10 Lessons I’ve Learned as a CEO from 400 Hot Yoga Sessions

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10 Lessons I’ve Learned as a CEO from 400 Hot Yoga Sessions

Tomorrow marks my 400th hot yoga class.
Each one is 90 minutes long. That’s 600 hours spent sweating, stretching, and surrendering—on a mat in a 105-degree room.

I started for stress relief. I stayed because it became a leadership operating system.
Hot yoga hasn’t just reshaped my body—it’s reshaped how I lead, build teams, and make decisions under pressure.

Here are the 10 lessons it taught me as a CEO:

1. Stillness Is a Skill

Startups move fast. Fundraising cycles, feature rollouts, crisis calls—it’s nonstop.
Yoga taught me that stillness is not the absence of motion—it’s the presence of control.
Holding still in a challenging pose builds the same muscle as holding your calm during an investor negotiation or a team conflict.

2. Breath Before Strategy

In hot yoga, if you lose your breath, you lose your balance.
Same in business: If I can’t manage my breath, I can’t manage my company.
Now, before a board call or heated moment, I pause, inhale, and reset. It’s my best decision-making tool—and it’s always free.

3. Growth Isn’t Linear—But It Is Earned

Some days I feel unstoppable. Other days, even a basic pose feels impossible.
Startups work the same way: choppy, humbling, inconsistent.
Yoga reminds me that progress lives in the commitment to show up, not in the illusion of linear success.

4. The Mirror Doesn’t Lie

Yoga studios are lined with mirrors—not to admire, but to self-correct.
It’s uncomfortable but honest.
In business, your "mirror" is your team. Your tone, your energy, your decisions—they reflect right back at you.
Self-awareness is the first step to real leadership.

5. Discomfort Is a Signal, Not a Stop Sign

Yoga teaches you to sit inside the hard stuff, not avoid it.
That burning thigh? That heat-induced panic? You learn to stay.
Now, when things get hard in the business—delays, doubt, downturns—I breathe deeper, not faster.
Discomfort isn’t a sign to quit. It’s the edge of growth.

6. You Can’t Muscle Through Everything

I used to force every pose. Overgrip. Overthink. Overdo.
I pulled a muscle. Got injured.
Eventually, I learned to let the breath do the work, rather than relying on brute force.
The same applies to startups: not every obstacle requires a sprint. Sometimes, it needs patience, leverage, or a quiet pivot.

7. The Sweat Is Feedback

In yoga, sweat isn’t shame—it’s data. It indicates where the work is taking place.
In business, I now track “sweat” differently:
Where’s the team grinding inefficiently?
Where am I spending effort without yield?
Where is the system breaking down?
Sweat shows up where the system is strained. Learn from it.

8. Consistency Crushes Intensity

You don’t become flexible by doing five classes in one week and then skipping the next month.
You build strength by showing up on the days you least feel like it.
I’ve found the same to be true with founder work. Great companies are built in the boring reps—processes, feedback loops, trust-building.
Intensity is a spark. Consistency is a fire.

9. Comparison Is a Thief

In yoga, comparing yourself to the next person on the mat can lead to injury or shame.
In business, it leads to distraction and dilution.
Someone else’s Series A or exit story has nothing to do with your next decision.
Focus on your mat. Your pose. Your pace.

10. You Leave the Mat, But the Practice Comes With You

Yoga isn’t about becoming a yoga master. It’s about becoming more masterful in everything else.
The breath I train in class shows up when a deal goes sideways.
The balance I find on the mat helps me lead from a place of clarity, not chaos.
After 600 hours in the heat, I’ve become less reactive, more resilient, and more grounded in my leadership.

Final Thought

People often ask where I learned how to lead.
Was it a mentor? A book? An accelerator?

I tell them: it’s a 105-degree room, a 90-minute class, and 400 sessions of surrender.

Hot yoga didn’t just teach me how to stretch.
It taught me how to build.
To breathe through uncertainty.
To sweat through discomfort.
And to lead from the inside out.

🙋‍♂️ Got a Question About Startups, Capital, or the Founder Journey?

After 400 hot yoga sessions and 10+ years in the startup trenches, I’ve learned a lot—sometimes the hard way.

Whether you're stuck on fundraising, building your MVP, or managing team chaos…

👉 Ask me anything at AskFuzzyWenzel.com

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