Yoga offers a variety of benefits and continues to grow in popularity, as more people discover the many benefits. Previously practiced in studios and gyms, yoga is now found in many places, including schools, university campuses and even in the work place.
Yoga has been practiced at work for centuries in India and countries in the East, such as Tibet and China with success. A growing number of US companies are embracing yoga and incorporating it into their company wellness programs. There are good reasons for this trend. Yoga offers unique benefits in work environments, which are often rife with stress.
In addition to reducing stress and the aches and pains of sitting behind a desk, hunched over a keyboard all day, yoga can actually help to increase productivity in the work place. yoga has long been known to improve focus and concentration, which are beneficial in all areas of life, including work.
Classes can be found in large offices with a gym or in a conference room or empty office. Some that are doing this are HBO, MTV, Google, IBM, AT&T and Apple, just to name a few. Initially, larger companies were adding yoga, but now the trend has started to be found in smaller offices as well.
The idea of including wellness at work isn’t new. Companies have had gyms in the building for years, as well as smoking cessation programs and stress reduction workshops intended to help the physical and emotional wellness of their employees. This can translate into reduced health care costs and less time missed from work.
Yoga classes can be easily incorporated into the work day. A small company may have one session before lunch, while a larger company may schedule sessions at various times of the day to meet the needs of a larger group of employees. The flexibility of yoga makes it fairly easy to initiate.
A lot of time is not needed for employees to reap the rewards and setting aside 20-30 minutes brings big benefits to the company in terms of increased productivity and reduced stress.