Practicing yoga and mindfulness has many health benefits. Yoga is a low-impact form of exercise that can lead to better heart health and help with back pain relief that many entrepreneurs can use. Mindfulness and meditation can lead to better cognitive health and improved moods. In addition to the health benefits that mindfulness and exercise bring, they can contribute positively to our business success as well. Review and pick one or more of these 6 ways that mindfulness and exercise impacts business success and enjoy creating and having your ideal business and ideal life.
In a fast-paced business world, learning how to slow down is immensely important, and can give you an edge over your competitors. Not only that, but calming our minds and being able to craft a clear vision and leave room for inspired thoughts is a practice that we can refine and utilize to push our business forward.
Let’s now explore the six ways that mindfulness and exercise impact your business success.
- Mindfulness gives us clarity over our business vision
Mindfulness is being aware of your thoughts, your feelings, and your environment. It’s the act of removing ourselves from the hustle and bustle of our current state, and creating space for our mind to wander and to reconnect with ourselves. By practicing mindfulness, we gain important insights into our vision for our business.
Some good news is that you can practice mindfulness with just a few simple steps:
Focus on Your Breathing
Start a steady pattern of breathing in, holding it for a few seconds, and then exhaling out. Feel the sensation of your breath as it comes in through your nose and out through your mouth. You can practice this breaking to the count of 4 (for example, 4 counts in through the nose and 4 counts out through the nose or mouth). For an interesting book about Breathing and the benefits, check out the book Breath by James Nestor. I found it to be super interesting and informative.
Be Aware of Your Body
As you breathe, start to be more aware of your body. Pay attention to how you’re feeling and the places where you are holding tension, and breathe through it to release any tension. We all hold tension in our body – somewhere… If you have ever done Yin Yoga, you know that you hold a stretch for 5 minutes and around the 3-4th minute mark is where you feel the tension release that you didn’t know you were holding on to.
Let Your Mind Wander
Give your mind the freedom to wander. You may be surprised where it takes you when you’re not hyper-focused on your to-do list (or Prioritized Action List (PAL) as I like to call it).
Allowing ourselves the space to be present in the moment helps strip away things that may seem more pressing. You may be stressing about how to move your business forward and practicing mindfulness could bring you back to a place of remembering your “why” and what you’re truly passionate about, which could provide clarity into a longer-term vision.
- Meditation keeps us calm in the face of tumultuous times
Meditation helps us take a step back and refocus ourselves. When your business is in the midst of any sort of difficult times, meditating can help us to regain control of our emotions and prevent us from slipping into negative thoughts or limiting beliefs that aren’t productive.
Being able to regulate your emotions is important, especially as a leader that others look up to. When you practice meditation, you have a better understanding of yourself and what’s going on in your brain. For example, if you’re feeling anxious, you can better identify what’s making you anxious. Rather than spiraling into a negative train of thought, you take control of your emotions, figure out where the anxiety is coming from, and think of a solution for it.
Running a business can be stressful, as we all know, and being able to stay calm with the many challenges business ownership brings is an invaluable skill that we need to commit to consistently practice to help us.
- Yoga teaches us how to focus
With many yoga poses, you literally have to focus on a specific point in order to keep your balance. It’s an incredibly accurate metaphor for learning how to focus when you’re juggling the many aspects of your business.
When you’re practicing yoga, you’re focusing on your body and its positions. In a similar way, we need to be able to focus on ideas that can positively impact our businesses in the face of many distractions. Yoga teaches us how to stay in the moment and eliminate distractions, so we can arrive at the breakthroughs we need.
- Meditation helps us learn and process new information
When we practice meditation, we’re training our brains and flexing our mental muscles. As business owners, we need to be able to process new information to solve stressful situations, or to learn as much as we can to grow our business. Researchers have found that meditation actually increases gray matter and boosts your brain’s cognitive and learning ability.
When your cognitive abilities improve, you’re able to be better about executive decision making and better about handling stress. You’re more clear-minded, so you have better control of your emotions. Rather than acting impulsively when a difficult situation or decision comes up, you can observe the facts and make a more informed, and make a less reactive decision.
- Yoga teaches us to be flexible
Being flexible in business is one of the most important skills to have. There will inevitably be times when you need to pivot, whether from your business plan, or your business overall. Yoga helps us learn how to let go of our plans and form new ones when we need to.
From a physical aspect, yoga helps us build flexibility and strengthen our core. As we practice yoga, we learn how to be emotionally flexible as well and implement more gratitude into our lives. The pressure of the business world is decreased because we know that we can handle any situation that comes our way simply through our ability and openness to pivot.
When your mind is flexible, you also learn to identify any opportunities that may come up as a surprise, and to run with it. By being flexible to new opportunities, you can drive your business success even further than you imagined.
If you want to practice having more gratitude, feel free to download my complimentary Gratitude Journal exercise, by going to https:/www.accountabilitycoach.com/gratitude/.
- Yoga helps quiet our minds
Between meetings, never-ending to-do lists, employee issues, and the overall stress of running a business, our minds are constantly on the go.
Practicing yoga is a practice in quieting our minds. It allows space for us to breathe, to think, to be present in the moment instead of thinking ten steps ahead. Before we know it, life can pass us by. It’s important to enjoy the moments before they slip away from us. Oftentimes when we accomplish something professionally, it can be easy to start reaching immediately for the next goal. Yoga can slow us down and allow us to enjoy those accomplishments and recognize ourselves for what we’ve been able to do.
Mindfulness and yoga aren’t necessarily something a lot of people think about when it comes to business success. And yet, they should not be ignored as we set goals for ourselves and for our business. When you practice mindfulness and yoga, you are gaining clarity over your business vision, learning how to stay calm during difficult times, increasing focus where it matters, learning how to be flexible, and quieting your mind. Don’t underestimate the power that these practices have on the success of your business.
Unlock a blueprint to creating and having your ideal business and ideal life by scheduling your free consultation with me today!
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