Sense & Serenity: Why you should meditate in the office

Beryl Marjolin, yoga trainer, held a yoga session at our staff office. There was actually no need to light incense, assume the lotus position, or emit the sound, “ommmmmmmm”, and the session took place in a traditional meeting room.

First of all, Beryl began by defining the meditation of full consciousness as “a way of deliberately paying attention and without judgment of the present moment. It enables us to be aware of what we think, feel and perceive in our body”.

SWEETNESS AND BENEVOLENCE

For almost two hours, she alternated between theory and practice, taking care to explain how meditating increases the activation of certain regions of the left frontal cortex. Thus, for several minutes, she invited us to hold, look at, touch, smell, then taste a piece of chocolate! This exercise of the physical scan made us move our attention from each part of the body – by exploring in detail the nature of our sensations. Before focusing on our breath by letting us be guided by the voice of Beryl – “Become aware that you’re inhaling. Follow every inspiration, every expiration. Note the breaks between every breath. Maintain, as far as possible, your attention on the perceptions that accompany the breath. For example, a relaxation at the level of the stomach when you exhale. And when the spirit leaves for somewhere else, simply note where it went, then gently return your attention to the breathing and with benevolence.

This type of session is appreciated more and more by companies. During the World Economic Forum of 2013, a session of Mindful Leadership Experience was also proposed to the participants to present the basis of the full consciousness and the last advances of the neurosciences. In the United States, Rupert Murdoch (News Corporation) and Bill Ford (Ford Motor) encouraged people to practise it.

Meditation is often perceived as an activity somewhat disconnected from reality and, as such, has no place at work. But the very opposite is true. Chade-Meng Tan, an engineer at Google, was the pioneer of office meditation. At his Silicon Valley office, photos are displayed of him together with celebrities like Natalie Portman, the Dalai Lama, the Clintons and Gwyneth Paltrow. His workshop on meditation has converted more than 2000 employees of the Californian firm since 2007. He promotes the contemplative practice as a source of efficiency at work and self-knowledge as the lever of emotional intelligence. This is a skilful way to combine the depth of the teachings of wisdom masters with a concrete consideration of company profits.

“It is the first time that such a prestigious company has explicitly integrated meditation into its training programme”, specifies the author, Sébastien Henry. “Previously, this practice was, at best, relegated to stress-management programmes. I do not think it is simply a trend. Rather, it is about a fundamental response to a lack of sense and serenity perceived by an increasing number of managers and employees. Even schools that form the decision-makers of tomorrow, include the full consciousness in their programme.” The good news: this technique can be practised everywhere; at the office, in the subway, or walking between two meetings… “As soon as we notice that we lose contact with reality and are consumed by our thoughts, we just have to get back to deep breathing,” summarises Beryl Marjolin.

A RECOGNISED EFFICIENCY

Psychiatrist Christophe André reminds us; “Numerous works show that meditative practices improve concentration, attention stability, mental flexibility, creativity, and reduce impulsiveness, etc. We also profit in terms of resistance to stress.”

Works realised abroad incorporate the full consciousness, but in the service of psychological flexibility, that is the capacity to choose our behaviour, instantly, according to our values and to the context, without being dominated by our thoughts and our feelings. This protocol demonstrated that the participants developed, among others, a better consideration of the context, more job satisfaction and a greater capacity for learning.

We are not going to lie to you, we did not feel all these benefits after a single session, but one thing’s for sure: our open space has never been as quiet as after this initiation into meditation.

Clemence Floc’h