Stress | St. Louis Corporate Yoga

The Best Start to Your Workday

Do you find that the beginning of your day has a major impact on your whole work day? Have you ever had a real bad start that didn’t want to stop until you finally dropped into bed?

The preparation for a great workday begins in the evening before. The more prep you can do before going to bed, the more stress free your morning become. Now, this doesn’t sound as the most unique tip ever, right? But how many of us do this?

Go to bed early or at least earlier than usual. It is easy to think that you can cut back on sleep. In fact when we have too much on our plates, this might be the first solution we try: let’s burn some midnight oil and get that last pieces of stuff done before we fall in bed. Now this can function for some time, even for weeks. But inevitable the day comes when your body will send you warning signals. Maybe you will find it difficult to fall asleep even if you feel very tired. Or you cannot wake up and sleep in. Or your stress levels explode. Don’t wait until this happens. Respect your sleep and never cut it short except for emergencies.

Get up a few minutes early. If you had enough sleep to replenish your energy, it will be fairly easy to hop out of bed. Did you know that we sleep in 90 minute cycles? If you can time your wake-up at the end of a 90-min cycle, it will be a breeze to wake up the next day. This is how you can easily calculate when you should jump in bed: if you want to wake up at 6am, go to bed at 10:30 pm for getting a good night’s sleep (7,5 hours).

Arrive a few minutes early at the office. Just imagine arriving 5 minutes early instead of 2 minutes late? Do you feel your stress level going down? You ca use the extra 5 minutes to arrive calmly and breathe out when you get to your desk. Maybe making a short action list for the day? Or looking through your projects and making a priority list? Or have a short chat with a co-worker?

Mindful beginnings. Now that you have a few extra minutes in the morning, you can take just 1 minute to be mindful. Take a deep breath, exhale slowly. Then another deep breath. Focus on your body. Breathe in to welcome the day, then breathe out to let all stress flow out of your body. Try this mindful breathing sequence and see the results it bring to your life!

You can repeat the same mindful breathing at lunch break, too. This way you prepare yourself for a stress-less afternoon.

Does your company offer corporate yoga classes at the office? Definitely take advantage of those! And if you don’t have a corporate wellness running at your workplace yet, please talk to the HR staff. Please refer them to this site to learn about the benefits corporate yoga programs offer to all participants!

Busy? Busyness?

Do you feel busy all the time? But are you really busy? Or is it just busyness that fills your life?

How often do you tell your kids or co-workers: “I just don’t have time for going out, looking at your homework, reading a new book or just listening to you!”

How many times will you give a list of your to-dos if somebody asks for your help? Like this: “I would be really happy to help you out on the weekend but I have to finish my project by Sunday, I have an invitation to the new art gallery and need to cook for the week. Plus must take the kids to soccer practice and visit my mother-in-law.”

There is no doubt that we all have more than enough on our plates. More than it is doable, more than it is achievable in a day.

Every minute of the day and night is filled with activities. Multitasking is the new skill you can be proud of. Cooking while helping your offspring with a project plus talking on the phone with your mum. Or driving to a meeting while you give instructions to your assistant and getting the news on the traffic – all at the same time.

What if you weren’t busy? What if you had free time? Would you really want not being busy all the time?

Could you admit having 5 hours of time to fill on a weekend? How would that feel? And how would your friends look at you? A person having free time??? She must have an insignificant life. All important and accomplished individuals, they just do not have time. We all know that, this is our new reality: you must be busy to be somebody. If you are not plagued by tons of to-dos, you don’t seem to be somebody worth knowing.

Let’s admit it, having lots of things going on gives you status. Busyness became a virtue of current times. Empty hours -earlier known as free time- might just freak you out. Who are you if you are not always in motion taking care of stuff, organizing, being at the forefront of knowing what is going on? Did you become obsolete? Is having free time so 20^th century?

Now for just a moment think about this important question: who are you if you are not your to-do list?

The next question to think about is free time. What is free time for you? Do you consider yourself busy when you play Candy Crush? When you talk to your friend on the phone? When you sink into FB’s rabbit hole for hours?

Now, just admit the truth (don’t worry, nobody will hear it), you might actually have a few minutes of free time every day. How will you spend yours? Taking a yoga class is a wonderful activity. Your coworkers and friends might even ask you: “How do you do it that you even have time for yoga?” Just smile…..

Create Routines To Manage Stress

What causes major stress in your work life? There is a good chance that you will say things like this: unmanageably deadlines, cranky coworkers, unreasonable bosses, heavy workload and too much administration.

You would probably not answer “having to make too many decisions”.

Most probably you are not even aware of the fact that decision-making is a powerful cause of stress in your work and private life.

Every time you make a decision, whether it is about hiring an employee, scheduling a meeting, or choosing eggs or avocado for your sandwich, you actually create a state of mental tension which is a stress factor. Now hiring a new team member is more demanding than picking your sandwich for lunch and so is the stress tied to the decision making process.

Making many small decisions can wear you out quickly. This is the reason why it is exhausting to go shopping. The almost constant decision-making state you are in when you constantly have to choose between the different prices, qualities, brands, etc. Having an abundance of choice can be exhilarating, though. No wonder that shopping is a favorite pastime.

How can you reduce the number of decisions you have to make every day? Create some powerful routines! If fact create as many as possible!

Yes, creating routine doesn’t sound very exciting…. Hearing the word “routine” is enough to send some of us running the other direction. Routine in not “sexy”.

Just remember when you first learned how to drive. At first every move had to be considered and that is why you were driving slow, slow, slow. Then you got more and more experience and you developed your driving routine. Now you don’t even notice the zillion small decisions you make on your commute to work – it is all done automatically. Until of course something strange or unexpected happens like a fellow driver cutting you off and you immediately have a decision to make: get angry and curse or let it go.

What activities can you systemize and add as small routines to your life? You can create a morning and evening routine. A menu plan for the week. A master shopping list for the month. No more last minute shopping runs and buying all the wrong food choices. Wouldn’t that be just an amazing thing?

At work, you can set up weekly meetings with your team at the same time and place every week. A great example could be a weekly kick-off meeting on Monday mornings at 9 am. No more decisions to make around whether to meet or not and if yes, when and where and who should be invited, etc.

Taking corporate yoga classes can become a powerful routine in your life, too. Just make the decision once to take the class at your workplace. Plan it in your daily schedule. Then enjoy the benefits of a consistent yoga practice. The important thing is that you don’t put yourself in a situation where you have to ask every week: do I go to yoga or not? It is all set and no more decision is needed aka less stress in your day.

Reduce your stress by having as many routines as possible in your daily life as well as in your working life to reduce the number of decisions you have to make each day. Start today!

Stress – It Never Stops

Do you feel that your life is filled to the brim with stress on most days?

It usually begins with hearing the sound of your alarm: time to get up! Have you ever woke up scared and not knowing where you are at hearing that alarm clock? Wanting to hit the snooze button… if only you could find the clock or your phone or whatever you use to signal the end of sleep.

You are on high alert even before getting out of bed. And it is not betting better, either. Your family members are intruding in your space (aka use the bathroom so you have to wait, eating up your breakfast instead of making theirs, and sharing with you the newest to-do list of the day and…and…and…).

By the time you hit the road to enjoy your daily commute, you are stressed deeply. The rest of the day has plenty of situations where your stress response gets tested. And it never stops, does it?

Stress becomes a constant in your life not an exception. “Good stress” that is helping you stay alive in the face of danger is an acute state. What you experience most of the time is the killer non-stop stress.

How can you get a breather during intense periods of stress?

First you need to become aware of the situation you are in. Become aware of the need to step back for a few seconds and realize what is happening. What is causing the stress response? What symptoms you experience in the moment of stress?

The second step is to make a conscious decision to step out of stress’ way. This might mean actually separating yourself from the place of stress. During an argument, you might decide to go to another room or office to remove yourself momentarily from this situation you are in. While driving you could take a short break. I know you might be stressed because you are late already but driving yourself crazy will not get you to your meeting any seconds earlier.

Take a deep breath! I know you hear this advice all the time. But have you tried it? Taking a few deep breaths concentrating on how the air is moving in and out of your lungs is guaranteed to help you to calm down.

Depending on your stress level, you might need to take a few more deep breaths. Do you feel you are wasting your time? No, you don’t. You are helping your body to get back to its normal state. Your thinking becomes clearer as a result and you are able to look for solutions to the issues that caused you the stress to begin with.

If you are able to take a few more minutes away from the stress source, even better.

The reason corporate yoga classes work so wonderfully to cut back on bad stress is that you are “allowed to walk away” for 50-60 minutes. Just imagine having an hour to actively relax your body, brain and nervous system!

Our corporate students return back to their desks rejuvenated and ready to look for solutions through cooperating with their co-workers. This is one benefit that all companies love!

Would your company be interested to create a calm, results-oriented and cooperation-based culture? We would love to help! The solution might be just a phone-call away. Call us at 314-630-1677 to discuss how we can support your organization!

Keeps You Alive While Killing You At The Same Time?

Can you guess? What is this everyday condition that keeps you alive while killing you at the same time?

Stress.

Stress has kept humankind alive for thousands of years. Without it we might be just ancient history. But now it is out to kill us in several different ways and we all suffer from it.

Even small kids in their kindergarten years are diagnosed with stress and it doesn’t stop until we draw our last breath on Earth.

What is stress exactly?

It is a natural biological mechanism which is designed to help us in critical situations. Not just humans but all mammals enjoy the benefits of stress: the same hormones get activated in the primitive part of the brain.

Fight-of-flight and survive: this is at the depth of this natural phenomenon. And it is a very usual survival tool for animals and humans alike. Run as fast as you can when an unfriendly visitor enters your territory or fight back and send him running – depending on the current situation and the intruder.

Stress influences the whole body. When we are stressed Adrenalin floods our body, heart beat quickens, muscles are ready to flight or fight – the body is on high alert. Then another hormone, Cortisol is released to give extra power to us to master the situation we are in.

All the sense are sharpened, too. This is why we can act so efficient under the spell of stress. A heightened level of attention is given to what is happening around us and even multitasking seems to be a reality.

As you see stress at its core is a very useful to us. The problem begins when from the acute stress (e.g looking at a dog bearing his teeth at you) becomes a constant state of being stressed.

Stress is supposed to last for a limited period of time. You face the danger, your body gets pumped with hormones to solve the situation. You find a solution and act on it and your system returns back to normal. It takes a few minutes before the level of stress hormones begin decreasing in your body and even a few hours before you experience your normal state again. Until you face the next situation that stress you out….

Now think about your life. Just the last hour of today. How many less or more serious frustrating situations did you face in that 60 minutes of time? Take your time and make a list, please.

When does your body have the chance to return back to normal? Some days you are in a constant state of stress and that is what is killing you bit by bit, day by day.

In our new series we want to give you our best advice to deal with constant stress for a healthier you! Check back next week for our next blogpost!

In the meantime, taking a yoga class is an excellent idea to soothe your stress-ridden body and mind! Don’t have corporate yoga classes at your workplace? Call us at 314-630-1677 so we can design the perfect solution for you and your colleagues!

Get Unplugged For More Serenity

When was to last time you totally unplugged from the modern distractions of life? Switching off phones, e-mail and social media notifications? Or even going offline for more than a few minutes?

Getting unplugged has so many benefits like getting back your serenity and perspective on life. Especially if you have a stressful job or a demanding phase of your life… be brave and give our suggestions a try!

Just for 10 minutes?

What if you actually switched off your cellphone right now? Closed your email? Cut off social media? For just 10 minutes – not more. Just to get a breather. Just to be able to look out the window and feast your eyes on the blue of the sky?

How do you feel? Your anxiety skyrocketing? Don’t worry it is a totally normal reaction. Not being attached to the distractions will trigger your fears big time. Let them be. Acknowledge the fear of missing something important or fun. It is OK. And it will pass.

If you only feel irritation and fear creeping up with no serenity in sight, know that it will pass, too. Maybe not when you do this little experiment for the first time, maybe not even for the second time. If you keep taking 10 minutes unplugged and give yourself this gift every day for a few weeks, you will end up craving your 10 minutes of freedom. And this is great craving to have, don’t you think?

An hour?

How about taking one whole hour in the evening with no digital distractions? No phone, no TV, no radio, no FB or Pinterest! Just you and your thoughts. You and your body. One hour just to BE. When was the last time you experienced just being? Without anything planned for 60 minutes? I know, it might get scary… this “nothing planned” time on your hands. The freedom to enjoy this time as you wish.

Your immediate reaction might be to look for something to do. Like clean the house, clean up your desk, read a magazine, chat with your partner. Go ahead and do these things. Or decide to get radical and just watch the moon and the stars. Then go to bed and enjoy a good night’s sleep. How rejuvenated would you feel the next morning?

For the brave: Unplug for a whole weekend!

Now imagine going offline for Saturday AND Sunday! No media, either – for 2 whole days! Panicking already?

How will you fill 48 hours without your favorite distractions? A few ideas:

cook a meal from scratch
go to an Art Fair
invite your friends to a picnic
work on a creative project you always wanted to do: paint, take a dance workshop or write
practice yoga both days – take your time on the mat
meditate twice a day
create a vision board.

Will you miss something exciting by not being online and on social media for the weekend? The world will go on, news will come and go without you knowing about them. Be assured if it was meaningful, important or serious news, it will be waiting for you on Monday. You will not miss much – but gain an aspiring, rejuvenating weekend as the best start for a productive week ahead!

Have a Good Night’s Sleep!

Lack of sleep depletes your energy fast. It is easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed when you didn’t get enough sleep. Even one night of broken sleep will have considerable impact on your mood and alertness the next day. Now imagine what one week of broken sleep can do to your body!

The amount of rest the body requires depends on age. Infants sleep as long as 15 to 16 hours, kids usually sleep 11-12 hours per day. At the other extreme, elderly people rarely enjoy an unbroken rest of greater than 5 to 6 hours.

Modern life bombards us with stimulation: television, cellular phone, radios, and late night celebrations are regularly reminding us to remain alert.

Our ancestors did not have these obstacles to rest. They did not have homes with dark shades to avert early morning sunshine, neither did they have light bulbs, to stimulate them at night. Their biological clocks were being tuned to the natural dark and light cycle of our planet.

Staying up late is on epidemic that influences our well being at a deep level. Not getting enough sleep and not being able to wake up easy on the next day are the result.

Have a good night’s sleep!

Your bed must be comfortable! Choose the right bed and cushions. You will certainly enjoy this comfort about one-third of your life. Every few years take a critical look at your bed – do you get a good night’s sleep? If not, you might need to search for a new mattress. If you don’t want to wake up with back or joint pain every day, it is necessary to find the best mattress for you. The return of this investment you will appreciate every morning!

Make sure your bedroom have a relaxing atmosphere. Choose your colors wisely. Red, orange and bright yellow are not sleep inducing colors. Safe these energizing hues for your living room and kitchen. Greens and cool blue colors help relaxation and might help you dose off easier. Ban TV, laptops, and any electronic devices from your bedroom if possible.

Create an evening ritual. Try to go to bed at the same time every night. Drink herbal tea in the evening, listen to some relaxing sounds or read a book – your body will gradually learn your routine and just going through the different steps will prep you for rest if you adhere to your daily ritual.

Be certain to steer clear of coffee, soft drinks, and chocolate in the evenings. They are too stimulating and make it more challenging to fall asleep. Heavy and spicy food is also not helping in this respect so it is better to eat a light meal in the evening.

Take only short naps during the day. Not more than 15-20 minutes otherwise your sleep pattern might be compromised.

Avoid brilliant lights in the evening and in your bedroom because your brain will think it is bright daylight even if it is midnight. This can lead to difficulty falling asleep and elevated states of stress and anxiety.

A gentle yoga practice during the day can also help getting a nurturing good night’s sleep.

What helps you to sleep as a baby? Please share in the comment section below!

Music to Your Stressed Out Ears

If you cannot escape stress, let’s at least find ways to relieve the situation.

Music can help you cope with everyday stress! It helps to calm your mind and change your mood.

The wonderful impact music has on our lives is known for ages:

“Music has charms to sooth a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” – William Congreve

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” – Plato

“The only escape from the miseries of life are music and cats…” – Albert Schweitzer

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent” – Victor Hugo

Naturally, it makes a big difference what type of music you decide to listen to at the times of stress. Hard rock, or fast paced dance music will create the opposite of the experience you are looking for. Your heart rate, your blood pressure might increase while listening to that type of music. Which can be very welcome, of course when you are looking to increase your energy or get into action.

For relaxation try to opt for soothing melodies, soft piano pieces – both classical and modern.

Classical music is known to reduce stress. Did you know that your breathing and heart rate will match the pace of the music you are listening to? Your brain waves are also changing in accordance – gifting you with a few sacred minutes of relaxation and joy.

What if you don’t like classical music? There are a lot of “new age” artists producing relaxation inducing tunes. Don’t forget about jazz – for some people jazz music will also do the trick.

The important thing is that you take a bit of time to explore which music soothes your nerves. Select a few favorites and have a playlist ready to listen to on your iPod. If you have a stereo headphone, you can listen to a few minutes of music even in your office.

One of the best places to explore the music you like and search for new pieces is YouTube. Just search for relaxation music, or new age or classical. You will get a wealth of videos to choose from and listen to. Look for Mozart, Chopin, Tchaikovsky clips.

A few of our favorite music “videos” on YouTube:

Tchaikovsky – Lake in the Moonlight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P65WNm48p0

Mozart – Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550 [complete]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTc1mDieQI8

Frederic Chopin – Nocturnes complete: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V60USaluxGA

Relaxing Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYe92a4vG-Y

LONG Playlist of Relaxing Soft Piano Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCYk9CRx0g8

Why don’t you spend on evening looking for the best relaxation music for you instead of watching the same old shows on TV? I am sure you will have a much better time and falling asleep like a baby will not be an issue, either.

Please share your favorite relaxing music pieces in the comment section below so our community can benefit from your recommendation! Thank you!

Find a New Way to Respond to Stress!

Let’s continue our series around stress in the workplace! In our last installment we discussed better ways to deal with the source of stress in the office.

Let’s explore ways you can change your stress response!

First I would like to become aware of your typical stress response. What happens when you get a call to appear in his/her office immediately? Or any other stress inducing situation happen? Do you begin sweating? Reach for a piece of chocolate? Feel your heartbeat getting quicker and quicker? Feeling dizzy and weak?

Our stress response is as varied as we are. I encourage you to get awareness for your own response to stress. Try to take just a few seconds and notice what is happening. If you forget to do this when stress is flooding your system, no problem. Try to take a minute after the immediate stress is gone to reflect on what has happened.

Explore new ways to react to stress:

Take a deep breath – immediately as stress hits you. One the typical stress response is taking fast and shallow breaths. Stop the craziness and breathe. Just one deep breath has the power of putting you in a better state of mind.

“It shall pass” – remind youself that whatever causing your stress now will eventually pass.

Ask for time. If you are expected to report to your boss or answer a complex question immediately, try to ask for a few minutes to prepare yourself. Most managers and colleagues will understand the need to gather your thoughts and even appreciate your initiative to come prepared. This way you don’t waste anybody’s time.

Have a buddy. Hopefully there is at least one co-worker in your workplace whom you can totally trust. Buddy up with him/her to support each other. Have a short chat during the workday, take your lunch hour together and vent if you need to. It is better to vent than bottle up all your frustration inside. The important thing is not to stop at venting. After you had those negative emotions out of your system, make a commitment to look for a solution. How can I handle this situation best? What good could come out of what I experience now? How would Bill Gates, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Madonna (or any of your inspirational heroes) handle this situation?

Bathroom break – there is one place you can escape to if stress is getting unbearable: the bathroom. Take a minute and visit this sanctuary if all else fails. Use this as the last measure, though as you cannot use this escape every time somebody stresses you out. Still, it is perfect if you need a few minutes of undisturbed time to get calm yourself down and gather yourself.

We hope these tips will help you next time you feel stressed out. Please share below in the comment section how you deal with stress on an everyday basis!

How To Deal With Stress In Your Workplace?

Stress is part of life – there is not much you can do about it! But that doesn’t mean that you must suffer from the different symptoms stress will cause you.

A bit of stress can be actually good for you as many times it adds to your motivation to take some action to get rid of or change the circumstances that add stress to your life. If you feel overwhelmed with your projects at work and feel stress mounting up inside, a healthy stress response would be to go to your manager and ask for help or ask for a new deadline. You take action to solve the issue and this helps to relieve the tension inside.

What happens if you get no support from your manager in that situation or nothing changes even after you asked for help a few times? When you see no way out from a situation, no chance to solve the issue or influence the solutions – a small irritation can turn into a major stressor in your work life.

Too much or constant stress will not only kill your motivation to do your best work, it can threaten your physical and mental health, too.

The first signs of facing a stressor can be procrastination and avoidance. You try everything not to face the reality of the situation, begin procrastinating on projects or missing meetings. The problem with reacting this way is that the problem will not go away. You will have less time and chance of renegotiating with every minute you procrastinate. And this will lead to even more stress. A never ending circle!

In every stress situation there are 2 important factors:

1.the source/cause of stress: the stressor

2.and your reaction to the situation: your stress response.

Let’s look at both factors separately!

You should deal with the source of stress in your life, there is no way around it. You might opt to take pills or herbal medications to deal with your stress response, but if you don’t do something about the source of this problem, the solution you picked might be short-lived.

A few tips:

-before the situation gets out of hand, try to set up a clarifying meeting with your boss. Even if you tried talking with him/her once, try again. Your manager has a vested interest in keeping you motivated and doing the best job you can. Important is that you don’t complain – that rarely solves anything. Concentrate on setting up priorities and renegotiating.

–create a better solution. Use the freedom you have in your job and come up with a better work organization. Try out the new solutions, gather proof that your ideas work then share with your manager.

–clear expectations. Many times misunderstandings around projects, confusion around the deliverables will lead to much unneeded stress. The only way to deal with this: discuss with your team and create clear, manageable, realistic and measurable goals. A system for follow-ups will help tremendously, too.

Most important is this: The more proactive you are, the less powerless you feel. The feeling of being able to influence the outcome will decrease stress levels immediately.

In our upcoming blogposts we will look at the options you have to change your stress response and heal the damage stress is causing in your life. Stay tuned to our new articles in the coming weeks!

In the meantime, starting a corporate wellness program is proved to help alleviate stress in the workplace. Please get in contact so we can help you find the best solution for your company’s needs!