How Office Yoga Can Improve Well Being

The workplace can be a very demanding and stressful environment at times. As employees workloads increase, so do their stress levels. Work related stress can lead to a drop in work performance, anxiety, and depression within employees. In 2016, the total number of work related stress cases leading to anxiety and depression in the UK was a massive 488,000, that’s almost half a million people!

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However, there is a way to combat the stressful work environment, that will relieve mind and body tension as well as boost the mood of the entire office. Yoga has been proven to relieve stress and relax the mind and body, which will in turn will improve productivity and employee morale, whilst also decreasing accidents and employee absence.

Physical Benefits

So, what are the physical benefits of practicing yoga in the workplace? Millions of people in the UK workforce spend the majority of their days sat down, whether they are at work or at home. So adding a small amount of exercise into your day can really improve your physical health. Not only will attending a yoga session give you a healthy break from work, but will also improve your flexibility and posture. A better posture will encourage you to sit straighter when working, therefore you are less likely to be affected by back or neck pain. Yoga also helps improve your respiratory system, energy and athletic performance; you don’t even need to leave the office to practice yoga. there are many exercises that you can do while sitting, as Furniture at work™ have demonstrated in this useful guide.

Mental Benefits

Taking a moment out of your busy work day to just breathe is really important. It will also help improve productivity and energy if you take a break to practice yoga whilst working. Due to the fact that most types of yoga focus heavily on breathing exercises, it helps soothe the mind and can relieve the worries of the current workload. It also can boost memory and improve concentration which can only be a good thing, as you will be less likely to forget to complete tasks at work, which also will help relax your mind about the workload.

How to Implement Yoga into Everyday Work Life?

Schedule yoga into your work day. You can take fifteen minutes out of your lunch break, or even ask your employer if they will organise a class for you and your colleagues, so you can take a break from work together. Providing a yoga class to employees will allow staff to meet and bond with people that they may not talk to on a day to day basis, making the work environment a friendlier place to be. You also do not need to have any specialist equipment to practice yoga, or even need to leave your work station. Yoga can be practiced anywhere and the furniture that your work provides can aid you in your exercise.

Unsure Where to Start?

If there is no yoga class provided within the workplace and you are unsure where to start, there are hundreds of YouTube videos that guide you through simple yoga exercises. You don’t have to do this alone either, gather a group of colleagues and try to follow these videos’ together. Once you have a good experience of yoga you can start chopping and changing the exercises and even planning your own sessions.

Yoga will improve employee well being within the workplace by improving both physical and mental health. However, it will not only benefit employees, but the entire company as happier employees want to work harder!

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