How Yoga Can Help you in Professional Life

If one tries to define yoga, the definition will chalk up something that is quite similar to a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices that originated in ancient India and that aim to control and stabilize the mind. These poses are the building blocks of yoga.

There are at least 10 poses that completes a yoga workout. The practitioners are recommended to pause after every pose they find challenging, specifically if they are short of breath and are told to move again when their breathing returns to normal.

The ten poses which you need to know while doing yoga are the child’s pose, downward-facing dog pose, plank pose, four-limed staff pose, cobra pose, tree pose, triangle pose, seated half-spinal twist pose, bridge pose, and finally the corpse pose.

How Yoga benefits your career?

Chances are you have already subscribed to the “Yoga is a way of life” worldview and if you have not already, this is for you. Yoga is not only a series of exercises that you do to keep yourself fit and be in touch with yourself, it is a science.

Yoga is the science of youthfulness, well-being, interrogating body, mind, and soul and keeping them tied together. Yoga will no doubt have a very positive impact on your physical spirit and on your mind, spirit so that it can positively impact your mental health. Besides all these, yoga also benefits your career.

4 ways in which Yoga can Benefit your Career

Yoga Boosts Self-Confidence

Whenever you start something new, more often you are really bad at that thing or do not know about it. Yoga is no exception to this. Every beginner starts with shaky legs, awkward attempts at poses, and nervous glances thrown over the shoulder to see if anybody is noticing their mistake or is struggling them too.

With practice each and every day, you will get better at it, another rule of sports that yoga is not an exception to. And as you end up mastering contortions that once seemed difficult and you thought to yourself that you could never do them, you build confidence.

This process of excelling or being able to do something which you were not able to previously, creates a sense of your own skill and strength. It also will teach you that what appears as an obstacle now is none other than an opportunity later. It will also help you to understand how to banish negative thoughts when you have them. Being aware of negative thought patterns will then help you to boost your self-confidence.

This is not only important in the yoga mat but also in the office where you will meet with challenges daily and you will need to learn new ways to get past those challenges in order to be successful. Having a strong sense of self will enable you to possess a great ability when it comes to handling all the requisite struggles and mistakes you are bound to make as you travel up the corporate ladder.

It also helps to reduce physical pain in the back, neck, or other ailments which hold you back from doing or completing work in your workplace.

Yoga Teaches Self-Discipline

excelling at yoga requires a certain amount of physical and mental commitment which you will need to get to your mat regularly. The yogic philosophy of mindfulness behind the physical poses will no doubt encourage you to work on your skills gradually even if you have a routine full of tasks you need to do regularly. If you are into yoga, chances are you won’t work 24/7 and burn yourself out by competing with others. Instead of that you will focus on yourself and take decisions that are conscious and responsible in nature.

Mindfulness plays a huge role when it comes to building your career no matter which field you work in. Sometimes the corporate world can have a negative effect on your self-confidence and your self-esteem. Doing yoga and meditation will cancel out the negative effect by reshaping your attitude and helping you focus on goal-setting. It will provide you with enough structure to practice the skills you need. If your work makes you overwhelmed, yoga will help you to recover from the feeling of always failing or the fear of it by teaching you how to juggle many jobs at a time. Yoga is all about balance so it will prevent you from wearing yourself out. It will teach you when to back out and when to move forward.

Yoga Reduces Stress

There is scientific data on how yoga combats stress and this is one of the predominant reasons behind the spread of yoga in western countries. As you do yoga, you will see the positive impact of yoga on the nervous system.

Meditation, steady breathing, and restful yoga pose, for instance, Savasana (literally translated as “corpse pose”) are often practiced at the end of yoga classes as they play a crucial role when it comes to slowing down the heart and relaxing the muscles. As the nervous system slows down, you will feel calmer and more emotionally stable.

Research suggests that the meditative effect and emotional impact of yoga on a person will help them to handle stressful situations better. A Harvard Medical School Study of the year 2009 found that regular yoga practice helped to reduce performance anxiety and improved the moods of young professional musicians who at the time of the research were under immense stress.

Learning how to adjust your emotional reaction to career stress is a skill that only you can achieve by practicing yoga daily and subscribing to the “yoga is a way of life” belief. Yoga will teach you how to move through the uncomfortable and have patience just so that you do not give up on your work.

More often than not employees suffer from sleep deprivation, lack of concentration, and anxiety. To get back on track with your work and to restore your emotional well-being, practicing yoga at work is imperative. It is the best way to control your body and your mind and it also helps in giving rise to mindfulness and having an overall positive attitude in the workforce. It will also help you to bring your team together and will help you to establish more friendly relationships and understand your co-workers better.

A few yoga exercises are capable of slowing down your blood pressure and increasing serotonin and decreasing cortisol or other stress hormones. Doing yoga will make you feel relieved and refreshed.

Yoga opens new Perspectives and Improves Creativity

By doing yoga, your attention span will increase which will enable you to develop your memory and learning abilities. It will enable you to concentrate and focus on important tasks and not get distracted.

Some companies even give their employees ten minutes to practice yoga, which helps them to boost their productivity and maintain a positive working environment.

There are innumerable yoga poses you can do while seated at your desks such as neck circles, shoulder rolls, desk plan pose, seahorse pose, fun pose, seated side bend, wrist stretches, finger stretches, and many others. It will also enable you to improve your creativity and you will be able to get fresh, creative ideas and think outside the box.

How to Jumpstart Yoga Sessions?

If you are wondering what to do in order to start yoga, here are a few tips and tricks that help you jumpstart yoga. Firstly, find a beginner class that you would like to join. If the physical classes are closed due to the pandemic, find a yoga channel on YouTube or buy a DVD or a book depending on your skill level.

\Then, schedule your yoga sessions since making time and committing to the routine is the key to learning and enjoying yoga so don’t neglect this. Group sessions are a fun way of holding yourself accountable if you ever think about skipping the sessions.

Then, if you are taking or opting for physical classes, find the right studio for yourself. There are many yoga styles so see with which style you are comfortable as the connection with the teacher will be the only thing valuable to you in the long run. The right studio will also motivate you to attend sessions.

If you are not willing to pay for a class then do not worry. All you need is your yoga mat and the eagerness to learn yoga. You can learn the basics from YouTube or a DVD, then create a space that will inspire you. If it stresses you out to work in the same space as your computer, try working outside in the early morning hours.

For a yoga session at home, start with simple poses and initially meditate for five minutes. Standing poses will help you to strengthen your body while the balancing poses will help you to improve stability and deep stretches on the mat will increase your stability. It is suggested to begin and end your session with five minutes of meditation.