Mindfulness at Work Explored through the lens of Neuroscience

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1 Mindfulness at Work Explored through the lens of Neuroscience By Susan Greenfield Setting the Scene & Our Intention It is difficult to open a newspaper, visit a social media site or watch a TV news bulletin without hearing something about Mindfulness or Neuroscience. Both have entered mainstream media and as a result more and more people are taking an interest in practices once seen as the preserve of Buddhist monks and scientists. Possibly the greatest gift to Neuroscience has been the invention of the fmri (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanner which has given a richness to our understanding of how the brain functions and has provided evidence of the brain's ability to change and develop throughout our life. This gift has in part also given rise to the increased interest in Mindfulness. Through fmri scanning we can now see that the practice of Mindfulness has a positive effect on those brain changes which in turn has significant implications in a variety of fields including mental health, dementia, stress and pain management, education and (the area we are focusing on here) the workplace. Our intention in this white paper is to offer you an honest, authentic and balanced view of the application of Mindfulness in the workplace and to do so through the lens of Neuroscience. Both Mindfulness and Neuroscience have had their share of bad press alongside the good press. One of the main reasons for this is the sensational and attention grabbing headlines that you may have seen in the press which potentially undermine the depth and breadth of learning and application available in each of these fields. As we will explore later on, there is an increasing appetite for the "quick fix" solution to today's challenges in life and work and as many of us feel we lack time, we want those solutions delivered to us in short, bite sized chunks. This has potentially fuelled a market in which some of the valuable insights and applications for both Mindfulness and Neuroscience have been diluted to quench this appetite. So, our intention here is to share with you the true value of Mindfulness at Work and to do so by drawing on recent robust Neuroscientific research that adds weight and credibility to our point of view. We invite you to explore beyond the

2 sensational headlines and, with a curious mind, consider how Mindfulness could be of value to you, your organisation and the leaders within your organisation. What is Mindfulness? Mindfulness is a state of mind and a way of approaching our lives which helps us to step out of autopilot. It is about noticing when our mind has drifted away from what we are doing or has become caught up in an internal dialogue and bringing our attention back to the here and now. "Knowing what is happening, as it happens, whatever it is" Rob Nairn in our head (even if they are not helpful!). It is like pressing pause on our busy mind, creating space in which we can be more aware of what we are doing, what we are thinking and how we are responding. This awareness is a crucial factor in Mindfulness. When we give ourselves the opportunity to focus our attention on becoming more aware we notice just how busy our mind is with thoughts, how easily distracted we are and how often we replay the same thoughts over With practice, Mindfulness enables us to develop our awareness and to focus our attention so that we give ourselves the opportunity to choose how to respond instead of allowing our unconscious reactions to take over. Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. Victor Frankl Expanding the space between a stimulus in the external world (e.g. a driver who cuts in front of us on a motorway, a boss who shows us up in front of our colleagues or a child who repeatedly misbehaves) and our response to it, enables choice and choice is empowering. It means we are not at the mercy of our habitual, unconscious responses and instead feel a greater sense of control over our actions and therefore our experience. This sense of control helps us to regain an inner balance which for many people has been lost or disrupted due to the demands that are placed on us by others and our own internal drives and expectations. For many of us the reasons we do what we do fall into 2 categories; 1. achievement of goals, reward and pleasure or 2. avoidance of pain, stress or threat. The result is that we are trapped in an unconscious cycle of striving to achieve rewards and avoiding threat. There is a third category which appears to have been relegated to the side-lines as a result of this cycle of achievement and avoidance but which acts as an effective balance to the pressure and the highs and lows this cycle can cause. The third category which motivates our behaviour and regulates our emotions relates to soothing, contentment and compassion. It acts as an antidote to the pressure we place on ourselves and the pressure we feel other people place on us to do, be or have more than we have right now.

3 Mindfulness helps us to re-connect with this internal balancing system which is innate and critical to our health, happiness and survival. Consciously choosing to cultivate our soothing, contentment and compassionate side has significant benefits for us as an individual and also has a powerful impact on how we relate to and interact with people around us. Gilbert, P. (2005) The Compassionate Mind p26 Mindfulness is an innate capacity that we all have and because many of us have lost touch with it requires practice and conscious attention to reconnect with it and to bring these 3 systems back into balance. Practice takes two forms: 1. giving yourself time to sit and train your "muscle of attention" through meditation and 2. noticing when you are distracted or caught up in unconscious thoughts and behaviours and consciously bringing your attention back to whatever you are doing in that moment be that eating, taking a shower, sitting in a meeting, driving or having a conversation with a colleague so that you can develop that sense of focus, contentment and non-striving. The more practice you put in, the easier you will find it because repetition strengthens the pathways in your brain which makes them more accessible to you. Over time you will find that you notice your distraction more quickly and can bring your attention back to the here and now with less effort. In summary, mindfulness is: a state of mind developed by paying focused attention a way to expand the space between an external stimulus and our response empowering and opens up choice about how best to respond developed through practice a way of regaining inner balance The Neuroscience of Mindfulness An underpinning theme when we look at the value of Mindfulness through the lens of Neuroscience is the fact that with conscious effort it is possible to change the brain. So, if we direct that effort towards increasing our ability to focus and pay attention, towards noticing and regulating our emotions, towards letting go of unhelpful thought patterns and towards positive interactions with others then we are on our way to creating a resilient, well balanced, focused brain which has greater awareness and clarity over the information it processes. "The idea that the brain can change its own structure and function through thought and activity is, I believe, the most important alteration in our view of the brain since we first sketched out its basic anatomy and the workings of its basic component, the neuron" Norman Doidge (2007)

4 What we are learning is that when people engage in Mindfulness practice, usually through an 8 week course such as the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme, specific areas of the brain are positively influenced. These areas are associated with: decision making attention and mind wandering emotion regulation and processing memory and learning perspective taking Studies are showing us that the practice of training our attention and letting go of distractions strengthens neural connections in the brain which means that not only do we eventually find it easier to do (as it becomes a habit) it also physically increases the thickness of key parts of our cerebral cortex which help us with the executive functions of decision making, problem solving and taking different perspectives. The practice of Mindfulness engages not just the brain and the mind but also the body and studies have revealed that becoming more aware of the sensations and reactions we have in our body, through Mindfulness, increases the activity in parts of the brain which helps us to make sense of those sensations. So, our mind and body really do become connected and we can get a richer understanding of our experience through feelings and emotions which subsequently impacts on how we make decisions, relate to others and process information. People who practice Mindfulness and mindful meditation show a reduction in activation in parts of the brain associated with fear or stress and greater activation in the parts of the brain which correspond with a more balanced way of responding to challenging or difficult situations. They also report a greater sense of calmness and control in those types of situations. It is important to emphasise the importance of practice and repetition in Mindfulness training. These changes in the brain do not happen overnight. This repetition and practice is shown to increase density in the brain regions associated with memory which suggests that not only does repetition increase the number of neural connections it also serves to embed a new way of responding which we can draw on and learn from for the future.

5 There is still a lot we can learn about the brain and the impact that Mindfulness can have on it but the evidence so far points to a number of significant benefits to the individual and to their organisation. Mindfulness in the Context of Today's Work Environment Work environments are diverse and varied however, there do appear to be common challenges that many of us are facing regardless of where or how we work. "The world is not spinning faster, it just seems that way. Businesses operate 24/7 and expect constant performance. Workers multitask through multiple projects, teams, and time zones, trying to keep up with too many "top priorities". Many silently wish to, "stop the madness", and wonder why results don't change. An answer lies in our ability and choice to focus attention, which may be the most critical management skill of the 21st century." Hunter & Sokol, 2014 Mindfulness is not a magic cure to the challenges of today's work environment however it brings a state of mind and an approach which helps people to maintain a high level of performance and effectiveness whilst also attending to their well-being. Over time this leads to positive changes within the brain. Specifically, Mindfulness enables us to deal with change and uncertainty more effectively, it helps us to train our attention so that we can focus on what we are doing for longer, it helps us become more selfaware and better at relating to others and it gives us a way to deal with the complexity of organisational life which helps us make more effective decisions. The overall impact of all of this is enhanced well-being. Change and uncertainty Change is a constant in organisational life and whilst change can be good, it brings with it degrees of uncertainty, particularly for people who are not in control of the change. Change is often experienced by us as a threat and threats activate our sympathetic nervous system (SNS) resulting in increased feelings of stress. In the short term high levels of stress doesn't feel very good and impairs our performance and in the long term has significant negative health implications. Mindfulness helps us to respond to this type of stressful or threatening situation by influencing how we think and how we feel about it. Firstly, Mindfulness helps us to notice what we can control and what we can't and helps us let go of our focus on the things we can't control. Secondly, through mindful practice we become better at activating the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) which balances the effects of the SNS. By simply focusing on our breath we activate the vagus nerve which helps regulate our blood pressure and has a naturally soothing effect on us. Studies have shown that the amygdalae in regular Mindfulness meditators is smaller than in those who do not practice mindfulness. The amygdala (we have one in each hemisphere of the brain) is activated when we feel threatened, it is a critical part of our fight or flight response and so by reducing in size it means that

6 we are better able to choose how to respond and become less stressed in changing situations. Focus and attention It is becoming harder and harder to maintain focus and attention on one thing because of the constant pinging, beeping and ringing of our smart devices! Linda Stone describes this phenomenon as Continuous Partial Attention. We are so well connected to each other now that no matter where we are or what time of the day it is we can keep up to date with what other people are doing. That is creating a situation whereby our attention is always partially distracted by the need to check our in-box for new s, our smart phone for texts or SMS' or social media for the latest piece of breaking news (or gossip!). Through Mindfulness practice we can train ourselves to focus our attention on one thing at a time and to manage distractions on a moment by moment basis. The more we practice the quicker we can catch ourselves when we become distracted and the longer we can sustain our focus and attention in one place. This has positive implications for productivity and effectiveness at work. The default mode network (DMN) is a network of brain regions which become active when our mind wanders. Studies have shown considerably less activity in the DMN in people who meditate suggesting that they are able to focus more effectively than non-mediators. Relating to others Particularly for leaders, but it is true for anyone working in an organisation, the ability to relate to others and to demonstrate an understanding of their point of view is critical to effective relationship building and communication. When we are working in a fast paced, stressed environment and especially when we become distracted it can be easy to fly off the handle or to react to a situation from a state of heightened emotion rather then responding in a more considered way. This can lead to conflict and can create difficulties for future communication between people and teams. When we become more mindful we activate parts of our brain which enhance our mind and body connection (such as the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)). What that means is we become more in tune with how we feel, we are less reactive to situations which might cause a strong emotion in us (so we don't get hi-jacked by our emotions) and we can in turn become better at recognising and understanding other people's emotions. So, Mindfulness can help enhance our Emotional Intelligence and our ability to relate to others. Complexity and decision making From the moment we get up in the morning to the moment we go to bed each night we task our brain with making lots and lots of decisions. We have more choice than ever before and more access to information to help us make those choices and instead of making it easier for us it actually puts more strain on our already overloaded brain to work harder. We rely on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) for decision making, which it does very well, but what we don't always consider is that it takes a lot of effort and energy to do so and if we are not doing anything to rebalance the energy we are using up then we find that our PFC will start to struggle and decision making will be negatively affected. Mindfulness helps here in two ways. Firstly, as we become more mindful and we can focus our attention more effectively, we become better at streamlining

7 our decision making process. We focus on what is really important and are able to let go of distracting and unhelpful thoughts which cloud our decision making. Secondly, the practice of training our attention actually increases the connections in the PFC and other areas of the brain which builds our strength for making decisions. Well-being Stress and mental health issues are a significant cause of sickness and longterm absence at work and often the catalyst for these kinds of issues are the factors described above. Feeling overwhelmed, a lack of control and certainty, poor relationships and increasing pressure take their toll on all of us unless we have a way of regaining balance and a sense of control. Whilst Mindfulness is not a cure to the problems and challenges of today's work environment, it offers us a way to gain a different perspective on our experience, to notice more clearly what is happening to us and how we are reacting and over time can help us develop helpful and healthy habits which build a mental strength and resilience. It is not that mindfulness is the answer to all life s problems but that life s problems become clearer when seen through the lens of a clear mind Jon Kabat-Zinn In summary, mindfulness at work: helps us deal more effectively with change and uncertainty trains us to focus our attention and be less distracted helps us regulate our emotions and become better at understanding others builds our mental strength for decision making creates a sense of balance and resilience The Future for Mindfulness (and Neuroscience) at Work There are developments in both Mindfulness and Neuroscience almost on a daily basis and so it would be unfair to suggest that what we know now is the full picture or that we have all of the answers. What is certain is that Mindfulness has positive implications for individuals in helping them cope with the everyday pressures and challenges that our fast paced world throws at them. Individuals who have developed positive habits of focusing their attention, regulating their emotions, letting go of unhelpful thoughts and enabling clarity of thought are likely to be more effective and happier employees. Leaders who develop a mindful approach are likely to find they have greater influence and greater success in leading their teams to success. Some might say that Mindfulness is just the latest fad and that in a few years after the hype has died down it will no longer influence the headlines the way it is just now. Other people are concerned that Mindfulness could in fact cause damage when people enter into practicing it without the right support and guidance as it potentially takes people to a level of awareness about themselves that they are not fully equipped to deal with. In response to the first point, whilst the hype might die down and we may see less sensational headlines about what Mindfulness can do for us, however,

8 Mindfulness has existed for 2,500 years and is unlikely to disappear just because the media has moved on to something else. Neuroscience can help extend the interest in Mindfulness beyond this initial hype. The Neuroscience research has come under some scrutiny because of the small sample numbers in some studies and the lack of controlled longitudinal studies, so there is more work to be done here to build a strong and robust evidence base. As with any research, increased interest in the subject and the potential application to a wide range of populations and environments helps with generating the investment needed to build such an evidence base In response to the second point about Mindfulness causing more harm than good. We absolutely endorse the need for people to receive proper training into Mindfulness with the right level of support which will enable them to gain the benefits from regular practice and enable them to deal with the challenges that come with any sort of personal discovery and development. By the end of 2015 there will be a UK register of Mindfulness Teachers which will give individuals and organisations confidence that they are getting the quality guidance and support they need. There is currently an All Party Parliamentary Committee debating the application of Mindfulness in 4 key areas; healthcare, the criminal justice system, education and the workplace. This points towards an acknowledgement by the Government of the benefits of and need for Mindfulness in a wide range of environments and shows a commitment to making this happen. What now? Our intention was to offer you an honest, authentic and balanced view of the application of Mindfulness in the workplace and to do so through the lens of Neuroscience so that you could decide whether Mindfulness could be of value to you, your organisation and the leaders within your organisation. It is likely that it will have the most significant value to you if it is introduced as a part of a wider change programme or linked to the strategic direction of the organisation rather than a one off training event. We invite you now to press pause and consider the challenges that you and your organisation is facing and to ask whether Mindfulness viewed through the lens of Neuroscience could offer you a different perspective on how to manage those challenges now and how to build resilience for the future. Contact us There are many different ways a mindful approach can be integrated into your organisation. We can guide you around the options that would make most sense for you and your people. Contact us to find out how we can help you: info@synapticpotential.com