Utilizing Zen Meditation To Stay On Top in Business

To stay on top in the cut- throat world of business, big or small, it helps to be fit and healthy not just in body, but in mind. You need to be able to focus instantly, pay attention to detail and the moment (known as mindfulness), not be easily distracted, and have a really good memory.

Neuroscience suggests that Zen meditation — a centuries-old Buddhist practice aimed at mental, physical and emotional balance — can help you achieve those goals, and more.

An increasing body of scientific evidence supports the benefits of Zen meditation — a centuries-old practice aimed at mental and physical balance — in and out of business. Now, brain imaging shows that experienced Zen meditators can clear their minds of distractions more quickly than others are able to do

In the last decade, there has been a growth of scientific studies into meditation, due in part to the increasing availability and sophistication of a variety of brain-scanning techniques.

Mindfulness in particular is increasingly a focus in the business world. It will be a topic at a one- day Leadership Stamina conference to be hosted by the PQ Institute in Bryanston, Gauteng, on July 14. Stellenbosch University Business School MBA lecturer Dina Oleofson will speak on the relevance and benefits of mindfulness for business.

In the latest research, US neuroscientiststs say that electro- encephalography — brain imaging — shows that experienced Zen meditators can clear their minds of distractions more quickly than novices are able to do.

Meditators show “an enhanced ability to control their mind’s focus and disentangle it from distracting or harmful preoccupations”, say researchers, led by Dr Giuseppe Pagnoni, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.

Pagnoni says after interruption, differences in brain activity between experienced Zen meditators and novices could be seen in a set of cerebral areas often referred to as the “default mode network”.

Earlier studies have associated this network with spontaneous thoughts and mind-wandering during periods known as “wakeful rest”, the researchers say.

Pagnoni’s study, titled Thinking about Not-Thinking: Neural Correlates of Conceptual Processing During Zen Meditation, suggests that “the regular practice of meditation may enhance the capacity to limit the influence of distracting thoughts”. He says this skill could help conditions characterised by excessive rumination, or abnormal production of task-unrelated thoughts. It is a type of mind training that could be a complementary treatment for neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, attention deficit disorder and depression.

On the Live Science website (www.livescience.com), Pagnoni says the default mode network may be “especially vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease”. He freely admits to be entering the field of “wild speculation” here, medically speaking, but believes that meditation, “by providing regular intervals of respite in the incessant working of the default network, (could) have protective effects for Alzheimer disease”, even if only mildly.

Other studies have shown increased activity of alpha and theta waves in the brain’s frontal region during Zen meditation. Alpha waves are associated with “relaxed wakefulness” (with eyes closed) and usually stop when the eyes are opened. Theta waves are known as the “more elusive and extraordinary realms” of brain activity.

Zen meditation may also be a natural analgesic (pain reliever). A study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health in Psychosomatic Medicine in January this year shows that meditators have lower pain sensitivity in and out a meditative state compared with non- meditators.

Unlike other forms of meditation that involve repeating a mantra, or visualisation exercises such as imagining yourself on a tropical beach, Zen meditation discourages “mental vacations”, and “prescribes a vigilant attitude” towards one’s surroundings, he says. By focusing on “the here and now”, that is, being mindful, practitioners are less likely to “get carried away” by extraneous and superfluous thoughts.

South African advocate Antony Osler agrees. He has had a longstanding interest in law and meditation. On the legal side, he ran the Karoo Law Clinic, an office of Lawyers for Human Rights, for 15 years and now arbitrates in labour disputes. He has been meditating since the early ’70s, and in 1983 was officially ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk at a monastery in Mount Baldy, California.

Osler holds occasional meditation retreats on his Colesberg farm, Poplar Grove, and says enigmatically: “I meditate because I need to, not because I’m particularly good at it.”

He knows all about the manifold psychological and medical benefits said to accrue from meditation, but has “never meditated for those”. Through meditation, he has experienced “the rising of an instinctive sense of internal balance and a sense of deep connectedness with wherever I am.

“For me, that’s enough. If I don’t contact that level of stillness in myself, I feel out of alignment.”

Osler is author of Stoep Zen (Jacana), which he describes as “taking the Zen tradition and giving it South African feet”.

Despite its quirky “thinking about not thinking” approach and irreverent reputation, Zen meditation is not New Age or trying to create an alternative state of consciousness or “bliss” , he says.

You don’t even have to be a Buddhist to do it. “Buddhism is practised as a religion in some parts of the world, but in essence it is a philosophy, a way of life. As such, it does not compete with any belief system,” Osler says.

It has a particular slant that is very grounded in the present moment, he says. “It aims to put you in touch with whatever moment you are living in.”

To Osler, meditation means being “grounded”, mindful, connected to the moment and “being really attentive, moment by moment, so you are able to give yourself to every person you meet and every situation that you are in”.

Zen teachings also demonstrate rather than explain, he says.

“There is a place for explanation, of course, but there is also a place where logic stumbles and we have to enter the world of astonishment and love.”

He says Zen meditation has two important benefits for the business world

“Firstly, if you are more in touch with yourself and your surroundings, including work situations, you are likely to respond more appropriately.

“Secondly, meditation allows you to be less caught up in your own perception of things and, in turn, to be more sensitive and compassionate to how others are feeling,” he says.

“I’m not a businessman, but in my own profession, the more attentive and present I can be, the better I can do my job.”

In a prologue to Stoep Zen, Osler writes: “If we pay attention and live from our belly — without the habitual veil of thinking that stands between us and our experience — then whatever we see, hear, taste, touch or smell is the truth. It is the content of our life at this moment; the place where we truly live.

“Then our life lies clearly in front of us and we can step lightly and kindly.”