Attention to human design can bring you success.
In this day and age we can no longer dispute that healthy employees equals healthy businesses. Many companies give their employees the chance to stay fit with gym cards, or offer yoga, meditation or other mindfulness practices because of their proven effects of reducing stress, depression and anxiety. Apple, Google and HBO are some of the bigger companies that offer on-site resources and rooms to keep their employees healthy and motivated.
Mindfulness in Action
But when that is not enough? When going into a different room and getting a mindfulness boost is not sufficient because once you are back in the workroom your neck, back, arm or shoulder still hurts, and you can’t focus or stay motivated? It is usually easier to let go of tension or feel more relaxed when taking yourself out of a situation that brings about stress or pain, but there are ways to find strain-relief in the moment tension occurs simply by making a different choice. This can, often quite swiftly, solve built up problems, or prevent temporary interferences from becoming larger issues. Looking at symptoms separate from circumstance will only allow part of the picture to emerge.
When pain arises as a result of how we move through our day, what we often lack is a process to look at the means-whereby - HOW we use ourselves with a whole psychophysical perspective. Being mindful is paying attention to how we do things while we do them, which comes down to the way we move and respond in the moment; the conscious and unconscious choices that we make.
Movement Integration
We spend a lot of time trying to change how we think about something, it is easy to think that mindfulness is somehow separate from the body, or only relate to the thinking parts - as in head/brain. In this case mind equals whole being consciousness - which includes all your physical matter. It will not matter how much we think differently if it does not translate into moving or taking action differently. If this translation does not happen naturally it is because there is some interference in our coordination. To be truly mindful we need to include the movement of our body, moment by moment in relationship to task and activity - this is how effective and efficient integration of change takes place.
The Ultimate Mindfulness Technique
The Alexander Technique, which has been around since F.M Alexander developed it in the 1890s, offers this means-whereby. It continues to be one of the most efficient ways to consciously change the way we use ourselves, psychophysically, in movement, behaviour and performance.
The first major scientific trial of the technique said that it is “the most effective at reducing back pain”. Back pain, along with neck pain and headaches/migraines are some of the most common symptoms of using yourself in ways that work against your natural coordination. We are vertebrates and what Alexander discovered was that the relationship between head and spine is central in our coordination and has a global effect on our system. When this relationship is not optimal in movement it effects every other part, and every other part effects it back, which is why tension often will show up around the head/spine.
This is why the Alexander Technique has the ability to prevent and solve a broad spectrum of health issues in all types of work, and improve any activity or task that you do. If the way you approach a task is not constructive, or if the habits you have are in the way of your natural coordination, it will creates unnecessary tension throughout your system.
The Success at Victorinox
In 2002 Victorinox, the company who manufactures Swiss Army Knives, began implementing the Alexander Technique, and within five years their absenteeism, due to illness, injury and accidents, had gone down 38 percent from around 55 000 hours per year to about 34 000.
Before introducing the technique the company had reached a point where employees, could no longer perform their tasks due to their physical symptoms of pain and had to be released from work. In their case, in the product departments, which had a lot demanding tasks, the pain was centered in the hand, arm and/or shoulder. For some these pains had become chronic (for example wrist tendinitis). In marketing and sales issues with shoulder, neck and head also occurred.
Performance vs Well-Being
When they began implementing they noticed that it was a rather difficult as their employees had to accept something new, and that they also had to find a balance between performance and personal well-being. They wanted to improve the health of their employees but without losing work efficiency.
As a business it can be scary to invest in things where outcome is unknown, or if it will have the effects you desire. Victorinox saw their employees as their most valuable resource and felt like they had to do something and they started with four departments and then moved forward step by step until it was completely implemented throughout the whole of Victorinox in Ibach.
Balance-Time
Choosing the Alexander Technique as the way forward worked out well the needs of Victorinox and Paul Auf der Maur, Production Manager at Victorinox, said that “balance-time has become a component of our everyday work and we can’t imagine working without it”. Balance-time was 2-3 breaks from the work every day at their workstation to inhibit the regular patterns and practice the Alexander Technique with movements designed to improve coordination so continued update and integration could take place.
Running a business with attention to human design and implementation of movement integration that is tailored to the specific tasks and activities of the business will inherently bring greater empowerment, personal satisfaction and well-being to employees whilst increasing efficiency, productivity, performance, creativity and sustainability in the business.
And when employees have a different room to do yoga or meditate, or train their physique, they can do that too with greater ease and efficiency, as they now have a process to apply to improve any activity they do.
Copyright - Kajsa Ingemansson, 2018 (Published by Inside Scandinavian Business)
Mindfulness in Action
But when that is not enough? When going into a different room and getting a mindfulness boost is not sufficient because once you are back in the workroom your neck, back, arm or shoulder still hurts, and you can’t focus or stay motivated? It is usually easier to let go of tension or feel more relaxed when taking yourself out of a situation that brings about stress or pain, but there are ways to find strain-relief in the moment tension occurs simply by making a different choice. This can, often quite swiftly, solve built up problems, or prevent temporary interferences from becoming larger issues. Looking at symptoms separate from circumstance will only allow part of the picture to emerge.
When pain arises as a result of how we move through our day, what we often lack is a process to look at the means-whereby - HOW we use ourselves with a whole psychophysical perspective. Being mindful is paying attention to how we do things while we do them, which comes down to the way we move and respond in the moment; the conscious and unconscious choices that we make.
Movement Integration
We spend a lot of time trying to change how we think about something, it is easy to think that mindfulness is somehow separate from the body, or only relate to the thinking parts - as in head/brain. In this case mind equals whole being consciousness - which includes all your physical matter. It will not matter how much we think differently if it does not translate into moving or taking action differently. If this translation does not happen naturally it is because there is some interference in our coordination. To be truly mindful we need to include the movement of our body, moment by moment in relationship to task and activity - this is how effective and efficient integration of change takes place.
The Ultimate Mindfulness Technique
The Alexander Technique, which has been around since F.M Alexander developed it in the 1890s, offers this means-whereby. It continues to be one of the most efficient ways to consciously change the way we use ourselves, psychophysically, in movement, behaviour and performance.
The first major scientific trial of the technique said that it is “the most effective at reducing back pain”. Back pain, along with neck pain and headaches/migraines are some of the most common symptoms of using yourself in ways that work against your natural coordination. We are vertebrates and what Alexander discovered was that the relationship between head and spine is central in our coordination and has a global effect on our system. When this relationship is not optimal in movement it effects every other part, and every other part effects it back, which is why tension often will show up around the head/spine.
This is why the Alexander Technique has the ability to prevent and solve a broad spectrum of health issues in all types of work, and improve any activity or task that you do. If the way you approach a task is not constructive, or if the habits you have are in the way of your natural coordination, it will creates unnecessary tension throughout your system.
The Success at Victorinox
In 2002 Victorinox, the company who manufactures Swiss Army Knives, began implementing the Alexander Technique, and within five years their absenteeism, due to illness, injury and accidents, had gone down 38 percent from around 55 000 hours per year to about 34 000.
Before introducing the technique the company had reached a point where employees, could no longer perform their tasks due to their physical symptoms of pain and had to be released from work. In their case, in the product departments, which had a lot demanding tasks, the pain was centered in the hand, arm and/or shoulder. For some these pains had become chronic (for example wrist tendinitis). In marketing and sales issues with shoulder, neck and head also occurred.
Performance vs Well-Being
When they began implementing they noticed that it was a rather difficult as their employees had to accept something new, and that they also had to find a balance between performance and personal well-being. They wanted to improve the health of their employees but without losing work efficiency.
As a business it can be scary to invest in things where outcome is unknown, or if it will have the effects you desire. Victorinox saw their employees as their most valuable resource and felt like they had to do something and they started with four departments and then moved forward step by step until it was completely implemented throughout the whole of Victorinox in Ibach.
Balance-Time
Choosing the Alexander Technique as the way forward worked out well the needs of Victorinox and Paul Auf der Maur, Production Manager at Victorinox, said that “balance-time has become a component of our everyday work and we can’t imagine working without it”. Balance-time was 2-3 breaks from the work every day at their workstation to inhibit the regular patterns and practice the Alexander Technique with movements designed to improve coordination so continued update and integration could take place.
Running a business with attention to human design and implementation of movement integration that is tailored to the specific tasks and activities of the business will inherently bring greater empowerment, personal satisfaction and well-being to employees whilst increasing efficiency, productivity, performance, creativity and sustainability in the business.
And when employees have a different room to do yoga or meditate, or train their physique, they can do that too with greater ease and efficiency, as they now have a process to apply to improve any activity they do.
Copyright - Kajsa Ingemansson, 2018 (Published by Inside Scandinavian Business)