In Mindfully Successful, an executive coach and yoga teacher explains why and how to integrate thought, posture, and breathing to improve leadership skills.
Author Margo Boster defines mindful success as “living in regular awareness of your actions, thoughtfully making choices that serve you well, and mastering your emotional responses.” How can the harried executive marshal these Zen qualities at will? “[E]mbrace the natural functions
of your brain, body, and breath, empowering you to elevate your life and leadership with greater ease, confidence, and authenticity.”
After 15 years as an executive coach, Boster presents the science of brain, body, and breath (neuroplasticity, the intricacies of the nervous systems, our three diaphragms); describes techniques to integrate them (brain training exercises, yoga poses (with photos), and mindful breathing); and shares how she helped a wide range of executives, male and female, in a variety of business settings, reduce stress, sleep better, think more clearly, and feel more at peace.
Boster targets an audience of highly motivated, demanding, goal-setting readers. She doesn’t hold back on the scientific foundation of her work while keeping the information concise and accessible. For example, in brief flashes of humor, she writes about what is obviously her real passion and what makes this book stand out from other leadership guides: yoga. She describes giving it a try after a nasty, financially devastating divorce: “Now I felt even more agitated. I had serious problems to fix! And this smug little jerk with a big belly in yoga shorts was telling me to breathe? Breathe? I yelled at him in my mind. You want me to breathe… How the hell is breathing going to solve my mountain of problems?”
Many of her target readers, intent on making it big, will have the same attitude. But Boster’s
research, tools, and satisfied clients will convince even the most skeptical business leader that the bottom line is not the only measure of success.