5 Ways Yoga Stretches Your Leadership
How to build resilience and flexibility into your leadership style
Picture it: New York City in the 80s and me living in a convent. That’s right, for four years, I lived with The Sisters of Divine Providence as I put myself through college at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
The convent still sits on the southwest corner. The same yoga studio is still in the middle of the block in a brownstone basement. Several times a day, while walking past that yoga studio, I felt an energetic shift. Though I didn’t have the words to describe it, I felt it. Curiosity finally called me to explore the studio’s book store, grab a flyer and try a class.
Years passed until yoga became a regular practice, and I still credit that studio for being the catalyst.
Yoga profoundly changed and influenced me, and it stretched who I am as a leader and coach. Now, 20+ years into my yoga practice, mindfulness is a way of life. Yoga prepared and reinforced everything I learned about coaching and leading for impact.
Below are five ways that yoga can stretch your leadership, too.
1. BUILDING ACCEPTANCE
Clearly stated: acceptance is the opposite of judgment. Accepting what is in the moment melts away judgment and shifts our perspectives.
The mirror’s presence in yoga teaches us to accept and love what is in front of us without judgment. It challenges us to focus and not distract ourselves with negative thoughts. Staring at myself in a full-length mirror for 90 minutes was hard to master in those first few yoga classes. Incrementally, with time and intention I began to lessen the harshness of my gaze.
Significant breakthroughs happen in yoga as the result of micro shifts in form, weight distribution, and focus. These shifts dramatically impact our poses and practice.
This applies to leadership, too. Every interaction is an opportunity for growth. When we accept what we know to be true, we can modify our approach without judgment. Building a practice of acceptance teaches us to approach life with kindness and curiosity.
PRACTICE IT
Next time you make a quick judgment, stop and honor the pause. Instead, shift into the mindset of curiosity for the process. Remember, we all learn and grow through experiences.
Accepting what is, allows room for the possibility of what can be. Leaders with growth mindsets think in the expansive space of possibility.
2. SHOW UP
The concept of practice is just that: showing up consistently and persistently. In yoga, as with many things, practice makes progress. The more time you dedicate to it, the more benefit you experience.
Practicing yoga offers the body a predictable experience, building muscle memory. That muscle memory brings us back the learnings. Practice relaxes us and helps us tap into our intuition, it encourages familiarity, improvement and refines our focus to what’s important.
When we practice showing up for ourselves and the people in our lives, that reliability becomes part of who we are and builds trust.
Showing up with integrity builds trust. Aligning what we do and say with consistency is critical in leadership. Investing time and discipline creates the quality relationships we want.
PRACTICE IT
Don’t over-commit by taking time to clarify your priorities. Ensure you can show up fully present with each interaction. Leaders are often stretched thin. Be diligent in how you manage your time.
Take time to prepare so that you can fully experience important interactions as a leader. Like with yoga, warming up helps you avoid injury. Stretch your listening and communication muscles before important meetings.
Explore what showing up with consistency looks like both personally and professionally.
Missing meetings or not returning emails and phone calls –consciously or unconsciously– communicates priorities. Not showing up for our team can send big messages in even the smallest ways.
Most people understand what it feels like to be over-extended. Influential leaders ensure they are fully present in every interaction. Consider regular office hours at work to let team members and colleagues know they can “drop-in” for a quick check-in if needed. Host a group lunch to encourage connection in your personal life.
Growing relationships in a sustainable, healthy way requires prioritizing engagement and presence.
3. LISTEN
Listening is critical in yoga since the instructor isn’t always visible. This experience quickly teaches us to listen for understanding. To visualize the instructor’s words and let our body respond in action. In yoga, listening is an intentional activity—one without a plan, opinion, or anticipation of how to respond.
Yoga challenges us to listen to ourselves: our bodies, breath, feelings, and thoughts. It’s the process of showing up for ourselves in a more curious, kind, and compassionate way to build self-awareness.
Once we master this, we can listen with the same compassion, patience, and intent for others. Deep listening cultivates the conscious relaxation that keeps us open, present, and engaged.
As a leader, listening to learn builds curiosity and engagement with others. Workplace cultures evolve when people feel heard, appreciated, respected, and valued. Lead by example in these ways inspires people in their own leadership styles.
PRACTICE IT
How would your next one-on-one meeting be if you listened with more intention?
Turn off distractions. Give your pure, full-body attention in meetings. Avoid anticipating how you'll respond. Instead, focus on what is said. Allow people the space to form and speak complete thoughts by centering their experience in meetings, not your own.
Be transparent. Let people know that you are deepening your practice of engaged listening. Allow them on the journey with you, and it will change your relationships.
4. BALANCE:
Flexibility promotes balance. In yoga, increasing strength and flexibility are two common physical growth areas. Injury and overextension happen when we increase passive flexibility without developing strength to control and balance it.
Having a balanced leadership style is equally as important. Knowing our strengths and weaknesses allows us to be resilient in stressful situations.
Flexibility transforms the mind as well as the body. The best leaders practice rigid flexibility. This ensures balance and agility in their approach and better outcomes for their teams.
Strong leadership requires a strong point-of-view, vision, and discipline to stay the course. If strength and discipline are unbalanced and inflexible to ever-changing landscapes, adaptability suffers.
PRACTICE IT:
Ask for feedback. Pay attention to how people engage with your leadership style. Where are you making an impact? What resonates and inspires people? Understand that each person and situation deserves a unique approach. Work with and observe mentors to learn more about their leadership styles in various scenarios.
5. SAVASANA:
Savasana, a resting pose, is one of the most challenging and rewarding poses in yoga. Lying on the back, relaxed with arms and legs extended, palms facing up at the sides, and eyes closed, you rest.
It’s also known as the dead body pose. Metaphorically, we die in Savasana and are reborn. We re-enter the world by shedding the old and making room for the new. This pose is equally as important and complicated as mastering a headstand. Savasana teaches us the unity of how relaxation and tension work together.
Nothing is ever in a permanent state of activity.
Periods of activity and rest, output and input, creativity, and absorption are constant. Normalize recognizing the cyclical nature of life helps us honor the cycles we naturally move through.
PRACTICE IT
Build a routine that prioritizes eating, resting, deep breathing. Check-in with yourself often to avoid burnout. Be sure to find time daily to practice this routine.
Society pressures us to produce, strive and do more. But we must make time to rest, recover and honor the pause.
Make time to re-energize hourly, even if only for a few minutes. Slow down and focus on what's most important. Listen to what your body is telling you. Bring awareness to your feelings and needs at the moment. Understand how you process and take moments of rest to go deeper.
IN CONCLUSION
Not only did yoga stretch my leadership, but it also deepened the level of intentionality in all that I do. Yoga rooted my leadership style in mindfulness, now a bedrock of my coaching philosophy.
Establishing a yoga practice is unique to the individual—progress at a pace that suits you. Focus on moves that stretch you, and soon, you’ll notice the impacts throughout all areas of life.