Entrepreneurs have long been into yoga. But just what can practice give to us? We decided to find the answer to this question. Yoga has long ceased to be asocial. In Hollywood today every first-person practices yoga. Good or bad, we are not here to judge. But if that were the case, that is just the point: not only is modern yoga accessible to everyone – its functionality has also changed.
From the path to spiritual perfection, it turned into a component of a healthy lifestyle, moreover, into almost the only way for a person to slow down and catch one`s breath, then rush into battle for a place under the sun with renewed vigor. Naturally, options are possible, but for the overwhelming majority, it is the case. Yoga has become trendy worldwide, and there is no way out of it. At first, these were unknown people, and then the stars of show business and people in the industry began to get involved. Madonna is an example. It is unclear if she seriously thought about spiritual practices, preferably, it is a tribute to fashion, a point in the biography that attracts attention. We are not an exception, and we follow the same path. Practicing yoga has become prestigious.
So what do entrepreneurs seek in yoga? What can the ancient practices of ascetics and hermits give to people who are in social life? Is it even possible to call yoga what people do, having difficulty picking one hour a day with the most favourable scenario? Yoga is an ancient philosophical system that affects a person’s entire life. The one who can be called a yogi in the full sense of the word is not a social person. A yogi changes their whole life to realise the goals described in the source. However, there are a lot of steps in yoga and the body is the tool with which yoga works first. If you come for health, you do not get purna yoga in its entirety, however, all levels are interconnected, and gradually most people become interested in broader aspects.
Practicing yoga, we realise how to observe the body, and this skill eventually manifests itself in other life spheres. Thanks to the practice, we become more ourselves and get rid of all sorts of dependencies. Often, internal contradictions or conflicts drive people who are engaged in business. Say, as a child you do not get toys, and now, having matured and grown rich, you buy yachts and airplanes, compensating for what you have not received in childhood. Often, people suffer from this, because, having acquired everything that one can dream of, they still do not feel satisfied and go on and on without limitation. Through observation of the body during exercise, we learn to notice our physical and mental reactions in everyday life. Gradually we begin to realise the real reasons for our actions, to think about what we are doing and why.
Changing internally, sooner or later we inevitably begin to change something in our life. These changes can be both minor and quite tangible up to the evolution of profession or care in another area of business. Perhaps yoga will encourage someone to stop and say to themselves: “enough, I earned enough, and now I want to do what I am interested in.” The above, of course, does not mean that everyone who steps over the threshold of a yoga studio is doomed, like the Roman emperor Diocletian, to drop everything and focus on vegetable production. But practice will allow you to rediscover yourself.
Often, entrepreneurs have a very restless mind, and sometimes there is a feeling that the head is all we have. But by starting to become aware of one’s physical and spiritual nature, a person ceases to be just an intelligent machine, becomes more integrated and, as a result, gets the opportunity to enjoy life more.
Us entrepreneurs, as a rule, have one common problem: we are fixated on work and cannot switch off. A person seems to be talking to us, but we feel that we are not present: someone calls us all the time, sends messages, we think about something in parallel with our conversation. We would be happy to relax, but cannot and yoga becomes our salvation. During yoga time we seem to recharge and can act further with much higher efficiency. Practice gives both rests, and relaxation, and energy.
Of course, yoga will not turn you into another person overnight. Moreover, the dividends that you receive from the classes are directly proportional to the time you are willing to devote to the levels. Motivation is an essential factor. To achieve the effect, you need to practice every day for an hour.
The nine advantages of yoga practice described are only a small fraction of what yoga can give us. The result will not keep you waiting, even if you do not think about the effects of specific asanas, but merely do it regularly. The practice can help you in solving particular problems and become much more effective when you perform the pose with skill. It is what to expect from the practice of different asanas.
Be calm
Restless mind, as mentioned above, is the main problem of a modern successful person. Shavasana (Dead Man’s posture) and pranayama help to cope with it. In the complex, they calm the mind, give deep relaxation and provide well-being no matter how loaded we are. Besides, pranayama clears the mind and helps to make informed, clear decisions.
Do not sleep
As a rule, entrepreneurs have another problem, more precisely, a pretence to the universe: we sorely lack hours in a day. We would gladly add a couple to the twenty-four available, but for now, the only thing a mere mortal can afford is to minimise the sleep time. Depriving ourselves of several hours of legitimate rest by an effort of will, we quickly become a victim of chronic sleep deprivation. However, if we regularly practice inverted postures and Shavasana, which help to reduce the duration of sleep, then gradually begin to get enough sleep in a shorter period, just because you sleep better.
Under control
A person with an acute need to control absolutely everything in life is often called a control freak, “obsessed with control.” We all need to keep our finger on the pulse in certain situations, but when this desire turns into a kind of mania, life becomes difficult, because a) you cannot control everything and b) you lose the ability to relax. Inverted poses, such as a stand on the head or hands, cause panic in such people, but these asanas are exactly the “bitter pill” that you need to swallow. At the initial stage, being upside down, we no longer understand where the top is, where the bottom is, where the arms are, where the legs are, and, consequently, we lose control. But gradually we master the unusual posture, learn to trust the teacher or the wall behind our backs, then begin to keep balance and navigate in space. This skill of working with an unusual situation is into everyday life, and we no longer panic when confronted with something that is beyond our control.
The staff of life
Practicing asanas in general and inversion, in particular, improve memory and brain function. As for the inverted ones, it is essential to carry them out in the complex: first Shirshasan, then Sarvangasana and Halasan. We act on different endocrine glands, which makes it to where we achieve the effect. If we talk about the blood supply to the brain, it is mainly because of the condition of the cervicothoracic spine: when it is hard, the circulation of blood in this area is disturbed. By the way, it is often the cause of chronic headaches. Regular exercises help set free from the rigidity of the thoracic. But the already mentioned inverted poses and twists are especially good.
The will to win
According to yoga`s philosophy, hands and legs are organs of action. Doing asanas, we strengthen our will, make our acting ability bigger let alone our potential. If the hands and legs are weak, the energy that can be into moving activities is dormant and does not manifest itself. Therefore, the next time, doing, for example, the usual Trikonasana, make sure that the elbows and knees are in, the fingers and toes are stretched out, and that you pressed the feet to the floor.
Sociological poll
Backbends, twists and abdominal postures reveal the area of the solar plexus, in association with the manifestation of a human in society. If it is in compression, we get implementation in an organisation with difficulty, or it becomes too important a topic for us, and we strive to achieve public recognition at any price. When the region of the solar plexus is open, we can release without any particular tension.
Warrior’s Way
Standing poses increase the overall energy level and activate by engaging in the functions of the already mentioned organs of action and opening the chest. Dynamic complexes, which included standing poses, were the practice of young kshatriyas, warriors. They make the morale stronger and develop courage, the very qualities relevant for entrepreneurs of today.
Let us talk about love
Revealing the chest, step by step we allow ourselves to give expression to our feelings freely becoming more kindhearted. And then the business, you ask. The fact is that people who were working out of hand lack this frequently. Anahata Chakra, located in the heart center, is associated with our ability to love. If in early childhood as a child we received less love from our mother, having later matured, we close up and do not allow ourselves to feel at all, because subconsciously we fear that they will not return the love. Its thought that often these are the people who do business: they want to earn a lot of money to make the love of others. But the difficulty is that a person can accept love only when capable of love. This problem is complex and cannot be solved overnight, but yoga is the tool with which we can become warmer.
Impossible is nothing
Finally, yoga makes to where we believe in our power and strength. Working upon new asanas, which previously seemed to be something unattainable to us, we make sure we can take decisive steps we had never dared to think even in the wildest dreams.
