The corporate world is connected to a socket at all times today, with little or no room for mindfulness.
Over-connected, over-worked underpaid and under-appreciated, peace of mind is elusive but for a few.
Marut Bhardwaj, CEO of Mindful Leadership India has been a part of the corporate world for years and has seen this first hand.
“In the Digital world that we live in today, we are spending 70-80% of our time in the workplace or connected to it. So our best efforts at our personal well-being, contemplative practices and Mindfulness, are constantly being overridden by the high pressure, challenging, pressurising, stressful and sometimes toxic work environment. The results are disastrous for us as well as our families, who are equally impacted by the pressure, stress and toxicity that we bring home with us,” she shares.
Having been a part of this scenario, and also having personally experienced the bliss of Meditation through a long-standing Meditation practice, she decided to devote herself, to bring the Calm, Kind and Wise to as many working executives as possible through the platform of Mindful Leadership Conclave in partnership with Bhaskar Rao.
“This is a place where it is possible for all to connect, share, learn and grow together in the Mindful Leadership Journey,” she highlights.
In their third annual edition, they launched a Survey Report along with Strat-board - “MINDFULNESS AT WORKPLACE: India Study 2018”
During the last few years, mindfulness has garnered a lot of interest as well debate on its relevance for the workplace. While numerous studies have been carried out internationally, it is important to get factual insights in the Indian context as well.
This study brings together the perspectives and experiences of organisations in India and of their leaders, with respect to the adoption, relevance and challenges around mindfulness at the workplace.
This study brings forth some interesting and compelling insights for the industry, to reflect and deliberate upon its culture and people strategies with respect to mindfulness, which was touched upon briefly by Sapan Shrimal Co-Founder, Strat-Board.
The summit witnessed some of the industries' top names including Charles G. Lief, president of Naropa University USA, Gagan Adlakha, Senior Partner, Vyaktitva; Raghu Ananthanarayanan, Dharma teacher; Vinit Taneja, Founder, Tresonance Consulting, and V. Srinivasan, Director, Heartfulness Institute.
HR leaders and coaches like Dr Deep Bali, CEO of Recalibrate, shared the stage to explore the subject of mindfulness across the board.
Alluding to mindfulness, Taneja explains "You can buy mindfulness but you can’t sell it. The only way you can sell it is if someone buys into the experience."
Dr Amit Kapoor President & CEO, India Council on Competitiveness also conducted an interesting interview of Rasmus Hougaard Managing Director of The Potential Project and Author of Mind of the Leader, published by HBR and One Second Ahead.
Practicums were conducted in art, theatre and heartfulness. A one day intensive on four subjects was also conducted by Gopi Krishnaswamy Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, Karan Behl Founder and Chief Happiness Officer at Happiitude, Charles G. Lief and Rasmas Hougaard.
The subject of meditation and the need to slow down is no longer so taboo at the workplace.
Hopefully, mindfulness and other forms of meditation won’t be considered “woo-woo” any more.