Thursday, August 20, 2009

Greener Printer for your business cards!




Cards I created using Greener Printer's system.

I found a greener printer! And they are called... www.greenerprinter.com
They are a certified Green Business company in the bay area offering business cards brochures, postcards, etc. printed in 100% recycled paper, chlorine-free, using soy and other vegetable-based inks. Oh, and in case you are wondering, they do offset the carbon emissions of our shipments through purchases with Carbonfund.org and they are 100% wind-powered. Don't you love them?
Here's how Greener Printer (GP) compares to www.overnightprints.com (OP), which is my choice of traditional printer:
Price
OP charges $19.95 for 100 cards and $24.95 for 250 cards.
GP charges $29.95 for 200 cards (their minimun)

Turnaround time (time it takes from card approved to ready to ship)
OP: overnight or 3 days if using ground shipping
GP: 7 days (5 days available for $10 more, 3 days for $20 more)

Shipping
OP ships from Santa Ana, CA. $9 for ground, $12 for 3-day, $15 2-day
GP ships from Berkley, CA. $10 for ground, $13 3-day, $15 2-day

Design
Both will let you submit your own design as a PDF file and offer template based designs for you to create your own.
OP has more options to choose, and in general I like them
GP has few options and I don't love them. They offer design services for $20 additional.
If you are going with a template, remember that other people might have a card that looks just like yours, especially if there aren't many templates to choose from.
OP offers rounded corners which I like and UV coating which makes the cards look much better.

So all in all, GP is a bit more expensive, but probably not more than $15 for an order. Worth giving it a try!
Note: I am not affiliated to either GP or OP and I am not receiving any incentive to promote them....

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Surviving or Thriving? Strategies for Teachers in Times of Uncertainty

The big picture: Kali Yuga
I can't talk about current times without referring to Kali Yuga, which is how the yogis called the time we are in. Kali Yuga, the dark age, is characterized by materialism and both crisis and destruction are needed in order to create space for the new. All seekers will find resistance in their path. In general, the environment will be more conducive to numbing ourselves through TV, overating and overconsuming, than to sit and meditate. Around us, we may find more examples of selfishness than generosity. And teaching yoga, especially meditation and pranayama will probably be harder than to teach pilates or be a personal trainer. So we should expect resistance, even if we are following our bliss, even if we are aligned with our dharma. The Universe is still supporting us, and the more we practice, the more we experience that.
To learn more about Kali Yuga, I recommend the Prophecy of the Sages book, but it's almost impossible to get it, unless you are willing to pay $200 for a used copy (does that tell us something about the dark ages?)

So what can you do when business slows down?

Practice.
In times of uncertainty, as yogis (I like to think that we are yogis, yoga teacher is what we do), our first duty is to remain a harbor for peace ships. People come to your class wanting refuge from darkness, so you better be shinning very brightly. So what would it take for you to show up radiating love, even if your class is now half of what it used to be? What would it take for you to feel protected, guide and safe, even if your bank statement is sogged with tears (this is why I prefer to get them on line)? The sages have the answer: silence. Silence cures it all.

There's no better time to rely on your own practice to find the strenght and the inspiration to be the best teacher you can be.

Find ways to stay connected with your students.
If they are not coming to the studio, go to them. Choose a medium that you feel confortable with (Facebook, email, newsletter) and share your goodness. Short and light tends to be more accepted than long and serious (though I rebel against my own advice too often). Link it to your blog, if you have a blog, where you can take more freedom both in terms of content and lenght.
Also, stay available. Continue showing up early for class and staying a few minutes after. This makes a difference, even if no one comes to talk to you. Some students need to see you iddle many times before they decide to ask a question.

Continue growing
Even if everything around you may look and feel stuck, you can create inner movement. Use the extra time you are having in ways that create value for yourself and others. Be resourceful. Travel to places where you can stretch your money. Volunteer - give and you shall receive. Weren't there times you wish you could do more karma yoga? Study - consider work/study programs and apprenticeships. This NY Time article talks about how hard times are jamming the ashrams. That's exactly what I am talking about! Create and nurture your community - either on line or in person. Stay in the company of like-minded people who can remind you of all that you already know.

Adjust to the situation
The power of now. Be here now. Can you temper the expectations that things will get better with a radical acceptance of what's going on right now? So that you can live it fully and complete whatever needs to be completed?
Find out what this means for you. Maybe is a shopping embargo. Maybe it's falling in love with cooking. Maybe it's creating a personal budget. Whatever it is, find a way to acknowledge and honor the fact that it's time to conserve resources.

Be
practical and the philosophical
A student in California asked me if one really had to go that deep into philosophy before going into practicalities. My answer was that I don't know about other people, but for me, I really do need to go back to the philosophy. And that is probably going to be the case for most yogis, that's how we make sense of the world. Besides, in my case, I don't think I have anything better to offer to the world than a business perspective steeped in tantra and yoga. Hope you agree with it!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Rhythm of Life, Rhythm of Business



Moving... Again... (note wood crates that are used in Uruguay)

It's been eight months since my last newsletter. It's a bit embarrassing, given how much I emphasize the importance of consistency in my trainings. At the same time, the truth is that the Yogi Incubator, like any other small business, has no rhythm of its own. It rides on the rhythm of my life, and it will tend to stop when I stop, and flow when I flow. My personal definition of success includes being financially and emotionally able to slow down projects at crucial moments of my life. You may find it hard to believe, but the financial part is often easier than letting go of ingrained productivity standards.

Though I sincerely missed working with Yoga teachers, my energy was focused in getting really established in another country. This started with postponing to the next decade the idea of living in an eco-house in the country and quickly evolved into buying and renovating a house, starting a
business as well as network of local contacts. After packing and unpacking 150 boxes for the second time in a year, I am writing this newsletter from my new office, in my new house. It's a clear, sunny winter day. Our solar panels have silently heated the water to 130F. My feet happily receive the heat from the radiant floor while I sip my ginger tea. In a few hours I will drive into town to celebrate Guru Purnima at a yoga studio. Life is good.

In addition to all this moving, my 2009 started with some serious traveling: I joined a group of 100 people on a 3-week trip to India. You can read more about it here

It feels really good to be back. This July will be full with two teaching engagements in Los Angeles (LMU) and Chicago (Moksha), as well as ressucited teleclasses to keep us all in shape till the end of the year.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

In gratitude for this reconnection,

Clara

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Advice for the current economic times: Combining Schumpeter's Creative Destruction, Shiva and the Doshas.



"(this process of) mutation-if I may use that biological term-that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. It is what capitalism consists in and what every capitalist concern has got to live in."

Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950), Austrian economist who popularized the term "creative destruction" amongst economists.

Was Schumpeter talking about Shiva?

Acknowledging that the messy, painful way that capitalism and free markets use to regulate themselves is part of their essence is hard, especially when going out of business, job losses and unbearable debt become personal. Yet, yoga reminds us that birth-decay-death is the nature of everything in the material world, so how could banks and business stay out of it? Through this imperfect process called crisis, the economy will evolve, the fittest will survive, new business will emerge, some old will thrive and some will die, becoming food or fuel to something new.

So what can we do? Well, if we oversimplify reality, and that's what all models do, there are only two strategies:

1) sit and wait, conserving resources for when the recovery/renovation begins;

2) go out and find opportunity within the chaos.

Sit and wait is a good strategy, as long as you can really wait patiently. You have to have enough resources, material and non-material, to endure the dark night of the economy, and you have to be able to really stay relaxed even if you are in the path of the storm. Otherwise, rather than saving energy for new beginnings, you are draining yourself with worry that is not even getting expressed as action.

Finding opportunity within the chaos is also valid, and the caveat is that you have to truly believe this is possible. Your sense of adventure has to be greater than your risk aversion. Your faith has to be greater than your fear. And if that does not sound like you, don't feel frustrated. Instead, take it as a sign that there's a better way to use of your energy.

I can't think of anything wiser than finding what your natural inclination is and working with it. Treat it as wisdom, as guidance from the forces that always accompany you. One starting point is to look at your dosha, your body-mind type from Ayurveda.

Can you see how kaphas can sit and wait? It's the best thing form them to do, given their patience and stability. The same choice would make vattas space out and pittas spin on their wheels. Vattas and pittas will be drawn to taking risks, vattas because their essence is change, and pittas because their fire makes them go-getters.

Whatever your strategy is, as yogis, we know that power is made available to the extent we can remind ourselves of our nature, our purpose and our practice, specially as we go through turbulent times. How do we manage ourselves when there's a gap between what we want and what we are getting? Isn't that what we practice yoga for? The more I read the media, the more I turn to yoga and my tradition for guidance and inspiration. And in case you need some of that too, here's a message from my teacher Rod Stryker.

This reminder may not be very practical and yet, it's really the most valuable thing I can offer you. My endless curiosity for the convergence between practical and mudane aspects of life and the mistery and power of spirit leads me to think that, at this very moment, it's inspiration, more than specifics, what we all need.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Clara Hori is interviewed by Kris Ward of Abundant Yogi by Trikaya


Kris and I are birds of a feather. We are both yoga teachers and entrepreneurs, with a serious passion for supporting yogis who believe that a full, rich and abundant life is part of the promise of yoga, and our ability to manage money and business is not only a tool or a means to that, but a powerful mirror of how we are living our yoga.
She is the creative force behind Trikaya, a funky combination of Yoga and Lifestyle Design that doesn't fit into any standard descriptions. Abundand Yogi is one of Trikaya's offerings, and for its soon to be released comunity pages, Kris is producing a series of interviews.
In our 50 minute conversation, we talk about how the Yogi Incubator was born (and incubated) and about the very contemporary challange of making a living while being a spiritual leader (i.e. yoga teacher).

Soon to be posted in the Yogi Incubator Website.

Monday, March 16, 2009

My pilgrimage to Kamakhya, India


From my recent trip to India:(1) Havan, fire ceremony, (2) best saree at Kamakhya, (3) Panditji’s lecture at the Allahabad Campus, (4) Kumari Puja, traditional of Kamakhya, (5) The Ganga in Allahabad, (6) Koti Lingam cave where Parashurama did his practice, (7) Kamakhya main temple, (8) Ganga seen from Allahabad Campus, (9) Eco-cottages at the Allahabad Campus.

View my photo album here

I am just back from India.

I've joined a group of 100 people on a 3-week trip to India. It was a pilgrimage to the shrine of Kamakhya, combined with a week long study of Sri Vidya with Panditji Rajmani Tigunait. Kamakhya is the wish-fulfilling goddess and Her shrine is the most active and esoteric seat of the Divine Mother, Sri Vidya. Panditji is the guru of my teacher Rod Stryker, the successor of Swami Rama and the head of the Himalayan Institute. He's a sage glowing with charisma, wisdom and unbeatable pragmatism.

It's my second time in India and I really think that it's not worth to go to India if you are only planning to go once. Your first time is completely dedicated to being overwhelmed, surviving the excessive noise and stimulation, learning how to ask and receive help without being explored, and accepting the almost absolute absence of conventional structure in the traffic, communications, etc. Your second time, you don't stop your conversation just because your driver is speeding on the wrong side of the road and there's a car coming in the opposite direction. You don't suffer because you really must go to the temple bathroom barefoot. You learn how to order food. You enjoy shopping whether you bargain or not. You make peace with being uneasy when approached by beggars. In summary, you can choose which parts of the experience you will save, and which parts you will let go, either because you can't understand them, or because they cause inner conflict.

I though I was a hard-core backpacker who would never fit into organized trips. Because of the purpose around which this trip was organized and who was organizing it, I decided to give it a try. I don't think I am ever going to India by myself again. The India of the Yogis is not easy to experience on your own, you need a guide. Not a touristic guide, but one that knows where the treasure is hidden, and how to reveal it. Any dedicated traveller can visit Kamakhya, not everyone will gain the experience that it's known for. Panditji and the Institute organized the trip in such a way that we were gradually prepared to understand what we were about to see, to absorb as much of the energy of the place and to integrate it, gradually and skillfully.

I look forward to sharing more about this enchanting and profound experience. Knowing that it can be a while till I actually do that, I will leave you in the meantime with Sandy Anderson's blog , a senior teacher at the Institute and a dedicated blogger.

Namaste, Clara