Wednesday, May 21st, is World Meditation Day and whether you have a regular meditation routine or you’ve never meditated in your life, we encourage you to take 5 minutes to breathe and recharge.
What even is meditation?
You may be surprised to learn that meditation is not just about sitting on the floor, breathing, and emptying your mind of all thoughts. Yes you can sit on the floor if that’s comfortable, and yes you will be paying attention to your breathing, but you will not have to empty you mind or have no thoughts at all.
Meditation can be taking a couple quiet minutes throughout the day to sit or lay down, breathe, and allow thoughts to come and go without taking any action. Journaling, practicing mindfulness as you take a walk or tidy up your office, or listening to music can also be forms of meditation.
Having a meditation practice is important
Having a regular meditation routine – even just 5 minutes a day, a few times a week – can provide numerous health benefits encompassing physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Meditation can help you reduce everyday stress, enhance self-awareness, improve memory and decrease your risk of age-related memory loss, reduce blood pressure, and provide restful sleep by helping you stay asleep throughout the night.
A place for meditation in the workplace
Because you can meditate in just a few minutes and it can be done at your desk, meditating can be a great way to take a break from work and your screens to recharge. Plus, there are so many work-specific benefits associated with meditation!
Mental Benefits
Breathing techniques practiced through meditation can relax the muscles and calm the mind leading to your ability to manage stress. Meditation can also increase your creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills leading to better decision making and critical thinking. Lastly, a regular meditation practice may improve your focus, cognition, and memory which can increase your productivity and quality of your work.
Emotional Benefits
If you practice meditation on a weekly basis, you may notice your capacity to regulate your emotions increases allowing you to better handle difficult or stressful situations. This could lead to an increase in confidence and reduce your risk of burnout. Your empathy and compassion for others, like your colleagues or stakeholders, can also be enhanced with meditation.
Social Benefits
You may not automatically think of meditation as helping you in relationships or interpersonal interactions, but when you meditate you can improve your listening skills, provide space to build meaningful relationships, and help you feel more engaged in your work. In fact, meditating with your colleagues can lead to higher productivity and collaboration within the entire group.
In order to fully benefit from meditation, it’s important that your routine works for you and your schedule. If you can get excited about meditating and it doesn’t feel like just another thing on your to-do list, you’re more likely to be consistent and feel all the incredible benefits.
Where to start
We challenge you to try a short meditation right now!
It’s that easy and simple! You can find more guided meditations on the Wellness and Work-Life YouTube Channel. We also recommend downloading the app Koa Care from our EAP provider ComPsych for short meditations and journaling prompts and check out additional resources on our website.
References
Rogerson, O., Wilding, S., Prudenzi, A., & O’Connor, D. B. (2024). Effectiveness of stress management interventions to change cortisol levels: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 159, 106415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106415