Virtual Mindfulness: building connections.

During a time when many of our social connections have come to a halt, and external practices to support employees’ well-being are no longer being offered the workplace, employers are seeking ways to find connections and supportive practices to offer online. Mindfulness meditation classes are typically 30 minutes in duration and structured as part of the working day. At the end of class cameras are turned on and conversations bubble up, but even without this interaction there is a communal energy that comes from sharing meaningful experiences. This energy, this connection, is not limited to in-person experience. Human connections can span time and space. Just think about a phone call or text exchange you've had with a loved one, friend, or colleague. Did you feel connected with them? Were you able to feel their energy?

There’s no shortage of studies that show how social connection helps us live longer and battle diseases. One landmark study posits that loneliness can be as deadly as obesity and smoking. Thankfully, experts are in agreement we can reap the benefits of social connection in our shared, meaningful experiences online. 

Yoga Journal recently told a good look at how virtual yoga can keep us connected as well as some of the incredible benefits of a virtual wellness practice. “A sense of connection is internal,” says Emma Seppälä, PhD, science director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, and co-director of the Yale College Emotional Intelligence Project at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. “Researchers agree that the benefits of connection are actually linked to your subjective sense of connection.” Mindfulness puts you in a parasympathetic mode. It calms the nervous system. As such, you can naturally feel a greater sense of belonging, compassion, and connection. As you feel better, your sense of belonging and community also increases.

Virtual mindfulness is a way to remove some of the distractions of corporate classes, like comparing your posture to the student’s next to you, or other superficial distractions. When we strip away these distractions, we’re left with our breath, our body, and our awareness.

As times goes by we’ll undoubtedly see a return to corporate mindfulness in the workplace. But virtual mindfulness seems here to stay, and that may not have as many negative consequences as we first thought.