job stress | St. Louis Corporate Yoga

Unexpected Cause of Work Place Stress?

Work stress – what do you think about when you hear this term? Most probably you mention ever increasing workloads, difficult co-workers, challenging bosses and managers. Oh, and how can we forget about the everyday commute back and forth? Decreasing demand for the company’s products and services, mergers and acquisitions add to the list. No wonder that work stress is mentioned most frequently among stress factors in life.

There is one unexpected stress factor you may not have considered yet. It isn’t the people or your salary – according to one study – but where you sit that results in whether or not you feel stressed out at work. Interesting!

Studies have shown the correlation between workspace and stress levels. One study proved that private offices resulted in less stress than open space offices where workers have cubicles they call their own.

In an open space it is easy to get stressed because you might feel being watched the whole day and you never have a moment of down time. Increased noise can cause stress because all the distraction it brings. Many people feel stressed when they’re trying to work and are exposed to chatter in the background.

Sitting in an office where you’re exposed to a hot window or the blast of a too-cold air conditioner pointed at you? None of these situation will help you have a balanced, stress-free day!

Now take a minute and look around your work space. Where do you sit? What about your surroundings? How is the temperature? The noise level? How does this place make you feel? What would you think when you visited your own office space? What would you think about the person who works there? Do you like your desk, your cubicle or office?

Do you feel less than happy with your work space? Here are a few tips to make your office space less daunting!

First, consider how you can fix things yourself. How about adding a little personalization? Add family photos, a green plant or flowers, and some knick knacks that make you feel like the space is less sterile.

Now if your work area actually killing your productivity, you might need to discuss this with the management. Too much noise, inadequate air flow, less than appropriate lightning will make you less effective in your job! Talk to your boss about the loss of productivity you suffer and he/she might be able to find a better space for you – sometimes you just need to ask!

If the area where you work is dimly lit, you can bring your own lighting or ask for a place by the windows. Consider adding some of your favorite colors to the work area.

If you’re in a position where you’re overwhelmed with aromas like popcorn cooking in the break room or a co-worker’s strong perfume, then bring a diffuser of your favorite essential oils to work to give you some much needed stress relief via aromatherapy.

Take proactive action to create a better work environment for yourself!

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!

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!

Yoga’s Incredible Benefits – Part 2

Why choose yoga as the base of your company’s wellness programs? There are tremendous mental health benefits in offering yoga to your employees! Let’s explore the most important of these benefits this week. If you would like to read more about why yoga is the best choice for a corporate program, please read our last week’s article about the most important health benefits of yoga.

Nobody can deliver great work without concentration – we know this from our own experience. Nowadays losing the ability to concentrate is easy. Distractions come from every direction: colleagues, email, messages, phone calls, the need for immediate responses – all working against focus.

Practicing Yoga gives the wonderful possibility to create harmony between the mind and the body. This harmony then gives way to a sharper focus. All the light poses during a corporate yoga class plus the deep breathing exercises work together to provide this experience. Yoga students enjoy these benefits not just during class but hours after the yoga class has finished. It becomes easier to concentrate on the most important tasks and actually getting them done in less time and with less effort. In short, developing focus is the best way to increase productivity.

During an overwhelming week at work, it is a blessing to be able to free the mind from constant worry and negative emotions. A meditation practice will help tremendously in providing “space” and emptying the mind.

Yoga is still misunderstood sometimes as a weird practice of endless meditation. But there are numerous medical studies proving that yoga can help many modern day ailments like mental anxiety, stress, worry and overwhelm.

Have you noticed your employees stress level rise? Job pressure, work overload, conflicts with co-workers and managers at the workplace are the most important source of stress in the US population according to a recent American Psychological Association (American Institute of Stress, NY) survey. Around 73% of those suffering from stress experience psychological symptoms caused by stress regularly. (Source: http://www.statisticbrain.com/stress-statistics/)

Fortunately yoga can activate the natural relaxation response! Deep yoga deep breathing, meditation or rhythmic exercises can help to relieve the stress we all face in today’s world.

Basically anybody can begin a yoga practice and reap the benefits of practicing this ancient art! (Individuals with medical conditions need to discuss taking up yoga with their health providers and specialist, of course.)

In a corporate setting we welcome everybody no matter their fitness level or previous practice of yoga. All the yoga classes are customized to fit the needs of the particular group.

From our own St. Louis Corporate Yoga case studies we know that even one corporate yoga class per week can bring lasting relief from job stress. If you are interested to learn about the results our programs deliver, please ask for our case study documents by contacting us – just send your questions through the green box to the right side of this page or through our Contact page. Would you rather give us a call? Here is where you can reach us: 314-630-1677.

CEOs Who Believe in Yoga

Yoga’s acceptance in the workplace depends very much on how the management thinks about of this ancient practice. If the CEO of a company has his/her experience practicing yoga and learned to appreciate its benefits, adding yoga to the corporate wellness offers is easy.

Why do CEOs love yoga?

We found 3 great articles about how yoga changed the perspective of leaders in different industries. Please enjoy the short excerpts and if you found them interesting, please go and read the whole articles.

Yoga has deeply influenced Stanton Kawer’s (CEO and chairman of Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide) life.

“I love business. I am passionate about growing companies. Still, I can share that since I started practicing more than two years ago, yoga has profoundly influenced my life in every aspect. It has redefined my sense of self. I have changed as a husband, father, friend and leader.”

“On a personal level yoga has been instructive in helping me redefine my expectations for achievement. Perhaps the most salient lesson I’ve learned is that there are no scorecards to define success. In the yoga studio there are no winners or losers. No umpires. No victory measured against the loss of another. In yoga success emanates from within and is defined by self-mastery.”

“Yoga allows me to carry both equanimity and enthusiasm through my days. Ultimately it has allowed me to be a more effective CEO by making me a happier, healthier and more mindful human being.”

Source: http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/25/yoga-meditation-better-ceo-leadership-managing-kawer.html

Mark Bertolini, chairman and CEO at Aetna had a very personal experience with the healing powers of yoga. After a serious skiing injury he embarked on a journey to heal his body from the damage caused.

His own experiences with nontraditional remedies lead him to start a study to understand the benefits of yoga and mindfulness at the workplace.

“To prove the effectiveness of these practices at work, Aetna collaborated with eMindful and the American Viniyoga Institute to craft a 12-week study, during which Aetna employees practiced alternative techniques to reduce stress as measured by cortisol levels and heart-rate variability.

“When employees are in the highest quintile of stress, their health care costs are $2,000 a year on average higher than the average employee,” he said. “We saw dramatic drops in stress after the program was over, and we saw a 69-minute gain in productivity of our employees over a year,” he added.

The increased productivity along with reduced health-care costs and lowered employee stress yielded an 11-to-1 return on the program’s investments, Bertolini said, which added up to a savings of about $3,000 per employees per year.

“The other part that we couldn’t measure that I think is far more important is being present in the work environment, and by being present making better decisions for the organization and those decisions depending on where you are in the company take a longer time to have an impact, and we’ll see that over time” he added.

Following the study’s success, Aetna has opened up its stress-management programs to the insurance company’s customers and their employees.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100569740

Mark Hughes (CEO of C3 Metrics) shares about his experience with practicing yoga and the 3 principles he learned in the process:

“…I was beginning a journey learning more about myself and, surprisingly, more about business than I learned at one of the top ten business schools in the country and 20 years of professional experience.

Here are three things I learned:

1). Embrace Fear to Overcome Fear

“The headstand. It’s a pose in yoga that few novices relish. But I envisioned it in my mind, embraced the fear of falling as real, the fear of injury as real, but temporary, and thus overcame that fear.

And with many other poses in yoga, the fear of falling, the fear of making your failure widely known in front of many people is entirely real. But embracing that fear enables regular people to overcome great adversity in business. It enabled Richard Branson to create a billion dollar enterprise from a basement. It enabled Howard Schultz to go from subsidized housing to creating Starbucks. Achieve power through fear and adversity by embracing it.”

2). Transitions Make or Break You

The tough part is transitioning from one position to that position; that is what makes or breaks you.

Again, this is true in business and in life. Doing what you’ve been doing isn’t hard. Transitioning from one position to the next is where failure abounds.

It’s this transition that’s a lot like business. Transitions require planning and execution with intense focus.

If you’re paying attention, planning is the easiest part. Transitioning from planning to execution is where things make or break you. Without intense focus, you could slip and lose sight of the end goal.

3). Soul Needs Training

The whole “Namaste” “Ooohhm” aspect of yoga freaked me out. What I’ve learned, though, is the complete yogi – and the complete CEO – are about positive energy.

Namaste is simply a phrase meaning “the light in me honors the light in you.” Whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, or Hindi, when you examine the phrase Namaste, it’s really about energy.

Like nuclear power, it’s energy that can be used for good or bad. The amount of positive energy you bring to your office, your call, your meeting, is felt. This is embodied in your body language, your smile, your gratitude, and gestures like opening a door and saying hi. When a baby smiles at you, you smile too. There is no complication in that exchange. The amount of energy and light you bring reflects on people. And sometimes that soul energy requires training.

Source: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/3-things-a-ceo-learned-a-yoga-manifesto/

What is your experience with corporate yoga? What do you learn during your practice that you will be able to use during your workdays? please feel free to share below in the Comments section! We would love to hear from you!
© Morganlane | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

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!

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!