As creatives, we take risks every day. How yoga can help us have better ideas and sell them better.
he yoga mat offers a safe space to challenge yourself again and again. A double floor to dare to try something new. You fall softly and can get up without injury - until you master a seemingly unattainable challenge. Focusing on the here and now creates space in the mind, not to say the necessary emptiness, in which creativity can unfold. Without the ballast of everyday life, thoughts are suddenly free. And come up with solutions that we couldn't even see before. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why one in three yogis works in a creative profession.
My yoga is not your yoga
The difference between the 130 protected yoga variations is about the same as the difference between chess and snowboarding. The global yoga market has an annual turnover of 130 billion dollars and is constantly producing new versions of the ancient teachings: from Wim Hof's Breathwork and Bryan Kest's Power Yoga to abstruse styles such as goat or beer yoga. There is guaranteed to be something for everyone.
Seven tips for stretching the mind
Tabula rasa
The yoga mat is your blank sheet of paper, blank and ready for whatever you feel like doing. And don't worry about failing. You fall softly - without being judged.
Flow
Things that normally take you five hours can be done in five minutes - and you don't even know what hit you. With yoga, this state is practiced by concentrating on the here and now and letting each sequence of movements run by itself.
Curiosity
What could be better than pushing yourself beyond your limits? By confronting the unknown, unexpected solutions emerge. Standing on your head opens up new perspectives.
Letting go
Yoga helps you to let go physically, emotionally and mentally. As a result, your practice creates space for dozens, if not hundreds, of ideas.
Focus
Creativity is based on concentration - on the essentials and on your strengths. In yoga, you can practise this by focusing on your breath. This also breathes new life into your originality.
Bewegung
If you stand still, you won't get anywhere. Close your laptop and get moving. This gets your creative energy flowing and relaxes your mind at the same time. And you know what they say about the mind in a healthy body.
Slowing down
Appointments, deadlines, chats and countless colleagues who all want something from you: By promoting mindfulness, yoga can help prevent you from becoming dizzy with stress or even being thrown to the ground in the form of a burnout.
Steve Jobs' farewell gift was inscribed with the words “Actualize yourself”. Inside was a copy of the only book that the Apple founder read every year: “Autobiography of a Yogi”
Andy Lusti is Creative Director and co-founder of Yogagold. He gives no guarantee that yoga will help you win an advertising award next year. But he invites you to create space for creativity in order to master everyday life more ingeniously: At “Creative Yoga” in the ADC Gallery at Zentralstrasse 18, 8003 Zurich. The yoga classes are taught alternately by him or his creative partner Susen Gehle. You can register for the creative yoga class here.
This article first appeared in the Handelszeitung.
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