How to incorporate mindfulness into the workplace

The research keeps pouring in. There seems to be no end to the benefits of mindfulness for leadership, problem-solving, innovation, staff wellbeing – and staff productivity.

Meanwhile, businesses only gain momentum. Who has time to meditate? If your workplace is fast-paced and multi-faceted, the question isn’t whether can you afford to incorporate mindfulness, but can you afford not to?

Here are 3 tips for finding time for mindfulness in your workplace:

1. Keep it short. One breath can change everything. You may never have the luxury of a full 20 minutes sitting in a quiet room. But if you train yourself to take a single breath in mindfulness, then that quality of attention – with all the benefits that come with it – is available to you anytime, anywhere. It’s about creating a series of tiny spaces within the momentum of your day.

2. Keep it ordinary. You can use anything as mindfulness practice. When the phone rings, we usually respond with a flurry of thoughts: the caller, the purpose, whether we feel we have time for the call. Develop a spacious quality within that stream of thinking. When your phone rings, breathe in consciously, with awareness: “Breathing in, I know I am breathing in”. Then take the call. You’ll be more focused and less reactive.

3. Keep it invisible. No-one else needs to know. There’s no outward difference between walking meditation and just regular walking. Transitions are a great opportunity: walking to your office, to the photocopier, to the water cooler. Bring your awareness down to your two feet, notice your weight supported by the floor and the sensation of stepping, lifting, stepping. Totally invisible, and you’ll arrive calmer and more refreshed.

It can be as simple as you want it to be.

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