The Secret Behind The Silicon Valley Elite's Success: Meditation
There's a growing mindfulness movement in Silicon Valley where major tech companies employ meditation in order to get ahead.
Over 1,000 Google employees have gone through the tech giant's internal course called "Search Inside Yourself," Noah Shactman of Wired reports. The class aims to teach people how to manage their emotions and stressful situations, and better understand the needs of their co-workers.
Studies have shown that meditation can rewire how the brain responds to stress. Other research suggests that meditation helps improve memory and executive functions.
Google implements a few different exercises. One, for example, has employees meditate on failure and success.
Google's internal class eventually evolved into the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, where anyone can learn the Google meditation method.
In 2010, mindfulness instructor Soren Gordhamer launched the first-ever Wisdom 2.0 conference. The mindfulness event has attracted a handful of Silicon Valley elite like LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams.
The mindfulness movement seems to be part of a growing trend in the success-driven, data-oriented entrepreneurial culture of tech and Silicon Valley.
People are increasingly trying to improve their health and track the well-being of their body. One technique is biohacking, where people use a variety of supplements and smart drugs to enhance brain function.
There's a particular form of neuro-feedback training where you can get the same brain state of someone who spent 20 years doing zen meditation, biohacker Dave Asprey told Business Insider earlier this year. Some people look at that has cheating, but he says it's simply a way to improve brain function and be healthier.
Still, both techniques have the same end goal of achieving a better, higher self and state of being.
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