Warrior’s Edge: Mindfulness for High Performance
By Ms. Lauren Fosnot, Staff Writer
“Who in this room wants to be a badass at what they do?” asked Dr. Jannell MacAulay, silencing the room of lively, chattering conference attendees—Air Mobility Command (AMC) Airmen. MacAulay, a speaker at the 56th Annual Airlift/Tanker Association (ATA) Symposium in Grapevine, TX, scanned the room, taking in the many hands thrust into the air—an expected response as AMC Airmen accomplish badass feats daily.
Later in her presentation, MacAulay asked another question—one to elicit a volunteer. The hands that were once held high seemed glued to attendees’ laps. MacAulay walked everyone through what they may have felt when she asked this question. “Now, here’s the part of this session where it’s going to sound like I’m inside your head,” MacAulay said with a sly grin. She speculated that their heart rates may have become elevated, their palms may have started sweating, and the little voice in their heads may have said, “Oh no, oh no, don’t pick me.” The collective nodding of heads and nervous chuckles hinted that MacAulay’s theory was indeed correct.
The human performance specialist explained that similar biological processes may have happened to individuals who were, on the flip side, eager to volunteer. When people get out of their comfort zones and take risks, they experience stress, which MacAulay considers a positive term. Stress is caring about the task at hand and facing challenges, she explained. It is beneficial until it takes the lead, calling the shots. When stress leads to worry and panic, it shifts to what MacAulay calls distress.
Although AMC Airmen are undoubtedly risk-takers, no one is immune from shifting into varying levels of distress—not even MacAulay, a combat veteran who served twenty years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot, commander, special operations consultant, international diplomat, and professionalism instructor.
MacAulay views distress as uncontrolled stress, which can have health and performance consequences and ultimately lead to burnout. “This [distress] is why people choke at things,” she explained. “You can be completely capable of landing a plane, and you’re not going to do well if you’re in distress.”
She spoke candidly about her own struggles with distress and burnout as a military leader and military spouse. She overviewed a cycle that seemed to resonate with many Airmen in the room: the never-ending feeling of postponing self-care or family time until a training program, degree, command position, and so on is over, only to find another challenge in its place. “But what happens when you hit that milestone? What’s right behind it? Another one, right?” she reminded those in the room.
MacAulay was caught in this vicious cycle but found the way out. Through her trials, she discovered the secret of harnessing stress and preventing distress—mindfulness. In her ATA presentation, she emphasized that training the mind is essential for achieving long-term success and resilience—and could be a major asset for the future fight.
Now a trailblazer in high-performance mindset training, MacAulay shared practical strategies to empower attendees to excel personally and professionally. One of the core tools MacAulay shared was mindfulness, which she referred to as “mental pushups.” This practice helps sharpen focus and reduce stress by bringing awareness to the present moment. To demonstrate, she led the audience through a one-minute mindfulness exercise, teaching them to focus on their breath and gently redirect their thoughts when distractions arose.
Deep, slow breathing that lifts and fills the diaphragm, especially with a longer exhalation, stimulates the vagus nerve, which helps shift the nervous system from a state of stress or “fight or flight” to a state of relaxation or “rest and digest.”
This state “increases our cognitive capacity—our brain power, our working memory,” MacAulay said. It fosters attentiveness as well. A wandering mind is something all Airmen can fall victim to—even leaders. MacAulay pointed out that a leader losing focus in a one-on-one with an Airman, or vice versa, can impact morale, precision, and overall teamwork. The best teams are mindful teams because their effects are crucial assets in today’s military environment.
Mindfulness has been showcased in workplaces, on sports teams, and in the military. A study conducted at Luke Air Force Base, AZ, demonstrated that mindfulness practices improved the reaction times of fighter pilots—by two and a half seconds. A seemingly small amount of time, two and a half seconds could mean life or death in the air. Another study showed explosive ordnance technicians enhance their operational efficiency tests by almost a minute and a half.
MacAulay hopes that just as aerobic exercise has become mainstream, mental repetitions will as well. “You are going to work on rewiring your brain. Mental reps are as important as physical reps,” she emphasized. “We need to get into a space where we can be high performing, connected, paying attention, focused, thriving in the things that we do. It ties to readiness.”
Her mission is clear: to prepare leaders and help teams excel under pressure and connect deeply with each other in the process. “What feels even better when we do hard things is not doing them alone but doing them together,” she said.
Through her collaboration with Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks and high-performance psychologist Dr. Michael Gervais, Dr. MacAulay continues to develop programs that integrate mental fitness with physical and technical skills so that today’s AMC Airmen are as cognizant and connected as possible.