Leadership
Posture or Posturing
What most of us know about yoga before ever taking a class are the postures. Only one part of a complex system, these postures, called asanas in Sanskrit, were designed to help practitioners develop strong, flexible bodies to enable sitting for extended periods in meditation. Now, whether or not we wish to practice meditation, they…
Read MoreStrength
“Do you ever have to yell at your staff?” The question was posed to me some time ago by my dance instructor. A dance studio is its own mostly self-contained world and I had been taking lessons for sometime before people learned that I was a vice president at a local university. Only a few…
Read MoreBeginning Well
Over the past two weeks, I’ve written about the three elements that are, for me, an important part of a yoga class. In the hour, hour and a half of a yoga class, it is usual for these elements to take no more than five to ten minutes. And yet, I think each element is…
Read MoreDetermining Purpose
When you walk into a yoga studio it’s easy to tell immediately that this is not your usual exercise class. It’s quiet. There’s no up-tempo music playing, there are no pulsing lights, there’s no peppy instructor trying to rev you up to get you ready to push yourself. If there is music playing, it’s calming,…
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…
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