Office yoga - Balance for the mind and body

Hi everyone, Louise here!  As summer turns ever so quickly to autumn all of us at Fingerpost are looking forward to getting back into our weekly yoga practice as Susie our amazing teacher returns from her summer break.  We have been having Yoga classes with Susie since January this year after Helen in our team mused during the Fingerpost Christmas lunch how nice it would be to use our large meeting room for some weekly group exercise.  Little did we know how much that suggestion would impact on all of our lives. 

Rewind back to our first class, we all sat on squishy mats bare foot and in our best gym leggings waiting to see what we had let ourselves in for.  Some of us had done some yoga before and others non, but Susie came in and made us all feel instantly at ease and not self-conscious at all.  The first class was a mixture of stretching poses and strength building followed by a lovely 10 min Savasana (lying down with a warm blanket listening to a guided meditation or simply a relaxing snooze).  At the end of the class we all came away feeling energised as well as calm, looking forward to next week’s session. 

As the weeks progressed we all started to see improvements in our flexibility and balance and we made sure we made time for it in our increasingly busy days.  We learnt that by giving ourselves that hour, we were actually more productive and personally it made me feel more able to manage the day to day stresses of life, kids and work.   

My light bulb moment that made me realise I really needed to practice yoga regularly was at the end of a particularly challenging class (Susie pushes us without us even knowing it – clever lady).  Susie asked us to think of one thing we were going to do this week for ourselves, reminding us all how important it is to be kind to yourself.  In my head I thought, “wow; be kind to myself, it’s a while since I have actively done that”! Being reminded that if we are kind to ourselves we will also be kinder to those around us really resonated with me trying to balance my busy life. 

Don’t get me wrong, yoga hasn’t taken over my life, but I try my hardest to practice when I can, knowing just 20mins will make me a calmer nicer mum, wife, friend and colleague.  As well as helping me with the aches and pains of my other sporting activities (I love to lift weights too). 

Aware of the impact it had on me, I thought I’d ask the rest of the team what they thought. The feedback made me realise how it’s helped us all in different ways! The perspectives included: 

• Cath – is off to her first yoga retreat in September after finding it really helps to manage the stress of running a growing business and living through a house renovation. 
• Helen – Due to surgery on a benign brain tumour, Helen often struggles with balance.  Downward dog was not possible in January, but now she is putting us all to shame with her headstands! 
• Steph – Steph had never done yoga before and didn’t realise how challenging it can be! 
• Larkin and Kipling – like to cause havoc by licking our faces while we are doing inversions, but we have found lavender oil in the incense burner calms them right down. 

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 ​I guess what I am trying to get across is sometimes taking yourself out of your comfort zone, trying something new and being kind to yourself can have a bigger impact than you thought possible!  Oh and yeah I recommend you try yoga, you might just love it! 

Namaste! 

www.fingerpostconsulting.com
www.beyogabysusie.com/
​View Susie's youtube channel here.