Headspace and LinkedIn Team Up To Bring Self-Care to the Workplace

Here’s something we rarely reflect on: The mind we have at work is the mind we have at home, and vice-versa. There is no “office mind” or “home mind.” Mind is mind, and we get just one. In other words, our mind works the same way whether we're at work or not. 

We can tell ourselves that we “switch off” one area of life to fully zone in on the other. But thoughts and emotions from both spheres merge like two streams feeding into the same river – and that’s often when stresses and pressures start to inundate us.

Responsibilities stack up. Schedules conflict. A deadline at work spills into our thoughts at home. Or an upsetting argument with a partner plays in our head at work. Or maybe the gnawing worry over domestic finances merges into our worries around job security.

At Headspace, we see these worlds collide all the time, based on stories that members share with us. We increasingly saw it happening during the pandemic. In fact, a 2021 study found that employee burnout had worsened during the public health crisis. It’s not surprising when the lines between work and home were blurred more than ever before.

That’s why Headspace and LinkedIn have teamed up to introduce a self-care package that’s designed to help professionals — those in work and out of work — to find balance, quiet, and peace of mind. 

We’re launching this proactive partnership with two six-part meditation courses – ‘The Headspace Guide to Mindful Workdays’ and ‘The Headspace Guide to Everyday Stress’ – that include expert guidance, short videos, and helpful animations to help get your meditation practice started. These courses are now available on LinkedIn Learning, and all LinkedIn members will get free access to these courses through April 15th, 2023. 

From pre-meeting resets to unplugging at the end of the day, from decompression exercises to walks in nature, we’re providing a comprehensive offering that we hope will make you feel a little happier, lighter, and more connected to the present moment.

The importance of prioritizing your mental health 

Prioritizing our mental health — making sure we focus on our mental fitness as much as we do our physical fitness — means that we are taking steps to improve our health and happiness at work and at home.

And a truth that people only tend to understand once they’re a little further along in their meditation journey is this: When we get our heads right, it’s uncanny how we get a lot of other things right, too.

Meditation brings our attention to the behaviors of the mind. It turns on the lights in our inner life. It turns up the volume on our inner dialogue so we can better hear how we talk to ourselves … and that can always be enlightening. 

This level of awareness allows us to catch ourselves whenever the inner critic becomes too vocal.

We know from the real-life stories of Headspace members that there is an effective way to navigate all the mental chatter and daily stress  with a cool, calm, and collected approach, no matter how many plates are spinning at one time.

How? Well, when we take proactive steps to look after our mind, and when we turn to the tools of meditation and mindfulness, we equip ourselves to skillfully handle any difficulties or curveballs that arise.

The preventative benefits of meditation

Meditation — when used preventatively — essentially trains the mind to move through uncertain and challenging times without losing clarity, focus, or productivity.

It’s true that meditation cannot alter external events or circumstances. But it can transform our internal landscape by offering a release valve for all the stress and anxiety we carry around.

We also become more aware of when we feel most productive, and, most importantly, when we need to take a break, pause, and perhaps even reprioritize. We learn to work smarter, not harder. The science backs it up, too. One 2015 study showed that a meditation and mindfulness practice using the Headspace app reduced stress by 12% – and that’s after just 10 days! Another study from 2017 found that pediatric nurses who used Headspace for 30 days experienced “significantly more” awareness on the job.

So it follows that both our home and work life can benefit from us being less in our heads and more in the present; less scattered and more attentive. In short, we show up more for everyone in and around our lives.

More organizations are embracing mental health

Management at organizations is increasingly aware that performance figures are wedded to the mental health of its workforce. In work cultures shaped by this realization, mental health is no longer a taboo subject; it instead becomes something companies invest in, and it’s a topic that leaders openly talk about, which allows employees to feel both seen and safe.

More HR teams than ever before are reaching out to Headspace to improve their mental health care offerings, recognizing that a focus on preventing and managing stress is a win-win for both employer and employee. 

It’s the importance of looking after our mind that has motivated Headspace and LinkedIn to provide a mental health toolkit that’s designed to help everyone — whether you’re freelance, salaried, or seeking employment — become more mindful, feel less stressed, and be more focused.