Börshuset, 2025-04-02
“We think we save time when we don’t take breaks.”
It started with Stina helping to start what is now a tradition at Börshuset – Monday Meditation. Today she is a member and in addition to meditation, she offers other A house members both massage, coaching and guidance for a more harmonious, sustainable stress-free everyday life.
– Today’s jobs are often sedentary and put a lot of strain on our cognition, we are very much on our brains. One way to calibrate and balance it is to take breaks, feel in and be more aware in the body. Stress researcher Niclas Almén puts it well: ‘The need for recovery is a bit like our dietary needs – we feel good about eating from time to time, not just eating once a day or only on weekends/holidays.
For Stina, it’s about seeing the big picture, understanding how the physical and mental are connected. What we think has an effect on the body, and vice versa – what we do with the body has a direct effect on the thoughts. It’s about becoming curious about and understanding how things like diet, breathing, recovery, movement, thoughts, mindset and relationships affect us, and then making small changes in everyday life that promote our health. Having a salutogenic focus, i.e. consciously focusing on what works and doing more of what makes you happy. Self-compassion and acceptance are also important for wellbeing and lasting change.
– Tips for creating a conscious pause routine are to develop the routine you already have. For example, breathe deeply and consciously when standing in the food queue or waiting at the coffee machine. If you are changing rooms or going to the toilet, walk there with conscious steps, notice your breathing and feel the ground against your feet. All small pauses that calm the body and thus the thoughts. If you’ve been sitting still for a long time, take a stretch break, or do some burpees or squats to get the flow going in your body. Movement regulates stress levels, circulation and blood sugar.
What are your tricks for a more stress-free working day?
– We think we are saving time by not taking breaks, but this allows the body’s stress response to continue and creates an imbalance in the system. This can make it difficult to rest when we are actually off work because the body is stuck in the stress response and in the ‘doing’. One of my best tricks against it is to notice your breathing. Take control of it and breathe deeply, which sends signals that everything is calm. For example: breathe in through your nose on 3 and out through your mouth on 6. When you lengthen the out-breath, you calm your body. We feel less stress and our thoughts calm down.
About Stina Lindoff
After a long career in the fashion industry, Stina focused on her passion for health and personal development. Through her own life crisis, she realized the importance of supporting others in creating sustainable changes for increased well-being. Today she works with meditation, massage and coaching, both individually and in groups, and holds workshops in areas such as stress management, nervous system regulation, creating lasting change and digital health.