A Bit of Business Yoga

Making peace with where you are now, rolling with the changes, the beauty (and predictability) of incremental progress, and doing it your way – these are my favorite business yoga lessons. What’s yours?

Welcome to Bliss for Business! If you’re an entrepreneur, small business owner, or career-driven individual, tune in on Wednesdays to join Dani on an adventure to learn how to bring your work life in harmony with the thirteen Bliss Habits.

I might not practice it as often as I’d like to, but yoga is one of the great loves of my life. Not for the stretch-and-flex, or the moments of peace, but for the things it teaches you, the gentle lessons it brings, day after day.

With one year coming to a close and another ready to burst onto the scene, I thought this might be a good time to indulge in a bit of business yoga – so dim the lights, take a deep breath, and let’s begin! (No yoga mats required, I promise.)

Lesson #1: You are where you are. It’s time to make peace with that.

In poses, in life, in terms of flexibility, and in business, where you are right now, what you can accomplish right now, is nothing more than that. It’s a fact, a taking-in of your current state of being; do your best to let go of judgement there. It doesn’t matter that someone else is doing it better or differently or not at all – those things won’t help you stretch farther, hit that next goal, bend deeper, or achieve. All that matters is you, and this moment. Breathe it in.

Lesson #2: Everything changes.

Just because you can do something today doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do it the same way tomorrow – whether due to injury, lesser (or greater) flexibility, or new technique, you may choose to do things differently. And that’s really, really, really okay. Remember – what you want, what you’re trying to achieve, will change. Your priorities will shift. What you want from your life, from your job, from yoga, from this week – it will change.

Lesson #3: Change and progress happen incrementally.

One can’t just jump into yoga and expect to be a god of flexibility by the end of the class. As you practice a skill, an instrument, a pose, you get better at it, bit by bit. Your reach lengthens, your pitches get better, your fingers hit the keys more accurately. There are fits and starts, there are mistakes and “argh!” moments, but over time, that practice adds up to something beautiful.

Lesson #4: Be safe, but do it your way.

When I started yoga years ago, I was fortunate enough to find an instructor who taught modified poses, who worked with her students individually to create safe alternatives where traditional actions might harm them or their injuries. (I tore muscles in my lower back as a teenager, and it continues to haunt me.) As a result of her patience and excellent instruction, I can attend pretty much any yoga class and not worry about injuring myself. It’s a bit “know the rules so you know how to break them” – you don’t want to harm your self, your family, your community, your business through your actions, but once you’re in that safe zone? Do the things that make you feel good and right and true, and do them all your way.

What are your favorite lessons from yoga? Share with us in the comments!

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Dani Nelson is a geek and a hippie with a passion for helping smart, creative entrepreneurs make their businesses better. Her secret ingredients? Strategy, tenacity, tasty beverages, and two unshakable beliefs: that you (yes, you) have awesome things to share with the world, and that marketing doesn’t have to be awful. Ready to start your 2013 off right? Grab a free 30-minute jam session!