With stress, burnout and information overload affecting everyday life, the founder of Cape Town’s upcoming Mind Matters Summit says people need to learn how to train their minds to navigate an increasingly demanding world.

As the demands of work, family life and a rapidly changing world continue to mount, the founder of the Mind Matters Summit says mental fitness needs to become as much of a priority as physical health.

Kanchana Moodliar, who founded the summit in 2025, says people are often left feeling overwhelmed because they have not been equipped with the tools to manage their thoughts, emotions and responses to stressful situations.

The second annual Mind Matters Summit takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on Thursday, 29 October, bringing together international experts in neuroscience, mental performance, meditation and future trends.

“We sometimes look at our lives and think that we’re broken and we need fixing,” Moodliar told Smile 90.4 FM.

“What we want to share with people at Mind Matters is that you need the capacity and the tools and the upgrade in order for you to be able to deal with your life right now.”

The summit follows a series of activities under Mental Mastery Week, which introduced participants to practical approaches to mental fitness, including breathwork, movement, meditation and spending time in nature.

Moodliar says the aim is to move beyond simply learning about mental wellbeing and encourage people to put these practices into their daily lives.

She believes this is particularly important in a world characterised by information overload, rapid technological change and mounting pressure in both personal and professional environments.

“You can’t just read it in a book and a podcast. You’ve got to put some practice into your life,” she said.

Training the mind for everyday challenges

Moodliar says mental fitness is not reserved for elite athletes, business leaders or high achievers. The same principles can help ordinary people navigate workplace pressures, family responsibilities and unexpected setbacks.

She uses the example of Olympic swimmer Chad le Clos, who, according to Moodliar, learned that his house was burning down while he was celebrating a major sporting achievement.

For her, the example illustrates how people can face significant personal challenges even when things appear to be going well in other areas of their lives.

Moodliar says developing mental resilience can help people respond to difficult situations rather than become overwhelmed by them.

Meditation, visualisation and other practices can help people become more aware of their thoughts and recognise how their interpretation of an event influences their emotional response.

She says people can get caught in cycles of repeatedly revisiting a difficult experience, which can make a problem feel increasingly overwhelming.

“If you continue telling yourself the same story about the same situation, you’ll never solve it because all you’re doing is ruminating on the problem that was already there,” she said.

Moodliar believes learning to recognise these patterns can help people consider possible solutions and respond to challenges with greater clarity.

She also stresses that the goal is not to avoid difficult emotions, but to develop the capacity to work through them.

A changing world demands new skills

The summit will also explore the relationship between mental fitness, technology and the future of work.

Among the speakers is South African futurist John Sanei, who is expected to discuss artificial intelligence and the need to prepare for a rapidly changing world.

Moodliar says technical qualifications and professional skills alone may not be enough to prepare people for the future, particularly as AI continues to reshape industries.

She believes adaptability, self-awareness, creativity and the ability to make decisions under pressure will become increasingly important.

“We have to become more human as the world becomes more technologically advanced,” she said.

Moodliar also believes people need to make more time to disconnect from the constant stream of information and social media, and reflect on their own lives and priorities.

She suggests that even setting aside 30 minutes a day to sit quietly and become more aware of one’s thoughts could make a difference.

For young people in particular, she says learning to cope with setbacks is important in a world where instant access to information and services can create an expectation that everything should happen immediately.

Life inevitably brings challenges, she says, including grief, job losses and uncertainty. Developing resilience can help people navigate those experiences without feeling that they have to face them alone.

Her message is that struggling does not mean a person is broken or incapable of coping.

“You’re not broken. You just need to equip yourself with these tools to help you to be able to train that mind and deal with everything coming your way,” Moodliar said.

International speakers heading to Cape Town

The Mind Matters Summit programme includes Dr Tara Swart, a neuroscientist, medical doctor and author who focuses on the brain and human performance.

Sanei will explore how people can prepare for an uncertain future, while Douglas Gremmen, chief growth officer at HYROX, will discuss the growth of the international fitness racing brand and the role of community and consistent training.

The line-up also includes Kevin Bailey of Dreamfuel and meditation practitioner David Hans-Baker, who will contribute to discussions around mindset, meditation, breathwork and visualisation.

The programme is designed to combine scientific insights with practical exercises, with the aim of giving attendees tools they can apply in their everyday lives.

Moodliar says the broader mission is to make mental fitness more accessible beyond corporate environments and professional athletes, including to young people in schools and universities.

She hopes the conversation will help people move away from simply surviving life’s pressures towards building greater resilience and a sense of purpose.

“Fundamentally, that’s why I created Mind Matters,” she said, “so that more people can feel alive and as though this life is a gift and that it’s not something to just go through and survive. It’s something to really live.”

The Mind Matters Summit takes place on 29 October 2026, from 9 am to 5 pm, at the CTICC. In-person and virtual tickets are available at mindmatters-summit.com.