How Meditation Benefits CEOs

How Meditation Benefits CEOs  

At a first glance, meditation and business appear to be polar opposites. The former is associated with relaxed consciousness, tranquility, and harmony; whereas the latter is associated with heightened awareness, stress, and competition. While meditation and business appear to be at different ends of the emotional spectrum, they actually have a synergistic relationship.  

The benefits of meditation in improving health and decreasing stress among individuals is well-known. It’s no surprise, then, that the popularity of meditation is also growing among top executives and CEOs. In the last several years, corporate America has experienced a growing wave of Fortune 500 companies who are providing meditation and mindfulness courses to their employees as a way to increase productivity and creativity, and to foster a more balanced work environment. It appears that all innovative CEOs are joining the meditation movement as a productivity hack and as a method to genuinely enhance employee well-being. Apple, Google, Nike, Yahoo, Proctor & Gamble, and HBO are a few of the leaders paving the road to corporate wellness by employing meditation coaches, hiring mindfulness experts, and incorporating meditation spaces into their work environments.  

So what are the benefits of meditation in the workplace? What do these corporate executives know that can help the rest of us? Here are the top five ways that meditation and business are a perfect marriage: 

Meditation helps you focus.  

Research has shown that the average attention span of Americans is approximately 8 seconds, and that our minds have a tendency to wander about 50% of the time. Additionally, our modern workplaces require us to master emails, text messages, IMs, phone calls, and teleconferences, sometimes all in the same workday. It’s no wonder employees have difficulty remaining focused. Studies show, however, that the practice of meditation is associated with sustained attention and concentration, increased focus, and even improved memory abilities. This is particularly true when meditation is enhanced through the use of brainwave music with gamma waves, beta waves, and alpha waves, which produce brainwave frequencies associated with peak performance.  

Meditation builds resilience.  

Resilience is the ability to effectively cope with adversity. Multiple research studies have demonstrated the manner in which meditation has the potential to decrease anxiety, resulting in increased resilience and improved performance under stress. By practicing deep breathing and meditation when relaxed, we develop meditation skills that we can call upon during stressful business meetings or intense negotiations. For example, if you have a difficult encounter with a customer or co-worker, you may end up replaying that conversation in your mind all day, which will proliferate anxiety and low mood.   Meditation reduces this rumination and, if practiced regularly, changes your brain so that you’re more resilient to future stressful events.  

Meditation enhances creativity.  

Neuroscience research has shown that we arrive at our greatest insights and most significant breakthroughs when we are in a meditative and relaxed state of mind; what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has described as the “flow state.” Flow is a highly focused mental state in which the individual is completely absorbed with the task at hand and “in the zone.” The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation and heightened awareness. It is correlated with happiness, creativity, and productivity, and is most easily achieved when we are skilled at meditation.   

Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful celebrities of our time, contributes the practice of meditation to providing her with the creativity needed to develop the highest-rated talk show in history and to run a successful enterprise. Oprah has said, “Only from that space can you create your best work and your best life.”   

Meditation increases productivity.  

Many of the world’s most powerful CEOs, best-selling authors, Olympic athletes, and famous motivational speakers participate in a daily routine of meditation to enhance productivity. The wealthiest individuals in the world and the most successful entrepreneurs know that even thirty minutes a day of meditation produces profound changes in their levels of productivity and provides them with sharper thinking and heightened states of awareness that are a proven competitive edge in the business world. Additionally, the synchronization of brainwaves that occurs during meditation contributes to rapid learning of new information, drastically boosting productivity.  

Meditation decreases stress and enhances well-being. 

Studies have also revealed the significant and positive impact meditation has on stress reduction, mental health, and well-being. Research published in 2013 from Harvard Medical School stated, “Meditation appears to produce changes in brain activity. It also can lower your heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, oxygen consumption, adrenaline levels, and levels of cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress…there are many types of meditation that can result in physiological benefits, such as guided meditation.” Meditation decreases stress by synchronizing brainwaves and encouraging the right and left hemisphere of your brain to work in harmony. Meditation with brainwave music works to synchronize brainwaves, leading to increased creativity, insight, and inspiration, as well as decreased stress.  

 It’s pretty clear that meditation, even a few minutes each day, may contribute to enhanced productivity, creativity, and decreased stress levels, contributing to success in the business world. Meditation is especially recommended in the morning, because it serves to reduce anxiety, create inner peace, and set the tone for a positive day.  

 If you are new to meditation, or find it difficult to maintain focus, you may benefit from the use of brainwave music, which instantly creates with same brainwave patterns as deep meditation and does so easily, with the touch of a button. Meditating with brainwave music which utilizes gamma, beta, and alpha waves, such as those found on Brainwave Technologies’ audio, Optimize Your Brain Power, will increase productivity and focus.

 For more information on brainwave music and the benefits of meditation, please visit www.brainwave-technologies.com.