How To Meditate While Working At Home

To be a successful remote worker means taking care of your mind as well as your body and there’s no better way to do this than meditation.

The good news is that it’s easy and costs nothing to do and our guide on how to meditate while working at home has everything you need to know in it.

Why Meditate While Working From Home?

There are specific benefits to working from home and meditating that have been demonstrated in peer-reviewed scientific research:

It reduces stress and anxiety. In fact, we recommend meditation as part of our “how to avoid burnout” approach.
It improves your ability to focus and your attention span. If you want to be productive at work, you need to focus and work. By staying in the “present moment” you’ll be much happier working for longer periods of time than ever before. We’ve also got some remote work productivity tips if you want to take your game to the next level.
It improves your emotional health. You should also check out our wellness tips for remote workers for ideas to help with this but meditation is a powerful tool for the human psyche.
It boosts your brain health. Meditation has been shown to prevent memory loss and may even forestall dementia.
It can help manage pain. One of the disadvantages of modern work is that it can be painful for those with arthritis, back pain, etc. meditation won’t take your pain away but it can make it easier to manage.

How To Do Mindfulness Meditation At Home

The most common form of meditation for home workers is mindfulness meditation.

It’s the meditative form designed to let you live in the present and focus on what’s in front of you rather than being distracted by other worries.

It’s also very easy to get started with and you don’t need to spend any money or even watch any YouTube videos.

The process is as follows:

Sit in a comfortable upright position. You can, technically, also lie down but we find that this often leads to sleep not meditation. Have your back straight and keep your hands in your lap. Tilt your chin down a little and close your eyes.
Fully relax into your posture. Now turn your attention to your breathing, take deep breaths and just allow yourself to notice your breath, nothing else. After a few minutes you should find that this helps to clear your mind.
Then, direct your attention to your body and what it is feeling in the present. The pressure of your feet on the floor, the tickle of a draft on your skin, sun on your face, that kind of thing.
Now, return to the present moment and briefly focus on your breath. Do not judge your experience. It’s not “good” and it’s not “bad”, it just is.
See how staying in that present moment makes you feel energized and calm simultaneously. Keep focusing on this feeling as you stop meditating and start working again.

And that’s it!

However, we warn you, while this sounds easy, it takes a lot of practice to get it right. Don’t be discouraged though, just keep trying again and again until it clicks for you.

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Meditation Practice

We’ve also got some tips for you to get the most of out of your meditation practice when working from home:

It can help to find a meditation space. You don’t have to, you can meditate at your desk. But many people find it valuable to have a quiet and comfortable space away from the desk to meditate in. It’s really useful to pick somewhere you won’t be interrupted every 2 minutes.
Don’t rush it. Start with just 5 or 10 minutes of meditation and slowly work up as you feel comfortable. This isn’t a race and the only prize is feeling better. Take your time.
It’s for the long haul. It can take 2 or 3 weeks for the big benefits of meditation to make themselves apparent and you need to meditate every day if you want to feel them. However, don’t meditate with a specific goal in mind, that’s going to be self-defeating.
Feel free to find that “present moment” at any time. You don’t have to be formally meditating to bring yourself into the present moment.