Three things corporates can do for International Yoga Day (June 21st).

One of the best times to get started with new hobbies, habits or lifestyle changes is around some landmark day. It could be your birthday, anniversary, the first day of the month or year, or possibly some special designated day that gets a lot of visibility and hype. When it comes to yoga, the biggest such day is the International Yoga Day?which is coming up on 21st June, 2022. Yoga and wellness is at the forefront in the weeks leading up to International Yoga Day and people’s awareness and curiosity is at a high. For corporates who are interested in supporting the wellness and mental health of their employees, it is an excellent opportunity to provide them with the knowledge, tools, and training and get them started on new healthy habits.

Here are three things that organisations can do to make the most of International Yoga Day in a meaningful manner.

1.????Starting with the basics

When people want to start Yoga, a common struggle is how to begin? Which is why it is a great time to teach people some foundational yoga techniques that they can then safely practice on their own. It doesn’t have to be something complicated–one can take something as basic yet important as Sun Salutations or Surya Namaskar. So for example, organising a quick workshop that can give people proper coaching on sun salutations and a couple of postures that work on the spine, hips, and shoulders would be perfect to get people started.?And a fun way to take thirty minutes out from an otherwise busy office routine.

2.????Initiation into breath-work.

The world of science is abuzz with ‘breath-work’ these days as more and more research is listing the varied benefits of breathing exercises. From stress management to better heart and gut health, yogic breathing exercises are a powerhouse of all things excellent. And the best part is that they don’t take very long to start showing results, and employees can do them while sitting at their desks. It’s an absolute win-win, so a suitable workshop that can coach employees on the most essential yogic breathing techniques is an absolute must!

3.????How to be mindful

Meditation can sound intimidating to many people. Even Sunder Pichai, CEO, Google recently said he struggles with meditation – but then he found an even more esoteric practice called NSDR to make up for it. Many such mindfulness techniques give you similar benefits without being boring or repetitive. Meditation does not just mean sitting in one place, trying to avoid all thoughts. It also includes various fascinating mind-body exercises that you can do while moving, lying down, standing, or sitting up. And given the high-stress environments we live in today, everyone needs to know at least one or two such techniques to cope with everyday tensions. Breaking the myths around meditation and making it accessible to everyone certainly makes for a powerful training session for Yoga Day.

By facilitating a formal training or workshop for employees, you can help them better understand how and why Yoga works. Once the reasoning mind is convinced, healthy habits are more easily adopted.?By having their common questions and doubts addressed in Q&A sessions, employees will also develop more confidence in their ability to start yoga. And once they start, chances are that a large percentage of them will continue the practice, because the benefits will be visible. And happier and healthier employees, make for happier and healthier organisations!

You should have a professional conduct such trainings and one of the first places to start looking is within your employees. There’s a good possibility that an employee, or a reference, is a certified yoga teacher. Given its wide appeal, most places now also have a number of qualified yoga professionals and you can identify someone who best understands the requirements of your employee base. Lastly, you can find yoga teachers who conduct online workshops as this also gives employees who are working from home, or teams that are geographically dispersed, the flexibility to join from anywhere. Online classes are also easier to record and replay giving everyone a chance to catch up and learn at their pace.

If corporate wellness for employees is on your mind, there is a landmark day coming up in a few weeks, that you can take advantage of. So get your thinking mats, I mean caps, ready. Best wishes for a healthful International Yoga Day 2022!

The author is the founder of Yoganama Wellness (yoganama.com), a platform that specialises in yoga, stress management and corporate wellness solutions.