10 reasons why Yoga improves your career in UX design
How yoga positively affects a tech career
About me 🙈
Yes, the one at the top of the picture is me. I don’t want to dwell too much on who I am or what I do, I would risk to bore you. In short, I’ve been a yoga teacher for 8 years now, a practitioner for almost 12. I’m also a Ux designer with a background in Visual Interior Design. Over the years yoga and meditation have helped me a lot to improve my personality, increase my understanding of myself and increase my emotional intelligence. I decided to share with you 10 reasons why Yoga improves a career.
1- Reduces stress and makes a clearer focus 👀
Thanks to a constant practice and above all to a deep Yoga breathing you reduce stress, avoiding the waste of useless energy in your projects.
A research conducted at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, has shown that controlled breathing techniques increase serotonin levels while reducing the level of stress hormones.
2- Increases empathy and active listening ✌️
The worst thing for a UX designer is to take for granted facts that happen and base his research on his own intuition. There’s nothing more risky, if we add to this a good dose of love for his project, the one he created with so much love and dedication. Yoga helps designers to detach themselves from their attachments, to detach themselves from their thoughts and to be more open to the opinions of others, actively listening and bringing empathy to the project.
3- Gets you more good intuitions & ideas 😍
For a creative, the circulation of ideas is fundamental. But often staying hours and hours sitting in front of the pc leads to an energy stagnation, which becomes counterproductive for our creativity. Through Yoga we go to make the body stronger and more flexible, we go to increase blood circulation bringing more oxygen to the brain and encouraging an increase in the flow of creative thought. Yoga gets your blood & ideas flowing!
4- Keeps calm & lucidity ☺️
Even in situations of increased stress, expiration tension, horror from deleted Figma files or lost presentation at the last minute, Yoga helps to maintain great balance and stability. Breathing, bringing attention inward helps to maintain calm and lucidity. Only with calm in fact, you can face the obstacles that the design reserves us with a resolutive and constructive attitude.
5- Improves the quality of sleep, so you work better! 🙃
To design, process data, write surveys and test requires a great concentration and energy that only rest can give. Practicing Yoga in the evening improves rest because it calms the mind and the body, relaxes the central nervous system by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. Even in case of bad sleep meditation can help: 20 minutes of meditation and a nice cold shower regenerate the mind!
6- Leads to greater contact with reality ❤️
Meditation helps us to detach ourselves from our thoughts. To explain it better, we keep thinking, but we are aware that thoughts are only phenomena. We do not identify with them. This leads to a greater openness towards others, the possibility of seeing the world without filters, the freedom to be in full contact with reality. A UX designer designs for people, the understanding of the deeper aspects of a person is a basic matter for the creation of better platforms.
7- Helps to believe in ourselves and our abilities 💕
I don’t know about you, but every time I find myself in front of a new project I feel inadequate, not prepared enough. All these are lies that the mind tells us, I still don’t understand why 😂, but that’s how it is. With Yoga positions we defy gravity, we discover we are much stronger than we think. And if we can balance on our hands, or on one leg, holding the position for several breaths, well why shouldn’t we be able to do a new job?
8- It is a natural antidepressant 😌
I do not believe that from an unhappy designer can come out beautiful, constructive ideas that help the world. At this time more than ever Earth needs people who can create sustainable products that help the planet and the people who live on it. I don’t believe that a depressed designer can improve the world. The responsibility for designers is not small. You need to be happy, assertive and positive to create products that improve life. So if you are a depressed designer please, practice Yoga or change job! I am serious.
9- Teaches self-discipline 👍
To achieve the mental and physical well-being of Yoga you have to practice Yoga and you have to do it at least 3 times a week. This is told to you by a person who does it every day, sometimes even twice a day. Thanks to this I have learned that beautiful things require time and love. So even in design, when you talk to a client or design, it takes love, dedication, perseverance and a lot of patience. Rome was not built in a day.
10- Helps you serve others 🥰
Karma yoga (service to others) is integral to yogic philosophy. And while you may not be inclined to serve others, your health might improve if you do. A study at the University of Michigan found that older people who volunteered a little less than an hour per week were three times as likely to be alive seven years later. Serving others can give meaning to your life, as a UX designer we have one of the most beautiful occasion to change the World and help people. So doing user research with a karma yoga attitude will bring your products to another level, the level of love.
For more insights on yoga follow my Instagram page Martinelle_______
Press on the clap if you liked my article 😎
And do not forget to start practice! 👍👍👍
