There is a lot of talk about yoga lately, does the hype reflect the practice? There are many different types of yoga so make sure you do your research and go to a class that is right for you. Yoga has a bunch of health benefits from managing stress to feeling more fulfilled in life and work, it can even make your company a healthier place to work.
What is Yoga?
Firstly, what on earth is yoga? You might have practiced it, or know someone that swears by it. Yoga is essentially to connect, it is the cultivation of attention, where we focus that attention, and the attitude in which we focus it influences how we experience ourselves and our life. It includes many practices, not just the poses (known as asanas) that we usually associate with a yoga class. It also includes breathing practices, meditation, mindfulness, and more. It can improve how we think and feel about ourselves and those around us.
Why practice yoga
We live busier lives than ever, and the world becomes a smaller place every year, as we become more connected. We can travel faster and further, and receive information faster than at any time in history. That is a great deal coming our way. Add in the careful balancing of work, family, friends, health, and your mother-in-law, life gets busy, before you know it another year has passed and you still haven’t gone on that trip, called that friend, or taken that bag that’s been sitting by your front door for 3 months to the charity yet.
All that stress we feel takes a toll on our health, mentally and physically, stress has been linked as a cause of lots of diseases from a weakened immune system, tension headaches, obesity, diabetes, back pain, respiratory disorders, cardiovascular problems, depression, anxiety, and so much more. As we age and add more responsibility to our plate it becomes more important to care for our health and wellness.
Chronic stress has a whole host of negative effects, not just on our physical health as mentioned. When we are stressed, we are less creative, less effective at making decisions, and poor communicators, all important things to be effective at our job, and for our family and relationships. It’s no secret that the healthier and happier you are the better you engage with and feel about work, life, and relationships, the happier you feel and it snowballs for the better from there.
How can Yoga help?
Yoga is a holistic approach to mental and physical wellness, studies have shown the persistent practice of yoga and mindfulness improves physical, psychological, social, and spiritual health and intelligence. It has been shown to reduce stress, enhance self-esteem, increase social support and a positive mood, elevate compassionate understanding, increases suppleness, strength, the feeling of well-being, pain control, and longevity.
The list can go on and on, but here are a few disorders yoga has been shown to effectively manage; anxiety, depression, arthritis, headaches, and insomnia. It can also help improve musculoskeletal functioning, improve hormonal functioning, breathing problems, cardiovascular disease, digestive disorders, and lower back pain.
The longer you practice the more benefits you see, but it can be as simple as 15 minutes of gentle yoga practice a day. Although we recommend doing one to two full 45min to 60min classes a week (maybe even coupled with a 10 – 15min daily practice) to get the most out of your practice. Yoga is a great practice to keep a balanced life, it can help you get more in touch with your body’s and needs, many people find they start naturally making better food and life decisions after practicing.
How will this benefit my company?
When employees feel more fulfilled in their job, are better equipped to deal with stress, have a balance between work and home life, and have an overall improved well-being it reflects positively on the company as a whole. Not only through making more money over fewer sick days taken (almost 75% of absenteeism is stress-related illness) and more productive workers. The environment is better, morale is up, and people are more creative and better able to communicate with each other.
I’m interested, how does it work?
There are so many ways of accessing yoga or doing yoga with your office. The best part is that you need zero to minimal equipment, a yoga mat and your body is enough, sometimes you don’t even need the yoga mat. It can be done in groups or as a one-on-one class.
One of the best (and sometimes worst) parts of living in the 21st Century is that we can connect while being anywhere in the world online. While classes can be done online, they can also be in person, using an empty conference room or any open space, or as a hybrid, where part of the class is given in person but is also live streamed for those that are not at that office such as remote workers. This will depend on the individual needs of employees and the company.
With so many options and information out there it can be difficult to know what is good and what are hogs wash, the best way I have found is to try it out for yourself and see what makes a positive difference, yoga luckily has been and is in the process of being studied. In my opinion, it has never been more important to look after our mental and physical health than ever before.
