How practising mindfulness at work reduces your stress and increases your focus
- Mindfulness can be applied in the workplace – not just at yoga retreats – to reduce stress and improve well-being, says a life coach
- Scientific studies have shown the power of mindfulness, and a Hong Kong company’s chief happiness officer says it makes staff more productive
Workplaces in the West were touting the benefits of mindfulness long before it started catching on in Asia. The awareness that comes from the practice helps increase self-understanding and wisdom, and many studies indicate it reduces stress, increases focus and improves well-being.
Life coach, yogi and meditator Mohammed Sam Peñafuerte Shoushi experienced this when he joined Google in Singapore and took part in its employee mindfulness programme in 2014.
“I realised it’s not something to just do at retreats, it can be applied moment-to-moment,” says Shoushi, a Filipino-Jordanian in Hong Kong raising awareness of mindfulness as head of development for Greater China at Potential Project, a global research, leadership development and consulting firm.
“That was the opposite state that I was in. I wanted to experience what that was,” he recalls. That’s when he decided to take up yoga – and he became hooked.
At Google, Shoushi started to apply the practice of mindfulness to his work to stay focused and to better manage his time. Mindfulness made him more aware of potential distractions and how to manage them, such as taking breaks from his digital devices.
