Building resilience at work with meditation

Stress can narrow one’s perspective and reduce empathy, negatively impacting performance, meditation on the other hand can help boost one’s mood & increase their sense of connection to others, even make them kinder and a more compassionate person.

And that’s true. 

Through this blog, I want to share my experience with meditation sessions that I had in Srijan from the dawn of this year (which was also my personal goal). 

In the aftermath of lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic, co-workers at my workplace like many others were noticeably affected and distracted. The sudden lockdown at home and the blurred boundaries of work and life were stressful. 

It was then that Rahul Dewan (or RD, as we fondly call him) decided to bring in meditation sessions to assist people to sit silently for at least 20 minutes a day.  

Research also shows that our minds have a tendency to wander about 50% of the time. Add in work interruptions, text messages, phone calls, and emails, and it’s no surprise that just like me, my co-workers also faced a hard time staying focused.  

Studies have shown that meditation training can help curb our tendency for distraction, strengthening our ability to stay focused, and even boosting one's memory.

And perhaps that is why the sessions by RD received a warm response as people really needed an outlet for peace. When the sessions were over, people who had never meditated before, said they were filled with a sense of calm. It helped them be more present at work and even carried forth to being more present with their families at home.

It is not unknown that we come up with our greatest insights and biggest breakthroughs when we are in a more meditative and relaxed state of mind. That is when we have “eureka” moments. Meditation encourages such divergent thinking (i.e. coming up with the greatest number of possible solutions to a problem), a key component of creativity. 

I attribute my ability to working with a relaxed mind to the meditation practice.

As a regular with sessions, I noticed these changes - which happened both at a conscious and subconscious level - and to my surprise, this was not even my intention when I started.

My initial expectation was to reach a level of the state where I could immerse myself in deep meditation. All of the below changes happened as a by-product of me getting regular with my meditation schedule. The changes that I noticed were:

1. I was working in a sleep-deprived mode for almost a year before my sessions. So much that it affected my sleep quality. I believe it was a result of rising work pressure and my habit of overthinking. Within a week of the regular practice of meditation, I was able to conquer and sleep peacefully. And this is not a gimmick.
2. I have started experiencing a state of calmness in certain situations where I had felt vulnerable previously
3. I sleep with a smile on my face now and I get up in the morning when the alarm rings. In the truest sense, it is an overwhelming sense of exulting.
4. Insecurities have taken a backseat. I think it would be more apt to say that meditation brings in some level of positivity.

I wanted to share my story because I feel grateful. 

How this habit got inculcated from the day I started this journey to this time when I mastered to become a regular, it all started here in Srijan. I can't be more thankful for the efforts taken by the leaders. I have shared this experience not only within Srijan but with the people with whom I had shared any convivial moments so that the joy could be spread to a large extent.

With all of these changes starting to surface in my life, I started reading more about the practice and I see meditation in a different light now. More on this later as I have a long way to put these in better words. 

My next goal has started taking shape. I have been longing enough to pull myself up physically too but affording to go outside and spend time in a gym, seems like a luxury at this point in time. 

I'm now dwelling on the thoughts of starting Yoga and I have started believing that with my given lifestyle, ab toh yoga se hi hoga, varna kabhi nah hoga :D