How To Meditate at Work to Boost Your Performance
There’s a saying that if you don’t have five minutes to meditate, you need to spend 15 minutes meditating to give you perspective and time efficiency, according to Dorsey Standish, MS, mindfulness expert, neuroscientist and CEO of science-based wellness company Mastermind.
“If you talked to a professional basketball player who didn’t exercise their body regularly, you would think they were crazy — it’s their job to use their body to win games! But in the corporate world, where a knowledge worker’s best asset is their mind, you don’t see enough people training their brains with an intention to be the best they can be in the workplace and in life,” she says.
“Mindfulness and meditation support workplace performance as well as overall well-being, and just like a professional basketball player’s gym routine, mindfulness practice should be a must-have for knowledge workers.”
Ready to give meditation at work a shot? It can improve your focus and short-term memory. There’s even evidence that mindfulness can shift your perception of time and make you feel like you have more time to get things done, says Standish.
Get comfy and find a quiet spot
Whether you want to meditate before your first meeting of the day or during an afternoon break, you’ll need to find a comfy spot where you won’t be disturbed. Some offices have dedicated rooms for quiet breaks. You can also head into an empty meeting room and close the door. Simply sitting upright with your feet planted on the ground and closing your eyes at your desk chair for a few minutes is a perfectly acceptable way to meditate too. And if there is a green space such as a park nearby, you can even take advantage of the fresh air and meditate outside.
Use a guided mindful meditation practice
Overwhelmed by the types of meditation that exist? Mindfulness meditation is a great option for beginners. “It is a formal practice of setting aside time to cultivate present moment awareness,” says Standish. According to her, this meditation technique translates into greater presence in everyday life and offers workplace-friendly benefits such as increased calm and self-awareness. It includes practices such as body scanning, where you pay attention to muscles that feel tense and focus on relaxing them, or awareness of your breathing.
Standish recommends starting with a mental wellbeing app like Calm or Simple Habit or looking for guided practice on YouTube or Spotify.
Start with a few minutes
Don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to meditate for 30 minutes a day when you’ve never done it before. Even five minutes of breathing when you’re feeling stressed helps.
“We may not have time to sit for 10-minute mindfulness meditation, but we always have time to take a deep breath (or three!). When we are stressed or distracted, we tend to take shallow, hurried breaths,” says Standish. “The next time you notice yourself getting frazzled in the workplace, breathe deeply into and out of the lower abdomen. Breathing in this way massages your vagus nerve, which calms your central nervous system and takes you out of ‘fight or flight’ mode.”
Start with a few minutes of breathing or a guided practice and ramp up the amount of time you spend meditating progressively.
Embrace informal mindfulness habits
Sometimes the idea of meditation feels intimidating. But there are ways of “meditating” that don’t include sitting in a lotus position. “Informal mindfulness practices are a great way to pause and reset while at work,” according to Standish.
For example, she shares the S.T.O.P technique, a great tool when you notice yourself feeling stressed or frantic – instead of fighting against your emotions, pause and:
- Stop what you’re doing
- Take a few deep breaths
- Observe your experience (thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations)
- Proceed with an action that will support you in this moment
Single-tasking is another form of mindfulness. “Dedicating all your focus to one task at a time is actually the most efficient mode for your brain. Even if you can only prioritize single-tasking for 30 to 60 minutes, you can use that time to focus all your brainpower on your top priority task. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish,” says Standish.
Listening wholeheartedly can bring you back to the present moment too, so why not use your conversations with your coworkers as an opportunity to bring mindfulness into your day?
“You can always take a moment to ask your coworker how they are doing and listen wholeheartedly to their response,” adds Standish. “To stay present while in conversation, practice maintaining awareness of your own body and breath as you listen. Listen with open, engaging body language and attempt to understand your conversation partner rather than to fix their problem or share your own agenda.”
