Meditation in the Workplace – Combating Burnout and More

Stress thrives in the workplace. Many professions are infested with burnout resulting from ill-managed chronic workplace stress. As regular meditation relieves accumulated stress and nurtures inner calm and the state of restful awareness, it is also an effective remedy for burnout in the workplace. There are many studies that demonstrate how meditation contributes to a substantial decrease in work-related stress, anxiety, and depression.

Meditation Enhances Our Cognitive Abilities and Creativity

In the context of work, the benefits of meditation extend beyond combating burnout alone. First, meditation refines the brain’s ability to focus, learn, and memorize. Several studies suggest that meditation stimulates and awakens the brain’s plasticity—the brain’s capacity to grow new neurons and even transform different brain regions—thereby increasing and refining concertation, learning aptitudes, and memory. Improving concentration, which directly translates to greater work productivity, is much needed nowadays, with the constant distractions that deflect one’s attention to so many different directions at any given moment.

Meditation also enhances creativity and problem solving, valuable assets in any line of work. With regular practice, meditation trains the mind to go “beyond habitual, conditioned thought patterns into a state of expansive awareness… (where) we open to new insights, intuition, and ideas” (Dr. Deepak Chopra).

Meditation Creates More Harmonious Relationships

Meditation helps form more harmonious relationships, at home and in the workplace. When workers feel more balanced and centered, they tend to respond with awareness rather than react in an unconstructive way. Regular meditation practice “cultivates equanimity and compassion, allowing you to be present with a loved one, client, or co-worker and really listen to what they are saying and what they may need. As you meditate on a regular basis, you develop what is known as ‘witnessing awareness’—the ability to calmly and objectively observe a situation, notice when you are being triggered, and consciously choose how you want to respond” (Dr. Deepak Chopra).

Contact Monsoon Maya, your Chopra-certified instructor, to learn more about corporate events, wellness days, and more.

The above is an excerpt from Maya Bitton’s article “Legal Wellness: Meditation for Stress Management and More” as published in Valley Lawyer Magazine, June 2022 Issue