Yoga@Almabase

It starts with a WhatsApp message saying, "I reached", and the scramble to get a yoga mat takes place, to head to the training.

How did we get here?

Let's take a few steps back?

How did we at Almabase incorporate the in-house training for our team members?

To answer all these, let's start from the beginning!

In-house fitness training in corporate climes is a novelty pushed to the brink of obscurity in favor of business career development training. It's no surprise to companies that they pay up to six figures for these personal development courses. If they are feeling generous, they might pay a few extra for health-conscious foods in their cafeteria. And that's where it all stops. In a bid to build more productive workers, we often forget to build the most important component - the body. It's easy to gloss over the fact that maintaining a perfect mental and healthy balance is the key to unlocking creativity and efficiency.

The Beginning!

Surely, Almabase didn't start in-house training for its employees based on some grandiose and premeditated plan. Rather, it started through a series of co-current events for us to finally get to this stage of grabbing a yoga mat.

Let's start with the first event - a few of our teammates used to take off a few hours every day/week to engage in physical tasking activities like cricket, football, Gym, Running or badminton. About 4 to 5 team members used to go for a daily badminton game for 3 to 4 months. A couple of other teammates hired a personal trainer who helped them to achieve their body goals. A few others had taken up football or cricket during the weekends.

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Mind you, their physical training activities were inconsistent due to challenges posed by traffic or timings, etc. Also, these training sessions often required a huge commitment on the part of the teammates. No doubt, these disjointed training sessions brought one thing to our focus - we needed a centralized form of physical exercise in the office. Something that they could do at the office, which would save the time being spent in commute. Furthermore, this realization led us to one conclusion - hiring a private trainer who can train us all at our office premises for an hour or two.

Advantages of Having a Personal Trainer at Work

Want to know if this is a worthwhile investment for us?

First, it reduces the time spent in traffic. Do you know how much productivity is lost when an employee takes a break to visit a sports facility? Considering the traffic in Bangalore, about one or two hours of productivity are lost.

Helps to Keep Our Health Status in Check. According to the popular catch-phrase: a stitch in time saves nine. Practicing yoga and other forms of physical exercise doesn't only keep our body in shape, it also imbues us with the need to eat healthily. More so, it reduces the level of health complaints from team members.

Exercising As A Team Improves Motivation. It's common for individuals to quit their physical routine when there's no one to practice with. In-house training helps everyone to keep to the routine even when they don't feel like it. Let's not forget that it builds cohesion amidst team members.

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It helps to Create Good Habits. Gradually, the team members warmed up to daily yoga practices. In fact, they look forward to the daily 5 -to 6 pm yoga sessions. No doubt, this good habit has influenced other aspects of their daily lives.

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Lastly, let's not forget the eagerness and the motivation with which  our Yoga Sir takes our sessions.Let's meet our Yoga instructor - Sanjay Sain

Meet Our Instructor

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Sanjay Sain pursued Yoga Studies from the reputed college Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana(SVYAS). With extensive experience and a friendly down-to-earth demeanor, Sanjay has transformed our concept of yoga. Not only have we achieved milestones in this training, but we're also now adept at doing some of these moves without instructions. What's more? We now set targets to accomplish during yoga sessions.

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So, what did we learn through the whole experience?

Learnings and Challenges

1. This is one initiative we should have embarked on a long time ago. We practically underestimated the team's love for physical fitness activities.
2. And the other aspect that nearly disrupts the rhythm, is the difficulty in getting the right trainer. Before Sanjay, the trainer was himself so inconsistent that though most of us were interested, the motivation had come down, due to the inconsistency of the trainer.
3. Lastly, to keep the team's momentum and passion in this aspect is quite a challenge. Although they love the yoga sessions, there are possibilities of work and other activities disrupting their daily sessions. No doubt, this is an aspect we have to checkmate in detail. More on another blog on how we achieve that.

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