Mindfulness Techniques For Work and For Life
What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is rooted in meditation and buddhist practices and it has become a popular form of therapy and pain reduction program, especially in the recent decades. In 1979, mindfulness was popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts to treat chronic pain. Based on his background in zen practice and his research, John Kabat-Zinn realised the potential of meditations practices in the medical field, hence his inspiring work emerged and started making a huge impact on people’s lives.
But what is it, really? Mindfulness is the ability to stay fully present, aware of ourselves and our surroundings non-judgmentally. We may have experienced mindfulness accidentally, perhaps when enjoying a beautiful scenery, or when looking at a child playing, or a moment of total focus at work but many of us tend to stay in autopilot mode, not as aware and focused.
Mindfulness teachings and practice help to bring the state of a conscious mind into one’s everyday life and activities, helping us to stay present. According to research, mindfulness can help improve mental well-being, reduce stress, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain and improve work performance. So how do we start doing it to improve our own wellbeing? How do we make use of mindfulness in everyday life and at work? This article aims to give you a snippet of techniques in mindfulness programs, as well as discuss where to find credible training programs if you decide to go deeper into it. Enjoy it!
Start with everyday life activities
Practicing mindfulness can start with simple daily activities, such as eating and walking. The key is to bring awareness to our breathing and body while doing these activities. Here is an example: with mindful walking we try to bring our awareness into our body and into each foot as we take a step at a time. Paying attention to our shift in center of gravity, movement, feeling and enjoying each step as we breathe. For mindful eating, start by paying attention to the food with our senses: sight, touch, smell, and taste. We start by looking at our food with intention and curiosity, then proceed to smell it and touch it to feel the texture. Next, slowly place the food inside the mouth, savouring and enjoying the flavours, before biting it down and swallowing the food at last. These are some of the daily mindfulness practices we can try easily on the day to day. Breathing consciously practices are the backbone of mindfulness programs and something you can try doing at any time. If you are curious to learn more, you may check and follow the recordings from Oxford Mindfulness Centre YouTube channel to help guide you through the practices. Oxford Mindfulness Centre has been at the forefront of mindfulness teaching and research since 2008, and they produce professional quality recordings to help with a more formal mindfulness practice.
Mindfulness at work
How can we use mindfulness at work? In the workplace, active listening and communication skills are important for our success, and so is mindfulness so we can manage stress, emotions and improve wellbeing, communication and performance. Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed? Or is the workload too intense? Or are any of your clients, or boss/colleague demanding and unreasonable?! Mindfulness helps us manage our emotions, actions and reactions vis-à-vie difficult situations, creating more space, grounding and stability helping with the decision-making process.
One mindfulness technique we can use easily is to try maintaining a portion of attention in your body or breathing while you talk/listen to others in meetings or other activities. This may seem unnatural at first or odd, but through practice, we are able to better focus on conversations without totally feeling absorbed into our “automatic reactions”. Another technique we can use is to evaluate our daily routines at work, and categorize them as “nourishing” or “depleting”. This last exercise is very practical and specific, helping to evaluate how much time we spend on counterproductive actions, and make changes accordingly. Lastly, we recommend a practice called “ten fingers gratitude” to be used every day in the workplace. Similar to counting blessings, we begin by counting each finger, and while we count, we remind ourselves of things we are grateful for. Take some moments to savour and enjoy the sweetness of gratitude, and move onto the next finger. Unusual way to practice gratitude perhaps, but a fun and proven way to make a difference. This practice can also be used at any time in a day.
Established mindfulness teaching
The more commonly-known and established mindfulness programs are Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). For more information on local programs in Hong Kong, please check out Mindfulness HK. For international programs on MBSR or MBCT, please check out resources on British Association of Mindfulness-based Approaches (BAMBA) and Oxford Mindfulness Centre
Not sure where to start or feel overwhelmed by all the information “out there” or here?
Please reach out to us for a chat. We would love to hear from you, connect and help with a complimentary 1:1 coaching session that can also get you more familiar with some mindfulness techniques and make a positive impact in your life.
Best wishes,
FELIZ Consulting [email protected]
References:
1. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition
2. https://www.goodnet.org/articles/10-great-ways-we-practice-mindfulness-at-work