WORKPLACE YOGA, MEDITATION AND WELLNESS PROGRAMS
Life in a Wave offers Workplace Yoga, Meditation and Wellness Programs in the form of weekly groups or individual sessions
The sessions are suited on the work daily routine of the participants, within office walls, during working hours; team building sessions, conferences, and wellness days (with massage and plantar reflexology sessions).
The classes are tailored to the different office realities: lunch break sessions; at the beginning or the end of the work day; depending on space and time made available by the employer, the number of participants and frequency.
Why Yoga and Meditation in the Office?
“Why practice yoga in the office? Why meditate on lunch break? Or before to start or at the end of the working day?” “How much does it cost? And how can we recover the investment?” These are the most common questions when talking about Yoga and Meditation at the workplace, especially when we present to Human Resources our employees wellness programs.
Multinational companies like Google, Apple, Yahoo! Deutsche Bank, McKinsey, Banca Mediolanum, to name just a few, already offer relaxation, meditation and yoga sessions to employees and managers during working hours.
In 2019, WHO (World Health Organization) has listed the Burnout Syndrome (i.e. chronic work stress or office disorders) in the “International Classification of the Diseases“. The new diseases classification revised by WHO will come into force in 2022: from that moment on, doctors will be able to diagnose the syndrome, just as for any other disease.
THE BURNOUT SYNDROME
WHO’s decision is based on numerous scientific studies on “Office Disease” carried out in different countries of the world.
These have documented how increasing workloads, the imposition of standardized performances, long hours spent in closed spaces often artificially illuminated, and high levels of stress lead inexorably to mental and physical discomfort which, if prolonged over time and ignored, triggers the development of pathologies which translate into higher costs for personnel management.
In the United States, the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health has estimated at $ 200 billion a year, the cost of Burnout for American companies that pay to treat the stress – and related ailments – of their employees, 90% of whom complain overwork fatigue diseases. WHO in its “2020 Global Risk Report” has indicated the Burnout Syndrome as the disease of the 21st century by estimating its global costs at $ 16 trillion by 2030:
Over the years, the Burnout has spread to different levels and sectors, affecting new hires and managers alike. WHO itself has issued a vademecum to define a positive, harmonious workplace, which does not cause anxiety and worries for its employees.
YOGA AT WORK: An answer to your every day stress
According to several studies, “Workplace yoga is an effective method, practical and inexpensive which can improve the psycho-physical conditions of workers. A state of calm favors ideas, concentration and alleviates the many pains and fears that affect stressed worker. Yoga and Meditation practice silences mental chatter lays the foundation for good decisions making and encourages communication“
A growing number of companies see wellness programs dedicated to the employees’ physical and psychological health as an easy and advantageous resource to reduce the effects of intense work activity, and above all, in the medium – long term, as a means to reduces the personnel medical costs, while improving company productivity.
An in-depth: Burnout Syndrome – What is it, how you get to burnout and the benefits of a constant yoga and meditative practice at work.
