Master your mind. Be your best self.
Join the Calm Clarity February Retreat.
Calm Clarity integrates neuroscience and mindfulness to optimize your brain, increase leadership stamina, and strengthen relationships, so you can consistently perform at your peak without burning out.
The Calm Clarity Mindful Leadership Program enriches your professional career and personal life by helping you:
- think clearly and make effective decisions
- be more creative, innovative and collaborative
- build resilience so you recover quickly from stress
During the program, you will examine how the mind works, learn practical tools and insights to direct your own brain development and break free of mindless patterns that keep you from realizing your full potential.
Mindful Leadership Program Overview
This is an intensive non-residential two-day course that goes from 10 AM to 4:30 PM on Saturday and Sunday. This experiential learning workshop involves interactive exercises, discussions, videos, and meditations.
On Day 1 (Saturday), we will introduce the science of mind training. In the morning, we will show you how to enhance your brain and build resilience to stress. In the afternoon, the focus will be on observing your autopilot to start re-training your patterns.
On Day 2 (Sunday), we will deepen our sense of connection and presence. In the morning, we will focus on tuning into the voice in our heads. In the afternoon, we will do exercises to improve our ability to be present with others.
Please note: this retreat is designed as a small gathering. Space is limited. Reservations will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Agenda for Day I: Saturday - The Science of Mind Training
09:30 Registration opens
10:00 Kick-off and introductions - everyone introduces themselves and sets an intention for the experience.
10:30 Module 1 – Boost Brain Functioning:
We explain the emotional states of the brain (which we call Brain 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0) and help you recognize your triggers and understand how you think, feel, and act differently in each state. We also introduce science-based techniques to activate and strengthen the neural circuits of Brain 3.0 that support you to be your best self.
12:30 Lunch Break
01:30 Module 2 – Minding Your Autopilot:
We explain how the autopilot helps us to conserve energy by hardwiring habits into our brains. We then explain how mindfulness enables us to observe and re-train the autopilot so we can bring more of our patterns into conscious awareness. We then apply mindfulness to activate Brain 3.0, which enables us to observe and break habits that no longer serve us.
03:45 Q&A and wrap-up (close by 4:30)
Agenda for Day II: Sunday - Presence and Positive Relationships*
09:30 Registration opens
10:00 Brief Recap of Day I
10:15 Module 3 – The Voice in Your Head:
We explain how our prior conditioning and beliefs shape our stream-of-consciousness inner dialogue I call the “mind-track.” We become aware of how our mind-track often sounds like an “inner critic” that beats down on us and other people or like an “inner coach” that guides us forward. We then activate Brain 3.0, which turns up the volume of the “inner coach” and turns down the volume of the “inner critic.”
12:30 Lunch Break
01:30 Module 4 – Deepening Connection:
We present research on relationships, communication, and empathy. Then we apply techniques such as mindful listening to intentionally build empathic connections with people and genuinely open our minds and hearts to see and feel another person’s perspective.
03:45 Discussion, Q&A and wrap-up (close by 4:30)
*We recommend all participants complete Modules 1 and 2 before taking Modules 3 and 4.
Dress code: Comfortable: t-shirts, shorts, jeans, sweats, sneakers, or sandals are fine.
About Calm Clarity
Calm Clarity is a social enterprise that uses science to share the benefits of mindful leadership on
both sides of the education divide.
Your ticket purchase also sponsors low-income first-generation college students to attend this weekend retreat at no cost through our College Student Scholar Program. Thank you for paying-it-forward!
About the founder, Due Quach:
A refugee from Vietnam and graduate of Harvard College and the Wharton MBA Program, Due overcame the long-term effects of poverty and trauma by turning to neuroscience and meditation. After building a successful career in management consulting and private equity investments, Due traveled to India to study various contemplative traditions and understand how they align with brain science. She then synthesized what she learned to create the Calm Clarity Program in order to help more people overcome adversity and unlock their potential. Due has brought the benefits of Calm Clarity to many organizations, including Ernst & Young, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Vanguard, M&T Bank, Devereux, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York University. Her inspiring story has been featured in the New York Observer, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Streetwise, and the Seattle Times. Her forthcoming book, “Finding Calm Clarity,” will be published by Tarcher Perigee Penguin Random House.
To learn more, please visit: calmclarity.org
Testimonials:
“Devereux recently invited Due Quach to be the guest speaker at our most recent executive leadership council meeting. My senior executives and I found her mindful leadership training very inspirational. Her powerful personal story touched all of us, and her faithfulness to the science (and skipping the “woo”) impressed a very tough crowd (psychologists, behavioral analysts and the past president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists.) Our senior executives not only found personal value in Calm Clarity’s training, we also expressed a strong desire to support Due in her efforts and to find additional ways to work with each other going forward.”
~Robert Kreider, President and CEO, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health
“Engaging. Inspiring. These are just two words to describe Due Quach’s Mindful Leadership Program. M&T Bank invited Due to present to a diverse group of approximately 50 employees; ranging from executives to support staff to salespeople. What resonated with each individual was Due’s compelling, personal story, which served to build not only credibility, but also an openness amongst the group. From there, Due taught us the tools that can be used to unlock the brain and build resilience. A number of attendees even declared to have a reduction in stress immediately following the program!”
~Melissa Govette, Vice President, M&T Bank
“Calm Clarity gave our company a common language when talking about maintaining presence in our work and with ourselves and each other. We’re even finding value in using what we’ve learned with Calm Clarity when thinking about big organizational questions like how do we help our staff grow and develop...It was definitely worth it!”
~John Silkey, Director, Milepost Consulting
“I have personally witnessed the program transform a room full of skeptical individuals into believers. The key, in my view, is layering neuroscience on top of the meditation. By answering the “why”, the program allows people to more easily embrace the meditation exercises, greatly enhancing their effectiveness. “
~Brett Topche, Managing Director, MentorTech Ventures
“The session was a powerful reminder that a few minutes of thoughtful meditation can have a significant impact on mental well-being and personal effectiveness. Calm Clarity seems well designed to fit into the realities of busy professionals.”
~Idehen Aruede, CFO, Whitney Museum of American Art
"After years of wanting to add meditation into the [LEADERSHIP PHILADELPHIA] curriculum, we found the right person: Due Quach from Calm Clarity. Her approach offers scientific research combined with an easily understood framework to practice meditation."
~Liz Dow, CEO, LEADERSHIP Philadelphia, February Newsletter
“Due brought the Calm Clarity techniques to a sold out Wharton Club & Penn Club event…She was an extremely engaging speaker with a unique ability to convey important ideas to the audience about brain science and how to bring more calm to our stressful lives. There were many positive comments from audience members after the program. I would highly recommend the program!”
~Heather Aspras, President, the Wharton Alumni Club of Philadelphia
"I write to sing the praises of the “Calm Clarity” Program...In my view, all of our students—undergraduate and graduate, at-risk and honors—would benefit much from taking this program. The scaffolded and sequenced modules are clearly presented, intertwined with examples from across the disciplines, and offer a mix of scientific theories coupled with hands-on tools taught and practiced in each session: an impressive blend of meta-cognition meets mission statement; college success meets leadership studies; positive psychology meets lifelong learning...Indeed, there would be much gained by having it as part of an all-campus faculty, staff, and administrator development series, consonant with the College mission."
~Nancy, Faculty observer of the pilot at Cabrini College
“It’s a great program. I really enjoyed how the program was a mix of meditative activities and learning about the science behind why these activities work. I am calmer with my students and with my own children and family. I can take a deep breath and react less impulsively than before. I also feel reconnected with my passion and purpose in life… I am more committed to the importance of bringing these tools to students, and I realize how taking time to focus on well-being is not being lazy or soft, but rather essential for people to achieve great things in their lives.”
~Jenn, Teacher and pilot coordinator at Masterman High School
