Mindfulness Basics With Scott Shute Of LinkedIn

In this short talk, Scott Shute, head of Mindfulness & Compassion at LinkedIn, shares some basics of mindfulness and wisdom from his own practice. This is followed by a brief one-minute exercise that can be used to cultivate focus, particularly when you are pressed for time.

Transcript

Mindfulness is gaining a lot of attention in today's world,

Even in the workplace.

Hi,

I'm Scott Schute.

I'm head of mindfulness and compassion programs at LinkedIn,

And part of the Mindful Workplace Alliance.

We're a group of leaders bringing mindfulness programs to our respective organizations.

One of the best ways we found to introduce mindfulness within the workplace is to sponsor a month-long challenge.

We're promoting October as Mindful Workplace Month,

And we invite all of you to participate in the challenge as well.

If you like,

You're welcome to promote this month-long effort with your own organization or group,

And help bring awareness of mindfulness.

The Mindful Workplace Month is divided into weekly themes,

And a member from each of the Mindful Alliance will share some of their wisdom at the beginning of each week.

The app will also have guided meditations related to the weekly theme to practice.

Be a part of the month-long challenge by participating in daily meditations.

Week one will be introduction to mindfulness,

Benefits of mindfulness,

And busting some myths about mindfulness.

Week two is about some of the ways to introduce mindfulness into your work life.

Week three is all about how mindfulness can help improve your focus.

Week four is all about resilience.

In week five,

We'll wrap up the challenge by talking about the next steps to continue your mindfulness journey,

And how to bring mindfulness into your respective organizations.

Let's get started.

Mindfulness is another word for being aware.

There are many ways to cultivate mindfulness,

But the one we'll focus on here in this app is meditation.

Meditation is a practice where we use a type of mental exercise to train our attention and awareness to help us achieve mental clarity and a sense of calm.

It helps us cultivate self-awareness,

Mindfulness.

But why would we want to?

Let's start with intention.

What do you hope to achieve with meditation?

I lead a couple of weekly meditation sessions at LinkedIn,

And each time before we start,

I ask newcomers why they came.

What did they hope to achieve from the session?

The answers are fairly predictable.

They want less stress.

They want to have more control over their mind or their thoughts,

And they want to feel better,

Maybe sleep better.

Meditation has been proven to reduce stress,

Reduce anxiety,

Help us achieve clarity and a better sense of well-being.

Those things can be hard to quantify.

Also,

It doesn't happen overnight.

I think intention is really important in this work.

There are lots of people who start meditating and don't stick with it long enough to build a habit,

And that's too bad because they miss out on the benefits they wanted.

Intention helps us get clear on what we're trying to achieve and gives us a better chance of creating the habit of a regular practice.

Think of it like the gym.

If we go to the gym and start lifting weights,

If we're not clear why we're there,

Our habit might die off before it ever starts.

It's not part of our normal routine.

It's uncomfortable.

It's work.

There are lots of other things pulling at our time.

If we have a clear intention,

It helps us remember why we're doing it and push through any of the challenges that come up.

I'll share mine as an example.

I'm sure we've each had moments where we felt like we had access to all of our resources and we could handle anything life gave us.

That feels really good.

We've all probably had days when the wheels were coming off,

Where we melted into an unproductive crying mess at the slightest provocation.

That does not feel good.

Well,

What's really the difference between these two days?

Think about that.

Our happiness is not based on what's happening to us.

It's all about how we react to what's happening to us.

For me,

It's simple.

I meditate because I want more of the good days and less of the bad.

I want more days where I'm feeling fully capable and operating at my highest potential.

I just want to be happy.

That's my reason and for me,

It works.

Research shows there are lots of benefits of meditation like reduce stress,

Reduce anxiety,

Lowering of blood pressure,

Improved emotional health,

Longer attention span.

It can even help fight addictions and enhances self-awareness.

So I'd invite you to take a few moments and try to get clear about what you'd most like to achieve with meditation.

Each time you sit down to meditate,

Remind yourself of your intention or allow a new intention to form in that moment.

Either way,

Be clear with yourself.

A question I often get is,

Where and when should I meditate?

To create a great habit,

I suggest trying to meditate in the same place at the same time every day.

It may not work out perfectly all the time because life gets in the way.

But start with that intention and find what works best for you.

Maybe it's the beginning of the day or right before you go to sleep at night,

Or maybe you prefer your lunchtime break.

As for where,

Find a quiet place where you can minimize your distractions.

It could be in your car,

It could be in your bedroom.

But having a routine sends signals to your mind and body that this is meditation time and helps it make it easier to maintain the habit.

So try,

Try for the same place,

Same time,

And in a location where you can focus.

Some of the common questions I hear from people about meditation are,

Am I doing it right and how do I know it's working?

This practice can be really subtle and it can take time.

For me personally,

I like to keep it simple.

Do I feel better after I'm done compared to where I started?

That's a good starting point,

But it's not perfect.

There may be times when things come up during meditation that are unpleasant.

It doesn't mean I'm doing it wrong,

I'm just more aware.

But typically,

I do feel more relaxed,

More calm,

And have more clarity when I'm done.

During a meditation,

If you're wondering,

Am I doing this right?

The most important thing to remember in the moment is just relax,

Don't worry about it,

Keep going.

Here are a few other signposts you can watch for during meditation to determine if you're on track.

The first is freedom from thought.

Many people think meditation is about not having thoughts.

Not quite.

The mind is going to produce thoughts,

That's what it does.

One important goal is to ignore the thoughts we do have.

We notice them,

We let them pass by,

And we stay neutral.

Our thoughts are moving by,

But we aren't moving with them.

We're not tossed around by them.

We're free from our thoughts.

The next signpost is heightened awareness.

When we meditate,

We often enter a state where we become more sensitive to outside stimulus,

The ambulance siren,

The hum of the air conditioning,

The kids playing outside.

We become at ease and profoundly awake at the same time.

So another sign you're doing it right is stillness.

One of those simple but not easy things to do is to just be still.

The quality of our stillness often informs the quality of our practice.

Freedom of thought,

Heightened awareness,

And stillness are just a few of the ways we can gauge our practice during a session.

Over time,

If you're wondering if you're making progress in your practice,

You may look for changes in yourself to gauge whether it's working for you.

First of all,

Are you prioritizing your practice?

Is it becoming more regular and a more important part of your routine?

Is your awareness increasing?

Perhaps becoming more aware of others around you.

Do you have a bit more space to operate versus reacting to life?

And are you becoming more open,

More curious?

For me personally,

I've been doing this long enough now that I notice when things are a bit off.

If I find myself really out of balance,

Maybe in a kind of funk,

I ask myself,

Have you been putting in the work?

And during those times,

The answers almost always no.

And that's a good reminder to get back at it to redouble my efforts with the practice.

So start to notice both during your practice as well as over time,

The subtle and not so subtle changes you're experiencing.

Let's do a very short practice,

Just three breaths.

This is a good one to use if you don't have much time and you need to get focused or relax a bit.

Ready to try?

All right,

Great.

Okay,

First we'll take a deep breath to ready ourselves.

Then on this next breath,

Follow the cycle of the breath all the way through the inhale and the exhale.

On the second breath,

Allow your body to fully relax.

And on the third breath,

Ask yourself the question,

What am I most aware of right now?

Ask yourself the question,

What am I most aware of right now?

Let's try it again.

Okay,

I'm taking a breath to get ready.

On this first breath,

Just follow the cycle of the breath all the way in and all the way out.

On the second breath,

Allow your body to fully relax.

And on the third breath,

Ask yourself,

What am I most aware of right now?

I hope you enjoy your experiences with meditation and mindfulness this month.

Have a fantastic day.

Take care.

Reviews

This was really nice and helped me with stress…. Thanks 🙏

Thank you for this short and easy to understand talk about mindfulness. Very effective ! Very grateful to you for this information 🙏❤️

Practical applications abound in these sessions. I appreciate the effort that goes into these recordings.

thank you Scott!! Your 3-breath exercise at the end perfectly sums it all up...

Nice lecture, it’s help to understand how to start meditation.

Better than I expected from a podcast on meditation. He goes over how to make it a habit and the long term benefits.

Wonderful!
Thank you from Mexico City !🙏

Good, gentle synopsis.

Back to the basics! Always good to remember :)
Thank you!

A clear description of why and how's of meditation and mindfulness.