Two Massachusetts healthcare organizations are offering mindfulness exercises to help workers overcome stress, according to a report from The Boston Globe.
Mindfulness is defined as "a state of active, open attention on the present."
Here are four things to know about the organizations' efforts.
1. At Newton (Mass.)-Wellesley Hospital, employees may gather in the hospital chapel during their lunch breaks to sit in quiet meditation.
2. The meditation sessions are catching on at Newton-Wellesley, according to the report. "I can sit through my day," Suzanne Sears, a hospital employee, told The Boston Globe. "I make my list, I can get everything I need done — and if I don't get something done, then I know I have tomorrow, rather than stressing out about it."
3. Newton-Wellesley isn't alone. Boston-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts offers yoga and meditation classes to employees twice a week, including at a wellness center at its headquarters, according to the report.
4. Like at Newton-Wellesley, interest is growing in the mindfulness exercises offered by Blue Cross, benefits consultant Lesley Delaney told The Boston Globe: "People are asking for more classes."
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