By Vish Chatterji, BS Engineering, MBA, RYT
I spent 20 years climbing the corporate ladder, encountering increasingly mind-numbing stress. I relied on yoga and Ayurveda to keep me sane and balanced. When I finally called it quits, I decided to pay it forward and help my former colleagues do the same. After completing certification in executive coaching, Ayurveda, meditation, jyotish, and yoga, I emerged as an East-meets-West executive coach.
I have recently observed a wave of Human Resource departments trying to tackle the stresses and pressures of corporate life. Wellness coaches, meditation trainers, and yoga teachers are now showing up in corporate settings, and I believe Ayurveda is next.
Corporate leaders have long loved categorization tools such as Myers-Briggs and DISC profiles and are forever trying to understand how different team members work and how to improve working relationships. Nothing, however, compares to the elegance and sophistication of the doshas. In a tense meeting, you can clearly see them at work. Vatas get anxious and think it’s their fault, while pittas get furious and start blaming everybody and kaphasget withdrawn. And inevitably the pitta yells at the kapha—“Why aren’t you saying anything?!”
I have been using Ayurveda for the past three years to help executives improve self-awareness, team spirit, and emotional health, and they readily gravitate to it. They appreciate the simple logic, connect it to daily examples at work, and relate it to their often long-standing health imbalances. From diet to appropriate scheduling (e.g., endurance tasks during kaphatime, negotiations during pitta time, and creative tasks during vatatime) to abhyanga, meditation, and pranayama, these simple “hacks” have markedly improved the performance and mental health of my clients.
I have shared many of my insights of Vedic wisdom for the corporate world in my upcoming book The Business Casual Yogi, where I hope you will find inspiration to share your knowledge in this underserved market.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vish Chatterji, BS Engineering, MBA, RYT, NAMA member, is an accomplished business leader turned executive coach, author, and speaker. He takes an East-meets-West approach to integratingVedic wisdom into his coaching services. He is a publicly elected Board Director of the Beach Cities Health District and author of the upcoming book The Business Casual Yogi.