Stockholm, Sweden
Meditation Makes the Bus Rides Safer
Education of the drivers creates a better working environment and decreases stress
The driver is taking his mini-break at the end of a run. But not in the usual way by smoking a cigarette or taking a short walk. Rolf Dahl is closing his eyes, straightening his back and breathing silently into his belly – he is meditating.
     "I can manage myself and my thoughts better now," he says. "It has become easier to detach myself from being upset." Rolf Dahl is a bus driver in the inner city of Stockholm. Since early autumn he meditates regularly and has recently become one of the meditation leaders, helping his colleagues, who now take part in the psychosocial health program.
     The project involves a major commitment to the well being of the staff. After finding that 80% of the staff suffered from psychosomatic symptoms like pain in the neck and back, the management decided to do something about it before it got worse. They introduced courses in awareness training, conflict resolution.
     Rolf Dahl used to practice yoga and, since October, is now practicing meditation in this program at work. "To be a bus driver is very stressful, and the thing is that one should not take it personally when passengers are angry or unreasonable. Before I started meditating I used to argue with them."
     Does one become angelic by meditating?
     "Well," he laughed, "you cannot generalize like that. But you become more aware of yourself, about your feelings, and why we react. Meditation gives one a solid base. It becomes easier not to take insults personally or to react emotionally."

From Svenska Dagbladet (conservative Swedish national daily paper)

To read the rest of this article ... Meditation Makes the Bus Rides Safer

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Osho Meditations Help Rio Busdrivers
Bus drivers in Rio de Janiero are sleeping better, feeling less aggressive and having fewer accidents, thanks to a program of Osho meditations introduced by Anand Ramita.
     The idea for the program arose when Ramita gave a therapy session to the owner of the Estrela bus company in Rio, who shared his anxieties about the high cost of accidents, repairs, victims and lawyers.
     In response, Ramita offered a five-day group for his drivers, including Osho Dynamic and Kundalini mediations, and breathing techniques that she learnt during an Osho Breath Training in Pune.
     A total of 235 drivers attended the program, part of which involved doing meditations in the early hours of the morning when nighttime drives ended their shifts.
     "The results of the program were impressive," said Ramita. "The drivers reported that they are sleeping better, waking up more rested and more joyful. They do not feel so many physical aches and pains during their driving hours, and they feel less aggressive.
     "Relations with passengers have improved and so have relations between the drivers and the company. There are less accidents, profits have gone up, and the owners are very satisfied with the results."
     It was only after completing the project that Ramita learned of a similar program –equally successful – being undertaken with Swedish bus drivers. [see above]

AIRLINES
Munich, Germany
Flying High
Prabhato, a human dynamo, is currently leading "Communication and Well-Being" seminars in Munich for the cockpit and cabin crews of Lufthansa and Swiss-Air.
     "I've always waned to carry Osho's vision into the world," says Prabhato, a sannyasin since 1980. "But how to create a bridge from the no-mind space of meditation to people who live in their minds? How to open their inner reality to another level of being? The art is to take them through a step-by-step process without coming on like a messiah."
     A former airhostess herself, she has direct personal experience of the occupational hazards of tension, nervousness and over-sensitivity in the high-pressure aviation industry.
     The main focus of her work is to bring clients back to their inner resources so they can cope better with the stressful working conditions of night flights, jet lag and constant social dislocation.
     She must be doing something right, as she now has airline captains doing Kundalini Meditation three times a week, as well as daily Vipassana sessions – all part of her professionally packaged seminars.

Copyright© Osho Times International

Meditation just the ticket for busy traffic wardens
By Kirsty Scott
The Guardian

Wednesday August 8, 2001
After a hard day slapping tickets on parked cars and absorbing the abuse of irate motorists Edinburgh's traffic wardens are being encouraged to meditate their troubles away. The "blue meanies," as they are known in the Scottish capital, are to be offered stress therapy to help them cope with their thankless task.
ACPOA Parking, the company that hires wardens in the city, said it was in negotiations with a firm that offered stress management sessions, including shamanic meditation that uses drumming to send people into a trance. "The job is quite stressful and staff have been asking for this service for quite some time," said contract manager Hector Saunders.
ACPOA said more support was needed for those working to keep the city's congested roads clear. Last week APCOA ordered its 80 wardens off the streets after a death threat was broadcast over personal radios, and in another incident a warden was assaulted. The company said it would pay for the £3,000 a year therapy. Edinburgh council has backed the stress-reduction initiative.
In some parts of the country, meanwhile, the vilification of traffic wardens has become so bad that they have been issued with body armour. More than 30 police forces have handed out bullet and stab-proof vests to protect wardens from angry drivers. In Hartlepool it is mandatory for wardens to wear vests while on duty.

Copyright© The Guardian

...Back For More Articles