Three techniques to relieve stress at work – 07/12/2023 – Equilibrium

It’s 10:45 on a Tuesday, and you’re running late for work. You’ve just left the dentist’s office who scolded you for grinding your teeth – according to her, that’s what’s causing your jaw and neck pain.

You’ve woken up between 2:00 and 4:00 am most nights in the past month, and when you wake up, it’s hard to stop thinking about work. Your boss is getting more and more aggressive with you, and you just can’t concentrate. To make matters worse, that critical inner voice of yours seems to be more eloquent than usual.

This scenario, or variations of it, sounds familiar to many people. Work stress can be particularly persistent if you’re younger and trying to make a good impression.

Without diminishing the value of discussing problems you are having at work with relevant superiors, meditation practices can go a long way in helping you manage stress in situations like these.

There is extensive research supporting the positive effects of meditation techniques, including mindfulness, mindfulness-based meditations, and meditations that cultivate compassion.

1. Mindfulness

mindfulness it is the practice of observing your inner realities (thoughts, emotions, memories and sensations) and outer realities (social and physical environment) in a non-judgmental way. It has been shown to improve anxiety, stress, insomnia, and pain, among other things.

Cultivating awareness of your body on a regular basis (an internal reality) can help you detect negative physical symptoms early.

For example, teeth grinding is often associated with tight muscles around the jaw, neck, and shoulders. If you pay attention to your body, you can detect the early stages of stress-induced muscle stiffness and consciously relax your muscles.

A simple but effective mindfulness-based technique is the body scan. Spend some time each week (at least two minutes) turning your attention to the toes of both feet, slowly moving up the body, noticing each part as you go, until you reach the top of the head.

You can find thousands of guided body scans online – and you can use this technique anywhere, including at work.

2. Mindfulness-based meditation

This practice usually involves using some type of anchor to help maintain a central focus in the mind. Anchors can include the breath, a mantra or phrase such as “I am here now” or an image such as a candle flame (real or digital). Each time you get distracted by a thought, memory, emotion, image, or sensation (like an itchy foot), return to anchor.

You can practice anywhere, with your eyes open or closed. Start with 60 seconds twice a day, and build up from there. Don’t wait for the mind to be quiet – it won’t. Your mission is to return to the chosen anchor.

Research shows that practicing meditation can improve emotion regulation, which can help you better manage stressful situations at work and increase your focus.

A study I did with colleagues found that a mindfulness-based meditation program reduced stress, anxiety, and burnout in emergency room physicians compared with a control group who didn’t go through the program.

Using the breath in particular as an anchor can reduce stress by calming the nerves associated with the fight-or-flight response that takes over when we’re anxious.

This technique can be especially helpful if you have trouble sleeping. Equalizing your breathing (in five seconds in and out five seconds, for example) while practicing mindfulness-based meditation can help you disengage from cyclical thinking in the middle of the night and go back to sleep.

3. Meditation to Cultivate Compassion

Our inner critical voice can become very eloquent in times of stress. It is helpful to disengage from this voice using mindfulness-based meditation. In difficult times, you must also cultivate compassion for yourself, as a person who makes mistakes (like any other human being).

Find a quiet spot and sit or lie down. Activate two minutes on the timer. Close your eyes, equalize your breathing (five seconds in and five seconds out) and try to imagine your own face.

Physically smile into its face and imagine it smiling back at you. Wish yourself health and happiness. Realize that you are a human being who deserves love and respect. Your critical inner voice may disagree, but do your best to disengage that voice.

Sometimes this practice can also help us deal with difficult emotions related to other people. Remember, your boss is probably just as vulnerable to stress as you are. We can use this practice to evoke your face, smile (physically and internally) and wish you health and happiness.

A heads up: Don’t try this with people who are bullying or abusive towards you. In extreme cases like these, we need to be careful not to make internal excuses for people who hurt us. Discuss this with a healthcare professional, such as a psychologist or psychotherapist, first.

For maximum effect, you need to use the right tool for each situation. In a few weeks, you may need to use all three tools daily. On quieter weeks, you can practice for two minutes on Mondays and Fridays, watching your body and mind to make sure everything is okay.

Like any other skill, the more you practice, the more proficient you will become. Above all, be kind to yourself.

This article was originally published on the academic news site The Conversation and republished here under a Creative Commons license. Read the original version here (in English).

This text was published here

Padraic J. Dunne is Professor at the Center for Positive Health Sciences, University of Medicine and Health Sciences, RCSI, Ireland