Off the Mat…Into the Office

MOYO hosts a yoga class that is based on facing fear. In this class we hold long poses well beyond the point of comfort. The objective is to override the desire to run away from the pose and instead sink deeper in it. When I teach this class, I focus on 3 themes.

1. Engage Your Will – Make the decision to tell yourself, “I Can” when saying, “I Can’t” and dropping out of the pose would be so much easier.
2. Be Here Now – We resist being in the moment. We so often prefer to drift off in our minds to the past or the future. As a result, we miss the experience of now.
3. Face Discomfort & Fear – Invariably, when we decide to stay in this moment – some things will be unpleasant. Most typically we avoid unpleasantness like the plague. We flee (mentally or physically) when we experience unpleasantness. If we stay long enough in the moment we will eventually feel panic and fear. Breathing thru that fear, staying with that feeling allows us to pass through it to the other side. When we retreat, we never pass through and must instead avoid again and again.

These themes of the yoga class I teach can also be applied to my professional life.

1. Engage My Will – What is that critical problem that impacts the mission/strategy on regular basis? What are those problems that I know need resolving, but I find excuses not to tackle? Maybe it is a particular employee or a system breakdown. It could be a communication difficulty or a clarity issue. Most likely I don’t really know what “It” is because I keep avoiding when what I need to do is engage my will and face it head on.
2. Be Here Now – Once I have my Will engaged and I’m ready to face the issue head on, I need to clear my mind and focus. The goal is to peel back and examine the layers. I can’t be distracted by other things because this issue has been impacting me, stealing my confidence, my energy and nagging at me long enough that now is the time to deal with it. I need to stay with it until I figure it out.
3. Face Discomfort & Fear – When I stay with something I would rather avoid, I can tolerate it for a while. Eventually I get deep enough in wherever it is that I feel tremendously uncomfortable. This feeling is so difficult that I want to bail or give in to distraction. This is exactly the moment that I need to dig in, to face the desire to flee and stay. Inevitably when I do this, it is not as bad as I think. The avoiding was much more draining than the staying and dealing with the issue at hand. Frequently, I may need others to help guide me through, but ironically fearing the fear is worse than facing the fear.

In my yoga class I frequently state that our yoga practice does not stop when we roll up our mat. In some ways, that’s where the real practice begins. Of course, you don’t have to practice yoga (although I’d like you to) … but I do think we need a philosophy tied to a regular practice that guides us. Something to keeps us on track when it would be so easy to get lost. For me, it is yoga. Trust me, I don’t ever land a perfect pose in yoga class and I certainly don’t land perfection in my life. What I find is that it makes a difference when I Engage My Will, have the strength to “Be Here Now” and the courage to Face Discomfort and Fear. On the mat and also off the mat – where the real practice begins!

Christy Holland