Spirituality in the Workplace

There’s a growing movement within corporate America of merging spirituality into the office setting, as businesses encourage holistic practices such as tai chi, meditation, yoga, and prayer. Employees now have access to quiet rooms for a meditation or prayer retreat, libraries with spiritually-oriented books and videos, or an instructional tai chi, yoga, and qigong program at lunchtime.

These types of wellness programs have become a more acceptable way to help employees cope with the challenges and daily demands that arise in corporate settings, and management teams who implement such programs realize the competitive advantage by allowing their employees to become more attuned to spiritual practices in the workplace.

While hesitant to promote organized religion and an atmosphere of proselytizing, the emphasis, rather, is placed on seeking the spiritual aspects of life, such as finding meaning and purpose in everyday events and interactions, a deeper appreciation of connections with others, improved sense of community, and better relations with management and coworkers. For such businesses that are now including these holistic programs in the workplace, it’s really all about determining what helps employees feel motivated and good about themselves.

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Pondering the Big Questions of Life Provides Significant Mental Benefits

No matter your religion or spiritual beliefs, even if you’re atheist, contemplating the questions of the universe — whether they be religious, scientific, or psychological — can enhance brain function. Practices such as meditation, chanting mantras, and intense prayer can provide significantly positive effects on cognition, relaxation, and psychological health.

According to a new book by Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman called “How God Changes Your Brain,”  such practices both increase activity in the frontal lobe, which “creates and integrates all of your ideas about God,” and diminishes activity in the amygdala, the region responsible for emotions that can generate fearful images of a frightening and punitive God and suppress the frontal lobe’s ability to logically think about God.

When the parietal-frontal circuit is activated, we readily perceive and delineate our physical surroundings and our orientation within it. Meditation overrides these perceptions, which then allows feelings of oneness with spirit and the universe to arise.

Dr. Newberg is a medical doctor, professor of radiology, psychology, and religious studies, and is head of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. He’s considered one of the top neuroscientists that is shedding light on the growing field of neurotheology and the new discoveries being made about the relationship between the brain and spiritual or contemplative practices.

One of Dr. Newberg’s objectives is to align the fields of science and religion, both often viewed as holding opposing concepts. “The two most powerful forces in all of human history have been religion and science,” he said. “These are the two things that help us organize our world and understand it. Why not try to bring them together to address each other and ultimately our world in a more effective way?”

Study Shows How Meditation Benefits the Brain

Experienced meditators appear to have remarkably enhanced areas of their brains compared to people who don’t meditate.

These areas of the brain that were noted to be thickened are responsible for emotional control.

A study done by UCLA’s Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI) using MRI scans showed the regions, including the hippocampus and right frontal cortex, were larger in 44 individuals who meditated an average of 24 years.

“We know that people who consistently meditate have a singular ability to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability and engage in mindful behavior,” said Eileen Luders, lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at LONI. “The observed differences in brain anatomy might give us a clue why meditators have these exceptional abilities.”

There have been many studies performed on the benefits of meditation, but less is known about the link between meditation and brain structure, which LONI works toward uncovering and measuring through scientific research.

“Because these areas of the brain are closely linked to emotion,” Luders said, “these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators’ the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way.

“Because this was not a longitudinal study — which would have tracked meditators from the time they began meditating onward — it’s possible that the meditators already had more regional gray matter and volume in specific areas; that may have attracted them to meditation in the first place,” Luders said.

However, she also noted that numerous previous studies have pointed to the brain’s remarkable plasticity and how environmental enrichment has been shown to change brain structure.

The Healing Power of Spirituality and Beliefs

Evidence is growing that suggests our well-being is influenced by our spiritual and religious beliefs and practices.

Dr. Andrew Newberg, a professor of radiology, psychology and religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of Penn’s Center for Spirituality and the Mind, studies the effects of spirituality on the human brain. He and his team of researchers have noted that during prayer the frontal lobes become engaged, affecting focus and concentration. And in very deep prayer the parietal lobes become disengaged, helping us to feel detached from time and space, leaving behind our everyday concerns.

For those individuals who have meditated longer than 15 years, their frontal lobes appear thicker than people who don’t meditate. What does this mean for power meditators? This can help with improved memory, for one thing.

Religious fasting — as well as fasting strictly for health benefits — appears to affect the brain by getting a boost from endorphins, neurotransmitters, and other biochemical reactions because of physiological changes from lack of intake. Such changes bring about profound clarity and feelings of peace or elation.

There’s the theory, as yet unproven, that individuals who regularly pray, attend religious services, or in general find deep meaning in their lives experience increased well-being simply because of the placebo effect.

As more people discover and embrace the health benefits of adding spirituality to their lives, the health care industry is taking notice and discussions and practices involving spirituality are turning up in doctors’ offices and health care facilities, with patients positively responding to such added therapy.

Such benefits are understandable as many patients are confronted with issues of life or death situations and feel the need to reach out and communicate with the person in the white coat who they feel has control or professional insight over their fate.