Wellness Toolkit
The Breakfast sparked great conversations about physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. We hope to continue the journey toward wellness with these practices found below. Each is a quick and practical tool that can be done right at your desk or workplace. We hope you will revisit the videos again and again as we all work to grow in these four areas.
Spiritual Wellness Practice
Four components of leadership wellness we focus on at Heart to Heart are physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
Research in a study by Harvard Business Review & the Energy Project, called The Human Era at Work, identifies these four areas and talks about the spiritual dimension being the single greatest contributor to employee well-being. Jeremy Lile shares this five-minute exercise, called the Ikigai. This tool can help us to recognize where we are compared to where we’d like to be–and even help us to move in that direction.
Emotional Wellness Practice
We’ve all been through stressors these past several years that many of us have never experienced before. As Brene Brown says frequently, “People are not okay.” As stress rises, working to regulate our emotions can become more difficult.
Chris Williams, PhD, shares a quick tool we can practice several times a day to shift and refocus–helping us to connect to ourselves and others. Research shows that remaining present–not focusing on the future or the past–can improve our relationships and make us better able to lead and help others.
Mental Wellness Practice
How self-compassionate are you? Most of us struggle to be kind to ourselves when we make a mistake or feel we have failed in some way. In her extensive work with self-compassion, Kristen Neff shares, “The biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have it all wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.”
Self-compassion has been tied to the ability to lead well and flourish. John Ropar, PhD, shares this 6 minute mediation that you can do right at your desk–and with practice learn to give yourself the kindness we all need.
Physical Wellness Practice
Many of us spend a good part of a day sitting at a computer, driving, or hunched over our work. Add in life-stress, and it’s no wonder so many suffer from muscle tension and soreness.
This seven minute chair yoga routine with Barb Williams, E-RYT 500 Yoga Instructor, can be done right at your desk and works to reduce stress and tension. As more and more research shows, yoga benefits our bodies, minds, and our emotional health.
Sometimes we may need a run or a strenuous workout but often times, our bodies are craving for us to slow down, reduce cortisol (the stress hormone) and release tension.