And how I applied them to PR
Truth is, I didn’t understand it – yoga. What was sitting in a hundred-degree room for 90 minutes going to do for my personal development, especially after a long day at work? It was January 2014. I teased my yogi best friend the entire way to a local yoga studio, making light of the yoga world in which we found ourselves. I had agreed to take part in a 90-minute Vinyasa session, which I thought to be a mainstream way of detoxing the mind, body and soul. Little did I know, yoga would change my life indefinitely.
The beginnings of yoga originated in North India about 5,000 years ago. The practice itself was designed to still the mind from any and all thoughts that it spawned throughout the day. Over the centuries, yoga morphed into a physical activity, as well. The idea is that, as we move through all of the weird yoga poses, we integrate and balance the layers of our life into our practice so that our body, intellect, heart, ego and spirit flows in harmony with our thoughts. From day one, I was taught that our thoughts create our reality.
Over time, yoga became something that I lived, not just something that I practiced. It influenced my perspective on the type of person I wanted to be and the way I wanted to live my life. I fell in love with the idea that we could take the principles we learned in class off our mats and apply them to all aspects of life, including our careers. As a PR professional, yoga has taught me the pressures that come with our jobs could have less of an impact on us if we responded in a more conscious manner. Although seemingly unrelated, there are many lessons that PR pros like us can take away from yoga.
I recently decided to work toward my yoga certification, not only to be able to share my love of yoga with friends, but to hopefully inspire others to cultivate mindful, yogic awareness in everyday life. With that being said, here are three lessons that yoga has taught me, thus far, and how I’ve learned to apply them to PR:
Breathe through the challenges –
In yoga, we are constantly challenged with difficult postures, many of which might cause us discomfort or bring about negative thoughts. When the mind is introduced to foreign stimuli, it is natural for the brain to say I don’t want to do this, so that we are not faced with an uncomfortable scenario anymore. In yoga, we work through training our minds and our bodies with our breath. We are told to commit to the poses we choose for ourselves and work through the discomfort by breathing into the postures head on.
Although PR can be a lot of fun, there are going to be challenges, like starting on a new account. Starting from scratch, learning a new business or even pitching something that you’re unfamiliar with can sometimes be overwhelming. In order to achieve the goals that we set for ourselves, we must remember to breathe. Focusing our attention back to the breath keeps the mind aware and concentrated. Breathing releases the tension that is sometimes associated with a hectic schedule, a difficult situation or a full plate of work. It teaches us to have patience, stay on course and face our challenges head on in a calm state of mind.
Respond, don’t react –
The brain produces about 70,000 thoughts per day. Can you imagine if we reacted to all of them? In yoga, we are taught to become a witness to the play of the mind; to observe our thoughts versus act on them. We are taught not to judge them; to just simply observe them. Doing this has helped me in many ways during my practice. Many times, I’ve been tempted to walk out of the room (especially in hot yoga), come out of a pose or even give up in the middle of a class. Yoga has helped me understand that I am not the thoughts that provoke me.
Similarly, we are pulled in 100 directions throughout the day. Becoming a neutral observer of the mind allows thoughts, tasks and to-dos to pass gently. Once we become more watchful of our thoughts, responding to them in calm, relaxed and conscious state of mind becomes easier. In PR, it is important to be able to respond quickly and efficiently; reacting will get us nowhere. We are always switching gears, handling multiple projects and adding things on our to-do lists. Taking a step back to analyze our tasks at hand and the thoughts associated with them will help us to respond to and approach each project with a clean slate.
Let go of anything that does not serve you –
This is my favorite teaching and what I believe to be the most rewarding lesson in yoga. That typo you made, that thing you said, that media hit you didn’t secure – let all of those things go and focus on what is to come. This concept helps us bring harmony to every encounter, whether it’s a call with a client, a talk with a reporter or an internal with your team. Let go of what has passed and what hasn’t happened yet. Focus on the present, like what’s on your to-do list today. It will help us to focus our energies on the current tasks at hand and make us the best PR pros we can be.
Namaste.
