Meditation is an age-old practice that aims to teach mindfulness and presence. Those who meditate are usually more in-tune with their thoughts, have a happier outlook on life, and improved health.
Meditation has many benefits for both inner health and outer health, and those benefits can also improve a person’s work-life balance. Meditation, for example, can help to boost productivity. Once your mind is clear, you can focus on the tasks that need to be done, and therefore have an overall productive day.
The beauty of meditation is that it can be done anywhere, even at work! A quiet room or studio isn’t necessary to meditate: only yourself.
Reasons to Meditate at Work
Meditation can help to relieve stress, which can affect a person’s mental and physical wellbeing. Stress, for example, can affect our ability to make a decision or can create pressure on our bodies, like the tension in your shoulders and neck. One of the main causes of stress is working, but it’s not as simple as not working. However, taking a short five-minute break from work to practice meditation can help with stress relief and relaxation in general.
Meditating at work can seem daunting, since it’s such a contrast to the hustle and bustle of a job. The key to meditating at work is keeping it short and simple. This can range from doing a few breathing exercises to clear your mind or taking a short walk to get your body moving.
Just Try It
Meditation is appealing because it forces us to slow down and reexamine our lives. Those same principles can be applied to meditation at work, forcing us to slow down and refocus our efforts on what’s important.
Don’t know where to start? Here are a few ways to meditate at work:
Mindfulness of the Breath
Meditation at work can consist of simple breathing exercises, or what’s known as mindfulness of the breath. Mindfulness is a core component of meditation and being aware of one’s own breathing helps to build concentration, while also alleviating anxiety and stress. This meditation at work can be done in as little as one minute; you just take a deep breath and focus on where you can feel the breath moving throughout your chest and lungs. It will help you feel grounded, calm, and in control.
Stretching
Meditation at work is slowly becoming a recognized practice, as some companies now offer yoga classes or gym memberships as work benefits. While you don’t have to break out the yoga mat in the office, taking a break to stretch is a good way to practice meditation at work since our bodies tend to tense up from being in a seated or standing position all day. Certain meditation exercises, which couple breathing and stretching together can help target pain and tension in the cervical, back, or shoulders. Stretching as meditation allows you to focus on the parts of your body that are tense and loosen them up . By taking deep breaths and rolling your shoulders back or rotating your neck, you are relaxing your body and sending energy to those areas. This type of physical meditation can also help strengthen your body, as yoga is known to do.
Taking a Short Walk
Nothing clears the mind better than standing up and going for a walk. Did you know that walking can be meditative as well? Even a quick stroll around the room can be meditative, especially if you allow your mind to wander. Walking as meditation helps to strengthen your mind in focus and in recognizing thought patterns, like negative or positive thoughts.
Meditative walking is about applying the same types of breathing and mindfulness to the activity at hand. Taking deep breaths and focusing on the sensations of walking will help sharpen your awareness and then you can take notice of how you are feeling. Additionally, the physical act of standing up and walking allows you to take a break from work, as you won’t be near your desk, and is probably one of the easier ways to incorporate meditation at work.
The key to meditation at work is to just do it. Taking a minute or two out of your day to breathe and realign yourself will improve your mood and allow you to refocus and move forward with your day.
If you would like to know more about meditation we recommend you the article How to meditate: A guide for beginners.
