What if Growing your Business was your yoga practice?

What if Growing your Business was your yoga practice?
Empowering steps to transform your view of business from necessary evil to sacred art of materializing our purpose.

By Clara Hori

Ever struggled with the idea that “if you’re spiritual you can’t be a businessperson?” Or that “if you are really good at what you do, you should not need marketing?” Well, you are not alone. For many of us spiritual practices like yoga and meditation have revealed an inner source of happiness that changed the way we see money, name and fame. It’s almost inevitable to start seeing making a living and taking care of practical aspects of life as empty of real meaning. Our desires and aspirations are now binding weaknesses and we overemphasize contentment over action and change. But is that yoga? Do we really have to renounce the material in order to conquer the spiritual? As Linda Johnsen explains, “It is true that expansion of awareness is the primary goal of yoga, but as consciousness expands, so does our ability to deal effectively with the concerns of everyday life, and a host of subsidiary forms of yoga have evolved over the centuries to help us live healthfully and happily right here in the mundane world.”

Over the last years I’ve helped empower hundreds of talented yoga teachers and healers to make a comfortable living doing what they love. The steps are quite simple, which is not the same to say they are easy:

1) Embrace growth. “Aspiration is the wings of human kind”, says Rumi.
Start by observing your own thoughts regarding growth. Are you clear on why you want the things you want and how will that help you become a greater force of good in the world? How can growing further serve your dharma (purpose)?
It’s worth spending a good amount of time here, as once we confirm our life is a balance between contentment and aspiration we allow very exciting possibilities to unfold.

2) See business as part of your practice.
As Gandhi said, spiritual law works “expresses itself only through the ordinary activities of life.” Let your business express your spirituality. If that idea makes you shut down, ask yourself why.
On the mat, we practice not being a slave to preferences and maintaining our equanimity through our favorite and least favorite poses. Sometimes with tears, we realize the least favorite “anything” (pose, task, person, day) can teach us what we’ve been avoiding. What would happen if you applied that to business and work? What if you approached doing your tax return with reverence? What if cold calling was a sacred ritual of facing the unknown and being grounded in what is unchanging?

3) Redefine marketing/business
Unload negative impressions associated to marketing/business. They are just impressions. Everything is empty from it’s own side and appears according to how you see it, says the Yoga Sutras (Chapter IV, 15). Promoting oneself is your duty – if you have something great to offer, something that will improve people’s lives, how can you keep it a secret? It does not have to feel like selling yourself and manipulating others. Find a way to do it that is authentic, joyful and true to your Self. Challenging? Of course! And yet, very worth it!
This is also a good opportunity to process self-confidence issues. Yes, we hate to admit it, but for all of us, at some level, the fear of failure keeps us from trying.

4) Execute impeccably, authentically and assertively
After these three steps of inner work, it’s time to act. Create a list of everything you need to do for your business to thrive: website, press releases, referrals, newsletter, you name it. If you don’t know, look for help, by books, take classes.
Plan and have goals, learn to love it, it will serve you. Yoga is the union of two opposite things, it’s AND and not OR. Practice having goals AND being in the moment AND flowing.
Initiate every action from your sense of purpose, from your desire to serve. Create rituals to avoid it becoming mechanical – use yogic tools like mantras and pranayama, but most importantly, stay present to your own discomfort.

Lastly, right now, notice if you are getting yourself off the hook, “it’s interesting but not for me” or “I don’t have time.” How would you feel if you could experience business, work and making a living as an authentic expression of who you are and how you serve the world? If that inspires you to take action, I will see you down the path.