A Guide to Meditation in the Workplace
Getting placed in a dream job is not often the end of the story. You should ensure to offer consistent service to the organization while being self-motivated is equally pivotal. With multiple responsibilities that each employee has, it can be arduous for them to keep up with the uniformity in their performance. Sometimes depression, pressure, and frustrations can take over. These may not lead to healthy outcomes.
Accordingly, it can be inferred that practicing snippets of meditation techniques at the office can be effective to bring back the work balance. But, are you ready to employ this practice in the best possible way? Our insights here not only motivate you to meditate at the workplace but also acts as a detailed guide to perfectly ensure mindfulness effortlessly.
Role of working meditation
Meditation lets an individual develop self-centeredness, thereby letting them think about themselves clearly. Not only at the beginning of the day, but this mindfulness can also come in handy while at work too. Be it sudden targets, the frustration of delay, or differences with fellow mates, meditation can give quick relief by bringing serenity.
The importance of meditation in the Workplace is research-backed. Andrew F Hafenbrack [1] studied how mindful meditation impacts the on-the-spot workplace intervention. This detailed study of multiple people in their offices concluded that cultivating mindfulness on-the-spot in special situations at work can improve the potential inexpensively and also swiftly brings outbalance- avoiding backfire. These inferences suggest that meditation in the workplace is crucial for everyone.
Meditation for the office- Getting prepared
Along with comprehending the importance of mindfulness at the office, one should be accompanied with knowledge of how to get ready for it. Here are a few of our suggestions to help you transform your surroundings:
Keep your cubicle neat and Serene. The desk that you are working on would be organized at your convenience. In this process, its attire may not be suitable for meditation. For instance, too many things piled up on the table may not impress your eyes. Consequently, ensure to keep your cubicle clean. Move unwanted tools, files, and other entities to cupboards or shelves. Clean surroundings can act as the concrete cornerstone for effective mindfulness.
Choose the style to practice. Meditation can be practiced in multiple styles. While one may like mantra meditation, others may like Vipassana. Get detailed knowledge of each of these styles and devices and which of these you would like to employ.
Try procuring essential add-ons. To build up the aura of spirituality and peace, you can avail a few essentials like mala, crystals, and so on. We will discuss them in detail in one of the next sections. These preliminaries are often inexpensive but can add admirable value to your mindfulness.
How to do mindfulness meditation at work?
Getting mindful in a busy environment is often not preferred. Even in the office, one should ensure to make the settings serene as per the above insights. Later, you can go through the following steps to ensure simple working mindfulness:
Make sure of the right posture: You may choose to meditate on the chair or the floor. What’s important is the posture you maintain throughout the session. Sit straight and fold your hands to form any mudra. To those unknown, Mudhra is a specific hand gesture one can opt for while meditating. Ensure that you are comfortable in that posture.
Close your eyes: Once the physical aspect is all set, it is time to make your brain ready. Start with closing your eyes and bring all your focus to the breath or the bowel movement.
Experience the peace of the null. Soon, you will feel your brain and body are balanced. Start relishing the peace and serenity it gives for at least five to ten minutes.
Rejuvenate with open eyes. Open your eyes when you feel free and refreshed. It is the time you should restart the tasks with energy and zeal.
Bonus Tip- Apply mindfulness music for work. Music can have a great impact on the brain, especially at work. You may prefer to set preferred music while at work or during meditation to activate regularly.
Essentials add-ons for Meditation in the Workplace
While accessories are not always a need for beginners, these can enhance the interest and flavor of the practice. Due to these reasons, professionals prefer to hold some essentials. Here are a few eminently opted meditation accommodations for your reference:
Meditation Mala: These are wearable necklaces made of 108 sacred beads like Rudraksha. Tiger eye, ruby, and other alternatives. These turn important for those who practice mantra meditation. No matter what the mantra is, the individual can use this chain to iterate their mantra count- making meditation easier.
Meditation Apps: The advantages of smartphones reflect on mindfulness as well. There are multiple free meditation apps that come equipped with all the essential guides to start with. Calm and Headspace are some examples worth considering.
Books to guide: Reading books is another serene practice. Opting for meditation books can add insights to your understanding. At the workplace, having a reference book in hand can facilitate quick reference of techniques to employ anytime. Some examples of meditation books include:
Meditation Guide by Christina
Meditation and its practices by Swami Adiswarananda
Incense sticks/and candles: Pleasent odor is the root of good mindfulness traditionally. This is the main objective behind incense sticks. Choose premium incense sticks with good odor along with a beautiful stand to place them at a corner of the table to get a refreshing breath. You can also choose to use scented candles as well.
Meditation Crystals: These are special stones that can be helpful during meditation to neutralize the body's energy field thereby reducing stress and anxiety. There are multiple stones from which you can choose. Some examples are Pyramid tatva and Rose Quartz.
All of the above add-ons are easily carriable in your office bag or pouch. Their portability makes them worthy to opt-in office premises as well. Note that some offices may not allow incense sticks and candles. Ensure to communicate with the staff beforehand.
How do Meditation Work during Office hours?
Also called on-the-spot meditation, mindfulness before a meeting, call or during work, breaks can have multiple edges promoting the individual to serve better. Here are some grounds for your comprehension:
Assist in better problem solutions. Challenges in the workplace are common. What makes a difference is the employee’s attitude towards them. Hafenbrack has observed that a three- to-ten minutes mindful meditation can address present awareness and non-judgmental acceptance. This will make the employee ready to face the changes and hitches.
Helps in brain breaking. By definition, brain breaks are short intervals that employees may take to rejuvenate from the mind-stress. While there can be multiple brain break activities, meditation can be a good option for working people.
Better Attitude at the workplace When an individual assures stability and threat free, they can show a better attitude towards work and organization. Hafenbrack has observed that the reduction of subjective self-threat is one of the advantages of meditating process. This way, they develop the courage to face even adverse circumstances.
Teamworking and Efficiency are drastically improved when the above factors build up. In research[2] by Hashly Borders, the effect of mindfulness on factors like anger, frustration, and rumination was studied. It was observed that anger and frustration were addressed with meditation at the workplace- implying better relationships with teammates.
Meditation Tips and Techniques- To make your workplace session better
If you are looking to ensure better results from meditation, here are a few of our tips and techniques to enhance your experience and better outcomes:
Start with 5-minute sessions
People often fall into the common myth that meditation should be practiced for longer durations. The fact is that even a 5-minute session in a day will work well to start with. One should focus on being consistent in the practice. Blake McBride[3] listed out elements of meditation. Consistency was one of these main points in this list.
Body movement also plays an important role
Meditation mostly focuses on mind balance. Getting proficient in mindfulness, one can try stretching their hands and legs. This can give a complete relaxation in the middle of a hectic work schedule. One good idea is to change postures in the meditation, this way your body can get warmed up.
Try Group Meditation
As the name suggests, grouped meditation is the practice collectively performed in a group. You can welcome your colleagues to join you in the session. This can create a better aura and also leads to lesser disturbances. The company can organize a group meditation camp at the workplace to create awareness in the employees, or the peers can form an informal community to ameliorate mindfully.
Combine Meditation with Workout
Meditation is all about mindfulness and being healthy in the mind. On other hand, workouts can bring about physical fitness. Logically, combining these sessions can craft the best mix of physical and mental stability. A study by B.L.Alderman [4] was made to note the effects of combining these two sessions, A combination of 30 minutes of meditation and 30 minutes of aerobic exercises has resulted in reduced depression, rumination, and enhanced brain activity.
While joining this session is proven effective, the chronology of which of this should come first is still ambiguous. Placing Meditation before or after a workout can have its own sets of edges and catches. One can make out the best arrangement for them. Get a guide on should you meditate before or after exercise here.
Meditation can come in handy anywhere…
With the increased popularity of the on-the-spot meditation, getting mindful got easier anywhere. Be it in the workplace or in any other location, one can take care of some preliminary settings and start meditating at the office effortlessly. Note that combining it with a workout can be a great idea. Some corporate offices like Google provide the scope of gyming at the workplaces, one can avail the utilities to get fitter. Meditation in the workplace can be easy when properly planned. We hope this guide can help you to ensure quality mindfulness in your office.
References:
[1] Hafenbrack, A. C. (2017). Mindfulness meditation as an on-the-spot workplace intervention. Journal of Business Research, 75, 118-129.
[2] Borders, A., Earleywine, M., & Jajodia, A. (2010). Could mindfulness decrease anger, hostility, and aggression by decreasing rumination?. Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression, 36(1), 28-44.
[3] McBride, B. (2017). Meditation.
[4] Alderman, B. L., Olson, R. L., Brush, C. J., & Shors, T. J. (2016). MAP training: combining meditation and aerobic exercise reduces depression and rumination while enhancing synchronized brain activity. Translational psychiatry, 6(2), e726-e726.
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