Office Ninja – A Day In The Life: Work-Life Balance
On all fours, breathing deeply, Kim (our rad yoga teacher who specializes in corporate yoga) instructs us to:
- “Step the right foot outside your right hand.” Okay, simple enough.
- “Now, shift your butt back, twist right, slowly bend your back knee and grab your left foot with your right hand.” Hmm…feeling a bit of a stretch but not sure where she’s going with this?
- “Once you have your foot, squeeze it in toward your butt and slowly lunge forward by bending your front knee.” Cha-ching! Holy cow – I think this feels good? (side note: I refer to this as the money pose as it stretches the muscle above your knee enabling you to forget all your worries of the day).
- “Breathe 5-10 breaths and bring it back to downward dog.” I take the moment to breathe and feel my body in a balanced position. I’m not thinking of team building events or reimbursing employees via Expensify. My mind is clear and I’m ready to move on to the next pose before I “eat it” as Kim would say. (eat it = falling out of pose, face first). I compose my body, focus on my breath and bring it back to downward dog.
Every other Wednesday, we bring Kim into the office to practice an hour of yoga. Why do we do this you ask? It is just one of the many ways we promote a healthy work-life balance. We also do it to encourage employees to step back from the grind, relax and unwind their muscles, which is something some of us rarely do (eh hem). There’s a forever shift of employees that actually participate in the sessions but the result is always the same – “wow I really needed that” followed with a smile.
Say what?! A healthy work-life balance? I know, we’ve all been there – workin’ day and night and often times finding it hard to balance things out.
The prevailing wisdom is simple: If an employee spends too much time engrossed in work, and too little time relaxing, exercising, and socializing, he or she will become unhappy, less productive, and will ultimately burn out.
We’re all in this together. So, whether it’s yoga in the office, discounted gym memberships, wellness reimbursement programs, work from home days, or bring your dog(s) to the office days – it’s important to encourage your staff to take a break, be happy and have a healthy work-life balance.