These days mindfulness and meditation are being embraced by more and more big and small companies around the globe. So why is it a good idea to implement meditation at your workplace?
Every day we go to work, and a lot of us are met with a mass of mails, chats, phone calls, news letters and other information, that we need to deal with on a daily basis.
We all know that humans have a rather limited attention span, and that is exactly why it is good to have recess in schools. At work though, you tend not to take as many breaks as you may need, in order to be your best at what you do.
Taking time out for a meditation break, seems to me to be a good investment, as it can allow you to sort through the tasks and information stream, with more ease. This is one of the reasons corporations such as Google, WHO, Goldman Sachs, UN, FIFA, Supercell, The World Bank and even Coca-Cola, have set up time for meditation and some even offer workshops on meditation.
Google have a program cleverly named “Search Inside Yourself”, which teaches their employees how to use meditation as a tool to cope with busy schedules at work, as well as in everyday life.
Image: The Search Inside Yourself Program, Google Inc.
A few examples from the long list of benefits, that meditation has been seen to bring, include:
• Lower blood pressure
• Reduced stress
• Boost in productivity
• Better ability to focus on the task at hand
• Increase in creativity
• Decrease in depression score
There have been more than 1300 published papers done on the subject of meditation, one of which found that mindfulness meditation has an positive effect on the way we react to stressful situations, even when we are not meditating. This means that setting aside 20 minutes to meditate daily, can benefit us throughout the whole day.
What if all companies brought in meditation as a part of their workflow ?
How could it effect your business for the better ?
Happier workers create better results, as the saying goes… so how can we help each other? The data speaks for itself. Meditation has measurable benefits, both short time and long term. Have a talk with your employer/ employees see if they are up for a test period of 3 months of daily meditation and notice the positive changes it may bring to your business.
Research says that a continued daily practice for forty days is enough to feel the effects in your mind and emotions – and funnily 40 days is the same time it takes for the brain to create a new neural pathway, so you actually reprogram your mind to feeling happier!
If you want to try it out, there are multiple teachers and meditation styles available, many which offer corporate specific programs. One way to start could be by using the TakeTime Free App, visual meditations, available for iPad and iPhone for free.
Sally Megyessi
Co-Founder
References
https://siyli.org/
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00292/abstract