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Workers who sit at a desk most of the day often doing repetitive tasks need an activity that will energize them, reduce their aches and pains, decrease their stress, and boost their mood. The good thing is that yoga can provide all of that.
Businesses have been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic. High-stress levels and low activity levels have been prevalent as people cope with these challenging times. The mood and health of the employees play a big role in the overall success of a business.
For employers, it’s as important now as ever to take an interest in the wellness of the workers. Given the convenience, low cost (no equipment is needed), and all of the physical and mental health benefits, yoga is a natural way to kickstart a workplace wellness program.
Sitting at a desk for long periods of time can lead to poor posture and pains in the back and neck. Bharadvaja’s twist, bow pose, bridge pose, and eagle pose all help to alleviate back pain. Extended triangle pose, extended puppy pose, and child’s pose are all great for relieving muscle tension and neck pain. Some of the poses that help to improve posture are cat-cow, camel, downward-facing dog, and shoulder stand. Heart openers are yoga poses that open up the heart and shoulders, leading to better posture. These include wheel pose, upward-facing dog, and fish pose.
According to the Mayo Clinic, research has linked long periods of sitting to such conditions as obesity, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. Dynamic yoga poses strengthen your muscles and allow you to burn a lot of calories, boosting your metabolism and helping you to maintain a healthy weight. Poses that increase blood circulation and help to alleviate high blood pressure include bound angle pose, dolphin pose, and legs-up-the-wall pose.
Yoga enhances gut health, helping workers maintain healthy eating patterns at the office. Poses that aid in digestion include boat pose, high lunge, and locust pose. Regular yoga practice improves your concentration and sleep, leading to better health and stronger performance in your career.
When workers have been in a job for a long time, they may start to feel burned out. To retain workers, employers should be promoting yoga at the workplace. Yoga gives you sustained energy. Workers who practice yoga regularly will be less likely to be driven away from a job by fatigue. We have gathered some data for you:
Last but not by importance and most recent reason to adopt yoga at work is the global pandemic that happened in 2020. Because of COVID-19, people haven’t been able to get together with friends and do community activities the same way they once did.
For employers that organize yoga at the workplace, you’ll help workers improve their mental health as much as their physical well-being. The initiative will boost company morale. When a worker is in a good mood, it rubs off on other workers. Positivity will be abundant in the workplace with employees motivating each other to be healthier, sharing their favorite yoga poses, and helping each other with techniques for poses. This will respectively result in increased unity in the workplace. Employees will be more willing to help out their coworkers with tasks, leading to a more collaborative and harmonious work environment.
Yoga can cater to a diverse workplace. Workers in the office who want more movement might gravitate to vinyasa or “flow” yoga. Those who want to improve their strength, flexibility, and balance, and learn the basics for poses might prefer hatha yoga. People of all ages can benefit from yoga, and a workplace yoga program can meet the unique needs and goals of the employees.
Practicing yoga at the workplace can give workers a much-needed energy boost. It isn’t uncommon to feel lethargic after a few hours at the office. When you come home from a long day of work, you might not have the energy or motivation for any form of exercise. Doing yoga at work helps to sustain your energy throughout the workday. And when you arrive home, you’ll be fresh, relaxed, and full of vitality.
Yoga requires little space, so it can be easily practiced at the workplace. It also doesn’t require much time. Even if workers only dedicated 20-30 minutes to yoga a few days of the week, they would benefit physically and mentally. Many would become motivated to practice yoga at home, increasing their total yoga time for the week and increasing their productivity at work.
Employers have many communication tools at their disposal to promote a yoga program to their workers, such as posters, email, and posting information on bulletin boards and the company website. If your employees are working from home, ensure they have access to the resources they need to benefit from the program.
People may start feeling exhausted, emotionally down, and even burned out at work. Every good employer should be considerate of the health and mental well-being of his employees and invest in ways to guarantee they feel well and happy.
Yoga is a great means to achieve that. Money spent on a workplace yoga program will likely result in a healthier bottom line for the business. And most importantly, when employees see their employer taking an interest in their well-being and everyone in the company is coming together to reach a common goal, productivity will increase.
