Meditation at Google (SIYLI)

When it comes to pushing buttons .. well, I am the parent of a teenager,

need I say any more?

  

Button pushing is a fine art that our kids often perfect ..  well before we realise what has happened.  Quite naturally when we live or work closely with others, we subconsciously pick up on subtle (and not so subtle) ways of gently triggering responses - positive and negative.

  

A regular meditation practice can assist us in observing our habitual reactions, and teach us a little about self-regulation.  The ability to see that our 'button has been pushed', to observe the physical and emotional manifestation of that event, to pause and take a breath before consciously deciding on our reaction or action - is a wonderful tool to have in our life tool box.  The tell-tale signs of having your buttons pushed might include:

  

Feeling it in the body

you might stop breathing, or feel 'winded', or notice a rapid heartbeat

  

Being flooded with emotion

a desire to run and hide, or push back forcefully .. the fight-or-flight response is often primal and rapid

  

Noticing thoughts

rapid runaway unfocused thinking, elements of negative-speak, self blame or judgement, or feeling the victim.

  

This week I am in Sydney attending the SIYLI (Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute) program .. based on the book Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan, who introduced mindfulness meditation course to the Google empire.  As an engineer by training, Meng brings a different perspective to meditation, introducing ancient concepts through a highly analytical and scientific lens - with a focus on the benefits of meditation for developing and strengthening emotional intelligence .. which can lead to improved work performance and leadership. 

  

In the chapter titled Riding Your Emotions Like a Horse, Meng introduces us to a practice called the Siberian North Railroad for dealing with those times when our buttons are pushed.  The practice has five steps:

  

1. STOP: once you notice that you have been triggered just stop.  Pausing at the onset is a powerful and important skill, a momentary pause in life before acting or reacting.

  

2. BREATHE:  by focusing our mind on our breath we reinforce that pause, and by taking a conscious breath, especially a deep slow one, we have the power to calm the body and mind.

  

3. NOTICE: notice where you feel the tensions and bring your awareness back into your body.  What do you feel? Where do you feel it? We are learning to apply mindfulness by experiencing it moment-to-moment without judgement.  If you are angry be interested in where you experience anger in your body.

  

4. REFLECT: where is the emotion coming from? Is there a story behind it? Trying not to judge whether the emotion is right or wrong, just noticing what may be 'behind' the reaction you are experiencing.

  

5. RESPOND: Consider a positive outcome driven response.  You may not actually have to do it - but image what the kindest, most positive action could be to take.  Visualising what would be the best and most positive response can be empowering and change the way you feel about the whole event.

  

In our seated meditation practice we might also take some of these steps onto the cushion.  If you find a particularly 'loud' thought or emotion keeps distracting you or calling for your attention, you may choose to just 'sit' with that thought or emotion for a moment - just stop, breathe, notice and reflect - and then return to your practice.  

  

SiBerian North RailRoad 

Stop - Breathe - Notice - Reflect - Respond 

  

"This book and the course it's based on represent one of the greatest aspects of Google's culture - that one individual with a great idea can really change the world"

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google

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Email Apnea and Mindfulness

Over the weekend .. once the washing was done and the house duties sorted .. I gave myself a treat .. diving into one of my new books (see what was inside my Amazon box).

I am eager to finish reading Thrive, the #1 New York Times Bestseller by Arianna Huffington, before I head off to the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) two day course in Sydney at the end of the month.  

[What is the SIYLI? The mind is the root of all things. SIY provides evidence-based practices to grow in self-mastery. It’s about navigating our opportunities and challenges with more resilience, more engagement, and more happiness. It’s about living and leading fully... Our secret sauce is a ground-breaking pairing of Emotional Intelligence, Neuroscience, and Mindfulness toward leadership capacity].

And today I learnt about "email apnea", a term coined by Linda Stone who worked on emerging technologies at both Apple and Microsoft in the 1980's and 90's.

What is email apnea?

Linda found that when reading her email she would hold her breath for short bursts of time.  She later conducted a study to find out if others experienced the same thing .. and found that 80% of those examined also had periods of 'email apnea'.

As Thrive outlines, and I am a constant teacher of .. "disrupting your body's breathing pattern can knock your body's balance of oxygen, nitric oxide, and carbon dioxide out of whack, which can, in turn, play a part in exacerbating stress-related conditions".

And, what to do if email apnea strikes?

Practice mindfulness

By becoming aware of our breath .. in meditation, when reading emails and in general daily life .. we step out of automatic pilot living and reconnect with the world around and within us.

And perfectly timed, this week there was also an article in the Washington Post featuring one of my favourite meditation teachers, Sharon Salzberg; You’re missing out on your experiences. A meditation expert explains how to live in the moment.

Sharon is a New York Times best selling author, a teacher of meditation and mindfulness and one of the co-founders of the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts. 

Question: OK, mindfulness seems to be all the rage right now, but why do it? Why meditate? Why be mindful? What does that do for us?

Salzberg: "Mindfulness has a lot of benefits. 

One is simply connecting with our lives as we live them

If you drink your coffee while reading your paper, and checking your emails, with the TV on, that can lead to you feeling perpetually disconnected and unfulfilled. You may think, you need to get different coffee, or grind it differently, and that would make you feel more satisfied, instead of realizing, ‘Maybe the first step is really actually inhabiting our life and really connecting to it every once in awhile.’ 

Sometimes, just drink the cup of coffee and experience it fully

So, are you living too much on 'auto-pilot' .. do you suffer from email apnea? .. can you just drink the cup of coffee and experience it fully?

LinkedIn .. want to link up?

Are you on LinkedIn?

I set up my profile some time ago but I have not nourished it nearly enough. So this morning I spent a few minutes (over my coffee) getting reaquainted and making a few new friends. 

This last month I have seen a huge increase in corporate inquiries about bringing meditation into the workplace .. just this month alone, I have two five week onsite programs running and two workshops.

Most of my private meditation sessions are also with stressed out executives who have come to realise that 'enough is enough' and stress, overwhelm and anxiety are health issues that can be self managed through meditation, and relaxation practices.  

If you have a work issue - you sort it out!  If you have a stress issue - you sort it out!

You go to the gym for the health and wellbeing of your body .. what about your mind?

If you would like to be friends on LinkedIn you can find me here ..

About: Quiet Mind Meditation

(This is Part 2 of my journey with meditation .. Part 1 is here)

On Retreat  

After taking a deeply inspiring meditation and yoga retreat in Bali, I came home with the conviction that I wanted to share my passion for meditation with others. 

So I eagerly jumped into a personal mission to find out how to best do that .. besides some workplace training, I had little actual experience in 'teaching'.

Onsite Meditation Classes

On July 26 I was invited to share meditation with the team at Mitre10 (Metcash) Australia as part of their Stress Down Day (a Lifeline initiative).

 

And what an amazing day!

 

The HR team had suggested a series of classes run across the day, so that as many of their team as possible were able to attend.  We ended up with six 'Introduction to Meditation' sessions so that participants could select the best time to attend; and I focussed on practices that would assist with self managing and reducing stress.

 

“Mitre 10 (Metcash) recognises that employee wellbeing can play a huge role in staff engagement, productivity and absenteeism. We are continuing to explore different ways of nurturing our employee’s wellbeing. Introducing employees to meditation is one way of recognising the impact of work stress on all of us and how as an employer, we can contribute to our employee’s wellbeing!” Human Resources

 

I felt the best place to start was with some powerful, practical and immediately beneficial Meditative Exercises .. exercises that are based on key elements of longer more traditional meditation practices.  They may only take a few minutes but their impact can be significant and measurable, and they provide an excellent starting point for those new to meditation.

 

Meditative Exercises empower us to self manage our stress, quickly and easily, so we can shift from stressed ~ to calm ~ to relaxed; and then get on with our day refreshed and focussed.

 

Some feedback that I received this week ...

 

"I thought it was a terrific initiative. Very useful”

 

“I loved it!”

 

“The session was useful as there were a few different techniques that Sarah showed which I thought would be more effective and helpful in focussing better during meditation”

 

"business has become highly stressful from a work load point of view, anything we can do to help our people cope with this is worthwhile, congratulations to HR on this initiative”

 

“Great idea and effort for the company to arrange this for their staff, especially those new to meditation. Great job!”

 

and

 

“I was pleasantly surprised with how effective the techniques taught were. I did find myself feeling quite calm and relaxed after the session”

 

Do I not have the best possible job? 

 

Thank you everyone at Mitre10 for your enthusiasm and openness.  It is constantly inspiring to share meditation with others and witness their realisation that there exists within each of us a place of deep ease and calmness .. underneath the noise and mental chatter.

 

You can find out more about onsite meditation options at www.quietmindatwork.com.au or contact sarah@quietmind.com.au 

The Split-Screen

 

Truly excellent article by Arianna Huffington from The Huffington Post Media Group this week on LinkedIn (you can follow Arianna via groups).

 

The article provides an insight into the American ‘split-screen’ world where stressful work life and focus on the bottom line is meeting a growing awareness of the costs of stress, not just in the health and wellbeing of business leaders and their team, but ultimately the company bottom line as well.