It’s lunchtime and you’re trying to get your stretch and sweat on – a reprieve from Excel and your boss breathing down your neck about year-end. As your seemingly enlightened instructor begins class, you can’t help but think how different your lives must be. While one of you spends the workday on a mat, the other deals with real-world pressures and targets.
There’s no denying how different things may appear on the surface, but there are a few pieces of surprisingly conventional wisdom you can take away from yoga that will serve you well in your busy and ambitious young professional life.
Rise With The Sun
Western ethos tells us “the early bird gets the worm” but yoga practices have dedicated a whole series of stretches to celebrate the morning, the sun, and setting personal goals.
Starting the day by setting intentions is a sure-fire way to find success.
Branding is Everything.
Branding is everything in our fast moving professional world, especially when it comes to your own.
And who knows smart marketing better than the yoga world?
Just look at the Lululemon empire. People into the yoga way of life may claim to be the masters of their own universe, but today many of those practitioners are also masters of self-promotion, motivational messaging, and positive can-do imagery.
Find a Guru
Guru, which roughly translates as ‘teacher’, is a quintessential part of the yoga culture.
Whether seeking spiritual guidance on finding your inner calm or you’re looking for advice on how to accelerate your career, mentors can really help you out.
Richard Branson praises his mentor for giving him the courage to start his own airline while Park and Recreation’s Aziz Ansari credits Chris Rock for showing him the ropes on stand-up.
Be Flexible
We couldn’t resist. But in all seriousness, people who learn to adapt quickly and roll with the punches are the ones who stay on top.
Connect With Others
If you wear a suit and tie you call it ‘networking’; if you wear a sports bra, you refer to it as a ‘retreat’ or ‘workshop’. But it’s basically the same thing. In order to learn, develop and share, you need to put yourself out there and meet other people.
Just Breathe
It sounds so cliché and simplistic but we often forget to do it. As one of the key principles of yoga, breathing is the basis of any practice.
If you’re too wrapped up in the stress of deadlines, getting ahead and expectations, you’re going to miss out on everything else happening around you.
Have Trust in Practice.
We all know that practice makes perfect and this insight applies to most things in life. Whether it’s hitting the mat for a 30-day challenge or revising that presentation one more time, it all pays off.
#NOTABLE
Want more updates on the most Notable things happening so you know before your colleagues do? Get our exclusive newsletter here and follow us on Twitter for all the latest.