Centering at Work

Centering At Work

How do you get yourself together at work? What do you do when you’ve “lost it” to regain “it” and what exactly did you lose? When you’re at your best, how much better is your work that when you’re merely OK, and how do you make sure you’re at your best as often as possible?

These question and others like them are about centre and the process of centering. There are other ways of wording this phenomenon depending on the context such as being in “the zone” (sports), being in a flow state (psychological) or in a state of grace or mushin (religious/meditative). This relaxed yet alert state of body and mind is nothing exotic, watch any child at play and they have it – focused, yet not stressed, fully present in the here and now, seemingly at one with their activity. In this condition time passes rapidly and it is so profoundly pleasurable that people will take up extreme sports or fight in wars just to experience it again as adults. I first came across it in the martial art of aikido which relies on relaxed awareness and centred movement and now use it in the corporate world. Many of my clients have found centering to be profoundly practical as it is not only enjoyable (relieves boredom and stress) but enhances any workplace activity. I’ll say that again – centering enhances ANY workplace activity, and often by a factor.

I’ve found that people answer the opening questions about centering at work in one of two ways. One group says “Uh?” and doesn’t know what I’m talking about, seeing their best as something like the weather that happens to them, and that they can’t do anything about. The other group, who are not coincidentally more common as one moves in more successful circles in any arena, will already have something they do to “get themselves together.” What I do is help them fine-tune this centering, so that they can be on top-form more often. The process of centering is not about monk-like calm in the face of all eventualities (I’m knocked off centre myself 20 times a day at least) but about how you notice and recover from life’s “grabs and shoves.”

So how does one regain one’s centre? Surely it requires long years of practice in Zen dojos in the Far East? Happily not. The following is a short (1-10 min) centering practices that I teach clients to use both as a regular “stress inoculator” and as a way to return to form when they have been thrown off. It’s known by the acronym CABC: Connected, Aware, Balanced, Centred. Here’s how to do it (instructions in italics):

Connected

Start by centring around what you care about – to give yourself the wider picture. Bring to mind that which is important to you. What do you love? What would you like to do before you die? Everyone is passionate about something – it’s where you spend your time and money not your framed mission statement. For some people this will be a general concept (peace for example), for others it will be a specific goal or a person. For many people it may be their family. A picture of one’s family on one’s desk is a traditional and effective centring aid. For other people holding a particular object or listening to a piece of music may work better depending on which sense dominates.

Getting connected to this bigger “for the sake of what?” as one of my teachers would say, is a powerful tool for getting perspective and motivating yourself. Because this part of centring is about value and meaning, those of a spiritual or religious persuasion may find in appropriate to engage with this part of themselves, and more importantly their traditions and community at this point. A small gesture appropriate to a corporate environment or a phrase is all that’s needed.

The “Connected” part of this process involves bringing to mind not just what is important to you but other people in which you are in relationship and community with. In the office, bringing to mind the other members of the work team is an obvious choice.

Once you’ve reconnected to what’s important to you the next thing to do is become aware of how you are right now. Use your five senses to become fully present, really look around, listen deeply and pay particular attention to your body and breathing. Activities like stressful presentations and job interviews force you to pay attention. Mindfulness however can be cultivated and attention trained so you can feel fully alive in each moment – even when filing dull reports or making coffee for colleagues.

Scan your body up and down, front and back, left and right, accepting what is totally without doing anything about it, or “fixing” yourself. If you’re mind drifts, as minds do, be aware of your thoughts and bring your attention gently and firmly back to the sensations of your body and breathing.

Now you’ve woken up, got present and accepted whatever you found, you can do something with it and bring yourself to balance.

Start by shifting your weight from left to right and front to back – whether sat at a desk or standing up. Place your feet flat on the floor if you are in a chair, with your knees above your ankles and the chair height adjusted so your hips are level to or a fraction higher than your knees. “Ground” by feeling your weight on the floor and chair and relax into it. Roll your pelvis so it is neither pointing forwards or backwards (so your navel points straight ahead). Let your spine raise up as if pulled gently from a string attached to the back of your head (so your chin stays level). Neither strain like the old postural and mistaken ideal of a soldier on parade, or slump. Take up as much space as you can to the left and right, making sure your knees are slightly apart and your shoulders are relaxed and expanded not rolled in or thrust back. Become aware of the front and back and make sure you are not leaning forwards or back. If you are in a chair feel the muscles around your lower back, if you are leaning forwards as is common to type they will be tight, in order to stop you falling forwards.

Find your balance in the physical sense and also attentionally. Your awareness of all six directions should be balanced to, not just on your computer screen or your body will follow. This is a little tricky to teach in an article, so or now I’ll just say be aware of all four walls and the floor and the ceiling of the office you’re in, and direct people to the work of Dr Paul Linden if they are curious to find out more.

This process balances up and down, left and right and front and back, six directions or three dimensions. Some people like to view it as one big “bubble” that they blow up.

The last part of the centring process is to relax the core areas of your body- which will help the rest of your body and mind relax.

• Let the eyes relax as if you were looking out upon a beautiful landscape, with wide peripheral vision.
• Let the tongue hang loose in the mouth and relax the jaw.
• Swallow to relax the throat if need be.
• Tense and then release the abdominal muscles so your tummy hangs loose.
• Relax your pelvic muscles.

If you only two parts make it the mouth or the belly as these allow you to breathe fully with the diaphragm. Individuals will also find their own “centre-key” that works for them.

Place one hand below your navel and breath down into this point so you belly expands slightly as you breathe in. Take your hand away and keep some concentration in this point.

Centering at Work – Recap

• Connect to what you care about

• Become Aware of tour senses especially your body

• Balance your posture and attention

• Relax your centre-line and breathe into your belly

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This four-part centering process is scalable and once learned it can be done in an essential form in ten seconds, sitting at desk, in the shower or on a bus – it’s pretty versatile. I’ve done it in war zones during my non-profit sector days and in board rooms round the world with my business training company, it’s basically the same. We’re all busy but not so busy we don’t have five minutes in the morning and ten seconds three times a day to practice, which is what I recommend. It does take practice, after a few weeks what was once an uncommon state of efficacy will become the norm. The time gained in reduced mistakes and stress related sick-days more than makes up for the minimal time and energy investment.

Because centering is an individual and experiential process it’s best to get someone to teach it to you in the flesh – most yoga and tai chi classes will have some concept of it. There is also an example of centering on video HERE so you can see what I’m on about.
The other side of the coin from centring is something called “following the body” where you explore how you are off-centre and go into this…but that’s another article…I’ll conclude by asking you to not believe a word I’ve said. Try it and see if it works for you. Happy centering.

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Stress So what: Get yourself together for health, happiness and effectiveness

If you liked this article you may be interested to read the following articles:

• Embodied NVC
• 7 Essential Embodied Tools for Leadership, Training and HR

• Resilient Leadership

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