How Can Yoga Help Business Leaders Create a World-Class Product?

With numerous health benefits, yoga is helping business leaders worldwide. Whether you are a small business owner or the head of a corporate company, yoga practice can help you to create a world-class product. When worked into your daily schedule, yoga sessions can benefit both you and your business by increasing your energy levels, alleviating physical ailments, and enhancing creativity. Research shows that companies spend around $1400 per employee on medically related productivity costs each year. However, companies that offer yoga and other holistic therapies drastically reduce this number and increase their bottom line. Many companies, including Google, Apple, Forbes, Nike, and HBO, are now recognizing the power of yoga and offering classes as part of their corporate wellness. If you want to introduce this, remind your employees to bring a suitable yoga top and a bottle of water. In this article, we explore the question – how can yoga help business leaders create a world-class product?

Increases Energy/Reduces Fatigue

Studies suggest that sitting for over 5 hours is a productivity killer. Working for hours without a break also creates stress. To avoid this, it’s important to get up every 30 minutes and move about. Obviously, it’s not practical to do a whole yoga workout every half hour; however, it may be possible to do a few simple stretches. Chair yoga is a big thing in offices around the world. Practiced from the comfort of your desk, chair yoga is a quick and easy way to get your blood flowing and increase productivity. While it may take 5 minutes to practice, you’ll certainly make up the time lost once you’re reenergized. If you’re feeling fatigued, stop what you’re doing and try a few simple yoga stretches. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it can make! Once you get back to work, you’ll be revitalized and ready to create a world-class product.

Alleviates Physical Ailments

If you’re suffering from pain, discomfort, or even more serious physical ailments, your productivity will likely be affected. Regardless of what job you have, if you’re in pain or discomfort you’re not going to be in the right head-space for work. A gentle yoga workout can relieve mild to severe pain and physical issues, including those associated with arthritis pore posture. In fact, yoga has been shown to relieve pain associated with traumatic brain injury. If it can reduce such intense trauma, imagine what it can do for regular neck strain, headaches, and muscle tension!

Relieves Stress

As well as impacting physical illness, yoga can have a major effect on mental and emotional stress, too. Today, stress is the leading cause of time off-work and decreased productivity. Placing too much mental strain on yourself can also exacerbate physical conditions including allergies, colds, and more serious things such as heart disease and cancer. Regular yoga practice can drastically reduce stress levels and keep these conditions at bay.

Improves Concentration & Focus

If you’re a business leader, you’ll likely have a ton of stressful deadlines, non-stop meetings, and endless home assignments. All of these things create mental clutter that impacts your concentration. If you’re worried about your next deadline or meeting, you won’t be able to focus on the task in hand. Thankfully, yoga can be used to reduce mental clutter and subsequently improve your focus and concentration. Not only that, but it can also help you to make good decisions. Through regular meditation and breathing exercises, you can learn to silence the noise and make more mindful choices.

Boosts Creativity

As yoga clears your mind, it creates an open space for your creative juices to flow. If your brain filled with clutter, you’ll struggle to think outside the box and come up with that world-class product! Through regular practice, you can clear your mind and keep your energy and creativity flowing.

Increases Positivity/Morale

If you’re feeling well, both physically and mentally, your morale will be high. You’ll feel energetic, focused, and positive about the working day ahead. This will allow your creativity to be unleashed and your self-confidence to soar. This boost in morale will make you a better business leader in your work responsibilities, your interaction with fellow employees, and your dealings with clients. If you work with other people, encourage them to practice yoga, too. Lunchtime yoga sessions can work as both wellness and team-building exercises. If you like, have fun trying out some group yoga poses. Most of these require a good level of focus, so it may be best to practice at the beginning of the day rather than the end! To ensure each person leaves feeling relaxed, be sure to practice a couple of individual asanas at the end of the class and finish with a deep breathing exercise.

In Summary

To produce your best work, you need to be relaxed, healthy and focused. Thankfully, this can be achieved through regular yoga practice. Taking just 5 minutes each day to practice some simple yoga stretches can make all the difference. If you’re strapped for time, make the most of chair yoga and practice at your desk. If time and space allow, go one step further and retreat to a quiet location – a conference room or company garden can work well. If you do choose to practice outside, remember to wear a yoga cap and some SPF to protect your skin from the sun. From there, take a few minutes to practice deep breathing and allow your mind to relax and unwind. You can then return to the office relaxed, revitalized, and ready to create a world-class product.