Hello,
My name is Shirelle and I'm a community and corporate wellness educator based right here in the Washington DC metro area.
And today I want to share some practical ways to help you take a mindful break at work.
For many of us,
Mindfulness and work don't go together.
And I want to share with you all how you can be more mindful at work.
It doesn't matter if your work environment is noisy,
It doesn't matter if you have a lot of things that cause you to be distracted,
It doesn't matter.
There are ways to be mindful at work and I want to share some practical ways for even beginners to become more mindful at work.
So meditating in a silent room on a comfortable meditation cushion is great and all.
We all have that image.
I do as well.
But have you ever tried meditating in a noisy place?
Your work environment may even be noisy and that's totally fine.
It's great for rewiring your expectations about meditation because meditation doesn't require silence.
I know that's not what you see on social media and YouTube,
But meditation really doesn't require silence.
It's not easy,
But instead of focusing on your breath,
Try keeping an open awareness and letting your attention linger on whatever sounds come up in your environment.
This is a great way to kind of spice up your meditation practice.
You can do this with your eyes open or closed and just begin to embrace the noisy environment.
Of course,
You know,
If there are jackhammers and if there's a lot of traffic,
You may want to put headphones on,
But if you're in a place with just natural occurring sounds,
Normal city noises,
You may find that meditating on the sounds in your environment as a new angle to your mindfulness practice.
When I was taking the Metro into the city,
I would many times meditate on the Metro.
And of course it was something that definitely spiced up my meditation practice because there were always different sounds.
I also want to offer this.
If you normally meditate with your eyes closed,
Try meditating with your eyes open.
Now this is something that you may not hear a lot about because many times we are taught how to meditate one way and we typically don't deviate from that.
I am a trauma informed yoga teacher.
And so in that trauma informed practice,
We were taught how to facilitate open eye meditations,
Which can be very helpful for people that are dealing with trauma.
Closing the eyes doesn't make some people feel safe.
So leaving the eyes open doesn't mean that you can't meditate.
You can.
With an open eye meditation,
Begin to glance around your space and linger,
Linger as you gaze outward at that space.
Maybe even consider taking a walk outside and just looking at things.
Be mindful to just not rush.
That's a great way to take a mindfulness break at work.
If you ever really need a quick break,
I also recommend this method.
It's called the STOP method.
The stop method can be very grounding.
It helps you to reconnect with yourself and this is how you do it.
So the S stands for stand up and breathe.
So whether you're sitting at a desk or whatever,
Whatever you're doing,
Stand up and just breathe.
While you're standing,
We move to the T.
T is for tune into your body.
Notice how it feels and any physical sensations.
The O stands for observe.
What is your body telling you?
Maybe you haven't even tapped into your body today.
You may even realize,
Oh,
I haven't had lunch yet.
I'm actually kind of hungry.
So this provides us with an opportunity to stop.
To stand,
Tune into our body,
Observe.
And lastly,
The P.
S was possible.
What new possibilities might emerge if you're able to connect with yourself in this new moment?
What might this be for you?
It could be a turning point for the rest of your day.
It could give you a fresh perspective.
And it could allow you to see things a little bit differently by taking this very quick mindful break.
So with that,
I would challenge you to consider some of these,
Some of these options,
Ways to take a mindful break.
So consider just meditating in your office.
Maybe where you work at,
They have a quiet room.
Maybe sometimes you meditate in the quiet room and sometimes you meditate in a room that's not so quiet.
Consider an open eye meditation sometimes and then go back to a closed eye meditation.
And of course,
Give this stop method a try that allows you to become a little bit more grounded by standing and breathing,
Tuning into your body,
Begin to observe what your body's telling you.
And ask yourself what's possible.
These are some simple steps that anyone can take that I hope you take the next time you're at work and you need to take a break.
