How to Set Up a 20-Minute Quiet Break in a New York Office

A practical checklist for an employer or team that wants to make room for a 20-minute quiet break, drawn from how New York firms have done it.

Many people who meditate at work, whatever the style, end up needing the same thing: about 20 minutes in the middle of the day when nobody needs them. This checklist is for an employer or a team leader in New York who wants to make that time possible. It draws on what firms and executives described to reporters between 2014 and 2016. It makes no health promises; readers who want to know what studies reported can start with our page on the research.

1. Find a quiet room

The time is easier to protect if there is a place to go. When Wisdom 2.0 Business took visitors around New York offices in 2015, its tour notes said Etsy’s Brooklyn headquarters had a yoga and meditation space and The Huffington Post’s newsroom had a meditation room. A small meeting room with a sign on the door will do. It should have a chair, a door that closes, and no one walking through.

2. Put it in the calendar

Bob Roth of the David Lynch Foundation told the Financial Times in 2014 that busy executives should book meditation like any other meeting and have an assistant hold calls for 20 minutes. A recurring block in a shared calendar tells colleagues the time is taken without anyone having to explain why.

3. Let people choose the hour

There is no single right time. The restaurant founder Erik Oberholtzer told the Wall Street Journal in 2014 that he meditated first thing in the morning and again between 2 and 5 p.m. Ray Dalio told Business Insider the same year that he would stop during market hours if stress built up. A team policy that allows one 20-minute break, at the person’s choice, is easier to keep than a fixed slot.

4. Keep it voluntary and private

Nobody should be pressed to take part, asked what technique they use, or judged on whether they go. Some will use the time for a taught practice such as Transcendental Meditation, some for mindfulness, and some simply to sit quietly.

5. If you bring in a teacher, ask the right questions

TM is taught by certified teachers in a set course, not from a book. If a company wants a course for its staff, it should ask how many sessions there are and how long each one lasts, whether the course can be held on site, what refresher sessions follow, what the fee is per person, and what follow-up is free. In 2014 one New York center taught its course over four consecutive days, then added four refresher sessions at times that suited the company.

6. Decide who pays

In 2014 a course held at a company’s own office cost $1,200 a person at that center, against $960 for an individual course. Bridgewater Associates paid half of each employee’s fee, according to the Financial Times. Our page on who pays when staff learn to meditate sets out the models. Prices have changed since then; check current fees with the teaching organization.

7. Review it after a few months

Ask people, anonymously, whether they use the time and whether the room works. If the room sits empty, try a different hour or a different space before dropping the idea. If it is always full, a second room may be worth more than a longer break.

This page is general information, not medical advice. The Manhattan Business Review is not affiliated with the David Lynch Foundation or any Transcendental Meditation organization, and it does not sell courses. Transcendental Meditation and TM are trademarks of their owners.