Vinyasa Yoga and Entrepreneurship

I am the founder of a start up and a mom with young children. My
priorities change as the needs of both my children and business change.
What gets most neglected on my daily task list is often myself. I
usually don’t have time to workout or compete in sports as my fellow CEO
friends often do. I never understood how busy entrepreneurs found it
alluring to train for such an abusive sport to the body. In a recent
interview we did for Modern DC Business Magazine with JackBe’s CEO, Luis Derechin,
an avid runner, he explained to me the theory and the appeal of
running. Here is an excerpt from our interview that will hit stands
this winter:

It seems there is communality among CEOs; running marathons. Why would someone put him/her self in physical pain to run 26 miles?

The difficult part of a marathon isn’t the 26 miles. It lies in having the discipline to train many months to get to the race. I guess this is similar to what CEOs do in companies: they must execute.

What do you think about during those gruesome 2+ hours?

”2+ hours”? I wish! It’s more like 3+ hours (and the high 3’s at that). It’s a unique experience. Like anything you start with a lot of enthusiasm, so the first 25% is full of excitement and adrenaline. Over
the next 25%, I think about how much I am ‘enjoying’ the race. Then the
next 25% is about dealing with the fatigue and managing my energy. The
most difficult part is the next 20% (mile 18 to 25). This is when the
marathon turns from a physical challenge to a mental one… and it’s
during that time that I think about all of the reasons why I am doing
this. Finally, when the finish line is visible (the last 5%), it
miraculously gets easier!

The strangest part of it is this: as much as one ‘suffers’ through much of it, the only lasting memory is about how great it was!

I get it but you probably will not find me on the track field getting ready for my next race. Now what does Yoga have anything to do with what I am saying here. I took a Vinyasa Power Yoga level 2 class at
Lifetime Fitness in Loudoun yesterday so I can brag about my practice
and have something to chirp about when I meet my colleagues. Keep in
mind, I do not do Yoga or workout really. So the instructor was
surprised that I would pick an advanced hot class to start my new CEO
hobby. I started the class already sore from trying to run the day
before. I felt out of place but was determined to finish the class. It
started out ok. Everyone in the class had better gear and better bodies
than me. I felt a little ashamed of my Buddha belly at first but quickly
let go when my arms started to shake from the challenging poses I was
holding for only a few seconds only to jump into the next one that would
make my legs shake. I watched people around me straddle their own legs
and make swings out of their torsos. They did headstands. I swear one
looked like he levitated. I felt like such an under achiever.

I remembered though what I felt 3 years ago when I started a local magazine in Loudoun. My competitors made fun and even advertisers chuckled when I said I was calling from Modern Mom Magazine. Local
community boards were making fun of our magazine and saying, “what’s
next? Deadbeat Dads?”. I felt strong in my goal and pushed forward
without paying attention to anyone. I competed not with my competition
but with my own goals. When I stopped looking through other magazines
for my own prospect list, my company sales roamed. Competing with
yourself is really the key to success. It keeps you focused and
intelligent. The same principal applied to my Yoga practice. The minute I
took my eyes off the people around me, I was better balanced. I noticed
I wasn’t that bad. I had better balance than I thought. My shoulders
were just as strong as many of the class goers (carrying around a 4 year
old will do that).

The moral of my story is that, yes I will go back to Yoga. I will do a headstand. I will straddle my body to make myself a pretzel even if everyone around me is doing something else. Running my business, I do
the same.

To read more of my blogs, you can go to www.hulyaaksu.com