Yoga — My go-to management look-book
As I complete 7 years of being in a corporate, I also complete 2 years of being a yogi on the very same day.
In a nutshell, 2 years of Yoga taught me how I could have been a better “Manager” for these 7 years. I wish I’d started sooner :)
This article covers some of those lessons which can benefit any corporate junkie.
I always knew the benefits of Yoga (from hearsay) but never attempted it because I thought Yoga was exclusive –
Designed for people who are flexible enough to contort themselves into pretzel like postures & it will not help me burn enough calories as it is essentially just stretching.
But I still started, entrusting my trainer’s advice, and in the very first week, these pre-conceived notions were broken.
Right, there was my first lesson — Change the way you look at things & the things you look at, change.
Before starting, I perceived Yoga from the narrow lens of “Just stretching” but over a period of time I started looking at it from a holistic view of “Wellness”, & my experience thereafter, changed drastically.
There are many things for which I still don’t have answers to, but they made me change my perception about Yoga. Like — How come, while doing the triangle pose (Trikonasana) just changing the direction of my toe stretches half of the body dramatically.
How come just by relaxing my facial muscles relaxes the entire body during meditation & just inhaling & exhaling through the seated forward bend (Paschimottasana) helped me lengthen the spine more.
Yoga was the same, but my outlook towards it had changed.
The next time you are stuck at a corporate project, try stepping back & find a new approach. Getting a fresh perspective towards breaking your cycle of procrastination at work helps.
Like most of the people, as a beginner I struggled to hold on to certain poses/asanas, until I figured this — However difficult a particular pose is, a good teacher always starts by warming up the mind before warming up the body.
Do we want to be gentle to ourselves, harsh on ourselves, do we want the session to be challenging or relaxing, the key to successfully doing an asana is when our mind is in tune with our body.
My goal before every asana is — Acceptance & Persistence. Accepting that my body has limits & respecting those rather than fight &
Being persistent to not give up & push myself to the best of my ability. Similar analogy can be drawn in the corporate life.
Listening to our mind & body is important to achieve a state of FLOW in everything we do.
Accepting our true strengths & weaknesses & being persistent with our weaknesses is the key to build anything successfully.
When I was learning to do the crow pose (Bakasana), I fell innumerable times. Sometimes flat on my face, sometimes sideways in a dramatic manner (like a house of cards).
After initial bouts of embarrassment, my teacher unfolded another lesson — It does not matter how you fall, but how you react to it.
For at least a month, I focused on the technique of doing the crow pose, built the required arm strength, found my balance & finally did it.
The same goes for us as “Managers”. Everybody messes up, if not you, your team could mess up. As a manager, or a team lead it is important how we help the team navigate through the mess.
Our reaction to a situation can either make or break the deal for us.
Throughout the Yoga practice, the teacher reminds us to be focused on our breath, to help stay in the now without letting the mind wander about the past & the future.
Even if the mind wanders (which is allowed) — we are asked to bring ourselves back to the asana to simply bring back the focus to what we are doing.
I have often realized that when I am fully devoted to the asana, I can feel the stretch in hidden spots of the body, which no workout has ever been able to target.
Every time I come out of a deep meditative Shavasana, I am an altogether different person.
So, all we have is NOW! If we manage to focus on the present without worrying about the next meeting or the next promotion or the next job, life is much calmer & productive.
If you’re fully present in the present, it is impossible to be unhappy. Productivity increases 10 times & you also enjoy what you do.
One of my favorite poses include Warrior 3 pose (Virbhadrasana) & Tree pose (Vrikshasana). It not only takes strength & balance but also mindfulness to hold these poses.
For quite a long time I used to believe that focusing on one point can help in holding such poses for long, but it didn’t help.
Yoga defines focus as Drishti which in literal terms is not only concentrating at one point but also not losing sight of your surroundings. In other words, being mindful. Eureka! I had found a way!
If I was too focused, I fell & if I looked around, I fell. So, the key is to find a balance between focus & perspective.
Very often, the same logic applies to project management. When there are multiple tasks to be done, the idea of being too focused on one task & excluding others is not always the right approach. It’s a recipe of failure.
It has been 2 years & Yoga has become a part of me. We started with a blind date, dated for about an year & now we are one! 😊