Though it’s utterly cliché at this point, startups are stressful environments to work, and it’s important that the growing startup workforce keeps this in mind and protects their health.
Innovating requires going out on a limb, and limbs have a tendency to break when forced to carry too much weight. And by this point the stress-burden that many startup employees shoulder on a daily basis is well known, and has inspired many snappy articles in which founders and experts share their top suggestions for how to reduce stress, that although well intentioned, are often too vague to be of use to anyone.
If reducing stress was as easy as being told to “take a moment for yourself” or “avoid negative patterns of thought”, we would all be a lot happier and healthier, but reading inspirational quotes without an actual tangible path towards changing your habits is as guaranteed to produce results as tossing your stress ball into a wishing well.
“There’s only one way to create a good habit and that’s by doing something over and over again,” says Mindworks co-founder Bart Mendel. Which is why instead of posting inspirational quotes on Instagram, Mendel and his small team of close friends, trained by preeminent Buddhist meditation masters, decided to share their passion for spreading meditation techniques by creating the nonprofit Mindworks together.
From his experience as a meditation instructor for over 35 years, Mendel and his team have been working to create quality and readily available mindfulness and awareness-focused guided meditations, available on their free mindful meditations app launched in January. The app’s content includes daily inspirations, guided meditations, and “Mind Talks”- which are short videos featuring Mindworks international team of meditation instructors.
Today they announced the launching of their new 10-day meditation challenge, which will be available starting December 1st. Those who sign up to participate in the challenge will receive daily emails with guided instructions for 15-20 minute meditation sessions. On the final day of the challenge, all participants will be invited to a live online Q & A chat with an instructor at Mindworks, to get feedback and ask any questions that may have surfaced during the 10 days.
The 10-day challenges will be available for a nominal fee as an additional resource to the free content available on the app, and is appropriate for all levels. The app is available for download from the Mindowrks website, Google Play and the App Store.