Hello and welcome to today's talk,
Seven Ways to Bring Meditation to Work.
I remember the days that I worked in corporate on Wall Street in New York City and just feeling listless and groundless.
I faced a lot of stress and pressure working with hedge fund clients and I wish I had the tools to manage the stress and the anxiety,
Some of the depression and loneliness that I experienced while I was working in this environment.
And so today I'd like to bring seven ways for you to know how to tangibly bring meditation into your workflow.
And these are concepts that you've already heard more than likely,
Especially if you're familiar with meditation,
But I invite you to come with an open mind,
A beginner's mind to receive again because it always helps to hear it and to know how to apply it.
When we hear something over again,
It just strengthens and integrates that knowledge for us,
Allows us to embody it.
So the first is intention,
Going to work with purpose.
What is your purpose for showing up to take time to meditate on this intrinsic motivation for you to do well,
To succeed at work?
Because studies have shown that when you have that intrinsic motivation in a way,
It cancels out the extra stress and pressure we feel because we're more focused on what it is that we intend to create.
The second thing is affirmation,
Taking that intention of what you want to create at your workplace and affirming it within yourself.
You can affirm anything.
I am balanced.
I am successful.
I am on fire.
Pick an affirmation,
Whether it's a daily affirmation or one that you've picked to use as your go-to when you're feeling kind of low energy at work,
What's an affirmation that you can go to that will lift you up,
Motivate you,
Recenter you in this positive energy.
The third thing is focus.
How can you achieve relaxed focus at work where your energy is flowing,
Where you're in the zone,
You're feeling really connected and you're getting stuff done?
What gives you,
What helps you to have that level of focus?
Maybe it's clearing off your desk or letting people know that you're not taking meetings,
Closing your door if you have a door,
Putting on some music,
Setting a timer where you have 20 to 30 minutes of intense focus at a time,
Integrated with short breaks.
So learning how to maintain focus,
Which is what we cultivate in meditation,
As well as as awareness.
How many of us lose body awareness while we're working?
Kind of hunching over our computer,
Losing alignment in our body and our spine,
Which causes us to lose energy.
If even now you just took a moment to round your upper back and roll your shoulders forward,
Notice that shift in energy.
It's as if you have less access to your life force energy when our spine is curved.
So taking time to ensure that you're connected to your body,
The bodily sensations,
Even in your feet,
Circulating that awareness that you have through all parts of your system.
And this will help you stay more relaxed,
Open and tension free.
And this includes moving your body around and listening to your body when you feel agitated,
When you're hungry,
You're thirsty,
Paying attention to your body's needs.
The fifth is emotional awareness.
When do you feel triggered at work?
Pay attention to those times.
Maybe it's when you're working with a really difficult boss or client,
Coworker,
And you're noticing the inner trigger because there's an ego power dynamic that's happening.
And having this overall awareness without judgment is so helpful in managing our stress levels because the way we respond emotionally is a lot.
It says a lot about the way we work and how we can stay focused because when we get emotionally reactive,
We lose our energy and we lose our focus.
Our thoughts become negative and they begin to spiral.
So this is really hurtful to our performance and productivity.
It's important to maintain a high level of emotional awareness,
Taking care of our own emotions when we feel offended or hurt or angry,
Allowing ourselves to have and experience that emotion in a healthy way.
So at first,
Maybe just taking a moment for yourself,
Noticing when that intense emotion comes up and giving yourself three breaths to breathe in and to breathe out,
Giving yourself space.
Maybe it's excusing yourself,
Taking a walk,
Going to the bathroom,
Whatever you need to resource yourself first before acting out of a negative place and responding to negativity with negativity.
The sixth thing is energy awareness.
Energy awareness encompasses everything.
So our emotions,
Our feelings,
Our body,
And it's paying attention to our own energy moment to moment,
Perhaps even the dynamics of energy that are happening in the workplace,
Knowing when we may need to step up,
Say something to diffuse tense,
Built up energy,
To create stronger relationships and cultivate communication and learning how to even maintain our own energy moment to moment,
Allowing ourselves to stay in a balanced place.
Even if we're coming up with demands or deadlines that we can still learn to maintain an inner equilibrium and seeing how this inner equilibrium helps us to sustain our performance.
Our output helps us to sustain a higher level within ourselves.
We communicate better,
We work better,
We focus better when our energy is aligned,
Balanced and grounded so we can learn these grounding tools where we feel connected to the earth instead of connecting to all the energy and stress that might be swirling around you.
Taking time to anchor and connect with the earth's energy.
That's a positive energy that can be nourishing and resourcing to your own energetic system.
And lastly,
Breath awareness.
Are you breathing when you're on your tech devices?
It seems today that it's more common to hold,
Hold our body,
Hold our breath rather than breathe nice and deep.
It's said that we have only so many breaths in our lifetime.
Imagine being able to breathe easy when you're on your tech device,
You notice you're holding your breath.
It's shallow,
Feels difficult to take that deeper breath.
That's a time to stop and reset.
And one way you can do this is to take a breath,
Inhale and hold your breath for 10 counts.
When you do this,
It expands your lungs.
And when you stop breathing,
You really do become present.
Because you have no air.
And then once you hold your breath and you exhale,
It's a really wonderful way to reset and slow down.
And slowing down is your friend at work.
Sometimes we unconsciously think that doing things fast,
Thinking fast,
Which causes us to breathe fast is the way to go.
But actually slowing down is what sustains us and gives us more energy for productivity.
I hope you found these tools really helpful so that you can feel good at work,
Feel productive,
Focused,
Free,
That you can express your ideas,
Your needs,
Perhaps the needs of coworkers,
And really be at your best at work and in life.
So that you can experience more of that balance in both your personal and professional life that leads to longevity,
Fulfillment,
Connection,
And happiness.
Eckhart Tolle said,
Whatever the present moment contains,
Accept it as if you had chosen it.
Always work with it,
Not against it.
And this is what meditation and mindfulness teaches us.
How to be in the moment,
Create in the present moment.
Thank you so much for taking time to listen to today's presentation.
Blessings.
Namaste.
