Taking Meditation to the Workplace. Really.

Welcome to Ayurveda in the Workplace, where we offer tips to help you meld the seemingly conflicting energy of your daily work life and your Ayurveda practice.

Expanding off my Ayurveda in the Workplace article, let's take a deeper look at each one of the eight tips, starting with taking the recommended ten minute meditation break each day. 

Meditation is important for balance because, man, we really beat up our minds! I mean come on. At any given moment between email, chat, smartphone, and computer, we might look at 10 things at once while eating and standing and typing and talking. Many of us do all these things at the same time! The mind appreciates it when we allow it to settle. Because the mind is the control center (yes it is!) of our entire being, when our mind is settled, our emotions settle. Our physical body settles and releases tension too, and most importantly, we allow a moment for our sprit to shine through. The process is kind of like a snow globe. Our mind is mostly in "snow" mode where everything is all shaken up, whirling around. Meditation allows that snow to fall and as clarity begins to peek through more and more, we can finally see the full picture. We love clarity and feel great when we have it! We all could use more of it.

We tend to push, push, push through challenges and obstacles each day only to start the process over again the next day.

But it's true, right?! Life is moving too fast—where is the pause? Meditation brings pause and that pause brings clarity and spirit. Clarity and spirit absolutely belong in the workplace. We spend most of our lives at work, so we better bring clarity and spirit with us on the journey to bring efficiency, productivity, and most of all, joy.

But it's a big coach bus so things aren't clanging or bouncing around and there's no exhaust pouring in the windows or anything—it's not bad. So anyway, the only 20 minutes of uninterrupted time I have is on the bus and it works for me.

Find your place and find your time. It can be just 10 minutes. You could do it in a conference room or, even better, on a bench outside if there is a peaceful place to sit. Headspace.com is a good resource for those who "don't know how to meditate." There are tons of free resources; just go online, search "free meditations" and you'll find a bajillion of them. Download a few and you will likely resonate with one or two. Load them on to your smartphone or iPod so you can take them anywhere. Put on your headphones and ... sit for a spell. Focus on your breath and for 10 minutes you don't need to do a single thing more. When your thoughts drift, bring your attention back to your breath and that's it.

We do a 20-minute meditation on my team on Mondays and Fridays and they love it. We are able to handle tough situations with ease, we don't sweat the small stuff, there are no egos, we laugh a lot, help each other, and get a lot done in a short amount of time. Most of all, we all deserve this precious meditation break as we all strive to honor our unique spirits. Because even at work, our spirits deserve to shine.