Well-being Practices
Incorporating well-being practices throughout the workday and at meetings can help to support wellness, productivity, connectedness to self and others and boost morale. Lead a practice at meetings you facilitate or attend regularly or engage in a well-being practice on your own. Some practices can be done in the moment, while others require a small amount of preparation.
The following well-being areas are defined as:
- Mindfulness: cultivating awareness of the present moment
- Movement: purposeful change in physical position or posture
- Social Connectedness: connecting with others, beyond a superficial level, in a group setting
Submit a well-being practice suggestion for consideration to be shared on this website.
Group Walk
- Organize a short team walk or coffee break to encourage conversation and camaraderie among team members who may not interact regularly with each other.
- Extend an invitation to leadership too.
- Consider hosting the walk quarterly or monthly during warm weather quarters.
Team Playlist
- Select a theme: favorite song, song that makes you happy or dance, is nostalgic, etc.
- Ask participants to share one song based on the selected theme and note responses.
- Create an online playlist (via Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, etc.) based on responses and share with group within one week.
- Consider creating one playlist a quarter.
One Word Closing
- End a meeting by asking participants to share one word that describes how they’re feeling in that moment.
- If virtual or hybrid: encourage participants to put response in chat.
- Consider noting responses and displaying them somewhere visible within the office or include electronically with follow-up materials, if applicable.
Northwestern Minute
- This practice can be used to open or end a meeting.
- Provide 1 minute for each person to share something they’re proud of.
- Can be a professional or personal accomplishment.
- Be mindful of the size of your audience and time available for the practice.
- Sharing is optional; allow participants the option to pass.
Doodling
- This practice can range from 1-5 minutes (select the length).
- Materials: paper and pen or pencil.
- Doodling prompts:
- Doodle something you see in your environment.
- Pick a word that embodies a value and doodle what that looks like.
- Doodle without lifting up your pen/pencil; doodle with one continuous line.
- Alternative practice: Coloring
- For groups: requires pre-meeting preparation by informing your audience so they can have additional materials available: coloring page, markers, etc.
- Consider playing a song or ambient music in the background.
Five Senses
- Take a moment to engage each of your five senses, one at a time, for this mindfulness practice.
- Take your time and notice:
- Five things you can see.
- Four things you can hear.
- Three things you can touch.
- Two things you can smell.
- One thing you can taste.
- If being done virtually as a group, allow attendees to turn off camera.
Tech Break
- Choose a designated amount of time to turn off screens and physically step away.
- While away, do not engage with surrounding technology.
- Break ideas:
- Get a glass of water or snack.
- Step outside and get some fresh air.
- Gaze out of window and see what you notice.
- Stretch.
- As a best practice, take a tech break daily on an individual basis and/or add as a permanent agenda item.
What’s Your Weather Report?
- Ask team members to describe how they are feeling at that moment in terms of the weather.
- Are they sunny? Stormy? Partly cloudy? They can use more than one word to capture their internal weather.
- If someone is having a gloomy or cloudy day, ask them to write down one well-being practice they can do today to help improve their weather report. Sharing is optional.
- This exercise helps people become aware of and describe their emotions at any one point in time and is a less personal manner to assess mood.
Stretch Break: Chair Yoga
- Follow a short online seated mountain chair yoga video (3:22 min)
- If done virtually, allow participants to turn camera off.
- If done in-person, allow participants to spread out in order to have enough space.
- Try the other listed chair yoga practices on your own or at future meetings.
Mood Meter Quadrants
- This practice can help assess a team or group's mood to begin or end a meeting, or as related to team news, updates or projects.
- Use red, yellow, blue and green squares to make a single square (example below), and draw and label the axes with unpleasant and pleasant and high energy and low energy:
- Red: Unpleasant and high energy emotions (i.e. anger, anxiety)
- Yellow: Pleasant and high energy emotions (i.e. excitement, joy)
- Blue: Unpleasant and low energy emotions (i.e. boredom, sadness)
- Green: Pleasant and low energy (i.e. serenity and satisfaction)
- As a team, add relevant emotion words to each quadrant as related to how you’re feeling at the moment.
- Ask each person to plot their feelings on the mood meter quadrants. Allow the capability to plot anonymously.
- Review plotted points and take note of the team’s overall mood. Discuss as needed.
Stretch Break
- Select stretches (link to below picture), determine the amount of time you will hold each stretch and set a timer, if needed.
- For groups: Decide if you will lead stretches or engage in independent stretching.
- For led stretching: demonstrate selected stretches and keep track of time.
- For independent stretching: participants will select and hold stretches of choice. The facilitator will keep track of time and announce when time has elapsed.
- If done virtually, allow participants to turn camera off.
- If done in-person, allow participants to spread out in order to have enough space.
Remind participants to a take deep breath with each stretch.
60 Second Arrival or Dismissal: Deep Breathing Practice
- This practice can help you reset before starting a task or meeting, or when ending a meeting.
- Get comfortable: close your eyes (optional), sit in a supported position and place both feet flat on the ground to help you feel grounded.
- Set a timer for 60 seconds.
- Begin by taking regular breaths and proceed to taking larger and deeper breaths.
- Focus on your breath as it travels through your body.
- If any thoughts or mind chatter occurs: acknowledge them, envision them “floating” away and return your focus to your breath.
- When you exhale try relaxing the muscles in your body, perhaps in your shoulders, jaw and/or face.
- After 60 seconds have passed, return your focus to the room or meeting.