Have you read the latest study about meditation? Probably not, because even as you read this sentence another has likely come out. There is a steady stream of new research and news stories about the benefits of meditation and other mindful breathing practices. As they report, meditation boosts energy, helps with focus, reduces stress and anxiety, increases resilience and possibly, subtly, changes your life and your brain for the better.
Of course, not everyone believes in the power of meditation, but once converted, the big hurdle is making meditation fit into your schedule. Just the thought of cramming another thing into your day is stress-inducing.
Here’s a radical proposal: start your new meditation habit at work. Yup, that work. The office. Busy, stressful, un-meditation-friendly work.
It turns out, the office is actually an ideal place to meditate specifically because of those reasons. To quote one of my favourite films, “The Razor’s Edge,” in which Bill Murray’s character searches for the meaning of life: “It’s easy to be a holy man on top of a mountain.” It’s harder, but more rewarding, to be one in the office.
Not only is work likely one of the major causes of your stress, but it is also a victim of it. A stressed out, unhappy employee is not a productive one. You can counterbalance the negative and even make your office a more peaceful, creative and industrious place with the effect and influence of your meditation practice alone.
Plus, if you’re like me, it’s hard to fit in meditation or anything else in the busy hum of home, especially with a spouse and children and fewer waking hours to spend with them or on other interests. The solution for me was to practice at work: the place I’m already going five days a week and where meditation is needed most.
It doesn’t need to be a big time commitment ? 10 to 15 minutes each day is plenty ? and even a couple of minutes can be useful. The key is to commit to doing something, otherwise it’s not effective. When I lived in San Francisco my apartment was a few blocks from the city’s famous Zen Center and I would wake most mornings for the pre-dawn sittings. It was formal, strictly following the Buddhist tradition, right down to which foot you used to enter the room. I loved it and miss it, but never picked it back up because it always seemed too hard to replicate on my own. So that was my challenge ? to get back into practice without it being a burden or competing with other priorities.
Read more at?CNN
