New York – The idea of meditating can be intimidating. Beginners can imagine sit down uncomfortably in silence while breathing deeply and rubbing all the thoughts of their mind. The prospect of trying these techniques at work may seem embarrassing.
But there are ways to provide short and discreet sessions during the working day if you want to see if meditation can help you deal with difficult customers or reduce anxiety while preparing for a presentation. And experienced practitioners say that there is no good or bad way to do it.
“Meditation is quite easy, as a matter of fact. I think theres a stigma surround it, that you have to be in full silence, and you have to have some room setup, or do Some Changing, or some serious breathing,” Said Michelle Beyer, a Wellness Coach Who Owns the Brooklyn Women’s Gym Alana Life & Ability. “There are one minute meditations that you can do to feel good. No one will even know that you do them.”
Although there are different meditation techniques, many traditions encourage to focus on breathing to help calm the mind. When thoughts appear, imagine let them go. Practitioners say that meditation before or at work helps them maintain concentration, sitting and reducing stress.
“There is a calm that I really lack when I forgot to do it for a few days,” said Brianna Healy, who meditates for 10 minutes a day before starting her work as a deputy director of strategic initiatives and data solutions at Nanopa University, a college of Boulder, Colorado, inspired by Buddhist principles. “I can always make a difference in my behavior.”
If you feel in a hurry, try to adapt the meditation sessions on breaks. You can define a timer and focus on breathing while sitting in an office, in toilets, inside a vehicle or outside, said Beyer.
Here are some easy-to-try mini-meditations at work.
Commuters can consider going to work a little early and take a break in their cars or a quiet place to decompress to get out of the door and to your destination, said Kathryn Remati, professor of meditation and author of “Vafriend Yourself.” If you only have a minute or two, it’s still enough time to try remati instructions for quick reset.
Close your eyes and take a long, slowly and deep, to fill your belly and your lungs, she said. Hold the breath for a second, then exhale slowly as if you were blowing a candle. “You will immediately feel a change and you will feel again like a human,” said Remati.
While repeating this process, consider defining a positive intention or objective for the day. Instead of focusing on a list of tasks, think about how you want to behave towards others, she said. Some examples of intention are: “Today, I’m going to be productive, but I am also going to a good listener” or “I want to have a positive attitude,” she said.
Visualization is another technique that experienced meditators use. Imagine yourself to make the challenges you will meet that day. If there is a deadline to come, plan to finish the task 10 minutes earlier. Jump with joy. Be precise as a director and imagine the colors of the room or the feeling of wind on your face, said Remati.
Throughout the day, “you can make this image appear whenever you need it to refocus,” she said.
You can also use visualization to crop your point of view on colleagues or customers. A remati technique recommends putting into practice before the meetings may seem original: consider white light on the door of the meeting room that informs people who enter brightness. Remati says it can help you imagine them in a better light. “You can even put a kind of pink bubble around people,” she added.
Another short meditation that can be done almost everywhere is to breathe deeply and mentally scan your body for sensations, a technique popularized in the United States by mindfulness practitioner Jon Kabat-Zinn. Depending on your location and your comfort level, you can keep your eyes open or closed.
Inhale by the nose and by the mouth. Start with your feet and go up at the top, noting all areas with pain, tension, tingling, heat or other sensations. Remember to relax the muscles of all places where there is a tension.
“You intentionally scan your body,” said Beyer. “You think, how do your feet feel in your shoes? How do your ankles feel? The knees, the hips, the ribs, the shoulders, the neck, the head and when you know, you have recorded with each part of your body.”
Another discreet meditation technique breathed deeply and joins your pointer finger with your thumb to form a circle. You can do it if you feel your stress level increase. “Tell yourself, every time I bring my finger and my thumb together, I can be peaceful and open-minded,” said Remati.
If you are in a meeting and you start to feel resentment or leave aside, you can do it under the table, and no one will know, she added. Removers does it herself if she notices that she becomes a short judgment or temperature. “You just make your finger and thumb, take a nice deep breathing, you are put to the ground, then you come back to the meeting and feeling positive,” she said.
It is best to do one of Beyer’s favorite techniques when there are not many people nearby. Truck drivers can do so in traffic. You inspire, then when you expire, you hum your lips closed, she said.
“It will immediately eliminate stress levels in the body and even in the mind,” said Beyer. “When you inspire and focus on buzzing, then your brain is focused on this, not on the” What Ifs “or the concerns that like to take over when we feel stressed.”
If you feel embarrassed at the idea of humming in a quiet desk, you can go out or go to a more noisy place.
The technique of release of shoulders and jaws can also help to relax passenger or train drivers or stuck in traffic, said Beyer. To start, breathe in with your nose and exhale through your mouth. Repeat this, then on the third exhale, roll your shoulders back. Inspire a fourth time, then during the following expiration, relax your tongue and jaw, said Beyer. Finally, inspire again, draw your attention to your hands and let them stay, she said. Then inspire and come out a sixth time.
Another technique that Remati encourages is to say mantras or claims, which are declarations or positive slogans that you repeat. You can write them and say them in your head or out loud while breathing deeply, before a meeting or at any time of the day.
Some sentences you might say: “I’m calm.” Breathes deeply. “I am confident.” Breathes deeply. “I’m ready to succeed,” suggested Remati. “I tell my truth. I am patient. I am here for the greatest good of all. ”
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