Money Mindfulness and the Working Day...

Mindfulness for the Working Day

 

 

Dr Gaby Davies, Director of Mindfulness Training at Mindlab, recently shared her insight into Mindfulness at a corporate  Emotional Wellbeing Speaker Event. Mindfulness is an ancient Buddhist approach to paying attention in a specific way: on purpose, non-judgementally and whilst remaining in the present moment. The practice increases awareness, focus and acceptance of the reality of the present moment. Alternatively, you could look at it as an exercise for the brain that enables attention and emotional regulation. Consider where you place your attention on a daily basis? I am sure that it isn’t into how you feel within your body; instead, it is more like you are on a mental treadmill of trying to work through the ‘to do’ list. What you may not realise is that the practice of mindfulness has been scientifically proven to improve health, wellbeing and performance.  Employees who practice the technique have reduced levels of stress and have fewer days off due to illness. A few other added bonuses include improved relationships, increased ability to relax and an increase of 53% in a sense of happiness at work.

 

The regular practice of mindfulness affects neuro-plasticity, which is the technical term for how the brain is wired. What this means is that you can essentially re-wire your brain. Many of us are of the belief that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks – however, where the brain is concerned you can completely rebuild, restructure and adjust your brain’s  neurotransmitters into old age. An old dog with a newly rewired brain can create their own new and invented tricks – you might even find that the rewired pooch becomes a trapeze artist. Imagine the potential! If you want to know more about this there is an excellent book called Mindsight, which provides plenty of information on this.

 

According to the Mindlab, Stress can be reduced when you recongise that you have been hijacked by an emotion. It is then that you re-align the mind and refocus within your body and count your breaths. Doing this regularly improves the individual’s ability to think in stress situations and affects your working memory capacity which improves mental adaptability in complex situations.  Just twelve minutes per day has an effect on DNA, reduces cellular aging and enables increased focus.

Mindfulness helps you to:

·         Come off auto-pilot
·         Provide clarity and objectivity
·         Respond rather than react
·         To experience situations as they are
·         Increases awareness
·         Develop flexible and adaptive behaviour
·         Reduce your stress and anxiety levels

 

So what do you need to do to generate all these benefits? Well you relax into the simplicity of breath. First you ‘check in’ this is when you pause and refocus your mind into your body and notice any areas of tension. When you locate these areas take a number of deep breaths as though directing the breath to the tension area. Actively choose to let go of the tension, which often results in a sigh.

 

 

 

Another technique is to simply breathe in and clench your fists and exhale and open them.  Make sure you do at least ten breaths. The same can be done with the shoulder blades with a ‘shoulder blade squeeze,’ where you sit up and motion your shoulder blades to meet as you inhale and then release as you exhale. After a minimum of ten breaths see how you feel. Obviously there are numerous other Mindfulness techniques that can be used; however, the above are easy and can be practised at the desk.

 

A few tips to maintain Mindfulness during the day:

·         Don’t get highjacked by your emotions
·         Understand yourself better
·         Develop clarity – the result is less misunderstandings
·         Reign in your wandering mind
·         Pay full attention to people – this improves resiliency
·         What can you do at the end of your busy day? What does your body need?
·         Question: Who makes you hold your breath?
·         Question: What situation makes you hold your breath?
·         When aware of the situation that makes you hold your breath, breathe, release and let it go.
·         Give yourself a few Mindfulness pauses during each day.
·         Practise this when going to the loo, getting a coffee, lining up for a sandwich etc. 
·         When you arrive home from work take some time to focus on the breath and let the day go

Enjoy your working day in peace:)