A few years ago, I discovered the nature of yoga. It has become a way of life for me; a form of stress relief. Something I’m sure any college student knows about all to well. But as a student in business, I’ve come to realize yoga and leadership are closely aligned. I know what your thinking... how in the world are yoga and leadership related. Leadership connects to the business world; it is for companies, and organizations. Well, I’m here to tell you it is not all about business.
Here are 5 Ways Yoga and leadership are related
1. Purposeful.
Every yoga session typical begins by setting an intention for your practice. Where will your awareness be directed towards? As silly as this may seem, it’s important to set an intention every day
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A purposeful leader understands the impact they have on society. Whether it is waiting 5 seconds before entering a building to open the door for someone, helping serve the homeless, or traveling to the poorest countries of the world to build homes. Anybody has the power to impact the world.
2. Empowering
As a leader, it is your job to stand up against certain challenges, even if speaking up may be difficult. Leaders are responsible for motivating individuals to take initiative and problem solve. Empowerment in leadership is crucial. Defined by The Wordbank, “empowerment is the process of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes”. Empowerment is knowing the power to succeed. So how the heck is this related to yoga and why does this matter? First, Yoga teaches you to listen to your own instinct. It helps you to stay in tune with yourself and to understand what you truly wish to achieve. Next, yoga makes you feel valued. Through this, you realize you have the capability to achieve whatever you desire. This is important to leadership because in order to lead we need to know ourselves first. Leadership cannot begin without understanding ourselves and our values.
3. Clarity
A relaxed mind is an open mind. One of the sole reasons I practiced yoga is for clarity. It helps to remove the chaos and puts busy thoughts to rest. As a result, this
Leadership refers to the act of leading a considerable number of people within an establishment or the capacity to do this. Leadership has to do with coming up with a vision that is crystal clear and the ability to spreads that idea out in a manner that makes individuals, given the information, knowledge, and methods to understand, willing to follow. Subsequently, balancing and coordinating the conflicting interests of all stakeholders and members. It is typical for any good leader to step up in the event of a contingency, with the potential to imagine and act creatively in situations that prove to be difficult. Different from management, leadership can never be taught, in as much as it may be learned and bettered employing mentoring and coaching (Servant Leadership Based on Robert Greenleaf’s Writings, 2010).
There are some however, that look to enact positive change on the world and not just themselves. These individuals seek change for the betterment of others, the community and their society. These people who work tirelessly to make the world a better place are perceived, in my mind, as leaders. Although every leader has their own leadership style or technique, it is important to understand that all great leaders have an end goal of change and making an impact in the community around them. In order to do so, a leader must be able to understand the purpose of their group, organization, or cause. I believe great leaders inspire action by running their organizations through actively working towards the purpose of the group. This notion is further cemented by a quote that I live by, “a boss says, go, a leader says, let’s go.” My leadership experiences have advanced the Greek Life community in a number of ways. Through my leadership, we were able to expand our Kinnick Recycling community service project by working with more organizations both inside and out of FSL, expand education and awareness regarding sexual assault and bystander awareness, educating the community about Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and creating bridges between Iowa City Police and Fraternity men by establishing an annual philanthropic softball game between the two, just to name a
The cares for lives, continuation of other's future, and the hope of a more successful generation are rarely the thoughts of anyone. Most individuals are self-centered, careless of others, and seek personal benefit. Although these unfortunate qualities make up the majority of the society that we live in, there are few individuals that make up what we call good leaders. Someone who has a thorough, objective, and complete view of a situation are a good leader. A good leader is also a person who considers and cares for other people's well being. Along with these qualities, a leader never allows any emotion or fears
Leadership is the ultimate form of service; it requires leaders to devote much of themselves to deal with the responsibilities that come with the title. They not only serve as normal members, but they must make important decisions with their followers’ interests
To be a leader you need to take charge and be able to handle difficult decisions, as well as point others in the right direction, on top of setting a good example. In Robert Graczyn Jr.’s speech, he states, “We’re at a time in our history when leadership is more important than ever. When you look around, it’s truly amazing how much change is occuring; political changes; technology changes; military changes. Without effective leadership, none of these changes can occur.” Therefore, a socially responsible member of the community needs to be an effective leader in order to help better the future and make changes for the greater
For many people with hectic, stressful lives, relaxation means zoning out in front of the TV at the end of the day or getting some extra sleep at the end of the weekend, but for a certain group of people relaxing does not include this. These people are called yogis; those who achieve relaxation through the art of meditation, breathing, stretching, and finding inner peace. In today’s fast paced society it is hard to find a way to fully relax because people are constantly being forced to push their minds and bodies to the limit, which can result in high levels of stress. Rather than fighting against life’s hardships, people who practice yoga value deep relaxation in order to be free of stress and live each day in peace and harmony
Leaders, worldwide are judged by their ability to conduct themselves appropriately as well as manage a team. A leader with vision and passion can positively influence persons by injecting enthusiasm and energy. “Today leaders are expected to guide, motivate,
According to the Osteopathic.org website, yoga is proven to provide physical benefits of the human body, including increased flexibility, increased muscle strength and tone, improved respiration, energy and vitality, maintaining a balanced metabolism, weight reduction, cardio and circulatory health, improved athletic performance, and protection from injury. Not only are there physical benefits to yoga, but also mental benefits such as improving a person’s mental health and is proven to increase coping skills. Furthermore, the American Osteopathic Association states, “Regular yoga practice creates mental clarity and calmness; increases body awareness; relieves chronic stress pattern; relaxes the mind; centers
Being a leader is very important to the world. People in our world have used leadership to share their knowledge and lead the people who believe in you . Joan of arc for example, Joan of arc was a woman who led an army to conquer in battle. Jesus Christ led our society to the largest religion there is. Leaders can make the world what they want it to be. The presidents of the united states made speeches and advertisements and made citizens believe in them and the presidents inspired us to vote for them.
Many experts believe that “through solutions such as yoga and acupuncture, experts believe we can break our multitask habit and sharpen our focus.” Having a strong power of concentration enables faster comprehension, enhances memory, and assists in concentrating on a task. Through the use of yoga, your attention can sharpen. Focus your mind is a yoga exercise that calms your mind and heightens your focus called drishti. Closing your eyes and focusing on the spot above and in between your eyebrows helps keep your mind from wandering. This is a great way to strengthen your power of concentration by preventing your mind from
In today’s competitive world, leadership skills are crucial for both personal and professional development. Leadership is an important function of management which helps an individual or a business to maximize efficiency and to achieve goals. Leadership has different meanings to various authors.Most commonly, leadership is defined as influence, that is, the art of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals. (Koontz). Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of either formal or informal group in the task of goal setting and goal achievement. A leader is one whose magnetic personality innervates people for some cause. Not by words, but by their actions is
The practice of yoga makes the body strong and flexible; it also improves the functioning of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and hormonal systems. Yoga brings about emotional stability and clarity of mind.
Over the years, a great deal of time, and research has been dedicate to the study of leadership. Even with extensive data on the topic, many still disagree on what leadership really means. Hence, leadership is a word that has many different meanings and different researched theories associated with it. On a basic level, leadership involves having and establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with followers, respecting followers, and leading an organization with excellence while ensuring that everyone is part of the team. Leadership is also a method by which a leader uses his or her influence towards getting a group of followers to take ownership or buy into a vision.
The purpose of Yoga is to put an end to the mind of all muddling thoughts, and this isn’t
Yoga meditation is an exercise program that includes stretching and exercises that use deep breathing to bring peace and tranquility. While it’s true that you can meditate without performing yoga, yoga on the other hand, always involves some form of meditation.