One Minute Mindfulness
Calm the mind and body to help team members manage stress levels
What is it?
We live in a fast paced world. We can all benefit from incorporating stress reduction into our daily routine in order to nurture and encourage our well-being. Having just sixty seconds of mindful breathing exercise per day may boost our physical and mental energy. One minute mindfulness is a micro-habit to develop an empathetic mindset. It can be easily integrated into scrum practices, we already have time and place for it at every start of daily stand-ups.
Why use it?
Agile software development can be exacting, and stressed people tend to share their worst ideas. The benefit of this practice is to calm the mind and body to help team members manage stress levels. What’s more, mindfulness meditation enhances creativity and innovation.
Steps
- Invite the team for a minute of relaxation.
- Make sure everyone is seated comfortably.
- Set a timer for one minute.
- Ask participants to close their eyes and focus on their breath; have them inhale through their nose and exhale through their mouth slowly.
- Start the timer and enjoy the exercise.
- When the minute is over, carry on with your sprint ceremonies.
Further Information
Peter den Heijer, Wibo Koole, Christoph J. Stettina: Don’t Forget to Breathe: A Controlled Trial of Mindfulness Practices in Agile Project Teams
Ellen Keithline Byrne and Tojo Thatchenkery: How to Use Mindfulness to Increase Your Team’s Creativity