Keeping personal practice separate from work duties

A practice is optional when saying no costs nothing. Meditation, breathing or a short pause belongs to the person doing it. It is not a duty, a target or a sign of attitude.

The idea sounds simple. In a workplace, it takes some care, because the person offering it usually holds more power than the person receiving it.

Where does optional quietly become expected?

Four places catch teams out. Look at each before you share anything.

• The reminder: a regular nudge in the group chat can feel like an instruction.
• The list: anything that records who joined turns joining into a score.
• The reward: a prize, a lunch or a thank-you for taking part makes the others feel they missed out.
• The comment: “you look tired, have you tried it?” mixes care with judgement.

None of these is meant to harm. They still change what a quiet “no” costs.

How do I separate the practice from the job?

Keep two lists in your head. One holds duties: tasks, deadlines, reporting lines. The other holds personal choices: what a colleague does on a break, how they unwind and what they believe.

A wellbeing resource sits in the second list. It should never appear in a job description, a team goal, a performance form or a leave request.

Try this: the wording test

Before you send any message about a resource, read it once as a nervous new colleague. This takes two minutes.

1. Does the message say plainly that it is optional?
2. Does it say nobody will see who opened or used it?
3. Is there a deadline, a reply request or a sign-up? If yes, remove it.
4. Would you be comfortable if your manager read it aloud to the whole team?
5. If someone ignores it, does anything follow? The answer should be nothing.

Our guide on writing a plain voluntary-participation note has sample lines you can adapt.

What about sessions held during working hours?

A session in work time can be kind, but it needs a real choice. Offer a quiet alternative, such as a normal break or a different task, and do not ask people to explain why they skipped.

Scheduling matters too. A session in the middle of a deadline day says one thing to the team, however it is worded. Choose a slower moment.

What if the culture itself makes saying no hard?

In some workplaces, people feel they cannot decline anything a senior person offers. In that case, a note alone is not enough. Say it aloud and show it by action: do not comment on who joined, and thank no one for attending.

If you are the colleague who feels pushed, you can say, politely, that you prefer to keep this personal. If that causes trouble, speak to HR or a person you trust. For wider workplace-rights questions, check official sources or a qualified adviser.

When a practice is not the answer

If someone is struggling with workload, low mood or anxiety, a meditation link is not a reply. Listen first, and look at the real cause. Our page on getting support lists where to start.

Where to go next

Read the guide on why app participation should not become an employee score for the data side of this question. Our workplace and colleagues guides have the rest of the group.

For your own time, away from any workplace expectations, Sadhguru’s free seven-minute guided meditation in the Miracle of Mind app is one optional place to try a short practice.