Written by: Pin Cher, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
When was the last time you took a moment out of your day to refocus your mind, your breathing, and your body?
When was the last time you took a moment out of your day to refocus your mind, your breathing, and your body?
An Eastern practice that once seemed like something more common among the hippy crowd, meditation is making its way into the mainstream workplace, and its results are doing everybody well.
The practice is becoming more and more prevalent among high-stress jobs, with everyone from hedge fund founders to Facebook employees. While many companies offer their employees gym memberships and healthy snacks, others are now providing space and time for people to take a break from their day and meditate. Google has even set up specific meditation rooms for its executives.
Needless to say, stress has a negative impact on your career, leading to poor time management, lack of focus, and overall burnout. And when you’re burnt out, you’re not working to your full potential. So all those extra hours you’re putting in when you’re already burned out and overwhelmed aren’t actually serving your career, they’re hurting it in the long run.
So what can you do about it? The answer is meditation! It is a proven way to improve anxiety, stress, and even physical pain.
When some people hear about meditation as a way to relieve stress, they laugh and think it's a bunch of baloney. They think that meditation is not a viable solution to eliminating stress. But research has shown that meditation works and is a practical technique for stress management.
The most notable research on meditation's usefulness in relieving stress was done in 1968 by Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard University. He conducted a series of experiments on popular meditation techniques and published his findings in the book "The Relaxation Response." He discovered that meditation has a "real effect on reducing stress and controlling the fight or flight response." Dr. Benson wrote that meditation increased the skin's resistance to damage or infections, slowed the heartbeat and breathing rate, and reduced oxygen consumption.
Meditation is all about consciously relaxing your mind and body for a period of time.
Meditation means that you need to focus inwardly so that your mind is basically so busy concentrating on breathing and body form that there's no time to think about the events that are causing you stress.
The act of meditation is actually quite simple to do. Meditation does not require you to be a mystic or to be very spiritual. Meditation is something that anyone can do almost anywhere.
When you prepare yourself for meditation, be sure to set aside a certain amount of time where you're guaranteed not to be interrupted. Meditation doesn't require hours of practising at a time for it to be effective in reducing stress. Practising meditation in ten or twenty-minute time slots is definitely good enough.
Effective meditation requires that you're in a comfortable, quiet environment. This means that when you practice meditation, you should make sure that you're wearing comfortable, unrestrictive clothing. The atmosphere temperature (whether you're indoors or outdoors) should also be comfortable for you in order to make your meditation session as stress-fighting as possible.
Stress-relieving meditation is all about concentration. Once you're fully comfortable (you can sit or lie down) close your eyes. Focus your attention on your breathing throughout your entire meditation session. Count your breaths. You can even say the numbers out loud to discourage your mind from wandering to other thoughts.
Another way to control wandering thoughts when you're in a meditation session is to use imagery. Imagery is very popular in meditation. All you have to do with imagery is focus on something you consider refreshing or pleasant. Music is also a popular way to help mind concentration during meditation. You can do a monologue hum. Or you can use some soothing music that features plenty of nature sounds.
The key to meditation is mind control. When you learn to control your mind, you can control your thoughts, and you'll be able to better control the functions of your muscles. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to learn not to let your mind wander to other thoughts while you're in a meditation session. But once you've mastered meditation, you'll discover you'll be able to do it almost anywhere to relax when you're feeling overwhelmed with stress.
When was the time you took a moment out of your day to refocus your mind, your breathing, and your body? Give it a go and you will see the benefits of increasing self-awareness, increasing patience and tolerance, and gaining a new perspective on stressful situations
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit my website for more info!
Pin Cher, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Pin Cher is a personal development & career coach and comes from a diverse and international background. Her passion lies in working and coaching with corporate professionals and high performers to achieve even greater success. She helps them unlock their professional and personal potential and create an intentional, meaningful life that lights them up. In the past, Pin herself felt stuck and lost in her career direction. This painful experience has taught her valuable lessons and insights, and she now shares her experience & knowledge in helping others achieve their own success and unlocking their hidden genius. Pin's coaching is a powerful combination of head and heart, reflection and action and her goal is to help others find their North Star to lead a life with more meaning and purpose. She brings to her clients' experience and expertise gained from multiple global careers in different industries and working with top-tier global firms. Pin is a certified coach with the Jay Shetty Certification School and holds a B.S degree in International Management & Business Chinese and an MBA from the National University of Taiwan.
