Benefits of Meditation in the Work Environment

Worldwide, about 7 million people meditate and/or practice yoga. Currently, we have a wave of scientific research that shows the positive effects of meditation in areas such as physical health and the positive impact it brings in the accompaniment of therapeutic processes to address mental health conditions and/or psychological, such as anxiety, stress, depression, attention deficit, among others. Evidence has also been presented of the relationship between meditation and happiness, successful aging, emotional intelligence, and professional success.

Let’s talk then about the benefits of meditation in the workplace. If an employee or collaborator meditates, they can get much more focused on their work, and they will be more comfortable with themselves, achieving better control of their emotions, and ultimately may have better interpersonal relationships.

These conditions make their productivity increase, achieving more in less time, and even improving the quality of work; therefore, the company where meditation is encouraged builds a healthy organizational culture in which its employees or collaborators are happy and motivated.

Companies are increasingly taking care of the physical and mental well-being of their employees or collaborators because they recognize that their work teams are the lungs that allow the organization to exist and will also be the ones who can lead their way to success; that is why they have created work well-being programs, where unique accompaniment is provided to people who work in different positions, from psychological counseling, yoga, meditation, relaxation, to activities for the families of each one, while providing spaces for fun and cultural expression.

The companies that have bet more on meditation as a mechanism to strengthen the quality of work are dedicated to services, mainly because it manages to provide a better relationship with customers. However, many other companies join this initiative because the benefits undoubtedly fall into the working environment and productivity.

Why do we talk about the benefits of meditation at work?

Richard Davidson, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin and a Buddhist-style meditation practitioner, is a leader in a new area of science: contemplative neuroscience (where he studies the changes that occur in the brain through meditation practice), and indeed there are many changes: there is evidence of structural and physiological changes through meditation, including increased brain plasticity, preventing the cognitive decline that comes with aging.

On the other hand, from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr. Madhav Goyal affirms that only half an hour a day of meditation can contribute positively to the treatment of depression, as a perfect complement to the therapeutic process.

What are the benefits of meditating at work?

1. An increase of concentration allows us to focus on what’s relevant during the time we need to solve an activity: The people who meditate manage to train the muscle of attention because they realize when distractions or thoughts appear. They self-regulate to give continuity to their work.
2. Higher levels of productivity, because a calm and focused mind manages to carry out an activity in less time, with a quality improvement, because the errors and failures typical of inattention and demotivation are reduced.
3. Better management of emotions, as the person who meditates efficiently identifies what they feel, and accepts the emotions and conditions that help them reduce stress, increasing overall serenity and reaching a calm state they can use to flow.
4. Improved interpersonal relationships: as they recognize their feelings, it is possible to develop an attitude that allows them to understand others more easily, and reach higher levels of empathy and active listening, providing dialogues from mindfulness, thus the interaction is nourished by understanding and compassion.
5. It helps people make better decisions, thanks to the management of emotions; it is possible to achieve more significant serenity before taking an important step or deciding something, especially in managerial positions that create so much responsibility, because decisions are not made in an accelerated, impulsive or based on a passing emotion.
6. It stimulates creativity, so you can develop innovative ideas, with which your mind becomes more flexible, thanks to the peace that is achieved under the constant practice of meditation.
7. It increases the confidence and security in ourselves since you learn to recognize your capacities and doubt less of your abilities; for that reason, it allows you to relate in another form with the tasks, goals, or work.

Wellness Programs for Employees and Work teams

More and more companies incorporate meditation into their working day, as it only takes a few minutes (between 5 and 10). With this small investment, employees or collaborators can improve their performance, feel happier and more satisfied, perceiving that they belong to something big. This organization thinks about them and for which they are essential.

Some companies seek to hire experts in meditation to accompany this process with their teams because it can be costly to have a meditation teacher exclusively for the company; the idea is that they are taught to meditate, so they can then do it without the presence of the trainer.

This requires incorporating the activity into daily work routines, through specific moments to meditate as a group in a guided manner and, on the other hand, taking it to practice in realistic situations, such as meditating while engaged in a difficult conversation, when eating breakfast, performing a specific task, during the transport home, etc.

An important bet is made by some organizations that provide meditation tools to their employees or collaborators through meditation apps that they can download to their mobiles and achieve access to careful training to meditate at work.

In some wellness and meditation apps, such as HeadSpace, Calm, and Bambú (for Spanish speaking audiences), you can find specific meditations to maintain focus and productivity and other topics for managing emotions and situations that will enhance your well-being on a personal level.

In DailyBot, you will find some templates to make your check-ins or share with your team to take care of the well-being and mental health.