When people hear about the benefits of yoga most are still imaging a yoga mat, yoga pants, and serene yoga music. But bringing yoga to your company doesn’t look quite like that. Mother Trucker Yoga’s corporate wellness programming brings amazing techniques and benefits right to the desk of the employee.
Yoga is by far one of the most commonly recommended activities to help with any number of issues from stress to flexibility, toning to weight-loss. Mother Trucker Yoga believes in simple easy moves drivers can do while inside their truck, some even driving to help them feel better, wherever they are. But it doesn’t have to start with the driver. Those running the drivers, finding loads, and filtering calls, paperwork and the dozens of other tasks to keep a company running smoothly yoga can be a tool in the company’s toolbox that can meet the need of every employee from the desk to the driver’s seat.
It’s a growing issue and I think it’s about time we give it more attention with followed up action. At any given time, as many as one in six working people suffer from stress and other symptoms related to mental illness, researchers note in Occupational Medicine. Yoga is one of many approaches a growing number of employers are using to combat stress and improve workers’ mental health.
As someone who has been practicing and teaching yoga for nearly 20 years, yoga helps the body, mind, and emotions. Some argue that our mental health is somehow separate from nutrition, or physical fitness, but I beg to differ. When someone makes any number of positive changes in their lives it affects all aspects of themselves in a positive light.
University of Bristol researchers did a study looking at employees who exercised before or during work hours. And what they found was those who exercised during said times were better equipped to handle whatever challenges they had to face that day. It also found that their general mood improved on days they worked out and were less calm on days they did not. I call that a win!
Jo Coulson, a Research Associate in the University’s Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences, said: ”Critically, workers performed significantly better on exercise days and across all three areas we measured, known as mental-interpersonal, output and time demands.”
YOGA IN THE WORKPLACE
The health of any company or organization heavily relies on the health of its employees. Those that are constantly sick, fatigued, taking PTO for issues relating to their jobs like repetitive strain injuries or mental health days are costing your company’s bottom line hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
As more and more organizations understand the impact of employees’ health on the companies’ performance, there are steadily more employers who have integrated different physical activities into their corporate wellness programs. But it can’t stop at just putting up a gym at your companies headquarters, especially if you own a trucking company. Ask any driver who drives for a company who has a corporate gym how many times they use it and they will most likely tell you zero. Ask any corporate employee how many times they use their company gym and I can guarantee it’s far less than you would think.
Yoga has been continually an opportunity for its participants to achieve physical and mental wellness. And in today’s society yoga is increasingly finding its way into the workplace. Leading successful companies like Nike, Apple, Google, and Forbes have introduced Yoga into their corporate wellness programs and have reaped benefits like improved productivity and increased employee motivation.
Mother Trucker Yoga believes that like with our driver programming and orientation seminars, those behind the desk shouldn’t have to have complicated pathways to mental and physical wellness. Our corporate wellness programming: Employee Stress to Workplace Success is built for trucking companies, shippers and logistics companies and aims to equip the employees behind the desk with tips, techniques,
BENEFITS OF YOGA IN THE WORKPLACE
Maybe you have never considered yoga as being an option for your company’s wellness plan. If you haven’t, I urge you to consider the benefits from the desk to the driver’s seat.
ALLEVIATES ACHES AND PAINS FROM DESK JOBS
Like truck drivers hunched over the steering wheel, office workers to spend long hours hunched over their desks straining their neck much like the drivers of their companies. From repetitious mousing to hunching over the computer screen and long term sitting, this unnatural posture is wreaking havoc on their bodies one mouse click at a time. This daily build-up for strain and pain creates unnecessary stress and PTO that could have been avoided if those at the desk were armed with simples moves and exercises they could do right at their desk, none of which require a gym on-site or even yoga clothes.
INCREASES ENERGY & REDUCED FATIGUE
Working non-stop throughout the day is bound to create stress which can lead to lower energy and burnout in the long run. It is proven that doing any form of physical activity every 30 minutes, including stretching or even standing up, greatly increases blood circulation and promotes oxygenation which is crucial for energy production.
The benefits to yoga are endless and you don’t need a 60-minute yoga class to reap what yoga has to offer.
- Yoga can increase blood flow
- Yoga can reduce muscle strain
- Yoga can reduce fatigue and eye strain
- Yoga can improve posture and digestion
IMPROVES CONCENTRATION & FOCUS
The constant need to meet deadlines fix problems and diffuse other work-related situations on top of their own constantly piling workload can create frustration, mental clutter, anxiety, and physical tension and tightness. All of the above can hinder productivity, creativity, and communication, something no company can afford to lose. And something no company should sacrifice with the right tools, programs, and processes in place.
- Yoga can improve brain function
- Yoga can improve mental clarity
- Yoga can reduce stress and anxiety
- Yoga can improve problem-solving skills
- Yoga can reduce strain and pain
PROMOTES COMPANY CULTURE & MORALE
Improving company culture requires an entire company to focus on improving itself at an interpersonal level first. And when a company promotes an environment that supports such efforts, everyone benefits.
Stressed employees are more likely to be aggressive, hostile, short-tempered and make mistakes which disrupts any opportunity for a healthy work environment. A successful workplace is one that its employees enjoy waking up and going to each day. You can love what you do, but not enjoy where you do it. I believe that the increase in people leaving the corporate work environment is in part due to the culture in which they work.
By both drivers and desk employees learning yogic techniques they can do right at their desk that can be done in one to three minutes throughout the day can help to elevate mood, and improve company morale.
- Yoga can reduce cortisol levels (the stress hormone)
- Yoga can lower blood pressure
- Yoga can diffuse tempers
- Yoga can instantly accessible outlets for frustration
YOGA, GOOD FOR BUSINESS AND YOUR BOTTOM LINE
The bottom line is your company is only as healthy as the people that run it — Your employees.
The power of providing resources and opportunities for your employees to feel appreciated can go a long way. People work for people who feel appreciated. And on top of that if you own a company that deals with the trucking industry isn’t it time we start to appreciate all the people behind that which drives America?
All it takes is teaching your company crew how they can improve physical and mental well-being right from the driver’s seat and desk in just a few minutes. And you, the company owner gets to reap the benefits of a happy and healthy functioning workplace.
Teaching things like simple yogic breathing practices, easy yoga stretches, and short meditations can become a game-changer in the long run.
- From burning out to breathing exercises
- From stressed out to stretching out
- From medication to meditation.
Mother Trucker Yoga’s Employee Stress to Workplace Success Seminars and Workshops help your company vitals stay above sea level.
For more information on our corporate Yoga, set up a time to chat with Hope here.
