The office can be a place of exciting potential, great collaboration and focused productivity but what if you experience mental stress, physical tension and political relationships with your colleagues? Corporate wellness programs demonstrate that we can be conditioned by our environments which affect our mood, thought patterns, and energy levels depending on what our emotional connection to the setting is. If we love where we work we feel inspired, uplifted and enthusiastic, however if we have a negative emotion attached to work, feeling stuck, feeling upset, feeling forced to be there then our inner experience is the contrary, we battle with ourselves getting to our desks and feel that the job depletes our energy, puts us in a bad mood and causes anxiety.
Yoga philosophy states that our outer world reflects our inner worlds if we are carrying toxicity in our minds with unhealthy thoughts and hurtful feelings this is what will transpire in our roles and relationships outside. Through meditation, we can witness the quality of thoughts and select those that are healthy and choose to disembark the trains of thoughts leading to conflict. By empowering our thought process we become more content with ourselves and in a better position to help others, bringing in a deeper purpose to our identity.
There is no denying that our external environment plays a role in determining our psychological experience, so why not empower positive changes at the workplace and observe the world of a difference it makes to your frame of mind.
- Indoor plants: green for the eyes and calming for the mind, nurturing plants and surrounding yourself with nature helps to restore your vitality with cleaner more oxygen-rich air which is necessary for critical thinking
- Stay hydrated: Often when we are tired and lethargic we are actually dehydrated, having a big bottle of water by your next will remind you to keep balanced and energetic during the day
- Stretch: Tension accumulates when we are fixed in one position for a long time, some gentle neck, shoulder and back mobilization will keep occupational tension at bay
- Stay away from sugary snacks: This will cause a spike in your sugar levels and energy followed by a much larger low, causing a cycle of addition and a sense of depletion
- Take a break where you walk around: ‘sitting is the new smoking’ in the wellness it’s not how long you walk for its that you are doing it frequently, every hour give your self 5 mins to move it will do wonders to your productivity as your brain becomes much more efficient with physical activity
- Have more in-person meetings that continuous email exchanges: Having a discussion face to face is much more effective to idea generation and collaboration, sustaining email threads going back and forth can cause you to lose the momentum that a conversation can achieve
- Breathe Long slow deep breaths before you respond to emotionally charged communication will result in a more calm and rational response and thereby stopping any escalation of disagreements and creating healthier office relationships
- Get a smoothie instead of a coffee: Caffeine produces an adrenaline rush, that’s why you get that ‘kick’ from your morning joe, but a dependence of this means you sustain physical periods of high-stress environments on a daily basis leading to chronic stress and anxiety, wholesome choices will help to naturally restore your energy
- Connect with your colleagues on a personal level: Get to know what the person sitting next to you experiences in their family life, where they are from and what their aspirations are. When we see each other as real people rather than job description is gives us a better sense of social inclusion which contributes to our job satisfaction
- Try a standing desk: This is becoming very popular to relieve lower back compression from being hunched over a chair all day, however it is important that you first learn proper grounding techniques so that your legs are prepared to bear your weight for prolonged periods in good alignment
Here’s to a workspace that you enjoy spending time in, to positively make a difference and inspire healthy habits in the office!
