Restorative Mindfulness Practices for Challenging Times

The way we live and the way we work are crucial to our health and happiness. We spend almost half of our life working, striving for excellence amidst ever increasing demands and expectations. 2020 has brought on disruptions and unprecedented challenges.

The global pandemic has led to sudden changes in our personal and work life. Many have experienced anxiety due to the loss of connections, of known routines, the stress of uncertainty, and the added complexities of working from home: new communication platforms, ubiquitous connectivity, constant change, and no downtime.

In these challenging times, more than ever, whether we work in an office building or from home, we need to reclaim a sense of enjoyment, fulfillment, and wellbeing in our work lives, by including a mindfulness practice in our daily routine.

Over the last decades, compelling medical evidence has shown that mindfulness, which is rooted in ancient Buddhism, improves our ability to focus and sustain concentration; our emotional intelligence; and our response to stress, anxiety, uncertainty, and adverse events.

This workshop material draws from ancient wisdom, as well as modern medical research, offering an array of practices suitable for our evolving work environment.

It covers mindfulness meditation practices for dealing with the stress caused by constant changes and great unknowns, and practices for pausing, gaining perspective, and nourishing joy and wellbeing.

Topics

• The Miracle of Mindfulness: brief overview of medical research on the benefits of mindfulness.
• Basic mindfulness. Awareness of breath. Walking meditation.
• Cultivating Equanimity in challenging times. Being with what is. Impermanence. Letting go.
• Working with difficult emotions. Mindfulness of body, feelings, and mind. Relaxation methods.
• Nourishing practices: self compassion, loving kindness, mindful speech. Practical applications in the work environment.