Yoga in Corporate Life?

Ashish Pandey,

Faculty of Management,

IIT Bombay, Mumbai

ashish.pandey@iitb.ac.in

• Quickest Meditation

Introduction

• A word that describes me is…..

• Make a name plate for other NOT EACH OTHER

• Life is about experiencing self, experiencing relationship, Being in relationship

• Experience within defines my experience without

• Why so? Within and without are not as separate as we hold in mind

• Yoga is the process of harmonizing interiority and exteriority

Quick Relaxation Technique and Three Minutes Breathing Protocol

Meaning of Yoga

• Yoga is derived from Sanskrit root ‘yuj’ which means to unite, to bind together or to integrate. Epistemologically, Yoga means unification of self with larger cosmic system.

Definitions of Yoga

yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva dhananjaya siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva samatvam yoga ucyate.

(Bhagwad Gita, Verse 2.48)

Perform action, O Arjuna, being steadfast in Yoga, abandoning all attachments and being balanced in success and failure! Such evenness of mind is called Yoga.

https://www.inc.com/jim-schleckser/seven-secrets-of-successful-people-to-living-a-balanced-life.html http://productinnovationnow.com/tag/balance/

Patanjali defined yoga as Chitta Vritti Nirodha,

If you still the modifications and activity of the mind, you are in yoga.

How old is the Yoga Tradition?

Oldest Civilization

Yoga: The Essence of Art

Yoga Narasiṁha form at a temple in Vijayanagara, Hampi (13th and 17th centuries)

Temple Nataraj (Chola Era 10th-12th centuries) is where Sage Patanjali wrote Yoga Sutras.

Jambukeswaram temple (2nd century AD)

10th Century Tamil-Nadu Yogini

40 Types of Yoga

Contemporary Education and Paradigm• The divide between Spirituality and Science:

• Subscribing to mechanistic and reductionist approach has resulted in: Overlooking of some of the essential constituents, such as psyche and consciousness

• Emergence of duality such as: • subject and object,• fact and value, and • objective reality and subjective feelings

• Presents a fragmented or piecemeal approach

Yoga Psychology

‘Yoga is applied psychology’.

Sri Aurobindo

Yoga psychology helps to overcome the dualities such as the sacred and the secular,

spirituality and science, theory and practice, society and individual, reason and

experience

Yoga psychology focuses on the unity of spirit, mind and body through an ‘inner’

discipline to attain truth and the highest potential of human condition, and to do so

Yoga is described as a method to achieve liberation

Yoga is for Mind

According to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras asana and pranayama practices are supposed to make

our body flexible and purify the subtle energy channels of our body. This paves the way for

control of one’s mind, which consists of four aspects:

• Random mind,

• Intellect,

• Subconscious mind and

• Ego

Yoga works on all these four subtle aspects of our mind, and thereby makes one more self-aware, empathetic, motivated and self-regulated.

• Büssing, A., Michalsen, A., Khalsa, S. B. S., Telles, S., & Sherman, K. J. (2012). Effects of yoga on mental and physical health: a short summary of reviews. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012.

Patanjali: Deva of Perception and Cognition

Eight Limbs

• Yam (Satya, Ahimsa, Aparigrah, Asteya, Brahmcharya),

• Niyam (Shauch, Santosh, Tapa, Ishvar Pranidhan),

• Asanas (Physical postures and exercises )

• Pranayam (breath regulation)

• Pratyahar (sensory withdrawal minimizing sensory input)

• Dharana (concentration, effortful, focused attention),

• Dhyan (meditation, effortless, unbroken flow of attention), and

• Samadhi (self-transcendence and ecstasy )

Managing Self is Managing Mind

• For most people, the quality of life is even more important than longevity.

• The quality of one’s life depends upon the quality of one’s mind.

• Stress, overstimulation, excess expectations, and mental turmoil drain our

energy and our capacity to enjoy life.

• Mind-body and spiritual practices offer the sense of peace, joy, and

relatedness that sweeten our lives and the lives of those closest to us.

How Yoga Play a Role in Day to Day Life

Intent to have a child ritual, Garbhadhana

वविषषषरर्योनननिं कलल्परतष तविषषष्टा रूल्पष्टाणष वल्पनिंशतष । आ ससिञञ्चतष प्रजष्टाल्पनतरष्टार्धातष्टा गरर्भं दरष्टातष तते ॥१॥गरर्भं रतेहहि ससिननीविष्टासलि गरर्भं रतेहहि सिरसविनत । गरर्भं तते अशशविननौ दतेविष्टाविष्टा रततष्टानिं ल्पषषकरस्रजष्टा ॥२॥हहिरणररनी अरषनी रनिं ननरर्धानन्थततो अशशविनष्टा । तनिं तते गरर्भं हिविष्टारहिते दशरते रष्टाससि सिसतविते ॥३॥• May Vishnu construct the womb, may Twashtri fabricate the member, may Prajapati sprinkle the

seed, may Dhatri cherish thy embryo;• Sustain the embryo Sinivali, sustain the embryo Saraswati, may the divine Aswins, garlanded with

lotuses, sustain thy embryo;• We invoke thy embryo which the Aswins have churned with the golden pieces of Arani (firewood),

that thou mayest bring it forth in the tenth month.

Pumsavana Sanskar

Pumsavana (IAST: puṃsavana, Sanskrit: ल्पषनिंसिविन) is a composite word of Pums + savana. Pums mean "to grind, a man, a human being, a soul or spirit", while savana means "ceremony, rite, oblation, festival".

This sanskars is geared towards the intellectual and mental development of the baby in the womb.

Childbirth ceremony, Jatakarman

• The first significance of the hymns is medhajanana (Sanskrit: रतेरष्टाजनन), or to initiate the baby's mind and intellect in the womb of the world, after the baby's body formation has completed in the womb of the mother. The second part of the hymns wish the baby a long life.[55]

Upanayana sanskara ceremony

• Typically, this ritual was for 8 year olds in ancient India.

• Upanayana (IAST:Upanayana, Sanskrit: उल्पनरन) literally means "the act of leading to or near".

• The rite of passage symbolizes the leading or drawing towards the self of a child, in a school, by a teacher.

Samavartan

satyam vada . dharmam chara . svadhyayanma pramadah

Anyone who had complete this rite of passage was considered a Vidyasnataka

(literally, bathed in knowledge, or showered with learning),

The verses ask the graduate to take care of themselves and pursue Dharma, Artha and Kama to the best of their abilities.

• Never err from Truth,• Never err from Dharma,• Never neglect your well-being,• Never neglect your health,• Never neglect your prosperity,• Never neglect Svādhyāya (study of oneself) and Pravacana (exposition of Vedas).• — Taittirĩya Upanishad, I.11.1[103][104]

• Naathicharami

• “Dharmecha Arthecha Kamecha Naathicharami“

Some Initial Thoughts and Update

• AOM has regular Yoga sessions

• Eastern wisdom is the hope for the sustainable worlds

• Bhartiyas need more approval

Accepted in IIM B Management Review

What is desired in Corporate Life?

• Engagement• Health (Physical and Psychological)• Morality• Excellence/Good Career/………../…………

What is the Current Situation?

About Health

The millennials (18–33 years of age) • are more stressed than any other current living generation• least likely to give their healthcare an A grade

If unaddressed consistently, a high stress level may result in a chronic conditions like anxiety, insomnia, muscle pain, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system which may even lead to major illnesses such as heart disease, depression, and obesity.

About Morality

• The moral integrity of global business leaders has increasingly been a subject of concern since the turn of this century,

(specifically due to notable scandals at companies such as Enron, Arthur Andersen, Tyco, WorldCom, Hewlett-Packard, Parmalat, Societe Generale, Siemens, and Satyam.)

• Apart from such high-profile scams, cheating, deception, organizational misconduct, and unethical behavior are among the equally formidable pervasive challenges facing our current business culture (Gino, 2015).

About Joy

• More than 80% of the working professionals don’t look forward to go to work on Monday morning.

How Yoga Based Practices Impact Morality?

Pandey, A., Chandwani, R. and Navare, A. (2015), Enhancing Moral Reasoning in Business School: A Perspective of Mindfulness and Compassion, Academy of Management Meeting, Vancouver, 7-11 Aug. 2015.Accepted for publication in Business Ethics: European Review, Aug. 2017

How Yoga Can Make HERO?

Pandey, A., Navare, A. and Chandwani, R. (2015), What Has Yoga Got to Do With Positive Psychology: Examining Impact and Mechanism, slated for oral presentation during Academy of Management Meeting, Atlanta, Aug. 2017.

And about Joy in day to day experience?

• Engagement• Multi Tasking Preference• Cognitive Ability• Energy in Use

How Yoga Based Practices Affect Engagement in Studies?

Role of Cognitive Ability?

Presented in AoM, 2017

Sutra 30: ahinsasatyasteyabrahmacharyaparigraha yamah

Non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-receiving constitute the Yama (Swami Vivekananda)

Sutra 31: jatideshakalasamayanavachchhinnah sarvabhauma mahavratam

• These (non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-receiving unbroken by time), place, purpose, and caste, are (universal) great vows (Swami Vivekananda

Sutra 32: shauchasantoshatapahsvadhyayeshvarapranidhanani niyamah

Internal and external purification, contentment, mortification, study and worship of God are the Niyama (Swami Vivekananda)

Yoga and Positive Psychology: The Way Forward

• Differential impact of different YBP

• Self Transcendence and Maitri, Karuna, Mudita

• Till now Yoga research is conducted in existing scientific paradigm

• Yoga can bring paradigm shifting methodological advances

• Yoga research need not to be like ‘science’ (in predominant form), the

science has to be like Yoga