Corporate Yoga
I offer 6 week starter packages to large and small businesses in East Sussex & London.
I will come to your workplace and develop a 6 week yoga program that fits your business's culture and needs.
Mats are provided. All you need to do is provide the space and employees.
After the initial package we can review our agreement and carry on with a regular weekly class if desired.
What to expect from a corporate yoga class:
Your initial programme can be specifically tailored to the physical needs of your staff (people who spend the majority of the day sitting at a computer or standing at a till for example). We can focus on reducing stress levels and teaching simple coping mechanisms for acute periods of stress during the day. Classes are 60 minutes long and include a guided mindfulness meditation, pranayama or breath exercises, gentle physical warm up, moving warm up sequence, main strength focus, cool down and Savasana or closing relaxation.
Why your company needs a weekly yoga class:
Practicing yoga with colleagues is a great way to build connections and foster a happier and more successful work environment. Healthy staff have more energy, are more focused, productive and tend to be more cooperative and upbeat.
Research shows us the role that regular exercise and mindfulness play in improving all-around employee performance:
1) Sitting is the new smoking
Scientific studies are showing us that sitting for long periods of time does as much damage to the body as smoking. This is for a number of reasons, bad posture leads to chronic back pain, compression of the lungs, and reduced blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain. It is important to reduce the amount of time we spend sitting throughout the day to prolong lifespan and vitality. Even if you exercise regularly, a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that, if you are sitting the majority of the day, the caps on each end of your DNA strands, called telomeres, get shorter. As they get shorter the rate at which the body ages and decays speeds up. The study also showed that the telomeres of those who sit the least had lengthened, their cells growing younger! Therefore, breaking up the working day with movement literally improves lifespan and ageing.
2) 27% reduction in sick leave
Britain’s 5.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises rack up an annual bill of £29bn on sickness absence. Research by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has found that physically active staff take 27% fewer sick days.
3) 15% employee performance boost
A study presented to the American College of Sports Medicine, found that workers who spent 30-60 minutes at lunch exercising reported an average performance boost of 15%. 60% of employees said their time management skills, mental performance and ability to meet deadlines improved on the days they exercised. Workers in the study were less likely to suffer from post-lunch energy dips after exercising and also reported improvements in mood.
4) Induce deep rest & improve mental health
Yoga has been shown to improve symptoms of depression, attention deficit and sleep disorders. It has also been shown to increase the level of GABA, a chemical in the brain that helps to regulate nerve activity. This is especially relevant to people who have anxiety disorders in which GABA activity is low. Researchers say it is the relaxation response that accompanies mind-body practices like yoga, that leads to the many physical and mental improvements people experience from a regular practice. For the body to relax at the nerve and cellular levels it needs to shift biochemically from a state of excitement and tension (flight or flight), to a state of relaxation (rest & digest). Only deep breathing, which accompanies mind-body practices such as yoga, can do this.
5) Strong legs, strong mind
A study by Dr Raffaella Adami from the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy, shows that limiting the physical activity of the legs decreases the number of neural stem cells by 70% compared to a control group. The research proves that using the legs, particularly in weight-bearing exercise, sends signals to the brain that are vital for the production of healthy neural cells, essential for the brain and nervous system. Cutting back on exercise makes it difficult for the body to produce new nerve cells — some of the very building blocks that allow us to handle stress and adapt to challenges in our lives.
Making it tangible
I provide the option of offering your staff an anonymous survey before the first yoga class. This records any physical and mental symptoms they are experiencing. I will ask them to take the same survey at the end of the 6 week period to see if their work-life experience has improved. Upon completion, the survey will provide tangible evidence of the value of your investment in your staff's wellbeing.
