Improving Business Outcomes through Executive Health
Stress management for senior business professionals is being increasingly recognized as essential as stress can cause inflammation, burn out, chronic illness and even death.Yoga and mindfulness programs are now commonly accepted as both remedy and prevention. Beyond alleviating stress these programs have many positive outcomes relating to business success and productivity as well as life/work balance and spiritual enrichment. Why is this?
Creating Balance
Improved Focus and Energy.
A yoga class is a holiday in the middle of your day no matter what time you take it. Stale energy in the form of thoughts or emotions can be eliminated. The energy that was stuck or wasted in unhelpful pre-occupations is now available, enabling the body to feel vital and energized and the mind to relax and focus. The executive is sharp because she has created an inner culture of stability, connectedness, and efficiency.
Enhanced Creativity
Yoga and meditation grant the practitioner access to her higher mind's functionality. This gives expanded depth and insight to her leadership. Challenges are considered differently, using divergent thought to consider the widest range of potential pathways and paradigms and hone in on the right one.
Better Emotional Intelligence
Self care is pre-requisite for healthy relationships. Mindfulness cultivates empathy and collaboration over competitiveness, which, although surprising to some, creates cultures of successful risk-taking. When executives feel safe to fail, they execute fearlessly and reap the rewards. Yoga builds confidence and nerves of steel. The inner critic is replaced by the friend and wise counsel. This leads to more effective management styles, healthier strategies for preventing or addressing conflict, and healthy profits.
Establishing new patterns
One of the biggest obstacles to bringing these benefits into a busy executive’s life is finding the time to find the time. Establishing new routines should be considered and planned for, and usually require support from family as well as teachers and coaches. Yoga is life-changing but it does take commitment, and calls for daily practices that move on and off the mat. There are 8 Limbs or Branches of Yoga. A complete practice includes a discerning cultivation of peaceful intention and life choices, self study, contemplation, concentration, and meditation alongside the poses and breath work.
Best results are achieved with at least three sessions per week with a qualified teacher who will also set executives up for success by offering a system for “non-practice” days. Bringing one-on-one yoga, and the coaching required, into the busy executive's home or office is a proven method to guarantee consistency of practice. Committing to a period of three to six months is essential to embody and experience the shifts in relationship to the self and to others.
Referrals from friends, doctors or therapists can be useful for helping executives to choose the right private yoga teacher for them. There are also some excellent referral listings from organizations such as the Integral Yoga Teachers directory and Yoga Alliance. Scheduling a phone or zoom consultation is usually a good next step ;specific goals, intentions, and basic health information can be shared confidentially and, if both sides feel at ease, an intro session may then be scheduled.
This first class should include a thoughtful check-in and slow progression through practices best suited so that the teacher may see and assess the health and body mechanics of the executive. This is very much a fact-finding mission that will inform the arc and customization of the program if both parties wish to continue into the full series.
Yoga makes you feel well and supported! As it is a system of growth and expansion it can also be uncomfortable and it’s important to feel safe and in good hands. Teachers who have had a personal practice for a good while, who still study and practice the 8 Limbs of Yoga, who adore their teachers, and who understand and respect the history of yoga are best able to guide their students.
As a result of a successful yoga practice, stress can become a memory and good health and corporate success can co-exist and thrive. The empowered business professional can really enjoy her choices and know strength and fulfillment through her contributions to family and worldly pursuits.
