Bringing Meditation into the Workplace

Breathe in breathe out. Now envision yourself laying on a beach with the sound of calming waves in the background. The warm sun on your skin while you relax and enjoy the peaceful moment.

                Now stepping back into reality. There’s noise all around, emails piling up, and deadlines closing in. While your mind is going in circles, what is the first thing you choose to do? Do you meditate? Do you keep calm and clear your mind for a minute or do you panic and get frustrated?

                Meditation is great in times of stress and anxiety and work can often be the source of both. Hopefully this isn’t the case everyday (or you may consider also looking for a new job), but the stress builds up over time too. Taking a little time each day to relax and meditate is highly beneficial from relieving stress to clearing your mind.

                The benefits of meditation are extensive and will help not only with your work life, but also your home life as well. Just taking a few minutes to relax will allow you to clear your mind and refresh your thoughts. This will often lead to greater productivity as you can now think without the distraction of anxiety and stress that has built up. This greater focus will allow you to think smarter and be more creative. Our stress often gets the better of us and causes us to overthink and make mistakes that we typically wouldn’t under normal circumstances.

                Maybe you’re now thinking that wow that’s great, but not for me. I know from personal experience that anything over 5-10 minutes loses me, so I can understand this feeling, but there are different ways to mediate that don’t all involve wearing yoga pants and saying “Om”.

                You don’t have to dedicate your life to meditation to enjoy its benefits. Just taking a walk or stepping away from your desk will often give you that quick relief that you need and help you clear your mind. You can even put on your headphones and listen to relaxing music and take a few deep breaths or jump in a conference room for a few minutes.

                I hope that you all will consider including some form of meditation in your work life. It will help increase productivity and relieve stress. If you’re not sure where to start, try checking out an app to help guide you on your meditation journey. Headspace is a great option for any beginner and walks you through a daily routine or  you can choose a simpler app like Calm that just gives you some great background sounds or music to relax to.