This year, Aspectus ran a 6 week guided meditation course for all employees for an hour every Thursday afternoon. Each week attendees were led through a series of stress reduction techniques with the sessions being made up of discussion and meditation.

Here’s five of the most important things we learned from guided meditation:

It’s important to take a deep breath and think about the bigger picture – if you can assess the things that are causing you to worry in that context, you begin to see what really matters and what isn’t worth getting worked up about.

We often feel the need to fill any spare time with things like podcasts or reading. Practising mindfulness taught us it’s ok to take time out to just “be”. In the long run this is really valuable – the process of becoming more aware and mindful can help us become more efficient and focused with our time.

It takes practice! The mind works just like a muscle – the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. And it doesn’t have to be practiced for long. It can be beneficial to simply take 5-10 minutes per day.

Regular mindfulness practice physically changes your brain. MRI scans show after a course of mindfulness the amygdala – associated with fear and emotion – shrinks. And the pre-frontal cortex – associated with awareness, concentration and decision-making – becomes thicker.

Your state of mind has more of an impact than you think – it can actually have a huge effect on your productivity levels or mood. If you are feeling stress levels rising, taking a break to refocus in the middle of the day makes daunting tasks more manageable.

Click here to read more about our commitment to ensuring the mental wellbeing of our team.