Three Things I Learned at a Wellness Event for Entrepreneurs (That non-entrepreneurs should learn too)

by Rica Encarnacion

At yoga+, students are often encouraged to apply what they discover and learn from yoga off the mat. This makes sense as the time we spend in the four peaceful corners of our yoga mats is just a small percentage of the 24 hours we have in a day. Last month, the studio held a free Wellness Event for Entreprenuers that included a lecture by Dona Esteban and a yin yoga class by Ria Tirazona.

One truth that lingered with me long after the event ended is that business owners tend to take care of their business more than they take care of their own bodies and health. Another truth is that this applies not just to business owners. Whether you employ people or are one of the employed, it does happen that our work takes precedence over our health especially if we are passionate about what we do for a living. Sometimes, sadly, even if we are not.

So to take care of our health, we practice yoga and we eat nutritious food. But there's also more we can do for overall wellness especially if we want to thrive in our chosen career path. Let's start with these three:

1) Managing stress vs avoiding stress

Our instinct, as well as common advice we hear from others, tells us that it is best to avoid stressful situations as much as possible. Reality tells us otherwise: in our day to day activities before work, during work and after work, stressful situations happen, sometimes one after another. It then makes more sense that instead of avoiding or ignoring stress, what we should learn is to manage our response to stress.

In fact, as Dona has pointed out, peak performance at work can happen during stress. However, this does not mean seeking out stress is the answer as performing at our peak during stress can leave us drained in the end. Thus, we do what we can to lessen the amount of stress we encounter in work and in our lifestyles but at the same time, when a stressful situation does arise, we manage our response to it as it happens.

2) Energy management vs time management

Another concept that has been deemed as an essential skill that every career person should have is time management. For bettter performance at work without compromising our overall wellness, Dona advises that we should go beyond time management and learn the skill of energy management. Just as businesses have a business recovery plan, we must have a personal recovery plan wherein energy usage and energy recovery is taken into consideration when planning what activities to do and at what time during the day. Thus, having enough sleep at night is essential. Doing relaxing activities such as taking a walk to clear the mind or having a power nap in the middle of the day are also examples of how we can practice energy management.


3) Work-life balance vs work-life integration

Lastly, I learned that the concept of Work-life balance is a myth and that one must strive for work-life integration. This means that instead of aiming to spend an equal amount of time in our work and in our personal life, why not try to find meaning in our work and make it an expression of our life? When what we do for a living is in line with our personal values, we find meaning in it, there is no disconnect between our personal and professional selves, and that when we do something for work it would not feel like it is stealing time from our personal life.

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Rica is the in-house writer and social media consultant of yoga+. She aims to bring yoga to EveryBody one status update and blog post at a time.