CORPORATE WELLNESS GIVES PEACE A CHANCE
IN BUILDING HEALTHIER, HAPPIER WORKFORCE
On-site classes by The Peace School reduce stress with breathing, yoga, massage
CHICAGO (December 7, 2006) â The new year always brings a new resolve to get healthier â not just among individuals, but in many a Human Resources office. Which raises the important question: What offers the best return on investment in on-site employee wellness programs?
Answer: Easy, effective and hugely popular fitness classes focusing on essential workplace skills like stress management and reduction -- but broadened with mediation, breathing techniques, yoga, massage and even self-defense.
Itâs all available, at remarkably low cost, under the capable instruction of highly trained teachers from The Peace School, 3121 N. Lincoln Ave. (773-248-7959).
âThese people are wonderful!â says Shawn Halloran, senior HR generalist at Hu-Friedy, a Chicago-based manufacturer of dental instruments that does business globally. Since 2004, Peace School teachers have been offering monthly yoga classes on-site at Hu-Friedy, Halloran says, as well as classes in self-defense and other health-enhancing topics. The School also attends an annual health fair and corporate special events.
âThe Peace School instructors genuinely teach â they explain why youâre doing what youâre doing,â says Halloran. And that kind of communication is valued at Hu-Friedy, where 23 nationalities are represented among some 450 employees.
âThe Peace School classes are wonderful at reminding us to stop and take a deep breath and get some perspective,â says Michelle Jackson, a program manager with HFC Co. who works at a private corporate fitness center in Chicago. Jackson got to know The Peace Schoolâs workplace classes and instructors while in a previous job and she couldnât wait to bring them into her present site.
âI hired them myself, and we couldnât be happier,â she says. âProbably the focus on breathing is the most unique aspect of how they work. Usually itâs a 45-minute class for us, and we always have good evaluations.â
Practitioners praise the The Peace Schoolâs unique peace breathing and its positive results of reduced stress, better family and interpersonal relations, and greater effectiveness at work. âPeace breathing is a physiologically based breathing technique,â explains instructor and education coordinator Jennifer L. Kim. âIt changes the bodyâs utilization of oxygen and improves circulation. It is an effective meditation technique and, since it is breathing based, can also be called upon in moments of stress or conflict to help clear the mind and defuse the tension. Plus, it makes you feel terrific!â
For all those reasons, The Peace Schoolâs classes are a hit at senior residences and park districts, as are the classes held 6 days a week at The Peace School. And everyone who joins in, Kim adds, also joins a peace-making process.
âWe believe that the individual has the responsibility and the power to help create peace,â she says. âOur techniques give people the tools they need to help bring about that individual peace and to spread it out from themselves.â
Programs offered by The Peace School instructors at workplaces and other sites include stress reduction classes that draw on peace breathing, meditation and yoga, along with simple movements for stress release in the body that can be performed in a normal workplace environment, no change of clothing required. Available workshop topics include stress reduction, peace breathing/meditation, peace exercise/yoga, self-defense, and massage.
Whatâs most important about The Peace School, says Hu-Friedyâs Halloran, is the integrity of its approach and its teachers. âTheyâre really about well-being, and they live their values,â she says. âWe truly believe that our employees are our greatest asset. We feel that we work hard and we play hard, and the Peace School classes really make us better at both."