Corporate Meditation Classes: Benefits, Formats, and How to Easily Book Them for Your Team

The 10 Most Popular Corporate Meditation Classes

Ready to bring the benefits of meditation to your team? Having worked with some of the world’s largest employers (think Amazon, Capital One, KPMG), we’ve learned a few things along the way:

• Introducing meditation to the office can feel intimidating
• Sometimes similar words like “mindfulness” and “mindfulness meditation” are better received (even when the content stays the same)
• The messaging must be inclusive and accessible for all employees
• There’s a BIG difference between a skilled and certified meditation practitioner and Mary from Accounting, who likes “crystals” (no offense to Mary!)

For that reason, all of our classes have been specifically designed for a corporate audience—no crystals or candles here. Importantly, the content is secular and does not reference any specific religion or spirituality. At Twello, our five most popular workplace meditation classes are (in order):

• Meditation 101
• Mindfulness Meditation For Stress Reduction
• Mindfulness Meditation For Boosting Creativity
• Mindfulness Meditation For Improved Sleep
• Mindful Gratitude Journaling

In this guide, we’ll explore the most popular workplace meditation classes, the top benefits (backed by recent research), and how to choose and book the right class for your team. Our sessions are a mixture of presentation, education, journaling, and meditation to fill the session, which gives participants something to “take home.”

1) Meditation 101

Not sure where to start? Meditation 101 was designed exactly for that purpose. For clients looking for an introductory level class, this is the class we recommend the most often. Your certified workplace meditation facilitator will introduce two popular and beginner-friendly meditation techniques:

• Guided Meditation
• Silent Meditation

These practices are secular (non-religious), inclusive, and designed to be accessible to everyone on your team. This class is also ideal for skeptics, as it includes data highlighting the benefits of simply taking a moment to sit back and breathe deeply.

2) Mindfulness For Stress Reduction 

Did you know that there is a negative correlation between overall stress and productivity? That means when stress goes up, productivity goes down. Designed to combat workplace stress, participants will learn how to recognize stress triggers and respond to them quickly with self-care* strategies. *And self-care isn’t just about bubble baths! Self-care looks different for each individual. Participants walk away with a personalzized self-care toolkit for times of stress. The session also closes with a relaxing guided meditation.

3) Mindfulness Meditation For Boosting Creativity

Want to cultivate a future-proof business? Invest in a creative workforce. Theoretically, creativity is something that comes naturally to most of us – until the pressures of everyday life get in the way. However, creativity is essential to running an innovative and competitive business. A workshop on mindfulness for boosting creativity may be just the thing your team needs at the moment. This class provides a simple overview to the concept of convergent and divergent thinking, two essential skills for a creative thinker. Plus, you’ll get handy tips and tricks for creative brainstorming at your next team meeting.

4) Meditation For Improved Sleep

Nearly 40% of people experience constant fatigue at work. And it’s a big problem. Why? Researchers liken 4 hours less sleep to having drank 4 to 6 drinks. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I should be stepping into the office after I’ve had a few. In some jobs, tiredness reduces productivity. In others, lack of sleep has catastrophic consequences. This workshop discusses the three most common barriers to a restful night’s sleep, which is the first step to understanding the obstacles your team may be facing. You’ll also learn about how to use mindfulness to improve sleep quality. And you’ll discover other practical changes your team can make to their routine to help achieve better sleep.

5) Mindful Gratitude Journaling

Gratitude may be the most accessible, affordable tool we have to increase optimism, emotional resilience, and happiness at work. In our Mindful Gratitude Journaling wellness webinar, you don’t need a pricey Moleskine notebook to practice gratitude journaling; any piece of paper will work just fine. Learn a gratitude journaling framework you can practice right before best to boost those happy hormones and release stress before your head hits the pillow.

Top 10 Benefits of Corporate Meditation Classes

Having trouble quantifying the value of positive mental health? Share these with your team!

1. Researchers from the Harvard Medical School have found that a meditation program can cause changes in the regions of the brain responsible for learning and working memory capacity. In a high-stress work environment, this can result in employees staying on task longer, improving time management skills, and having better task performance.
2. A study conducted at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found a link between mindfulness and creativity. This means those who meditate regularly tend to improve their problem-solving abilities and come up with more out-of-the-box ideas, both of which are skills that can be beneficial in the workplace.
3. Researchers at Boston University found that meditation programs can reduce anxiety and depression, making workers more optimistic and increasing their satisfaction with their careers.
4. Stanford University School of Medicine conducted a study that shows meditation can lead to a 30% decrease in stress-related symptoms that can lead to serious illness. This can help increase employee attendance, minimize the occurrence of paid and unpaid absences, lower healthcare costs, and boost productivity overall.
5. Highly stressed employees can incur an additional $2,000 per year in healthcare costs as compared to their less-stressed peers. For companies, this can amount to millions of dollars a year in stress-related charges.
6. 58% of Americans say work is a significant source of stress. The main sources of stress include workload (36%), people issues (31%), work-life balance (20%), job security (8%)) and others (5%). Unfortunately, millennials experience more depression at work than any other generation.
7. One study of more than 85,000 adults revealed that the number of workers who practice yoga doubled from 2002 to 2012, going from 6-11%. Meditation rates increased from 8-9.9%.
8. A 2018 study showed that a workplace mindfulness intervention may be associated with improved psychological well-being and productivity.
9. A 2005 study showed health care professionals who participated in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program improved mood and empathy while lowering levels of stress.

How To Implement Corporate Meditation Training: A Roadmap

Mindfulness meditation is the fastest-growing wellness trend in North America, outpacing yoga and (really) outpacing CrossFit. Workplace meditation programs are also spreading like wildfire. Have you been tasked with implementing corporate meditation training at your organization? This article will explain five easy steps to getting your mindfulness training up and running!

1. Identify Core Workplace Stressors
   • Following mindfulness meditation training, in an office setting, one of the most notable changes in employees is reduced stress.
2. Build A Task Force
   • Build a small team to help you promote, implement and find resources for your training program. The best task forces are diverse. Ideally, try to find one representative from multiple functions such as People Operations, Finance (never hurts to have someone with purse strings on your side!) and Sales.
3. Create A Quantifiable “Before” Measure
   • This will allow you to calculate the ROI of your programming. Employee experience surveys are very common for this. There are also stress-specific questionnaires you could deliver before and after the program.
4. Hire A Skilled Mindfulness Meditation Facilitator
   • ⚠️ Warning! ⚠️ This may be a controversial suggestion but I would highly recommend choosing a facilitator that has a background in the corporate world. There are three reasons for this:1) With a background in a corporate environment, the facilitator can understand and empathize with the day-to-day stresses of a 40+ hour work-week.2) Language or techniques taught in a studio are not the same as the language used in a corporate setting.An example of this may be, in a studio setting, “This is an ancient tradition used to promote inner peace and send compassion around the world.” 99/100 times, this will not fly in a corporate environment.A seasoned facilitator, with a corporate background, will be able to translate the same practice into workplace wording: “Research shows meditation is able to reduce stress and improve focus after just one session.”3) Corporate environments are very different from the studios. Workplace facilitators teach in boardrooms, lunchrooms and even auditoriums! The facilitator must be extra mindful to ensure that the session is accessible to every employee and can be done from their office chair. Ok, ⚠️ Warning! ⚠️ over!
5. Measure Your Results & Ask For Feedback
   • Very closely tied to number three, this step closes the loop and allows for feedback on the program. Ideally, you are able to repeat the same survey or questionnaire that you chose in step three.It is also worthwhile to seek out anecdotal feedback from your employees in-person. Their thoughts and suggestions will only help you to improve the second program.