Working in the corporate world was an environment full of high demand, high stress, long hours, and plentiful arising issues, according to Lindsay Coward. Her position lacked collaboration and connections between employees, and she often felt unsupported in her workplace. Combined with rigid office hours and schedules, she found it to be a very negative working environment.

When Coward was a student athlete in college, she came across a poster announcing a free evening yoga class. Always interested in physical movement, she attended her first class and immediately fell in love with the practice.

“I loved how it helped me,” Coward said. “Being an athlete and a student, yoga offered me an experience that I needed to help me stay balanced and focused. Fast forward to that corporate job where I dreaded to be, I remembered how my yoga practice made me feel, so I sought out a studio near my home and began attending classes in the evenings.”

Practicing mindfulness, breath work, and self-serving movement in regular yoga classes helped support Coward in her unsupported workplace culture. She noticed her mindset becoming more positive, and overall she felt happier and more sustained.

Recognizing the dramatic shift in herself, she experienced an ‘aha moment’, wondering what the possibilities could be if everyone in an entire workplace had access to those same tools. She cut back her working hours, went back to school, and became a certified yoga instructor. 

“Once I found that training, I quit everything else,” Coward said. “I lived and breathed everything yoga. My plan was to return to my hometown and bring yoga to the community via individual workplaces where yoga wasn’t necessarily found and to people who wouldn’t necessarily want to go to a yoga studio. This was the beginning of a whole new journey for me.”

Coward began teaching yoga everywhere she could — churches, public spaces, government offices, and other gathering places. She found other work in management at a massage facility, then at a holistic center where she could also teach yoga. In order to reach even more people to help bring peace, calm, focus, and balance to their working lives, she used her practice and her passion to start her own businesses in 2015.

Yoga Nut began as a traveling yoga business, bringing yoga, meditation, and mindfulness to various places of work. She then attended Lenoir Rhyne University, studying public health and earning a master’s degree with an emphasis in stress management. After graduating in 2020, she relaunched Yoga Nut with worksite wellness programs while continuing the corporate yoga and meditation portion of the business. She also started Yoga on Demand — an online portal offering access to guided meditations, breath work, stretches meant to be done while at a desk, and full yoga practices to be done on a mat.

Personally, yoga continues to play a large role in balancing the work of running a business, and her practices have evolved throughout the seasons of her life. As an entrepreneur and mother of three, participating in 90-minute sessions is not often feasible. She uses yoga in small portions to move her body and release tension, and uses intentional breathing patterns throughout the day.

“When I notice that I’m feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or just need a minute to myself, I can take a minute to breathe,” Coward said. “It’s a great reset and release. Right before I have a meeting or a teaching session, I use meditation to help shift into work mode. Breathing intentionally, meditating, listening to a song, or repeating affirmations and mantras… for me, it’s a way to clear my mind and set myself up for success.”

Taking the time to use these tools does not take away from work productivity; it actually enhances it because the tools allow a more focused perspective. Yoga practices have helped Coward during daily shifts away from work life, allowing her to be more present with friends and family at the end of the workday.

“How many times do you get caught up in the things you’re working on, then you try to have dinner with someone and all you’re thinking about is work stuff?” Coward said. “You have to be able to sift that out, because being present is huge, too. It doesn’t have to take an hour. You can breathe for five minutes and completely reset yourself. It makes a difference, and really compounds over time to be a huge benefit.”