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What is Mindfulness?
■ The process that promotes a mental ability to focus
direct and immediate attention on the present
(present awareness), while taking a non-judgmental
and non-evaluative stance on thoughts/experiences
as they unfold (acceptance).
■ (Hayes & Shenk, 2004; Kohls et al., 2009)
■ Hayes, S. & Shenk, C. (2004) Operationalizing mindfulness without unnecessary attachments.
ClinicalPsychology: Science and Practice, 11, 249–254.
■ Kohls, N., Sauer, S. & Walach, H. (2009) Facets of mindfulness – results of an online study investigating
the freiburg mindfulness inventory. Personality and Individual Difference, 46, 224–230.
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Simple Mechanism of Meditation
Thinking Concentrating Contemplating Meditating
To form or have (a
particular thought) in
your mind
to cause (attention, efforts,
strength, etc.) to be used or
directed for a single purpose
to think deeply or
carefully about
(something)
to engage in
contemplation or
reflection
Merriam Webster Dictionary
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Types of Meditation
• Relaxation
• Breathing
• Mindfulness
• Candle
• Focus
• Movement
• Mantra
• Compassion
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Theoretical Models in Neuroscienc
Vago, D. R. P. D., & David, S. A. M. D. (2012). Self-awareness, self-regulation, and
self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological
mechanisms of mindfulness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 296.
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Theoretical Models in
Organizational Studies
Hölzel, B. K., Lazar, S. W., Gard, T., Schuman-Olivier, Z., Vago, D. R., & Ott, U. (2011). How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing
Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(6), 537–559.
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Attention Regulation
• Sustaining attention
on the chosen object;
whenever distracted,
returning attention to
the object
• Anterior cingulate
cortex
• Enhanced
performance:
executive attention
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Body Awareness
• Focus is usually an object of
internal experience: sensory
experiences of breathing,
emotions, or other body
Sensations
• Insula, temporo-parietal junction
• Self-reports of enhanced body
awareness
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Emotion Regulation
• Approaching ongoing emotional
reactions in a different way
(nonjudgmentally, with
acceptance)
• Exposing oneself to whatever is
present in the field of awareness;
letting oneself be affected by it;
refraining from internal reactivity
• Ventro-medial PFC, hippocampus,
amygdala, prefrontal cortex
• Increases in nonreactivity to inner
experiences, changes in self-
concept
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“Search Inside Yourself”
Program - Google■
Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” program has introduced mindfulness to
more than 1,000 employees. Pioneered by Chade-Meng Tan, an early
Google employee, its popularity has been buoyed by Tan’s book of the
same title. Tan turned to General Mills for inspiration when he began
Search Inside Yourself in 2007, and is now bringing the training to other
technology companies.
■ www.ft.com
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Aetna
■
Aetna, one of the largest healthcare benefits companies in the US, began
rolling out mindfulness and yoga programs to its employees in 2010. The
initiative was dreamed up by Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, himself a
meditator. After attracting 3,500 employees, Aetna this year began
offering workplace meditation and yoga as a service it sells to customers.
■ www.ft.com
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Target
■
At the retail giant Target, a group called “Meditating Merchants” was set
up in 2010. The training is open to all employees and has so far attracted
500 participants, who meditate once a week at lunch time. Mikisha
Nation, a 33-year-old Jamaican woman who works in human resources,
helped pioneer the Target group and says the practice complements her
own work. “Happy, healthy, engaged team members create an
environment that is a great place to work,” she says, “even though it
might seem weird to sit on a mat in the middle of a conference room.”
■ www.ft.com
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General Mills
■
General Mills, the company behind Cheerios cereal and Häagen-Dazs ice
cream, is headquartered on a leafy expanse outside Minneapolis,
Minnesota. High quality global journalism requires investment.
General Mills has a distinctly unusual corporate culture. Open the right
door on a Tuesday morning and you might find a few dozen team leaders
and executives meditating silently together on cushions, steeling their
minds for the work week ahead. Enter a conference room later that
afternoon and witness more than 50 senior employees from across the
organization standing on one leg in the tree pose as they practice yoga.
■ www.ft.com
