Rev. Shankar Fern believes that the workplace is the schoolhouse for evolving ourselves as spiritual beings. In this article, he highlights some of the key teachings of Swami Satchidananda that he has applied during the past three decades as a successful business consultant and industry leader.

Keeping Your Inner Peace

There are so many stressors in today’s work environment. People have pressing deadlines, not enough time and fewer staff to meet these deadlines. They are under a constant barrage: being attacked by bosses, colleagues and other departments competing for resources. So, there is no shortage of ways we can lose our peace in the workplace. When we lose our peace, we start to make poor business decisions. It erodes our ability to build relationships with colleagues. Today in business, innovation is so critical. You can’t innovate without inner peace—it’s a prerequisite. Maintaining one’s inner peace is a key element in applying Yoga to business. So, find a way to make your inner peace your priority, not just when you are sitting to meditate, but when you are sitting in your office.

Live Only to Serve

Swami Satchidananda (Sri Gurudev) had a phrase printed on his stationery: “The dedicated enjoy supreme peace. Therefore, live only to serve.” In business, so often we perform a task to achieve a certain outcome. Usually we hope to get some gain: Our boss will recognize us, our clients will give us another sale, a colleague will work a day in our stead so that we can take a day off (but we have to reciprocate). And even, if not for personal gain, everyone works with the intent of some outcome. Sri Gurudev taught us to approach everything we do as Karma Yoga—acting not for our own benefit but for the benefit of others—this then becomes service, seva or Karma Yoga. When we do that, it’s a way of keeping our inner peace and enjoying supreme peace.

When we don’t build attachment to outcomes, we’re not upset when we don’t get something from it or don’t even get the expected outcome. That might sound counterintuitive in business, when it is usually all about outcome. Let’s take these examples: A salesperson spends months trying to sell something to a corporate client, and then the client picks someone else. The doctor works hard to save the patient, but the patient dies. The project manager creates a new team to bring a product to market, but the product fails. What happens is people get devastated, they lose their peace, their sense of purpose and, when they lose that, they lose their footing. How can you be happy at work? Not by the promotion or the raise, but by selfless service. Then, happiness comes from the pure joy of service not from the result of the service.

Karma: The Law of Cause and Effect

Many companies and corporations that are after the almighty dollar, don’t recognize the law of karma. Understanding that karma is about putting something out there that comes back to you can radically change how we are in the world and how businesses can and should operate. For example, if I do something hurtful to someone else, even if I don’t think of it like that, something in me knows it is wrong. Maybe it’s the higher Self that understands what we are doing and how it affects others. Karma is about understanding your actions, the motives behind them and the effect those actions have on others.

Just being aware of the law of karma is very helpful in business. Healthy people learn business lessons by observing the cause and effect patterns of their actions. To give an example, suppose I’m a manager and I decide that in order to gain brownie points with my boss, I want to get a report in early to them. So I make my team work 14-hour days for a week in order to do that. I have created unnecessary pain and suffering for those around me because I acted selfishly, without realizing the effects of my actions. That’s going to come back to bite me. It’s the classic Ebenezer Scrooge syndrome.

It’s All for Good

There are many times throughout my day and my week, that I invoke this saying from Gurudev, “It’s all for good.” It’s an incredibly profound teaching. It’s about creating a winning frame of mind for ourselves. Let’s see if we can apply this to three common challenges we face in the workplace: issues with coworkers, being asked to do too much and doing tasks we dislike.

Say you and a coworker can’t get along and you’re miserable about having to work anywhere near each other. What if you reframed this and affirmed: What I am going through is all for good. If it’s for good, what am I supposed to learn? Suddenly you realize that maybe there’s something here to learn. Maybe you discover that there is some trait in you that’s not so great and you have to look at it and adjust in order to get along with this person. In the end you turn around and say, “Thank you,” because you realize that person helped you work out something that is for your highest good. There’s an opportunity that was a blessing in disguise. So, make it your business to find the good.

Now let’s apply, “It’s all for good” to being asked to do too much. How in the face of being asked to do too much can we assert that it’s all for good? Maybe you have been in a rut of constantly trying to please others. In order to manage your workload, you have to learn to say no. So, being asked to do too much is really an opportunity for you to build confidence and faith in yourself and to learn when and how to say no. Now, you have an opportunity to cultivate a deeper sense of self-reliance rather than being so dependent on what others think about you.

For our last example, let’s look at a situation where you either have tasks at work to do that you dislike or work that you really hate to do. How could that be for good? If you hate filing, how is that good for you? Maybe you are being presented with an opportunity to really go within, look inside and ask yourself the hard questions: Do I really feel fulfilled in this job? Is this what I want to do with my life? If you weren’t presented with things you didn’t like, how would you figure out what you really did like?

These may be simplistic examples, but hopefully they help to illustrate the type of transformational shifts that can occur when establish a conviction that it is, ultimately, all for good.

The Power of Mantra

Repeating one’s mantra doesn’t only change one’s mind and heart but it also can change the physical, external reality around us. A mantra is sound vibration. Gurudev used to always explain that sound vibrations are so powerful that they can cleanse and transform us inside and out. I was fortunate to receive mantra initiation from Sri Gurudev. If you don’t have a mantra, you can choose one like OM, Hari OM, OM Shanti, OM Namah Sivaya. Repeat it as often as you can.

I’ve seen firsthand the power of mantra. Try it for yourself: If you are in a meeting and everyone is arguing with each other and no one is listening to you, start repeating the mantra silently. Watch as your own mind gets clearer, your heart settles down, you get answers to questions that were unanswerable a moment before. I’ve done this and I’ve seen that all of a sudden the people around me are transformed by this mantra repetition. A moment ago they were arguing and then they stop. You’ve literally changed the vibration and shifted the energy in the room. The vast majority of times, when I have the clarity to begin repeating the mantra, challenging situations clear. Never underestimate the power of mantra.

“Adapt, Adjust, Accommodate”

This is actually a key teaching from Swami Satchidananda’s Guru, Sri Swami Sivananda. Sri Gurudev used to quote this all the time, and it’s fantastic to apply this in any business setting. Imagine that you want to be in a company that has a warm, loving work environment. You try and get people to bond and to spend time talking about their families and kids, but, that’s not what they are doing. People aren’t on the same wavelength as you. What can you do? Adapt to the environment. Maybe you realize that you needed to talk to someone for twenty minutes at the start of each day but that maybe you were being too needy. Or the opposite may occur. You are very, very businesslike, but, you wind up in a situation where everyone is warm and loving. The boss tells you that you are turning people off and that you need to learn to adapt to the office culture.

When we can adapt, adjust and accommodate, we can step out of our comfort zones, habits and needs to allow ourselves to stretch and evolve, rather than trying to change others or our outer environment. Ultimately, it’s good business to trust your path with Yoga and know that in every situation there are golden opportunities to learn and grow.

About the Author:

Rev. Shankar Fern is an Integral Yoga Minister, teacher and serves on the Board of the Integral Yoga Institute of New York. Rev. Shankar is also a chaplain, business/life and spiritual coach and the president of Change-Ready Solutions. He was one of the first professionals that merged banking and brokerage in the 1980s, was one of the first human resources department professionals to launch e-learning in the corporate workplace and is considered a world opinion leader in the field of employee engagement and retention. For more information please visit: yogaminister.com

The post Yogic Keys to Success in the Workplace appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Don’t earn ten dollars and spend fifteen, which is often the way people live, thinking Oh, I have to have this and that. The agony of trying to pay such bills certainly outweighs the joy of buying. Comfort is not in the house, the bed, the clothes, or the food; it’s in the mind. When you spend too much and then worry how to pay the bills, there’s no comfort at all.

If you find it difficult to pay all the bills, that means you have spent more than you earned. In such a situation you can’t even enjoy your family, because of constant grumbling, “Oh, how can I pay these bills?” It will be very easy to pay all the bills if you spend according to your income. So let’s learn to live the simple life. We can do it; everything is possible.

In the Ramayana epic, when the villain was wounded and bleeding, the author Valmiki writes: Ravana’s mind was “shaking like that of a debtor.” It’s okay to make money. It doesn’t matter what the job is. No job is more menial than to be a debtor. We shouldn’t hesitate to take any job available. A poor person need never lose their dignity, but a debtor loses their dignity.

Until you pay back your debts, cut back on all your expenses. Live with what you have now or, even if you have to, sell some things.

The sage Thiruvalluvar, in the Tirukkural, said that “God is giving you a lot; always save a little.” If you earn ten dollars, make sure you put one dollar in savings. In your budget, consider savings as one part of your expenses because anything might happen. You may lose your job or fall sick. By saving money, you save yourself.

Even the poorest person can save a little. Try to keep a few dollars to save. If you make $1,000, don’t let your spending exceed $900. It’s always better to save a little from what we earn. Even ants save a little food for a rainy day. Don’t even depend on insurance companies. Remember there may be a rainy day. If you get more money than you need, through your salary or a bonus, don’t go spend it all immediately and come back empty-handed. Put it in savings.

Some Yoga scriptures say we’ve been sent here with just a certain number of breaths. You have to budget your life according to that amount of breaths. Budget your life—and not only your money, but in everything: your hours, your days, your entire life could be budgeted.

An intelligent person simply asks and looks: How much am I making and how much can I afford to spend? If necessary, cut down drastically. Budget your life.

Sage Thiruvalluvar says householders should divide their money into five parts: some to honor departed souls; some for God; some for guests; some for relatives; and some for one’s self. Then still, some also for a rainy day.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post The Yoga of Money appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Why? If by any chance, you are not appreciated, will you still be happy? Or will you think, Oh, how can they be like that; after taking all my service? They should have at least thanked me. Otherwise, I won’t even call them nice human beings! If your mind tells you that, then tell your mind: See, you were expecting the appreciation, and because you failed to get that, you criticized them. It is your expectation that created that criticism. One must be very careful about the motivation. It’s not what you do that is important, but why you do it. The motive must be pure. By expecting anything in return, there is always an opportunity, a chance, that you will lose your peace. By expecting something, you are making an appointment—to get some appreciation, to get the applause, to get a thanks. And if it doesn’t come to you, you get disappointed. If you don’t want to be disappointed, please for heaven sake, don’t make any appointments. Then, there will be no reason to blame others.

This might make many of us feel that we should not have any goal or vision in life. I’m not saying that. You can have goals, you can have ambitions but behind the ambition, behind your goal, there should be the element of selflessness. Suppose your ambition is to become a doctor; it’s a good ambition, fine. But why do you want to become a doctor? If it’s to earn plenty of money, have a nice home, a car, and this and that, then it is not a good ambition. You will have disappointments. Instead, if you are becoming a doctor so that you will learn a lot and  become capable of helping many people, that is a wonderful ambition. If you think, I will treat many poor people, free of cost, if possible. I’ll go out of the way to serve people. I won’t use my knowledge for money. I’m becoming a doctor to serve humanity, not to exploit them. Then, it’s a good ambition. Some ambition is necessary. We should not become ambitionless. But all of our ambitions must be for the good of humanity.

You can become a great professor, a lawyer. But if you become a lawyer, don’t become a liar! A lawyer’s job should be to uphold the law and protect the innocent; to punish the culprits and not to save them. True lawyers should see that any criminal are punished. They should not use the law to save criminals or to hide the truth. You can see a  good example in Mahatma Gandhi’s life. He was a great barrister. But, when somebody came to him, he would ask, “Tell me truly, did you do the crime or not? Tell me the honest truth.” If the person did the crime, Gandhiji will try to understand the reasons for this and show the criminal compassion. He will also explain that he will not be able to say that the person did not do that crime. Instead, during the court hearing, Gandhiji would say something like, “Your Honor, my client has admitted the crime. Under these circumstances, he lost his control and he did it. Under these circumstances, the law says he can be acquitted or can be given the lowest punishment. I would say that now he is repenting for it. Probably, if given a chance, he won’t repeat this again. I leave it to your mercy, your Excellency, your Honor.” That is how Gandhiji would plead the case. He would never create a false witness.

All the professions can be used for the sake of humanity. They’re all necessary. We should not pursue them just to make money. Then, ambitions are good and we can and should have them. But above all these ambitions, there is one highest—the topmost one—which when fulfilled, all other things come. Seek ye the kingdom of God first; all other things will be added unto to you. Have the highest ambition which is, Let me realize the truth. Let me dedicate myself completely for the sake of the entire humanity.

Then, you need not even go and learn anything; learning comes to you. I am positive about it. There is no need for you to learn anything; there’s no need for you to earn anything. No learning, no earning, because everything comes to you. We know this from the authority of the scriptures. They say that if a person is a true renunciate—a truly dedicated person—then the learning and earning comes to them. In the Hindu scriptures, it says that all learning comes from the Goddess Saraswati, Goddess of wisdom. All the money and prosperity comes from the Goddess Lakshmi. The scriptures say: “To a true renunciate, Goddesses  Saraswati and Lakshmi come to serve that person.” That person might not even have any education. The world has seen many saints like that. Not all the saints were learned, but wisdom comes if you are ready.

And, it also comes from the very nature. The other day I read from one of the Gospels about Jesus going out among some people who were sick or suffering. A blind person came to him and asked, “Please tell us why we are suffering. God is merciful, you say, but tell us why?” Then Jesus explained to them how they disobeyed the laws of God and nature. Then they asked, “When are we to learn the law? We read all scriptures and we try to follow that.” Then he said, “Those laws are not learned from books. Did Moses get the laws from books? Moses was given the Ten Commandments. Where he get them from? He got it from God, directly. He read it from the nature, from God’s creation.

A blade of grass can teach you the law. A tree can teach you the law, a fruit can teach you the law, the flower can teach you God’s law. We don’t want to take the time to learn from God’s creation, but we read from man’s creation—the book. I’m not using the exact words that I read from the Gospel, but this is the essence. If you have true renunciation, you can learn everything from the very nature. That is God’s book. The entire universe is an open book— the book of knowledge. When we have that ambition, to give ourselves to God and to Nature, or to humanity, we get everything. All ambitions will be fulfilled. Your very words will become soothing balm to ailing people. Your look is enough to heal them. So let that be our ambition. Let that be our highest goal. All the rest will follow.

Throughout the ages, all the sages and saints have said this. Just realize that your life must be a life of dedication. You can practice this in any way you want. But let this be the guiding factor in your life.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post How to Cultivate Healthy Ambitions appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Maybe where you are working now does not have the best atmosphere. In time you can find more suitable work to fit your taste and temperament. But until then you can still work where you are and be a Yogi. Even if you sell steak or liquor, it doesn’t mean you have to take it yourself. As a Karma Yogi, you serve there. Many people still love such things. Until you find better work, don’t leave your present post, so if you don’t find something right away, you won’t be stranded. That’s not Yogic either.

In a way working in such a place could give you more mental strength. Following your principles while living in such an atmosphere isn’t easy. But if you can do it, you are a better Yogi. In one sense, if you don’t believe in something, you should not contribute to it. But you cannot simply go without financial support. Because you refuse to do something, that doesn’t mean the whole world will stop doing it. It’s the attitude in your mind that is most important.

In some cases your conscience will make it very clear that you cannot stay, no matter what the economic situation. You should not sell your conscience for money. You may have to say, “I’m sorry, I don’t want this job. Money is not really important to me. I can’t do this.” Yes, you may even lose your job. It doesn’t matter; don’t lose your principles. Many people have even given their lives to maintain their principles. Can’t you lose a few dollars? Which is more important the money you get from the business or your own personal mental and physical well-being? Don’t think that money alone is going to bring everything. Many wealthy people are living in misery. However poor you are, your personal welfare is most important. Everything has its own vibration. Shun as poison anything that will interfere with your peace of mind.

If you resent your work or your employer, it is best not to stay. The work will not have charm or beauty. You can’t love the work if you can’t love the person who gives you the work. If you feel resentment, analyze the cause. If you have a proper reason and can’t get over it, don’t continue there. Your attitude will just waste both your time and your employer’s, because no matter how beautiful such work is your vibration is carried with your work. If you type a letter with resentment, the letter itself will carry that resentment. Try to change your attitude, but if you really have good cause for resentment, then change your job. Try to have a good and respectful relationship with your employer. Don’t always think the capitalists are out to exploit you. Without capitalists you would not even be working. The employer is there to give employment. It is his or her money and energy that started the place of work which now provides jobs. You give energy, but for that energy you receive food. Try to have some compassion and understanding. If your boss makes a mistake, help him or her realize this by passive means, if you can, but never through hatred. That’s Yoga in business.

You are the master of your destiny. You are the cause of your own poverty, wealth or fame. Open a new chapter in your life. Choose your environment. Choose your occupation. Your temperament will guide you. As your life changes and as you grow you may find your tastes and temperament changing. You may have been doing something different two or three years before, but now your inclinations are different. Let yourself do whatever comes naturally from within.

You don’t need to copy someone else. If it’s your temperament, it will come automatically. Everyone has something special. Each person is unique. Nobody can occupy your position. Don’t put yourself down. If you believe in the Cosmic Will, you will discover that unseen hand operating through you. See what it is, and let it happen through you.

Sometimes when we first offer ourselves to God we seem to run into problems. We may encounter suffering and losses. It’s easy to be devoted when we are always gaining from God. If our businesses thrive, it’s very easy to love God. But if we go to church and offer ourselves totally to God, and the next day lose $10,000 in business, we ask, “What kind of God is this?” The proof of our devotion is that we still love God regardless of what happens. God may test us in the beginning.

If you are really trying to apply these principles to your life, people will respect you. Employers say they want to hire more Yogis. If you show that you are a Yogi on your resume, they will value you. Take a useful job just to serve.

Why do you need food, clothing, and shelter? You want to live to serve others. You have to eat to live. You need clothes, a car, a garage for the car. How can you do that without the money? You prepare yourself and equip yourself with enough energy to give energy back. Your eating, sleeping, drinking, and breathing are not selfish actions if you do them with the intention: “I am only keeping myself fit to serve others. If I am not going to serve others, I don’t need to eat. I don’t need to sleep. I don’t need to have a house. I don’t even need to live.”

If you are serving totally with dedication and still not earning enough to survive, certainly you can say to your employer, “I am becoming weak. I won’t be able to serve you any longer, sir. Who is the loser, me or you?” If your boss still won’t change, what can you do? Stop serving. Don’t force your service anywhere. But usually such selfless service melts even the hardest heart. Everyone has a soft corner somewhere. You find that soft place through your sincerity and love. Even the most deadly, dangerous, and hateful person can be absorbed by love. Ultimately, Truth will win; it’s nature’s way.

So do your work with all patience. Do it in a meditative way. If you have a mantra, repeat it mentally while you are doing your work. Love and salute your tools. Nothing is inert; everything has a kind of feeling. When you deal with things, feel as if you are touching God. Feel that the work you are doing is worship of God, that you are doing the work for God’s sake, and that God is receiving the benefit of your work. Your work will become Karma Yoga.

Whatever your function in a business, help that business grow. Whether you are a secretary or the manager, think of the welfare of the business. Consider how it can grow better and best perform its duty. Be scrupulously honest. Instead of using the office facilities for your own personal reasons, put the business first. If all day Friday you use the office telephone for your weekend appointments, you are not a good businessman. You are bringing loss and in a way even stealing from the business. Always think of the benefit the others should get.

When you are a Karma Yogi, you may find yourself chosen for more responsible posts. You might take in a profit, which is all right in Yoga. But profit should not be your motive. Your motive should be for the benefit of the community. The seller should put him- or herself in the position of the buyer. The buyer should put himself in the position of the seller. Always recognize the needs of the other person. Even if you are able to do so, don’t exploit. That’s Yogic business. Certainly you should have some profit, but not 100, 200 or 300 percent. The confidence and good will of the customer is worth more than the money—it is a great profit.

Source:  To Know Your Self by Swami Satchidananda

The post Yoga & Your Work appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

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I’ll never forget when we were considering an investment that could bring a big financial payout to the Ashram. We were weighing the risks and benefits of this investment and when it came time to make the decision, Sri Gurudev said no. He explained, “We don’t want to worry about losing money. We want to earn what money we can without losing our principle. We care more about our peace.” After I left the Ashram, I always relied on this precept: All investments have risk, but put one’s peace of mind as the number one criteria before investing. I always ask myself, “If it doesn’t do well, can I still maintain my peace?” I look at the amount, the risk and what I could lose. Maintaining one’s peace of mind was one of Sri Gurudev’s fundamental teachings.

As a spiritual teacher, Sri Gurudev placed each student’s spiritual growth above all else. He believed that spirituality needed complete freedom. He may have offered advice, but it was up to the individual whether or not to follow the advice. He didn’t believe in holding onto students either—even if they were serving in important roles in the Ashram. If they needed to move on, to experience something else, he always supported them in doing what they wanted to do. In that context, there was a difficult personnel decision to be made that impacted whether someone would stay in a certain position of service at the Ashram. Gurudev advised me, “You have to think of what is best for the organization. You can’t make the decision based on what is best for the individual.” When it came to business decisions, he placed emphasis on what was best for the organization. I found many applications for this advice in the business world. Like most spiritual seekers, I have a lot of compassion and love for the people I work with. It’s not always easy, if someone is not working out, to tell the person we can no longer use their services. I had to realize that I had to make decisions that were best for the company, because ultimately, everyone else, and the business itself, is impacted if one person isn’t working out.

Sometimes Sri Gurudev taught us a lesson in a way that felt a bit exaggerated at the time—almost out of proportion to what occurred. But yet, it had such an incredible impact that those are the lessons that not only did I learn well, but I was able to apply in a much broader context in the future. For example, there was a time when we were doing a lot of construction and we had a lot of heavy equipment on site. We were doing some construction on the LOTUS lake and had the water in it drained. Gurudev drove down to the lake to see how the work was progressing and, in the process, his jeep got stuck in the lake. I think he really enjoyed that. All of us got to practice both maintaining our equanimity and trying to be dynamic in our response to this situation of the jeep being stuck.

I asked Gurudev if I should get Joe, one of the heavy equipment operators we had hired, to pull the jeep out with his winch. “That would be good,” Gurudev said. So, I quickly ran in the direction of where I thought Joe would be working and about 10 minutes later, having found him, returned with Joe to the lake. As we started to pull the jeep out of the mud, I became intently aware that Gurudev seemed to be “using anger” with me. I wasn’t really sure what I had done to get that reaction. But, I knew, from the looks he was giving me, that I did something wrong. As we’re pulling the jeep out, Sri Gurudev asked me, “Why did you get Joe?” I replied, “I thought that’s what you wanted.” Gurudev explained, “Even if I had wanted you to, I didn’t want you to come with the backhoe because Joe would charge the hourly rate for operating heavy equipment. I’d rather he used his pickup truck. Without fully understanding, you are just ready to go and act.”

Gurudev’s words, particularly “fully understanding” really struck me. I’ve seen many instances, since leaving the Ashram, that the company I was working with was making a decision without fully understanding all aspects of a situation. Remembering Gurudev’s words, I’ve been able, at times, to call attention to the fact, when the decision being made is too significant and requires us to delve more deeply and consider all aspects in order to assure that we are making a fully informed decision. So that was an incredibly deep lesson for me.

A little later that same day after the jeep got unstuck, we were working on the upper portion of the LOTUS road, which was under construction. Sri Gurudev was operating a grader with Joe. I was in front of the grader pulling out rocks and roots to get them out of the way to make it easier for the grader. I was enjoying the activity. I was translating between Joe, who was an outside contractor with quite a thick, southern accent and who may have had some tobacco chew in his cheek. As he would speak, I would interpret for Gurudev what Joe said and I was doing the same to make it easier for Joe to understand Sri Gurudev’s accent. At some point, I was trying to lighten the mood and said, “Gurudev, Joe doesn’t seem to understand us.” Gurudev replied, “Well, when even we can’t understand each other, how do we expect others to understand us.” That again was an amazing lesson that I’ve been able to apply in my other business activities. It’s so easy to think the source of a misunderstanding is someone else. As Sri Gurudev often said, when you point at someone else, three fingers point back at you. I realized that I need to make sure I am communicating clearly, that I am understanding the other person and the situation. It’s been a very deep lesson that helps me to better understand someone else’s perspective. Often, the person who is doing the job, understands it better than an executive in the company. There’s a lot to be gained in understanding the person, what situations they are faced with, what they see as the opportunities and the threats to the company.

Sri Gurudev often emphasized that good business people puts themselves in the place of their customers. With Gurudev, the “win-win” wasn’t a marketing tool or expression, because he saw the divine in all. When you do that, you want to be sure to both make a fair profit and be fair to the customer. I certainly try to live that way in the work I do. I’m fortunate now that, for the past eight years, I work for Organic India, a company that is trying to make a real difference in the world. We’re promoting organic farming and sustainability for small farmers in India. We promote social justice through the decisions we make about those we employ and the opportunities for the people in our company. We promote equality. It’s an honor to work for this company. We are not trying to squeeze anyone. Most businesses are trying to squeeze everyone. I see that Sri Gurudev’s teaching of universal love is really the basis of good business. Then, it’s not a matter of trying to be a certain way because it’s the right thing, it becomes a natural expression of a business owner’s love for the planet earth, love for all the people of the earth.

This reminds me of an example of Sri Gurudev’s love in action. One day, one of the local telephone repairmen was working on the LOTUS reception building. He’d been to the Ashram many times, doing a lot of installations in various buildings. He knew Sri Gurudev from Gurudev’s many visits to the various construction projects. On this one afternoon, Gurudev, when talking to this repairman said, “Excuse me for saying this, but don’t you think it would be good if you stopped chewing tobacco?” The man replied, “Yes, I know it’s my one bad habit and it’s hard for me to give it up.” Sri Gurudev spoke to him with such love and respect explaining, “I feel like you are a part of our family and I don’t want to see you doing anything that is hurting your health.” The man was so visibly moved that he was brought to tears. He was touched not just by Gurudev’s words, but also by the depth of the feelings that he was expressing. This man really got it and he said, “This world would be such an amazing place if each person treated everyone else like family.”

That is the feeling we have at Organic India. The farmers are our family. There’s not a we and them, there’s an us. I feel our company is gifted because of the beauty and universal love exemplified by the owners, Bhavani and Bharat Mitra Lev. I think the universe is pleased that we’re trying to do some good. The company is not driven by selfishness, but by real love, concern, compassion, respect and gratitude for the people with whom we are involved and planet earth. I think this is the real Yoga of business.

About the Author:

Steven Shankara Bookoff served as president of Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville from 1983 through 1990. He has been the CFO of Organic India since 2002. He also volunteers as an officer and director of the Bet Lev Foundation, a private foundation in the USA and as a Board member of Smith Center for Healing and the Arts.

The post Yoga and Business: Lessons of a Lifetime appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

The North American Studio Alliance (namasta) was co-founded by Bernard (who serves as president) and Lisa Slede (a Yoga therapist) in late 2002 as a response to the lack of a trade organization for independent Yoga and mind-body professionals. It provides support for these professionals in the form of access to affordable liability insurance, health benefits and many resources with which to successfully operate their businesses. In this interview, Bernard shares his experiences, vision and ideas with the aim of helping to keep your students coming back.

Integral Yoga Magazine (IYM): Can you share some suggestions for how to be a successful Yoga teacher?

Bernard Slede (B.Slede): Sure. Look at pricing. Many Yoga teachers are uncomfortable dealing with pricing their classes and other aspects of their business. As a business, a Yoga studio is an economic entity. There’s rent to be paid, and perhaps Yoga teachers who are independent contractors who have to be paid, and other expenses. I recommend studios set a fair price for classes, and a good business practice is to allow some kind of introductory period. Some places like in New York or Los Angeles have classes that go for $20 but I think offering an introductory formula allows for people to get to know you before making that stronger commitment. It also allows you to attract people who would have been deterred by the price or the fact they are entering a place that may be completely foreign.

It’s good for students to be able to buy a class and get a second class free, or try five classes at a low set price or unlimited classes in a limited period time. The idea is that you are offering a special value for new students. I think that’s an ethical way to enable a person unfamiliar with you, or your teachers, to become familiar with and get a feel for you and your studio. It makes it less threatening for the new student. Whatever you can do to make it easier for people to open the door and give Yoga or your studio a try is a good business practice.

There are also many ways Yoga studios can contribute to their communities, which is, in essence, being respectful of the Yoga tradition as well as being good business sense. You can offer classes for special populations, such as offering free classes for children from underprivileged areas or to the homeless or veterans on certain days. That’s a nice gesture and it also helps show that Yoga and the studio are committed to serving people and the community. Another idea to serve the community and bring visibility to your studio is to create special occasions during which you offer classes. For example, whether it’s Yoga Day USA or United Nations Health Day, you can find a date to hold a series of introductory classes maybe even for free, so those who haven’t done Yoga can try it. You can connect with a senior center, offer a class at the center as a gift to get people exposed to Yoga. From that there can be a lot of rewards: personal satisfaction as well as successful word of mouth, as those who tried Yoga tell their friends and families about their experiences.

IYM: Any secrets you can share to keep students coming back?

B.Slede: This involves more common sense than any secrets: for instance, paying attention to the students in class and providing individual advice and assists during asana classes. This helps students realize that coming to a class is better than watching a DVD. So, if you can, correct or at least offer verbal suggestions, that’s something to pay attention to. There are some teachers who learn a script. Scripts are good because they provide structure, but you need to see that that doesn’t detract from adding the personal touch to the individuals in the room. It’s not a public performance, it’s guidance to a number of students.

Other things you can try include asking for feedback on what students liked or disliked. Being there before and after the class so you can get to know the students and they can get to know you helps create a generally nice community feeling. You can try creating an occasion for the community of students to come together for some kind of celebration—maybe the one year anniversary of the studio or teaching the 100^th class or celebrating a recent renovation. If you can keep track of who comes to class and who hasn’t come in awhile, you can try and reconnect with those who haven’t been and see why or if there’s something you can do. If someone says, “Well, my schedule is just so hectic,” you can offer Yoga as a reprieve from the busyness of their lives. Or, if they felt too challenged by something in the class, you can offer private time before class to assist them.

You can also offer the incentives of a referral system: Bring someone new and you get a free class or some other incentive. Yoga is a very individual practice. Students don’t always go back to their offices the next day and say, “Hey you should all try this.” But, that doesn’t mean they can’t share what they are experiencing. So, it’s a good idea to give some benefit to the student who brings in new students—a free class or gift that is Yoga appropriate. The statistics tell us that 10 percent of people in the USA move every year. So, you can expect 10 percent of your students to leave because they are moving. So, finding ways to replace and replenish that community through referrals, events, talking to a local paper or local fair and explaining about the benefits of Yoga based on the latest scientific research are all ways to generate new students. Helping students realize that the more they practice Yoga, the more they derive the benefits and emphasizing those—beyond any script or description of the poses—is what can help students keep coming back.

IYM: Are you concerned about the rise of Yoga franchises?

B.Slede: This may be my yogic view of the world, but I don’t think chains will take over Yoga or that local studios will suffer. One reason is because chains appeal to a different public. At the core, it’s still a Yoga class, but you sense many of the teachers in the chains and gyms have fitness backgrounds. Those who take Yoga there, may not necessarily be the same clientele served at a private Yoga studio. And, the benefits of the chains and of the marketing around franchises and gyms are that more people have gotten to try Yoga. Instead of viewing this as a concern, a zero sum game, think of it as a new entry point for beginners. Frankly, for those who have never done Yoga, crossing the doorway of the Yoga studio can be a bit daunting. If the fitness gym member tries a Yoga class it may be a little less threatening, especially to men. Once they’ve experienced it, they can decide if they want to explore further. Their local, independent studios may offer different approaches, more meditation-oriented practices, a richer schedule and things you wouldn’t find in a gym. If you look at Yoga students as people who evolve through their Yoga practices, I think some independent Yoga teachers will lose students to the local chain or gym because of some of the conveniences and economic benefits. But, conversely, I think the local studio is a sanctuary—a place where you don’t hear the whirr of the treadmills and other machines during class—and that is something that favors independent teachers and studios.

IYM: How has the economic downturn affected private studios?

B.Slede: A number of studios have unfortunately shut down, but others have opened. Generally we’ve seen our membership grow despite difficult times. We think it’s a sign that there is more demand for Yoga and as teacher training programs have blossomed, there’s been more of a supply of Yoga teachers better able to practice professionally. I think we are experiencing what I’d call the “democratization of Yoga” over the past five to fifteen years, via TV, DVDs, mats, etc., being sold in department stores. Yoga is very symbiotic with the wellness and sustainability movements. People who go to Whole Foods, who are vegan, might buy a mat and get into Yoga. Those concerned about climate change and damages to the planet might be more conscious of their role in the world, which is close to the message of Yoga: to be unified and united with the universe and the rest of humankind. Some people lament the fact that there’s too much Yoga, but the up side is that more people have been exposed to Yoga in places that never had Yoga before. Some of those will remain in these new forms of Yoga, which are not as true to the tradition, but I think many are evolving to more advanced and traditional forms of Yoga—in some cases more meditative forms, in other cases, more physically challenging forms of Yoga.

IYM: You mentioned Yoga’s compatibility with the sustainability movement. Do you see Yoga studios going more green?

B.Slede: Yes, I think there are multiple benefits for “practicing what you preach.” Yoga teachers aren’t preaching, they are conveying messages. As a Yoga teacher, those messages should be true to your discipline, your art and beliefs. For example, it would be shocking if you went to a Yoga studio and found the water cups were Styrofoam. When you manage a Yoga studio you can use recyclable products and green cleaning products. If you provide Yoga mats you can pick a brand that is respectful of the environment. It’s a way to lead by example and also indirectly it’s a good marketing practice. You are not sending a dissonant message, rather there is a message of authenticity that assures others that you are genuine and respectful of the world around you.

In addition to founding namasta, Bernard Slede launched HP Startup Central to foster mutually beneficial relationships with the ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurs. He also founded Breakthrough Venture Partners which has advised numerous innovative companies in the US and Europe. For more information about namasta, please visit: www.namasta.com.

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Acording to Brent Kessel, one of the most common pitfalls for yogis who own a business is the tendency to avoid looking at the numbers. Given the choice between analyzing money, balancing one’s checkbook, looking at profit and loss statements, Yoga teachers would much rather focus on their Yoga practice or students. Brent explains that there is nothing wrong with that, but it’s helpful to recognize the choices we make and to make sure that we cover our bases by including other people on our teams, professionals who can do those kinds of analyses in order for our businesses to stay strong.

Brent pointed out that one of the strengths common to yogis who are business owners is that we have taught ourselves to breathe at the edge of discomfort. Most people haven’t. If we can’t breathe when things are uncomfortable or anxious, we tend to make really bad financial decisions. For example, if you don’t like to balance your checkbook or dig into a pile of bills, bringing your breath to that moment is a key skill. As Brent explained, “Every time I’ve made a financial decision in my life, my breath has been caught somewhere above my collarbone. Once you recognize that, you have the opportunity to change it and actually bring a deeper breath down into the solar plexus and lower belly so it becomes part of the practice, as you are doing these things.” In speaking with him, it was clear that the work here is about bringing our awareness and attention to something that is unconscious within. This is a strength that we, as yogis, have developed because Yoga practice is really about making the unconscious conscious. “So many people have negative associations with money; that’s why there’s a lot of shame and unwillingness to talk about it. Money’s really a neutral substance. It’s a store of life energy,” Brent explained.

Through his work, Brent discovered that most of our habits and behaviors associated with money were formed decades ago and have gone largely unquestioned. We cling to them as the only way to survive. Whether we believe, “I need to save a lot of money to feel secure,” or “I ought to spend it on things I enjoy because I can’t take it with me anyway”—we tend to cling to our core beliefs are around money. When these beliefs stay unconscious, and especially if we cling hard to them, they tend to lead us astray, into poorer decisions than if we brought our awareness into those unconscious realms.

In his book, It’s Not about the Money, Brent identified eight financial archetypes: the Caretaker, the Empire Builder, the Guardian, the Idealist, the Innocent, the Pleasure Seeker, the Saver and the Star. If you go to his website, brentkessel.com, you can take a quick quiz that tells you which of the archetypes is dominant in you. He pointed out, “I don’t like to think of the archetypes as a hierarchy—one being better or worse than another—yet when most people look at them, they tend to have more judgments about some of them and fewer judgments of others.” It seems we tend to judge the ones which we identify ourselves with our spouses or our parents. We tend to respect, or not have much judgment about, the ones we have embodied. There’s no inherent good or bad in these, however, says Brent. He encourages his clients to just let any judgmental thoughts that may arise simply float away, to not entertain or energize them. They are apt to be old stories that we tell ourselves about how we or other people are with money.

The archetypes help us to identify tendencies in ourselves and then learn what we need to awaken the positive attributes of the most dormant of them in order to feel safe, balanced and good about ourselves. Brent teaches that each of us has several of these archetypes and dominance changes at different times in our lives. Each archetype can be expressed in healthy, high functioning ways—what he calls a gift—or in unhealthy, low functioning ways—what he calls a pitfall. So, we learn that, like with Yoga, the key to having a healthy relationship with money—one that is free, spacious and sufficient—is to create a balance among all eight archetypes. Brent gave this analogy: “When you have a body with great flexibility but no strength, that creates injury, because the system lacks integrity—there’s nothing keeping it integrated and whole. It’s the same with money.”

So, how does his system work? If we have a really well developed pleasure seeker archetype, or innocent archetype, we would have a lot of faith and optimism that things are going to work out and therefore spend more on pleasurable things, like getting a facial or taking a vacation. If we didn’t have a well-developed Guardian or a Saver archetype, it’s like the Yoga practitioner who has a lot of flexibility but no strength. Or vice-versa: If someone has a well-developed guardian or saver, they will tend to be frugal, perhaps even very tight, and will not use money to derive pleasure or to express generosity. In order to create more integrity and balance, these people need to develop some of the other archetypes.

The Archetypes

The Caretaker gives and lends money to express compassion and generosity. This is someone very giving—someone who works for a non-profit or who might be a schoolteacher or in the healing arts. Many Yoga teachers have a strong, caretaking element. It’s key that Caretakers take care of themselves as well as they do of others. Each of the archetypes has a payoff. The reason it becomes dominant for you is because it serves you in some way. It helps you feel good or avoid feeling bad. One payoff for Caretakers is that they get to feel loved or needed by another being. It’s helpful to recognize what compensation is in it for you because, if you are going to reduce your reliance on any of these archetypal behaviors, you have to replace the payoff with a different one—to get that need met in another way. You can’t just withdraw the nourishment that this archetypal behavior has been giving the young, vulnerable part of yourself and replace it with nothing.

The Innocent avoids putting significant attention on money and believes or hopes life will work out for the best. The gift is there is a great faith and optimism that things will be okay—the universe will always provide because it always has. The Innocent may feel, “I don’t like to focus on money. It’s negative, heavy and filled with responsibility. I’d rather teach Yoga, hang out with friends, play music and focus on things that bring me joy.” Brent counsels that as long as that works, fine. As long as there’s someone in your family system that is putting attention on money, fine. The pitfall for the Innocent is that they can tend to get themselves in trouble, like spending beyond their means or getting into a business partnership they didn’t check out carefully enough. It’s good to have optimism and faith as a foundation, but we also need to be prudent and pragmatic—hallmarks of the Guardian archetype.

The Empire Builder thrives on power and innovation to create something of enduring value—frequently a business. Most Yoga teachers aren’t Empire Builders if they are primarily working independently or are teaching in a studio. Brent gave the following example: The Empire Builders would be the Exhales, the Yoga Works of the industry, where one is really trying to build a chain or brand. Some are motivated to create other legacies through writing books or creating a non-profit foundation. The gift of the Empire Builder is the yearning to have an impact on a fairly grand scale. The pitfall side comes when, because of that vision, we become greedy or domineering and don’t pay attention to others’ needs as we march toward our imagined goals.

The Pleasure Seeker prioritizes pleasure and enjoyment in the here and now. Key for this archetype is sensory pleasure. Pleasure Seekers will buy a piece of art, not so much to impress someone or to help the artist, but for their own sensory enjoyment. They know how to get great joy out of money. They can make a dollar go further than others. The pitfall is when they get overly hedonistic or impulsive and pleasures are used to fill a void—like overeating, buying things to fill up a sense of emptiness and other addictions. In Brent’s workshops, he deals a lot with what the Buddhists call “the wanting mind”—that part of us that is always craving more. He explained, “In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, there’s a quote that I’ll paraphrase: When an object brings happiness, it creates a desire for more of that object and the hope that it will bring everlasting happiness. What we often fail to recognize is that it’s not the object or experience that created our happiness.” Brent pointed out that a huge part of why we are feeling fulfilled and having a dopamine rush in the brain is that our craving has stopped—we are not outside of the present moment and wanting something different. That realization can be very liberating. We can get to that lack of craving through Yoga practice, meditation and the practice of santosha, contentment that doesn’t require money or our outside environment to change.

The Guardian is always alert, careful and prudent. The Guardians know their numbers, they know how much they have and what they spend. They are focused on living within their means. Lower-functioning, higher-suffering Guardians have a lot of worry, anxiety and inability to take action to change their situations. Higher functioning ones use these tendencies to inform their actions. They have just enough worry or concern to take prudent steps in order to make adjustments. Every businessperson should have a Guardian. Have an accountant, bookkeeper or a spouse who is one, if you are not. The Guardian will bring a skeptical eye to everything. Brent suggests that if you are an Innocent or Empire Builder, if you are dreaming of how great your studio is going to be or how many private classes you’ll be teaching because you are a great Yoga teacher, your outlook can tend to be a little pie in the sky. The Guardian will say, “Wait, let’s take a look at Yoga teachers who graduated a year ago from your same program and let’s see where they are teaching now, how many students they have, how much money they make.” They’ll do the research. They will figure out how many students you need to make ends meet.

The Saver seeks security and abundance by accumulating more financial assets. The gift of this archetype is that they have more flexibility and choice because they have put something aside. If they want to change careers, they can go without income for three months, six months or even a year, whereas other archetypes can’t do that. “The pitfall, Brent shared, “was well represented by me in my early 20s. I was one of the tight people who wouldn’t spend on pleasures. I was very frugal. If I didn’t save every spare nickel, I felt the world would come crashing down. It took me about 10 years to cultivate enough of the Pleasure Seeker and the Caretaker to relax a little and enjoy money spent on me and my family, as well as on philanthropy.”

The Idealist places the greatest value on creativity, compassion, social justice or spiritual growth. Often, this is your starving or successful artist, or someone who works for a nonprofit and is passionate about that. Idealists are happiest when they are effective and putting their ideals and values into action. Brent described the trip up for Idealists, which is in the area of philosophy and belief:  “A cynical and skeptical worldview can develop where they feel the world is corrupt and it’s not worth even playing a part in it. They just want to complain about it and be victimized by it. If the complaining leads to taking action to do something, to put one’s beliefs and ideals into action to help make positive change, that’s one thing. But low-functioning Idealists can have an aversive relationship with money that sabotages their freedom and ability to enjoy their creativity, compassion or spiritual practice because they are dependent upon the government, nonprofits or those who fund their work.”

Brent explained that the Star spends, invests or gives money away to be recognized, feel hip or classy and increase self-esteem—even if it’s living a greener lifestyle, driving a Prius, only shopping at Whole Foods or being the first to buy a compostable Yoga mat when it comes out. They may like having the image of being the green guy or being on the cutting edge of some kind of trend, so that influences how they spend their money. Brent reported that, “Every person I’ve talked to can think of a few examples of when wanting to be recognized influenced their financial decisions: I was going to buy the entry level model of this car but I wanted people to think I make a little more money than I do. Or the opposite: I come from inherited wealth and have always been told to keep it secret, and it’s caused problems when I haven’t—so I wear these tattered clothes and drive a 15-year old car.”

Our financial decisions are often impacted by what others think about what we do with our money. The gift of the Star is when your leadership is worthy of emulation. You are doing something with your life and business that’s really working in a fuller, deeper way. Maybe you are living a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity, and that is an example that inspires others. You feel more spacious, more abundant and have more time to be with family and friends than those caught up in the rat race, those just trying to get ahead. If that’s where you are, it’s great to have some Star quality and take it out into the world. Brent mentioned that Seane Corn is a good example of this: “She has a lot of Star energy—she’s charismatic and magnetic around people, and she’s used that to launch “Off the Mat into the World,” which is an amazing charity.”

In every one of these archetypes, the gifts are so valuable. Brent recommended that, if you are someone so stuck in your Guardian and Saver that you don’t have a sense of faith or hope in relation to money, you need more of the Innocent. Often people attract a romantic partner that balances them. He noted that, “The funny part is we butt heads with our partners. We want them, and then we can’t see with our conscious minds how their worldviews make any sense. We judge and blame each other. And really, there’s a higher intelligence at work, which chose that person for you to partner with. If you are the Innocent or the Pleasure Seeker, you chose someone to help balance it out so you wouldn’t go off the rails. Yet, it’s rare that we are willing to do the hard work of cultivating the strong sides, the gift sides of the archetypes in ourselves.”

According to Brent Kessel, if we want to change something about our relationship to money, that change must originate from the inside out and not from the outside in. We must become students interested in what motivates us to act the way we do with money before we can have any hope of transformation. It’s not just learning about our archetypes, but also learning ways to focus our attention, to actually liberate ourselves and create more balance in order to have more freedom and joy in our lives and in relation to money. In order to not be caught by our unconscious conditioning, we must learn to create an open dialogue between our unconscious, wanting mind and our higher wisdom. If we are hoarding, gripping tightly to our money, we are essentially reinforcing the belief, “I don’t have enough.” Compassion and generosity are the cornerstones of a healthy, fulfilling relationship to money.  When we are in a generous state of mind, we are reinforcing “I do have enough.” This, according to Brent, helps us experience true freedom.

About the Author:

Brent Kessel is the President and co-founder of Abacus Wealth Partners, named one of the “top 250 wealth management firms in the US” by Bloomberg Wealth Manager. He has been a financial planner by day and a yogi by dawn for the past 15 years. Since 1989, he has dedicated himself to Yoga and has progressed through the fourth series of Ashtanga under the guidance of his teachers, Chuck Miller and Pattabhi Jois. A leader in his field, Brent Kessel uniquely bridges the disparate worlds of finance and spirituality. Material for this article is excerpted, with permission, from a module Brent teaches as part of a specialized coaching program for Yoga teachers called, “The Yoga Business Builder.” Brent’s book, It’s Not About the Money is widely available. For more information, please visit: https://abacuswealth.com/team/brent-kessel/

Source: Integral Yoga Magazine, Winter 2011

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Integral Yoga Magazine (IYM): What is Yoga at Work?

Chandra Jo Sgammato (CS): Yoga at Work is a program developed by the Integral Yoga Institute’s Jayadeva Mandelkorn (currently, director of the Princeton Integral Yoga Community Center) in the early 1990s as a way to bring Yoga and Swami Satchidananda’s teachings into the business community. Our strategy is simply to contact companies in Manhattan to let them know that this amazing form of stress relief is available for their employees. Now we have clients that range from banks to media companies to nonprofits; New York University is one of our big clients.

IYM: What inspires you to promote Yoga at Work?

CS: I saw what Integral Yoga had done for my life and the life of my fellow teachers and students. I think it’s wonderful to share something that you love so much. We have limited capacity in our building on 13th Street—we can only fit so many students into the rooms—so we needed to find ways to teach Yoga outside the Institute.

IYM: How do you introduce this program to a company?

CS: We hope to intrigue the human resources director with the idea but, just as often, it’s one employee in a company who has either taken Yoga at Integral Yoga or heard about it, and wants to have the benefits of Yoga right in the office. I tell potential clients that with the Integral Yoga class they don’t need to worry about somebody getting hurt. They don’t need to worry about somebody feeling embarrassed or intimidated; there’s no competitiveness or pushing. Each class is taught in a light-handed, lighthearted, but profound way.

IYM: Do you tailor each program to the specific company?

CS: We spend a lot of time on the phone giving information to the decision makers in the company and answering their questions, and we do it in the spirit of Swami Satchidananda. We explain that we will make the program as easeful, peaceful, and useful as we can. We also listen to the company’s concerns. We are flexible in every way to accommodate the company, and we let them know that we’ll teach classes any time of day they want. We’ll do any length of class they want, although we do recommend at least an hour because we want employees to experience all the benefits of the Integral Yoga class.

IYM: Do you have teachers specifically trained to work in this environment?

CS: Yes, our certified teachers receive additional training. The teacher is trained to really watch the students because many of them have never taken Yoga. They have worked at desks for so long and they’re very stiff. Some students may be a little bit frightened at first. They don’t quite know what to expect. We want teachers to teach the way Sri Gurudev trained us to: to adapt, adjust and accommodate wherever necessary to make the students happy and comfortable.

IYM: Is it really conducive to teach Yoga in the workplace?

CS: We meet the clients and explain the Integral Yoga approach. We’re careful to use language, as Gurudev taught us, that the customer can understand. We tell them right out that Yoga is not a religion; we explain the interfaith nature of Integral Yoga, and we invite them to take a class as a guest at the New York IYI. We always visit the company to look at the space they are considering for the classes. Most companies have a conference room, and they can push the tables away. Today’s young media companies and dot-coms have loft-like open space which makes it much easier for them to have Yoga classes. In some places, we teach Chair Yoga, because there’s no way to move the conference room tables.

IYM: Do you customize the classes in terms of what postures you teach?

CS: We always include the eye movements because people stare at computer screens all day. We do a lot of work with alignment so that people can learn to sit more comfortably in their chairs. We also do a lot of work with pranayama, explaining that the breath is the best stress reduction tool and that taking one moment to stop and breathe really makes a difference. Because I spent 20 years in the corporate world, I know how out of shape people can be because they just don’t have time for regular fitness. I know how reluctant people can be to try something new, but I feel that the IYI class can really reach people.

IYM: Are most companies open to chanting, meditation, and other aspects of Integral Yoga?

CS: All the classes incorporate asana, deep relaxation, pranayama and meditation. We explain that our classes begin and end with chanting but also that we don’t have to chant if they are uncomfortable. If the students are open to it, we’ll chant three “Om’s” at the end of the class. Many of the teachers will have the students repeat “May the entire universe be filled with peace and joy, love and light.” People respond to that, especially by the end of the class. We have one client that we’re talking to now about doing just a meditation class. We taught at a wonderful nonprofit company last year.  They stop work every day—the whole company—at 3 o’clock to meditate together. That had been their practice for some time, but they wanted to add a Hatha Yoga component, so they called us in to do the Hatha classes.

IYM: What if the company is not really that sold on the idea even if some employees are?

CS:  Well, you know, Yoga is very “cool” now and employers are realizing it is a good thing. We explain that if 10 of their employees go out together after work for drinks and present them with an expense account for that, it’s going to cost the company more money than a Yoga class, and the employees are going to be hung over the next day! So why not invest in a healthy, natural way to relieve stress?

IYM: How do the companies get their employees interested in the program?

CS: We provide printed material about the benefits of Yoga. We support the human resources department in spreading the word. Sometimes the companies will have a health day, and we participate on a complimentary basis. We’re there to try to interest more people in taking classes, and we’ll do five-minute demonstration classes and answer questions.

IYM: What kind of feedback have you gotten from the companies?

CS: The reports that we get back are wonderful. We hear that employees get along better with one another at work. People report they sleep better, they feel better— all the things we are not surprised to hear them say about the benefits of Integral Yoga!

IYM: Can any Integral Yoga teacher get involved in a Yoga at Work?

CS: We’re developing a program now—almost like franchising to other Integral Yoga teachers—So, if Integral Yoga teachers are interested in bringing Yoga at Work to Chicago, for example, we want to work with those teachers and make an arrangement to have them do the program where they live. We would provide materials to them, and work out a financial arrangement that makes sense. I think it’s a great opportunity for all Integral Yoga teachers.

IYM: Why do you love Integral Yoga?

CS: I had taken Yoga classes in many places over many years. Then it finally hit me how amazing this particular class was. It makes me feel great and I think it’s a complete experience. There’s wonderful Yoga everywhere, but what I like about Integral Yoga is the sequence of the class. It builds like a good book or like a symphony. You keep going higher and higher in the practice, and even the order of the asanas has a kind of dance to it that makes sense. I observe people of all ages, sizes, and physical ability enjoying the IYI class. It is so adaptable and that convinces me that this is the Yoga for the workplace.

IYM: Well, it seems you have proven that it does!

CS: Yes! I love to tell this story to potential clients: A man came into a class I was teaching at the Institute. He was in a three-piece suit with a tie. After removing his shoes at the door, he took his jacket off, folded it up, loosened his tie and laid down on his back. He stayed still in that position on the floor through the entire class. After the class he got up, he took his jacket, got his shoes, and he left. I thought, “This guy was so smart. He didn’t have to do the asanas. He just had to be in that room picking up the peaceful vibration.” That proves that you don’t have to do anything—just be with yourself, relaxed. Integral Yoga is gentle and loving, and Integral Yoga teachers have that loving spirit to transmit to people in every kind of setting.

Chandra Sgammato is the administrative manager of the New York Integral Yoga Institute and a certified Integral Yoga teacher. Before joining the IYI, she worked for 20 years in the book publishing business in New York. The Integral Yoga Institute of New York has developed a program to bring Yoga right into the offices of companies who contract with IYI for this program. They offer Yoga classes, workshops, meditation and stress management programs. For more information about Yoga At Work, contact Chandra by email at: chandra[at]iyiny.org or call: 212-929-0586.

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As CEO of Yoga Yoga, the largest Yoga organization in Texas, Rich Goldstein (Raghurai) has explored the boundaries of Yoga and business in a unique way. He has championed the business of Yoga and applications of Yoga in healthcare as a matter of heart and health. In this interview he talks about this and why he believes we are living in a time of abundant opportunities to share the wisdom of Yoga.

“Do your work in the peace of Yoga and, free from selfish desires be not moved in success or failure. Yoga is evenness of mind—a peace that is ever the same.” —Bhagavad Gita

Integral Yoga Magazine (IYM): How do we reconcile Yoga and business?

Rich Goldstein (RG): I think it’s a useful, dynamic tension because most of us don’t really have the option not to work. We’re householders. We have very few options to walk around in a loincloth these days. This reality requires a different kind of yogi. We all have this issue of how do we do that? I found Yoga when I was in my 20s, which was thirty years ago. I was working hard in my family’s business in southern Florida and my back hurt. So, I began Bikram Yoga and wanted to do it more, but I had to do my job. I kept finding this dynamic tension between Yoga and my job.

Overwhelmingly, the work environments we are in aren’t conducive to health—they require productivity and limited humanity. If you have to make a choice in the work environment—though this is slowly shifting—your boss is going to want you to choose your work, not your life. I write a blog, “The Yogic Edge” and that edge for me is the opportunity to not commit to having to choose between your life or your work, because there’s no difference between them—your life is your work. In my belief system, people should choose work through which they can contribute. If we all refused to work in environments that were not nurturing, that were not doing positive work for our society, there would be more of the places that are nurturing.

IYM: What if you want to be a Yoga teacher but can’t afford to leave your job?

RG: That’s where skills and strategy come in. If you want to maintain a lifestyle where you can have a home, take a vacation, pay for your kid’s education, you are not going to leave your $40,000 a year job and start teaching private classes here and there. You can do that if you are the very rare person who has the finances to do that. A large percentage of Yoga studios are actually hobbies, supported by husbands. It’s not what many of us want, but that’s the case. So how do you skillfully navigate being one of 10,000 new Yoga teachers this year and make a living? You have to learn to market, sell and network.

You have to learn basic business skills. Develop a strategy for moving from having a job you don’t want to do to a job you do want. If you want to become skillful about gardening, you need to read books, talk to people, visit greenhouses, study and practice. It’s harder to become a skillful Yoga teacher in the marketplace, so you have to work hard to fulfill this goal.

In many ways there’s a sense in the Yoga community that, if you just do Yoga, it will all work out. In my experience that is true, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that your business will be successful—it just means it will all work out. You know it’s 2011, not the late 1800s, which marked Yoga’s entry to the West. And it’s not the ‘60s with people running away to India. We have a lot we can contribute with this ancient technology and the modern knowledge that we have today. We live in a world now where Yoga maintains a position in the marketplace whether we like it or not. That presents a new opportunity to be of service and to explore what we can contribute.

IYM: Why do you think so many yogis struggle with what you called the “dynamic tension” between Yoga and business?

RG: I think they fail to recognize that there’s a real elegance and beauty in the marketplace and in engaging in business. I believe that the business environment—if one adopts it as a practice—can be deeply spiritual. As long as there have been human beings, we have related to each other through trade. That interaction—the way we meet another human, with the physical needs of the body, the openness of our hearts and energetic system—is where you get to really honor your values in terms of how much of your life is seva, how much you have to commit to earning for your family to live, how you are going to make trade-offs in your work environment in order for it to be a satisfying place to work.

The boundary between practicing Yoga and engaging in our work lives isn’t a sharp line. We approach that with structure and intention. Yoga is always first. If someone working at Yoga Yoga wants to take a Yoga class, they should go take a class and then get their work done. We have a lot of people who are attracted to working at Yoga Yoga because they practice Yoga. If we had an organization that insisted that you do your work first and then practice Yoga that would just be silly. We try to manage our growth so we’re able to work with the kind of people who are committed to what we are doing. We try to be cognizant of the balance between our hearts and our skills.

IYM: What can we learn about Yoga and marketing?

RG: My teacher, Yogi Bhajan, came to the US and said, “Come, I will teach you Yoga.” We went to him, learned and then he said, “Go get more of your friends, and I’ll teach them.” That is sales. From that, there are now hundreds of thousands of yogis now. Look at Pattabhi Jois’ Yoga Shala in Mysore—it is now an enterprise. The people who are successful extend themselves out into the marketplace so as to share this knowledge.

The main guiding principle by which we run Yoga Yoga calls on us to nurture the relationship between the student and teacher and the student and the teachings. Our effort is to support those two things. We need everybody at Yoga Yoga doing that. Our teachers need to be able to extend past their classes to help students make connections with the teachings. We need skilled professionals, skillful teachers who can teach and promote their classes and the teachings.

IYM: Yoga Yoga has been very successful, despite hard economic times. Why?

RG: If we don’t promote what we are doing, well, McDonald’s has a hamburger to sell you. [Laughs] What I’m saying is that there is highly skilled competition for people’s attention and commitment. So, we have placed our studios in very accessible areas, like shopping centers. We work hard to have brand recognition, and we use the same tools that other businesses use. We are at conferences to which businesses go, we’re on the radio, we continually finding ways to communicate our message about our services and to know how to be out there in the marketplace. You achieve success through the consistency of your message, the consistent quality of how you engage the marketplace, the way you pay your bills and how you provide your services. You tell someone how you love them by the way you talk, the food you give them, the flowers you bring—it’s not one thing. And it’s the same for business—good business is comprised of many things.

One of the things that drives us as an organization is that we wanted to be large enough to have a seat at the table of the societal conversation. In our town, for example, I sit on the mayor’s fitness council. I get to support our city in fostering health and I get to bring in my perspective because I’ve been willing to engage the marketplace in a particular way. And the way you engage is by making one Yoga center and being successful and then making another and doing it in a way that people and businesses in the community find accessible. Just as there are an unlimited number of people to whom McDonald’s can sell their hamburgers, there are an unlimited number of people to whom we can teach Yoga

IYM: There’s a conversation going on in the country as to whether Yoga is an avocation or profession.

RG: There are significant ramifications to that choice. Medical insurance companies aren’t going to reimburse avocations. I’m not saying what is the right or wrong choice. I think there are pros and cons each way. I can see the benefit of having no regulation on what we do in any way, shape or form. When a medical doctor wants to refer a patient to someone to help a hurt back, however, that doctor doesn’t have time to determine if Sally Jane can teach the right Yoga, so that doc is going to call a licensed physical therapist. That’s the reality.

We haven’t really engaged in this conversation seriously enough. I think the medical profession is desperate for our help. We have a health care system designed for acute, infectious disease. We have a world where we live with diseases that are chronic and related to our lifestyle choices. Those chronic issues are stress-centric. There’s an emerging body of evidence about the good job Yoga can do supporting people living with chronic diseases. I believe we, as a body of Yoga teachers, and as professionals, should be offering the marketplace our services.

IYM: How can Yoga teachers and therapists do that more?

RG: In our society, there’s a limit to how much use you can be if you can’t talk business or organization-speak. If the human resources manager can’t bring you in because you don’t know how to conduct yourself in a business or medical setting and that will reflect badly on that manager, then you’ve chosen to not participate in that realm. At Yoga Yoga, we’ve really focused on making ourselves and our organization accessible to people working in corporate, business and healthcare settings. One of our main jobs is to market ourselves in a way that lets them know that we have a technology available, with safe Yoga practices and that will be delivered professionally with quality and integrity. If I walk into a company and want to affect the health of 300 people in that company, who is the person who is going to decide if I get to do that and what do they need to know about me? They need to know it’s safe for me to be in that company. Our job is to bring safety, consistent quality and integrity in how we do business and to provide our services so we have an open door through which to bring health to people.

There has been a distinct change in the last ten to twenty years in how the world views Yoga. There’s no question in any thinking person’s mind—whether a CEO or medical doctor—because the research and evidence has shown that the mind and body are connected. Thirty years ago we had to talk to people about that, but we don’t have to anymore. So, we have to recognize that, let go of the past and step into relationship with a society that really wants what we uniquely have to offer. As Yoga teachers, we carry a body of knowledge, a model of health and well-being, that is very distinct from how health is generally talked about in our culture. I believe that gives us a responsibility to champion what we believe health is truly. Health isn’t the absence of disease. Health is a level of vitality, strength, integrity and capacity. That’s what we can bring into businesses and medical environments. I believe people are eager for us to do that.

We’re building companies in order to do that. I’m creating the Shanti Health Network which is beginning to vet and credential Yoga teachers and therapists so that, when a physician or business wants to know if this person can teach and can keep my patients safe, there’s an answer. Yoga teachers, massage therapist, acupuncturists all have a contribution to make to people’s health. Yet all these professions face the same challenges in the marketplace: People don’t understand the benefits of these services, and these services aren’t fully reimbursable.

So, we want to make Yoga, Yoga therapy and complimentary/integrative medicine more accessible to organizations. I’m of the opinion that a business can serve and be socially responsible and responsive. There’s a lot to do and a lot happening. We’ve got to work really hard to get enough Yoga professionals accessible to the medical profession. There’s no one who won’t benefit from a half hour of pranayama prior to surgery. I was at Harvard at a lifestyle health conference and I was talking with a cardiologist who places stents in arteries all day. He said he couldn’t really make much difference in people’s health. He’d operate on people and they’d come back again because the blockage had returned. But, we, as Yoga teachers, change people’s lives every day. I believe it’s important that we make ourselves of use to society. To live healthier and find acceptance for a healthy lifestyle is much easier today than it was years ago. This is our time. Yogi Bhajan talked about 2012 as a particular watershed time as many have done. Engaging the world as a yogi right now couldn’t be easier.

IYM: How important is Karma Yoga?

RG: In Yoga the word seva means selfless service. It is Karma Yoga, the Yoga of action. While we practice Yoga to make ourselves better, our real goal is to make the world better. So, from the very beginning and today, service to the community has played a significant role at Yoga Yoga. From donating Yoga classes to non-profit organizations to gathering food and toys for families and children in need to participating in fund-raising events for those with cancer, AIDS and other life-threatening diseases, Yoga Yoga’s students, staff and teachers practice the art of service in big and little ways every day. Over the years, Yoga Yoga has grown and so has our ability to serve the community. We see service as a great honor and responsibility. In the future, serving and giving back to the community will continue to be at the forefront of the work we do at Yoga Yoga.

For me personally, I have responded to the call of seva by helping to establish the Yoga Care Foundation (YCF), a non-profit organization that supports research, education, and community outreach around the benefits and practice of Yoga. Through this organization, we are able to award grants to Yoga teachers who want to share Yoga with underserved populations and contribute to scientific research in ways that support the advancement of Yoga. With the support of the Yoga Yoga community and other Yoga enthusiasts, the YCF is beginning to flourish. It’s exciting to see what can grow from the seeds of service.

Rich Goldstein (Raghurai), CEO of Yoga Yoga, has been practicing Yoga since 1981 and teaching Kundalini Yoga since 2001. He partnered with the Yoga Yoga founders in 2000 and has since taken the business from one Yoga studio to five, including the organization’s first Yoga wellness spa. Additionally he has developed Shanti Health Network, The Natural Epicurean (a training school for vegan, vegetarian, macrobiotic, Ayurvedic and raw cuisine chefs and educators) and the nonprofit Yoga Care Foundation, which supports research, education and community outreach around the benefits and practice of Yoga. For more information:  www.yogayoga.com.

The post The Business of Yoga appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Money Do’s and Don’ts

Almost everyone, it seems, gets a little crazy about money. Even the wealthy sweat about having enough, notes Brent Kessel, a certified financial planner and president of Abacus Wealth Management, Inc., in Pacific Palisades, California. For instance, some of his richest clients worry that the next market plunge will take their pricey lifestyle down with it, he says. And that’s exactly why Kessel, a longtime student of Ashtanga Yoga whose financial counseling is influenced by the Yoga Sutra, thinks money is an underrated spiritual tool. “It can become a bell of awakening in your spiritual practice just by watching how you react to it,” he says. “Where am I holding tension in my body as I do this transaction, pay bills, watch my portfolio increasing or decreasing? All of these are just opportunities to be conscious. I think that’s my primary passion in my work—to use it that way.”

Writing nearly 2,000 years ago, Patanjali may not have envisioned Kessel’s particular application, but he clearly had money and material possessions in mind when he laid down at least some of the yamas. Take aparigraha, which is commonly translated to mean “nongrasping,” i.e., not being greedy. The challenge for yogis, of course, is to figure out what Patanjali meant by “need,” because he didn’t specify. He rendered the sutras in exceedingly spare prose—intentionally, we might assume, so yogis could fill in the details with insights from their own developing wisdom. But need takes on a much different connotation in 2003, in a world of diminishing natural wealth and stark divides between rich and poor, than it did in Patanjali’s time.

For example, an environmentalist would be quick to note that even the ordinary American consumes at a voracious level the planet can’t sustain—Americans make up 5 percent of the world’s population but hog nearly a third of the Earth’s natural resources. Marshall Glickman, author of The Mindful Money Guide: Creating Harmony Between Your Values and Finances, feels that any conscientious yogi who understands the sustainability dilemma ideally should factor that into his lifestyle choices. “No matter what path a person is on, it’s crucial to ask, ‘Am I being aware of other people and having their interests at heart and not just being selfish?’ ” says Glickman, a dedicated meditator and former stockbroker.

Dharmanidhi Sarasvati, spiritual director and yoga teacher at Tantric College of America in Berkeley, California, agrees. He adds, however, that aparigraha should not be read to imply any kind of objective yardstick, considering yoga’s focus on inner awareness. “The real need we have is whatever we need to sustain ourselves while still making a contribution to those we have dharmic obligations to —family, employees, and so forth,” he says. “Anything that’s accumulated beyond that is supposed to be distributed for the benefit of others. It’s not supposed to be hoarded.” That would still seem to leave lots of wiggle room, but as Glickman puts it, “I can’t answer what ‘appropriate need’ is for you, but we have to look more closely at our own hearts and minds. I think we know when we’re being hypocritical.”

Financial planner George Kinder, cofounder (with colleague Dick Wagner) of the “life planning” movement in his profession, turns the entire idea of need on its head in his book The Seven Stages of Money Maturity and in his practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Life planning means organizing a client’s resources to support their deepest aspirations, as opposed to financial planning’s usual focus on maximizing wealth and financial security. Kinder, whose seven stages in his book title are tied to yoga’s seven chakras, begins his workday with clients by taking them through a self-inquiry process designed to uncover those aspirations. The process culminates with the question: If your doctor told you you only had 24 hours to live, what would you have missed?

“Ultimately people’s aspirations are usually spiritual,” says Kinder. “Most people talk about their family, relationship, creativity, social causes, or spirit.” Once clients are staring at their bottom-line priorities, the real planning can then begin. For most people, Kinder has found, that means simplifying their everyday lives—such as cutting back on their normal workload and expenses so they can write the Great American Novel, spend more time with the children, or whatever else their “death sentence” revealed.

Besides aparigraha, the other yama that appears to refer directly to financial affairs is asteya, or nonstealing. Glickman looks at this principle in broader terms than the theft prohibited by law. He suggests that we ask ourselves how much of our lifestyle is based on exploitation: “Are the products we buy made fairly? The people we hire—do we treat them well? The people we work for —do we try to get the most we can from them for the least money?” But he also emphasizes asteya‘s inner dimension. “We tend to steal to try and get more because we’re not satisfied with how things are at this moment,” he notes.

Dharmanidhi points to asteya‘s more subtle aspects as well: “The esoteric principle behind asteya has to do with a kind of pride. The ancient teachings on this say that to think of yourself as really important is to steal your soul from God. That means that we’re not surrendering ourselves to the larger view that we’re this one consciousness. Once you separate yourself from the striving for this experience of oneness, then you’re becoming self-absorbed and you’re going to steal, either symbolically or literally.”

He regards ahimsa, nonviolence or nonharming, in a similar vein: “The root of ahimsa is that any violence is caused by separation. As soon as I think that I’m independent and that what I do is not going to affect others, I’ve performed a violent act. We can never be perfect. I’ll never know exactly how everything I’m consuming affects everyone along the chain, but I’ll do the best I can, without becoming neurotic, to decrease the impact I have on others through consumption.” Kessel feels that the external aspect of ahimsa also has a fiercely practical, internal side—namely, when we do violence to others or life itself, we suffer too. Classic example: the business executive whose relentless drive to succeed wrecks his marriage, family, and ultimately his financial life. Ahimsa, Kessel says, has to include self-love—a sort of personal non-aggression pact not to do things for short-term gain that will undermine us in the long run, emotionally or financially.

He also finds financial counsel in a place few yogis might think to look, the yama of brahmacharya. This term is usually taken to mean moderation and self-control in sex, but Kessel feels pretty sure Patanjali would expand it today to include another form of lascivious relationship: the one many of us have with money. He points out that the original thinking behind brahmacharya assumed a vital connection between spiritual and physical energy. To develop your full potential of the former, you have to conserve the latter, the yoga tradition teaches.

“In our culture, I don’t think losing sexual energy has nearly as much effect on people’s long-term well-being as the leaking of financial energy, if you will, like frivolous spending,” he says. To Dharmanidhi, brahmacharya means the ability to resist seduction, including by the sirens of advertising and marketing. “A yogi is supposed to be beyond reactivity,” he notes.

How the remaining yama, satya (being truthful, sincere, genuine, and honest), relates to the financial world seems pretty clear. But satya also underlines a point Kessel makes about the yamas overall—their wisdom is demonstrated by the way they apply to economic systems as well as individuals. The dishonest accounting practices of Enron, Worldcom, Arthur Anderson, et al.; the disingenuous reports by the stock analysts at Wall Street’s major brokerages; the resistance by Congress and federal regulators to genuine reform and oversight—all combined to create the stock market’s meltdown of mid-2002 and its sluggish performance afterward, leaving the U.S. economy wobbling in the balance.

Kessel believes most successful business people are good, honest types whose wealth comes from contributing value to others’ lives. But the cautionary tale still holds: “If we don’t practice basic honesty, our economic life is bound to fall apart, just like the market did.”

In a sense, notes Dharmanidhi, the niyamas and yamas comprise a set of yogic do’s and don’ts. The niyamas, or do’s, describe spiritual “observances” and attitudes that are designed to build character and deepen our yoga practice. One of them, santosa (contentment), is relevant to our financial actions, because contentment lessens or eliminates greed. The connection between the other niyamas and finances may not appear to be so obvious. But as we’ve learned with the yamas, one does not have to scratch too deeply into any part of Patanjali’s program to find pointed advice on money matters.

In fact, Dharmanidhi thinks the niyamas speak even more directly about a healthy approach to materialism than do the yamas. Tapas (a burning desire to reach self-realization), sauca (purity of body and mind), Ishvara (concentration on and surrender to God) —all these Yoga practices help keep us in touch with our inner essence, he points out. That focus in turn tends to keep us from being too greedy, ignoring the violent consequences of our actions, behaving dishonestly, consuming frivolously and wastefully, and disregarding the welfare of others —in short, the whole slate of ignorant, damaging behaviors that the yamas aim to prevent.

Brent Kessel appreciates how the niyama of svadhyaya (self-observation) can inform a sane, and spiritually sound, level of consumption: “You have to self-observe to know if you really need something or if it’s really trivial or for show or image.” Applied to Hatha Yoga, svadhyaya also teaches us about the destructive side of ambition, he feels: “If you fight your hamstrings and tell yourself, ‘Darn, I’m going to get my chin to my knees,’ you’re going to get hurt and you’re not going to get flexible as fast as if you observe where your limits are, observe your breath at those limits, and wait for the opening.” He finds an analogy in his own field, where the rule-of-thumb is that financial security is built by investing patiently for the long term —that is, being accepting of modest but steady gains —and taking only calculated, affordable risks. It’s the speculators, the get-rich-quick types who risk all for the big payday, who tend to be investing’s biggest losers. In other words, svadhyaya of one’s own circumstances and long-range goals, seasoned with a generous dose of santosa, leads to financial and yogic success.

Practicing the Yoga of Money

If we adopt the yamas and niyamas as a financial ethic, we still need a plan for carrying it out. A number of strategies, popular mostly in progressive and counter-cultural circles, would seem—on first blush, anyway—to offer some well-considered ways of accomplishing just that. Socially responsible consuming and investing, right livelihood, high-impact charitable giving: We can imagine that if he were alive today, Patanjali would applaud all such efforts by yogis.

As long as they were sincere, that is. Sincerity—satya again—holds the key. As with asanas or any aspect of yoga, our fiscal activism accomplishes little if performed in an off-handed way-for example, casually writing a check to a visible, brand-name charity that turns out to spend most of its money on salaries and fund-raising. Just as a little focused attention can mean the difference between a bungled asana and an adroit one, it takes just a small extra effort to turn an inconsequential ethical stand into a powerful one. Here are some ideas, drawn from Marshall Glickman’s The Mindful Money Guide and other thoughtful sources:

1. Earning Ethically

The Buddha not only coined the term “right livelihood” but also made it part of his Eightfold Path to spiritual well-being. To begin down that road, take an inventory of your talents, interests, and values. Then research related careers and create an action plan to create the work you want, including getting the necessary training. If you don’t feel good about your current work but can’t leave it right now, perform it in a way that doesn’t compromise your values, to the greatest extent possible. And try to find the deep meaning in your current situation, which could be as basic as supporting the family you love.

2. Living Lightly

Consider simplifying your life so you can switch to a dream career as soon as possible, even if the pay is modest. Keep in mind, though, that it may be psychologically daunting to transform your lifestyle, even if the result is a life that’s more exciting to wake up to every single morning. Messages we received from our parents about money, expectations from our spouse or children that we bring home a certain level of income, our self-image as a “successful” person—all these things may stand in our way. “It’s very easy to upgrade our lifestyle when we can earn more money—buy a better car, travel more, buy a better place,” states George Kinder. “It’s much harder, once you’ve gotten accustomed to a way of living, to reduce it. Also, we tend to be creatures of habit. So we can be convinced that our work is damaging us yet not let go of it because the habit of it somehow gives us comfort.” Given that, you may want the assistance of a life-planning professional to get you started. A skilled planner can help you wind your way through the emotional thicket, take practical steps that will ease the transition to the new vocation, and frame your goals in a way that is fulfilling for your family as well. Look at the planner’s fees as an investment in saving a life—yours.

3. Voting with Your Dollars

Become more informed about the social issues imbedded in products, so your purchases can reflect your values. If you boycott a company’s products, drop the company a note or e-mail explaining your action (you can probably e-mail them from their Web site)—especially if no official boycott of the company has been called. That’s far more effective than quietly spending your few bucks elsewhere. And remember the crucial strategy of buy-cotting too. Buying organic food, for instance, not only may be healthier for you but also keeps pesticides out of the soil and groundwater, protects workers and soil, and often supports family farmers. Think of the extra cost as a donation to those worthy causes. Energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances, fuel-efficient cars, and manual lawn mowers are other examples of socially positive purchases that make a significant environmental impact by preventing pollution and global warming.

4. Investing from the Heart

As with consuming, anonymously choosing not to invest in a company for ethical reasons has little impact by itself. In fact, it might be more effective to own a few shares so you can become a shareholder activist—i.e., exercise your rights as a shareholder to influence corporate management. If like most people, you’re too busy or financially unsophisticated for all that, here’s how to be an activist, disinvest in corporate bad actors and invest in better ones all at the same time: Buy shares in a socially responsible mutual fund (e.g., the Domini Social Index Fund, a historically strong performer) that engages in significant shareholder actions on its investors’ behalf. This assumes that the fund represents your values, of course—most of the brand-name funds follow a progressive agenda that is pro-women and minorities, pro-labor, pro-environment, anti-war profiteering, and so forth. (You can learn more about socially responsible consuming and investing by simply visiting Green America)

5.Giving Effectively

“It’s really important for us to be generous and hold money lightly,” says Glickman. But that doesn’t mean giving with your eyes closed. Investigate the groups you’re considering for track record, potential impact of current projects, and percentage of donations that goes to overhead (35 percent is a reasonable maximum). You can check out the largest national groups at the Better Business Bureau’s Philanthropic Advisory Service. And do not forget to volunteer as well—local groups may value your time even more than your money.

Living in Balance

Money may be a crazy-maker, but the yamas and niyamas can be too—if we try to shape them instead of letting them shape us. Take those who would twist Patanjali’s ideas to justify questionable attitudes they already hold, such as self-denial, miserliness, and contempt for the better-off. Glickman warns us about what he calls “money-hating,” or reverse materialism. “For instance, if we’re too much in control, we’re as obsessed by money and unfree as if we’re spending, spending, spending,” he observes.

Glickman contrasts the money-haters with kind, generous people whose favorite sport happens to be shopping. They’re not particularly possessive of all the stuff they haul home; they just love life and all it offers. Dharmanidhi believes it is a core objective of yoga to enjoy life—”My Guru talked about it constantly,” he says—although he notes the Tantric teaching that we can only enjoy outer pleasures to the extent that experience exists within us already: “If the experience of the fulfillment is already present in the being, then certainly a lot less is needed because you’re not going around trying to fill the hole all the time.”

Kessel thinks the real key to properly applying the yamas and niyamas may not come from that part of the Yoga Sutra at all, but rather in the two aphorisms right afterward, the ones about correctly performing asanas. Patanjali recommends that our asanas be stable, comfortable, and tension-free while our spirit remains benevolent. While the sage was writing about posture, it’s not as if we’re forbidden to draw a broader lesson, Kessel says: “Steadiness without rigidity. Balance. Relaxation, but not sloppiness or overindulgence. Doing good for others, not just profiting personally. How can we miss the financial lesson in that?”

About the Author:

Alan Reder has written about socially responsible, personal finances, and business practices as author or coauthor of the books, Investing From the Heart, In Pursuit of Principle and Profit, and The Whole Parenting Guide.

Source: Yoga Journal

The post The Yoga of Patanjali and Money appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

1st Chakra: Muladhara (Root) located at the base of the spine.

This chakra deals with basic needs and self preservation. You will recklessly fulfill wants, rather than take care of the essentials. If you find yourself buying that expensive suit with the money you need to buy groceries and pay the electric bill, your root chakra is out of balance.

Sample goal: Build a realistic, useable budget.

2nd Chakra: Svadhisthana (Navel)

This chakra deals with sensuality and the appetite for life’s pleasures. When this chakra is in balance, your relationship with the material world is healthy. When it is out of balance, you may find yourself spending wildly to satisfy impulse appetites, only to sink into depression when the bills come due.

Sample goal: Build (or rebuild) a healthy credit record with the financial bureaus.

3rd Chakra: Manipura (Solar Plexus)

This chakra is the location of both your sense of self and your physical power. Balance in this chakra means a healthy self-esteem that enables sensible financial risks. If this chakra is out of balance, you will suffer from low self worth. Overspending in an attempt to bolster your self-esteem creates financial problems.

Sample goal: Begin a savings/investment program; a dollar a day can turn into $20,000 through the miracle of time and compound interest!

4th Chakra: Anahata (Heart)

This chakra unifies the lower (physical) and higher (spiritual) energy circuits. Balance in the Heart chakra encourages tolerance. When unbalanced, your judgmental behaviors push away your loved ones. Or, when the Anahata is too open, over-empathy with others’ anger or misery can depress you. You may lack the optimism necessary to make a comfortable home a financial priority.

Sample goal: Determine how much of a mortgage you are eligible for.

5th Chakra: Vissudha (Throat)

This chakra deals with communication. If it is unbalanced, it may result in an inability to sit down with your partner and have that hard talk about the future impact of shared debts and risky spending habits.

Sample goal: Begin comprehensive will and estate planning.

6th Chakra: Ajna (Brow or Third Eye)

This chakra controls your ability to make your hopes and dreams a reality. When it is unbalanced you have difficulty visualizing where you want your life to lead and how you will get there. Balance in this chakra infuses your spirit with a sane attitude toward money, stopping the behaviors that create financial problems for you and your family.”

Sample goal: Enroll yourself in “Insurance 101”—figure out the types of insurance you might need and who you want to protect.

7th Chakra: Sahasrara (Crown)

This chakra gives you the faith and strength to act from your ethics and values, rather than your fears. When the Sahasrara is balanced, you are in a position to become a guide and mentor. Share the lessons you have learned on the path to financial freedom. At this point, the journey has become more important than the end result. Because you are aware, happy and secure, you are in a position to be of service.

Sample goal: Consider ways to convert your bad debts into good tax deductible debt (such as the “mortgage maneuver” or finding a good readvanceable mortgage).

Listen to an online interview with Jacqueline Richards

Source: Integral Yoga Magazine, Winter 2009

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