Z/Yen’s October symposium began in a novel way. Prarthana Jairath and Rohan Narse are developing a new approach to improving organisational performance, “Mindfulness At Work”. They argue that the pace at which human beings operate today, especially those in the corporate world, is as frenetic as it is energy-sapping. Human minds are stretched by levels of mental and sensory stimulation that make them prone to bouts of impulsive and, at times, deeply irrational behaviour.

Rohan came in to give the Z/Yen team an introduction to their thinking. He gave a thirty minute package in three stages – de-cluttering, centring on the here & now, expanding for greater clarity. Rohan shared some of his personal journey, much of it covered in his book, “In Search of Silence”, where he describes his background as an investment banker who began to question the quality of his life. At the end of the session, many felt that they had settled some of their “internal chatter” and were a bit closer to a state of inner stillness and balance. Still (sic), at the end some of the team wondered if we were already laid-back enough and needed to be less mindless (at this point it’s back to work! - Ed.)

Prarthana and Rohan claim that a daily 20-minute investment in mindfulness for its own sake can have a disproportionately positive impact. As Rohan’s journey naturally touched on Zen thinking, we were impressed and thought his claim that “rediscovery and the recognition of a still state within becomes known experientially and without the need for any concepts” was very akin to Z/Yen’s concepts of strategic positioning and “poise”. So as Rohan put some Zen back into Z/Yen, we would encourage others to experiment with some of Prarthana and Rohan’s techniques.