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"."

Comments

Lay off the coffee

[gilesjuk]

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 :)

Buddhism

[Cally]

Buddhism rocks - but silently ;)

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 :)

Here, in Switzerland we prefer sport

[mirko]

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.

Re:What a lot of Nonsense

[Surak]

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.

As someone who meditates on a daily basis, I wholeheartedly disagree. 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. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

Re:What a lot of Nonsense

[Surak]

The only thing I can say in response to that is if it didn't work for you, you're not doing it right. ;) (I'm sure you've heard this before. Most people I tell this to in response to what you've said say the same thing ;)

There is plenty of actual, hard scientific evidence that points to both physical and mental health benefits to meditation. Here are some useful meditation resources that I've found to be helpful.

Re:What a lot of Nonsense

[Surak]

Yeah, but unlike your six pack, meditation has actual physical and mental health benefits, which your six pack causes actual physical and mental harm. That's the difference. ;)

Re:Buddhism IS a religion, but without dogmas.

[notany]

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

Don't confuse Yoga with Buddhism.

[obnoximoron]

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