Namaste for marketing ~via @lorenahathaway
At Core Power Yoga, where I belong, practice and spend 9 hours a week, the mantra is “Live your Power”. It’s about pushing yourself physically to find greater confidence and mental focus. I find that applying what I learn, do and share in my yoga classes helps me to live my power as a mom, a runner, a golfer, a volunteer – and a marketer.
Finding center. As I perform my yoga breathing and poses, the noise of the everyday slips away, leaving me able to focus on the essence of being in a very calm and centered way. In marketing, some simple mantras also help me shut out the noise and center on what really matters:
Who are you?
How do you benefit others?
How can you engage most effectively with the people around you?
Who are you? Success in yoga, marketing and life requires true self-awareness. The sum of our experiences come together to make us who we are in any moment. We need to approach that moment, and the ones that follow, with a sense of appreciation, gratitude and purpose. In marketing, that can be challenging – but I find it’s super important.
In marketing, it’s easy to focus on the future—and on the past, working with sales to follow-up on what resulted from different marketing tactics. It’s so easy to “plan” by just starting things in motion without stopping to breathe or consider what’s going on today.
To create the best path forward, we need to bring our past experiences, future goals and the compassionate realities of now all together. This means checking in on what is happening with you and your team, with customers, prospects, and competitors. It’s also about the other subtle intricacies of the marketplace that surface when you consciously stop to take it all in.
Namaste. In concept, Namaste recognizes the spark and life force within each of us. The highest in me recognizes the highest in you. In Namaste, one surrenders one’s ego to one’s spirit.
While it’s a small gesture, Namaste has profound meaning. It’s something CorePower Yogaand yoga studios across the globe try to embody. They offer a place of peace, respect and non-judgment—a place where people can practice bringing this powerful concept to everyday life.
How do you benefit others? When I’m working to deadlines or going after quarterly results, it’s easy to become short-sighted, point fingers and focus on what was missing, didn’t work, and why. But with Namaste I raise my level of thinking. I become more aware of the people and situations that surround me. I can take a more nuanced, informed view of the way forward, and this enriches any analysis in a constructive and positive way.
How do you engage? In yoga, the more I practice, the more strength comes from mindfulness. I become more adept at translating the physical poses from practice on the mat into ways to overcome mental and emotional challenges off the mat. I learn more from the journey; and achieve more by being kind to myself and others. In the end, marketers are always customers and prospects, too. When I tune into that, I become more mindful of the experiences customers and prospects want and need.
Be a sport. My best ideas always come from when I am out there doing something else. You may be called to yoga, running, biking, cycling, swimming, rowing, golfing…. whatever you love, having a practice where you can get out of your mind and be in your body will always help with being more creative, relaxed and confident.
Be humble. Whether I’m practicing yoga or barely hitting the golf ball off the tee; whether I’m crushing it or working through a tough patch, I always come back to this: The more gratitude and appreciation you show to others, the more you can create an environment of collaboration and non-judgment. In the long run, people will only remember how you made them feel. They won’t remember the project, the work, the quarter or the busy activity you did together…what will stay is the warm, happy, content, positive feeling they’ve gotten—if that’s the environment you shared.
Find me in Twitter or at CorePower studio in Almaden, California.