Waylon Lewis, founder of elephant journal, participated in Yogify Your Business: Listen to him discuss the dos and don’ts of mindful business.

Let go to grow.

When I ease my yoga students into the pose “half-pigeon”, which allows them to get deep into their hips, I remind them of the ancient yogi belief that we hold some of our deepest emotions in this place.

You see, by using our breath, surrendering and relaxing instead of holding and pushing through, we just might be able to access these buried emotions that don’t serve us so we can let go and create more space for what does.

Now, I bring up this subject of “letting go” because so many of the successful entrepreneurs I’ve been interviewing for “Yogify Your Business“  keep saying that letting go is one of the keys to their success.

More specifically, they shared that letting go was the only way they could actually grow their business.

Some of the business owners talked in terms of letting go of control of certain management styles, business ideas and marketing techniques.

Others offered their personal stories of actually having to let go of employees, large sales or even pieces of their business.

No matter what it was, their stories of letting go weren’t easy but each story led to this notion that it was the only way they were able to be where they are today.

Now, as an entrepreneur myself, I had to ask, “how do you know if you’re supposed to let go or work harder, push through and hold on?” For me, it’s the constant buzz in my ear.

So here’s the short, short answer: connect inward.

That’s right, just like when we show up on the mat or sit down to a mediation, if we aren’t truly connecting inward we aren’t able to have the awareness of those deep places of emotions held in the pockets of our bodies, aka our hips.

Likewise in our businesses, if we don’t find those moments of silence and connect inwards we won’t know exactly what to “let go” of.

Whether it’s your business or your life, I want to ask you right now…what do you need to let go of so you can grow?

What do you need to get rid of so you can create more space for what you really need?

Stay with me here because I don’t want to leave you hanging. Like yoga practice, we’ve got to show up and do the work. So here it is. Sit tall, take a deep breath and find a moment of silence as you ask yourself a little more directly…

“What is the one thing I need to let go of today?”

To hear more of how successful business owners are connecting the yogic principles with growing and doing business, visit our website.

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Editor: Rachel Nussbaum

Photo: Andrea Allen