In this episode of the Gensler Design Exchange podcast, Gensler’s Gregory Plavcan talks with mindfulness meditation teacher Grace Ogden. Grace draws from 27 years of experience in mindfulness meditation and teaches at George Washington University and UMass Medical School Center for Mindfulness. She has dedicated her career to bringing advances in mind-body medicine and related healing practices into mainstream understanding and adoption. In this conversation, Gregory and Grace discuss the difference between wellness and wellbeing, how and why to cultivate a wellbeing oriented workplace, how to get more people to engage in mindfulness practices, and two practical tips for fighting a distressed mind.
As the conversation unfolds, Grace explains how wellness in the workplace is typically measured by blood pressure, weight, and other solely physical factors, while wellbeing holistically assesses your physical, mental, and social experience. Grace then provides a survey of the cutting edge research in wellbeing and mindfulness practices and talks about the key players in this field. Gregory and Grace talk about measuring how Etsy and other companies are measuring intangibles such as happiness. Grace mentions some exciting surveys on happiness that are being done in certain countries on a national scale which are revealing a clear correlation between personal happiness and productivity.
