I shared a delightful breakfast with Mariel Hemingway recently. I asked to interview her for Worthwhile magazine about her deep connection with yoga and how it might help us become less stressful, more peaceful and creative at work.

A scant three months after her grandfather, author Ernest Hemingway, took his own life, Mariel came into the world. She seemed destined to remain in the shadow of her famous grandfather as well as her older sister, model Margaux Hemingway. But Mariel quickly made her own mark as an actress. She is best remembered on screen in Woody Allen's Manhatten, for which she earned an Oscar nomination.

In 2003, Mariel wrote her own memoir - Finding My Balance. It is an honest telling of her journey toward finding stability in her less-than-balanced family. She thrives all the same thanks in part to yoga. Today, she owns a yoga studio in Sun Valley, Idaho, and when she has time instructs classes herself.

Mariel began our conversation telling me that yoga has a very gentle way of reconnecting us to our better self so that we gain a fresh perspective on life. I quickly admitted to her that I'm not sufficiently flexible in limb (the metaphor of a dead plant comes to mind) to enjoy yoga. She let me know that was the #1 lame excuse that stops people from finding an important tool for personal growth...ouch!

"The beauty of yoga is it can be anything you want it to be," she gently explained. "Done regularly, it will make your body incredibly fit. But you can use if for stress reduction. There is no way to do yoga without calming down."

The goal, she added, was to stay "present" in the middle of a chaotic lifestyle. I was curious how staying "present" would make me feel any less calm. Mariel admitted that the world of work was often unhealthy. We have "become obsessed with the short term - you must do 20 things at once. In a fit of heresy to the modern workforce, she said, "Multi-tasking does not lead to wellness."

Since I find it hard that anyone could be successful at work these days without multi-tasking, I pushed back. So did she: "Yoga helps us to see that there is actually more to a day than we realize." When we are scattered and driven by circumstances - rather than taking control of ourselves - our creativity lacks focus. We waste time and become ineffective.

I remarked that meditation helps me focus in a similar way. She immediately agreed, noting that silent meditation is an important part of her yoga practice. "Have you ever heard a great speaker?" she asked. "They take time, because the space between sentences carries as much force as the actual words they speak."

Hmmm, a message worthy of much meditation.