If there is one yoga pose I would bring to work, it would be Savasana

If you have done even one yoga class you would likely have ended the class in 'Savasana' aka corpse pose. You would have been instructed to relax your mind and gradually relaxing one body part at a time, one muscle at a time, and one thought at a time - or something along these lines. Releasing stress and emptying your mind of anything and everything. Perhaps you laughed at this pose, perhaps you liked it, perhaps you hated it or perhaps you were indifferent.

I don't hate it...anymore! I learned to love it, so much so that I took it to work with me! Well the theory of it if not the yoga mat and pose itself.

I have been doing yoga classes for a while now and I always found Savasana to be the hardest of all poses. Maybe that's why people tend to skip Savasana. The moment the yoga instructor calls for the pose, people hurriedly pick up their towels and belongings and leave the room. Running scared? No, they are simply in a hurry for the showers, for an early meeting, to start or end the day. Whatever the reason - Savasana is being neglected and with that a great opportunity to master a mighty skill - that of being able to consciously quiet your mind on demand and gain control over your breathing, your thoughts and your being.

Now imagine how helpful could that be during stressful times at work.

As my yoga instructor often says, as we are settling into Savasana 'This is the most important part of your yoga practice' and after rebelling against stillness for so many years, I finally reached a point where I agree with him 100%. I would go even further and ask you to ponder over how universally helpful this skill is in itself?

'Work-related stress and anxiety is the leading cause for ill health and sickness absence in Britain' 'There were 0.6 million cases of work-related stress, anxiety or depression in 2017/18, which accounted for 44 % of all the cases of work-related ill health in Britain.' (source: HSE statistics)

If only you were able to step out of the situation during stressful and difficult times, and take 5min to quiet your mind, breath in and out, let go, so that you can create space in your head to tackle the problem with sense and sensibility - fully conscious. Wouldn't that be amazing!

Stress at work is part of, well, part of work and it is not something that is easily avoidable. The solution is not really avoiding stress but learning how to navigate, handle, prevent and overcome it. There are many ways to cope with stress and stressful situations and their success widely varies as we are all different people and have different coping mechanisms. But starting with the basic is always a good way to learn.

Here are my starting tips on dealing with stress at work be that your own or your team's:

• Take control - the mere feeling of being in control can be a game changer for you and crucial for empowering you to find the solution you are after. Remember you are in control of your own attitude and thoughts at all times. Use it to empower not to fall victim to it.
• Take 5min to step our of the situation and think things over in a neutral place. You can go for a walk, grab water, play some music but I strongly encourage you to avoid caffeine, alcohol or even smoking as your coping tactics. Remember, you want to cope with stress not add to it.
• Find a quiet place to breath and calm your mind. You can actually go into Savasana! Now these 5min at the end of the class are actually paying off.
• Work from home - sometimes all we need is to be within the safety of our home, sipping tea from our favourite mug and not being interrupted every 5min in person, on slack, on zoom, on the phone and email. If home is not that place for you then make sure you have one and use it to your advantage.
• Don't over think - focus on here and now, on what you can change and what is not within your control.
• Talk it over with someone that is not part of the problem, but remember that it is your challenge and you need to find the right way to cope with it.
• It's not personal, even if someone else is making it out to be. You work to live, not live to work so keep it professional and try not to bring personal emotions into it. If you are not able to separate emotions then you have some more work to do to calm your mind before being able to consider what your solution might be. You know how they say 'sleep on it' well there is a reason for that!

5min of quieting your brain and relaxing your body may be just what you need to find that key solution to your problem. Oh wait, you already found one - Savasana, the hardest pose in yoga.

Namaste

At The Lab we are painfully aware how much stress there is at work and how easily that spills into personal life because we live through it every day just like anybody else. It can affect your family and those you love, it can lead to depression and apathy. Our workshops and seminars help you and your team with practical and straightforward toolkits on stress and stress management, conflict resolution and breathing techniques.

To find out more - get in touch via our LinkedIn Profile