FREE WORKSHOP REPLAY: Stress AS ULTIMATE LEVERAGE POINT

Thank you so much for joining me for this free workshop — whether you attended live or are catching the replay here. Stress is a BIG important, life-saving and life-giving topic. If it wasn’t and it wasn’t to you — you wouldn’t be here. 

I’m including 2 video resources for you:

  • the full workshop replay AND

  • a bonus “cliff notes” 10-minute version, with my favorite 3-step, easy-to-remember, simple-to-use, immediately-effective stress management tool “STOP, DROP, & ROLL” that will have you acting differently within the hour.

This is all a tiny peek into what I offer in Stress School, my 8-week mindful stress management training that I have only offered to my corporate and organizational clients over the last year, and am now opening up enrollment to YOU (that is if you’re ready to do the work of dramatically transforming your own relationship to stress!).

Read more below & as a special thank you for simply being here, if you apply to Stress School by Sunday October 2, 2022 — I’ll send you a complimentary custom assessment, based on your application. Which means, whether you join Stress School or not, you’ll have a clearer picture of your current stress status, a highlight on areas for improvement. I’ll help you uncover opportunities for quick and impactful wins and show you what and why you’re doing well already.

Thank you thank you,

Cath

What is stress school?

Stress School is an 8-week, interactive online training & 1:1 coaching program that teaches smart, effective stress management strategies to high-achieving, high-performing folks in fast-paced, high-demand careers & lives who want more presence and more connection and the tools to BE WELL while they do their great work.

Even if you’re the most stressed-out person, with the busiest schedule, endless deadlines, and the least amount of time to spare, Stress School will challenge you to transform your stickiest stress stories and habits so you can start living and working from your optimal zone today.

  • "I’m no longer in a constant state of burnout and exhaustion. I have a fuller cup to pour from. I’ve finally loosened my grip. Rather than chasing happiness, I’ve come to learn what contentment feels like."

    — What Our Students Are Saying

  • "I came to Catherine as a newly minted lawyer already on the verge of burnout. I felt lost, sad, exhausted, and very far away from myself. I wanted to find a way back but did not know how. I trusted Catherine immediately and felt inspired by her warm, calming, playful energy to create space and start building scaffolding in my life for fuller, more meaningful days (and learning how to navigate the difficult days with more grace and groundedness)."

    — What Our Students Are Saying

  • "There are plenty of former professionals out there trying to teach wellness, but Catherine has her finger on the pulse of the harried, strung-out professional. She knows how to talk to you to pull you in, make you stop (for just a moment!), take a breath, show you that you already know how to meditate, and help you integrate it into your life in a truly practical, functional way that does not make meditation feel like another item on your to do list. Her ability to make you feel like what you're doing is enough is a superpower."

    — What Our Students Are Saying

  • "Don't put this off until you find time to do it. You will transform the quality of every moment if you follow this path. Catherine shatters the buzz of everyday life with light beams of tranquility. I am so grateful for this process of discernment, and the ability to find my center at any moment."

    — What Our Students Are Saying

  • "I am someone who tends to operate at warp speed. Always moving – always shifting from one task to the next. Through Catherine's 8-week program, I was able to tap into a variety of techniques that have allowed me catch myself when I'm out of sync or feeling dis-ease. I now know how to quickly – and easily – get back into the present moment.

    — What Our Students Are Saying

How Does STress School Work?

Built on the foundation of evidence-backed, research-based mindful stress management training, Stress School trainings are released in weekly Modules with easy-to-follow video Masterclasses, guided audio practices, downloads, resources & recommended reading lists, and even “extra credit” assignments. All of the training is online inside a private, Stress School membership site.

Here’s What You’ll Get
in Stress School

Even if you’re the most stressed-out, busiest person, with the least amount to spare on their very full calendar, Stress School will meet you where you are and guide you to a new, transformed relationship with stress. This 8-week online program, with 1:1 coaching support, provides the elements vital to less stress and more wellbeing.

CLARITY

Stress School is designed to make you an expert in your own stress.

Let’s be honest, none of us are here for a purely theoretical or academic understanding of stress.

We need to understand, instead, the root causes of our chronic and acute stress. The signs of stress in our bodies and on our life, so that we can learn to skillfully discern our own stress levels and cut stress of at the first pass, and avoid lasting consequences on our health, our relationships, our wellbeing, our work, our sense of self, your JOY - all of it.

Self-inquiry and self-understanding are the foundational tools taught in Stress School. And they are ones that you’ll take with you after our 8 weeks together. The tools to ascertain, with clarity, where and who you are in any moment — these are tools you’ll now have for a lifetime.

TRAINING

Here’s my unsexy promise: Stress is never completely going away.

And here’s my VIVIFYING, EMPOWERING promise to you: You can TRAIN in proven skills to better manage, mitigate, and reduce your stress levels.

It is possible to experiences stress that doesn’t knock you over — from the acute moments of illness, tragedy, & despair to the everyday pressures of building a life and doing your good work in the world.

Stress School will teach you those research-backed, evidence-based tools and provide the structure, the support, the accountability, and the opportunity to practice them. To learn how to use them skillfully and with wise discernment in your life, right now, whatever your starting point.

For big transformation to take place and to take root, we need a container for that change, advocates and support systems, and a community to cheer us on. Stress School will give you all of that.

Results

The mindfulness-based stress reduction principles and practices that form the foundation of stress school have been shown to lower blood pressure, help with insomnia, depression, anxiety and more.

Stress School is based on curriculum that works. And with the structure of Stress School, you’ll have the data points for yourself. Not only will you feel different in your day to day life and see real results of this work, each week’s assessments will give you trackable metrics so you can see your progress in real time.

And Stress School is designed to as a distraction-free learning environment — with plenty of guidance, coaching, and accountability — to maximize your growth and results.

YOUR NEXT STEP: Apply to stress school today.

YOUR NEXT STEP: Apply to stress school today.

We're not in the business of turning anyone away from Stress School, so why an application in the first place? It's not a mere formality - I promise - but rather your first practical action step toward less stress.

By simply pausing to fill out this form, just by taking the time to notice and name your relationship with stress today, you're already on the path to transforming your relationship with stress.

Because what we can name we can begin to change. And you're now on your way, whether you join Stress School or not.

Consider this your first "stress test" - a diagnostic designed to help you engage in the first step and key tool to transforming your relationship with stress : self-understanding.

IS Stress School Right For Me?

If you’ve come to the realization that the cost of stress is simply too high to keep paying with your energy, your attention, your time, your relationships, your health, and your sense of self, Stress School is for you.

We usually meet our ideal students at one of these three key moments:

On the brink of

Burnout

An estimated 90% of illness and disease is stress-related. 73% of people have stress that impacts their mental health. The leading cause of death, heart disease, is linked to chronic stress.

But you don’t need stats to tell you that stress impacts your wellbeing. Our stress is not only killing us, it’s keeping us from being fully present to our lives. Mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion can all be signs that stress has gone on too long, in too great an amount, without any relief. Burnout is imminent unless something big changes now.

We meet our Stress School students right where they are and empower them with real tools to use right now to begin to heal from the effects of chronic stress, reclaim health & wellbeing, and build reserves of resilience to transform the ratio going forward.

So it’s no longer Stress, 100 : You, 0. Banish burnout and set better boundaries with Stress School.

At The Threshold of

Big Change

New parents.
Newly married.
Newly divorced.
New career.
Pandemic move.

You name it.

You’re a mover and shaker and change maker. And your life does not look the same as it did a few years ago. You’re ready to realign your stress levels to your new priorities.

You could be one of the 4.3 million people who’ve quit their jobs during the Great Resignation and are now composing lives where the pressures of work don’t derail your wellbeing, your relationships, your JOY. Or you even a long-time entrepreneur or founder who realizes that you’ve never reimagined your old corporate playbook for stress and success. Or maybe you’re looking at the back-half of an already prestigious career and want to do the second act on your own terms. Perhaps, you’re just starting out and you know you want to set yourself up for your version of success from the first step.

If you’re re-imagining the way that your life and your work and your purpose fit together, Stress School was made for you.

with the question

“IS This It?”

We see you.

Always doing the “next right thing.”

You’ve checked all the right boxes. Collected all the generally & readily accepted markers of a successful life: the fancy degrees hanging proudly on your wall. The impressive resume lines and lengthy LinkedIn bios. The accolades and the bonuses you’ve worked your tail off for.

The life that looks good on paper.

And yet, perhaps, doesn’t always feel great to be in.

You’re craving a greater sense of connection and purpose. More alignment between the inner and the outer.

Stress School will take you from chasing “stress-based” success to what we call “death-bed-life success.” So how you spend your days is how you mean to spend your life.

The Core Curriculum:

There are 8 core learning modules, plus an “Orietnation Week” that serves as your Welcome and will help set you up for success, and a “Graduation Week” that ensures you have what you need when you leave Stress School.

In addition, you’ll have yearlong access to the Core Curriculum, plus a comprehensive library of bonus trainings, advanced trainings, and masterclasses to help you develop the skills to build a sustainable relationship with stress.

  • Not all stress is bad. Stress, properly timed and utilized, helps us achieve our biggest goals and accomplish even our most essential everyday tasks.

    And yet most of us are all too familiar with "bad stress — the chronic and acute stress that knocks us over, that makes us irritable and reactive, that keeps us up at night and our wheels spinning with anxiety and worry, and that lives in our bodies and manifests as pain, discomfort, illness, or worse.

    This week you will become an expert in your own stress.

    LEARN —

    • the essential difference between "good" and "bad" stress;

    • how to identify the key indicators of stress in your own body and the presence of stressors in your life to begin to transform your stress story;

    • the foundational daily practice of stress management; and

    • a simple-to-use, easy-to-remember, immediately-effective tool for mitigating stress in any moment that you can put right into your anxiety first aid kit.

  • Breath is not only a research-backed, evidence tool for managing stress, recovering from the physiological effects of stress in your body, and moving into a state of relaxation and recovery.

    Breath is also your reliable, always present, completely innate source of stress relief and managment. (It’s even better than an app and you don’t need a phone or device to use it)!.

    LEARN —

    • the science behind the power of breath in stress management and relaxation;

    • a bedrock set of breathing exercises, skills, and tools that you will come to count on, day in and day out;

    • how to shift your relationship with technology and chasing answers and experts outside of yourself;

    • tap into your innate healing power and begin building up your reserves of resilience;

    • how to pause, relax, and recharge regularly — to build margins of rest into your day that you can count on;

    • OH - and how you can relax into your life on even your most stressful day!

  • Stress culture means that being busy is a badge of honor. And that multitasking, distraction, “doing it all,” and having access to endless information, choices, and diversions are the norm for most of us day to day. Stress culture means we’re always in a rush and yet always feel behind.

    This week is all about remembering your natural capacity to pay attention. To reset you focus, to return your attention, to come back to yourself.

    LEARN —

    • how to be PRESENT (so simple, not easy without training and practice);

    • how to heal your TIME STRESS;

    • how to do one thing well at a time;

    • how to schedule your days in a way that reflect your PRIORITIES in life;

    • how to slow down, how to practice contentment, and how to harness the everyday HAPPINESS that stress otherwise steals from us.

  • Our stressed brains can be a nonstop, busy place. A million thoughts a moment, going a million miles an hour (just like us). And emotions that can derail us at a moments notice.

    This week will challenge even your most gripping thoughts and emotions, so you can begin to slide beneath the surface of story, of reaction, of opinion,

    LEARN —

    • how to not believe everything you think;

    • not how to get rid of your thoughts and emotions, but to come into relationship with them - to see them, to acknowledge them, and yet not get barreled over by them;

    • to engage with life directly, without the conceptual overlay;

    • to rememeber who you are apart from your thoughts, your judgments, your labels; your opinions, your labels;

    • to train in actually doing what you say you’re doing, being where you say you are, and being with who you’re with — even & especially with yourself;

    • how to ID your biggest stress reactions & habits and begin to shift them toward more mindful responses.

  • The “story of me” - our habits, our relationships, our communication, our coping mechanisms, our stickiest & trickiest stress spirals.

    All of this comes into clear focus this week.

    LEARN —

    • the science behind mindfulness & meditation & stress management and how these practices rewire your brain;

    • to address your stuck habits, your stickiest stories, and the inner narratives that have made up your stress story until now;

    • to communicate with presence, mindfulness, intention, and attention — not your stress story & how to recognize other’s “stress stories” so you can navigate even the most difficult conversations with wise discernment.

  • Resilience.

    Belonging.

    Creativity.

    Innovation.

    Happiness.

    Energy.

    JOY!

    Stress is a threshold issue. It’s both a problem solver and a solution maker.

    Dealing with your stress means that you can get off the “NO list” (burnout, toxicity, exhaustion) and onto the “YES list” where all of the above and more are now possible.

    Your Optimal Zone is homeostasis, your baseline where your body can return to when it’s not stuck on overdrive in fight, flight, or freeze.

    Your Optimal Zone is that sweet spot where creativity, and presence, and connection live — and with Stress School — you can live there too.

  • I operationally define burnout as “continually asking ourselves to give what we no longer have left to give.”

    And if you’re still reading this, if you’ve made it this far – I know you’ve probably got your own working definition of burnout too!

    To prevent burnout, we need to know our boundaries and let go of myths of stress culture like “balance” that keep our wheels spinning, pin us in a place of lack, and make it seem like we’re never “good enough” (no matter how exhausted by our endless efforts we might feel).

    LEARN —

    • actionable strategies for burnout recovery and prevention & my 3-part framework for determining your risk of burnout before it’s too late;

    • how to gain clarity around your real priorities & refine the skill of wise discernment: what’s important v. what just seems urgent, what you’d choose to focus on, not what you “should.”

    • how to determine set, protect, and communicate meaningful boundaries.

  • If not, “hard work,” then what? If not a straight & narrow, box-checking path,” then what?

    We’ve spent our whole lives being told to put our heads down and work hard. To do what it takes and sleep when we’re done.

    We’ve followed straight & narrow, linear paths and corporate ladders to “success.”

    And yet.

    We know that hard work for the sake of working hard grinds us down, wrings us out, and hardens US too.

    What would it feel like to create a new vocabulary for productivity? For your contributions? For doing your good work in the world? For success?

    What would it mean to align your definition of success to what really matters to you & reflect that in your work everyday? And to consciously lead from that place.

    LEARN —

    • the telltale signs you’re exhausting yourself chasing “stress-based” success;

    • what success means for you (what we call Self-Aware Success & even “Death-Bed Life Success” to cut right to the chase!) and how to align your outer life, choices, and schedules with the things that matter most to you;

    • what your “stress legacy” is — or how your nervous systems contributes to the collective nervous system of your family, your job, your community, all the things that you are a part of;

    • how to embody “Conscious Leadership” and leave a connected, present, and meaningful impact on those around you;

    • what a lifetime of stress management could make possible for you.

Who Teaches Stress SChool?

Stress School is led by Catherine Zack, a former corporate litigator who left Big Law almost a decade ago to solve her own stress problem. Since then, she’s helped over a thousand students transform their relationship to stress, redefine what it means to be well as they do their best work, and reclaim more connection, presence, and purpose in their everyday lives.

STress School, 

At a glance:

8 1:1 coaching sessions

You don’t have to do this alone.

As the curriculum of Stress School unfolds over 8 weeks, you’re never on your own. Each week, you get access to high-touch, completely customized coaching sessions with Catherine to keep you on track, identify and work with your specific pain points and strengths as you transform your relationship to stress. I can’t wait to support you.

20+ hours of masterclass lectures & practices

Stress School’s comprehensive, research-backed, evidence-based mindful stress management curriculum unfolds over 8 weeks. Designed to meet a variety of learning styles, the course is dynamic & interactive and full of lessons that will change your relationship to stress & your life.

10 Assessments

Think of these like your regular “stress tests”

The ability to put your finger on your own pulse at any time and become a master at the skill of self-inquiry and self-understanding.

The assessments begin with your application to Stress School, continue throughout our 8 weeks together, and complete with a snap shot at the end - so you get to be the author of your own rewritten stress story.

100+ STress Management tools

Each week of Stress School is anchored by one main lesson and one main skill (no stressful decision fatigue here).

But I held nothing back in the creation of this course. I’ve created a library of over 100 stress management tools to meet you at any moment. From breathing exercises that will physiologically shift the way your body handles stress to mindfulness practices that will rewire and refine your stickiest stress to burnout prevention routines to simple-to-use, easy-to-remember, immediately-effective tricks that will support you in even your most stressful moments and make you feel like the calmest person in the room.

Year-Long Access To Stress School

Listen, we get it. Life happens. Work picks up. A kid gets sick. The ground beneath us is always changing.

You not only get yearlong access to Stress School, so you can take the curriculum at your own pace — you also get a year’s worth of invites to exclusive Stress School student classes, workshops, retreats, and more.

Need to reschedule a 1:1 session during your 8 weeks? No problem. You’ll have the whole year to do that.

Immediate Relief (Guaranteed) And —
A Lifetime of Tools

I can guarantee that you will feel different within a week of Stress School (in fact, I do. That’s why I offer a 100% Risk Free Guarantee on Stress School, which you can read about in the FAQ below.

Not only that, Stress School trains you for a lifetime of handling stress differently. Because I’d be lying if I said Stress School (or anything) could take away all your stress completely. In fact, you wouldn’t want that anyways, because not all stress is “bad.” Stress School can and will give you a lifetime of skills you can use to leverage your stress - discern between the “good” and the “bad,” and forever be in the driver seat of your own well-being. 8 weeks together will give you tools you can count on for a lifetime.

$2500

Payment in full

Your best-priced investment on the full Stress School Curriculum, with access for 1 year; 8 weekly 1:1 coaching sessions during Stress School; yearlong invitations to special group workshops, classes, practices, and retreats, for Stress School Students only.

$250 / 12 weeks

PAYMENT PLAN

Not only is Stress School a big investment in time, attention, and energy, it’s also a financial commitment. This payment plan was designed to make Stress School as affordable and accessible as we possibly can. You get access to all Stress School has to offer, on a payment schedule that works for you.

Your Stress School Investment:

We put so much value into Stress School so that you’ll get the value you need out of it. We’re so confident that this program will transform your relationship with stress and change your life, that we offer a full guarantee on the program. Visit the FAQ below for details.

Stress SCHOOL is immersive and challenging. So much of our Stress “Coping Tools” involve things that tune us out, distract us, take the edge off, & keep us comfortable with the status quo.

Stress School requires you to be honest and dedicated to learning to stay with the sometimes uncomfortable growing pains of big change.

There are no silver bullets, simple formulas, magic MAkeovers, or hacks.

The work takes time, effort, attention, and consistency and practice over a lifetime.

No doubt, we live and work in a stressed world. To go against that grain to reclaim a sense of presence, patience, connection, spaciousness, graciousness, resilience, sustainable pace, clear communication, conscious leadership, and values-aligned success and more requires enormous focus, courage, and devotion. Most of all, it requires consistent practice and a willingness to come back again and again and again.

The skills you will learn in Stress School are tools for a lifetime that you can start using and changing with today.

STRESS SCHOOL FAQ.

Though everyone deals with stress, Stress School is not for everyone.

It’s decidedly a program for those who are ready to do the deep work of change and make an investment of time, attention, and energy into real, lasting transformation around stress-driven habits & behaviors.

For the ones who say “I can’t go on like this” and are ready for a structured, supportive, encouraging environment to establish new heathy habits and realistic routines to better manage stress.

  • Enrollment is open on an ongoing, rolling admission basis. When we’re at capacity, we’ll guarantee you a start date within 30 days. Your next step to join Stress School is to apply. The application allows you to get a clear snapshot of your “before” and for us to get to know a bit more about you before we begin. Once you apply, you’ll receive your welcome materials within 2 business days. Once you complete the 8-week training, you can revisit and review the material as much as you want. You’ve got yearlong access to Stress School.

  • The investment for Stress School is $2500 USD. We also offer a payment plan (12 weekly payments of $250 USD) and hold a scholarship program in January of every year.

  • Everything is online — no travel required.

    You can go through the materials each week as they’re released, or slow things down and work at your own pace. Many students revisit the program 1-2 times a year because, as you’ll see, these tools and practices are not a magic makeover. It takes dedication and repetition, patience and practice to maintain a healthy relationship to stress. That’s why students have lifetime access to the curriculum of Stress School.

  • I’ve been road-testing the lessons at the heart of Stress School for 9 years with results from thousands of students I’ve taught in person, online, 1:1, in trainings, programs, workshops, and retreats.

    The core curriculum is based on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, a proven research-backed, evidence-based stress reduction and management program with worldwide impact over the last 40+ years.

    I’m still a lawyer at my core, trained in the Socratic method and structured analytical reasoning. Which means I ask good, honest, challenging questions to help guide Stress School students to discover the right answers to meet their unique wellbeing needs.

    Yet, there’s a warm, welcoming side to this work. I’ve become an expert in creating safe, inclusive spaces for people to make the inner inquiries and shifts necessary to BE well while they do their greatest work. I use tools, techniques, and skills that cross different wisdom and contemplation traditions, the latest wellbeing data and evidence-backed mindfulness research, leadership theories, and more (poetry is a surprisingly good teacher on how to be present!) into a signature approach to creating space for transformation and innovation that sets my work apart.

    Because the internet is so full of noise, Stress School is designed to be a focused environment where you can make real progress, show up exactly as you are, and find a soft place to land in the midst of even your most stressful moments.

    Instead of swamping you with heady theories (though you’ll get the bibliography because I know some of you love the source material), Stress School gives you compassionate guidance and a proven step-by-step roadmap to transforming your relationship to stress.

    An app just can’t do that.

    If it doesn’t work for you? Get 100% of your money back when you show us your completed coursework within 8 weeks of beginning the program.

    You have nothing to lose (except stress!), and so much to gain (time, attention, energy, presence, joy, wellbeing, connection, you name it!).

  • For the 8-week duration of your Stress School session, you can join our Catherine for a 1:1 Coaching Session during designated Office Hours every week.

    These sessions closely track the assessments you’ll fill out each week (or “stress tests” as we like to call them ;).

    The assessments + 1:1 coaching sessions help reveal honest, real & raw data on your current relationship with stress, highlight areas where growth would make the biggest & most immediate impact on your stress levels, and recommend custom

    It’s a very enlightening process that can uncover opportunities for quick and impactful wins, issues that you weren’t even unaware of, small tweaks that can be made to common issues before they cause lasting damage, as well as highlight where you’re already doing a great job, so you’ll be encouraged about your progress each week.

    After the 8 weeks are up, you’ll have year-long access to the curriculum, including new resources as they get added. You’ll also get special student-only invites to gather for live, virtual group classes, workshops, and more.

  • I’m not going to sugar coat this. Your success in Stress School depends on your willingness to invest your time, attention, and energy into reclaiming your own wellbeing through the tools, training, and structure provided in Stress School. How much you put in is a good indication of what you’ll get out of Stress School. Expect to spend a minimum 2-3 hours / week on Stress School (you’ll always have “Extra Credit” and further resources to explore if you want more). In fact, over the course of Stress School, you will build up the daily habit of committing to 20 minutes of practicing your new tools each day — a habit designed to support you not only during these 8 weeks, but for your lifetime. No joke. That being said, we’ve designed Stress School so you can take it at your own pace. If “life happens” and you need to step away from Stress School, you’ll have a year to explore the Curriculum, with access to ongoing monthly Stress School Student live, virtual gatherings to keep you going in community.

  • Email me directly at catherinezackbreschi@gmail.com.

  • Yes, and … :)

    There are not magic makeovers, guaranteed formulas or recipes out there & it’s impossible to take away all stress completely.

    But there are research, evidence-based tools for stress management and stress reduction and they make up the foundation of Stress School’s curriculum.

    But you can’t just read about this stuff. You have to practice it. Success requires your participation, your efforts, and your dedication.

    That being said, you’re protected with our 100% Risk-Free Guarantee.

    Stress School has the power to profoundly change your life forever. If within the first 2 weeks of Stress School, you submit your completed coursework with your request to drop out of Stress School, we’ll issue you a full refund. Please note that refund eligibility has a firm deadline and also applies to payment plans, which means you will be responsible for all payments after the refund deadline has passed.

  • YES.

    To inquire bout our corporate, nonprofit, and group rates & availability, please email catherinezackbreschi@gmail.com