Team Building with Virtual Yoga
In today’s remote work lifestyle, workplace stress comes along as a package deal. Sure, it has opened up excellent opportunities for people, and most of us enjoy our jobs a lot more. However, the health issues associated with sitting long hours at a desk leaning on our laptop are quite severe.
It’s not uncommon for remote employees to live a sedentary lifestyle with little to no physical activity.
If you’re managing a remote team, it’s your responsibility to take steps to neutralize these stressful aspects of work for your team members.
The best way to do this is by organizing virtual health and well-being experiences like yoga.
What is an online yoga session?
Sharing the same mental space and energy together is a magical experience. Virtual yoga sessions are the best way for remote teams to experience this sense of unity during the pandemic.
By definition, an online yoga session allows coworkers to come together on a virtual platform and perform yoga under the guidance of experienced yoga instructors.
How effectively can we do online yoga sessions at home?
Attending a yoga session at home isn’t a whole lot different than attending a yoga session in the studio (except it may come with a whole lot of additional perks, which we’ll talk about later).
Who can attend online yoga sessions?
Yoga is an ancient wellness practice that can be traced to 5,000 years in the past. It’s a form of exercise that involves full-body stretching and breathing exercises. But is it for everyone?
Absolutely, yes!
It’s a gentle form of exercise that can be adapted for anyone and everyone irrespective of their fitness level, experience, strength, or age. It focuses more on mental strength than physical flexibility.
Benefits of attending online yoga sessions
1. Flexibility
If you have a distributed workforce, it’s nearly impossible to get people together physically for a team-building session. By organizing a virtual yoga session, you can work around your team’s busy schedule and different time zones and find a time that fits everyone.
Even better, organize the yoga session during their work hours, so they don’t feel resentful about having to take time out of their personal life to attend a virtual experience that’s supposed to be fun.
2. More choices
Unlike finding a yoga instructor within a 10-mile radius of your office, you have a plethora of choices available to you when you choose virtual yoga.
From choosing instructors who you may have otherwise never gotten the chance to collaborate with in “real life” to different yoga styles, you’re spoiled for choices.
3. Absolute Comfort
Half the battle with trying something new or challenging is our ego. We’re often scared about embarrassing ourselves, especially in front of our coworkers.
Or maybe some of your team members find it challenging to focus in a room full of people.
Online yoga sessions offer a sense of familiarity and comfort because you can do them from your own house while having the support of an experienced yoga instructor to guide you every step of the way.
Avoiding the pitfalls of online yoga sessions
1. Bad Wifi
Having a bad network connection can break the flow of the online yoga session. Or you could face other technical issues that can thwart your good intentions.
The best solution for ensuring even members with an unreliable internet connection can follow the online yoga session without frustrating breaks is to use Zoom. Zoom allows members to reduce the quality of the video while experiencing a lousy network so that they don’t experience a break during a call.
As for other technical issues, you can either have a dedicated tech expert to handle such matters during the session or hire an agency like Avva, who can take care of all the technical aspects of your virtual experience so that all you need to do is enjoy.
2. Surrounding distractions
It’s easy to get distracted while attending a yoga session at home because maybe your family wants to ask you something, or someone is at the door, or you get an urgent call, or maybe your pet or kids decide to join in!
Well, it does make things fun when your pet or kids decide to join in, so we’re not sure we’ll count that as a disadvantage.
Yoga myths
1. Yoga is only for flexible people
No, you don’t need to be flexible to get started with Yoga. In fact, yoga can help you become flexible.
Sure, it might be a little difficult to bend your torso or touch your toes in the beginning, but this is precisely what yoga helps you achieve.
2. You need to be young
Yoga is for everyone, irrespective of their gender and age. You can start practicing yoga at any age, given you have an experienced instructor to guide you through it.
In fact, there are people over the age of 60 who can perform complex yoga asanas with ease. While it does take time and effort to get to that level, it proves that yoga is not just for young people.
3. Meditation is difficult
This myth is deeply rooted in this image people have in their minds about meditation being reserved only for saints and spiritual adepts.
In reality, meditation can be super fun and easy to learn, especially when you receive guidance from an experienced and knowledgeable instructor.
Meditation can be as simple as focusing on your breathing and repeating a mantra over and over again.
People find meditation difficult because they try very hard to clear their thoughts and concentrate, and when they can’t see the results they were promised, they quit.
Learning meditation from an experienced teacher will help you understand whether or not you’re doing things right and ensure you actually enjoy the process.
Why virtual yoga sessions are great for team building
1. Reduction in stress
There’s good stress, and there’s bad stress. A fair amount of stress can help employees perform better; however, too much stress can cause them to lose their capacity to be creative and make intelligent decisions.
The COVID19 pandemic has increased this stress and anxiety level among employees. With a majority of people working from home, back and neck aches have become extremely common because their home workspace setup isn’t as ergonomic as their office.
Furthermore, Zoom fatigue is a real thing.
These environmental stressors can have a massive impact on your remote employees’ productivity, performance, and focus.
With online yoga sessions, you can give your team a mental break. It’s an excellent opportunity for them to unplug and clear their minds through a relaxing wellness program from the comfort of their home.
It gives them the chance to recharge, feel more refreshed and return to work with a peaceful and confident mindset.
These quick virtual yoga sessions can have a considerable impact on your team’s physical and mental well-being, and they’re not very difficult to organize!
2. Boost in confidence
Attending an online yoga session in a comfortable and non-threatening situation helps boost self-confidence and the confidence they have in their coworkers.
It’s easy to build a bond when team members constantly motivate each other as they try out different poses and celebrate their achievements together at the end of the session.
3. Increase in trust
Virtual experiences like virtual yoga sessions can play a massive role in helping remote team members get to know each other outside the work environment.
This increase in trust will encourage them to be more open about learning from one another and strive to achieve goals faster. They will no longer hesitate to reach out to their coworkers for their help and expertise.
When your team members can trust and count on one another, they gain an increased sense of freedom which will help them achieve better results.
4. Sense of unity
The sense of unity your members feel after an online yoga session will make them more invested in each other and reflect positively on how they function together as a team.
Virtual experiences like these help remote employees build a deeper and stronger connection with each other as real people with real lives, instead of just voices behind a computer screen.
It brings them closer as a team and makes them more comfortable collaborating with each other.
5. Shared virtual experience
Whether physical or virtual, shared experiences create long-lasting memories that people will reminisce about forever. Organizing a fun yoga session will give remote employees a chance to connect personally with each other; this will ensure that they remember the session for years to come!
While materialistic gifts can give employees a momentary spike in dopamine, shared virtual experiences will have them smiling in nostalgia every time they remember it.
Not only will it increase the joy they feel in each other’s company, but it will also increase the loyalty they feel towards the organization, which will ensure they stick with your company for a long time.
6. Health awareness
It’s no doubt that the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have created havoc with people’s health.
Organizing a virtual yoga session will not only help remote employees obtain a mental break but will also help them realize the state of their physical health.
One yoga session you organize for fun can make them more conscious about their physical well-being and maybe even push them into adopting virtual yoga as a part of their daily routine.
Best types of yoga sessions for remote teams
1. Bliss Yoga
Bliss Yoga is a technique that combines yoga with blissful beats and rhythm. Before you know it, you’ll be swaying to the music and effortlessly let go of all your work-life stress and emotional blockages.
The practice of Bliss Yoga is an excellent way to let go of your inhibitions and reach a greater sense of connection with your inner self. You’ll feel your body, breathing, heartbeat, feelings, and emotions flow together in wonderful harmony, allowing yourself a small break from the complications of life.
Whether you’re a beginner who has never tried yoga in your life or a pro who can work with complex asanas with ease and perfection, Bliss Yoga is for all skill levels.
After attending a Bliss Yoga session, you’re guaranteed to leave with a more positive and relaxed mind.
2. Meditative Yoga
Meditative Yoga is a type of yoga that deals with mental relaxation, concentration, and balance. When you’re practicing meditative yoga, the entire focus of your being is concentrated solely on your breath and thoughts.
When you become more aware of your breathing, it will directly impact your thought process and help you relax your mind completely.
Meditative Yoga is an excellent way to relax and rejuvenate.
However, achieving this level of mental peace can be difficult for people who haven’t tried it before.
By organizing a guided meditative yoga session, you can give your remote employees the help they need to overcome this challenge.
Experienced meditative yoga instructors know precisely how to help beginners focus on their breath and use their breath as a tool to get their mind and body in harmony.
These teachers will guide them through the entire process step-by-step and teach you new techniques that you can follow even after you’re done with the session.
It’s a powerful way for remote team members to relieve their stress, clear their thoughts, and cultivate peace of mind to deal with the challenges of life.
3. Desk Mobility Yoga
It’s no secret that working on your laptop the entire day (and poor posture) can be extremely damaging to your health.
As a desk jockey who spends the entire day working over a laptop from different spaces like the kitchen table or the bed, you can feel how badly it’s affecting your body, both internally and externally. From tightness in the legs and hips to the neck, shoulder, and back pain, the list seems endless.
Organizing a Desk Mobility Yoga session that will teach your remote team yoga postures that target these areas of tension can undo a lot of damage caused by sitting at the desk all day, every day.
Practicing yoga also has the added benefit of periodically relieving work-related stress and helping them maintain a peaceful mind.
If you’re unsure about organizing a successful online yoga session by yourself, AVVA can help!
We offer all three of these yoga types; depending on your remote team’s needs and goals, we can help you organize a Fun and Accessible Online Yoga Session! (UK or US)
