The Practice of Intention
One of the elements of many, maybe most, yoga classes is the practice of setting an intention at the beginning of class. An intention may be something you want to learn in the class such as a new asana. It may be an attitude you want to maintain – openness to new experiences or keeping…
Read MoreWhat’s Your Intention?
What do the practices of breathing, self-awareness, and setting an intention really have to do with leadership? In my opinion, a great deal depending on the type of leader you want to be. I’m sure some of you have heard me mention before a favorite book of mine, Larraine Matusak’s Finding Your Voice: Learning to…
Read MoreSetting an Intention
Over the last two weeks, I’ve written about two of the three concepts I use as I begin a yoga class. A focus on the breath and an awareness of our self physically, emotionally, and mentally. This week I’ll be writing about the third concept – setting an intention. But what does ‘setting an intention’ actually…
Read MoreSelf-awareness in Partnerships
During the Leadership Yoga workshop, we often take the time to practice some partner yoga. Partner yoga is exactly what it sounds like, it’s an opportunity to practice asanas with a partner. This doesn’t mean the teacher assisting the student or even one student helping another as a more experienced student. Partner yoga is two…
Read MoreEbb and Flow
On Tuesday, I wrote about the yoga practice of alternating types of postures. After contractions come extensions, backbends alternate with forward bends. This practice mirrors the natural ebb and flow of energy in our bodies, in our work, and in our lives. Yoga practice teaches us to be aware of this natural rhythm and, over…
Read MoreHeart Healthy
Audio Version Yoga is designed to work all of your muscles rather than a particular group or type of muscle. And this includes your heart. Of course, movement works your heart as it pumps blood through your circulatory system. But that’s not all yoga does for the heart. Yogis, people who practice yoga, are known…
Read MoreActing Consciously
Audio Version Several years ago, I learned an important lesson about change management. Change can be threatening to many people and it evokes strong feelings often including anger. The important lesson I learned was that anger can actually be a grief response. Change, even welcomed change, often means we have to give up something which…
Read MorePaying Attention
Audio Version When I teach a yoga class or lead a workshop in Leadership Yoga, I have a usual way of beginning. Whether we are standing or in a seated position, we start as we began this series with our breath. The second component of the start of a yoga class is letting our breath…
Read MoreLeadership and Breathing
Audio Version This story belongs to Sharon Justice, former AVP and Dean of Students at UT Austin, my supervisor for almost eleven years, and my friend and mentor for many more years than that. She has told me often that one of the primary lessons of her experience as a new Dean came from a…
Read MoreYoga and breathing
Audio Version As we continue to explore the importance of breath this week, today we’ll look at the importance of the breath in yoga. Tomorrow, we’ll finish the week exploring the role of the breath in leadership. In the United States, we tend to focus on the physical aspects of yoga. Most people have seen…
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