You have to work on your parachute before you need to use it.
That is the message Chris Ruane, a former British politician, will give to Australian MPs when he visits Parliament House in Canberra on Monday to teach them about the benefits of mindfulness and meditation.
The techniques are recommended as helping MPs cope with stress, anxiety, control their egos and deal with the career disappointments of public life.
"It's about flourishing, about getting your priorities in life right," Mr Ruane told AAP.
It does not hit you in the face immediately, but comes up beneath the floorboards, and you gradually feel more positive and balanced, he said.
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Being away from family, the 24-hour news cycle and the demands of community and other high-level duties can add pressure to MPs' hectic lives, Mr Ruane said.
He has recruited 115 British MPs and Lords to undergo mindfulness training courses over the past three years and has also introduced the concept to Dutch MPs and the Welsh Assembly.
Mr Ruane, who was a Labour MP for 18 years, has been grappling with the anguish of his shock election loss in May.
Meditation/reflection for 10 to 40 minutes a day and keeping a gratitude diary have helped bring him solace.
Mr Ruane first encountered meditation as a primary school teacher in 1987 and introduced it to his pupils as part of physical education and creative writing lessons.
He started a regular mindfulness practice eight years ago, with internet resources, after helping his daughter with a school project on Buddhism.
The British National Health Service has covered the cost of specified mindfulness-based programs since 2004 and there is scientific evidence of its benefits on mental health and wellbeing.
The US Marines have used it since 2009.
*For more information about mindfulness visit smilingmind.com.au and Sane Australia sane.org
