Media Articles

Networking and Communication Tips from Enterprise Toronto Seminars [MaRS News]

Enterprise Toronto organizes free seminars on a wide range of topics to help aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses. Here are some tips from facilitators. Networking can lead to new contacts Networking is important at any stage—whether a person is thinking about starting a business, in the process of launching it or already has it up and running. “Networking gives you an opportunity to meet potential clients, investors and friendly...

Get pumped: How savvy organizations motivate and inspire [Canadian Business Online]

By Kimberly Silk, Featuring Wendy Woods Imagine you’re a successful manager at a high profile company. You have a posh office and a sweet salary to match. You’ve been awarded an impressive stash of stock options, a company car, and access to a shiny on-site fitness facility to keep you nimble. Sounds like the perfect job, right? Wrong. Research has long shown that perks and financial incentives are a...

Mindfulness @Work: Reduce Stress, Increase Focus & Improve Results [Rotman School of Management Magazine]

IN MY LAST ARTICLE FOR ROTMAN , I highlighted early research supporting mindfulness benefits at work and the organizations using it. In this follow-up, I will dig a bit deeper into various programs and their results. While mindfulness programs are becoming more standardized, there are still considerable differences between them. Currently, the research available includes everything from testimonials at one end of the spectrum to quantifiable third-party research at the...

Meditating at Work: A New Approach to Managing Overload [Noetic.org]

Today’s employees and managers are deluged with an unprecedented amount of information and distraction. If it’s not emails, texts, and instant messaging, then it’s phone calls, coworkers, and constantly changing demands and deadlines. Basex research found that 50 percent of a knowledge worker’s day is spent “managing information” and that an excess of information results in “a loss of ability to make decisions, process information, and prioritize tasks.” In...

Meditation: A ‘New’ Approach to Managing Workplace Overload [ Rotman School of Management Magazine]

Today’s employees and managers are deluged with an unprecedented amount of information and distraction. If it’s not e-mails, texts or instant messaging, it’s phone calls, co-workers, and constantly changing demands and deadlines. Basex research found that 50 per cent of a knowledge worker’s day is spent ‘managing information’ and that an excess of information results in a loss of ability to make decisions, process information, and prioritize tasks. While organizations have...

Entrepreneurs more likely to turn to prayer, meditation [USA Today]

Originally Published in USA TODAY, September 19, 2011  Click here to read full article Entrepreneurs behave just like most Americans when it comes to religion — but with one spiritual twist.  They’re significantly more likely to pray several times a day or to meditate, says sociologist Kevin Dougherty, a co-author of the Baylor Religion Survey. The survey can’t answer whether prayerful, peaceful folks are more likely to take a business risk...

Laughing our way to Workplace Wellness [Naturalhealthcare.ca]

Humour in the workplace is not only a vital component in stress reduction, but key to working together as a team. Last summer I was heading to a meeting when I saw a group of people having their picture taken with a huge sign that read “Shrek Rules” and they were wearing bright green Shrek ears. This put a huge smile on my face and it had the same...

When all you can do about it is LAUGH [Midtown Crier]

You spend a good portion of your life doing it. You can lose sleep over it, stress about it and cry about it. You can even get sick over it. It’s work. And it can be a lot of work sometimes. A Statistics Canada labour and income study released in June finds the weekly number of employees missing work because of an illness or disability increased from 431,000 in 1997 to...

What is Laughter Yoga? [Naturalhealthcare.ca]

When I received an invitation to join a laughing yoga group I was very excited to learn more about this budding branch of yoga that I have been hearing so much about. Wendy Woods leads the way with fun activities, which helped to invoke all sorts of wild and free laughs from the group. After an hour and a half of heartfelt laughter I could feel the stress of...

Laughing Yoga [Snap Downtown Toronto]

There is a new kind of yoga that’s catching on.It’s quick, easy and anyone can participate. Unlike other yogas, it doesn’t require a yoga mat, downward dog or, luckily, any spandex. All you need is to breathe, stretch, and laugh. It’s mainly about laughing – that’s why it’s called laughter yoga. What gets the laughter started? Actually you laugh for no reason. There are no jokes, funny pictures or silly...

Laughter – Best Medicine for Stress [Insidetoronto.com]

Toronto resident and businesswoman Wendy Woods wants everyone to know that stress relief is a laughing matter. Woods is a certified laughter leader and delivers laughter yoga classes through her company, Watershed Training Solutions. While the classes are not like a typical yoga session, they allow participants to chuckle, giggle and guffaw away the stresses of daily life. Laughter yoga originated in 1995, when Dr. Madan Kataria of India...