Yogist Goes Global: A Testimonial from the National Bank of Hungary
Katalin Vásárhelyi develops training programs for employees and executives at the National Bank of Hungary. As an in-house coach, trainer, and project manager for workplace well-being, she tells us how Yogist is making a difference at her company.
How did you integrate Yogist into your teams?
Response from Katalin Vásárhelyi:
I met Anne-Charlotte (Vuccino, Ed.) during a presentation she gave for the APM club: Association for Management Progress. Everything she talked about applies to everyone, and that’s what immediately appealed to me. Yogist struck me as universal—regardless of country, culture, or profession—and timeless—for today and tomorrow, in anticipation of future management trends.
So I discussed it with my superiors, who trust me. On top of that, you should know that the President of the National Bank of Hungary is a yoga enthusiast. So even though Yogist isn’t strictly speaking yoga, the concept won him over.
What steps did you take to integrate Yogist into your business?
Response from Katalin Vásárhelyi:
First, our three in-house trainers and a coach came to Paris to train us in the Yogist method. Anne-Charlotte taught us the basics of Yogist and helped us implement it in our company.
After returning from the seminar, we organized on-site sessions for executives. The goal was to present the method in a practical way, complete with a demonstration.
Next, we produced a 3-minute video in which we invited employees to try the Yogist method. We posted the video on the bank’s intranet page. This is a full-scale campaign to promote the Yogist method within the bank.
Following that, we set up a weekly schedule. Online sessions were scheduled, and employees could sign up for them; for example, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there were energizing sessions from 8:00 to 8:20 a.m.
We have continued to offer in-person sessions alongside our online offerings. In addition, whenever we hold in-house training sessions (such as skills development or team-building exercises), we always incorporate Yogist exercises into the day’s activities.
“Our employees know that we do this to look after their mental and physical health.”
How do employees respond to the Yogist method?
Response from Katalin Vásárhelyi:
Our employees enjoy what they do with Yogist because it makes them feel good. For them, Yogist has become part of their daily routine, and they’re eager to attend in-person workshops. Since I’m not always available to lead these workshops, I’d like to train employees internally so they can share the Yogist method with their colleagues.
What makes Yogist unique for the National Bank of Hungary?
Response from Katalin Vásárhelyi:
For me, Yogist isn’t just about physical exercises like a yoga class or a gym session. It’s a concept—a very complex one: it works on the mind, emotions, and body all at once. But it also changes your attitude in everyday life when you incorporate Yogist into your life in terms of communication, non-judgment, public speaking, and conflict resolution.
And most importantly: we’ve adopted the Yogist content library—about twenty beautiful, exceptionally well-produced videos that are very easy to follow. We’ve translated them all into Hungarian and made them available on our intranet. So we have exercise videos for the wrists, upper back, and lower back, for example. But we also have longer videos on specific topics, such as starting the day, before an important interview, or before going to sleep.
Every month, I post an internal message encouraging employees to use it, highlighting a Yogist exercise in a video.
