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Meditation in the Workplace?
prostoalex writes "Nortel, Texas Instruments, Raytheon, Google, Apple and many others are apparently finding meditation and yoga to be a very efficient way to motivate and energize the employees. BusinessWeek finds that the reasons companies are suddenly hiring the yoga experts and conducting regular classes are easily justified to the management: "increased brain-wave activity, enhanced intuition, better concentration, and the alleviation of the kinds of aches and pains that plague employees most"."
Anything is great to get away from the caos of work for an hour.
hmm... for fun I enjoy launching DDoS attacks against 127.87.42.5
This is ridiculous. Employers would find that their employess were productive and content by treating them with respect and dignity, managing them properly, having proper time-scales, fair working hours, etc. Enforced yoga, meditation and feng-shui is childish, silly and new-age clap-trap put about my a bunch of charlatans looking to make a quick buck out of the naieve, impressionable and those with more money than sense.
Stick Men
I misread 'Meditation' as 'Medication', which might be relaxing in the workplace.
if 'fruits de mer' = seafood
does 'fruits de merde' = mushrooms?
You may as well just create a 1-2pm "Execute Powernap."
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. -Oscar Wilde
If you want to relax then stop drinking caffeine and sugary drinks. You'll sleep better at night and thus will feel better at work, no need to take caffeine to wake you up due to lack of sleep the night before.
:)
Of course such suggestions will no go down with programmers
I find this article interesting. Perhaps some workers are wanting peace and harmony and are having trouble getting those needs met in a work environment that I see as increasingly fast-paced, stressful, and unstable. Personally I've been able to meet my needs for peace and even energy through yoga (after being dragged by my girlfriend there).
Observations....
William H. Gross, of Newport Beach (Calif.)'s Pacific Investment Management Co., who often meditates with yoga before a day of trading at his $349 billion money-management firm.
Has anyone ever listened to Bill Gross's bond recommendations? They always seem to do much worse than his actual holdings...
So employees can breathe easy: This is one perk that isn't likely to get axed.
I've heard this one before...
*****
I did Bikram Yoga at Funky Door in Berkeley. Any recommendations?
Seriously, I recommend it. It's _the_ geek religion* as far as I'm concerned; no contradictions with physics or cosmology, no ridiculous mumbo-jumbo from some 3000 year old oral histories of nomadic shepherds, no all powerful elephant-god floating in the sky somewhere... and Zen will teach you more about programming and network administration than any number of certifications and courses.
*well, apart from Discordianism, or the Church of the SubGenius... which both have a lot of zen in them anyway - the jokes, mainly
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
..along with the web, email, trips to the coffee machine, phone calls, scratching my bollocks and leaving early this means i might never need to do anything in the office ever again!
... that now my firm approves it when I sleep off at my desk? Well, its a sort of meditation too, isn't it?
As someone who practises yoga myself I'm totally in favour of this BUT... only if it isn't a passing fad, to be forgotten in a few months when the next trendy idea comes along.
If your company doesn't offer it, you could try taking a few quiet minutes at lunchtime (sitting in your car in the car park if necessary) to do some breathing and calming exercises. It's relaxing and really does help you.
And it suprises you that Apple is doing this, why?
It's not the Yoga thats helping, it's the attention. People love to feel needed!
Make money with Real Estate Investing
My idea of workplace yoga is being fanned by naked Swedish lesbians while they feed me grapes.
Personally, I derive the same benefits from my Scotch-and-Cigar breaks, without the added mystic baggage. Fortunately, I work from home.
But, hey, whatever floats your boat. If sitting in the Lotus Position and intoning chants from the Vedas is what we have to do to keep jobs from going to India, I'm all for it.
...appreciating the irony it, but all for it, nonetheless.
turgid wrote:
;-)
> Enforced yoga, meditation [...]
You seemingly don't get where yoga/meditaion is about... Sientific books/ articles you might want to read are published on these techniques. I suggest you do
Peace, love and harmony!
*grin*
Cies.
This place had a room you could go to when you needed a break. It had a comfy leather sofa and a few chairs, a satellite TV feed an an N64 (newish then) you could play on. Could go in whenever you liked - time wasn't really monitored as such in MMC, it was more "have you done what we needed you to do, within the time we needed it by?" than "how many hours have you put in today?".
A good place to work - enjoyed my time there. It went defunct for other reasons, but years later I still miss that comfy sofa...
Cheers,
Ian
As a EE, I'd like it ... ... ohm ... ohm ...
News from the future -- 'ResistorCorp has Employees Chanting "Ohm" '
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
is sports, or at least something to get your body moving. The human body is not designed to sit at a desk, and barely move all day. I'll bet if you do a little exercise every odd or so day, you'll feel a lot better
To: employees@company.com
From: management@company.com
Subject: Note Yoga team members
Dear ${team_member},
It has recently come to our attention that some corridors have a very strong smell of incense, patchouli and other unidentified substances.
As much as we value the quality of your working environment, we would like to remind you that marijuana is not yet allowed within the united states.
Sincerely,
${manager}
ps: What's with all those Pink Floyds mp3 ?
I bet Nortel [et al.] employees are stressed because of the B.S. the CEOs pull. Getting huge bonuses even when the company is going down the crapper, etc...
How about instead of patching the problem [stress] go out and fix it [execute some CEOs or drop their salaries to say $50K/year].
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
In this heat? Are you nuts?!
(it's 27 degrees celsius in my office right now and it's not even 4 o'clock yet)
zWhat would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
As if I needed one more thing to worry about. Now I find out that my employer is monitoring my brainwave activiy?
What the hell must they think when I fall asleep browsing porn sites?
We have a guy that comes and gives shiatsu to whoever feel like being massaged.
But most of the time, instead of mediting, we prefer doing some sport (not on the screen, I mean perspiring, running around, etc.)
It is also *forbidden* to speak about work-related issues during lunch.
The guy that came 2 days ago about his weight problem is not alone and I guess there's nothing as relaxing as re-oxygenation ; SPORT.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
If you had a job that matters to you this wouldnt be a problem
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
Here each week's lowest producer has to have the goatse.cx guy as his desktop wallpaper the following week.
Trolling is a art,
Read any of Jon Kabat-Zinn's books; Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness and Wherever You Go, There You Are.
Technology -- No Place For Wimps! Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Chatroom -- http://www.wemissjerry.org
"Shake out the jive.... ....." --C.M. Burns
Bring in the Love
Things I've found useful include
Start-of-day calisthenics
Singing the company song
Dressing up as your favorite animals
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
I don't think that the yoga and meditation actually helps that much, but it does show that the company is interested in healthy motivated employees. An indication that the company cares about your health (even for selfish reasons) does tend to improve people's attitude, and reduce stress levels. They could probably get a similar result by playing volleyball during lunch or learning to juggle.
North-Americans have adopted yoga by expurging key elements of its practice, like poverty and simple living, and therefore fits the agenda of corporations.
On another matter, despite wide-spread acceptance of yoga in the higher classes of the society, it is still closely related to a eastern thought system, if not religion. Yoga is not neutral in terms of vision of the world and ethics. Could someone refuse yoga sessions offered by an employer for attempting to impose certain religious beliefs in the workplace?
Yes, Mr. PHB, if you hire me as your Yoga Expert, I will provide "increased brain-wave activity, enhanced intuition, better concentration, and the alleviation of the kinds of aches and pains that plague employees most". Trust me.
Dogbert
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
So now that the "dot bomb" is well behind us and the last trailing viscera are being mopped up, can we expect to see corporations returning to the pampered employees routine that helps build health clubs, airlines and spas? Fascinating, but... I'm not sold just yet.
Frankly, that kind of thing makes me completely mad. What about paying people a decent salary?
What about not over-working them (ie: decent work hours, not permanent overtime)? This way, perhaps your employees won't need frivolous yoga classes to be productive and motivated!
What about managing companies responsibly, not in an Enronesque way?
What about day-care benefits for employees with children? You know, like having in-house day-care center for toddlers, so that moms and dads can see their kids during lunch hour, and not grow apart from their offspring?
Etc... etc... In short: decent and sensible policies? Noooo.... instead, you get these moronic "benefits".
Nothing against yoga, mind you, which I am really interested in, by the way. It's just that replacing sound management policies by yoga classes just doesn't cut it for me.
If I want yoga classes, I'll pay for them out of my own pocket, thank you very much...
(Sorry for the rant, this is the kind of Dilbert-esque "benefits" that just push me over the edge...)
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
An added bonus is that you don't just spend your weekend recovering from the working week. You feel more inclined to go back to work on monday when you feel you have a life beyond work.
Q.
Insert Signature Here
I've nothing against this meditation idea, but I can't help wondering. Would a company support employee prayer breaks? Not that I advocate such a practice--I can pray anytime I want, without company authorization. I'm just curious, is all...
Hiawatha Bray
Tech Reporter
Boston Globe
I've encouraged others in my group to do it as well -- the Japanese have their own meditation flavour, zazen, but regardless, we all try to start our day with it, and I really think companies in the West should adopt it too on a voluntary basis.
-- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
Yoga and meditation are not inherently New Age and certainly aren't clap-trap. That doesn't mean that New Agers don't mess up the field something fierce. I was once considering selling T-Shirts that said, "Blow the New Age out your ass."
That being said you are absolutely correct. Giving people the opportunity to take a relax and stretch without harassing them about their "productivity" would certainly be one thing they could do to treat employees with respect.
This isn't what typically happens though. It gets applied just like any other buzz word compliant band-aid program that makes them feel like they're respecting their employees while actually treating them with disdain and just as much like mere productivity machines as they ever did.
Thus meditation becomes demeaning for many.
On the whole they could do more good by letting people listen to music of their choice while they work and not having a coniption fit if they walk to the watercooler a time or two.
Meditation cannot be applied as a paliative for keyboard logging.
KFG
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
Meditation is valuable but there are a lot of different kinds of meditation. For example, breathing meditation can be done 24 hours a day. Our breath rate has a huge impact on what emotions control us in a given moment. Control the breath and you have another avenue for seeking mental equilibrium.
Then there's the "kindness" meditation which can be done at all hours while you're awake. Basically, you decide that you wish everyone well no matter what they think of you and you don't let situations beyond your control get the best of you.
I don't find value in yoga or sitting in one place humming crazy chants. Neither do most educated Buddhists. The charlatans like yoga and incense and other nonsense because it sells. The naive like yoga and incense and other nonsense because these people haven't detached themselves from the myth that you can *buy* happiness.
Corporate adoption of meditation practices seems like yet another idiotic idea from marketing. I'm sure most employees are perfectly capable of taking care of their spiritual needs without the Corporate Big Brother getting involved.
If corporations really want to help, they can focus on providing money in exchange for hours worked instead of always trying to ace full-timers out of their labor.
Laws are for people with no friends.
Last time I checked I wasn't a long haired hippie. No stupid bullshit for me.
I read this one and at first thought it was about Yoda in the workplace.
Begin, this reading comprehension failure has.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
OTOH, to see this used as motivation is really silly. For example, many companies use the fear of being terminated as a method of motivation, which in turn causes undue stress. Eventually the workers are so stressed that, try as they might, they cannot work anymore. The company then pays for yoga and meditation as way to relax the workers so they can continue worker under the insane conditions.
Wouldn't it just be simpler to have some sort of sane job security situation, where hard work is rewarded by rises or other mutually agreeable benefits? Where people know if they work hard, they will reap rewards and those who do not work hard might be fired, but not before some discussion? Where the person kept on is not the cheapest grudge worker, but he most effective practitioner? Where a person is not going to come in the next day and find that they no longer have a job?
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
As someone who meditated on a daily basis too, I wholeheartedly agree with the first poster. While meditation is useful to relieve stress and calm your mind, it pales in comparison to just being treated well. You can calm yourself as much as you want, but if somebody else keeps punching you in the face, life still sucks.
I breath 10 times for The Buhda before I write any Java.
It works.
Come the revolution, the Bourgeois, Capitalistic, "A PARKING STICKER HOLDERS", will be first against the wall!
Might also explain why they export all the tech jobs to India nowadays.
Nevertheless, I'm a real proponent of the concept; it's the ideal combination. I'm currently very stressed and see my body go downhill fast. And although I don't like Yoga, I'm automatically looking in the direction of the Oriental sports with the "body and spirit healing" combination. Too bad many of these sports have a "fighting" reputation; it's one thing that keeps me, weakling, from just joining the club. That, and my week schedule of course.
Tai Chi is the other end of the universe, though, because then you completely miss the sparring concept, which is perfect for creating a certain healthy mental territorium for yourself, even when you always lose. (And although this may have its deep psychological reason, I'm just telling this from first-hand experience.)
I remember telling someone at my "basisschool" (= 12 jr.) that I did Judo. The very next thing, I lied on the tiles of the school playground, kept to the ground: "oh yeah? Then why can't you get out of this one?" I boredly replied that "I never said that I was any good".
I think that illustrates both why the "fight sport" attitude stinks, but the "healthy mental territory" experience is a real enrichment for anyone who is open to that.
"We can confirm that Debian does *not* ship the version with the trojan horse. Our version predates it." [CA-2002-28]
The main benefit from this is an ability to relax and think about something else for a while. Most humans aren't very productive when they are under the constant stress in work for 40-50 hours in a week.
intuition
.
;)
(n)
1. "The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition. "
. .
Well, it makes sense that business would be interested in avoiding rational processes if at all possible -- but, um, wtf? I mean, enhanced intuition? Editors, if you're gonna leave that in the article blurb, at least MOCK it or something.
I think by the poverty and simple living stuff, you were actually referring to asceticsm (the last stage of the Hindu life Cycle) or Buddhism which profess those virtues. Not having practiced it, I don't hink I'm qualified to tell you about yoga, but google should give you some good info on the topic.
But IMO yoga (in the modern sense of the word) is a disciplinary regimen of exercise, diet and meditation to help you with day to day life. Anyone can practice it and they need not live an ascetic life.
If I thought I make sense to other ppl, I would have written a book.
Meditation is *very* useful for clearing the mind and relieving stress. It's a useful tool for collecting your thoughts, visualizing the achievement of goals, and quieting the useless chatter in your mind that keeps you from being productive. It's a technique that's been using tens of thousands of years, and it's very, very effective.
All of that also applies to sex. Think they'll be endorsing that in the workplace? I sure hope so.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
I'd rather have lapdances.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
Having started doing yoga, breathing exercises and meditation about 2 1/2 years ago, I can't really recommend this enough. However, I do recommend ART OF LIVING and not just any program, because it is so much more than just a yoga-gym. If it becomes like a sport and only for self-gratification, then something is lacking IMHO. People will go tired of that after a while, and seek more genuine experiences elsewhere.
Many practitioners of yoga, never meditate, and vica-versa. Many who meditate, don't even know the importance of breath and breathing. And there's a whole world more: If you don't get the knowledge behind yoga, which originally comes from large volumes of scriptures from the Vedic tradition in India, you're really missing out of the whole thing. In Art of Living, the concepts are presented in very easy format, so that everybody can understand. After all, living is the simplest act we do.
In Art of Living, you learn that living is an art. As with every human activity, it only becomes art when you put conscious focus and effort on it. But we are rarely conscious about how we live, aren't we?
That's why you learn techniques, to cleanse body and mind, in order to better function as a human being. Instead of reacting to events, you can start acting what you really want to put forth in this world. Thus, yoga and meditation is not a goal in itself, but a tool to enhance life.
If this sounds interesting, you might be interested in taking contact with the nearest center at your location. Taking a course in Art of Living is a chance of a lifetime. No other course has provided such deep profound insight and genuine transformation in my honest experience!
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
I once had a really stressy job that was a few blocks away from a cathedral. I'd disappear once or twice a day and go sit in a pew for a while. I'm not a believer, but it was a beautiful, calm place where it's expected that people are going to sit without doing anything. Since then I've sort of wished that chapels came standard in office buildings like they do in hospitals.
Buddha taught us that the source of human misery is attachment. In order to be free from sorrow, we must be free from attachment - and from striving.
Many people who meditate - and I suspect most Americans who meditate - do so because they hope to get something out of it, anything from relaxation, to relief from stress, enlightment or spiritual growth. But if you are striving to better yourself through meditation, you are missing the whole point. What you must free yourself from is that very striving.
The Shambhala monk Chyogyam Trungpa was instrumental in bringing Tibetan buddhism to the US and Canada in a form that could be appreciated by westerners. May I recommend a couple of his books:
-
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
-
The Heart of the Buddha
Spiritual materialism was particularly rampant in the United States in the late 60's and early 70's. Trungpa worked hard to teach all the navel-gazers that that was a mistake.I can teach anyone to meditate in about two minutes:
Sit comfortably but with your back straight. Focus just part of your attention on your breath. Clear your mind of thoughts. Don't beat yourself up if a though crosses your mind, just let it go. Then sit for a while. Try ten minutes to start with, then a little longer each day as you get used to it.
The most important thing is to just sit. How many Slashdotters ever allow themselves to just sit? To just clear your mind without thinking of anything?
Trungpa said there was no way out but to apply your bottom to the meditation cushion. I can promise you'll enjoy his books - he was quite a colorful character.
I think that the day that release from attachment can be sold to American business will come when Bill Gates gives his money to the poor, shaves his head, dons saffron robes, and takes The Vows of Refuge.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Why is it people are comfortable with companies sponsoring Yoga, a religious practice? Meditation is one thing, but:
_ re li_hin.php
http://www.niharonline.com/culture/religion/cul
Bhagavat-Gita, a part of the epic Mahabharata, expounds the synthesis of three yogas or ways of attaining union with the Supreme Self, Gyana-yoga (union through knowledge), Bhakti-yoga (union through devotion) and Karma-yoga (union through action).
http://www.classicalyoga.org/Page18.html
There has been and continues to be much confusion over what is religion and/or spirituality. In actuality, these two words have an identical meaning. "Religion" comes from the Latin root "religio" which means "to link-back" to the spirit. This is the identical meaning of the word "Yoga" which comes from the Sanskrit "Yuj;" i.e., "to yoke" to the spirit. Even before the word "Yoga" was used, the Vedas (Hindu scripture) use the word "Yajna" which essentially means "sacrifice." The word "sacrifice" comes from the Latin translation "sacred doing." With this understanding, one becomes aware of the inseparable nature of Yoga/Religion/Spirituality.
Will Sri Dhananjai Bikram (a.k.a. World Yoga Champion) be offering corporate courses in meditation?
If not, can anyone think of anyone better? I was thinking of enlisting the help of Sri Salil "The Hammer" Gupta, but he hasn't been the same since being beaten by Sri Bikram in the World Championships.
How do they detect that - do network cards start blowing up with beeping,sparks and stuff?
Well, at least they doing something, instead of sitting around doing nothing... :)
...richie - It is a good day to code.
About the only thing that I would like to add is that meditation is not necessarily anything mystic or spiritual. For those who choose not to believe in the supernatural or organized religions, meditation is still valuable and accessible.
Yes, much of our current notions of meditation involve Hinduism or Buddhism or some other Eastern -isms. But you can also achieve relaxation by replacing the mystic with the scientific. For example, the notion of chi and its flow through the body can be replaced with becoming aware of the blood flowing through the vessels, the realization that some mental states evoke a rush of endorphins, etc.. If you've ever read Zelazny's _Lord of Light_ and Sam's sermon after the passing of the Lord of Illusions, you'll know exactly where I'm coming from with this need to replace the mystic with the knowable.
In my particular case, I can get into a similar by drinking coffee, lots of coffee. And I mean incredible amounts of coffee to the point that my heart becomes this little buzzing thing in my chest. But as I'm getting older this coffee rush is becoming less and less of an option anyway.
I set my mind in motion.
It is by the Beans of Java that the thoughts acquire speed,
the hands acquire shakes, the shakes become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
AhhhUmmmmmIHateMyCompanyAndMyBossAndMyJobAndMyStoc kIsWothNothingNowwwwwwwwwAhhhhUmmmmmm.....
Those newly hired Yoga experts better not get too comfy - major us corporations are trying to outsource meditation to India where Yoga expertiese is higher and average Yoga expert salary is 5 loafs of bread per month.
grisha.org
You should have been dropped to "troll", not the parent post.
How is Buddhism not a religion? What makes a religion? The suspension of rational thought?
There's nothing scientific about the Buddhist moral code in the Middle Path and this moral code is far stricter than any religion I've seen. You pay the price of your deeds in karma. That price can be pretty f'n heavy if you aren't careful. You might not get punished immediately or even in this life but you will pay. Conversely, karma rewards good deeds. You can foster your entire existence into generating good karma (/. has nothing to do with this.)
There is no eternity for your behavior. You will not suffer eternal damnation for evil nor will you enjoy eternal bliss for good. Everything can change.
Further, while the overall concepts square with science, once you start exploring the 31 states of existence, you may need to leave science at the door or at least not get upset when you hear various descriptions of these different realities.
You have to believe that the Middle Path is the right way of living and that creating excuses and rationalizations for why you deviated from it will hurt you more than just admitting that you like porn, gambling and other nonsense.
Now, what were you saying about Buddhism not being a religion? Maybe it was just your ignorance and cynicism shining through.
Laws are for people with no friends.
Meditation is an individual spiritual path. It can be used for a quick fix, but it's purpose is much much deeper than a change to an exercise bike.
Meditation is a technique that helps you to let go. It's the clenched mind attitude that is the cause of all problems. Call it attachment if you will because look around you, nobody can let go, everyone is clinging to something and everyone lives in fear and attachment. This is more prevalent in America than anywhere on the planet! Meditiation takes away that fear and loosens that attachment! Then you can move onwards and upwards.
Pursue meditation genuinely as a means to explore your inner nature and not for relaxation as it's often marketed else you may have problems. There are also many different techniques, it depends upon your end goal, yes you could use a technique for relaxation, but I don't advise this.
Science and spirit do not mix, so it's always interesting to see those here in complete denial. One is born out of the other. I will say that for me, meditation has done a lot for me, it's taken away some long term deep depression, make me happier, less fearful of the world, and overall a lot more healthy and positive. This is the result of 30 minutes meditation every day for 2 years.
It's nice to see some sense coming to Fortune 100, but how long will it last.
Lastly, meditation is'nt a perk, it is if you just do it at work, it's more of a lifestyle choice if your really serious about it. I will never and have never sold it to anyone, only suggested it to people that may be open to helping themselves.
Lastly, lastly, you can follow a program, however I suggest you read a book, talk to some people, take a class and then do it on your own, don't follow any programme, explore it yourself. Don't be held hostage to a corporation to a technique that can help you, when they take away perks from staff.
The article does'nt really say much, this should guide those who are inclinded to explore.
Yet another trick to squeeze out the last drop from hard working people. I guess a raise of the monthly income would also motivate employees, maybe even more than 10 Minutes of pseudo-meditation. Don't get me wrong, I meditate myself, but it took me months to do it properly, and I don't think a yoga-meditation crash-course will do it.. As said before this is just another dumbshit method to make your employees be more productive without investing much money.. They even can PRETEND to do something good for you... I hate this "always more productive and cheap" attitude todays CEO's have in their head..
'We're pleased to announce that all of our employees will now be required to attend Meditation and Yoga classes. Yoga is supposedly an excellent way to increase the body's flexibility, so we now expect less complaining as we BEND YOU OVER. Thanks for making our company so great.'
--Management
Hmm, I wonder why nobody brought up the idea of praying good ol' Jesus.
;)
Having been through Yoga and Schamanism and some other stuff, I really like the idea of putting my fears and stress into the hand of somebody who takes care about them.
While all these new-age 'religions' (that are completely deformed by the time they arrive in Europe or USA) just give you some tools on how to improve yourself, I beleive God is the solution.
This might sound a bit like: "I give up all my own ideas to follow God's". But for me it's more the: "Thy will be done" that rocks. Let's face it: how many times we'd like to do this and that, and we're really down if it doesn't work out? Hey, if it wasn't His will, it wasn't worth doing it. So I'm glad it didn't work out...
Anyway, I would never dare saying that we should ALL have regular prayer meetings at our job. I believe that if you go the right <pun> or wrong way </pun>, you shouldn't force other people into it!
Jesus rocks
ineiti
I tried yoga for the first time just a few weeks ago. My girlfriend had been going about two months at that point, and loved it so much that I was interested. I never realized yoga was such a workout; my abs were sore for days after (and my abs are, unlike most other geeks, in pretty good shape to being with from rock climbing and mountain biking). If my workplace offered this, I'd be totally into it for all the reasons described.
Although I did feel, being the only guy there and having long hair, that I looked like "sensitive ponytail guy."
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
If you enjoyed this diatribe then buy the greatest hits collection of comments by kruczowski including classics such as:
* Nobody likes doing things that they don't enjoy
* The trees in Russia are green, generally
* Red is one of the primary colours
Oh well, funny how the first non troll post never gets lower than a 4 no matter what shit the people say
I'd be more relaxed and motivated if they just gave me more money and more holidays, instead of wasting their cash on these fruitloops.
-- Even if a god did exist, why the fsck should I worship it?
How can this be truly effective? Does anyone else see this as a crock and completely misguided? You want true peace? Turn your heart to Christ Jesus, get involved in a church, read your Bible every day, learn to walk in His will. That'll do it.
Isn't this promoting religion?
Can other religious practices be funded by companies? (prayer, chanting, etc?)
Yoga is strange. I thought it had something to do with religion, but so many atheist folks I know do Yoga. On that note, I don't find it strange at all somethign like this would be allowed for breaks. A local company here made a prayer room available for the Somali community that emigrated here. Somali's usually practice Islam. There was a semi big stink about it on the local talk radio because they had not done the same thing for Christians and Jews as well. I would not mind having a quite place to pray, but Chrisitians don't really need much to pray. They don't even have to have a bible to pray (but it helps for aftwards!). People eho practice Islam must pray towarss Mecca several times a day and have a ritual that goes along with it. They don't usually like being disturbed when doing it either. I rambled, but in any case, it's a fair thing for companies to spend money on this type of thing. If it helps keep people from going postal and having heart attacks it must be a good thing!
Gorkman
Although a wise (I thought) man once said: "Those most in need of meditation, are those least likely to do it."
Q.
Insert Signature Here
Staring for hours on end in front of you without moving a muscle ? Briljant
Where was this research done ? At SCO ?
than having a gym or trainer on staff? for a second, remove spirituality from the equation and look at it from a purely physical perspective. Doing excercize helps people feel energized right. The only thing this tells me is 1. many managers are stupid 2. excercize is obvious 3. managers can listen and make the work place better for employees 4. justifying something to management is key to getting what you want. now go back to work.
Great quotes:
"Buddhism is a science, not a fanatic religion like football."
-- Lama Khyentse Norbu
"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion; the religion
which is based on experience, which refuses dogmatism. If there's any
religion that would cope with scientific needs it will be Buddhism.... "
-- Albert Einstein, 1954, [from Albert Einstein: The Human Side,
edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press]
Dyslexics have more fnu.
Spammers have ways to get around anti-spam filters, he said, but it's possible to collect patterns from their e-mails and block certain logarithms.
Hand me my cluebat!
"The Milliard Gargantubrain? A mere abacus - mention it not."
billyonerrors again soon machinations.
we dowt it. lookout bullow.
consult with/trust yOUR creator. vote with yOUR wallet. that's the spirit.
the baby killing problem seems to be getting worse, if that's imaginabull. it will not be tolerated. pay attention, that's cost effective.
First, if you do yoga or meditation to "get something out of it" you really don't understand the point. Ah the american pragmatism, rip something out of its deep philosphical underpinnings that make it beautiful to get people to work 18 hour days.
Second, if you are working 18 hours a day and you job isn't meaningful(just making money for some heartless faceless company) you are moron and are wasting your life. Quit and start doing things of real importance.
Finally, what about people who reject to this on religious grounds. I am sure they will be offended unless ofcourse you let them go off for an hour and pray to Allah or whichever.
Please place the considerable potential benefits of yoga and meditation aside for a moment; I don't mean to flame them.
It's not hard, though, to be cynical about these why these activities are being blessed by executives. Could they be valued for only their role in distracting employees from the issues such as poor company management?
I have visited the Apple campus twice. Each time, I was struck by how odd the people were. Except they were brilliant. Everyone we met would be considered "eccentric" by most Americans, but every one of them (well, maybe not the sales drones) would be considered either "intelligent" or "completely geeky." Everyone seemed free to think their own thoughts and express what they felt. Neat folk.
I also happened to visit the Microsoft campus (just once, though). While they would also be considered "odd," this was more in an "awkward" fashion, almost as if they belonged to a cult. Very Amway or est.
Anyway, as long as the cappuccino machine is working, I'd be happy, shakra adjusted or not...
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
A four thousand year old practice is called the New Age mumbu jumbo.... oh well
What's under yellowstone?
>
> This isn't what typically happens though. It gets applied just like any other buzz word compliant band-aid program that makes them feel like they're respecting their employees while actually treating them with disdain and just as much like mere productivity machines as they ever did.
Does a HR drone have the Buddha nature? :-)
I think you've hit the nail on the head.
My SMTP server, my rules for filtering out spam. My mind, my rules for filtering out distractions.
Opportunity - great idea. New Age Crystal-Huggers can go hug a crystal or whatever it is they do. I can frag my friends over the company LAN for 15 minutes and come back just as refreshed. (Or better yet, just walk to the water cooler to stretch my legs, reducing my long-term risk of deep-vein thrombosis.)
Make it an enforced thing, and you're not just pissing off us fundamentalist materialists who think it's hokey claptrap, you're also putting yourself at legal risk from fundamentalist Christians or non-fundamentalist Muslims, either of whom will be happy to sue your ass into the Age of Pisces for bringing in a competing brand of religion - even if no Buddhism per se is taught, that's not how the fundie sees it. ("What? My preacher/imam told me that funky relax-o-breathing stuff has the Buddhist brand name on it! PAGANS! APOSTATES! STONE THEM!". :)
(Side note - props to the Jews. Y'all appear to be smart enough to know the difference between trying to relax and trying to convert someone. Insert stereotypical "That's cuz the Jews are smart enough to be lawyers - win/win!" joke here. *ducks and runs*)
I believe that enforced meditation isn't just disrespectful to your employees, it's legally risky. Don't do it.
William H. Gross, of Newport Beach (Calif.)'s Pacific Investment Management Co., who often meditates with yoga before a day of trading at his $349 billion money-management firm.
Has anyone ever listened to Bill Gross's bond recommendations? They always seem to do much worse than his actual holdings...
In investment banking, the primary job of traders is not to make recommendations, but to make prices. And AFAIK traders can't hold personal positions in the markets they handle.
People (institutional investors and brokers) call looking for a price on some quantity of a product, and it's the bond (commodity / equity / option / structure) trader's job to decide or report at what price the firm is interested in doing the deal (frequently with the help of a buttload of real time math and spreadsheets the size of a football field). It is assumed that the buyer already knows what price he or she is looking for - there's little if any recommending going on.
In turn they are rewarded for doing deals that make money for the firm (or reduce risk at a low cost), it is the customer's job to take care of their own interests.
Put another way, the only real altruistic goal of investment banks is to provide liquidity in the marketplace - to ensure that when someone wants to buy or sell something, there is a price (even if it's really high or really low) at which the deal can be done.
The person you deal with, who tells you what to buy, is a personal investment advisor. You then trade through a broker, who trades through a trader.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
I worked for a startup in the mid nineties that had an OSM (on-site masseuse), FLL (Friday Liquid Lunch), and LTWC (Lunch-time WarCraft). This reminds me a bit of the "keep your employees happy and they'll work 90 hours without complaining" movement, but all I really want these days is to be able to bring my dog to work with me again. You can keep your yoga.
That's all for pussies. /just kidding/
I'm for the postal method.
Tried and proven, those that annoy you will no longer..
$2.41 and hour is a decent, generous salary.
... they
In Bangalore.
They know yoga over there. Dang
invented it.
Most people seem to be unaware of the constant stream of internal dialog that accompanies us through the day. It affects how we process all the information we receive, and therefore how we act.
This internal dialog can become fixated on a single idea. When it becomes a more important determinant of our behavior than the informtaion we receive from our senses. Everybody's had the experience of working with a coworker who keeps coming back to the same issues over and over again. We tend to put it down to perversity -- that they are just use every event as an excuse to harp on their pet issue. But it's not really voluntary - it can become a pernicious habit like drug addiction.
It's an interesting comparison, because meditation is closely related to hypnotism, and many people have found hypnotism useful in breaking destructive habits. "Free your mind" has become a familiar catch phrase from The Matrix, but what the mind needs to be freed from is not an outside force, but its own overly ingrained habits of thought. In a sense, we all can become "addicted" to certain ways of thinking about things, to the extent that we become blinded to situations that would be obvious to somebody looking at them with fresh eyes.
Yoga is not just about physical flexibility -- it's about mental flexibility as well.
Of course, the benefits depends on what your job is. If your job involves processing information and making judgements, meditation could conceivably allow you to be a little more creative. I have a feeling that most people in these kinds of positions have at best a few hours a week in which most of their creativity is done. Much of the time spent during the week is duff. For some people, giving even an hour a day to meditation could conceivably be worthwhile if they could extend the number of highly creative hours from say two to two and a half over the course of a week.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
When the Transcedental Meditation people were really aggressive in the late 1970s, they convinced a number of organizations- corporations, schools, prisons, etc.- to hold their classes. The objections were cost and complaints about church-state separation.
(TM is a version of Hindu/Yoga meditation simplified for the masses. Several celebrities embraced it in the 1960s. It acquired aspects of MLM self-improvement business tactics in the US.)
Why are they hiring consultants and giving classes? I learned how to do it in 5th grade. All I need is a TV, a VCR, a few Ginger Lynn tapes and I'm good for hours.
OH, it says meditation...
it doesn't cost much, plus, it actually works.
do not mistake Godless greed/fear based rhetoric, for any clue as to what YOU should do.
get more oxygen on YOUR brain. begin to understand that yOUR task has nothing to do with being missiled buy fauxking corepirate vacuums. laugh if you dare. yOUR options are dwindling.
Don't forget the Church of Emacs
I once worked for a company where we had daily yoga sessions every morning. I noticed I had my balance and concentration enhanced after some time but in time the classes became boring (mostly because the teacher was not good at motivate us, I believe) and most of the employees fled out. Soon the number of people attending the classes became too low to justify keeping the teacher so the program was canceled.
Faith can move mountains. I prefer dynamite.
Those of us who follow Islam (and probably some other religions) sometimes consider practices such as Yoga, firmly based on Hinduism, Shirk (Polytheism). I think that it would be much more sensitive to offer something like Tai-Chi, a practice which is much more based in Philosophical rather than religious teachings.
General meditation is great, but I wonder if any employers will offer up dhiker sessions for those of us who prefer to seek closness to Allah (SWT) rather than focusing on chakras.
It is worth applauding, though, that employers seek to address spiritual matters.
Lamrim.com broadcasts Tibetan Buddhist teachings. Of special importance to Reality Hackers is the Dalai Lama participating in a Mind Sciences Conference.
I work at Quiznos, I wonder if they'll let me take a meditation break during the lunch rush...
Sig & Below
Yuck Fou
But I'm the last person to claim I'm free from striving or attachment. I can't ever throw anything away, even things I don't use anymore, because I can't bear to be without them - even old ripped up clothes that don't fit anymore. I've been striving particularly hard since I started my consulting business in '98.
But I've learned my lesson the hard way because I also lead what in many ways is a miserable life. To the extent I can free myself from attachment, I am much happier.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
At Computer Associates there are free yoga classes being offered to employees (at least in the HQ building, I don't know about other offices). They are held in the gym and they fill a very similar function: exercise and/or yoga do provide an intense break from work that in the end reverts in a more productive employee (for example, feeling more energetic when returning to your cube or being less prone to using a sick day because of a disorder).
Benefits like these (having a gym and others like "free" insurance, etc) are a good way to pay employees that can be more effective than salary (for example, you don't pay taxes on having a gym at the company, you may have to pay more taxes if you get a higher salary and pay for a gym because the company doesn't have one). As long as there is a significant number of employees actually using the benefit and usage of benefits is reasonably spread among different groups of employees, It is a good thing (tm)
We go through this at least once a decade. Everyone gets all excited about it, a bunch of companies try to force it on everyone, and eventually it goes away. You cannot force these sorts of things. Forcing someone to meditate or do yoga isn't much different than trying to force them to pray or go to church, synagogue, or another house of worship. Do you want your company trying to make you do that because management thinks it's a good idea?
I thought not.
I find a 15 minute crap does wonders for focussing on tricky problems, and it clears the parts that other meditative techniques just can't reach...
I haven't got any brain-wave activity you insensitive clod!
--This isn't a man who is leaving with his head between his legs.
The biggest pain I have from work is Management, if they would take care of that I could do work a lot better.
Intel liked that one :)
Meditation is just a way to set everything else aside until you've de-fragged those resources.
I think the best explanation of this is Krishnamurti's-- Westerners tend to confuse images with realities, and stress themselves out trying to become what the images demand. Even the gnostic gospel of Thomas has Jesus saying one must learn to see an image as an image.
It costs less. That's the reason for the trend. It beats providing free koozies, Softball leagues, Movie passes, Golf memberships, Golds Gym memberships, Polo shirts, frisbees and free Coffee. But it works. Nothing like seeing your female boss spreading her vibrating rippling butt cheeks and gaze upod her poundcakes fluxing up into the air while she grunts and breathes heavily, sweat dripping between her breasts and her camel toe spandex shorts gripping her like a frontbutt. Good for moral, but really bad for adolescent teenage Managers and Directors.
1. Painted the CFO's new office (built while we were working in our cubicles) during work hours; causing most of us to escape to the outdoors to avoid brain damage from the fumes
2. Allowed the office management at the new building to BANG ON THE DAMN ROOF ALL YESTERDAY AND EVEN WORSE SO FAR TODAY
My compass is so off right now that I'd be thrilled with mere cell-phone rings. Yoga? Is there a way I can use that to turn off my senses?
...is that really a good idea?
M DAMNIT OOOOHHHHMMMMMM!
I can imagine someone working on a deadline, the boss pipes up and says that it's meditation time.
oooohhhmmmmmm....Ooooohhhmmmmmm....OOOOHHHHMMMM
Or the yoga...would that be better? The annoying co-worker who whistles through his nose every time he breaths...I can imagine the stressed out "A" Type grabbing the guy and 'helping' him into several yoga positions that while are impossible, are amusing to contemplate
-- Wiccan Army, 13th Airborne Division "We will not fly silently into the night"
...those guys at Amiga knew this years ago. The old "Guru Meditation" error messages came from their habit of meditating on their surfboard/joystick prototype whenever they had some serious thinking to do (as a result of a crash).
Does anyone remember the movie Gung Ho from 1986? It has Michael Keaton and when he finally gets the Japanese car company to America the Managers try to make all the workers to exercise before the work begins. I remember people jumping around and acting like they are flying or just doing silly stuff. So do you really think that this yoga or exercise is really going to work for everybody?
massage stimulates the non-mylenated (IANA doctor, but a physics student ;) nervous system mentioned in a recient new scientist pap article about the secrete of hugs .. which i'll let someone else get mod points for referencing... (to explain the significance of the non-mylenation, hint you dont need to react quickly to a hug like navigating your hand to catch a ball)
releasing dopamine (like when your hairs all stand on end) ... all the dopamine gets released, the neuron potentials in the neocortex all get reset, that is, the voltage across the synaptic membrane goes back to its ground of 0.7V (related to the intra vs extra celular K+ vs Na+ potential). but the dopaminergic system is very robust soon (in the order of 15min) all the spilled dopamine is mopped up and recycled and repackaged into vaccuoles ready to be electrostatically attracted to the membrane when the 0.7V is overcome and FIRE !! again... so in effect it reboots your computer.. a good body slide does the same, particularly with oil, but dont add amphetamines or cocaine or your going to end up in fuck me in the arse federal jail... any speed freak could tell you all this ;)
Whereas i feel meditation is more about learning to control the phosgene response (those green waves you see when your eyes are closed(atleast mine are green(atleast in a legal state of mind ;))) which i hypothesise is strongly (closely/intimately ;) related to endorphins, alpha beta delta gamma, no just the beta please ;) .. anyway, i find a particularly effective meditation technique is to visualise green circles and control their rate and make them come in from the pherepheral and shrink to the centre.. and be in control and did i mention concentrates, yet relax .. when you get the knack it can put you very nice states of mind, where you are essentially lucid dreaming while awake, thatis a blink away from being back in "the real world" and yet it gives that lsd like ability to visualise and SEE yes i almost shat myself when it first happened i even remember the first thing i visualised, it was a china tea cup and it sat just like a photo .. anyway happy ranting ;)
Yoga and meditation as practices (rather than religious teachings)[1] can be a great balm for the body and soul. Having calmer, more relaxed, more alert, and clearer employees is wonderful, right?
Unfortunately, the companies who bring in this sort of thing are usually the companies who NEED it--the same companies that have downsized until their remaining staff is starting to gnaw on their wrists to escape the bad decisions and hellish environment.
In other words, the thinking amounts to this: Tighten the work environment until it's inhumane, and when people start to crack, we'll get them to meditate so we can keep up the same stupid pace.
Treating the symptoms, not the disease.
The good news is that it's likely to backfire. If people meditate with conviction and sincerity, they're likely to see more clearly how silly it is to stay in a job like that, and have the confidence to leave it.
[1]Not that I object to the religious and spiritual practices of them, but that's not something that a company should be promoting and sponsoring in a heterogeneous environment.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
This is from the zen perspective I have achieved.
Mystic baggage: mystic means uncommunicable personal experience (the essential facts cannot be understood by representative symbols), and baggage means stuff you carry around from your past (karma).
I highly doubt that you have actually experienced meditation if you think a cigar (personally can't stand em) and scotch (depends on the particular scotch for me) provide the same benefits. I have reasons for this, and I hope you understand that I am not criticising you, but rather I want you to understand that what you say is confusing to me.
Meditation is a process of simplifying your immediate experience to (and past) the point that the sphere of what you are immediately aware of surpasses the immediate sensory experiences. Scotch and cigars are complex immediate sensory experiences. These are opposite.
Old metaphor: If you pick up a hammer and drive a hundred nails, somewhere between nail 2 and nail 100 you will stop thinking about how to hold and swing the hammer. You will simply will the nail to drive through the wood, and then you will feel your arm strike the blow. The nail will glide into the wood under the direct force. The hammer has been absorbed into the way you feel your arm that it is a natural extension of your hand.
If you just sit and breathe (nothing mystic or baggage about that), your brain may stretch out and connect with all the things in your immediate surroundings. Your brain may try to glom onto the minor bodily irritations caused by sitting crooked or breathing too fast or slow. Mediation is the practice of nipping these irritations and distractions in the bud: noticing its root cause, and dealing with that until the distraction passes. You will pass from distraction to distraction, and each will linger in the periphery. Eventually your brain will calm down and stop trying to be distracted/entertained if you are comfortable enough to stay awake without pain. (The lotus position is just a way to train your body to support itself --eventually-- without discomfort for long periods of time. This protracted sitting period will give you more opportunity to train your brain.)
When your brain stops chasing distractions, you will gain a broad, unfocused perspective that includes everything in your surroundings. Not much is going on, but you will realize what is going on, and you will understand the chain of cause and effect in those things, and you will know how things are going to happen as they are happening and not afterwards, without thinking about them.
The more you practice (your brain must be trained to go into this mode at will), the easier it will be to apply this consciousness outside of sitting meditation. Eventually you will be able to function in everyday life "in the zone" all the time. Assholes at work will not phase you. Stupidity at work will not phase you. You will see what is happening, and know what to do, and do it without any wondering about anything.
It is HARD to do this. If you do, then people will glom onto you because you are a calm person in the middle of a storm. They will get emotional security from being around you. This has a positive effect on the work that gets done even if only a few people are "in the zone". You are perfectly capable of doing great or terrible things without any emotional reservations or baggage. Sometimes you will kick yourself out of the zone. Cigars and scotch probably cannot be enjoyed in the zone.
Zen is about detatching from the things in your immediate experience so that you can connect and disconnect without any greif. Nothing
--- Nothing clever here: move along now...
My employer is bringing in a Hypno-therapist to do a seminar on the advantages of hypnosis and self-hypnosis. They are suppose to help you quit smoking, loose weight, or whatever your problem may be.
So far, one person has signed up. I suppose this is a little different than meditation, but it is all tied together somehow, I guess.
user@host:/usr/bin$ whatis
java: nothing appropriate.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
If this is true, where's the ACLU? This could be construed as "a moment of silence" which we all know is code-speak for prayer in school.
So - they're firing all the PHBs then?
Meh.
... sex in the workplace, to much of the same effect. My employer, however, fails to support this.
http://erichsieht.wordpress.com/category/english/
I've often considered this, but I'm hesitant to suggest meditation to my team since since it could be construed as a religious practice, especially since I'm a Buddhist and meditation is a large part of my practice.
If my director came to me and said "ok, I read an article about how 60 minutes of daily prayer would benefit productivity; start tomorrow," I might become pretty irritated. I don't want to do that to my employees (not to mention the legal ramifications).
_______
2B1ASK1
In any case, i've met a lot of geeks that will believe any old bullshit (atkins has really taken hold in the geek community for some reason, for example)
... who are arguably quacks of the highest order.
... certainly the theories that there are have yet to be rigorously tested. High-carb foods didn't become common until after the advent of modern agriculture, some 8-10 thousand years ago, so it really isn't unreasonable to find that our metabolisms aren't terribly well adapted to processing it. 10,000 years is nothing compared to 3,000,000, so we propbably have a while yet before our bodies evolve into more effecient processors of high-carb diets than low-carb diets.
OK, now it is my turn to call bullshit.
As much as I have always despised 'diets de jour', Atkins was preaching his take on this for 30 odd years, much to his own personal and professional derision. However, in recent years scientific studies have finally been conducted to validate or refute his findings, and in every case have validated his approach.
Now there is plenty of innuendo suggesting 'long term health effects' that are bad, but no solid studies have been performed, and the claim that the atkins diet does in fact lead to dramatic weight loss has been demonstrated and is no longer disputed even by its detractors.
OTOH we do have emperical evidence of the ill health effects of the low fat, high carb diets that dieticians have been foisting upon us over the last two decades: America has never been as obese, or as unhealthy, as it is today. Specific causes are uncertain (correlation does not prove causation, it really can only suggest it, and even then not always), but it is clear that as the American diet has embraced and increased its consumption of low-fat, high-carb products the populace has grown vastly more obese and unhealthy.
So we have only three ways of losing weight in a reaonably healthy manner: burn more calories, consume less calories, or go into ketosis by dropping your carb intake dramatically. 'Low Fat' doesn't do shit for anyone except peddlers of 'low fat' foods and diets
In any event, calling atkins "any old bullshit" flies in the face of numerous studies and, most importantly, the very real and reproducable effect it has on people's weight.
I actually did the Atkins thing, not out of any personal interest (as I said, I've always despised 'diets de jour'), but to be supportive of my girlfriend who was doing it.
I did not expect it to work and had zero faith in the approach.
After losing 45 pounds and having my waiste size shring by 6 inches I had to eat a little crow and admit that, emperically, the damn thing worked, and worked dramatically. Having my blood pressure go from marginally high to marginally low, and my cholesterol go from Very High to Medium-Low in four short months made me a believer...whatever 'long term health effects' there might be (and who knows, even pseudo-scientific innuendo can be right on occasion), the immediate health effects were dramatic and extremely positive.
However, unlike religion, I buy into the Atkins approach (though I'm no longer on the diet) because of verifiable, reproducable results.
As I said, it is possible there may be health issues with eating low-carb diets over the long term, but that certainly isn't proven, and no real long term studies have yet been done (though plenty of allegations have been made, by the same people who were pushing the low-fat, high carb disaster upon us the last several decades).
Indeed, Given that we evolved for most of our 3 million years as primates eating exactly that kind of diet, it is quite possible, perhaps even likely, that there are no such health risks
In a way it is a pity Atkins has become popular (among geeks as well as anyone else), as I absolutely hate doing anything that smacks of 'trendy,' but the simple fact is that, unlike low-fat, high-carb diets that are supposed to make you healthy and don'
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
This is an honest question. Other than medical insurance, what expenses do companies pay that a f(n) where n is the number of employees, instead of f(h) where h is the number of hours worked?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
nice pun! i've been taking yoga for about six months and taichichuan for a couple of years. i wouldn't say that it drastically improves your life, especially for somebody as caffeinated as myself, though it does really improve a small portion of the day. as an employer, i would say that anything which helps to improve the health and general motivation of your peeps is a good thing. it's about quality of life. i was describing yoga to o woman yesterday as your own internal chiropractor. just laying on the floor now readjusts my back. oooh, the popping sound! it is also much better than weight lifting for developing strength and toning muscles in my experience. just like running, the rush when i do a simple stretch is great, and being able to excercise in a hotel room is pretty damn helpful. also, a bunch of very fit females hanging around is never to be discouraged!
America has never been as obese, or as unhealthy, as it is today. Specific causes are uncertain (correlation does not prove causation, it really can only suggest it, and even then not always), but it is clear that as the American diet has embraced and increased its consumption of low-fat, high-carb products the populace has grown vastly more obese and unhealthy.
The past 20 or so odd years it has increased, ironcially enough with the invention of the "super sized meal".
Now have you ever read the nutrional information in any of the fastfood chains?
Here in Canada there is a franchise called "Swisschalet" I looked at their nutrional guidelines the other day and I came to the conclusion that in one sitting you could easily eat enough calories that would last the average person for a day and a half.
That's the reason why people baloon (besides other things like driving everywhere).
Atkins might or might now work, but it is not a cure to the decease, a change of lifestyle would be though.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
I tried it, not for very long, but too long for me. Meditation will lead a person to some of the older religions, or to some of the newer ones. The former can be bad for your mental health, the latter are full of charlatans.
Yes, I said bad for your mental health. If all you can get out of Buddhism is Nihilism (like me) then you're in for a world of hurt. Another unrelated pitfall: if a clinically depressed, manic, or otherwise mentally unbalanced person picks up that concept of "renunciation", they might just "renounce" their medications and do themselves a lot of damage. Now, some teachers say there's no problem combining medication and meditation, but some will tell you to flush all your pills - VERY dangerous for some people!
I'm not knocking it, but I don't practice it and wouldn't recommend it. I'm just saying BE CAREFUL! Once you've learned it, you can't unlearn it!
"Eric Biskamp, co-founder of WorkLife Seminars in Dallas, who has begun teaching one-on-one meditation skills to executives at Texas Instruments, Raytheon and Nortel Networks."
Notice it was for for executives...
I think they're probably paying 500 * 8, because in todays market they can get away with it...
Where do you work? When you get caught napping, they will post your job and I need one of those.
Sweet Dreams!
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
But it's really just another way to squeeze more
hours out of your employees' lives. Oh, wait, that's called "productivity."
Right.
NOTE: I am Roman Catholic so I have a Western bent. If I say "prayer", I mean "meditation" or "meditative prayer". I know that my speaking such throws people sometimes :-).
Amen. I swear, I cringe everytime I hear anything done or said by a New Ager. They break the credibility of so many religions before those religions can even start to do good in our society.
I think that including the managers as well as the managed would avoid this problem. I know from my own experiences as steward at my fraternity and as a college student that meditative prayer influences more than just your own information production skills. It allows you to open yourself up to others in a way that is truly authentic, thus connecting you with another person in a truly amazing way (at least, that's how it feels on my end :-) ) and communcating much more effectively. I think a properly-implementated system of meditative prayer in the workplace would truly revolutionize the political and social situation in that office, reducing the tensions and gaps between the managed and the managers. If implemented properly on a national level, I think we would see an America that cared more about the environment, the quality of everyone's life, and our currenlty abusive foreign policy. Of course, I am a dreamer, and my thoughts should be taken with that in mind.
While many people have said discussed the effects of meditative prayer at work, I would also say that prayer also helps one sort through his or her own life and life issues. If you were to start praying today, you would notice that it will encompass your entire life, not just your work.
while I'm all in favor of meditation, I agree with a lot of the slashdotters here that the big problem is the 12 hour days. one of my favorite passages in the Tao te Ching (which certainly had an effect on Zen Buddhism) addresses this:
Fill a cup to its brim and it is easily spilled;
Temper a sword to its hardest and it is easily broken;
Amass the greatest treasure and it is easily stolen;
Claim credit and honour and you easily fall;
Retire once your purpose is achieved - this is natural.
That is, (to the best of my understanding) a good Buddhist wouldn't meditate an hour so that he can work 16 hours in a day; he'd work hard for his 10 hours and then go home.
There are several different altered states taught by different subcultures. Most involve clearing the mind or focusing it without distraction one one relatively arbitrary thing, like your breath. People are always vague about this.
As I understand it, Buddhism is focused on disassociation from the physical realm, thereby freeing the mind and spirit to concentrate on the greater mysteries of the universe. Naturally this is very important for those of us who must keep such nebulous things as IP networks and sounds cards and such running without letting the magic blue smoke out.
However, as a druid, my path is the path of wisdom through knowledge. We strive first to know everything about ourselves through studying the nature of the physical universe. Next we study the nature of the Otherworld through art, song, dance, and numerous other "right-brained" activities (I personally have had many a spiritual epiphany while coding). Finally we study the connection the two, the physical and the spiritual, to understand how they interact with one another, thereby fully integrating our spirits and our bodies.
The end result is enlightenment through understanding the nature of the universe. With that understanding comes some small ammount of control over how things work. It is a long and difficult path (like anything worth doing), but the benefits are astounding.
The chains are broken
Loki is free
Ragnarok is at hand...
If my employer would allow me a few minutes to relax and clear my head, I'd be all for it, but I wouldn't want to be force-fed into some kind of group yoga class any more than I would want to be forced to recite Gregorian chants, handle snakes, wash someone's feet or take part in any other religious practices which may do wonders spiritually for the people who believe in them, but not much for people who prefer a rational approach to life.
I went to one yoga lesson once - actually I was unsuspectingly subjected to it at a friend's "party" and when they started talking about how your body has chakras and the energy flows up and down your spine, I had to suck in my cheeks to keep from laughing out loud.
I don't especially like the master-disciple approach either, be it yoga, karate, Zen, Catholic Church, etc.
If I want to say a prayer to the deity of my choice at work or at school, I already have the First Amendment right to bow my head (or assume whatever position I choose) and do so, but I'll be darned if I'm going to observe the rites of someone else's religion as part of some PHB's cost-cutting approach to reducing job sress. I think this mass approach would also cheapen the experience for those who sincerely believe in it.
BTW, Mr. Bray, I dig your column and I think you have a really cool name.
Note to self: If faced with Full Catastrophe Living, and given the choice between Yoga/Meditation and alternative mental/physical conditioning systems such as those offered by the United States Marine Corps... I'm puttin' my money on the Marines.
Presumably the workers in question were not being paid by the hour. Generally speaking, salaried workers are paid so much per month to work for unspecified hours; if they have to stay late, they don't get any extra money.
Which reminds me - if the goal is to achieve a certain detachment, a geek-friendly form of meditation might very well be video games, particularly rapid-fire "zone-out" types of games.
You 80s gamers who remember (and hopefully own) a Tempest or Robotron machine - know exactly what I'm talking about.
Atari is my yoga, baby :)
I always thought that the best way to relieve stress at work is a good laugh. So I forwarded the URL to this article to various co-workers. We all laughed so hard that the Yogic flyers next door came over wondering what the fork was so hilarious - unfortunately, they weren't amused...
Buddhism is not based in dogma. You should trust only your own _practice_ and experience. Buddhism is intrested of human mind. Cosmology and others are not so important. Many buddhist do belive in karma rebirth etc. like many people did in Buddhas time. Buddha himiself consistently refused to respond in many questions: is the world eternal, is the world infinite, is the soul same as body, does buddha (avakened person) exist after death, etc. If you are following buddhist path you are doing something not beliving.
Believe nothing merely because you have been told it, or because it is
tradition, or because you yourself have imagined it. Do not believe
what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for him. But
whatever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be conducive
to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings, believe and cling
to that doctrine, and take it as your guide. -- Buddha
Dyslexics have more fnu.
Emacs koan:
A novice of the temple once approached the Chief Priest with a question.
"Master, does Emacs have the Buddha nature?" the novice asked.
The Chief Priest had been in the temple for many years and could be
relied upon to know these things. He thought for several minutes before
replying.
"I don't see why not. It's got bloody well everything else."
With that, the Chief Priest went to lunch. The novice suddenly
achieved enlightenment, several years later.
Commentary:
His Master is kind,
Answering his FAQ quickly,
With thought and sarcasm.
Dyslexics have more fnu.
I can see the reaction of some bean counters now:
"Freakin' Communist hippies! Yoga? Zen? I'll give you yoga and zen! I'm gonna send your jobs to India and China! You'll Yoga and Zen all you want!"
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
Ah, like most Westerners, you seem to confuse meditation and yoga as originiating in Buddhism. Far from the truth. Buddhism is only about 2600 years old (Buddha was born as a Hindu prince in 623 B.C. in a town called Kapilavatsu on the modern Indo-Nepal border.)
On the other hand, the practice of Yogic poses and meditation in India is * real ancient". More than 3000 yrs old. In fact, Yoga is mentioned in the RigVeda, the oldest known Hindu text. RigVeda is currently estimated by historians as at least 3300 years old. However, the first authoritative treatise on Yoga was written by the Indian sage, Sri Patanjali Maharishi about 2000 years ago. Yoga derives from 'yuj', a Sanskrit word meaning 'to unite.' Yoga was therefore used to connote union of one's consciousness with a presumed universal consciousness. Yoga is just one of the 6 main Indian philosophical systems or Darshanas : ( Darshana literally means 'sight' or 'revelation' in different contexts in Sanskrit, Hindi, and many other Indian languages.)
1. Yoga - union of individual consciousness with universal consciousness
2. Vedanta - knowledge of self, universe and God.
3. Sankhya - philosophical classification of the universe
4. Vaishesika - analysis and characterization of the universe
5. Nyaya - logic
6. Purva-Mimamsa - laws of formal religion
It's amazing how we're finally realising what the ancient greek and romans knew all to well; you need both a healthy mind /and/ body!
/and it never gets implemented!/
It's always amazing when you read all the psych research done on subjects like this,
Things like flexible working hours, workplace naps, stress relief in any form(be it yoga, Quake or whatever)... all of these are documented as being a)healthy due to stress relief which b)leads to less money being wasted on sickleave which then leads to c)more profit and increased throughput and innovation due to a relaxed, healthy and motivated workforce.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
I was laid off from TI ealier this year. It's nice to know that the money TI saved from not paying me is going to good use.
AFIK, all we have is a yoga class once a week that you can take during your lunch hour.
It's not like they gather up all employees for a cross-legged hum session each morning or anything. In fact, in the 4 years I've been here, I've never seen any information about meditation classes, sessions, etc.
Just yoga, and just a class offered through the fitness center. Nothing article-worthy, in my opinion. At least not any moreso than writing about the spinning or step aerobics class would be.
The article also makes it sound like we can get rubbed down for free anytime we want. We do have a massage lady who is available weekly (maybe more at other sites), but these are not subsidized by the company, besides providing her a room. We pay for the massages.
He logs 18-hour days to help his Westlake Village (Calif.)-based company hit its quarterly sales targets of around $8 million. How to cope? Jakubowski is no breathe-like-a-tree kind of guy. "I'm in business," he says, "and I need results."
How about: "I'm a human, and I need a life."
Has anybody else tried?
Sahaja Yoga
Seems to have a verifiable effect.
Tibetan Buddhism has plenty for you to do! There are elaborate visualizations to construct, as illustrated in the art form called "Thangkas" -- Google(Thangka). Accomplished yogins can visualize these with perfect clarity, and it's much more than just memorizing pictures: each implement, gesture, grouping, seating, and posture reflects a specific attitude that guides toward Awakening. After the visualization is created it is "completed" by dissolving it into the Great Space of Mind. Like the sand mandalas Tibetan monks make and destroy, very much like that!
I can barely visualize mantra syllables rendered in Roman alphabet. However, I'm a musician, and I can memorize long and complicated (progressive rock) guitar parts, so I have an appreciation for the astonishing amount of brain-power it must take to hold such visualizations steady. Behold:
These mandalas frequently have a hundred or so deities. If you're a programmer, you can easily think of the Meditation Deities as objects, so holding the hologram steady would be like holding the whole API to a 100-class framework steady in mind, certainly do-able but not without work.
BTW, I'm still a materialist and have no belief in the supernatural elements of Tibetan Buddhism. I map those functions on to Vorlons or Goa'uld and go ahead and make the calls!
Simple, the salaried/exempt class. Except for some manual jobs (and I know janitors that have been shoehorned into exempt lately), companies do not pay workers for overtime. We're not talking about no time and a half, I mean none. 850 * 8 hours will always be cheaper to the management than 500 * 8 hours. They may not be as productive, but management will already have their bonuses and have bailed long before that matters.
Well I'm the doctor and I say you're dead, so shut up and take it like a man!
Which is to say... this sure won't fly everywhere else. I've got RLS. It's hard enough for me to sit still at a desk. Active Yoga is out for other physical reasons; seated meditation is out because of the Restless Limb issues. I guess my biggest question is: are employees going to be offered other options??? And if not, how long until the lawsuit (The Other American Pastime) hits? I wouldn't bother to make a big deal out of it, but then, my employer would never do this. But it becomes a burden for the people picking up the work while everyone's at yoga. So what happens when the employee decides that they don't like having an extra-stressful workplace but no equivalent chance to relax?
Personally, I think there would be more benefit to offering a free health club membership, with the option to take one hour of the day to go. People could take part in whatever was most appropriate for them, and the company would end up footing a lower average health insurance premium per employee. Me, i'd be willing to take the last hour of the day to do what i could in a gym rather than in an employer-sited group activity, because i would have people there who knew about my physical limits, no being singled out in a workplace setting, and a variety of activities available depending on how i'm feeling. But then, there are a lot of changes i'd push for if i ran the zoo. My $.02 to share...
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
Ack, should preview. 850*8 will always be more _expensive_ than 500*8. Sorry.
Well I'm the doctor and I say you're dead, so shut up and take it like a man!
I thought that was for resting mana faster.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
I did RTFA, and one of the companies they held up as an example had cut their workforce from 850 to 500. As a result, the workday went up to 12 hours. I'd bet the mortgage payment they were still only getting paid for 8. So if they did any meditation, yes, they did it without being paid.
Message to companies: I don't want massages, I don't want organic chefs, I don't want meditation, I WANT TO GO HOME AFTER 8 HOURS!
Sean
Is it just me or can someone point out where this is being forced on employees. It looks to me that it's being offered as a benefit and not mandate.
There has got to be some reason that robots taking jobs and meditation in the workplace have ended up right next to each other in /.
We are here to discover what makes us human.
In 2050 maybe only robots will eat at the robot McDonalds.
If you got a $100 bill, put your hands up...
Yoga is commonly practiced at many gyms around this country, including YMCAs, and (as such) is not a religious thing at all.
It is a series of stretches followed by a period of relaxation. It is an excellent way to improve your health and flexibility whle also decreasing stress.
The religious trappings have been stripped out.
My apologies in advance if this comes across as mean-spirited - I'm using this to summarize my opinions about Atkins and weight loss in general and make it my sig so I can quit repeating myself.
:D
That said, who said I said that high carb diets are the way to go? High carbs = high calories. People consume too many calories, these days from carbohydrates rather than fat.
Personally, I have been following a diet with a low caloric density, which is essentially what dietitians have been preaching for years. Unfortunately, this message somehow got filtered and warped and we now have Snackwell cookies and "no fat" fruit juice (no fat in my oj? well no shit!). Idiots like Susan Powter even said things like "only the fat you eat becomes fat on your body" (not an exact quote). As you say, Americans are fatter than ever. That is because they eat more calories despite eating less fat. Check out this section in the USDA factbook - you'll note that people are eating less fat but are eating more calories (thanks to eating too much refined grains, for example).
Here is an abstract on the longest (that I have heard of) independent study of the Atkins diet. Note that they are only evaluating his weight loss claims, not the other nonsense he published("fatigue, irritability, depression, trouble concentrating, headaches, insomnia, dizziness, joint and muscle aches, heartburn, colitis, premenstrual syndrome, and water retention and bloating"). When I call bullshit, i'm not just talking about the weight loss. If that statement doesn't make your snake-oil detector go nuts, I have a bridge I want to sell you
The conclusion of the study is that, in the long term, the Atkins diet is no better than traditional diet methods (high-carb, low-fat). People lost roughly the same amount of weight after 12 months and both studies had high attrition rates.
In fact, the chief researcher of this study (Gary Foster of the University of Pennsylvania) is quoted as saying the Atkins diet "gives people a framework to eat fewer calories, since most of the choices in this culture are carbohydrate driven." Basically, it's a low cal diet in disguise.
Also, please save your anecdotes. I lost weight by cutting calories, increasing my BMR through weight training, and lots of exercise, but I certainly can't prove that, least of all to you, because for all you know there were other factors I am mis-reporting or I could be simply lying. For all I know you lost much of the weight by taking a walk every night. Or perhaps you lost 40% muscle mass along with that weight. And perhaps one of us is going to gain all the weight back and then some in the future. My fiance lost 20 pounds eating nothing but animal crackers, fruits, and vegetables, but that's hardly healthy and worth promoting. Show me some long term studies (at least link to the abstracts) or don't bother.
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
You want to reduce stress in the workplace? Why not start by not giving your employees twelve hour work days?
That's what happens when people fight against unionization and legislation to protect workers. Businesses will use a bad economy and high unemployment as a tool to extort more hours out of the employees while reducing benefits and freezing, or even cutting, wages. When they manage to completely burn out a worker, they just fire the worker and replace him/her from the huge pool of unemployed people whe are desperate for work. If they can't get U.S. workers to put in 12 hours per day or work 7 day work weeks, then they will import H1-B or L-1 visa workers to replace the U.S. workers. Or they may even fire the entire U.S. staff and send the work to India, Pakistan, or some other second or third world nation.
Unregulated capitalism sucks. It makes the wealthy wealthier while driving down the standard of living for those not in the upper echelons of the pay scale. If companies get more hours from existing workers, then that's fewer workers that they have to hire. Fewer workers means more unemployment. More unemployment means more desperate people willing to accept crappy working conditions and long hours at low pay rates. More unemployment also means less consumer spending. Less consumer spending means less demand for goods. Less demand for goods means layoffs. Layoffs means higher unemployment and, predictably, lower wages. Lower wages means less taxes collected while high-unemployment means more government spending on the unemployed. It's a vicious cycle.
If Bush was truly interested in "creating jobs", he would be pushing for limits to the work week rather than giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy CEOs who are exploiting U.S. workers and outsourcing U.S. jobs to foreign nationals.
I wasn't sleeping, that was meditation...zzzzzzzzz
Zen Buddhism is very simple and in its pure form has no dogma. It says: sit down and just watch your breath. That's it. Just really watch your breath and see what happens. You have permission to come to your own conclusions after that. I once stayed at a Zen Monastery and all the monks _refused_ to become my gurus; they would just keep saying "follow your own breath and find out for yourself".
I need my anger.
It drives me and it defines me. It makes me who I am.
I work for you under this guise of subjucation, but only as a last resort, and only for a time.
I do not like you; I do not want to be around you; I do not give a crap about your business success; I do not want you to succeed at the expense of those less fortunate than yourself.
I am not ruled by my anger; I AM angry; that is what I am.
I have drive; I have passion; I have conviction.
I will overcome.
... as a manager I often roam around the office, dim the lights and have the employees repeat my mantra "Work you idle bastards! Work!!" Admittedly, sometimes it doesn't seem to increase productivity a stitch. So I'll vary my routine by storming off to the local bar where I do breathing excercises and repeat my other mantra, "Barkeep! Another gin!", until I attain oneness with the Universe. So, yeah, there's a place for yoga in the workplace.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
And job tension is directly tied to a lack of productivity and loss of competitive edge.
I thought that was hunger! Isn't Snickers the cure?
My boss buys us Hockers. This not only makes me look forward to work, but I hardley wank off in the loo any more.
You see, I have been working in a rather stressful environment. One in which I am certain is an exception to the rule in the Profession of IT. My bosses seem to have very little technical skill, no leadership skill and no skill at facilitating a team. Hmmm, actually it is fair to say we have an unorganized group of bewildered "lost souls" but definitely not a team. This inept management goes up to the top and attempting to fix it results in snotty attitudes and denials (facts not being relevant when confronted by ego).
Small children laugh at our disorganization and the other day a group of child raping murderers shook their heads in disbelief at our lack of ethics. We use our morale to act as a stabilizing layer that our building's foundation rests gently upon and the community often leaves boxes of compasses and sextants outside our doors in hopes of helping us find direction.
Now, my solution to this... is this yoga? Well, I quit and started up my own company and besides the pride I can take in my work now I have actually already made twice my salary this year. I certainly feel better, so is that yoga?
Seems a lot of westerners don't have a very good idea of what meditation is or what it is meant to achieve.
First off, the article does not say anything remotely like "enforced yoga". The article mentions free classes in many instances, but nowhere does it suggest that employees are forced to engage in any sort of yoga, be it a class or daily participation. So, that basically turns the second half of your post into a strawman argument. You said "Enforced yoga, meditation and feng-shui is childish, silly and new-age clap-trap...", ironically, it is your own words that I find to be childish and silly.
The article also does not suggest in any way that employers should be absolved of the responsibility of treating their employees well, so I don't see how the first half of your point adds anything to the discussion.
It's amazing to me sometimes the comments that get modded up.
You said "...replacing sound management policies by yoga..."
The article in no way suggests that the other practices you recommend be replaced.
Free on the job training of any practical sort is beneficial. Unlike childcare, you can take the benefits of your training with you when you leave your job.
"If I want yoga classes, I'll pay for them out of my own pocket, thank you very much..." How about this, if I want childcare, I'll pay for it out of my own pocket. I don't see that as a very convincing argument.
Because that practice may end with too many employees eventually working zero hour workdays? (As in layed off?) I think you need to know more specifics on this particular situation in order to adequately support your conjecture.
I'm not saying twelve hour workdays are always a good thing, but I had a job where I worked three 13 hour shifts in a row, had one day off, worked three more 13's and then had a week off. That's every other week off. Personally it was hands down the best work schedule I've ever had.
BUT!!!!!
It ain't gonna save them software jobs from being thrown over to India.
"The cup... the drop... it's a YES!"
Trust me, the last thing those people need to do is "empty their minds". Quite the opposite.
Ade_
/
Big Bubbles (no troubles) - what sucks, who sucks and you suck
The principles that the parent to your post said still apply.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
.... most /.ers think that /.ers are devoided of any personal relationships.
Fucking stereotypes...
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I believed more less the same until I could not visit a Budhist temple in Thailand because my partner was menstruating.
...
When was the last time the Dalai Lama was a woman?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Is he the police?
Do you live in a police state where you should report your peers to the Authorities? That was cool in the Democratic German Republic or the USSR.
If smoking pot does not hurt the bottom line, is any of your business as a boss to nanny its employees?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I would like to see em try 15 minutes of Slashdot, to return harmony.
Always works for me.
"then they will import H1-B or L-1 visa workers to replace the U.S. workers. Or they may even fire the entire U.S. staff and send the work to India, Pakistan, or some other second or third world nation."
If they can do the job better, there is no problem at all. I've actually met some of these H1-B workers. They seem to be unusually dedicated, hard working, and conscientious. The country can only gain by having their contributions.
I must reply, really I feel compelled.
It may be mainly true that people who follow the Atkins diet lose weight because they're eating fewer calories.
But I see you've missed the point. For the right person, following the Atkins diet changes you profoundly. You no longer crave carbohydrates. Really. It's true. If you experienced otherwise, then 1, you never tried it, 2 you didn't do it right or 3, you don't really have a problem with hyperinsulism, and the attending wildly fluctuating blood sugar levels. Number 3 there, that's the point in case you missed it.
And no shit, I'm less prone to depression, have more energy and less joint pain. I've been "doing Atkins" roughly 3 out of 4 weeks for over a year, and have lost 60 pounds. And I *never* have felt like I was starved. When I get off the sugar wagon for a few days I feel lousy and wonder why I ever did.
Well.. that's not really what the study says. It doesn't say "The Atkins Diet doesn't work," (nor does it say that it does work) it says very few people could stick with it, and when that happens you get the same results as with any other diet: Go back to step 1.
The biggest point to remember when starting any diet: You MUST be able to enjoy the food that you eat on the diet. Otherwise you'll likely be unable to stay with the diet, and you'll end up where you started.