From happy baby pose to corporate power pose

I love hot yoga, I’m not overly good at it however spending 75 minutes sweating my little heart out forces my mind to focus on nothing but breathing and contorting my body into the appropriate positions and I walk out feeling like I have accomplished something.

Recently as our yogi-master was talking us through a particularly interesting twisted-side-arm-balance and most of us were slipping and sliding all over the place it occurred to me how many parallels there are between yoga and business.

Find comfort in the discomfort

There will be times throughout your yoga practice where you are travelling along swimmingly, nailing every pose and feeling great, however there will also be times when things are hard, your body will be pushing its limits of strength and flexibility and mentally you won’t be feeling on top of things.  A phrase my yoga teacher says frequently is “find comfort in the discomfort”; be okay that you aren’t kicking goals at every turn, and instead take a breath and enjoy the process. I think this is also true in the workplace. Sometimes you will be ticking items off your list, stepping up and developing and feeling in control of your workload, while other times hurdles will come up that you weren’t ready for, your skills and experience will be tested or challenged, and you will feel mentally overwhelmed. Take the time to take a breath and get comfy in this crazy, fast paced world we live in!

Give it a go!

Another important lesson to take from the yoga mat into the office is to give it a go and if you fall, that’s okay! If you are still trying to accomplish a particular skill, chances are you won’t be able to master it without first having a crack and possibly falling over or making a mistake. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t nail it the first time (or the second, third, or fiftieth time), but if you don’t give it a go you’ll never know! By continuing to practice these skills you will build your strength (mental and physical) and start to activate and flex muscles you never even knew you had.

Thank yourself and others

At the end of each class we take some time to reflect on the session and our teacher asks us each to thank ourselves for our practice and also to thank those around us for sharing their energy. This is all done without actually speaking, but is an important and powerful close to the class. This mindfulness and gratitude for ourselves and each other is something we do well at wattsnext. We celebrate our wins and share in the wins of our colleagues, we are reminded to be conscious of the energy we bring into our space and that we all feed off this energy – so we make it positive!

The next time you are struggling through, try to get comfortable in that process, keep pushing yourself to try and thank yourself and others for your efforts and what you are bringing to the situation.

Namaste!