A recent Chief Learning Officer article discusses how the practice of TM (Transcendental Meditation) has been growing in the financial services industry. In the past 10 years, the technique has expanded to companies large and small throughout the business world, including Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, and investment firm Quest Partners LLC.
The TM method of meditation seems to be best suited for business environments because it is portable and effortless to practice alone, and involves no concentration or control, unlike other forms of meditation. TM is deep meditation, practiced for 20 minutes twice a day, and has the advantage of bringing the mind and body into a state of much more profound rest, in fact twice as deep a rest as deep sleep, effectively eliminating fatigue and accumulated stress.
In multiple studies, TM has been proven to improve job satisfaction, focus, productivity and performance, and creativity, while decreasing anxiety, the likelihood of heart attacks, strokes and mortality, health care costs, and absenteeism. The way employees relate to each other also improves with TM because they built rapport and can be more open with each other with less fear that what they say may be taken negatively. A great way for learning leaders to begin is to start a pilot study of TM to demonstrate to senior leaders its benefits both to the company culture and the bottom line.
Read the full article here.