How yoga helps me lead through a crisis

It’s not just poses — it’s a practice of observing and responding effectively

Yoga and leadership don’t necessarily seem related, but for me — both a UX research director and a yoga teacher — they’re inseparable. I find that if I’m not doing my yoga practice regularly, it’s a lot harder to lead. When I think of leadership in this context I think of this — it applies to everybody, not just people managing a team:

Leadership is about Observing a situation and Responding in the best way possible at the time.

Observing and responding is also one of the primary lessons from yoga, and recently, I’ve realized I needed to be reminded of it.

Until Covid-19 hit my team was swimming along. Then, like everyone, the first few weeks I was operating under shock, fear and grief. I went on autopilot. Through sheer empathy, it was possible to do some immediate checkins with everyone, adjust schedules and timelines as necessary and tackle some of the tactical work. But the bigger thinking was a huge challenge. I was seeing people I respected giving sage advice and feeling like; “I used to be that person, how could I get the mindspace back to feel ready to observe and respond in a bigger way?”

I thought back to another crisis where I had to lead in a different way: September 11, 2001.

In 2001, while not managing a team, I was working as a UX consultant and teaching a yoga course at a university. On September 11th, I was scheduled to teach an 8:00 AM class. I got into my car the same way I did on every Tuesday and Thursday morning to drive to school. Listening to the radio, I heard the news about the terrorist attack and had to make a quick decision: do I teach the class or not? What was the best possible solution in such a difficult situation? I assumed students coming to an 8:00 AM class didn’t yet know. I realized my job was to be in service to the students, and decided to teach. I thought they’ll hear the news in a couple of hours and maybe having done the yoga practice would be helpful.

What made it possible to teach that class on September 11th? I had a strong yoga practice supporting me. Reflecting on that event helped me realize I needed to refresh my practice to support me through the Covid pandemic.

So I backed up to the beginning: reinvigorate my practice step-by-step. Sure enough, at every step, I recognized something that applied not just to yoga, but to my life at work as well.

STEP #1: Put on your own mask first

When people think of yoga they usually think about poses, but when I say yoga I’m actually talking about the entirety of Yoga. According to the Yoga Sutra, a 2000 year old text, yoga is settling the mind into silence, a state achieved through an 8-step practice that begins with ethics, then poses, then using the breath as the segue between the body and mind, culminating in meditation. So poses are important, but only one step.

Settling the mind into silence means reducing the normal mind chatter and being able to focus on what’s happening now. And when I’m in that state, I’m more able to lead. I believe to be able to help others, you have to take care of yourself first.

STEP #2: Set up a regular, sustained practice

A few tips to get you into a routine:

Find inspiration. Put yourself into situations where inspiration can come. Whatever calls you, maybe it’s nature, maybe it’s an inspiring presentation, maybe it’s art or artists. I like visual imagery and love to watch dance, so I’ll do things like put up a picture of a professional dancer in my practice space.

Figure out what is your “yoga.” Maybe yoga poses and meditation aren’t your thing, but hopefully you have something that gives you a mental reset. Do that as a way to take care of yourself, and you’ll likely find you have more energy to lead others, whether it’s taking long walks, running, cooking, listening to music. Heck, it could even be washing the dishes. Do whatever helps you feel centered and like your mind is settling down from its normal state.

Set an intention in your space. The most important room in my apartment is my yoga room. You probably don’t have a room dedicated to yoga, you might have a tiny square in your bedroom, maybe it’s a whiteboard you pull out into your living room and that makes the living room your practice room. It doesn’t matter how small, when you go to that space it becomes sacred, even if only for the 10 minutes a day you’re there. Especially if the space is the same spot where you’re working, it can be hard to make the mental shift from “this is my office” to “this is my home” and explicitly calling out when the room is for work or practice can help.

Doing this practice regularly first thing in the morning puts me in a mindset where I’m more likely to be able to observe what’s coming at me at work and respond more effectively.

STEP #3: Be open to what’s needed now

Let’s identify realistic expectations for output during this time. By now we’ve all heard somebody say “we’re not just working at home, we’re trying to work during a global crisis.” What can we realistically accomplish during this time? If you’ve never embraced ruthless prioritization, now’s probably the time to do that. I take a full hour at lunch now — which I never did when working in the office. Go for a walk or stretch in the middle of the day. Rest your eyes from the screen for a while. Or go to your sacred space and just check in.

It’s the same with your practice. It’s important to find a practice you can realistically do. I’ve been practicing yoga for almost 30 years, and sure, I was doing harder poses 19 years ago than I am today. I’m not jumping into chaturanga anymore. You’re already a hero for getting through this virus any way you can, you don’t have to take on an extra challenging practice. I got really excited when I found out that a meditation group I used to sit with in another city was now streaming. The first 3 weeks I sat for 2–3 hours every Sunday morning before I realized it was too much and adjusted to take advantage of sitting with the group but only for 45 minutes or so. If you can carve out 10 minutes a day, great. Hey, if what helps you is to work out hard, then work out. If you need to rest, then rest. After September 11th, yoga teachers were teaching restoratives, and I was doing more plank and warrior because that was most helpful to me at the time.

Our personal and work lives are so much more interconnected than probably ever before. We’re all getting to know each other as people in ways we never would have if we weren’t all working at home. Everybody’s team meetings have kids, dogs, or cats showing up. Our UX Research team has fully embraced this. In addition to our regular work checkins, we’ve added a mid-week show and tell for 15 minutes where we show each other our lives, gardens, or bread we’ve baked. Our weekly team meeting starts with “wins this week” which is something we’ve always done but it’s become even more important to share wins during Covid.

STEP #4: Be on the lookout for unexpected benefits

Back to September 11th for a sec: At that point I had been studying the Yoga Sutra with a group for several years. In early 2002 we were compelled to do something for the community. A friend and I started a yoga studies program at the university where I was teaching, and it quickly became by far the most successful program in the history of that university’s extension division, and has since evolved into an MA in Yoga Studies.

Obviously it’s too early to know what good will come from this crisis, but I can see a few unexpected benefits already: forming a deeper connection with co-workers as the fully embodied people they are; enhanced productivity when working from home; more patience with ourselves, people important to us, and even people we find difficult; and of course a renewed yoga practice to support it all.

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