Mindful Coworking Resources

The "Mindful Co-Working Day": Spending a Day Working Mindfully Together with Others

For many of us, it is not easy to maintain our mindfulness throughout the workday. This is particularly true when...

... we are working alone,

... we find no reminders or support for the practice in our immediate environment,

... a large portion of our work takes place on a screen or online,

... we are juggling multiple projects simultaneously,

... our tasks consist of a multitude of small, disparate activities,

... our workflow is regularly interrupted by phone calls, emails, or in-person interactions.

When our mindfulness and concentration wane, the easy—or the superficially interesting or urgent—often prevails over the unpleasant, difficult, yet important tasks, and we fail to make progress. We get caught in the gravitational pull of the internet. We get bogged down in a single task and lose sight of what truly matters. We allow ourselves to be swept away by distractions of all kinds. We lose our capacity for impulse control and become reactive. We fall back into old habits.

While retreats and mindfulness days allow us to lay a solid foundation, we can easily become overwhelmed once we return to the daily grind. Mindfulness does not simply fall from the sky; it requires practice. This is much easier to do together with others than on our own. We need "work meditations"—mindful practice embedded right in the midst of our daily routine—to stabilize our mindfulness.

To support our training in mindful work, the *Netzwerk Achtsame Wirtschaft* (Network for Mindful Business) began organizing "Mindful Co-Working Days" in 2008. These are training days dedicated to mindful work conducted under real-world conditions. In this context, our "work meditations" focus on our actual, current professional projects—rather than on activities like cleaning, cooking, or gardening, as is common in traditional retreats. We work on our current topics and projects, write emails, and draft proposals. We step out of the co-working area only to make phone calls, ensuring we do not disturb the others. By now, hundreds of Mindful Co-Working Days have taken place within the network—in Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Unna, and many other locations, as well as online—and more and more groups are joining in.

A typical Mindful Co-Working Day might unfold as follows:

Getting started with Mindful Co-Working doesn't require much: an office with Wi-Fi, a table, and chairs. Participants bring a meditation cushion as well as a contribution for the shared, vegetarian lunch. You can get started with as few as two people.

During the work phases, any participant may ring a mindfulness bell to invite the entire group to pause collectively: Breathe – Smile – Pause. Alternatively, we may use a digital mindfulness bell. In this way, we nourish our collective mindfulness throughout the day. The experience of working together mindfully is remarkable. Here are some testimonials from participants:

“I was surprised. This was one of my most productive workdays in a long time.”

“The presence of the others uplifted and supported me.”

“Regularly co-working has fundamentally transformed my working style.”

“Now I know: Meditation and work are not mutually exclusive.”

“Working for myself in the morning, and for the community in the afternoon—I really like that.”

“Working together mindfully with others strengthens our sense of togetherness.”

“Rarely have I approached my work with such joy and concentration.”

“I finally completed a task I had been putting off for months—and it felt effortless.”

The Mindful Co-Working format seems particularly well-suited for self-employed individuals who have the freedom to set their own working hours. However, this form of mindfulness training is also applicable in other professional contexts. The key is to get creative—and, as mentioned: all it takes is one other person to get started, for our own well-being and the well-being of all beings.

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