With her trademark wit and wisdom, let Ruby Wax teach you how to cope with the age of anxiety.

500 years ago no-one died of stress: we invented this concept and now we let it rule us. We might have evolved to be able to miraculously balance on seven-inch heels, but as far as our emotional development is concerned we're still swimming with the pond scum. If we don't advance our more human qualities then we're doomed evolution-wise to become cyborgs, with an imprint of an 'Apple' where our hearts used to be.” Ruby Wax

Join Ruby Wax – actress, broadcaster and expert on the science of mindfulness – as she presents a guide to staying sane in a mad world.

We are frazzled. Constant stress is flooding our nervous systems with cortisol and adrenaline, making it impossible for us to focus – and ultimately leading us to burn-out. Ruby Wax knows this first hand: as an actress and broadcaster she reached the top of the Royal Shakespeare Company and became one of our most beloved television stars, until she crashed, burned and spent a spell institutionalised with depression. She used success as an armour to cover the chaos inside her. Mindfulness came to the rescue – and not one to do anything by halves, she trained in the technique at Oxford and got a Masters degree in the process, ultimately ditching showbiz for a new career teaching people how to have good mental health. She joins us at the School of Life to share her story and her techniques with the rest of us.

Ruby says: “I know what you're thinking - what if I don't want to stare at a butterfly wing or hear the single ting of a wind chime? My definition of mindfulness isn't about sitting erect on a hillock, legs in a knot, humming a mantra that's probably the phone book sung backwards, it's something that can help us all: learning to notice your thoughts and feelings so you can truly experience life.”

Let Ruby Wax show you how to face an uncertain and stressful world without giving way to despair.

About Sunday Mornings

Since 2008 The School of Life has presented strictly secular Sunday Sermons exploring the values we should live by today. We ask maverick cultural figures to give us their take on the virtues to cling to or the vices to be wary of in our complex world. Expect persuasive polemics, pop-song hymns and a powerful dose of inspiration for the week ahead.

About Ruby Wax

Arriving in Britain from the United States in 1977, Ruby Wax began her acting career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She went on to write and perform in her own hugely popular television programmes, and was Script Editor on all series of Absolutely Fabulous. Since then, Ruby has campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness about mental health issues, including speaking at Downing Street to raise money for neuroscience research. In 2013, she obtained a Masters Degree in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy from Oxford University to increase her understanding of the brain and used this knowledge as the basis for her books Sane New World: Taming the Mind and A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled both of which became Sunday Times number one bestsellers on publication. She was awarded an OBE for her services to mental health in the Honorary British Awards to Foreign Nationals in 2015. She has become a leading speaker on mental issues including appearances at The Home Office, MI5, Apple, Goldman Sachs, KPMG, Merril Lynch, Bank of America, Downing Street, the House of Lords, Google, The Cabinet-Director Generals and TEDGlobal 2012, plus various UK National Health Trusts and charities. Ruby’s new book, A Mindfulness Guide for the FRAZZLED, is published in paperback by Penguin Life.

Timetable

10.20 Doors open
10.40 Sermon starts
12.00 Book signing
12.30 Sermon Ends