On this episode of Mindful You, Alan Carroll interviews Alp Geckalan. Carroll and Geckalan speak about mindfulness in the workplace. Alp’s journey into mindfulness started in 2018 when he was practicing a mantra meditation. Mindfulness means lots of different things to different people and can be very benefical to everyone while at work. Before Alp has a meeting he takes a ‘landing minute’ – where he focuses on his breath and finds that he can hyper focus on the meeting at hand. Once we become conscious about our moments we become more present and can focus on our workdays. We should always try to use meditation as a physical exercise for our brain and try to use experiential mindfulness to help us anchor our thoughts at work.
About The Guest:
Alp Geckalan is a highly accomplished professional currently serving as the director of SAP Digital Skills Center in Dubai. His role encompasses overseeing operations in Africa, the Middle East, and South Europe. Alp possesses a strong educational background, holding a degree in Statistics and Computer Science. Additionally, he has augmented his expertise by obtaining a master's degree in marketing and communication.
Originally from Turkey, Alp has made Dubai his home for the past seven years. He is deeply passionate about digital skills, youth empowerment, and continuous education. Alp's primary mission is to bridge the gap between academia and businesses by creating industry-certified professionals. With a decade of experience in the training and education sector, he has honed his skills and is now dedicated to sharing his expertise with the younger generation.
Alp Geckalan's commitment to developing digital skills and empowering youth underscores his ambition to contribute to the growth and development of individuals and organizations. His leadership and vision in the field of training and education have positioned him as a valued resource for fostering talent and preparing future professionals for the demands of the digital age.
About Alan:
Alan Carroll is an Educational Psychologist who specializes in Transpersonal Psychology. He founded Alan Carroll & Associates 30 years ago and before that, he was a Senior Sales Training Consultant for 10 years at Digital Equipment Corporation. He has dedicated his life in search of mindfulness tools that can be used by everyone (young and old) to transform their ability to speak at a professional level, as well as, to reduce the psychological suffering caused by the misidentification with our ego and reconnect to the vast transcendent dimension of consciousness that lies just on the other side of the thoughts we think and in between the words we speak.
Personal: https://www.facebook.com/alan.carroll.7359
Business: https://www.facebook.com/AlanCarrolltrains
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aca-mindful-you/
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Web Site: https://acamindfulyou.com/
Hi, everybody. Welcome to the mindful U
Alan Carroll:podcast. My name is Alan Carroll. And I'm going to be
Alan Carroll:your host, as we journey together, down the pathway of
Alan Carroll:mindfulness, to explore, to experience to hear the stories
Alan Carroll:and experiences of other mindful travelers who have been
Alan Carroll:traveling the path in various forms, many paths of
Alan Carroll:mindfulness. And I want to share a little bit of my background.
Alan Carroll:And I'll divide this talk into two parts. First will be my
Alan Carroll:background. Which brings me up to the second part, which is
Alan Carroll:okay, mindful you podcast. What is this fella know about
Alan Carroll:mindfulness. And part two is I'll share with you the
Alan Carroll:mindfulness practice that I've been, and my group has been
Alan Carroll:teaching for the last 40 years as one of those paths, that
Alan Carroll:allows people to experience to experience a sense of
Alan Carroll:mindfulness, and all the benefits that come with having a
Alan Carroll:mindful state of consciousness. Alright, welcome app to the
Alan Carroll:mindful you podcast. And I want to thank you for being here
Alan Carroll:today. And I'm excited because you are the ambassador of
Alan Carroll:mindfulness for the one of the largest corporate organizations
Alan Carroll:in the world, S A. P. So I want to thank you for taking the time
Alan Carroll:today to share with our audience. And I'd like to ask a
Alan Carroll:question from a background of if, if I was a manager, like you
Alan Carroll:work for a corporation. And I was thinking about benefits and
Alan Carroll:mindfulness. I've heard about mindfulness. And yet I'm not
Alan Carroll:quite clear. And I wish I could hear someone talk about
Alan Carroll:mindfulness and share their experiences. So I would feel
Alan Carroll:more comfortable, whether or not I can have this conversation
Alan Carroll:brought into my, into my organization also. So you've
Alan Carroll:been involved with mindfulness at SAP for how many years out?
Unknown:It's been three years now, three years. All right,
Alan Carroll:backtracking to three years. What was the vision
Alan Carroll:of, of the people in corporate SAP, that they decided that
Alan Carroll:mindfulness was a key differentiator are a very
Alan Carroll:important characteristic to bring within the organization?
Alp Geckalan:Thanks, Ellen, first of all, thanks for having
Alp Geckalan:me. In this podcast, it's incredible to catch up with you.
Alp Geckalan:We had great experiences together great training sessions
Alp Geckalan:together. And I'm so happy that mindfulness was at the core of
Alp Geckalan:what of what you do and what we have been doing as well, as part
Alp Geckalan:of our training programs. It's been nine years that I'm working
Alp Geckalan:for SAP, my mindfulness journey started back in 2018 90, where I
Alp Geckalan:was practicing a mantra meditation. And then in 2020, I
Alp Geckalan:just bumped into an email came from the sap global mindfulness
Alp Geckalan:practice, global mindfulness initiative. And they were
Alp Geckalan:providing his course it's called Search Inside Yourself. Maybe
Alp Geckalan:you heard about it. Is this the course content, the approach
Alp Geckalan:built by Google? Actually, they've done lots of research.
Alp Geckalan:They've done lots of workshop, and then they realize
Alp Geckalan:mindfulness really increase the productivity, overall wellbeing
Alp Geckalan:in the company. And it really increased the leadership skills,
Alp Geckalan:especially for the managers. So SAP has decided to implement the
Alp Geckalan:same Search Inside Yourself global mindfulness initiative
Alp Geckalan:across the globe, more than 100,000 people working for SAP.
Alp Geckalan:It's definitely not an easy task. But it's been 10 years,
Alp Geckalan:that ASAP implemented this methodology or initiative, let's
Alp Geckalan:say more than 15,000 people participated in more than 55
Alp Geckalan:countries. Now we reach out more than 70 internal trainers in
Alp Geckalan:more than 25 countries. We have 85 Ambassadors, which I'm one of
Alp Geckalan:them based in Dubai, covering the emir, South countries, and
Alp Geckalan:our virtual community reach more than 15,000 people. So from my
Alp Geckalan:perspective, it really helped me to develop my leadership skills.
Alp Geckalan:I'm running workshops, I'm running, guided meditations for
Alp Geckalan:the group kickoff meetings, for example, I deal with my team in
Alp Geckalan:a mindful manner, which I can discuss about the benefits
Alp Geckalan:later. But what I can say from an ambassador perspective, as a
Alp Geckalan:receiver of this training, I've seen lots of benefits out of
Alp Geckalan:this global mindfulness practice.
Alan Carroll:Wow, that that was wonderful to hear to hear your
Alan Carroll:story. Let's take a look at the benefits. Let's say let's just
Alan Carroll:backtrack a little bit. And how would you if I'm not clear about
Alan Carroll:the definition of mindfulness? And I'm listening to you talk,
Alan Carroll:could you just tell me, in your own words, of course, the the
Alan Carroll:definition or the the idea of what mindfulness, what
Alan Carroll:mindfulness is?
Unknown:Well, it's gonna be a difficult task to define it to
Unknown:you, because I learned mindfulness from you. But my
Unknown:definition of mindfulness is basically regulating your
Unknown:attention, consciously, your attitude. And then you don't
Unknown:judge anything, you just accept everything as it is, in that
Unknown:moment. This is how I see mindfulness. So you bring your
Unknown:conscious mind into a state, where you don't live in an
Unknown:autopilot world, when you actually notice everything
Unknown:around you in that moment. This is what mindfulness for me,
Alan Carroll:that's a very good definition of mindfulness, that,
Alan Carroll:that that points to the the fundamental skill is the skill
Alan Carroll:of observation, to be able to observe, you're in a situation,
Alan Carroll:the organization, something something's happening in front
Alan Carroll:of you, your five senses are plugged into it, you can see it,
Alan Carroll:you feel it, and something's being stirred up, it feels
Alan Carroll:something's being stirred, energy stirred up, got thoughts
Alan Carroll:being stirred up, and you're able to step back. Notice that,
Alan Carroll:that. And just by noticing it, it begins to settle that energy.
Alan Carroll:And so exactly what you said I thought was, was was was
Alan Carroll:brilliant, wonderful. It's great to hear the ambassador speak
Alan Carroll:with such eloquence about about the idea of mindfulness, because
Alan Carroll:you, you hit it right on the head, it's that ability to
Alan Carroll:observe your reaction, and then transform it into a response.
Alan Carroll:And that that that is mentally balanced, physically balanced,
Alan Carroll:emotionally balanced. And and now you have nine years of
Alan Carroll:practice at SAP. And it's exciting to hear that the there
Alan Carroll:is people who say that things are changing, people are
Alan Carroll:changing. And so what are some of the benefits that you have
Alan Carroll:noticed, in your organization, with with bringing mindfulness
Alan Carroll:in,
Unknown:there are a couple of things like that I can easily
Unknown:mention top of my head, first of all, the meetings become more
Unknown:productive. For example, there is a practice what I usually do
Unknown:as well before joining a meeting, or just take a minute,
Unknown:it's, I would call it like a landing minutes, for example,
Unknown:right? When you go to landing with the plane, everybody's kind
Unknown:of focusing on the landing, it's the same metaphor, let's say for
Unknown:the meeting, I take a minute, focus on my breath. And then I
Unknown:go to into meeting to take the most out of it with the good
Unknown:intentions. Some of the managers, some of the people, I
Unknown:think, we've done it, and I'm still doing it, I'm not perfect.
Unknown:You go to a meeting, and then still you're thinking of the
Unknown:previous meeting, or you're thinking of the next meeting,
Unknown:right? What I'm gonna say in the next meeting, what did they say
Unknown:to my What did they make a comment about the previous
Unknown:meeting? You basically missed the moment. Basically, that
Unknown:meeting is not productive because you're not focusing it
Unknown:right now. I think this is the first benefit in terms of
Unknown:productivity. If you become conscious about that moment,
Unknown:then you become more present. And then you focus on the
Unknown:meeting. So the productivity goes up. Second, is a personal
Unknown:power. If anyone bothers you, if any, anything bothers you,
Unknown:instead of reacting, you take a moment, and then you respond.
Unknown:This is where your personal power lies, I think. So you
Unknown:become more empowered, you become more powerful and strong,
Unknown:because you are in control of the moment, right? So now you
Unknown:become free, real hassle free of anxiety, free of salts, free of
Unknown:these chatter back of your head, right. So I think these two have
Unknown:its moment and the productivity, it's the best outcome.
Alan Carroll:And the word freedom. Freedom is a another
Alan Carroll:word that you said, which is that feeling of, of non
Alan Carroll:judgmental, being able to see that you just made a judgment.
Alan Carroll:And once again, it goes back to the observation to see I just
Alan Carroll:made a judge still, you're good, I'm still gonna make judgments.
Alan Carroll:But I noticed that I made a judgment. And I realized that
Alan Carroll:the judgment is based on the past. And so I paint this moment
Alan Carroll:with paint from the past, rather than be present it with and that
Alan Carroll:is, like erasing you can you can erase the judgments that the
Alan Carroll:judgment disappear? And an important part of the
Alan Carroll:mindfulness, which is the next question I want to get into our
Alan Carroll:is the is the embodiment of consciousness, rather than the
Alan Carroll:disembodiment, of following the thoughts in your head? Versus is
Alan Carroll:there something else I can do? Oh, yeah, there's the breath in
Alan Carroll:the body, which allows you to become embodied. And that begins
Alan Carroll:to diminish that, that that flow of energy to the thoughts, the
Alan Carroll:flow of energy goes to the body where there are no thoughts. So
Alan Carroll:what are some of the practices that that you have? seen done
Alan Carroll:are do yourself with the teams that SAP?
Unknown:Individual level, if I talk about myself, I'm pretty
Unknown:judgmental person. And what I realize these judgments, as you
Unknown:said, it's coming from a programming, maybe from my
Unknown:childhood, maybe from the culture that I've been raised
Unknown:in, maybe from my parents, maybe the society, maybe the school,
Unknown:maybe the previous companies, right? This is absorbed by my
Unknown:subconscious mind. And then I'm judging everything, right? What
Unknown:I start to do, still not perfect, but I'm just a student,
Unknown:as you said, always,
Alan Carroll:so am I try,
Unknown:try to notice it, label it, and then let it go focus on
Unknown:your breathing. It's easy to say, difficult to make, right?
Unknown:You're in a moment you say, Oh, this email is bad. Wow. bad or
Unknown:wrong? Or whom or from what perspective, right? Because I'm
Unknown:just literally judging it. But instead of charging, I could
Unknown:just, I'm judging it right now. Let it be, just breathe. And
Unknown:then think about your response. This is what I'm trying to do.
Unknown:It's good for self awareness.
Alan Carroll:So let's just let's just go back on that one.
Alan Carroll:Because it's real, real important that that people
Alan Carroll:understand clearly what step one is. And step one is, before I
Alan Carroll:try to stick my hands out into the world and make changes, I
Alan Carroll:better stick hands into myself, and make sure that the
Alan Carroll:instrument that is doing the perception is in a is stable.
Alan Carroll:And the more stable it is, the clearer you are about
Alan Carroll:appropriate courses of action. And often what I see is that
Alan Carroll:people react to things in the outer world from a platform that
Alan Carroll:is unstable. And you can you can see if you're looking the the
Alan Carroll:unstability simply by the pattern and control of their
Alan Carroll:speaking, because when you're out of control, you're out of
Alan Carroll:control. You're speaking but if you are you're speaking big
Alan Carroll:sounds a lot more grounded, a lot more powerful, a lot more
Alan Carroll:clear. You're not caught by a hook by a story. And this I I'm
Alan Carroll:pretty sure we're both on the same page. Is that correct?
Unknown:100% 100%.
Alan Carroll:Go ahead and, and talk about so you had mentioned
Alan Carroll:guided meditations, that that to me is a wonderful tool. So share
Alan Carroll:some of the, the guided, what is a guided meditation? And what
Alan Carroll:are some of the guided meditations. And as a matter of
Alan Carroll:fact, I would like you if you would to lead us all in a guided
Alan Carroll:meditation, a couple of minute guided meditations so people can
Alan Carroll:actually experience a guided meditation, whoa, okay, what was
Alan Carroll:that.
Unknown:And, for example, just a couple of weeks ago, I was
Unknown:invited to a team kickoff meeting, where the regional
Unknown:heads wanted to create an awareness of the mindfulness and
Unknown:a bit of practice as well. And before we do the practice, I
Unknown:wanted to make them aware of themself, and also their
Unknown:surrounding, right. So I always start with a concept of the VUCA
Unknown:world, we are living in a very volatile, uncertain, complex,
Unknown:complex and ambiguity, environments, right. So they're
Unknown:aware that everything is changing, sometimes in their
Unknown:control, sometimes out of their control. Right. So their mind is
Unknown:constantly all there is a popup, it says, You got an email, there
Unknown:is a pop up, you got an SMS message there is something is
Unknown:happening. And it's all distractions, our mind is
Unknown:constantly on. However, by default, I think our body
Unknown:designed to be in the rest and digest situation or status,
Unknown:let's say. So how are we going to bring our mind and body into
Unknown:rest and digest status, right? Meditation is one of them. So
Unknown:this is how I build this story. Make sure that they're aware
Unknown:that this world is out of their control, but what they can
Unknown:control is their body and the reaction.
Alan Carroll:When I say that, again, they can control that,
Alan Carroll:again, you can't control what's outside of yourself, but you can
Alan Carroll:control
Unknown:your reactions, your attitudes, and your state of
Unknown:mind.
Alan Carroll:Yes, yes. And your physical body. Absolutely. And
Alan Carroll:you can control your breath. So so these are things that are
Alan Carroll:under your control. It's like, oh, I didn't know that. Oh,
Alan Carroll:yeah. Yeah, you got under your control. And now that are under
Alan Carroll:my control, what did you do next?
Unknown:And so we're talking about the neurological system
Unknown:that we have. So if there isn't something out of our control,
Unknown:our body, our mind is designed to attach. So it's like a flight
Unknown:and fight mood all the time. So we perceive everything is a
Unknown:danger, danger. So like, it's like a lion wants to eat us.
Unknown:Yes. You know, this dinosaur wants to attack us or something.
Unknown:Yeah. However, it's just the perceived danger. Again, it
Unknown:comes from our back of our head, all of our programming. Yep.
Unknown:Programming coming from our previous life. When you get to
Unknown:that level, when you increase your awareness, then you say,
Unknown:wait a minute, it's, I don't need to fight with everything,
Unknown:it's coming to me, I can choose the battles. So they, you start
Unknown:to control your body, your breath, your reactions, your
Unknown:attitude, basically everything. So this is this leads to the
Unknown:next to the next, let's say metaphor that I usually use,
Unknown:it's imagine the waves in the ocean, you cannot control the
Unknown:ocean or the waves, but you can learn how to surf on it. So
Unknown:basically, the world is going to happen, it's going to turn
Unknown:regardless, if you worry about it. If you get anxious about it,
Unknown:if you get angry about it. It's okay. But you need to learn how
Unknown:to surf on these waves. That's the metaphor I'm using.
Alan Carroll:Those are great, great metaphors. It's the There
Alan Carroll:is a waking up kind of experience, from the dream of
Alan Carroll:thought. And, and what I noticed in the work that I do is, if I
Alan Carroll:can have you wake up from the dream of speaking, by
Alan Carroll:consciously putting an empty space between the thoughts, you
Alan Carroll:got to be present in the moment to be able to stop speaking
Alan Carroll:consciously. And so that's another way of bringing
Alan Carroll:mindfulness into into a corporation. It's through this,
Alan Carroll:just the speaking piece. And that goes back to the leadership
Alan Carroll:piece you talked about, what are some of the things that you see
Alan Carroll:as a leader and a leader bringing mindfulness into their
Alan Carroll:own way of being? What are some of the observations that you
Alan Carroll:have seen?
Unknown:There are scientific evidences that cool, let's say
Unknown:it's been put out there, that it really physically builds your
Unknown:brain, neuroplasticity, that I like to also mention in any any
Unknown:mindfulness. Conversation, it's like, working out, when you work
Unknown:out your muscles, then you get bigger muscles, right? Like
Unknown:biceps, and so on. And meditation is similar to that
Unknown:when you do meditation. It physically, physically helps
Unknown:your brain to grow. The gray matter is actually growing. This
Unknown:is incredible, really. And what I see as a benefit, when I when
Unknown:I talk to my colleagues in the global mindfulness initiative,
Unknown:the decision making process in a complex world we talk about the
Unknown:VUCA world, it makes it easier because you make more conscious
Unknown:decisions rather than reacting something you're responding to
Unknown:something right. So in the complex environment, you make a
Unknown:better decision. I can talk about the creativity. So
Unknown:remember, dictation, absolutely as in, increase your creativity,
Unknown:right? And maybe last thing that I can talk about is the
Unknown:emotional regulation. Yes. So basically, you control your
Unknown:emotions, you just sometimes with your emotions array, and
Unknown:with potions, you are trying to respond to a situation. That I
Unknown:think is
Alan Carroll:the regulating of emotions is like there's there's
Alan Carroll:so many things that you could get emotional about going on
Alan Carroll:outside and the outside world across the planet, that if you
Alan Carroll:had a way that you could regulate your emotions, so that
Alan Carroll:you didn't get hooked by your emotions that I have emotions,
Alan Carroll:but I have control of the emotions, rather than the
Alan Carroll:emotions have control of me. That would be that would be a
Alan Carroll:major major underlying it. Many, many times benefit of
Alan Carroll:mindfulness in a corporation.
Unknown:I think I asked you this during our one of the
Unknown:training sessions, what about the feelings and I remember you
Unknown:said, feelings are like it, like traffic signs, or an indicator.
Unknown:It shows there is a red flag over here. When you're getting
Unknown:angry at a situation. The situation is not making you
Unknown:angry. You're feeling anger because of that situation. So
Unknown:basically, as you said, we need to turn ourselves and regulate
Unknown:that emotion. Why am I feeling anger at this very moment?
Alan Carroll:So many good things anger. What would it be
Alan Carroll:like to be in an environment in which anger attack thoughts were
Alan Carroll:totally eliminated, that people could regulate, they could still
Alan Carroll:get upset. Yet they're able to control the upset so that when
Alan Carroll:they spoke, they didn't spoke from an ego human in it, but
Alan Carroll:they spoke from a being of compassion, inclusion, seeing
Alan Carroll:the different 360 points of view about it and and my physical
Alan Carroll:body went on speaking is totally relaxed. And that would be what
Alan Carroll:a vision that that would be and I believe that mindfulness that
Alan Carroll:sap in the conversation of Mindfulness is a pathway to that
Alan Carroll:conscious, keeping my body physically relaxed, no matter
Alan Carroll:what's going on outside of me kind of stuff. And one of the
Alan Carroll:ways that I'd like to complete our conversation is by having
Alan Carroll:you to do a two or two or three minute mindfulness guided
Alan Carroll:meditation with us, we'll have our we'll close our eyes and
Alan Carroll:relax our body, so that people in the audience can actually
Alan Carroll:experientially taste a little bit of the of the secret sauce
Alan Carroll:of mindfulness.
Unknown:Okay, all right. And we can, so we just need to find the
Unknown:posture that feels both relax, alert at the same time. So we
Unknown:make sure that we are not sleeping, you can put your feet
Unknown:on the floor, hand on the size,
Alan Carroll:and we're not driving a car by the way, we're
Alan Carroll:we are safe.
Unknown:If your eyes close, or with a soft focus, you don't
Unknown:need to close, maybe soft focus just in front of you. Make sure
Unknown:that you're not getting distracted, allowing the spine
Unknown:to live, shoulders relax. Let's start with getting into focus
Unknown:state of being become aware of your feet, contacting on the
Unknown:ground, then your weight pressure on the sitting bones on
Unknown:the chair. Then the sensation in your upper body, take a deep
Unknown:breath. And that really is it you can feel the sensation of
Unknown:your breathing in your upper body. Whenever the sensation is
Unknown:most vivid for you become your attention to your breath there.
Unknown:Consider your chosen sensation as the stabilizer of your
Unknown:attention to come back to your focal point whenever needed.
Unknown:You may get distracted with some thoughts, sounds or something
Unknown:you see. Just bring your attention back to your breath.
Unknown:Breath is your anchor to the present moment.
Unknown:Distractions are coming, they're going instead of hooked up with
Unknown:that or fighting with them. Notice it, label it. Let it be
Unknown:and then bring your attention to your breath.
Unknown:You can take one long inhale and then deep exhale. And then
Unknown:slowly you can open your eye
Alan Carroll:very relaxing, very relaxing. And if I was
Alan Carroll:listening to this podcast, then I could actually use that guided
Alan Carroll:meditation with my team. It's a short one. I think it lasts
Alan Carroll:about two or three minutes. And it just gets people to begin to
Alan Carroll:disconnect from the outer world and focus more on what's going
Alan Carroll:on on the inner world. I remember someone said that the
Alan Carroll:The way out is to go in. If you want to get out of whatever that
Alan Carroll:complex world that we live in with all the emotional things I
Alan Carroll:want to get out of going crazy. You got to go in to get out. And
Alan Carroll:so mindfulness is that journey inward. So I want to thank you
Alan Carroll:out for sharing with us the journey that you're on
Alan Carroll:personally and professionally. It was exciting to hear you
Alan Carroll:share it. And I'm just so happy that now when we send it out
Alan Carroll:into the universe, other managers and other their
Alan Carroll:corporate people, and other people can begin to integrate
Alan Carroll:these these easily gotten mindfulness tools. And a couple
Alan Carroll:of the questions. One was, if I was wanting to get a hold of you
Alan Carroll:or connect with you, is there a way that I can connect with you
Alan Carroll:an email or website or something?
Unknown:LinkedIn would be great place to reach out to me. I'll
Unknown:catch Golan, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn. It's, I have
Unknown:quite a big network, over 10,000 people and it's growing. So I'm
Unknown:happy to accept people who are listening to this podcast. And
Unknown:I'm happy to respond to them if they have any questions.
Alan Carroll:Wonderful. Well, thank you very much. It's been a
Alan Carroll:wonderful opportunity and exciting to hear you speak and I
Alan Carroll:look forward to having more conversations because you are a
Alan Carroll:rich resource. So thank you very much.
Unknown:Thanks for having me. Thank you so much. Thanks.