Planet yoga
Stories from around the weird and wonderful world of yoga
USA: Sunny Life
Sun Life is embracing wellness at work in a big way. The financial services firm recently opened its new offices in Wellesley, Massachusetts, which incorporate a plush yoga and fitness room, as well as many other features. The new office space also provides home comforts, such as comfortable areas for socialising, resembling chic living rooms, including a deck with a fireplace. Oh, there’s also space to work as well with a broad range of workstations to use throughout the day. The company uses a choice model allowing employees to decide for themselves whether they work from an office or home each day. “We want our office to be a magnet, not a mandate,” said Sun Life’s Dan Fishbein.
USA: Smart Desk
It looks like a desk but it’s actually the future of work! Consumer electronics brand Charcoal has launched the Charcoal Desk, a standing smart desk featuring revolutionary productivity technology. The aim is to boost productivity by suggesting breaks during the brain's restorative periods. Paired with an accompanying app, the desk tailors recovery using factors such age, gender, sleep data, and wake[1]up time, and presence sensors that monitor work durations. “The desk essentially helps us use our brain the way it's designed to function and this profoundly affects our daily living,” said Charcoal co-founder Arjun Ashok.
UK: Go mental
Let’s talk mental health! Go Mental is the UK’s first mental wellbeing festival, due to be held in London on Saturday 7th October. The event is designed to help break the silence and stigma around all things mental health and brings together a selection of professionals, authors, survivors and yoga teachers. Go Mental founder Rosie Millen, aka Miss Nutritionist, says it’s a topic close to her heart after suffering depression, burnout and contemplating suicide herself. “I considered taking my life three times. Only when I educated myself and put it all into practice did I get better and back on my feet for good.”
India: Yoga TV
Samsung is bringing an interactive yoga experience to its consumers in India — the birthplace of yoga — on its televisions in a global first. Through a partnership with YogiFi (a flagship product of health-tech startup, Wellnesys Technologies), the company aims to enable users to practice yoga ‘the tech way’ by pairing the world’s first AI-enabled yoga mat with Samsung smart TVs. YogiFi app will be accessible on all 2023 Samsung smart TVs and will soon be available on previous years’ models as well. Samsung’s Dipesh Shah said the aim is “to bring calm to the connected world.”
UK: Healer Leaders
The book ‘Leader As Healer’ by Nicholas Janni has won the Business Book of the Year Award 2023. It was hailed as “a transformational read that every leader of today needs” reflecting the shift in modern business practices. In it, the author argues an urgent upgrade is needed in how managers think and practice leadership, to be empathetic, intuitive and present, along with being skilled in mindfulness, deep listening and to inspire colleagues to engage and collaborate in everyday business. “We need leaders who embody deep, soulful, heartfelt presence, bringing service to the greater whole as their primary commitment.”
Om Magazine
First published in November 2009, OM Yoga magazine has become the most popular yoga title in the UK. Available from all major supermarkets, independents and newsstands across the UK. Also available on all digital platforms.
