Meditation is often a crucial but overlooked component of living a healthy life. Technalink has always encouraged this technique both at home and at work as an excellent way to maintain emotional stability and even combat stress. But if you want to do it right, you need to learn the fundamentals of how to meditate, and you need to find ways to incorporate this into the workplace.
If you’re serious about wanting to learn how to meditate at work, here’s where you should be starting.
There Are Two Kinds
For the purposes of a short, feasible meditation session that can occur just about anywhere, there are two types of meditation people should be looking at:
Concentrative Meditation
This type of meditation eases you into a meditative state by focusing on a single point or object. The idea here is that if you can maintain focus on one thing, the unnecessary thoughts and details that trip you up in daily life will also fall away, leading to a more peaceful state.
Mindfulness Meditation
This is the exact opposite of concentrative. Where the concentrative has a single goal or point you should actively focus on, mindfulness is about focusing on the immediate thought as it comes to you, letting it go, and concentrating on the next thought. So in many ways, it’s about immediate awareness of your present.
Getting Started
This depends entirely on your company policy. If you’re in an executive position and have the authority, you may want to seriously consider integrating a proper meditation methodology as a companywide policy. Classes with instructors can even be brought in to teach people how to meditate in a guided experience, so everyone gets the fundamentals.
However, it’s also possible to meditate at work even if no official regimen is in place by management. Unlike other forms of health maintenance such as working out, meditation doesn’t necessarily require a change of clothes or extensive exercise equipment. Depending on the situation, you can meditate for just a few minutes in your own office, or go somewhere else, such as a park, to do so.
If you’re meditating at your workplace, you may want to consider:
Location
You can meditate just about anywhere, but depending on your preferences or available surroundings, you may want to choose between sitting—or even lying—on the floor, on a carpet, rug, or dedicated mat, or just your own chair if it provides good support.
The Process
Once you’ve found a suitable space to meditate, it’s best to start in small manageable chunks, especially so you don’t take too big a bite out of your workday responsibilities. Then, when you’re ready, the steps are often as simple as:
• Get in your preferred location
• Close your eyes
• Control your breathing with a steady, deep rhythm
• Focus on that breathing
• Use your chosen concentrative or mindfulness technique
• Maintain this for five minutes
Ultimately, the best benefits will come from those who can get in 20 minutes of solid meditation daily. You may want to break that up into four five-minute intervals, build up to two 10 minute sessions, or any other arrangement you prefer.
You can also consider using different aids if these will help you. Different people focus on meditation in different ways. Some people find digital apps helpful as an “assist,” while others prefer real-world tools to help ease into the state. Mala beads, for example, are a traditional tool focusing on meditative states and come in a variety of colors and different stones based on preference. Once you find the style and tools of meditation you prefer, you’ll find meditation in the workplace fast and easy.
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