Eli Greenblat, The Age: If you, like most office workers, open your email first thing in the morning, then you might be setting yourself up for a horrible day and wasting hundreds of hours a year.

The work email inbox is a “pandora’s box” of nitty-gritty detail, gossip and distractions that are best dealt with later in the morning, and pressing the “send receive” button as soon as you slouch in your seat is the worst way to start your day.

These are the somewhat controversial views of Danish organisational behavioural expert and corporate consultant Rasmus Hougaard, who has taken his new way …

Read the original article »

This handsome fellow just arrived in our office. We sell this Buddha statue, and others, plus a full range of meditation supplies, in our online store.

Your making a purchase helps us to keep this site running.

…

Occupational Health: Occupational health teams should be encouraged to get behind the concept of mindfulness, an alternative approach to helping staff cope with pressure experienced in the workplace, says Suzy Bashford.

The UK’s first Mindfulness at Work conference, organised by Mindfulnet, took place in February this year. The message from the event was that mindfulness, a meditation-based approach to stress management, can provide an antidote to the relentless pressure and information overload that exists in many UK businesses. It can also help employees thrive under stress and relate better to colleagues or clients.

The growing body of evidence in this area (there are …

Read the original article »

Jen Weigel, Chicago Tribune: Can you be a success in the world of business and still be mindful? What exactly does it mean to be “mindful” anyway? According to Mirabai Bush, one of the creators of a mindfulness course developed for Google employees called “Search Inside Yourself,” you will be more productive and motivated if you use respect, compassion and generosity in the workplace.

“Mindfulness has to do with paying attention to what’s happening in the moment without judgment,” said Bush. “Sometimes people think being mindful means being slow — it’s not about being slow, it’s about being slow enough that you can …

Read the original article »

Another Friday night at this tiny neighborhood watering hole in Tokyo: By 7:30, the bar stools and tables in this cozy joint are filling up; office workers settle in with their cocktails and Kirin beers. And by a little after 8, it’s time for the main act.

Vow’s Bar in the Yotsuya neighborhood has no house band, no widescreen TV, no jukebox. But it does have a chanting Buddhist monk so tipplers can get a side of sutras with their Singapore Slings or something even more exotic.

A pair of younger monks — conspicuous with their shaved heads, bare feet and religious garb — man …

Read the original article »

Purchases from our store help us run this site and to bring you the articles you value so much. These fair trade products also help support artisans in traditional cultures, and to keep traditional crafts alive.

Garnet Mandala Pendant

The mandala is a sacred circle, used as a subject for visualization. This exquisitely hand-carved and chased mandala is a representation of enlightened awareness. Each of the four tiny clouds are actually gates leading to the supreme perfection at the center of the mandala, represented by the gemstone.

• Sterling silver with garnet.
• Handmade in Nepal by gifted artisans from Newari, Shakya and Bajracharya clans.
• Made using a range of traditional crafting

…

The sale of Buddhist-related items in our online store helps us to maintain our website and to keep bringing you articles, news stories, and reviews. Many of our products are also fair trade, and directly benefit craft workers in India and Nepal. Please consider making a purchase.

A sterling silver ring with 10 karat gold-plated letters with the Sanskrit “Om Mani Padme Hum.” Adjustable size.

Om Mani Padme Hum, the mantra of Avalokitesvara, is the ancient Tibetan mantra or prayer for realizing perfect wisdom and compassion. Travelers to Tibet find it everywhere — printed on prayer flags, inside and outside prayer wheels, carved onto prayer stones and …

It could have been the usual Type A gathering of lawyers at UC Berkeley School of Law except for the subject matter — yoga in Room 110, Qi Gong in Room 105 followed by guided meditation with well-known Zen Buddhist priest Norman Fischer.
Almost 200 lawyers, law students, judges and law professors from around the country, as well as from Canada and Australia, descended on the Berkeley campus last fall for the first-ever national conference on the legal profession and meditation.

Called “The Mindful Lawyer: Practices & Prospects for Law School, Bench and Bar,” the conference was chaired by Berkeley Law Scholar-in-Residence Charles Halpern, who teaches a seminar on meditation.

Meditation, says Halpern, can hone such traits as focus, creativity, empathy and listening, …