How to Cultivate a Nontoxic Work Environment by Practicing Nonviolence?

The foundation of yoga is not the physical practice of asanas that your local gym offers. It is not even the pranayama breathwork. It is, in fact, a set of ethical observances called yamas and niyamas. 

One of these niyamas is ahimsa, which is usually relayed in English as non-violence.

Do no harm.

And doing no harm goes way beyond and much deeper than staying out of fist fights and eating vegetarian.

"Our capacity to be non-violent depends on our proactive practice of Courage, Balance, Love of self and Compassion for others" - Deborah Adele

The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice by Deborah Adele

Courage is not the absence of fear, but your ability to face your fears and engage in difficult situations with grace and confidence. It is about expanding your comfort zone by understanding your comfortable edge and gently, lovingly pushing against it to keep growing as a human being.

Imagine the ferocity of an animal cornered, and you understand how the lack of courage and sense of safety is often at the heart of our violent actions.

Balance is different for everyone, but at the core of finding balance is finding space for yourself, taking the time you need to get back to your individual place of balance. I often speak about balance with a colleague of mine, what it means and how you achieve it. How I see it is that there are two kinds of balance. The fundamental idea of balance is about finding your core, your personal centre of gravity, and understanding how to return to this centre if you are pushed off-balance. A more advanced and more exciting form of balance is what I call "the balance of extremes". It is when you go as far as you can in one direction, while at the same time take another, seemingly opposing quality just as far: the classic case of a deeply spiritual, and at the same time highly successful business leader.

At times when you feel off-balance, you are more likely to lash out at those around you. Hence, being in balance is crucial to prevent causing harm to others.

Love of self, or kindness to yourself is the first step to being kind to others. The other day I was discussing 'kindness' with my coachee. She felt it was one of her core values, but she struggled to define what it really meant. My definition of kindness is "embracing that we are unique, beautiful, work-in-progress humans". Once you stop comparing yourself to others, learn to celebrate your strengths and achievements, and adopt a growth mindset for constant learning and self-improvement, you will be able to do the same for those around you.

This is such a powerful mindset towards supporting your direct reports or mentees/coachees in their personal journeys.

Compassion, or karuna in Sanskrit, means developing empathy and understanding towards others, and taking action to alleviate their suffering. To me it also means putting aside the ego, and accepting that I am not above other people. How does this relate to leadership? Leadership pioneer Simon Sinek believes that successful leaders are those who prioritise the needs of their team over their own, which is referred to as servant leadership, and is explained in detail in his book, 'Leaders Eat Last'. When employees understand that their contributions and professional development matter, they are more engaged, which ultimately leads to better overall performance from the individuals, teams and the whole organisation.

How to practice ahimsa?

• Cultivate your courage by adding some more challenging poses to your practice, such as inversions or arm balances, or attend a new style of yoga class you have never tried before (aerial yoga, anyone...?)

• Regularly take a moment to tune in with yourself, and understand what you need at that very moment to come back to a place of balance.

• Focus on good alignment and safety during your physical asana practice, such as engaging your core to protect your spine and stay within the healthy range of motion for your knees

• Practice kindness and compassion by integrating metta meditation into your daily routine or regular yoga practice. Start by repeating phrases like "May I be safe," "May I be happy," and "May I be at ease," while visualising yourself with kindness and warmth. Then gradually extend your loving-kindness to a loved one, a neutral person, a person you have a difficult relationship with, and ultimately, to all beings.

The Sanskrit word Ahimsa written in Devanagari script

How will your leadership benefit from this practice?

• You will approach difficult conversations and other challenging situations with more courage and confidence in your skills, preventing harmful actions caused by fear and intimidation.

• Understanding your place of balance and knowing how to return means you develop resilience in a quick paced work environment.

• Developing kindness towards yourself will help in setting boundaries and protecting your work-life balance.

• Appreciating the uniqueness of your direct reports, and understanding their growth trajectory will help you support them in a way that is most appropriate for them. Avoid being like the proverbial monkey who wanted to save the fish from drowning.

• Among the many benefits of servant leadership, it builds trust and respect within the team, improving collaboration and leading to a more positive work environment and company culture.

Let me finish with Lesson I/33 from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Take this wisdom into your week, savouring it word by word, and bring it into your interactions with those around you.

Maitri-karuna-muditopekshanam sukha-dukha-punyapunya-vishayan bhavanatash-chitta-prasadanam

By cultivating attitudese of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the vitruous and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful week ahead.

The light in me honours the light in you.

Namaste