. You are going to fail again and again. Adopt a growth mindset so you can see each “failure” as a learning opportunity…and make sure you have a strong community around you to pick you up when you fall down!
3. Don’t do it alone. Social connection is a key pillar of brain health, and it’s important that we feel connected, especially when we’re doing something hard like growing a business. Join a business mastermind, networking group, or other community where people have similar challenges and experiences so that you know you’re not alone and you can gain strength and inspiration from their journeys.
4. Get perspective. When things are challenging and stressful (perhaps on a daily or hourly basis), pause to change the way you’re looking at things. Ask yourself, “Will this matter in a week? A month? A year? How could this challenge also be an opportunity?”
5. Growing your own business is hard… but it’s worth it. You will work hard, you will have ups and downs, and you will also enjoy a greater amount of freedom, intention, choice, and impact than most people are able to access in their safer but confining corporate jobs.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

Mental health is a cause close to my heart and informs a lot of the work we do at Mastermind. It was my own mental health crisis that led me to mindfulness in the first place. I believe we must treat mental health and brain health as health, period. We must normalize talking about emotions and emotional challenges, and training our brains and our minds just like we train our bodies.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

Please connect with me and Mastermind at www.mastermindmeditate.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. We would love to partner with you and/or your organization to elevate brain health and resilience, and contribute to a happier, healthier, more compassionate world!

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.