In my previous article Meditation at work – Part 1: The top 5 benefits of meditating at work, I discussed the various benefits of meditation at work. In this article, let’s take a look at the practical aspects of meditation at work.
Meditation can be a pretty challenging activity because you’re using your mind to train your mind, which will often choose to watch television, surf the internet, or scan your social media accounts! Sitting alone and wrestling with your inner demons can seem daunting, which is why group meditation is popular. We are wired to operate in groups and group meditation can make it much easier for you to establish a habit.
Meditation at work comes with additional challenges. You may not have any place where you can sit and meditate. Your boss may not fancy you spending time on meditation. Being busy or being under pressure and feeling anxious can mean that you don’t end up meditating during office hours even if it turns out to have massive benefits.
Meditation at work: the most effective techniques
While you may have a favorite kind of meditation, you may not be able to practice it at work. I mean if your meditation consists of chanting or practices that involve sound, movement-based meditation, or even just sitting cross-legged or lying down, you may find that there is no place at your office that this can be done.
You can, however, stick to styles of meditation that can be done just about anywhere:
Breath awareness meditation
If you have a nose and can breathe, you can practice breath awareness meditation. Additionally, since you have to breathe all the time, it is possible to meditate all the time! The beauty of breath awareness meditation is that it is completely unobtrusive – no one needs to know that you are meditating.
The simplest form of breath awareness meditation is One Breath Meditation.
Body awareness or body scan meditation
Body awareness meditation is a style of practice where you pay attention to the sensations you feel in various parts of your body. You get to be in touch with the impact of your emotions on your body. If you feel upset, angry, or anxious, your body will immediately display the symptoms of those emotions: heavy breathing and tightness or stress in certain parts of the body.
If you are continuously aware of your body and can feel the impact in the areas where you “store” your tension, you can come out of those negative mental states simply by observing those sensations closely.
Once again, this technique does not require any special equipment, time, place, or posture. You can practice it anywhere including at the office.
Walking meditation
This is a simple practice that you can do whenever you have to get anywhere in your office. Walking meditation is simply paying attention to your legs when you walk, feeling the sensations in your leg muscles, joints, and feet. Taking each step consciously and with awareness.
Present moment awareness a.k.a mindfulness
You can practice present moment awareness every moment of the day, including at your workplace. Present moment awareness is simply being completely present to each activity – writing emails, talking with colleagues, or writing code.
Meditation at work: when to meditate
Hourglass meditation
There are moments during the day when you have to wait. Wait for your laptop to boot up, wait for a meeting to begin, or wait for someone at the other end of a phone call.
Instead of getting angry, frustrated, or irritated while waiting, recognize it as an opportunity to practice meditation. The little moments of meditation begin to add up.
Movement meditation
Anytime you need to walk, meditate. Going for a meeting? meditate. Moving out for lunch? Practice walking meditation. Getting a printout? You get the picture.
Listening meditation
Whenever you have a conversation, listen with complete awareness and presence. Listening can be an excellent meditation. You don’t have to accept or agree with whatever is being said, but you can listen with complete attention.
Present moment awareness
This may seem challenging but can soon become a habit. Practice being present when you are at work and be completely present during each activity.
Meeting meditation
Since meetings are such a huge part of work, why not take advantage of that fact and meditate during the gaps when you get a chance. Instead of tuning out, practice breath awareness or body scan meditation.
Loving-kindness meditation
Colleagues getting your goat? Boss piling on to you? Instead of reacting, see if you can practice presence and loving-kindness meditations while you’re with them, even if it is for a few seconds.
I’m not suggesting that you roll over and play dead or become a doormat. I’m just saying be compassionate towards folks, while simultaneously taking care of yourself.
Meditation at work: finding colleagues who meditate
Send out a message and connect with other colleagues who are interested in meditation practices of any kind. Interestingly, they don’t need to practice the kind of meditation that you practice. Just getting together with folks who have well-established practices can be sufficient to motivate you to practice. Perhaps you can even set up “meetings” where you practice together with others before or after work.
Giving your life
There are many meanings to the phrase “giving your life” for something. She gave her life for her country is not the same as she died for her country. In most cases, the typical way to “give your life” is to give large chunks of your time.
Spending 8 to 12 hours a day at work is certainly the equivalent of giving your life for your organization, even if it does not seem that way to you.
Why not reclaim some of that life and some of that time by practicing present-moment awareness and meditation at work?
