9 reasons why leaders need to meditate

I recently taught a business leader to meditate. He owns and runs a very large construction and property development company, managing a huge team of staff and working in a high-pressure, high-demand environment, as most leaders and execs do.

He initially came to me purely out of curiosity. He’s wife learnt to meditate with me the year prior and her transformation was so “unbelievable” that he wanted a taste of what she was experiencing. He had also read that many high-profile CEOs mediate as part of their daily routine, and this peaked his interest.

I taught him the technique in a three-session comprehensive training course, as I do with all my clients and then I didn’t hear from him for some time. Fast forward four months and an email landed in my inbox. It was lengthy and peppered with every positive outcome that meditation can bring , “I feel so much more engaged”, “things flow more easily and I actually listen”, “my creativity and clarity have significantly increased”, “I don’t lack energy anymore”, “I feel so centred and calm in my dealings”, “I haven’t felt triggered once in the past four months”. Most business leaders that I teach tell me they only wish they had learnt sooner.

The demands on business leaders are huge – long hours, major responsibility, juggling of many hats, pressure, the list goes on. And that’s just the job. For most, there’s also managing family life – children, spouse, friendships, social commitments. It doesn’t leave much room for managing their own mental wellbeing. But from my experience, having worked with countless men and women in leadership positions, if they don’t start prioritising their mental health, everything suffers, including the quality of their work.

Meditation and in particular Vedic meditation is fast becoming the secret weapon of many business leaders, even despite their busy schedules. The benefits are so amazing that a 15- or 20-minute meditation feels like a drop in the ocean compared with the myriad of ways it increases your performance in the workplace. Let’s take a closer look:

1. Reduction in stress, anxiety and overwhelm
2. Greater ability to work calmly under pressure
3. More focus
4. Greater clarity
5. Heightened alertness
6. Increased productivity
7. Decrease in fatigue
8. Better and deeper sleep
9. Increased creativity

These are the reasons why meditation is a game changer in the corporate space. Meditation creates stillness and order in the mind as well as rids the body of accumulated stress and fatigue, which results in feeling less triggered and overwhelmed in business dealings and has you working smarter not harder. I know of so many people who work late into the night who aren’t nearly as productive as others who work shorter hours but with greater focus and therefore an ability to complete tasks more efficiently. The difference is one meditates and the other doesn’t. Two 20-minute meditations are the equivalent of less than 3 per cent of your day and in my opinion, that’s a pretty worthy return on investment. So, if you’re looking for a way to not only elevate your life but also increase your performance at work, then meditation is the answer.

Elise Catchlove is the founder and driving force behind meditation school, By Catchlove. Formerly in the fast-paced fashion industry, Elise learned the importance of putting your health and wellbeing first, and that mental health and calmness were just as important as the psychical. Fast forward a few years, countless hours of meditation and training and a newborn baby, Elise launched Queensland’s first Vedic Mediation School, By Catchlove in 2018. Elise’s ability to work with a range of people from the corporate sector to creative industries, new parents to students has seen a life-changing transformation in countless people living in the modern world. To find out more about Elise, visit her website at www.bycatchlove.com and follower her on Instagram at @bycatchlove.