Day 8: Yoga Break

My work place has been trying to incorporate challenges and motivators throughout the last month in order to promote healthy living habits. One of the practices that has been used once a week is a 15 minute yoga break at noon. 

When the first email was sent out about the initial yoga break, I mentioned to a coworker about how I like yoga and wished I did it more often. So he encouraged me to join our coworkers. I said no for some reason I cannot recall.

Every day since then when there has been an announcement for the next yoga break, I would have yet another excuse: I was wearing the wrong clothes, I had to go on my lunch break, I had too much to do, I had a client....etc.

When I got the email this morning about the yoga break at noon, I debated whether or not to go. The more I thought about it, the more likely it was that I had no good excuse not to go.

Like my coworker often does, he will knock on my door, pop his head in, and tell me whatever is on his mind: his latest job lead, an idea for our Job Club class, an after thought from a conversation we had. Today when he stopped by my office, he quickly mentioned the email about yoga break. I nodded toward my computer and said I saw the email and was thinking about going. He left it there and continued with the additional news he had to share.

11am rolled around, and I decided to accept the invitation for yoga break. 

I was the first out of four to arrive. There was soft music playing in the background. The instructor for the day--the grant writer at Lifetrack--introduced herself since I hadn't spoken with her since my first day in January and then asked me to remind her of which department I worked in. She motioned that I should take my shoes off and find a place in the room. 

The yoga break was quick and easy, and I admit that my mind kept racing thinking about so many senseless things. But I believe these 15 minutes helped me through the remainder of my work day. I focused more, I had no need for an extra cup of coffee, and I felt energized when I left the office.

So here's to more (and hopefully focused) yoga breaks in the future.