Mindfulness can help leaders capture a little bit of peace and equanimity in the midst of a non-stop day and enable them to return to the action refreshed and better able to deal with the realities of professional and executive life. Meditation is different. Meditation involves stepping away from our normal pattern of busyness, if only for a few minutes, and following a more structured practice in order to build our capability to slow down, stop, and look deeply into our habitual patterns of thinking and action. We rarely meditate in the middle of a busy day. Rather, we carve out time, often first thing in the morning or in the evening, to practice.
Meditation is a term that encompasses hundreds of techniques. Some of these techniques are thousands of years old, while some are very recent, having been developed out of recent brain science findings. There is meditation for focusing the mind and meditation for quieting the mind. There are meditations for becoming more aware of the present moment. Some meditations have the intention of awakening and developing our loving-kindness and compassion for ourselves and others. Some of the more recent techniques aim directly at activating or quieting specific areas of the brain and our neurochemistry.
Some meditation techniques involve the repetition of a phrase or mantra. Some consist of establishing an object of concentration outside of the body, such as a candle, a mandala, or a beautiful image. Some meditation entails creating complex visualizations. There are advanced meditation techniques for very experienced practitioners working under the guidance of a qualified teacher.
Some meditations involve focusing internally on the body or the breath. There is a wide variety of techniques just for working with awareness of the breath. We may become aware of our contact with the world through our senses or focus on the workings of the mind. While we are meditating on thoughts, we can allow the stream of thoughts to come and go naturally, or we can turn our attention to awareness of the thoughts themselves.
We can meditate while in a seated position, or standing, walking, or lying down. If seated, we may sit in a formal posture on a meditation cushion or sit in a chair. We may meditate for 2 minutes or 40 minutes or all day. We can go on meditation retreats that last a morning, a day, a week, a month, or a year. We may meditate in silence or follow the prompts of a guided meditation.
We may meditate in a group setting, whether online or in person, or we may use a meditation app to support us. Since 2015 over 2500 meditation apps have been released, with more launching every day. In 2020, Calm, the leading meditation app, brought in over $100 million in revenue with over 28 million installs. Headspace, the second-biggest app, had nearly 11 million installs. How did people meditate for the past 3000 years without these apps?
It should be clear from all this that when someone tells you they are going to teach you meditation, that you are getting a partial and particular slice of this very large and multi-ingredient pie. There was a special issue of a Buddhist magazine a few years back in which a large number of master teachers were asked to answer the question “What is meditation”? The answers varied widely, but my favorite was one teacher who answered, “Meditation is what you do when you are meditating.” That may seem like he ducked the question, but there’s a lot of wisdom in that response.
So, which of these is best? Should we aspire to one technique or another? Can we rank order these techniques in terms of how basic or advanced they are? The answer to each of these questions is emphatically no. These techniques have evolved in different contexts over a very long period of time, and we are incredibly fortunate in this age to have access to this wide variety of practices previously only known to small pockets of dedicated practitioners. Beware of anyone telling you that they have the only true way to meditate. One of these approaches may be well-suited to your current circumstances. After practicing with one approach, you may find that another one better serves your needs.
If you are interested in learning to meditate, do a little exploration on your own. Download a couple of meditation apps, many of which are free or offer optional in-app purchases. Try a variety of guided meditations and see what happens when you sit quietly on your own. If there is a meditation group meeting online, by all means, get the experience of sitting in a group. This is highly correlated with sustaining a meditation practice. Perhaps, post-pandemic, the opportunity to sit in person with a group will become available in a location near you.
What I do caution against is switching too quickly between techniques. Meditation is a competency that develops over time, so choose an approach and stick with it for a while to see if it makes a meaningful difference in your well-being. Sample at the beginning, but then settle into an approach that resonates with you and then persist for a bit.
There are a number of ways to stop in the midst of it all and remember where we are, recenter ourselves, and then re-engage. These are available to us at any time, in any situation, whether or not we meditate either regularly or occasionally. But it is undoubtedly true that when we have a regular meditation practice, we build up a resource that will produce two related but distinct benefits: We will get triggered and knocked off center less often, and when we do, we will be able to recenter and reengage more quickly and easily.
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES IN OUR SERIES ON MINDFULNESS:
Jeremy Seligman is a Senior Partner at Brimstone Consulting Group. He is a former corporate executive with extensive background and experience as an organizational development specialist and executive coach. Jeremy is a longtime practitioner of mindfulness and meditation, and is a certified Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher, certified by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, Sounds True, and the Awareness Training Institute.
Uwezo wa akili unaweza kuwasaidia viongozi kupata amani na usawa katikati ya siku isiyo na kuacha na kuwawezesha kurudi kwa hatua ya upya na uwezo bora wa kushughulika na hali halisi ya maisha ya kitaaluma na ya mtendaji. Kutafakari ni jambo tofauti. Kutafakari kunahusisha kuondoka kwenye mtindo wetu wa kawaida wa shughuli, ikiwa ni kwa dakika chache tu, na kufuata mazoezi yaliyopangwa zaidi ili kujenga uwezo wetu wa kupunguza, kuacha, na kuangalia kwa kina mifumo yetu ya kawaida ya kufikiri na kutenda. Ni mara chache sana tunapotafakari katikati ya siku yenye shughuli nyingi. Badala yake, tunatoa wakati, mara nyingi asubuhi au jioni, ili kufanya mazoezi. Kutafakari ni neno linalohusisha mamia ya mbinu. Baadhi ya mbinu hizi ni za maelfu ya miaka, wakati zingine ni za hivi karibuni sana, zikiwa zimetengenezwa kutokana na matokeo ya hivi karibuni ya sayansi ya ubongo. Kuna kutafakari kwa ajili ya kukaza akili na kutafakari kwa ajili ya kutuliza akili. Kuna tafakari za kuwa na ufahamu zaidi wa wakati uliopo. Tafakari zingine zina nia ya kuamsha na kukuza fadhili zetu za upendo na huruma kwa sisi wenyewe na wengine. Baadhi ya mbinu za hivi karibuni zina lengo la kuamsha au kutuliza maeneo fulani ya ubongo na kemikali zetu za neva. Mbinu fulani za kutafakari huhusisha kurudia-rudia maneno au mantra. Baadhi ya mazoezi hayo hutia ndani kuweka kitu fulani nje ya mwili, kama vile mshumaa, mandala, au picha nzuri. Baadhi ya tafakari hutia ndani kuumba picha tata. Kuna mbinu za juu za kutafakari kwa watendaji wenye uzoefu sana wanaofanya kazi chini ya mwongozo wa mwalimu mwenye sifa. Kutafakari fulani huhusisha kukazia fikira mwili au pumzi. Kuna mbinu mbalimbali za kufanya kazi kwa ufahamu wa pumzi. Tunaweza kuwa na ufahamu wa mawasiliano yetu na ulimwengu kupitia hisi zetu au kuzingatia kazi ya akili. Wakati tunapotafakari mawazo, tunaweza kuruhusu mtiririko wa mawazo kuja na kwenda kwa kawaida, au tunaweza kugeuza umakini wetu kwa ufahamu wa mawazo yenyewe. Tunaweza kutafakari tukiwa tumeketi, tumesimama, tumetembea, au tumelala. Ikiwa tumeketi, tunaweza kuketi katika msimamo rasmi kwenye mto wa kutafakari au kuketi kwenye kiti. Unaweza kufanya hivyo kwa dakika mbili, dakika 40, au siku nzima. Unaweza kufanya mazoezi ya kutafakari kwa siku moja, wiki moja, au mwaka mmoja. Tunaweza kutafakari kimya-kimya au kufuata maagizo ya kutafakari kunakoongozwa. Unaweza kufanya hivyo kwa kushirikiana na kikundi, kupitia mtandao au kwa kutumia programu ya kutafakari. Tangu 2015, zaidi ya programu 2,500 za kutafakari zimetolewa, na zaidi zinatolewa kila siku. Calm, programu inayoongoza ya kutafakari, ilileta zaidi ya $ 100m katika mapato na zaidi ya 28m ya usakinishaji. Headspace, programu ya pili kwa ukubwa, ilikuwa na karibu milioni 11 za usakinishaji. Watu waliwezaje kutafakari kwa miaka 3000 bila kutumia programu hizi? "Ni lazima iwe wazi kutoka kwa haya yote kwamba wakati mtu anakuambia kwamba atakufundisha kutafakari, unapata kipande cha sehemu na maalum cha ""keki hii kubwa sana na ya viungo vingi.""" "Kulikuwa na toleo maalum la jarida la Kibuddha miaka michache iliyopita ambapo idadi kubwa ya walimu wakuu waliulizwa kujibu swali ""Ni nini kutafakari?""" "Jibu lilikuwa tofauti, lakini nilipenda sana jibu la mwalimu mmoja aliyejibu, ""Kufikiria ni kile unachofanya unapokuwa ukitafakari."" Huenda ikaonekana kwamba alijiondoa katika swali hilo, lakini jibu hilo lina hekima nyingi." Kwa hiyo, ni ipi kati ya hizo iliyo bora zaidi? Je, tunapaswa kutamani mbinu moja au nyingine? Je, tunaweza kuweka utaratibu wa mbinu hizi kulingana na jinsi zilivyo za msingi au za hali ya juu? Jibu la kila moja ya maswali haya ni la hakika. Mbinu hizi zimebadilika katika muktadha tofauti kwa kipindi kirefu cha wakati, na tuna bahati kubwa katika enzi hii kuwa na upatikanaji wa mbinu hizi mbalimbali ambazo hapo awali zilijulikana tu kwa makundi madogo ya watendaji wa kujitolea. Jihadharini na mtu yeyote anayekuambia kwamba yeye ndiye njia pekee ya kweli ya kutafakari. Njia moja kati ya hizo huenda ikafaa hali yako ya sasa. Baada ya kufanya mazoezi kwa njia moja, huenda ukagundua kwamba njia nyingine hutumika vizuri zaidi kwa mahitaji yako. Ikiwa una nia ya kujifunza jinsi ya kutafakari, fanya uchunguzi kidogo peke yako. Kupata programu ya kutafakari, ambayo ni bure au inatoa ununuzi wa hiari. Jaribu kutafakari kwa njia mbalimbali na uone nini kinatokea unapoketi kimya-kimya peke yako. Ikiwa kuna mkutano wa kikundi cha kutafakari mtandaoni, kwa njia zote, pata uzoefu wa kukaa katika kikundi. Hilo linahusiana sana na kudumisha zoea la kutafakari. Baada ya janga, uwezekano wa kukaa na kikundi cha watu utapatikana mahali karibu na wewe. Kile ninachohofia ni kubadili mbinu kwa haraka sana. Kutafakari ni uwezo ambao unakua kwa muda, kwa hivyo chagua mbinu na uendelee nayo kwa muda ili uone ikiwa inasaidia vizuri. Mfano wa kwanza ni kuwa na mtazamo wa kwanza, lakini kisha ufanye kazi kwa njia ambayo inakuvutia na kisha uendelee kwa muda. Kuna njia kadhaa za kuacha katikati ya yote na kukumbuka mahali tulipo, kujikaza tena, na kisha kushiriki tena. Hizi zinapatikana kwetu wakati wowote, katika hali yoyote, iwe tunatafakari mara kwa mara au mara kwa mara. Lakini ni kweli bila shaka kwamba wakati tuna mazoezi ya kawaida ya kutafakari, tunajenga rasilimali ambayo itazalisha faida mbili zinazohusiana lakini tofauti: Tutachochewa na kugongwa nje ya kituo mara chache, na tunapofanya hivyo, tutaweza kugeuka na kujihusisha tena haraka na kwa urahisi. "Mwanzoni mwa makala hii, tunazungumzia ""Mtazamo wa Ujasiri wa Ujasiri"" na Jeremy Seligman, Mshiriki Mtendaji wa Brimstone Consulting Group." Yeye ni mtendaji wa zamani wa kampuni na historia kubwa na uzoefu kama mtaalamu wa maendeleo ya shirika na kocha mtendaji. Jeremy ni mtaalamu wa muda mrefu wa Mindfulness na Meditation, na ni Mwalimu wa Mindfulness na Meditation, kuthibitishwa na UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, Sounds True, na Taasisi ya Mafunzo ya Uhamasishaji.