Yoga aims to unite the body, mind, and soul together to form an integrated whole. All is one. As I reflect on my 25-year yoga journey, I realize there are certain go-to poses in my Vinyasa database, if you will. This makes me wonder what it is in my personality that attracts me to the many poses – “Asanas” in Sanskrit – that I’ve tried to master, like doing a handstand:
That’s right. That’s me. Practicing a handstand and holding it. All is one.
Like Zoolander, I’m not talking about downward dogs, or Sun salutations, or the ones that take place in your typical suburban yoga studio; I’m talking about the ones that seem highly contrary to uniting the body, mind, and soul. I’m talking about Ashtanga, especially Mysore style, whose success in mastering is no different from succeeding as a CEO. Compare a bind in corporate life to a bind in Ashtanga, and the difference in discomfort is curiously similar.
As I ruminate on this and ponder my personality and my pose, I speculate about what the favorite poses may be for successful CEOs in the tech industry. What is their go-to asana based on their personalities?
So, tapping into my journalistic fervor, I attempted to answer this earth-shattering question by inviting some of the titans of our industry to my yoga studio. Hopefully, my investigative reporting will uncover some secrets to their success. It’s worth a try.
Elon Musk – CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, X (Twitter)
Elon stopped by the studio and immediately went into Yoganidrasana (Yoga Sleep Posture) because he has been known to sleep in the office (see Internet). In rooms that typically aren’t designed to rest one’s weary body, Yoganidrasana is a perfect yoga pose for the office because there’s always a pillow behind you, ready to help you soothe mind, body, and soul.
Insight Gained: Flexibility and sleep can be key to running multiple companies.
Tim Cook – CEO of Apple
Supta Vrdhva Pada Varjrasna (Sleeping Raised Foot Thunderbolt posture) is soooooooo Tim, and that’s exactly what he practiced at my studio. First, Tim rolled over his arm that was behind his back and then rolled across the “meaty” portion of his upper forearm just below the elbow. The choreography of this movement was striking and elegant, like Tim, and showed how he can simultaneously look backwards and forwards all at the same time.
Insight Gained: Never go forward without looking back (to your roots), but at the same time, it’s probably a good idea to make some acquisitions in AI.
Larry Ellison – CEO of Oracle
This reporter observed Larry gravitating toward two primary poses: Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog), floating into Tittibhasana A (Insect Posture). Larrry inhaled, while in his downward dog, and jumped his legs onto his arms straight, without ever touching the floor.
Insight Gained: Sometimes, leapfrogs can be achieved even when you start from behind a pedestrian position, as was the case with Oracle Cloud. It feels wonderful to fly over your competitors, increasing your net worth by $100 billion and briefly topping the world’s richest person list, which is a feeling one can achieve with Tittibhasana.
Sam Altman – CEO of OpenAI & Jensen Huang – CEO of Nvidia
I told Sam and Jensen about the time I heard they met with Larry Ellison in Palo Alto to put the final touches on their three-way deal (the building of a data center to house Nvidia GPUS, which OpenAI would use). Both added that they clinked champagne glasses after the deal, and amped up the celebration with all three of them going into Mayuransana, “Peacock Posture.” Man, what a party. Sam and Jensen demonstrated the poses in my studio, explaining that since they’re new to yoga and their financial success, it was best to start with something relatively accessible. This reporter says accessible, others say, “there’s no way I’m doing that, too hard on the wrists.”
Insight Gained: Anything can happen. One minute you’re out, another minute, you’re in.
So, there you have it. What have we learned? Well, we’ve learned that my defiant research has shown yoga isn’t just for flexibility, it’s for working on the shop floor, trying to figure out which AI company to acquire, leapfrogging Amazon and Google, and getting ready for your IPO. We’ve learned that maybe the secret to building trillion-dollar companies isn’t just having vision and drive and grit, it’s finding the perfect yoga pose. We’ve also learned that prominent tech CEOs straining to achieve challenging yoga poses is a fun visual. And we’ve learned that maybe if tech CEOs aligned their chakras and stock evaluations, we could get through a yoga class without checking our phones! But I digress…
Find your pose, and maybe it will unlock the next billion-dollar idea. Unfathomable success could start with stretching in the right direction. One adjustment at a time. It’s a trend I think needs more presence in the tech and corporate world.
Who knows? In the future, maybe all board meetings will start with sun salutations, earnings calls will pause for focused breathwork, and the next keynote will end with group savasana.
Namaste.
mh