may diminish stress and increase energy ...universitatea ecologica din bucuresti anca alexandra...

Network Intelligence StudiesVolume III, Issue 1 (5) / 2015

69

Andronicus TORPPolitehnica University of Bucharest

Zoltan Istvan MAROSYUniversitatea Ecologica din Bucuresti

Anca Alexandra PURCAREAPolitehnica University of Bucharest

MINDFULNESS –MAY DIMINISH STRESS AND

INCREASE ENERGY.

Case Study

KeywordsMindfulness

Human Resource ManagementStressEnergy

ElectroPhotonic Imaging

JEL ClassificationO15

Abstract

Mindfulness is increasingly being applied in companies as a means to increase, among others,employee wellbeing and energy, and in the same time to diminish stress. This paper argues that there seemsto be scientific evidence showing that certain mindfulness techniques may diminish stress and increaseenergy, yet it seems that there is a period in the beginning of the mindfulness practice where the techniqueshave the opposite effects. These findings seem to be contradictory to past findings, which indicated thatonly two thirds of people practicing mindfulness techniques have positive effects from that practice. It maybe that everybody can have positive effects from the practice of the mentioned techniques, just that someneed to practice for a longer period before obtaining these positive effects. Further scientific studies seem tobe needed in order to clarify the full spectrum of effects and consequences of practicing differentmindfulness techniques, and just as important, if these effects are valid for everybody.


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IntroductionEspecially in the West spirituality, and thus

mindfulness, it has in the recent years been appliedas a tool to improve employee wellbeing, increaseenergy – and thus hopefully also performance – aswell as in the hope that it may reduce stress.(Magaard, 2009; Lorenzen, 2010)

Mindfulness seems to be a small part of thegeneral spirituality concept, which is also taken toinclude as different areas as for exampleChristianity, NLP, Wisdom, Ethical behaviour,Meditation, etc. (Magaard, 2009)This paper uses the term mindfulness in the contextgiven by for example Lorenzen (2010), as a set oftechniques including for example Hatha Yoga andmeditation.The problem with these techniques, as the authorssee it, is that it so far has been relatively difficult tocontrol the actual effects.In the experiment conducted in connection withthis paper the participants, consisting of a largergroup of people with different levels of experiencewith meditation, were measured based on theElectroPhotonic Imaging (EPI) technique beforeand after meditations, which were performed inunison in connection with a meditation camp thatlasted seven days.

The findings were that in the beginning ofthe experiment people were having less energy andwere more stressed after the meditation than beforethe meditation, yet that towards the end of the campat least a part of the participants began showing anincrease in the energy level and a reduction in thestress level as a consequence of the meditationpractice.Based on these findings it seems to be reasonableto include that the practice of certain mindfulnesstechniques may provide the desired effects, yet thata certain experience in practicing them are requiredin order to have those effects.

The studyA total of 12 meditations (106 people) were

monitored and the stress and energy levels of theparticipants were measured based on theElectroPhotonic Imaging technique before and aftereach meditation.It was left to each camp participant to decidewhether s/he wished to participate in the study, yetthe participation had to be decided before eachmeditation, as special places, close to the EPIdevice, were provided. This was done in order toreduce any external influence as much as possible.

Some people chose to be measured severaltimes; some of the camp participants did not wishto participate in the experiment.

The meditations differed, both in length and intheme.It was decided to base the study on the firstmeditation of the day, thus there are 6 meditationsincluded, as administrative issues prevented themeasurement on the first day, as the camp started inthe evening.

StressThe first five days the stress level was

higher after the meditation than before it, whichseems to indicate, that meditation causes stress, notthat it is the cure for it. However, on the last daythere was a change, so suddenly the stress level waslower after the meditation than before it. Had theexperiment continued for more days it would havebeen possible to evaluate if this phenomena wouldcontinue, and perhaps even amplify.An interesting finding is that the stress level washigher than average on the last day, which was alsothe day where the effects regarding diminishingstress from meditation was the largest. Perhapsthere needed to be a certain level of stress beforethe practice of mindfulness can diminish it.The findings are shown in figure 1.

EnergyThe energy level was very stable before themeditation, yet it always decreased during themeditation, except for the last day, where it showeda significant increase compared to the level fromthe previous day, yet also an increase comparedwith all the previous days.Like with the stress level, it would have beeninteresting to see the results if the experiment hadcontinued for more days. This was unfortunatelynot possible this time.These findings are shown in figure 2.

Stress & EnergyFinally does the overall change in both stress andenergy show that – possibly – the fifth day wassome kind of break through for the participants – itis possible that they needed a certain level ofexperience before this could happen – after whichthe positive effects seems to have appeared fromtheir meditation practice.These findings are shown in figure 3.

Discussion of these findingsThese findings indicate a certain progress in theeffects, which the participants have experiencedfrom the meditation practice, as it seems that in thebeginning of the practice people were,paradoxically enough, more stressed and had lessenergy after a practice which was supposed todiminish the stress and increase the energy level.However, during the last days of the camp thistendency seems to have – if not changed, then atleast – modified a bit, as people now began,


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generally speaking, showing effects of diminishedstress and increased energy after the meditation.This seems to indicate that everybody may havepositive effects from the practice of meditation,which is contradicting the conclusion reached byProf. Dr. Korotkov.Korotkov (2013) writes that 66% of the testsubjects showed a “statistically significant increasein GDV finger images” as a result of meditation,however, 17% showed “no change in GDV fingerimages” and 17% showed a “statisticallysignificant decrease in GDV finger images”.May it be that Prof. Dr. Korotkov’s findings of noor even a negative effect due to the practice ofmeditation would modify if the test subjects wouldcontinue practicing for a longer time?

ConclusionIt seems that the practice of certain mindfulnesstechniques (meditation) may be a tool forincreasing energy and diminishing stress.However, it seems that the effects areaccumulative, and that a certain experience withmeditation is necessary in order to obtain positiveeffects. In the first period of time the effects mayactually – probably – be the exact opposite, namelyan increase in stress and a decrease in energy.Further studies are required in order to clarifywhich are the long term effects of meditation on thestress and energy levels of the person, and if this isa universally applicable technique in order toreduce stress and to increase energy.

References[1] Korotkov, K., 2013 Electrophotonic

Applications in Medicine. Publishing housenot mentioned.

[2] Lorenzen, E., 2010. Ind i mindfulness. BørsensForlag.

[3] Magaard, T., 2009. Ledelse og Spiritualitet.Nordisk Forlag A/S, København


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Appendices

Appendix A

Figure 1Stress level before and after the meditation

Figure 2Energy level before and after the meditation


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Figure 3The % change in the stress and energy level during the meditation. A negative change in stress indicates that the

person was more relaxed afterwards. A positive change in energy indicates that the person had more energyafterwards.

may diminish stress and increase energy ...universitatea ecologica din bucuresti anca alexandra...

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