The Effects of Mantra Meditation on Self-compassion and Stress of Office Workers

Abstract

High job-stress is more than 2 times likely to cause depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. More 70% of professional managers responded that they felt stressed in their workplaces for the past 10 years. This study investigates the effects of mantra meditation on self-compassion and stress of office workers. The subjects of this study were 20 head managers of apartments in K city. The purpose of this study is to help office workers recognize and accept negative emotions they experienced and to guide them to pleasantly work. The results of the study revealed that first, a t-value of the paired samples test of self-compassion was 9.560 and a significant probability was .000. Therefore, it can be judged that the mantra meditation is effective in improving self-compassion (awareness index). Second, it was found that the t-value of the paired samples test of the stress index was 4.684 and the significant probability was .000. Therefore, it can be judged that mantra meditation is effective in minimizing stress. In conclusion, it is found that the mantra meditation can help office workers to recognize and accept their current state, and to achieve a happy work-life. But it is unable to generalize the results because this program ran for office workers who have the same job in one city. Therefore, it is necessary to implement this program for office workers who have different jobs in various cities. Also, mantra meditation is still unfamiliar to the general public, so efforts are needed to popularize it.