Email Yoga
/Dear Yogis!
I’m loving teaching office yoga at the moment. It’s off the mat, no Lulu Lemons, no fuss. Yes, maybe we should be on an island retreat. Maybe we should be cut off from the world. Maybe there should be statues and incense and sitar music. But when all of the conditions are not there, yoga still exists.
The benefits of yoga in the workplace are widely publicised and more and more companies want to be part of that kinder workplace culture. But the people who book me, the Human Resources personnel and the Happiness Officer, are not sure how to get the biggest number of colleagues involved. Understandably, they want to go slowly slowly. So, do we really need a mat? Do we really need to leave the desk? Do we really need a full hour? And what benefits can we have?
It makes me notice how tied we are to the mat. The mat itself has become a distraction. The studio and the clothes have also become a distraction. It takes ages and ages and ages to notice when you’ve missed the point. I remember teaching people who found it very difficult to get down onto the floor. What was I thinking?
When a company pops up and says: ‘we don’t want to leave our desks’, ‘we don’t want to take off our shoes’, ‘we can’t afford a full hour’, ‘we might have to keep an eye on emails’… I love it! It’s a great opportunity for a yoga teacher to give yoga in that context: You can do stretching, twisting, pranayama, eye exercises, meditation. People at their desks are always being told to take 5 minute breaks. I can’ facilitate that! Zoom culture plus Employee Wellbeing culture will make the yoga world grow up and actually be inclusive rather than just talking about inclusion!
Zoom Classes
I’ve already taught a yogi in Portugal this morning. I love it when various parts of the country and parts of the world join us. You can book here. Come along! Have a stretch.
Yoga in the news
Glamour UK has: What Causes Intrusive Thoughts & How To Manage Them. A study back in 2014 found that 94% of people experience unwanted, intrusive thoughts and impulses. Research also suggests that trying to suppress intrusive thoughts is an often ineffective coping mechanism.
The Week UK has: Cash bonuses, yoga and ‘canine clauses’: how the City is luring back its workers. It’s true. I’ve been asked by three companies to be part of their campaign to get people back into the office. The article says: According to British Land, which owns the City’s Broadgate campus, occupancy across its offices is currently “between a third and half of pre-pandemic levels”. Landlords worried about “the impact of hybrid working on the value of their portfolios” are hoping for “a material pick-up” in occupancy from next week. But office workers “aren’t rushing to get back”. Yoga teachers can’t be part of that portfolio calculation!
India.com has: 5 Most Effective Yoga Asanas to Get Rid of Double Chin. These are them, to save you time: Chaturanga Dandasana – Staff Pose, and Hold the asana for 10-15 seconds; Ardha Pincha Mayurasana -Dolphin Pose; Chakrasana (Wheel pose); Sarvangasana –Shoulder Stand; finally, Face Yoga. Along with these postures, you can also practice pranayama techniques such as Kapal Bhati and Khand Pranayam. Create a sequence of asana flow using the given postures and repeat this flow up to five times holding each pose for 10 to 20 seconds.
Good luck to runners this weekend (Brighton, Great North Run, training for the Ealing Half Marathon, shufflers like me!)
