Embrace Mindfulness At Work. Is Your Organisation Ready?

Do you think your business could survive without the health and wellbeing of your people? 

I am a strong believer that healthy people are productive people. I can talk about this personally and I know a lot of people agree, that without your health you are very limited. I know what it is like to work in a busy senior role being pulled in all directions, not only does this wear you down, it drains your energy and leads to exhaustion. Add family and personal commitments to this equation and it is clear to see that we are stretching ourselves too much. Life is stressful, so how do we manage this at both the individual and commercial level? And how do you ensure that 'stress' does't damage your business. 

In today’s society, health and wellbeing includes; physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. We are all working harder than ever and stress is common in the workplace. The focus on increased productivity, higher performance, longer working hours and expectations around personal availability, means we are placing ourselves and our businesses at risk if we are not managing wellbeing in its entirety.   

Could mindfulness at work be the answer? If so, how do you embrace it in your business? 

Increased mindfulness can help in the fight against stress at work. Mindfulness has helped me manage stress better, it has increased my awareness, made me more productive, more resilient, have greater clarity and focus and decision making ability. It has also empowered me to look after myself and my needs which assists my own stress management. Basically it has given me the tools to support my own wellbeing. Yes, I still get stressed, I still get angry and I still get upset, but I manage it better and I get over it faster so I move on rather than staying stressed.  

The potential of mindfulness at work is vast, it means that you can have a team of individuals who can manage themselves and be resilient to stress. Mindfulness is a practice of the ‘self’ and therefore, having employees helping themselves, will in turn help your business be healthy and sustainable.   

Below are a few practical ways that you can introduce mindfulness into your business or team: 

1. Bring mindfulness to the forefront in your health and wellbeing strategy. Create a mindfulness program in your business, this could be; regular meditation and yoga classes or create a quiet space at work. In my corporate classes, I attract 20-30 people for yoga classes and 10-20 people per meditation classes. 
2. Set up an information session on mindfulness so that your people can be educated on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. Earlier this year I was working with another yoga teacher and ran a ‘mindfulness and meditation’ information session within financial services, over 80 people attended (out of an office of 800), so people are genuinely interested. 
3. Introduce mindfulness through wellbeing forums, blogs or company newsletters to keep the communication channel to employees open on this topic. Start a online wellbeing portal so employees can access information or see class schedules.     
4. Run pilot classes (yoga and meditation) in your business to see the appetite for mindfulness practices. You will get different people attending meditation to yoga, so if you offer both you are meeting the wellbeing of a range of people. The great thing about running meditation classes is they are short (30 minutes), people don’t need to get changed and the feedback from people is that it makes them more productive in the afternoons.  
5. Utilise internal programs to promote wellbeing such as; graduate programs, leadership development programs, induction and team building workshops. These are all good places to educate your team on mindful tools and techniques that they can use everyday to minimise stress and enhance their wellbeing. 

How to get results from mindfulness programs at work? 

• Make your program inclusive, make it open and invite everyone. However also make it optional and not compulsory, not everyone is interested, but as an business you can make it available to your people. People are curious about mindfulness and the impact that it will have on their wellbeing. 

• Set up a structured communications and marketing plan to run the information sessions and class schedule. Include emails, flyers, promote through corporate newsletters and regular communication channels. 

• Run your programs in 4-6 week blocks. I like to run meditation and yoga classes in 4-6 week cycles, which also allows for you to monitor your program and keep improving your program and adjust according to other business priorities / activities.  

• Facilitate mindfulness through your Workplace Health and Safety Team, communications team and if you have yoga teachers working in your business leverage their skills to support the organisations wellbeing. Utilise internal capability as much as possible. 

• Make mindfulness programs a benefit to your people. Make it part of your employer brand and how you assist your people in looking after themselves as well as giving them the support to deliver superior performance. 

You are managing humans at work and humans needs to look after their wellbeing. The intensity of work is causing health concerns physically, emotionally, mentally and psychologically and is a big risk to individuals and businesses going forward. It’s a good time to ask yourself, are you equipped to manage the wellbeing of your people? 

For further information or to speak to me about mindfulness at work contact kate.yogabella@gmail.com. 

Change Your Focus, Change Your Life

'One of the biggest lessons I have learnt in my life is to focus on myself and worry less about what others think. It's what I think of myself that matters the most!' Kate Zourkas

Modern lives can be overwhelming and we can lose focus easily. Since becoming a yoga teacher I feel that my focus has changed for the better and I have written 6 ways in which you can change your own focus and as a result change your life.   

These are simple techniques that you can do every day. It is through being aware and taking accountability for your focus, where you will see the most benefit.  In life, we all have choices and it is incredibly empowering when you make the decision to take ownership of your choices and decisions, it is easier to abdicate responsibility and blame others but when you take charge of your life, you will change your life.

Focus on the positive.

This is an ‘oldie but a goodie’ and will change your life. There is so much going on in our lives now and in the world that you do need to make an effort to be positive. You do have a choice as the moment you choose to focus on the positive rather than the negative your life will change.  What goes on in your head matters, what you choose to think about you attract, so with this law in mind I know I choose to think positively. I have found that positive affirmations and setting intentions really help with creating a positive mindset.    

Focus on yourself, not others.

Growing up, I always looked outside myself and compared myself to others. I wanted a new car because someone else had one or I wanted a promotion because my friend just got one, however this never seemed to make me happy. I made the decision to focus on myself and what I want out of life and my life changed to reflect my focus areas. In fact, I became the leader of my life, rather than the follower.

Do not focus on others as a benchmark to your life, they have their own lessons to learn. Set your own goals, know your strengths and trust that you are where you are meant to be in life. Don't compare to others, use yourself as your own benchmark. Life will get a lot simpler when you focus on yourself as there are fewer distractions. When you stop focusing on everyone else, you create space to focus on you and your needs. It doesn't matter what anyone else think. Work out what you want out of life and go for it!

Be mindful and aware of your own life.

Be more present in your own life. Stress and worry is common in society, so knowing how to manage it so that you don’t engage in stress will have a positive impact on your life. Stress takes up too much space in your life and practicing mindfulness through meditation, quiet time or journaling will be positive changes into your life. Being more mindful will help you manage your mind better, you will be able to flow through situations better without getting caught up in the stress of it.  If you want to learn more about mindfulness view my blog on 'Mindfulness and Meditation, My Personal Return on Investment.

Invest in yourself.

I started to look at myself as an investment. This can be done so many ways, look at anything you do for yourself and your development as an investment. It can be a financial investment, time investment, a reward, a celebration, a break. When you start seeing yourself as an investment, you see yourself differently. How you treat yourself matters the most, treat yourself like YOU are the biggest investment in your life. What will you start doing differently?  

Make your health and wellbeing is priority.

Your health and wellbeing is paramount in life. Everyone is different, so understand yourself and what you need to ensure you are managing your own wellness.  Nourish yourself and fuel your body and mind with nourishing food and thoughts. Look at your diet, water intake, nutrients and see if you need to make changes. Change your focus to your own health and wellbeing and change your life.  

Feed your soul!

Meditate and listen to your inner guidance. Are you doing what your love? What do you want to be known for? Get to know your inner world and connect with your true identity. Focus on what you want to create in life, meditate on it. Write it down and network with likeminded people. It will change your life. When you neglect what you want in life it will cause friction either inner friction when you know you are just not being true to yourself or friction with others because you are frustrated. Feed your soul, make the changes you need to make and see how your life will change.   

It is up to you to make a change if you want improvements in any area of your life; you have the power within you to create the life you want. What will your changes be?

Mindfulness for HR Professionals

The best HR professionals I know have an aurora of calm around them and a super power like ability to glide through even the most stressful or complex situations. So what do they do differently?  

In a word, they are mindful. 

I personally went into HR as I wanted to help people. In 2012, I became a yoga teacher.  Since then I have been able to add a lot more skills to my professional HR career. I have found that increased self awareness, removing my ego from professional situations and being more present in my role has led to better performance and better business relationships.   

As a HR professional, I know how hard it is to be mindful and present all the time. Most of the time it feels like you are caught between a rock and a hard place. The increase in work intensity and rising pressures of modern life have made me think about the importance of mindfulness in HR and how now more than ever, we need to bring mindfulness in our lives and corporate lives as much as possible. I have found the mindfulness is a super power for HR professionals and can easily by adopted by anyone at any level in their HR journey.  

So what's in it for you? 

Mindfulness has helped me further develop core HR skills; I have more self-confidence, better time management, better judgement and decision making skills, a more balanced and fair view of situations, I am more resilient, I am more productive, I have better business relationships and I have the ability to block out outside noise so that I can purely focus on my role and what I need to achieve.

I talk about mindfulness, yoga and meditation everyday, for me it has become a way of life. The best way I can explain the benefits is to list the benefits that I have  experienced first hand. These include:  

• More self-confidence, you value yourself more and are clearer on your strengths 
• Better focus and clarity
• Better productivity 
• Better decision making skills 
• More resilience, you are able to persevere without getting too attached or drained from the situation you are managing 
• Ability to observe, pause than react. I have learnt to observe and listen more and react less.  
• Better judgement and non-judgement (while judgement is a critical skill for HR, I have found that sometimes it's HR's role not to judge)
• Know when to get involved and when not to get involved 
• Understand yourself better and know what makes you happy. You make better choices that meet your needs
• Ability to be yourself and bring your whole self to work.  The lines have blurred between personal and professional, so it is really engaging to be able to bring your authentic self to work, this helps in building self-respect
• You stress less. I feel I need to repeat this one. You stress less as you are more present and worry less about the past or the future. 

What are three things you can do to be more mindful?

I have to admit that there are moments when I do get stressed in HR and I am a yoga teacher. Being aware of stress and the impact it has on me really helps me in my HR roles and I thank my focus on mindfulness for keeping me sane some days. Here are some tips to get you started: 

Self Kindness - Put yourself first. 

You are important too! As HR professionals you do put others first and it can be easily drain your energy when dealing with others. So you do need to put yourself first and ensure you are spending enough time reenergising yourself. The key point to remember is that you can't pour from an empty cup, so putting your needs first will help you deliver better to others. Saying 'no' (without feeling guilty) and setting clear boundaries are two ways to put yourself first, high performers do this really well so follow their lead and put your needs first.  

Recognise your hard work. 

HR doesn't get a lot of positive recognition, like IT you will normally only receive feedback if something goes wrong. Therefore take the initiative to self-promote and self-recognise all the work that you do and the value that you add. Take time daily to step back and be mindful of the work you are doing for others and recognise your efforts. Right now think about 3 things you have done really well recently and give yourself the recognition you deserve.  In addition, make sure you make the effort to recognise your hard working colleagues and celebrate when you can. Remember - What goes around comes around!  

Set up a mindfulness practice. 

This maybe an obvious one, but to be more mindful it helps to have your own mindfulness practice. This means to have some quiet time everyday where you can reflect and take your attention inwards. Being mindful helps anchor you in the present so that you are more calm and balanced and ultimately stress less. Take a yoga class, write in a journal, meditate or simply close your eyes and focus on your breathing for 10 minutes a day, see the difference it makes to balancing and calming your mind. Set the intention to be more mindful and before you know it you will be cultivating an attitude of mindfulness everyday. 

Your wellbeing and mental health is so important, don’t forget that. In HR we are so busy looking after everyone else's needs that we often neglect our own. I urge you to put yourself first and ensure that your wellbeing is a priority.  

If you want to be a more mindful HR professional, check out my other blogs on ‘The Habits of Highly Mindful People at Work’ or ‘5 Ways to Start Meditating’.

Restoring Balance in your Life

A few people have asked me recently how to create better balance in their lives. These people are professionals, managers and leaders in very successful organisations and they work very hard. They travel for work and spend long hours in an office environment, and are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by stress and work. My background is in the corporate environment so I know the stressed and exhaustion very well and when people mention the word stress in relation to their jobs I get a nervous tick. 

So how do you create better balance in your life when your life seems to be so heavily tipped out of balance?  It is so easy to advise people to stress less (after all how many times have you heard the phrase “don’t stress it’s only work”), but in reality it can be very difficult when you are consumed by you role. Sometimes you are just in it so deep you can’t think logically which creates bigger stresses.  There are also multiple factors to consider when looking at stress and your job, considering most people work because they need the money to live and have career ambitions. 

So if you are feeling a little overwhelmed by your job I have written 10 ways to assist in overcoming stress and restoring some balance back in your life.

1)      Try to keep a positive attitude. By keeping things in perspective and being present in your role. Take each day and each situation as it arises. Even when you don’t feel like it pretend, it will pay massive dividends.

2)      Recognise yourself if you feel undervalued. Focus on the value you create in your role. This is really empowering. I was working for an organisation  where I felt I wasn’t being recognised and I decided to flip it so I started to recognise everyone I worked with no matter how small their action, the result was that in a matter of days I was receiving more recognition than I had in years! I created this through my actions and you can too.  

3)      Set clear boundaries. Set boundaries between work and personal time. Decide that you will not work past a certain time, or answer emails or calls in the evening. Setting boundaries helps regain power and will assist in restoring balance in your life.   

4)      Explore flexible work options - what does your company offer you? Flexibility at work has become the norm, so take advantage of options to help you deliver better.  

5)      Rest. Taking time off is so valuable to have holidays/getaways especially if you work a lot. Your body needs the down time to restore and you always return balanced from a holiday. Don’t wait until it is too late, plan ahead and schedule your holidays. A regular meditation practice is always a great way to have a mind break and bring yourself back into balance. People who meditate at work are more productive and stress less.  

6)      Make a plan. Be practical about your situation. Sometimes you can get so caught up in the emotion and exhaustion of work. Set a plan, write down tasks, deadlines and clarify your accountabilities, you may even be able to delegate some of your work.    

7)      Make sure you keep moving don’t just freeze where you are.  If you are going through a tough situation, keep moving forward, don't set up camp and stay there.  

8)      Ensure that there is a balanced value exchange. Some organisations will work you to the bone, so ensure that you are receiving the right amount of value back. Whether that is through financial rewards, flexibility, career opportunities or training ensure you are getting value back for the work you are putting in.

9)      Utilise your support network and vent to them if you need to debrief and vocalise the stress out of your body. It is called getting it off your chest for a reason as it will help you release some of the inner stress and restore more balance.  

10)   Communicate your stresses to those at work that can do something about it. Your manager has a duty of care of you and your wellbeing. If you are overwhelmed by workload; raise it as an issue. I have ended up in hospital in a life threatening situation because I  was overworked in the corporate environment. As much as we like to think we are irreplaceable we’re not. You are replaceable at work, your heath on the other hand is not.   

My rule of thumb is that when works starts to cause more harm than good then it is a good sign to move on to something else. I know that sometimes this might not be part of your plan but after all please keep in mind that you do have a choice. You can restore the balance in your life, acknowledging that you are out of balance is the first step, keep going it can be achieved.  

Habits of Highly Mindful People at Work

 

In my corporate career I work with many different types of people, and the mindful ones always stand out, as they have an ease to how they approach their work, no matter how intense or stressful their job may be. They are usually likeable, calm, show resilience, seem very experienced, wise and have strong leadership skills. So what do they do differently? 

Below is a list of common habits that I have seen from highly mindful people. I have also provided tips on how these habits can easily be incorporated into your daily life so that you can be more mindful in your own work and overall life.

1) They focus inwards. Mindful people have a regular meditation or mindfulness practice. I have worked with many people who have shared their mindful stories with me. Some do morning yoga, morning meditation, they might run or walk through the park or they simply get some 'meditation time' on public transport. No matter what they do, all mindful people spend time focusing inwards. This also means that they have increased awareness of themselves and others. 

When you are at work you are constantly exchanging energy with others and this can be exhausting as you are managing other peoples demands and expectations. If you are a leader of people you have your team constantly taking your energy. Therefore a mindful practice is critical for rebalancing yourself so that you can continue to strive in your job and keep a balance between your body and mind. 

Try it for yourself, commit to just 2 minutes a day of your own mindful practice and work up to 5 minutes a day. Make mindfulness a priority and increase your own level of awareness. 

2) They are kind to themselves. Mindful people fill their own cup first and looking after themselves is a priority. They have self respect and self worth. By being kind to themselves, mindful people set clear boundaries, have clear communication styles, set expectations and can manage their time better. 

Being kind to themselves also means that they have energy to help lift others up as well. Mindful people invest in others and consciously spend time guiding and inspiring others at work.   

3) They observe more. Mindful people have immense awareness of their own thoughts and words and choose them wisely. They talk less and observe more. They don't get caught up in gossip, stress or anything toxic, rather they let it wash over them and move on. 

4) They journal. Mindful people write down their thoughts, insights & goals so that they don't dwell too much on their heads. They get it out and then move on to something else. Once you write it down, it gets out of your head.

5) Simplify, simplify, simplify! Mindful people simplify tasks and problems so that they don't over analyse or complicate anything. Simplicity is so important in mindfulness. Get back to basics. From my experience simplicity is a true super power and should not be underestimated especially in the corporate environment. Great leaders are able to simplify, try it and see the power for yourself. 

Use mindfulness to take back your power - WITH GUIDED MEDITATION

We all have an immense amount of inner power within us, and I think why is it then that some of us can feel so powerless in so many different situations? How and why do we give up our inner power?  And when we feel like we have lost our inner power, how do we reclaim it?

Whether you call it inner power, personal power or empowerment, we all have it and I am increasingly finding that the lack of inner power is causing of a lot of frustration or unhappiness. In many conversations recently I have found that the driving force behind peoples issues is that they have unconsciously given up their personal power or they have become submissive to other people's power.

I am a yoga teacher, and in yoga we talk a lot about owning your own space and how important it is as a yoga teacher to hold the space when you are teaching a class. I have taken this concept to all areas of my life, for example; I am an expert at work, I am in expert in yoga, mindfulness and meditation and I am an expert in my family. In each of these roles, I hold my space and to me this means reinforcing my inner power. 

How mindfulness can help
We all know those really calm and wise people who at the same time are really powerful, their inner power radiates from them. What do they do differently? I have listed some tips below on how YOU can be mindful and reclaim your inner power so that it can radiate from you too. You are so powerful and mindfulness can help you unlock this power and help you block out outside noise so that you can just focus on yourself and your own power. Tips include:

Be conscious of your physical presence - Stand tall, strong and confidence. Be aware of your physical presence and posture. This will help you feel empowered and boost your self confidence. Not only will this make you feel good but people will also take notice.

Raise awareness of your own inner power - Be aware of your inner power and if you feel like you have been disempowered - take it back! Set the intention to take back your power and more importantly GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO BE POWERFUL.

Set clear boundaries - Set boundaries in your life. If you haven't done this yet, then start. Be assertive about your own personal boundaries and don't feel that you need to push your own boundaries to make others happy (especially if this makes you unhappy in the process).

Lead by example - You can't control other people but you can lead yourself and I have found leading by example really empowering.  There is a lot of strength in backing yourself and leading by example will bring you a lot of credibility and awareness of your own actions.

Choose you battles - Don't try and fight every battle, choose your battles wisely and this can be very empowering as you are choosing where you focus your energy. Some things can just be let go of without having to fight, so choose to go with the flow and don't take on all the battles in your life. Also remove yourself from other peoples battles (they have their own lessons, as do you!).

Short meditation for inner power:

1. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position
2. Close your eyes, feel your eyes soften and loosen your jaw (we hold a lot of stress in the jaw) 
3. Take 3 deep breaths and feel yourself settling into your body
4. Choose one or all of these and repeat over in your mind:

• I am worthy of my power
• I take ownership of my power
• I give myself permission to be powerful 
• Using my inner power helps me to be kind to myself
• Using my inner power helps me to be kind to others

      5.  In your own time, bring your attention back to your breath and observe how your body is   
           feeling and observe how your mind is feeling
      6. Gently bring awareness back into your physical body and open your eyes.

Being aware of your power gives you a sense of empowerment. Nobody owns your power but you so don't let anyone take it from you. Stand strong and feel your own sense of power and hold your own space. You are worthy and powerful. Believe in yourself.

Mindfulness and meditation - My personal return on investment

I am a yoga teacher and to become a yoga teacher you are asked to meditate and work on your own practice so that you can then teach and guide others. Therefore, mindfulness and meditation forms a large part of my personal practice as well as yoga classes I teach, and personally I have seen some really good results.

I have been researching lately on the return of investment of mindfulness and meditation and how it is being used in the corporate environment. Many organisations in the USA have regular meditation classes or quiet rooms available for their employees and they have only positive things to say about the programs that they have introduced.  Companies like Google have really embraced the mindfulness movement and I think other organisations will follow quite quickly as it is becoming more mainstream and there are clear benefits linked to return on investment.

This has made me really think about what is the return on investment for mindfulness and meditation? And I have come to the conclusion that I can only really talk about it from my own personal experience and the actions that I have taken to improve my mindfulness and the benefits that I have seen firsthand. To me, people generally don’t start on their mindfulness journey to become better leaders or employees, they do it for themselves and to improve their own personal awareness and create their own versions of inner peace.

The three mindfulness actions that I have taken are:

1.         Firstly, I became more aware of my own thoughts and started to be more mindful about what goes on in my own mind by observing and choosing my thoughts carefully. I want to fill my head with more positivity and reduce the negative noise or mental chatter. I took a step forward in taking ownership of what goes into my head and this is a pretty powerful first step.   
2.           Secondly, I started to treat myself better; I put myself first and really started to focus my own mind, reactions and opinions. My number one rule is to ‘Be kind to myself’ and I constantly use that to keep myself in line. Inaddition I have learnt how to say ‘no’ and ‘not feel guilty’ (which is easy to write but much harder to action).   
3.         Lastly, a regular meditation and yoga practice has been the backbone to my mindfulness journey. I started with guided meditations in 2011 and I recommend that to anyone who is starting on their mindfulness journey. Also I tell people to learn how to breathe properly, most of us just breathe into our upper chests and don’t breathe right down into our diaphragm. Learning how to breathe will have a huge impact on your state of mind. Yoga has been an amazing way to improve the balance between my body and mind and really supports me to feel centred. Also, it has been so beneficial as I still work in a corporate role and yoga is fantastic for re-aligning my body.       

What is my own personal return on investment? 

·        Increased time because I stopped filling my life with noise (mental chatter takes up a lot of time and energy and is very stressful)

·        Increased productivity

·        Increased focus, clarity and decision making

 

·        Feeling centred and balanced through most situations. I view stress differently and I feel more like an observer rather than a participant of stress    

·        Increased presence; when I am home I am present, when I am working I am present.  I Focus on what is in front of    me

 

·         I have learnt to let go of things quickly, if I do get angry or stressed I get over it faster and move on   

·        Increased self-esteem and self-empowerment. I feel good about myself and to me this is priceless and where I have had the most benefit.   Feeling good about yourself will open doors and opportunities beyond your wildest imagination. We are all awesome in our own way and we just need to open ourselves up beyond the noise and see it for ourselves.