Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.
Ajahn Brahm (*1951)
British-Australian Theravada Buddhist Monk
Focus and concentration are required for high input sessions. Often, however, we are distracted and our minds wander around – either by the workshop environment and perhaps previous sessions or things and events in our private lives. Thus, Meditation can help us refocus.
Note: Any game or energizer should be according to workshop objectives and target audience in order to fulfill its purpose.
Objective of Meditation
Focus and calmness.
Resources
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Time
at least 5 min.
With meditation experienced participants you can do much longer sessions if planned.
Task
Especially for serious topics and high focus a breathing exercise or even short meditation can help participants to become calm and mindful. You can guide the meditation yourself if you have learned it or play an existing one from your computer or smartphone. Announce it and invite your participants to do something for themselves.
They can remain seated in their chair or sit on the floor with a cushion, get comfortable and close their eyes while you guide them through the meditation. You can even play soothing background noise like waves of the ocean or forest sounds or other. Three to five minutes can be enough for better awareness and forgetting what keeps their mind busy and nothing to do with the workshop. Longer sessions are of course also possible according to your workshop plan.
Additionally, you can soften the light (close the curtains e.g.), light a candle and use a gong or singing bowl – depending on the type of meditation you want to do. These can be helpful add-ons, but are not absolutely required. Meditation is an excellent and quick way to regain focus, especially if your audience is used to it already.
Furthermore, meditation is suitable for offline and online events alike. During online events you can allow to switch off cameras to make participants feel more comfortable – of course with the risk that they tune out. But it’s worth taking it having the benefits in mind. This might depend on the audience and the way you sell/announce/invite.
Phase
Anytime.
You might also consider these remote energizers for your online event:
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