Science links meditation to a stress-free work environment and productivity, making it an excellent tool to use at work. Call it another trait of meditation – finding some peace and stillness during your busy and chaotic days can be the best way to get sucked into the stress.
We all know it. If you don’t take some time to relax and recuperate from the busy work schedule, you will be the victim of continuous stress. Sure, you can take a break and spend it in the café nearby or shut down in front of the screen watching the last episode of your favorite TV show. This is very beneficial, but it still differs from finding peace and relaxation. It is simply blowing off some steam.
When you practice meditation often and long term, it comes combined with positive and long-lasting effects to your health.
The Benefits of Meditation
The idea of combining work and meditation comes as a surprise to everyone who hears it. After all, they seem to fit in the exact opposite ends of our spectrum. However, the benefits you get when you combine them make it more than a good idea to meditate while at work. Here is why:
- Critical Skills Improvement
After a long day at work combined with numerous obligations, your critical thinking abilities can simply wane. Meditation can help – by calming you, it centers you and increases the awareness of your surroundings. This should make you more attentive to details and more understanding of your tasks and actions.
- Stress Relief
Meditation can do wonders with your nervous system. This was pointed out even back in the 1970s when the Harvard physician Herbert Benson explained meditation as a ‘relaxation response’. According to Medicine Net, 10 minutes of meditation per day can relieve the stress and anxiety.
- Creativity Levels Improvement
Meditation seems to help people focus on letting them relax. To get rid of all those emotions, both positive and negative, you need to meditate. Once you get a clear head, you can focus on the positive and enjoy a whole new level of creativity.
- Brighter Outlook
This is a physical way to get the stress out of your body and control those juggled emotions. Meditation replaces stress with good hormones that keep you calm and relax, as well as happy. It’s as simple as that – if you meditate, you’ll be happier.
How to Meditate at Work
You now know that meditation is important and can do wonders for you in the workplace, but how do you actually do this at work? Your workplace isn’t really a place to set up a mat and spend hours doing nothing.
The truth is, you don’t have to do physical exercise to meditate. Meditation is a powerful exercise of the brain, so use this to your advantage without drawing any attention to yourself. Here are some activities you can do and maintain discretion.
1. Practice Zen Meditation
Have you heard of Zen Meditation? This is a technique that corrects your breathing and posture and clears the mind from all those negative thoughts. The best part is, you can practice it right there in your work chair.
All you have to do is straighten your back and ensure it is upright. Then, focus on the ground right there in front of you while keeping the mouth closed and breathing through the nose. Take steady and slow breaths and focus on them only.
2. Practice a Mantra
Do you know any powerful mantra phrases? Find one for yourself – ask people around or check out some great mantra phrases online. Mantra meditation is partially used as physical meditation, but it can still be applied here. As long as you believe in your mantra and remind yourself of it throughout the day, you can enjoy its effects.
3. Practice Mindfulness
What does this mean? It means that you can simply sit in your work desk and block all thoughts out. Try to do it when you can’t be disturbed for best effects.
Stop doing what you are doing and try to differentiate all smells and sounds in the office around you. Feel the temperature, think about how your clothing feels on your body. This should make you very much aware to everything around you, which will in return make you more relaxed.
4. Practice Qigong in the office
Qigong means ‘life energy cultivation’ and is a type of meditation that relaxes your mind and your body. Here is what you do:
- Sit in a position that is comfortable to you and relax your muscles.
- Clear your mind.
- Try to regulate your breath by keeping it steady.
- Imagine that an energy flows above your belly button, in the center of your body.
- Now imagine that that energy courses through your body through the veins. It calms the nerves, warms the skin, and rejuvenates the breaths you are taking. Move from your toes toward your head.
5. Practice a ‘Ding’ method
It is exactly as it sounds – like an alarm that goes off! Set an alarm to go off every hour while you are at work. Whenever you hear ‘ding’, do something to relax. Just sitting there and focusing on your breathing is enough. A short break or a stretch can make all the difference for you in a stressful day.
6. Practice a Sticker Method
It doesn’t have to be a mantra or meditation type to meditate while at work. The last idea on our list is similar to the previous one, only this time you will use a sticker method rather than a clock’s ‘ding’.
Get a colorful sticker and place it somewhere in your office. You don’t have to write anything on it if you don’t want others to know what you are doing – it is enough for it to be there for you to see it.
Now, every time you see it, do some simple meditation. Find a nice position and take a few seconds to relax and breathe. Clear your mind, then continue to work until you see a sticker again.
As long as you manage to meditate at work, it doesn’t matter what technique from this list you choose. Don’t be afraid to combine them – they all take just a few minutes of your busy schedule!
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