Does your boss play new age guitar riffs when your whole office meditates together? Ours does. #winning
This just in: meditating is badass. Ongoing research continues to prove that it can have a profound effect on every facet of your physical, emotion and mental wellness. Science is finally catching up with something yogis have been down with for thousands of years. Benefits aside, however, meditation doesn’t have to be so serious. Mantras, malas and music can help, but you can meditate without it — any time, anywhere — unless you’re driving. Or playing with fire.
All of us here at Wanderlust Headquarters are about halfway through 4 weeks of meditating for 4 minutes around 4 p.m. and we’re feeling pretty great. It is no easy feat to quiet an office full of people who are moving and shaking super hard in an effort to make a series of summer festivals as awesome as possible, but when the opening bell goes off, we turn away from our computers and make it happen.
We’ve been keeping a diary of our thoughts as we sit. Meditation journals are a great way to keep track of what floats in and out as your practice develops. Check out what’s been floating around in the heads of a few of our WLHQ staffers:
This is the first time I have had a mediation practice. I just focus on my breath. At first, time seemed to tick by. But soon enough, it flew by and I was thinking, “Can we do that again?”
— Elinor Anderson-Genne, Merchandising Manager
I enjoy how meditation always becomes mediation.
— Jeff Krasno, Co-Founder
I love it! Its amazing how 4 minutes of going within, escaping from the outside world energizes you like you’ve napped for 2 hours or so. And I feel doing it in a group just makes the experience stronger.
— Kanan Shah, Graphic Designer
It’s real nice to just have an excuse to check out of work for a few minutes. Closing your eyes even for ten seconds at your desk feels amazing, but detaching from the tug of emails, boss’s expectations, etc. to turn in for four minutes is waaaay more therapeutic. I actually feel rested when we open our eyes to get back to work.
— Lydia Berg-Hammond, Director of Partnerships
Not only does four minutes of meditation calm me down and quite the room, but it also opens up my creativity. I feel free to allow this element to spill into my work life. Little by little, the more I access this part of my brain, the better I feel.
— Lauren Mathis, Office Manager, Volunteer Coordinator
OMG I love it so much. Closing my eyes and giving myself permission to tune out the busy-ness of the day always adds clarity and perspective to my afternoon. Occasionally, it’s difficult to stop my brain from producing my next to-dos, but even when this happens, I feel calm and in control. When I open my eyes, my daily to-do lists aren’t necessarily gone, but the worries about those to-dos have faded, and I feel collected and happy to proceed with my afternoon business.
— Jess Roach, Community Manager
Photos by Jake Laub