As the Prime Minister of India broke the internet with his yoga asana at the recently celebrated “International Yoga Day” (June 21), a slogan was coined “Yoga for All, All for Yoga”

 A champion for workspace Yoga, the busiest man in our country has paved the way for corporate yoga and its benefits. 

It’s a busy world we live in today, with increasing demands on employers and employees alike. 

We work long hours, often hunched over a computer (like you probably are right now). We skip meals, keep a phone glued to our ear, and rarely leave our workspace for a break (breaks taken while in our seats are not broken, am I right?)

Before long, these work habits begin to take their toll on our bodies and minds in the form of stress, anxiety, and sickness. 

One liberating way to deal with stress is the practice of Yoga. 

Did you know Yoga is a 3000-year old Indian origin practice, currently a symbol of India’s soft power in the world? And it’s increasingly finding its way into the workplace. 

Workplace Yoga and its associated breathing exercises increase blood flow to the brain, which jump-starts the brain and gives it the necessary strength to finish the workday, definitely healthier than that double espresso shot you just had. 

Yoga at the workplace can benefit in numerous ways. (Psst! use this to convince your boss to have yoga at your office or people like me who hate exercise) 

At ClayWorks, co-working space in JP Nagar, we aim to break the tradition of all work and no play, we all know what that makes Jack (if you’re still wondering, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy)

ClayWorks hosts a monthly high tea for its clients with the agenda of learning, networking, and fun. Events always focus on new experiences and learning for everyone, and collaboration.

This month at ClayWorks Create, we had a corporate, desk yoga session, under the guidance of Mr. Shivram, a certified Yoga Instructor from Sadananda Yoga Institute. All the office-goers let out steam through this meditation and desk yoga session. We had a mix of people try it out, all age groups, newbies, and yoga enthusiasts.

If you’ve ever had a mass PE session at school, you can picture how the yoga session began. Everyone lined up with one-arm distance, there were giggles, teasing, which in fact helped counter the lethargy of midday work hours. 

 The Yoga Guru taught Asanas that people at all levels were able to do to ensure maximum client participation. The atmosphere at the high tea was as though we cancelled a Physics class to replace it with a games period – a much-needed break from a day-long desk job. 

Our clients tried their hand at it to stretch out and lengthen all areas of their body that get constricted by sitting at a desk most of the day. We also learned a few chair-asanas that can be practiced anytime in between the work hours sitting at our work stations to loosen and stretch out strained muscles.

That’s Workspace-Yoga for you!

Follow us for more info on how we are breaking stereotypes and focusing on providing unique workspace as an experience (WaaE). Get in touch with us and visit our Co-working space at JP Nagar, Bannerghatta Road, and Commissariat Road, we guarantee you will work better! If you have more to share on interesting practices to increase productivity at the workplace, leave your comments below!

By Sanjana Bharadwaj, Business development/ Community Executive at ClayWorks