TLDR: boost morale and profit with corporate yoga while countering the negative effects of stress, leaving employees happier & healthier.
Top 4 benefits of corporate yoga
How it works
3 exercises to get started right now
Why Yin with Mir
The bottom line
I used to work as an urban planner in Toronto where I sat at my desk all day, briefly interrupted by the occasional stroll to a boardroom, a lunchroom, or other union station (ha). By the time I got home, had dinner and tidied up, I often felt like the day was already done. And then it was.
Fast forward quitting my job in 2021, solo traveling for 4 months and launching my yoga business in 2022, today I am excited to be sharing my passion for yoga in studios, with private clients and in professional corporate environments. With my corporate background, I understand the toll that a 9 to 5 can have on a person's body, mind and spirit. As rewarding as the work may be, many of us have little time and energy at the end of a day left for other important areas of our lives: relationships, hobbies, fitness, self-care. While we can't add more time to our days, we can make better use of the time we have. By adopting healthier stress-related coping strategies, we can:
improve the quality of your work by increasing concentration, productivity, interpersonal skills and thoughtful decision-making.
have more meaningful relationships at work and in your personal life thanks to effective communication and mindfulness tools that help to remember what's important.
better navigate challenging times by developing the body-based toolkit from which you can turn to when you need to feel more calm and self-soothe (e.g. breathing, stretches, quick and accessible meditation activities).
We all know the feeling of being overwhelmed at work (making careless mistakes, saying things you regret, having a down mood). From my experience, employees have expressed so much gratitude when their company's offer corporate yoga classes because it creates a healthier workplace culture which in turn has long-lasting benefits for the people and company.
In all of my corporate yoga classes - which I offer virtually or in-person in the Greater Toronto Area - I combine guided meditations, breathing exercises, and all-levels accessible stretches (gentle, mindful & mostly seated). In as little as 15-minutes, employees are invited to experience a moment of relief from the stresses of daily life. Through my unique and tailored approach, participants can expect to receive the benefits of yoga (improved mental health, physical health, emotional well-being and interpersonal skills, the list goes on...) and leave each session feeling lighter, more focused and energized than they did when they arrived.
All while having their employer to thank.
If you think corporate yoga is something your company would like to explore, contact me here for a free consultation to learn more. I'd be happy to create a customized yoga program that meets your unique corporate needs. Continue reading to learn more about all the ways that corporate yoga can benefit your company, employees and teams; my approach; and 3 helpful stress-relieving exercises that you can practice right now.
Top 4 benefits of corporate yoga
Improve mental health. Corporate yoga sessions help restore a sense of work-life balance in just 15 minutes. Emotional and psychological well-being is the baseline for showing up to work as our best selves. When we experience stress, other problems tend to develop: feeling overwhelmed, worrying or ruminating to a degree that may lead to insomnia, procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities, turning to unhealthy coping strategies (eating too much or not enough, using alcohol or drugs to "unwind") and more. Corporate yoga not only offers mental health benefits in the moment, it also teaches participants about body-based coping strategies that they can come back to on their own time to mitigate or manage stress throughout daily life.
Improve physical health. When we experience stress, our muscles tense up like a reflex reaction. It is the body's way of protecting us but to excess stress can lead to injury and pain. Through gentle stretches and mindful breathing, yoga relieves stress-related pain in the head, neck, eye and back as well as work-related injuries caused by repetitive motions (e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome, high blood pressure and muscle strain). One of the most helpful aspects of yoga is that it changes how we connect with ourselves and our bodies. It is a practice of listening to what our bodies are communicating to us, welcoming this information with an open, non-judgmental mind, and letting go of ego, expectations and assumptions around what we think we know for certain. From this mindset we are better equipped to identify potential areas of need (e.g. discomfort, imbalance, lingering tension) before they develop into problems.
Show appreciation for staff on an ongoing basis. Whether you are showing your team thanks around the holidays or as an unexpected surprise throughout the year, there's no bad time to invest in their health and wellness. A corporate yoga class can also strengthen office culture and boost morale by bringing different teams and divisions together for non-work related activities. Recognizing your employees can boost customer loyalty, improve productivity in the workplace, and help your company retain its employees. According to Forbes, companies that consistently invest in their employees’ see an average of 8% more revenue generated per employee.
Improve performance and confidence. Yoga is unlike most exercise routines because it is an energy-giver that leaves participants feeling lighter than they did when they arrived. Additionally, meditation and mindfulness help to improve attention spans, ability to concentrate, communication skills and overall performance. All of which lead to higher collaboration, greater outputs, efficiency, productivity and in turn, increase confidence in self and teams.
BONUS: Yoga is suitable for everyone because of it is a low impact and versatile type of exercise that can be modified for individuals of all skill levels and degrees of flexibility, which makes it perfect for the workplace environment!
How it works
- Offered virtually or in-person within the Greater Toronto Area. - Each booking is 60-75 minutes long (typically consists of two shorter sessions, 15-30 minutes each, to maximize potential for staff attendance and time for Q&A). - Contact me to learn more about the ways that corporate yoga may be of interest to your company! - Want more information? I'd be happy to provide a brief demo for your social or wellness committee.
The yoga sessions have been a really good experience, I look forward to them each week. Mir's instructions are so effective, easy to grasp and remember, I think about some of her breathing and meditation prompts in between sessions. It's so helpful to take a 15 minute break to clear your mind and reset. I like how she mixes things up each week, I always walk away from the sessions feeling like I've learned something new. Thank you so much Mir and Piddi. - testimonial from an employee at Piddi Design
3 exercises that you can practice right now (& feel lighter in under 2 minutes!)
A dose of what you can expect in my corporate yoga sessions.
Breathing exercise to help manage stress levels. Talk about a breath of fresh air! Do me a favour and try at least this one! Exactly as you are, wherever you are. - Set a timer for 1 minute and 10 seconds. Try to remain still for the duration of this exercise. - Close your eyes if you feel safe and comfortable to do so, otherwise keep them open and focused on an uninteresting surface in your vicinity. - Begin to take deep belly breaths. Each inhale, fill your belly with even more air than the previous breath. Each exhale release the breath fully, slowly. - Take approximately 5 deep breaths. - Repeat as desired, I'd recommend for 3-5 minutes. - Afterwards, ask yourself: how do I feel? Am I more calm and focused than I was before? Imagine what several minutes of guided breathing in the middle of a workday could do for your productivity, creativity, stress levels and ability to communicate. Better yet, imagine what it could do for your colleagues, teams and office environment.
Meditation to feel more calm and present. Find a quiet, calm place for you to take a couple of minutes for yourself. Either at your desk, in your office or a boardroom or wellness room if you have one! - Enter into a comfortable seated position. - Close your eyes, welcome stillness in your body. - Set a timer for 3-5 minutes. - Begin to take a few deep breaths, and begin a Body Scan. - Starting at the top of your head scan down towards your toes noticing as many sensations as possible. The clothes on your skin, where you may carry tension, the temperature of the air, any accessories or furniture in the vicinity. This style of meditation can be practiced throughout the day as needed, no tools required.
Seated stretches that counter the effects of sitting at a desk all day. Consider the position of your body throughout the majority of your work day. Maybe it is reflected how you are seated now. Can you do the "opposite" position to help your body feel more balanced and restored? For example, if you tend to hunch over a workstation, try standing taller, practicing a gentle backbend or sidebends, or working with the full range of motion of the spine. Alternatively, if you tend to keep your neck stiff or stretched forward, relax your muscles and let your neck stretch slowly and gently in different directions.
Why Yin with Mir?
As a Yoga Alliance certified yoga and meditation teacher, my approach to corporate yoga is gentle, accessible and appropriate for all-levels of experience. My passion for yin yoga is complimentary to corporate environments as it is based on slowing down, calming the mind and restoring a sense of balance to live a lighter, more fulfilling life. To learn more about me, visit my About page.
What corporate yoga clients can expect:
All-levels and accessible seated stretches with gentle movement. No props required.
Guided breathing exercises for stress relief and meditations that align with the theme of the week/season/session.
A newsletter to distribute company-wide that informs employees of what to expect and also receive the benefits of the session, even if they cannot attend it due to schedule conflicts.
Exclusive access to my Sunday Evening Online Yoga Classes (that have become known for helping people fight the Sunday scaries).
Available in-person and virtually over Zoom. I have provided corporate yoga sessions across the Greater Toronto Area in a range of locations (see images below). In courtyards, warehouses, boardrooms, makeshift open spaces - the list goes on.
Visit this page to read testimonials from my clients.
The Bottom Line.
Corporate yoga offers employers and employees benefits related to mental health, physical health, productivity, morale, profit and more. With my experience in the corporate environment and passion for yoga I am so excited to share my uniquely tailored yoga and meditation practice with you. Contact me here for a free consultation and we can create a one-time or recurring customized yoga program for your office. I look forward to working with you!
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Yin with Mir is a Toronto-based corporate yoga and meditation teacher. She focuses on improving mindfulness and mental health in corporate environments by bringing wellness into the workplace (e.g. seated stretches, guided meditations, breathing exercises and other calming body-based techniques). Her work compliments what many organizations are aiming to offer their employees: stress relief, emotional supports and a greater sense of work-life balance. She loves to work with social or wellness committees to plan accessible, thoughtful and restorative yoga sessions for workplaces in Toronto or online.
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