Yoga and the Union to all parts of life. The Intersection of Corporate and Yoga Life—a Beautiful Union.

My very first yoga class was with some colleague-friends in the late 1980s at the start of my corporate career. I remember the unsightly brown sweat pants and matching sweatshirt I wore. I remember being completely intimidated by the chanting of OM and the room filling with nervous laughter. The nerves crept up more and more, so much so that I did not return to a yoga class for many, many years.

Within weeks of leaving a few decades career at a leading management consulting firm about 9 years ago, I started taking yoga classes regularly. I don’t know why I started then, but I think it was more opportunistic than anything else. A friend ‘won’ some yoga classes at a benefit auction with a local instructor and I joined her for the classes. Timing was right.

At this ‘first’ class many years later, I felt an immediate shift in both my mind and my body. I probably would not have described it that way then, but I felt something. I was hooked. It took some time to get used to, but I slowly started understanding and find the connection between a pose and my breath. And as with all things, overtime, with a regular weekly practice, I began to feel more and more connected.

While yoga was not part of the start of my corporate life, it has been a steady friend for the past 9 or so years, continuously weaved into a mix of business and personal experiences. Yoga is not just about the poses (asanas), it’s so much more. It is also a practice in mindfulness, and in breath work (pranayama), both of which are useful in everything we do. Yoga means many things to many people, but in its purest form, it means union. Connection. Between mind, body, and spirit, in daily life, in the divine, in relationships, in anything we do.

Wanting to develop my practice more, I decided to sign up for a yoga teacher training program in September 2017. My purpose was to advance my personal practice for my own well-being. Teaching was not on my radar at the time of sign-up. As the training continued and my knowledge of yoga increased, I noticed that the idea of teaching excited me more and more. I was still not convinced I would teach, but the seed had been planted. Several months into the training, and after lots of opportunity teaching different poses to my classmates, I had my ‘aha’ moment. I wanted to teach, I wanted to share anything and everything I knew about yoga. Still, I was unclear what this would mean. How would I share or blend yoga with my project work? With my corporate life?

A few weeks before my yoga certification graduation, I began practicing teaching yoga to a small group of friends. Immediately following graduation, I expanded my clientele among friends, friends of friends, and other enterprises. I now have the opportunity to teach community classes at the studio I did my training at, and ‘sub’ yoga classes at my local Y, where the bulk of my yoga classes took place pre-teacher certification. It’s funny how things come full circle, isn’t it? What’s even more exciting is being able to share and teach yoga with people outside of the fitness and wellness world. Tapping into those communities and groups of people is important to me. Coming from a corporate background, I find great joy in now having the opportunity to teach regular yoga class to a group of public sector lawyers.

Today, Corporate & Yoga life officially merged. At first I thought about this as my own personal M&A. However, it is really more like a joint venture (JV). My organizational behavior experience and my yoga practice officially ‘joined’ together, although I think it’s been together unofficially for some time. Today it was official though. I taught a yoga class to my first corporate client. The client recently brought me on as part of their health and wellness initiative, something that is becoming more and more important in the corporate world. So much gratitude, on so many levels!

Through my ‘JV’, I aim for my corporate/organizational and yoga experiences to complement each other in both the project work, and the yoga teaching I continue to do. They are not mutually exclusive. As with yoga, here is another union, another connection. And to me, this is magic.

Looking back now, I have no doubt, that during my time at the management consulting firm that helped shape my career, yoga would have been a good friend. But timing is everything, and clearly, I was not ready for yoga as evidenced by my OM intimidation. If this short piece encourages you to let go of the intimidation yoga may bring, whatever place you are in your career, how wonderful! That is my hope. To share that yoga isn’t just for fitness, or for hippies living in the middle of the woods. Yoga is for everyone. For everyone to find their own union, their own connection.

The benefits of yoga are immense, some of them including improved concentration and metabolism, increased flexibility, muscle strength, and energy, as well as improved cardio and circulatory health, and so much more. What’s even more wonderful is that these benefits are available to everyone.

What I’ve come to understand is that yoga is for everybody and every body. But it’s also an individual practice. Even when working with an instructor, there should never be any pressure to perform. That is not yoga.It’s important to understand that yoga isn’t about being better than anyone else. It’s about showing up. About listening to your mind and your body, and what YOU need. It’s different every day and that is okay. One day you can balance in tree pose, while another day you may be a swaying tree. Sounds like life! There is no judgement in yoga. If you approach it with a curiosity and an openness, you will find your own individual yoga practice. You will come back to your good friend, the breath, and you will find more balance, alignment, and ease in your mind, body, and spirit.

Yoga is the Sanskrit word for union. My hope with this brief article is that you find the gift of yoga. The union between mind, body, and spirit. The union of breath to pose.

My hope is to share this beautiful practice, this beautiful gift with all of you, so that you may find your own union. Your own connection with mind, body, and spirit. And so that you may become aware of your capacity to find ease in your mind and live with an uplifted spirit.

For me, yoga has become much more than just a physical practice. It has allowed me to become more…..

Yoga is a game changer! And, it is there for all of us.

Namaste!

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