Stress in the workplace is something most people have to deal with, particularly if they work in a hectic environment with quick deadlines, long hours, and competitive co-workers.
Although this kind of corporate stress is perfectly normal, it can have detrimental effects on a company’s overall productivity once it soars to higher levels. This is the reason many companies today are starting to take a very proactive stance against the rise of stress in the workplace.
For many years, companies tried to relieve corporate stress by holding regular team-building seminars and other similar activities for their employees. These days, however, such activities don’t seem to be enough.
Many big companies today have taken corporate stress management to an entirely new level by installing recreation and relaxation facilities for their employees right inside the office building. Take Google, for instance. If you visit the Google headquarters (nicknamed Googleplex) in Mountain View, California, you’ll see things such as massage chairs, pool tables, foosball, ping pong tables, volleyball courts, and gyms where employees can attend dance and yoga classes. The funny thing is that with all these amenities that seem to encourage laziness, Google has some of the most productive employees in the world today, according to BusinessInsider.com. The lesson is simple: if employees are allowed to work in a stress-free environment, their productivity levels will rise considerably.
If you are running a company and you want to see such results in your own workplace, a great way to begin is to encourage your employees to take part in regular yoga sessions. This age-old meditative practice is one of the best ways to combat stress, whether in the workplace or in other areas. Instead of taking your entire staff on time-consuming and potentially expensive out-of-town team-building workshops, hire a yoga expert to instruct them on the best techniques they can use to conquer work-related stress instead. You can even have one of your conference rooms converted into a yoga center where your employees can relax and de-stress anytime they want during the workday.
Even if you can’t provide your staff with a separate room dedicated to yoga and meditation, the concepts and techniques you can introduce to them will still be useful in helping them deal with their own work-related stress. This is because most yoga exercises can be done practically everywhere — while sitting on an office chair, standing in the elevator, or waiting in line at the office cafeteria. The most useful yoga techniques that can be used to relieve corporate stress are breathing exercises like Vinolum and Anulem. When done properly, such yoga exercises can help clear up an employee’s thinking process and enable him to focus fully on the task at hand regardless of how many distractions there may be around. Other popularly used techniques include the Hatha yoga and the Yogic Kriyas.
In addition to being an effective stress reliever, yoga also brings a lot of advantages to a person’s physical and mental wellbeing. So by introducing your employees to yoga, you will not only be increasing their productivity but boosting their overall health as well.
