Hi loves! Most of us are back on the job and resumed the swing of things – dropping kids to school, logging long hours at the work desk and/or dealing with temperamental work colleagues. It can feel overwhelming for any of us. What if I told you that you can practice mindfulness to cope with work? It may seem like one other thing to add to the to do list, but let me tell ya, this daily habit can mentally restore you at low points throughout the business work day. This week’s blog is extra special as I have my wonderful yoga partner, Kimmiyogini, joining in on the post.
What is Mindfulness?
Let’s chat a little bit about what mindfulness actually means. I personally love this definition outlined in this Berkeley article,
Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens.
You’ll see mindfulness goes beyond the ability to aware of your environment. Rather, it’s how you internally configure your mind and body through love to move through this space. Mindfulness always requires us to accept who we are as a person without judgement and harsh criticism. It also means our MIND becomes a safe space for us to process our feelings as we tune our senses, through a positive outlook, to better cope with all that life brings.
Key terms:
Here are some key terms for you to reflect on when implementing mindfulness in your daily life:
- Leading with self-love
- Being non-judgmental to our own thoughts (and others!)
- Spatial Awareness
- Acceptance of self
- Being present
- Sensory awareness
Now over to Kim for how to practice mindfulness at work.
Mindfulness and Work
Thanks for that Shannon! You’re quite right, mindfulness is driven internally and can only be successful when applying a loving lens. Now, I’m not gonna lie, it can sometimes be easier said than done. Practicing mindfulness in the midst of chaos that is often found in the work environment can be damn hard. Hard, but not impossible. It’s also necessary if you’re committed to self-love (as we all should be!) and you desire to cultivate a more peaceful feeling as you go about your days.
Tips on How to Practice Mindfulness at Work
Here are some simple exercises that you can practice being more mindful at work.
- Do breathwork– this can be done at your desk or anywhere.
- Build in a mindful minute or two in your daily schedule. During this dedicated time, use just 60 seconds to focus on what you can see, hear, feel, smell, taste.
- I recommend a minimum scheduling of two mindful moments in your work day. It can be one in the morning and one after lunch.
- When particularly stressful situations arise, also take a moment to practice mindfulness through breathwork before responding. Trust me, even five deep breathes can lower our heart rate and lessen our adrenaline (and possibly save a shitty response from being sent back).
- Practice gratitude- this can be done on your commute to work or by using mindfulness apps at intervals throughout the date.
- Listen to inspirational talks and podcasts – You can do this on the commute to and from work and even better at lunch time (can you eat and then go on a walk as you listen to a podcast?). By constantly feeding your mind with hope, love, self-acceptance and things that make you present, the world will be infinitely more tolerable. Also your mind and body will thank you.
Mindfulness Tools that Can Help
Building on Kim’s suggestions, here are a few personal apps that I’ve found particularly helpful (and no, they are not sponsored, I pinky promise).
Insight Timer – this is my all time favorite meditation app. It is free (they have a paid option too) and you can search by topic and even length (maybe you have five minutes and want to do a quick anxiety relief meditation)
Headspace – An easy to use meditation app that even allows you to schedule times to meditate for a minute onward
Headway – An app that summarizes books in bite-sized learning for easy listening
Calm – A meditation app that also helps you to sleep. This is great to release the day’s burden after work so you can get a wonderful sleep.
Note, some of these do require subscriptions but they make for excellent investments in improving your mental health. Also browse the app store, there are tons of other mindfulness apps available.
If you really want to commit to understanding mindfulness and fully integrating it in your life, you can sign-up for our Yoga for Stress and Anxiety short course. The program leads with science based information on how to relieve stress and anxiety through specific mindfulness tools, ,grounding techniques and meditation. I might be biased, but that sounds pretty damn great!
See ya next week my loves and thank you Kim for popping by with your amazing mindfulness for work tips.
XOXO Shannon
