Work-life of a king-lion: the role of yoga on stress management and creativity enhancement

Love yourself and your work-life…No place for weak and tired in the vast savannah…
31
Jan

The role of occupational yoga on business performance optimization: are your creative leaders ready for change?

The innovative learning program “Symbiosis of Spirituality and Efficiency in Corporate World” is carried out through  three stages:  scientific literature analysis and qualitative research on value-added of Ooccupational Yoga; scientific literature review and semi-structured interviews on occupational/ corporate yoga techniques in companies; and learning program on how to apply occupational yoga techniques in business performance optimization, which will take place in Gozo (April 30th – May 7th 2018).

Within the first step “Sustainable Business Growth via Spiritual Practices” (the research results were posted by GILE Experts on the 4th September 2017) Lauzikas identified the key preconditions for symbiosis of spirituality and efficiency in corporate world: spirituality practitioners’ knowledge on business models, firms’ vision and innovation strategies; alignmet of organizations with innovative practices (conducting primary and secondary research to better feel contexts of different industries, eliminating learning barriers, identifying economic and social impacts, as well as monitoring criteria of spiritual techniques, developing learning transfer mechanisms); empowering spiritual and creative leaders to enhance social awareness, self-motivation, core values and self-identity, and in parallel to reshape colleagues’ attitudes, behaviours, and psychological climate at work.

While considering yoga as both a science and technology (Sharmiladevi et al., 2017), organizations become more spiritual and sustainable, because of health, wellbeing, knowledge and alignment with the ultimate.

Within the first article in the series, Lauzikas (2017) prepared a set of arguments why yoga and other spiritual practices are critical to innovative organizations (http://www.gileexperts.com/uncategorized/spiritual-profit-profit-oriented-spirituality-business/). Within the second article in the series, GILE Expert Rebekah Debono (2018), who is also Rhiyz Yoga founder, goes one step further within this trans-disciplinary topic while explaining how Yoga therapies influence the corporate performance in various contexts, such as creativity, innovation, and efficiency.

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Debono (2018) combines scientific literature analysis and semi-structured expert interviews with the leading experts of occupational yoga therapies. She backs Lauzikas’ (2017) findings, that yoga could help companies heighten innovative thinking, strengthen focus and effectiveness of its regular practice and inclusion.

At individual or teams’ level Occupational Yoga could lead to higher creativity levels, stronger focus, improved coordination and attention as well as lower stress levels; therefore, various industries in Malta, such as the Gaming industry, start applying yoga as a therapy. As it is argued by Debono (2018), in many stressful corporate situations, both creativity and efficiency can be jeopardized by insufficient and inefficient management of time and stress. Lauzikas and Miliute (2018) argue that organizational structures and processes (including hierarchy, rules and communication tools) often damage creativity systems and employees’ satisfaction. Robert Epstein (2000) adds that restrictions are detrimental to creative expression.

Based on the answers of the interviewed expert Agius (2017), Yoga therapy could be considered a very effective and efficient therapy for work-related stress management; especially, in persons who work at demanding corporate jobs or sit at a desk all day. Besides the therapeutic effect, yoga therapies help focus, increase blood flow to the brain, enhancing one’s alertness, improve memory and thought processes; as well as can increase creative skills and assist pain relief.

While interpreting Taylor-East (2017) arguments, Debono concludes that with Yoga practice a person can sustain his/her attention for a longer time and with greater ease; moreover, yoga can offer a sense of security.  Within the context of creativity, Occupational Yoga techniques can be associated with inclusion of diverse activities and implementation of unrelated matter, which aside from hacking into the creative mind gap also taps into physical and mental health benefits.

The analysis of various studies worldwide, such as UCLA (2016), helped Rebekah Debono conclude that Yoga practitioners spend more time in the Alpha state and have increased memory, creativity, and intuition (Alpha brain waves are heightened). Alpha brain states are also related to lower stress levels and increased creativity. This, according to the author of the second GILE article (Debono, 2018), helps embrace individuality and enhance development and execution of strategies through the release of creativity and innovative ideas, which might result in evident evolution and growth.

You can find more information on occupational yoga via: http://www.rhiyz.com/hacking-into-creativity/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=google_mail&utm_source=email or during GILE Experts’ learning program on combination of occupational yoga and business performance optimization, which will take place in Gozo (April 30th – May 7th 2018).

 

 

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