meditation rooms

15 August 2016

Running Past Park Benches

If we don’t have physical models to show us how to slow down, then we need physical spaces. We need meditation rooms and quiet spaces, indoor and outdoor sanctuaries where there is only one rule and one expectation…to be quiet.

“Melinda Easterling ratifies the hunt for peace in the 21st century.”

I was thrilled to write for Ebenezer Chapel in support of their quest to create an underground quiet and meditative space for visitors to Raleigh, North Carolina for centuries to come. Check out their web site and my blog on why we should all support public quiet spaces (repost below).

Running Past Park Benches

Why do we need quiet spaces? Why not just plop down on a park bench, close our eyes at our desk at work or sit on a chair at home and meditate? Why? Because no one else is doing that. We (those of us who live in the West) don’t live in a culture that says chill, take it easy, slow down. We live in a hyper world. We run passed park benches. We rush to the finish line at work…a finish line that always evades us because there’s another and another. We push ourselves and our partners and our kids at home…

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23 February 2016

My 365-Day Campaign of Thank Yous

Watching Shonda Rhimes on TED rekindled my dormant desire to write thank-you cards more often. So, I’m kickstarting my 365 days of thank-you-note writing. Here’s my first installment, a public thank you to the Thrift Shop man:

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29 September 2015

Washing Dishes and Happiness at Work: Huh?

“Washing the dishes may be a convenient detox for overwrought minds, a study in the journal Mindfulness suggests. The study found that washing dishes mindfully—focusing on the smell of the soap, and the shape and feel of the dishes, for example—significantly reduced nervousness and increased mental stimulation in dishwashers compared with a control group.”

If mindfully washing dishes can reduce nervousness and increase mental stimulation, what can mindfulness at work do for you?

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22 June 2015

The Impact of Design on Health and Wellness

What could be better than creating “Human Spaces: Spaces Designed with the Human in Mind?” Creating spaces for humans should not only be of interest to designers but to people who work, who shop, who live, who go to school in these environments. That’s everybody!

I jumped at the chance to write for Human Spaces. Check out their web site and my blog on The Impact of Design on Health and Wellness (repost below).

The Impact of Design on Health and Wellness

While wellness in the individual is multifactorial, signs point to a distinct link between wellness and design. As we improve the built environment with design elements that include better lighting, more fresh air and the use of materials and products that don’t leach toxic chemicals into the air, it would follow that health and well-being of the occupants should improve.

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27 April 2015

Meditation Rooms vs. Economic Reality

Yes, it’s ideal to have a space designated as a Meditation Room. But it has to make economic sense for your company. If you don’t have the funds to redesign a room or you simply don’t have the square feet to renovate, then start a trend in your company. Send this note to your team:

Dear All,

I am so proud of all of you and grateful that you’re on my team. I don’t say this enough and want you to know. Also, I’ve been thinking about how hard you work and how much is expected of you…both from me and from others. We all need to take better care of ourselves, and I’m starting now. I want you to do the same. I’m going to take 15 minutes every day to sit quietly in the office or outside and just breathe. I want you to do the same. Call it meditation, call it breathing, call it whatever you like, but please do this each day you come to work. I value all of you both as my team and as humans. I’ll be checking in on your progress. Happy breathing!

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20 April 2015

Pop-Up Meditation Rooms

It’s Monday. You’re at work. It’s noisy. You’re tense. You work in an open-office environment where sound reverberates off every chair, table and desk. Today, you’re not in the mood. What if, in the middle of your office, there was a pop-up meditation space, a “room” where you could wander in anytime and sink into a cozy chair and, for a few minutes, just breathe.

Let’s build one, virtually. Here goes…

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02 March 2015

Meditation Rooms for Caregivers: Do They Really Need Them?

How are meditation rooms or quiet spaces useful in places like the Ronald McDonald House?

The Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home where families stay temporarily while their kids receive treatment at a local hospital. These kids are often gravely ill; and the parents are under tremendous stress. How could a meditation room help in this environment?

Parents need relief. Their kid is sick. They’re angry, maybe shocked; they’re sad or even depressed. They feel a total loss of control since they can’t heal their child. The stress is overwhelming.

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19 October 2014

WCHL Interviews Melinda Easterling of Easterling Consulting

Listen to Today’s Business as Sharon Hill interviews Melinda Easterling of Easterling Consulting on WCHL. Easterling discusses the importance of creating quiet spaces in the workplace.

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29 September 2014

Open Letter… Dear CEOs,

Dear CEOs,

If it’s true that actively disengaged workers are costing the US $550 billion (Gallup) in economic activity annually and stress is costing American businesses $300 billion per year (World Health Organization), doesn’t it follow that even if we make slight improvements in employees’ lives, the net savings or contributions to economic activity could be in the hundreds of millions, if not in the billions?

How do we do this? There’s no pill…no single solution; however, small steps add up to big changes. One small step is tweaking how we view our employees. Whole beings who have whole lives walk through the office doors each morning with whole stuff going on…stuff from home, stuff from yesterday at work…emotional stuff, mental stuff, physical stuff, spiritual stuff, social stuff (some add environmental). How can you, as a CEO, address each of these facets of health in each of your employees?

You cannot. What can you do?

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22 September 2014

Creating Third Spaces within the Workplace

What are Third Spaces? And how do they affect you?

The first space is home. The second space is work. All other spaces in between that build community are often called Third Spaces.

In The Great Good Place, urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg discussed the power of third places, “informal public gathering places [like]…cafes, coffee shops, bookstores and bars.” According to Oldenburg, “social well-being and psychological health depend upon community.”

We spend most of our waking hours at work, so it follows that we incorporate these Third Spaces into the work setting to encourage social and psychological health.

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