Can Yoga Help Workplace Stress & Anxiety?

With the often relentless pace at work, it’s sometimes difficult to carve out even a half-hour for lunch. Stepping away for 20-30 minutes to have a bite to eat, stretch my legs, and just get away from the workplace energy for a little while can be helpful in reducing those feelings of stress and anxiety that slowly surround me like a misty fog.

So when I read about this study that included guided workplace yoga and meditation to help with stress relief, my first thought was, “Where do I sign up?”, although I’m unsure that anyone wants to see me in full downward facing dog while wearing my Dockers.

I’ve written before about the benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy, most notably here and here. Conceptually, being able to recognize and be aware of your stressful, anxious state is the first step toward doing something about it. Over time, I learned breathing and relaxation techniques that can be put into use in just about any situation, at any time, the result being a more relaxed, unstressed version of me.

The study, conducted at the Ohio State University here in Columbus, was specifically designed for office worker types wearing business apparel, and involved an hour meeting once a week during lunch, plus 20 minutes per day of yoga and meditation performed at the subject’s desks. The results were impressive:

Mindful attention awareness increased significantly and perceived stress decreased significantly among the intervention group when compared to the control group’s responses. Overall sleep quality increased in both groups, but three of seven components of sleep were more affected in the intervention group.

On average, mindfulness increased by about 9.7 percent and perceived stress decreased by about 11 percent among the group that experienced the intervention. These participants also reported that it took them less time to fall asleep, they had fewer sleep disturbances and they experienced less daytime dysfunction than did members of the non-intervention group.

Two things jump out at me from this study – one, that simply being exposed to the concept of mindfulness, becoming aware of what you are feeling and why, is enormously beneficial. Secondly, there is an amazing sense of empowerment that comes from having effective tools, like yoga and meditation, to help address the stress and anxiety, and feeling better even a little bit can help spur you on, which can lead to even more effective results.

If you would like to know more about the study, you can read the full details at Anxiety Insights. Go forth and unwind those tight muscles and loosen that tense mind!

CNN Discovers Mindfulness

You know that eastern practices are becoming more mainstream when CNN starts reporting on them. Heck, I would expect Glenn Beck to begin railing against yoga and meditation now, as both exercises clearly discriminate against the mindless hordes.

All political humor aside, the mere fact that the concept of mindfulness is catching on in these odd and confusing times shows that perhaps the philosophy of quick fixes and pharmaceutical intervention is becoming antiquated as the populace discovers that much like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, they had the power all along.

I’ve written about mindfulness here, here, and here, and the longer I practice, the more beneficial it becomes. Certainly, attaining a mindful state isn’t something that happens quickly, or easily. Thoughts and feelings intrude incessantly at the beginning, and it can be difficult to push the head full of busy out of the way and refocus.

But the mere act of recognizing a lack of focus and the presence of intruding chatter and chaos is itself therapeutic, as it helps to frame the amount of noise with which we’re normally dealing and provides a sense of empowerment and calm when we begin to have success at reducing the bedlam to white noise.

The CNN article discusses various “mindfulness” techniques as solutions for stress-busting, but that’s become a sort of catch-all, a default description for anything that helps someone to slow down and feel better. Breathing exercises, stretching, yoga – all are part of plucking yourself out of the rat race and pushing the reboot button to reset your level of tension and anxiety.

Think of your muscles, mind, and body as a rubber band. Visualize that rubber band being stretched when you’re stressed and tense, and then watch it as it grows slack, returning to its natural state. Over time, this rubber band continues to stretch, growing tense, but often fails to fully return to its original loose form due to the underlying tension that never quite goes completely away.

Therefore, our rubber bands end up being partially stretched at all times, so when we do relax, we don’t do it in the manner that we did before – we only return part of the way to a non-stretched condition.

Practicing mindfulness and stress-reduction helps us take that rubber band and relax it the rest of the way, so that it’s both easier to notice the disparity between the stressed and non-stressed self, but also to fully grow limp from an emotional, physical, and spiritual perspective.

I’ve actually seen great benefit to proactive mindfulness – doing a bit of deep breathing and mind-clearing prior to entering meetings or situations that are typically stressful, so that I’m much more relaxed at the beginning and my stress thermometer is starting from a much lower reading.

Mindfulness – catch it!

Mindfulness training busts stress , via CNN

Meditation Helping Troubled Veterans

The Seattle Times details a new “mindfulness-based stress reduction” therapy for veterans experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Once thought to be applicable only to hippie freaks and David Carradine fans, meditation and mindfulness are rapidly becoming the go-to tool for therapists as they search for ways to assist soldiers and sailors who have been witness to unspeakable havoc and human destruction.

Mindfulness treatment asks participants to be aware of their thoughts and physical pain without judgment. It’s easy to stew over negative thoughts, which can cause more stress and frustration.

By simply pausing to pay attention, people can notice patterns in their thinking and put thoughts into perspective to improve their lives. Deep breathing, meditation and yoga help with this process.

Scientific studies have shown the technique can help patients with a range of issues, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain and rheumatoid arthritis. Kearney hopes to add PTSD to that list.

“I quickly found that people with PTSD sought out the class to find additional ways of dealing with this problem,” he said. “We’ve had many patients report to us the ability to be present in the actual moment helped their PTSD.”

Learning about the Buddhist concept of mindfulness and how meditation can be used to facilitate the mindful state was enormously beneficial to me when I began to grapple with my anxiety disorder. The easiest way to explain it is that the combination of mindfulness and meditation gives my fears a “time-out” where, for that period of time, I’m in charge of my thoughts and emotions. By forcing myself to use my mind in a reasoned, practical, intellectual manner, I’m effectively disabling the runaway thought processes that often lead to the anxiety reactions and behaviors.

I’ve never had much use for the formalized exercises or chanting that often accompany meditation, but repeating key phrases and/or vocalizing my emotional state while clearing my brain of extraneous thoughts has evolved through practice and is now an essential part of my coping mechanism toolbox.

Kudos to the VA Puget Sound Health Care System for their innovative approach to helping our vets.

Seattle hospital teaches meditation to troubled vets

Panic Attacks for Meditation

Here’s an interesting concept – using panic attacks for meditation purposes. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche discusses the classic Buddhist concept of embracing the feeling, understanding it, letting it pass through you, rather than fighting it. It’s a tall order – becoming friends with your anxiety – but worth the effort.

h/t FullContactEnlightenment.com

One Minute Meditation

This a nice little 1-minute exercise to clear your mind and push your reset button. I haven’t followed Stacey Mayo’s request to join her Stillness Experiment, but feel free if you’re interested.

Anxious Kids and Meditation

Canada.com has an article posted that explores the benefits of meditation when it comes to children.

I’ve been a parent for a very, very long time, and I’ve often found it challenging to corral my kids long enough for lunch, let alone meditation. But I digress.

There’s no doubt that being a kid today differs significantly from growing up in different eras, such as me growing up in the 60s. The world is a much different place, from amount (and avenues) of stimulation to peer pressure to the ever-changing structure of the family.

Looking back at my youth, most of my stress and feelings of pressure were generated in one of three places – school (grades), family issues, and social situations. There was a lot of interplay between them, and as I look at my kids today, there isn’t a lot of difference (in my mind, anyway) in where they see their stress sources. Obviously, social pressures are probably more exacerbated today, but it could be safely ventured that with the advent of online communities and social media sites, finding others with similar interests and issues is easier than ever before. It’s much more difficult now to feel like you’re the only one who is experiencing something.

Nowhere within formal education is coping with anxiety and stress championed or instructed. Many times it’s up to guidance counselors and school psychologists / behavioralists to act on referrals from teachers or parents to engage with a student exhibiting the signs of anxiety. That’s not an optimal model, but it’s better than nothing. However, it can often occur well after the child has been floundering.

One of the things that meditation offers is the ability for kids to disconnect from the world for awhile in a controlled, peaceful manner. It’s unusual to see a child today who isn’t on a cell phone or hand-held game, plugged into an iPod, or otherwise on the receiving end of a constant barrage of stimulus. Having an opportunity to carve out time for reflection and self-awareness is hugely important, especially for teens, who are undergoing so much change that it’s easy to be confused about who you are and where you fit. Learning to be introspective, while time-consuming and a lengthy process, can be enormously beneficial.

Helping kids calm down is something we can all support. Meditation is one way to accomplish that goal.

Meditation helps kids with anxiety