Yoga for Job Success

Watching me walk down the street, I might be the last person you would guess did yoga. I am a bit chunky and obviously a type-A personality. While working, I am direct and assertive. Not your stereotypical granola lover. But I am a budding yoga enthusiast and find that I am able to think, act, and sleep better. Yoga is the antidote to the stress of today's crazy work environments. Have you tried it?  

Let me dispell a few fears:

Fear: I don't want to look like a fool.

Response: Start out at home. Get a book or video. My favorite is Ali McGraw's DVD, which is set in the beautiful White Sands National Monument. Get comfortable and then join a group.

Fear: I am not fit enough to do yoga.

Response: Anyone can do yoga. Sure, you many not be doing the handstands anytime soon, but there are many poses that can be done be people of any size and physical conditioning.

Fear: Yoga is for hippies and vegetarians.

Response: You will find that people of all walks of life benefit from yoga.

In the Sept/Oct issue of Worthwhile Magazine, Actress Mariel Hemingway is interview about her yoga practice. She emphasizes that yoga is a great way to be more effective at work. Here are a few quotes:

"Yoga helps us to stay focused on how we are connected to what's going on in the present."

"Yoga helps us to see that there is actually more to a day that we realize...It's sad, but most people don't comprehend the toll that constant multi-tasking takes on their psyche. We practically honor and reward Type A behavior in the workplace, certainly more than it should be. It's killing people. And it is not improving our results."

In his book, Journey from the Center of the Page, Jeff Davis offers ways to use yoga to improve our writing abilities. Fellow blogger and pal Evelyn Rodriguez took a five day course from Jeff Davis and also highly recommends the book. If you are a writer or need to be creative, check it out.  Here's a post Evelyn did this week with several yoga resources and examples of how it benefits practitioners.

4. Ater the tsunami, I had this urge to get myself to a meditation group and signed up for an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program, originally designed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at UMass Hospital. (I was also experiencing the symptoms of acute stress disorder and wanted to nip PTSD possibility in the bud.) I am grateful we did yoga and qi gong in addition to sitting meditation because my mind was in such disarray that only the focused movement smoothed its wild fluctuations. It was a vital step in healing. The class contained a lot of caregivers learning how to recharge themselves: a psychologist, a nurse, a priest, other hospital personnel, as well as a lawyer and the random marketer in the mix.  Offered in over 300 hospitals and centers nationwide, locate the MBSR program nearest you.

Here's a link to a blog about yoga that Evelyn shared in her post.

I find that peaceful music and a few minutes are all I need. I don't use a fancy mat and have not purchased yoga workout clothes. The cats climb all over me, but I can generally work them into my movements - cats do yoga too. I practice right in my office, between my desk and my treadmill. I always feel better afterward and the benefits last for hours. I also can do yoga in even the smallest of hotel rooms while traveling.

We give of ourselves all day at work and need a way to recharge and renew. If you are feeling fried or in need of clarity, give yoga a try. I wish I had discovered yoga much earlier in my career. I regret that I resisted trying it for years.