Over the last few decades, yoga has gained extreme popularity for its beneficial mind and body principles. The practice has often been reserved for one’s personal life, before or after a day at the office. Focused on poses and breathing, you might not see how a yoga retreat for your company getaway can boost spirits and morale. For a corporate retreat, your company can think outside the box in order to achieve the most successful getaway from the office, including by searching for yoga retreats.
Sun salutations and warrior poses might not seem like beneficial postures for the office. However, the overworked, stressed and those dialed into technology a little too much might not be achieving their goals in the workplace. A yoga retreat allows employers to take their staff away from daily life and partake in a healthy activity for the body and mind. There is a reason why many Fortune 500 companies promote yoga classes for their employees. If you are still in need of some convincing on the wonders of yoga for the office, here are a few reasons why yoga retreats are ideal for corporate getaways.
1. Yoga Can Help Relieve Work Related Stress
Studies have shown stress is frequently the number one workforce risk issue. If your employees are overly stressed, this can in turn lead to poor business performance. If you don’t want your employees to be stressed about their tasks and positions, yoga poses might be the answer. According to the Mayo Clinic, yoga has been known to reduce stress. As the exercise is helping to reduce stress, blood pressure is lowering and moods are enhanced. As stress is often linked to physical health, emotional wellbeing and personal purpose, too much stress on employees will transcend into all aspects of life.
A yoga themed corporate retreat might also make your employees adapt to stress differently in the future. By learning new methods of relaxation and meditation, your workforce will have better tools in their arsenal to deal and adapt to stressful situations as they present. Rather than succumb to all of the negative effects of stress, your employees will have new ways to deal with stress through a positive outlet.
2. A Yoga-Based Retreat Promotes Mental and Physical Wellness in the Workforce
Companies should care about the health of their employees. If your staff is in poor health, mentally or physically, this can translate into missed days at work and troubles with productivity. The physical benefits of yoga have been explored. National Geographic sites a new study that has found yoga can reduce inflammation. Inflammation is usually associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes, arthritis and heart disease. Yoga is also thought to make the heart rate go down and as a result help with high blood pressure.
Not only can your employees reap the physical health benefits of yoga on a corporate retreat, but they can also unearth the mental health benefits. Studies have shown that yoga can help with depression and anxiety, such mental health strains that can make it hard to sleep at night. Employees with better mental health can have an easier time sleeping and feel up for the tasks and demands of their jobs.
3. Practicing Yoga Away from the Office Helps Employees Unplug
One of the main goals of a corporate retreat is to take employees away from the office. Sometimes the office merely needs to unplug and recharge. Some companies might see implementing a yoga retreat for their corporate getaway as more of a vacation. Not all businesses understand how these types of corporate retreats can be a good way to strengthen the workforce. However, with more and more reports surfacing of employees failing to take vacation days, a yoga corporate retreat might be one way to get even the most ambitious of employees to relax. Also some members of your staff might go on vacation but never leave their work behind. Even while on vacation, your employees might be dialed into the office on their laptops and smartphones.
A yoga based corporate retreat can lend employees the chance to unplug and unwind. Some yoga retreats even specifically cater to those groups that want to unplug. A remote location without Wi-Fi or a business center can be a good thing for the office that is burned out. Burnout can lead to a lack of productivity. A corporate retreat is intended to make employees more productive. If yoga helps those unplug, their productivity levels can boost as a result. In fact, yoga is often linked to higher energy levels. Bottom line, while some of your employees might be workhorses, they need to unplug every once in a while. Sometimes unplugging has to be implemented in a formal corporate retreat setting. And with yoga’s known side effects of taking the mind off of countless concerns, a yoga based corporate retreat might just be what the office needs.
4. Cleared Minds Assist with Brainstorming and Thinking on the Job Site
In a Huffington Post article, “Can Yoga Help Save the Business World,” the author points out just how the exercise can lead to a clearer mind at the office. For companies, the minds of their employees are the office’s biggest asset. Without a clear mind, thinking can’t advance. By hosting a yoga retreat for the office, you can help your employees clear their minds and in the process open up windows for better brainstorming and thinking. Yoga helps participants open up tension in the body and boosts blood flow to the brain. Employees with clear minds just might show improvements in the office, as they will be thinking more efficiently and effectively due to the help of their new yoga skills.
5. Team Building and Bonding Are at Work
Yoga might seem like a self-centered practice. However, one of the core elements to yoga is to be present in the moment. Employees who are not present with each other will not work well together. By learning new yoga postures and poses together, team building is possible. Your staff will learn how to be present with each pose and be present with the tasks at hand in the office. Yoga retreats can aid in this process through group yoga sessions, often in idyllic locales.
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