What yoga therapy taught me about marketing and leadership

Vicky Glanville Watson

Part of the Mindful Marketing series exploring awareness, compassion and calm in business.

When I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, I did what I’d always done in business: I made a plan. I set targets, scheduled strategies and told myself that if I worked hard enough, I could fix it.

That mindset had served me well for years in agencies, campaigns, leadership roles and deadlines. Push harder. Do more. Control the variables.

Until my body simply said no.

Fatigue, pain and unpredictability replaced the sense of control I’d always relied on. It felt like failure. In fact, I felt like a failure. But it was actually the start of something I hadn’t realised I needed: a complete rethinking of what it means to work well.

Learning to listen

Yoga therapy entered my life quietly, not as a cure but as a companion. As a yoga teacher, I was searching for an alternative to what the NHS could, or couldn’t, offer. I’m forever grateful for their persistence in finding a diagnosis and starting treatment, but I needed something to help me reconnect with my body, which led me to yoga therapy.

In those early sessions, my yoga therapist asked questions no doctor ever had:

“How does this feel?”
“What happens if you move slower?”
“Can you stay curious about how this feels in your body rather than correct the movement?”
“What would happen if this wasn’t perfect?”

At first, it was disarming and disconcerting. My instinct was to do yoga, not listen to it. I was too caught up in approaching work and life as a Human Doing, not a Human Being.

But yoga therapy isn’t about performance; it’s about presence. Through slow movement and breath awareness, I started to hear my body’s signals again. I learned to notice fatigue before collapse, tension before pain, emotion before burnout.

And I realised: this was leadership training, because awareness changes everything.

From control to curiosity

I began to see parallels between how I managed my health and how I’d led teams, clients and projects. Both had relied on structure, pressure and output. Both rewarded speed over reflection. Both confused busyness with progress. I was so proud of my packed diary and spreadsheets.

Yoga therapy showed me another way, one rooted in curiosity rather than control. When you pause long enough to listen, you make better decisions. When you create space instead of filling it, new ideas emerge. When you respond rather than react, trust grows - with your body, your team and your clients.

That’s what mindful leadership and mindful marketing are built on: awareness before action.

Awareness before action

It sounds simple but it’s radical in practice.

In yoga, awareness means noticing before you move. In marketing, it means understanding before you act. Both require presence. Both protect against wasted energy.

Now, before launching a campaign or strategy, I pause and ask the same questions I’ve learned to ask on the mat:

What’s actually needed here?
What patterns am I repeating without noticing?
What would happen if I slowed down?

Those questions have saved me countless hours, countless meetings and countless bouts of creative exhaustion. Awareness doesn’t delay progress; it deepens it.

Leadership with compassion

There’s another principle yoga therapy reinforced, one that still shapes my work every day: compassion over criticism.

When I was first diagnosed, I learned that recovery doesn’t come from judgement; it comes from understanding. The same applies to leadership. Teams don’t thrive under pressure and perfectionism. They flourish when they feel safe, supported and seen.

A compassionate culture isn’t weak; it’s wise. It sustains energy, creativity and innovation. Marketing that begins from compassion - for the audience, for the process, for the humans behind it - is always stronger.

The seed of Mindful Marketing

My experience with yoga therapy didn’t just restore balance to my health; it reshaped how I approach work, communication and growth.

It became the seed of what I now call Mindful Marketing: an approach that values clarity over chaos, connection over constant output and presence over pressure.

It’s not about being soft or spiritual; it’s about being aware enough to make intelligent, sustainable decisions in business, in leadership and in life.

Because the truth is, the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. When we learn to listen - really listen - we discover that both bodies and businesses thrive on the same thing: attention and care.

Reflection

If you find yourself running at full tilt, in work or in life, pause for a moment and ask yourself: What might change if you started listening instead of pushing?