Research Article for my 500hour Yoga Teacher Training Certificate with Himalaya Yoga Valley Centre Goa, India (April 2018)
So many responsibilities and only two hands – when responsibility becomes a burden and the shoulders take it on, Yoga Tools can bring a holistic relief and increased efficiency in multi-tasking...
Work-intensity – having to achieve a lot in a short amount of time, interruptions and work-life balance are some of the most common issues managers face in the business world. Leaders and Managers have multiple responsibilities to juggle with: those of the overall company, managing employees and their relationships to them, managing their own tasks, constantly making decisions, thinking about finances, managing family, partners, children, home… What comes last is often their own health.
Overcommitment, working oneself into the ground and emotional exhaustion are common problems among those in leadership. There is little data on the physical conditions of managers and leaders, as it might be often them who conduct those studies.
Strong Shoulders to Lean on
“The health and evolution of the company depends mostly on the health and evolution of the top leadership."
Most traditional organisational models put the leader at the top of the hierarchy. Employees often see the Managers and Directors as the big invincible hero who makes all the decisions or who is to blame when things go wrong. Research of more alternative organisational models has shown that the health and evolution of the company depends on the health and evolution of the top leadership (Laloux, 2016). So there is an immense amount of responsibility in the hands of leaders.
Head & Heart
But before it gets to the hands - the extension of our heart - our bodies were created with a strong protection – our shoulders. The shoulder is the first area that takes and absorbs all the burdens of over-responsibility. It is the first area to absorb the heavy worries of the mind that come down from above. It is like worries dropping down your brain.
A Manager Monitoring study by Triconsult (2017) has shown that stress and lack of movement are the number one health risk factors for executives in a country like Austria, my country of origin. Although considered an occupational necessity, sitting still the whole day on a chair, concentrating on a white screen using your hands on a keyboard, adds extra tension to the back, shoulder and neck muscles.
We are also facing multiple multi-dimensional interconnections through the use of the internet, on smart phones, tablets, laptops, and yet our bodies must sit still in a mono-dimensional position for a long time. This creates an obvious conflict to the whole system. The inactive body cannot follow the overactive mind. Stress and tension throughout the body occurs. Studies demonstrated that prolonged sitting relates to decreased life-expectancy, increased muscular-skeletal disorders, cardio-vascular disease, as well as lack of motivation, concentration, depression and burnout (Trend.at, 2015).
About 2.3 million Austrians suffer from musculoskeletal issues. 80% of chronic pain are musculoskeletal, which accounts for 8 million sick days out of the total 40 million sick days taken per year due to pain in the muscular-skeletal system. The cost of therapy and absence at work is estimated at 4 to 6 billion euros per year. (Schoenberger, 2011)
The main root causes are bad posture and muscular imbalances, especially in the shoulder. The prolonged sitting and screen work leads to shoulder and neck pain as the number one musculoskeletal pain. The shoulders suffer from loss of motion due to tightness, loss of strength, muscles that are too loose and injuries caused by lack of movement or improper movement.
Over-exercise & Temporary Relief
"Strength requires flexibility."
High intensity sports such as ball games, tennis, running – all fiery sports that the ambitious manager prefers, are among the activities that certainly sweat some stresses and adrenalin away, however they can put an extra strain on the body and the shoulders. Strength exercises at the gym will bring strength but not the necessary flexibility that the shoulder requires. In both cases, injuries to the shoulder joint are very common signs that the shoulders are over-burdened.
If managers find the time to seek help, common treatments for the shoulders vary from sport massages to physiotherapy or pain killers, although the relief is often only temporary. For 80% of the patients with musculoskeletal pain, even long-term treatments don’t show any permanent improvement. Most of the time, rest is recommended as common treatment. Resting and not using the shoulders at all means almost not using your hands – mission impossible for managers.
The vicious cycle starts. The shoulders tighten up, become hard, inflexible, the strain spreads into neck, and to the back, especially into the thoracic area of chest and heart. It can go as far as heart issues, related to the lack of self-care. Many tend to adapt to the tension and don’t notice it any more. But the mind-body connection is real. The shoulders are telling us something on a physical, energetic and emotional level.
How Yoga relates
"Yoga helps the manager to analyse better and develop more efficient coping strategies."
There is a reason why most of the Top 500 Fortune Companies offer Yoga & Mindfulness classes, such as #Nike, #HBO, #Forbes, #Aetna, #Google, #Apple or #AOL (Wolfson, 2007).
Yoga offers a wide holistic approach to the shoulder responsibility. Yoga is a state of being rather than doing. It is the result of the practice. Yoga literally means to unite, to join, to connect. It is union and unity between the parts that we thought separate. Yoga provides physical and mental exercises that rebuild awareness on how our body, mind and emotions are interconnected. This constant awareness is so important for the manager so they can notice the signs when the body is saying “stop” and deal better. Yoga helps us to become aware of the origin and cause of the consequences and stresses we experience in daily life and helps the manager to better analyse and develop coping strategies.
More efficient and relaxed multi-tasking
Yoga uses simple, effective tools to increase the efficiency of our muscles, joints, indeed our whole body and the functioning of our mind. Physically speaking, yoga exercises, sustained and supported actions, are designed to bring not only stretching and flexibility, but also strength, balance, vitality and recharge, with a strong connection to the breath.
They help us find our optimum, improve our life style and relax deeply and efficiently. We train to find balance, relaxation and focus within the effort. There won’t be any thoughts of burden or worry any more, hence the shoulder will be saved. Also, on a physical level, the weight is distributed evenly in the body, so we learn to distribute our responsibilities of life more evenly, not just carrying it on our shoulders. Every posture is balanced by a counterposture, and every action within a posture is balanced by its counteraction until a neutral position is reached. We practice to be in a neutral balance and in harmony with all our actions. Imagine the effects of that on your work and life.
Physical postures can target specific organs or weak spots in the body and through improved circulation promote healing in our bodies. Vitality gets blocked or stressed by wrong posture, resulting in the compression of the spine and impairment of the spinal nerves. Yoga postures help to restore its original state which will alleviate symptoms of most cultural ailments and release the accumulation of our stresses.
So the idea on a physical level is to practice effort and strength in combination with relaxation and release. Other passive stretching techniques don’t allow the practitioner to build the strength necessary to support the flexibility gained. Most weight training will increase only the bulk, the number of muscle fibers in the shoulder. Yoga is based on increasing efficiency of the existing muscles. Less demanding and tiring than other exercises, Yoga is therefore deeply rejuvenating, re-energising and more self-sufficient. These actions will hence programme the body and mind to express much better efficiency in taking on responsibilities and multi-tasking as a manager.
"Evolution has it that we can only go forwards. So multi-tasking, wider connections through the internet and more complex and intricate systems are part of it. We can not go backwards. However, we need to learn to adapt and evolve to the new multi-dimensional ways that we live our lives."
Yoga is an evolutionary impulse and a multi-dimensional tool to practice and train a multi-dimensional lifestyle. Just take a yoga posture for example – it is the essence of a training for efficient yet relaxed multi-tasking: standing on one leg and maintaining balance, strengthening the muscles and core, lengthening and stretching other parts, squeezing your bandhas (perineum and belly locks), focusing your eyes on one point (drishti), while breathing deeply, finding stillness and relaxation in the moment all at the same time while making the effort to push deeper than you thought you can while giving your best to respect your own limits, not hurt yourself and let the ego drop…
It is an intense re-programming where there is no space for thinking. The thinking of burden, worry and weight on the shoulders is not an actual physical truth, it is merely a thought in the mind. The mind carries not only your own thoughts and patterns, but also the limiting beliefs and mindsets of our parents, ancestors, our society. Yoga creates space where there was negative thinking. It is a total combination and connection of elements to find your optimum and to find the whole, the oneness within.
Saving your adrenals -
More Resilience & Stronger Nerves
Our nervous system is the command centre for the network of nerves that governs our physical, mental and emotional body, vital to our health and functioning. In many sports, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, increasing our fight or flight response. Yoga works differently: it regulates the nervous system and especially stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, our rest and digest response. Blood pressure lowers, we have clarity of thought, the breath slows down and relaxation and healing occurs.
Moreover, Yogic exercises balance our vagus nerve, our largest cranial nerve, wandering from the base of the skull throughout the body, touching the respiratory, digestive and nervous systems. This “air traffic controller” helps regulate all our major bodily functions, and even how we take in, process, and make meaning of our experiences. Yogic exercises therefore develop “vagal tone” - our rational response to stress, our body’s ability to manage stress, both in an immediate situation, as well as the long term build of up stress, increasing our overall resilience and coping skills.
"The deep breathing and relaxation employees get from yoga help them to be more focused and less anxious. When they go back to work, they're in a position to make better decisions. You don't want people making business decisions when they're stressed" says Bill Boyle, employee health and fitness director at HBO in New York. (Wolfson, 2007)
Furthermore, Yoga practices improve our glandular systems, balancing secretion of hormones by improving blood and lymph circulation. For example cortisol, the hormone produced in our adrenals in response to stress, is lowered through yoga practice, which reduces fatigue and improves well-being. Yoga exercises also improve digestion and heart function, and help to drain the lymphatic system, cleansing our organs and strengthening our immune system.
Providing healing and recovery for the shoulder
Yoga works to gradually release all those burdens of the mind that have been made manifest on the shoulder. When the shoulder gets too tight, and weak, when the range of movement is limited, when there is chronic tension or when shoulder pain and injuries are present, Yoga can help recovery on the long run through specific movements that work with the body on all the different planes of motion.
Healing is triggered through the combination of specialised physical movement with attention and breath work, which is bringing awareness and prana, life force energy, to the affected area. From shoulder muscles to joints and ligaments to bone structure and the whole communication system within the shoulders – the whole part is put into re-alignment, step by step, to regain its optimum stability and efficiency, in the whole body.
Healing occurs simultaneously in the mind - blocking mindsets and habitual patterns are released, bringing more acceptance, forgiveness and self-love for what is. Yoga works as a whole and holistic science, which understands that all body parts are linked, that mind and body are deeply linked.
Breathing rhythm
The yogic process can then further evolve from physical movement exercises to breathing exercises, or pranayama. These specific breath extension and strengthening practices will help remove the stresses and burdens, bring extra prana and recharge to the body, which increases the body’s self-healing capacities and enhances resilience to stress situations.
Your body is the physical translation of your mind and your environment. So is the breath. It is the translation of the rhythm of your life. If the brain doesn’t receive enough oxygen, we don’t have the mental power to work efficiently, nor to grow or to change. The mind gets stuck in old patterns and worries. Yogic breathing exercises increase the oxygen in the brain and the body. Moreover, they will help optimise the amount and rhythm of the breath hence your life rhythm.
In Yoga exercises we practice to combine every movement with the breath. Every breath taken becomes a conscious one – so as in life – every action taken, every word spoken can become a conscious one, and therefore we can avoid making mistakes and we become more efficient in making decisions and achieving our goals.
Anatomy of the Shoulder Joint
The shoulder joint is one of the most mobile, most complex, fragile and multi-dimensional joints in our body capable of the widest range of movement, but to the cost of stability and strength. It is a ball and socket joint connecting the humerus (upper arm bone) with the scapula (shoulder blade). However, the surface of the ball of the humerus is three times bigger than the socket that the shoulder blade provides (just like a golf ball on its tee).
This loose connection to the socket provides a wide range of movement: flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, internal rotation and external rotation. It corresponds to the wide range of tasks we are able to handle, so nature has it planned out well. However, this mobility comes at the cost of joint stability. Many connective tissues, muscles, and also tendons and ligaments, which are rather thin and strappy compared to the thicker and wider hip joint ligaments, all have to work together to help us manage our shoulder movements and tasks. So the shoulder joint requires a lot of strength and stability from its surrounding muscles, which are:
the latissimus dorsi holds us upright and connects to the shoulder blade (scapula)
the rhomboids connects the thoracic spine to scapula
the rotator cuffs are the movers of the shoulder blade
the trapezius offers a whole dragon-like protection for the whole area from heart to neck
and the deltoids put an extra layer of protection on the outside of the shoulders
An alert, awakened body can sit upright, with the shoulders straight. A tired body and mind will sit in a slouched sitting position. Demanding our body to sit upright and still with our eyes on a screen the whole day demands extreme strength of the whole mind and body, included its shoulders. Hunching is the body's natural way of protecting itself from outsiders by physically closing off access to the vital organs.
Slumping the spine and rounding the shoulders leads to shoulder, neck and back pain. “Slumping causes the shoulder blades to slide away from the spine, chronically overstretching and weakening the muscles around them. These muscles can harden into tough bands to protect themselves from this constant strain. When they tire, the weakened muscles go into spasm, creating hot, persistent pains along the edges of the shoulder blades and the sides of the neck.” (Keller)
The cause lies mostly in the front of the back, in the upper chest. Because of screen work, the chest muscles are constantly shortened and tighter, pulling the shoulders forward and down, while rotating the upper arms inward.
Physically opening the front
Opening and lengthening the front body can bring release again. The root of a lot of shoulder and upper back pain comes from the front part, especially the upper arm muscles – the brachialis (from bending the elbow), the corachobrachialis (it adducts the upper arm) and the pectoralis minor (connecting shoulder blade extension and ribs). With our common life style and work, from tapping on a keyboard and using your smartphone, to washing up to manipulating objects, these muscles are constantly contracted. So the shoulder blade can be pulled away too much from the spine when slumping the shoulders and strain is put on the surrounding muscles which try to counteract. The simple act of writing on your computer is constantly lifting your shoulders towards your ears, and rotating your arm inwards. The rhomboids get weak from the constant effort to pull the shoulder blades back into place (countering the pull of the pectoralis minor) and the levator scapulae and the deltoids are strained and tightened by the pull of the shoulders.
By working on counterbalancing the misalignments of the desk sitting office work, a lot of tension can be released, healed and rebalanced for prevention, such as poses to extend the arms (instead of the permanent flexion), and postures to rotate the shoulders externally.
Specific heart and chest opening postures provide even more opening of the front muscles, letting in the love for your work again. What is more, the postures work on strengthening and stretching all the shoulder and back muscles in a sustained and healthy way, giving more efficiency and strength to your shoulders and hence for dealing with responsibilities.
Understanding to bring healing:
From an energetic point of view, Yoga understands the body’s main energy vortexes and the effects they have very well. Called Chakras, these energy wheels each have a certain frequency and can be stimulated and activated when needed, through meditation, sound and colour visualisation. We can therefore accompany the healing of specific body parts and areas through meditative techniques and visualisation.
The shoulders are at the brink between the 4th and 5th chakra. While the upper shoulder and neck are related to the throat chakra and self-expression, the shoulder blades are related to the heart chakra and love.
The throat is our centre of expression, as we tell and live our inner truth. Friction in the shoulder occurs often when there is conflict between what we need to be, express and live, and what we actually do. For example, as a manager you might sometimes just want to rest and sleep or take a day off, instead of working through, because your truth, your inner guidance system tells you that is what you need now. The heart centre sends you signals for self-care and self-protection. However, mindsets, ego and patterns might keep you from doing what would be your truth.
Other examples of manifestation of the throat chakra might be that you have an excessive number of communication channels to deal with, from emails, to social media messages, to website information, telephone and real life conversations. It might over-burden the shoulders capacity. Or there might be negative self-talk, or negative talk about other people, not expressing what you mean to say, taking on far more than you actually feel like doing. And delegating and asking for help might be one of the hardest dimensions of leadership to aquire.
When we only do what we think we have to do, instead of what we feel like doing, we are not listening to our heart. Your work can then become bitter, and the shoulder muscles can close up and tighten out of self-protection. Yoga develops our moment to moment awareness and offers tools to work more from our heart space. It helps us to find ways to bring love, purpose and joy back into our tasks.
Chanting is an uplifter
Better expression for the throat chakra and heart is especially developed through chanting mantras and soothing sounds, a very common practice in traditional yoga.
"We have nerve endings in our mouth, so chanting is like reflexology for your mouth and brain, stimulating our meridians and awakening dormant parts of the brain, thus energizing various parts of the body."
Studies have shown that chanting maintains a healthy brain, makes you happier (through the production of endorphines), improves your heartbeat, pulse rate and blood pressure, improves sleep quality, boosts the immune system, reduces pain, anxiety and depression, and cleanses us from unwanted emotional toxicities. Basically, chanting helps us maintain physical and mental health and makes us feel better. (Himalaya Yoga Valley Center Teacher Training)
Chanting in the ancient Sanskrit language that is used in yogic tradition, with its rich phonetics and complex tongue placements, helps stimulate the pituitary gland, the master gland that governs the other glands in the body. It has nothing to do with having a good voice or being musically competent, although it will greatly increase your self-expression and communication skills, so important in today’s business world. What’s more, chanting in a group, harmonising everyone’s breath rhythm, will also connect the people in your organisation with one another, improving general relationships, team-building and motivation.
How the Moral Guidelines of Yoga can help our shoulders:
The yoga system of Ashtanga Yoga, meaning Yoga of the 8 Limbs, starts with basic guidelines for behaviour and self-observation, before any physical movement, meant to bring self-protection, awareness and understanding that every act we do has a consequence.
Ahimsa (Non-violence) reminds us not to harm anyone, whether in thoughts, words or actions. This includes ourselves. Ahimsa reminds us of self-care and self-love, and not hurting our bodies through taking on too much than we know we can carry and take on at a given time. It is the guiding principle of all.
Satya (Truthfulness) literally means non-illusion. It reminds us of speaking the truth, and saying what is, instead of expressing the illusion. Truth in words, thought and actions.
Asteya (Non-Stealing) reminds us of not taking what is not freely given. This means for example not taking time from others, or not taking moretime from our day for work than is given by our bodies, not taking on more responsibilities and decisions than needed.
Brahmacharya (abstinence) is a reminder to renounce sometimes and abstain from behaviours or habits that bring you away from your path. This can include to refuse tasks that would only please your ego, or to consciously take the decision to abstain from self-worry or unhealthy relationship habits for example.
Aparigraha (non-possessiveness) plays a big role for managers as well - not holding on to specific results, letting go of the need to control everyone, allowing others to take over – it as a great reminder that the company, organisation or the team you manage is not yours alone, but a united system that everyone is part of, and hence you don’t have to take all the responsibility by yourself.
Optimising your 5 elements
Other parts include balancing the 5 elements in the body working with ayurvedic tools. Worries and burdens often come the overthinking when there is too much Vata or Air and Space energy in the body. Also the fiery Pitta can get out of control, with a constant urge to do and implement and never stopping plans and ideas for new projects. If those plans are too much for the mind, the Earth or Kapha Energy can suffer. Yoga practices including diverse breathing practices, postures and mudras (hand positions) can ground the surplus energy in the mind, releasing it into the earth.
Meditation
Once the body is open and strong enough through the physical postures, the body can sit in meditation to create even more space and release tension in the body and mind. Meditation and the resulting increased mindfulness reduces the pains and strains of the neck and shoulder, provided one does the work to sit and focus. Multiple studies have verified that meditation brings anything from stress relief to better sleep to increased focus, intelligence and creativity (Giovanni, 2015). There is a reason why so many Top CEO Billionaires practice meditation and mindfulness techniques on a regular basis to find balance and optimum in their work and life.
Conclusions & Further developments
Yoga turns out to be widely beneficial for managers, allowing them to gain a more heart- and successful way of leading and managing, and get the burden off the chest and shoulders while creating more efficiency and joy in accomplishing tasks. It offers a holistic approach for the needs of today’s leaders and organisations.
Encouraging Managers and Executives to have a yoga practice is likely to have a positive impact on the way our companies and organisations are run. The increased well-being, heart-openness and authenticity that a Yoga practice brings, is a prerequisite to implement more alternative organisational models, such as Holacracy or TEAL organisations, described by Frederic Laloux in his book “Reinventing Organisations” (Laloux, 2014). In these structures, self-organising and self-managing groups, independence, trust, purpose, intuitive planning and flexibility are making everyone in the company a leader, instead of putting the pressure on one set of shoulders at the top.
The challenge will be to actually bring managers onto a Yoga mat. It requires readiness, taking the time in a busy schedule & having the will to attend a yoga class. And that is the manager’s choice, not ours. It is necessary to educate managers, directors and HR departments on the benefits of yoga and bringing yoga into the workplace, ultimately helping managers develop an independent self-practice.
With love, success & Yoga
Angelika
Sources & Further Reading:
Laloux, F. (2014). Reinventing organisations. 1st edition. Nelson Parker. (→ Also to be downloaded on a pay-what-feels-right basis on www.reinventingorganizations.com)
Der Standard (2015). Was Chefs am meisten stresst. Retrieved from https://derstandard.at/2000024110034/Was-Chefs-am-meisten-stresst
Arbeitsschutz Portal (2015). Psychische Krankheiten der Fuerhungskraefte. Retrieved from
Zimber A., Hentrich S (2015). Psychische Gesundheit von Fuehrungskraeften. Retrieved from
Insead Knowledge (2007). Putting leaders on the couch. Retrieved from
Darron, J. (2015). 3 Reasons Posture is Causing Your Shoulder Pain. Retrieved from
Teach me Anatomy. Anatomy of the Shoulder. Retrieved from
Keller, D. 3 poses for neck and shoulder pain. Retrieved from
Stevenson S. (2017). 9 Yoga poses to help relieve neck and shoulder pain. Retrieved from
Yoga Journal. Poses for your Shoulders. Retrieved from
Myers, T. (2018). How the Teres Major Can Make or Break Healthy Shoulders in Inversions. Retrieved from
Toner, J. (2014). For the love of the shoulder. Retrieved from
Giovanni, 2015. Scientific Benefits of Meditation. Retrieved from
Triconsult Market Research, (2017). So gesund sind Österreichs Führungskräfte. Retrieved from
Gregoire, C. (2017). The Daily Habit Of These Outrageously Successful People. Retrieved from
Trend.at (2015). Gesundheitsalarm: Österreich sitzt sich krank. Retrieved from https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/incorporating-yoga
Schoenberger A. (2011). Rückenschmerzen sind heute die meistverbeitete Volkskrankheit. Retrieved from https://www.profil.at/wissenschaft/rueckenschmerzen-volkskrankheit-297378
Wolfson N. (2007). Incorporating Yoga. Retrieved from
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