From focus to connection amongst the leaders of your organization the benefits of silent retreat for businesses are endless. Finding new ways to invest and reward your employees for a job well done should include a silent retreat. A corporate silent retreat can add value to your incentive and wellness programs by providing a plethora of benefits to your employees’ mental health as well as improve productivity of the business.
The 9 employee benefits of silent retreat for businesses are:
Focus
Your mind needs to be calm and relaxed to help you innovate new and creative ideas and find solutions to your problems. Your concentration will be increased from being mindful and practicing meditation and you will have the ability to pay closer attention to your tasks.
In the era of technology, we are constantly bombarded with several things at once. The amount of multi-tasking we do has taken us away from being able to focus on one task at a time. Being in silence, meditating and doing one task a time really helps your mind focus and pay attention.
Self-Awareness
You can increase your self-awareness by remaining silent. Moreover, you get the chance to observe and accept your feelings and opinions without judging them. You will leave having discovered aspects of your personality that will help you become a better person.
While looking at your relationships with other team members in silence you may realize that it is you that needs to change not the other person to make for a healthy relationship. It is often difficult to change other people but becoming self-aware can help you change your own behaviour. Being in silence really allows you to see both the the positive and negative attributes of your true self.
Mindfulness
Silence can help you set the dimension of mindfulness with multiple associated mental health benefits. Being mindful can help you reduce anxiety and stress and calm your nervous system. It helps settle your mind and body and redirects you to the present moment.
Without the distractions of technology or words you will sit and enjoy a meal slowly and calmly noticing every mouthful. You are not in a rush on a silent retreat you can concentrate and try to stay mindful in every activity you do.
Connection
Placing conflicting team members close to each other during meditation and yoga can help their relationship due to the science of proximity. Spending time in silence creates a real team experience where everyone goes on their own journey but shares it as a group.
When you sit beside team members in meditation you are more likely to feel closer to those people when you finish the retreat. It’s amazing to have a connection with someone even though you were not talking to them whatsoever. The same holds true with complete strangers or remote workers. Silence brings connection without you even trying to bridge a relationship.
Energy and Productivity
Being in silence allows your mind to relax. Many participants spend their free time sleeping or just being at one with nature. We live in a society that runs a million miles a minute and having time to just sit lets the body and mind recuperate. After the silence ends there is this rush of energy. You leave with so much energy ready to start a new work day or get back to your family. Your motivation to be productive is so high, you feel like that you could conquer any dilemma at work with ease.
This heightened energy lasts for weeks after you leave the retreat especially if you keep meditating every day once in your normal life. The energy and productivity you feel after a silent retreat is addictive and you will want to come on another retreat six months later just to get the feeling back again.
Finding Solutions
Having intentions for your corporate silent retreats can really benefit the overall experience and provide solutions to company problems. Organizations and teams are often faced with complex issues that may not be easy to solve. Having 48hrs in silence can allow for silent brainstorming using anonymous posting of ideas on post-it notes. After the silence ends often more than one solution will be presented by your employees.
Other decisions might come to you as well about your family life, your relationships or even answers to life-long questions you have thought about for years. Silence gives your mind the space to figure things out. Your mind needs to rest to be creative and find answers.
Positivity
Practicing meditation, being in nature, and being in silence makes you feel more grateful for what you have in your every day life. You are able to give space for your thoughts and when you finish the retreat instead of complaining you find you are just a happier person and more positive about what life has to offer.
Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Meditation, yoga and breath work have been scientifically proven to reduce stress and anxiety. When you pair these practices with silence and removing all technology the heart rate goes down and you are able to relax and be less anxious.
Once your mind becomes accustomed to silence it will crave it and every time you feel anxious in your everyday life you can just take several breathes, relax or maybe even meditate for a couple minutes to bring that anxiety down to a minimum.
Detox of the Mind and Body
During a silent retreat you consume a sattvic ayurvedic diet. This aids in meditation and helps the participants digest their food properly. A sattvic diet is vegan with no onion, garlic, hot spices, processed sugars or caffeine. Think of a silent retreat as a complete detox for both the mind and the body. You eat so healthy that it is a form of detoxing the body of all the toxins and chemicals we eat.
The more silence and meditation you can enjoy in your life the stronger your mind and body will feel. Giving your employees the gift of silence can have a huge impact on the relationships your employees have with each other and with themselves. Finding ways to make your employees happy and rewarding them with something they didn’t even know they needed so badly can profoundly impact the way they feel about the company and improve the overall productivity of the workforce.
The benefits of silent retreat for businesses are endless. For more information about how Silent Focus can provide a tailor-made corporate silent retreat at your business visit the retreat page for a breakdown of all activities we can offer or contact us.
