YOGA FOR SUITS?

Presented by: Edward Vilga

Teaching in New York City, most of my private clients are “Suits”: corporate types who’ve climbed the ladder of success brilliantly, but are usually desperately in need of getting stretched out.

I love teaching these Suits, but one thing I make clear to them all is that Yoga needs to be a steady, frequent, and ideally DAILY practice. 
You wouldn’t dream of eating once a week, or brushing your teeth a couple times a month when you could manage to squeeze it on to your calendar. Just like meals and flossing, a little yoga needs to become incorporated into your daily flow.

• BUT YOGA IN THE OFFICE? IS THAT POSSIBLE?

 Are Yogis supposed to live in caves? At the tops of mountains? Should they basically cover themselves with a loincloth and ashes and withdraw from the world? 

Running off to live in a utopian commune might be a quaint thought, but what about those of us with mortgage payments, student loans to pay off, or college funds to set-up?

Practicing yoga doesn’t have to mean withdrawing from the world. In fact, it’s really when you’re in the thick of things—navigating the corporate jungle, struggling with the kids, or stuck in traffic—that you most need the benefits that yoga offers: a calming of the storms of the mind.

Yoga helps us stay centered and, when we stray from that place, return more quickly. In other words, the practice can be thought of as a “Yogic Toolkit” with many instruments that can help you tune-up your mind/body/spirit connection for when the going gets tough. Especially given the challenges of the workplace, the “Yogic Toolkit” can become part of any successful career. 

• THE BUSINESS OF YOGA

Since this practice is designed to be done frequently as part of one’s life in the work environment, the body will begin to open up. While not everyone who does yoga will end up putting feet behind his head, major results (greater flexibility, toning, and stress-relief) are guaranteed. An added business benefit is that being more relaxed, actually makes a person more productive.

• YOGA FOR GREATER PRODUCTIVITY

Over time, yoga can transform someone physically, but more importantly than that, practicing yoga can revitalize and elevate your sense of well-being. Sometimes, even a few minutes of simple breathing exercises can totally change a situation for the better.  That’s why the idea of bringing more yogic peace of mind into the workplace is enormously appealing. 

• YOGA FOR THE WORLD

Having a sense of calm amidst the unavoidable workday chaos is a tremendous boon to anyone. Everyone is more effective when relaxed. Better decisions are made from the clear-headed perspective that yoga provides, rather than from a more common state of over-caffeinated frenzy. 

Over time, the physical benefits of a lowered heart rate and blood pressure and a more flexible body can add years to one’s productivity, and immeasurable amounts to one’s well-being. With a steady yoga practice, one has the stamina and endurance to achieve real success.

THE YOGA OF BUSINESS

More than just poses, there’s a yoga spirit, a philosophy and way of living your life with integrity. Yoga has a very broad yoga code of ethics—the Yama and Niyamas—which are pretty straightforward but also very open to personal adaptation. For example, non-violence, non-stealing, and truthfulness are among the concepts advocated.

Each person has to interpret how these principals fit into their personal and professional lives. Obviously, stealing as defined by the law would be wrong by anyone’s standard. But it’s important that you look inside to make sure you’re not stealing by taking advantage of others in more subtle ways. An unfair deal, for example, might make you some extra profit, but isn’t consistent with higher standards of behavior.

Modern life seems increasingly complicated, and there may be situations, especially at work, where you need to work within a pre-existing system that’s less than ideal. You may not be a revolutionary—or want to move to that mountaintop commune—but it’s important that you uncover a way of living that’s consistent with your truths and standards. 

Work presents an excellent opportunity to do just that: carving out and uncovering your values in a world that can present a lot of contrasting options. The contrasts in your environment, however frustrating they sometimes seem, give you the greatest possibility to make choices. The truer you stay to your evolving sense of right behavior, the greater your peace of mind will increase, and the happier your life will be.