THE “YOGA FIX” FOR STRESSED EMPLOYEES AND ENTREPRENEURS

As I recently stated in my 10 Reasons Busy Entrepreneurs Should Do Yoga blog post, high performing employees should be taking advantage of the benefits that come with this practice, especially those who have stressful/demanding jobs!

Whether you’re a entrepreneur, industry professional, athlete, artist, etc., yoga can help you achieve higher levels of success and fulfillment by learning how to cope with stress.

But how is this so?? Let me explain my version of what the “yoga fix” is and how it can help you..

The “yoga fix” explained

Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. The “yoga fix” is a representation of how yoga can fix our mental, physical, and spiritual blocks that keep us from operating at our highest levels in the workplace (and every other area of life).

I’m going to briefly go over each area to show you how yoga can help you become more mentally stable, physically stronger, and spiritually enlightened.

The mental fix-

Did you know that an estimated 75 percent to 90 percent of all doctor visits are for stress-related issues?

One of the greatest benefits of yoga is the fact that it helps reduce our stress levels. We’ve all been stressed out and anxious at some point in time, and when we do, have you ever noticed that our first instinct is to always take a deep breathe to “bring yourself back to reality?” This is because our nervous system’s functioning can be manipulated by altering our breathing.

Simple breathwork, such as 7 seconds in and 7 seconds out, can send signals to your vagus nerve and phrenic nerve (the nerves that receive the signals from your breathing rate) to activate your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest), which is our goal when we’re stressed out!

Yoga teaches you how to focus on your breathing and your internal state of being. By bringing more awareness to your emotions, you’re able to notice them and redirect them. After all, emotion is energy in motion, which means that those who practice breathwork and internal bodily awareness on a regular basis, will have an advantage in how they direct their emotional energy.

Simply put, a calm breath is a calm mind, and we can become more adaptable in mentally-challenging situations by practicing conscious breathing because our mind is deeply connected with our breathing patterns. This is why conscious breathing is one of the main aspects of yoga.

Breathing is our most natural state of being, so don’t underestimate it’s powers. If you start your yoga practice and you find yourself coming to a better understanding of your breathe, your work-life will be directly benefited, I can promise you that!

The physical fix-

We all know that yoga is a great physical workout, but what about recovering from pre-existing injuries and/or pains?

Did you know that back pain is one of the most common health problems in the United States? According to Harvard Medical School, four out of five Americans (including myself) will suffer from it at some point. If you’ve ever experienced any sort of chronic pain or non-stop discomfort in your body, then you can surely agree that it will slow you down in your job.

Personally, yoga has helped fix this limitation in my life!

“A 2013 meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials found “strong evidence for short-term effectiveness and moderate evidence for long-term effectiveness of yoga for chronic low-back pain.” In fact, since 2007, the American Society of Pain guidelines have urged physicians to consider recommending yoga to patients with long-term pain in the lower back” (Harvard Medical School). Their studies also showed “a trend toward the use of less pain medication in those who did yoga.” This means that yoga can help you become less reliant on medication, and this doesn’t just go for back pain, this goes for all parts of your body.

So, does this mean you have to become an aspiring acrobat to get rid of some aches and pains? Not at all. It simply means that there are basic yoga positions/postures that can help your body decompress and recover from sedentary lifestyle habits (such as sitting at a desk for 4+ hours a day at work).

Overall, yoga can help you physically recover from all sorts of problems. Yoga will not only teach you how to recover and heal your body, it’ll teach you about living the kind of active lifestyle that’ll prevent you from experiencing future aches/injuries.

The spiritual fix-

I could make this really “wishy washy” but I’d rather be blunt with this part. Yoga can drastically raise your energy/spirits/morale/aura/vibe (whatever you want to label it).

If you’re a stressed-out worker, you’re most likely a bit low on morale in the workplace. This is the area of healing where yoga has it’s greatest impact on people’s lives. This is why many people do yoga for the spiritual/energetic benefits of the practice and could care less about their ability to do advanced yoga poses!

Yoga teaches us about energy-exchange and karmic law, which is simply the law of cause and effect. Through learning about this, people can learn to give more meaning and intention to the work that they produce in the workplace. In addition, after you raise the morale of a few people in the workplace, the positive energy will naturally flow through the rest of the work environment!

This is why corporate yoga is growing so rapidly!

All in all, yoga will help bring you, along with the workers around you, better vibes!

Putting it all together

As I mentioned earlier, yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. With that said, one of my main goals in life is to bring this ancient Indian healing practice to the modern corporations in America.

We live in an age where “hustling 24/7” is glorified and we’re forgetting to take care of ourselves. I want to help be the catalyst that helps stressed-out workers become mentally, physically, and spiritually healthier through the practice of yoga.

This is what lead me down the path of wanting to help Corporate America with corporate yoga. I see a lot of future healing taking place in terms of utilizing corporate yoga in the workplace, and I expect to have a great impact on the people and corporations I work with.

I hope this post helped you learn how yoga can greatly enhance your quality of work in the workplace, and your quality of life outside of your career!

Much Love,

Dakota Mays