Should we talk about the economy?

I was lucky to be in LA for the Global Mala Project, 2008,
photo by Martin Herrera.

Should we allow ourselves to worry about the economic situation? Can we focus on your practice and invite your students to do the same or is that "alienation with a halo on"?

Read my other post "What if Krishna was our financial advisor?" for my opnion. Though I am often in the States, I am living abroad, and somehow, I am an outsider. You tell me if that disqualifies my opinion, or if it enriches it with a fresh perspective.

I am just back from 2 weeks in the US. I went to NY where I assisted my business partner Tevis Gale in a Corporate Yoga Teacher training at the Omega Institute. The program was so great we are already booked for May 2009! Then I crossed to the other coast and did my second Business of Yoga program at the Loyola Marymount University in LA. This was also very well received and I'm in their calendar for July 2009. In the meantime, I am busy here in Uruguay, offering corporate meditation and stress-reduction programs. There's so much to do here! It's both inspiring and frustrating, depending on the day.

I look forward to an opportunity to see you (or hear from you) soon.

While my 2009 calendar is still being cooked, I have a few more events for this year, including 3 teleclasses. Do join me!

To the light and strenght that thrives in your heart,
Clara

Creating a samkalpa for your teaching business

Click here to listen to this 60 minute teleclass.

What we talk about: what is a samkalpa (resolution) and how to use this ancient yogic technique to achieve meaningful business goals using the power of resolution (samkalpa shakti).

The Business of Yoga - Level II For experienced Full Time teachers

Clara explaining that wealth is just another form of Shakti to her a very young student. Photo by Martin Herrera

“Clara is a knowledgeable and effective teacher. This course is vital for anyone in the healing arts interested in making a conscious living doing what they love. It will help launch you into the next level of your business.”
Hala Khouri, M.A., Los Angeles, CA

This program is designed for teachers who are ready to work on the business aspects of their careers. What’s beyond teaching full time and paying bills? What inspires us to grow as a teacher and how can we use business as a sacred art of fulfilling one’s vision?

Demistifying ideas such as “if you’re spiritual you can’t be a businessperson” or “really good yoga teachers don’t need marketing”, business of yoga expert Clara Hori will encourage teachers to embrace the business side of their teaching and offer superlative tools and strategies to enable their growth.

Topics include:
• Using purpose and vision to guide your business. Creating meaningful business and personal goals.
• Finding the intersection between what you love, what you do well and what the world needs.
• Creating your own definition for success (better schedule, teaching more of what you really like, taking time off, continuous learning, having more money as means to do other things, etc.)
• Understanding Marketing as what enables you to be of service and upgrading your tools:
using an email blast tool for newsletters, improving your website, networking (including social networking sites), “guerilla marketing”, word of mouth, referral system.
• Preventing burnout.

Teaching methodologies will include lecture/theory (50%), group discussion (20%), hands-on work (30%).

Founder Bio:
Clara Hori - Following a successful 10-year career at Microsoft Corporation, Clara has worked to build bridges between the corporate world and Yoga. She is the creator of the Yogi Incubator, a Business and Marketing program that helps Yoga teachers thrive doing what they love. Clara is also the Managing Director of Balance Integration Corporation.
Clara teaches The Business of Yoga at Loyola Marymount University. She cites her teacher Rod Stryker as her endless source of inspiration and guidance.
The Yogi Incubator has been featured in Yoga Journal, Yogi Time and Natural Awakenings. Clara’s articles have been published in Yogi Times Business.

Recent Testimonials:
“Clara Hori made a subject I find quite dry into something with “rasa” and made it easier for me to contemplate the union of yoga and business. Thank you!” (Arun Deva Das)

“Great concept, definitely helped to integrate the ideals of yoga with the nitty gritty of manifesting it and earning a living.” (Steve B.)

Upcoming dates:
What: 5-hour workshop on The Business of Yoga with Clara Hori
Event Location: Fort Lauderdale FL
Date: Friday, 11/07/2008, from 12:30-5:30pm
Event Organizer: Red Pearl Yoga
Event Cost: $108, $90 in advance
To Register: www.redpearlyoga.com

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.

What if Krishna was our financial advisor?

"Why this timidy, Arjuna, at a time of crisis? It is unworthy of a noble mind; it is shameful and does not lead to heaven. This cowardice is beneath you, Arjuna; do not give in to it. Shake off your weakness. Stand up like a man."

dialog between Krishna and Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita

Yoga is a balance of action and introspection, of practice and surrender. It promises a life of freedom, where through practice we find ways of acknowledging what's going without being sucked into a downward spiral of bad news. The realization that we can be responsible by being present brings us back from a sojourn into worrying land. "Only the very wise and the very fool do not worry about things". Considering ourselves very wise is usually a sign we are not; yet, if we have to choose a direction, isn't there where we are leading?

I encourage you to find ways of remembering that this is precisely what our practice has prepared us for: being a force of peace and goodness in the midst of chaos. Like Arjuna, we must fight! And that means being an unshakable source of joy and peace. If not you, then who? We need to counterbalance the negativity we receive from the media by practicing random acts of kindness, gratitude and whatever makes us happy. Sing, dance, get on the mat, make love, laugh, play with kids...

And yes, this IS business advice! Can you agree your students will be looking for something or someone who can reflect beauty for them? We are all receiving enough gloominess from other sources.

There's not much more you can do about the current situation. If all stress is either something that requires action, clarity or a change in attitude, what would you say this is? Even if you work at the FED or as a Bloomberg analyst, chances are it's the change of attitude that will lighten your heart.

Worth mentioning: look for the subtle distinction between being joyful and yet aware of what's going on, and being joyful at the expense of ignoring what's going on. Though it's "just" another manifestation of maya/cosmic illusion, overemphasizing that can feel really dishonoring to someone who has just lost a house or a job.

Last but not least: raise your hand if you have you ever criticized how materialistic and consumption obsessed our society is. Now raise your hand if you can see Kali, the benevolent destroyer behind this recession (or however you want to call it)? Throughout human history, that's how space for change is created. Let's go dig gold inside folks!

To the infinite source of prosperity within you!