Mindful Work

How Meditation Is Changing Business from the Inside Out

David Gelles

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780544705258
• eBook ISBN:
  9780544226326
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Workplace Culture
• Index: Psychology

A New York Times reporter reveals what business leaders around the country are already discovering: Meditation may be the key to fostering a happier, more productive workplace.
For the past few years, mindfulness has begun to transform the American workplace. Many of our largest companies, such as General Mills, Ford, Target, and Google, have built extensive programs to foster mindful practices among their workers. Mindful Work is the first book to explain how all sorts of businesses and any kind of worker can benefit from meditation, yoga, and other mindful techniques. As a business reporter for the New York Times who has also practiced meditation for two decades, David Gelles is uniquely qualified to chart the growing nexus between these two realms. As he proves, mindfulness lowers stress, increases mental focus, and alleviates depression among workers. He also offers real-world examples of how mindfulness has benefited companies that have adopted it — from the millions of dollars Aetna has saved in health-care costs to the ways Patagonia has combined leadership in its market with a pervasively mindful outlook.
Gelles's revelatory book picks up where bestsellers like Thrive and 10% Happier leave off, by detailing how mindfulness works in and for the companies that adopt it, revealing the profound impact mindfulness can have on the world of work. Mindful Work goes beyond other books on the subject by providing evidence for the practical benefits of mindfulness and showing readers how to become more mindful themselves.

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Abramson, Jill, 73

Adobe and mindfulness, 239–40

adrenaline and stress response, 83, 137

Aetna

benefits of mindfulness/yoga, 172–74, 176–78, 226

Duke University and, 171, 176–77

financial crisis and, 170

Metabolic Health in Small Bytes, 174

mindful eating and, 174–76

mindfulness for customers, 170, 173, 178

social responsibility and, 167–78

yoga/mindfulness for employees, 171–78

Alpert, Richard (Ram Dass), 40, 61

American Psychological Association, 82, 85

amygdala

description/location, 67

mindfulness effects on, 68

stress reaction and, 67

“amygdala hijack,” 67, 68, 137, 247

Antioch University, 32, 33, 193

Art of Happiness, The (Dalai Lama), 197

Ashtanga yoga, 169

Ashvagosa, 39

asthma and mindfulness studies, 69

Awake@Intel, 240–41

B

Baime, Michael, 114

banana slicer, 155–56

Barie, Dawn, 211, 212

Batali, Mario, 219

BBC Television, 22

Be Here Now (Ram Dass), 40

Beatles, 40, 209

Bejar, Arturo

compassion and Facebook, 142–43, 145–47

Facebook role, 142

belly fat, 83

Benioff, Marc, 233

Bertolini, Mark

Aetna and, 167, 168, 170–71, 174, 176, 177, 178

conventional treatment/drugs, 168

craniosacral therapy, 168–69

family, 167

mindfulness/meditation and, 169–71

pain from accident and, 168–70, 174

skiing accident/results, 167–68

yoga and, 169, 170–71

“Beyond McMindfulness” article, 203–4

Bhagavad Gita, 169

Bihar region, India, 32–33

See also Bodh Gaya, India

Bikram Choudhury, 207

blood pressure and fight-or-flight response, 67

Bloomberg/News, 75, 100

Bodh Gaya, India...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Introduction
• This Mindful Moment
• How the Swans Came to the Lake
• The Science of Sitting
• Less Stressed
• More Focused
• Compassionate
• Socially Responsible
• The Space to Lead
• McMindfulness
• The Future in Microcosm
• Acknowledgments
• Instructions
• Resources
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author