The Yogic Edge - Business, Yoga and Sustainability

Consistency....Business Managment.....Effectiveness....Transparency

2009-11-20T02:40:00.000-08:00

When I started this blog, I was warned that I would start and stop along the way, and that has certainly been true. It's now become a 'trailing indicator' for me of a few different aspects of my life, and unlike other personal indicators, this one is public!

What I've noticed is the way my work load and my attention at Yoga Yoga, PLUS my personal life combine to slow down my writing, to stop it, or to move it forward. I might not write if I am distracted at home, or if I am distracted at work, but I also might not write if I am involved in a project at work that I am not ready to talk about....(I don't do that 'withholding' thing all that well!).

So, last year I didn't write alot right around the time we were adding Yoga Yoga 360 Wellness Spa to our 'mix'...and lately I have not been writing, but I have not yet been able to mention what we are up to....I expect to be able to talk soon!

As for blogging, for stopping....today I am back at it.....and while I am starting up again, look for some more info about what Yoga Yoga has in store for 2010....its going to be an exciting year!

Raghurai

Life and Music

2009-10-03T10:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a sweet way to stop for a moment and notice that the point is to enjoy all of this 'work' stuff! So enjoy!

Life and Music....a FurryCarlos production, based on the words of Alan Watts

My thanks to my dear wife Susan for sending this on to me

Rich (Raghurai)

Corporatism, Life Inc, and Justice Sotomayor

2009-09-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been reading Life, Inc. by Douglas Rushkoff.

Douglas Rushkoff is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other’s values. He teaches media studies at the New School University, serves as technology columnist for The Daily Beast, and lectures around the world.

The book is about 'corporatism' and gets to the heart of so much of what I have been trying to get to with the concepts around The Yogic Edge, and the way I am teaching yoga teachers to build local, heart centered personal business plans. I'm inspired by his clarity, eloquence and level of synthesis around such an omnipresent aspect of our society.

As it turns out, you can read most of the book on Boing Boing, where he posted it a few months ago as a guest blogger. Here's the link to the first chapter, and here's links to a few comments (link link) so you can get a 'feel' for the dialogue that was starting around the book. You can also watch a short movie about the book here.

With all this talk about corporatism recently, I was struck in a heartening sort of way when I read this article, entitled "Sotomayor Issues Challenge to a Century of Corporate Law" from the WSJ. It seems that during that hearing the Justice questioned the long held and rarely questioned legal fiction of a corporation's 'person-hood'. I think this question bodes well for putting some limits on the further unquestioned establishment of corporatism, even though it is unlikely to sway the court's opinion in the current case. And any shift back towards a human-focused set of constraints on commercial activity will bode well for our collective humanity.

Rich (Raghurai)

SoCap09 - An Invigorating 3 Days Exploring Social Enterprise

2009-09-09T04:48:00.000-07:00

I spent the end of last week in San Francisco, attending the SoCap09 Conference. This was the second year for this conference, and it was well worth attending. Being with 800 folks, all committed to the conversation about social enterprise, all exploring how they can make a difference and profit from creating greater common good was enlivening.

You can check out some of the video of the conference on YouTube, or see what it looked like on Flickr.

The plenaries gave a chance to see the big picture, from the view of the larger organzations and foundations. And there were many chances to meet fascinating people and explore and engage issues that affect social entrepreneurs unlike others.

There as a great panel on the L3C legal form, which I now understand more fully as almost a 'socially branded' LLC. I have a better perception of how new this form really is, and I remain interested in exploring it for some of our work. That panel was very useful.

We had a great open session on Spirituality in Business, which is a great topic, and one for which group has alot to offer.

I also led a small session on healthcare and personal responsibility, during the participant led sessions, which were done using Open Space technology for meetings. This was my first time using this process, and I found it excellent on many levels.

More to follow.....

What Does it Mean to Market with Consciousness?

2009-08-31T05:52:00.000-07:00

I love Seth Godin. Even more importantly, I think he embodies and promotes the kind of values that we want to aspire to as marketers - conscious application fo skillful action. Kind of yogic, don't you think?

Seth originally coined the phrase 'permission marketing'. He brings an awareness to marketing that is always refreshing. So many of the teachers and business people that I talk to day by day struggle with the necessity to market. I often talk about how important it is that we (who care to add consciousness to the marketplace 'equation') learn to participate powerfully, so that we can compete with other businesses and succeed.

Here's a post he titles "Who Gets to Decide What You Want". He gives a useful 'sense' to marketers how powerful we can be, and he makes it so very clear that as a marketer we are influencing the experience of individuals....its our choice in what way we choose to use our power!

And so, once again it seems to come down to a personal decision. If you decide what you want (instead of letting someone else decide for you) perhaps you could choose the things that would actually bring you and your loved ones the satisfaction you can live with.

In so few words, he makes it clear that we have choice, both as consumers/citizens/people and also as marketers. We MUST choose how we engage the market, and we must use a balanced set of values and goals, in order to both be happy personally, and in order to be of service as we engage.

Rich (Raghurai)

Life, Work and Balance.

2009-08-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

At the heart of the experience of my life, I struggle, as many of us do, with bringing balance to my life and my work. It seems like this sort of struggle is not personal on one level, but it is terribly personal from another perspective.

These last few months I've spent attending to many concerns: the challenges of some very specific business issues against the existing backdrop of the overall struggle to maintain and sustain. Real change at home...kids leaving for college, the challenges as family members grow and change, my mom's passing, the changes and concerns of family at several levels. My health, my vitality, and where to put my attention, how to stay passionate about life at each moment - especially when so many of those moments are working moments around which my personal choices are often secondary to the needs of the 'enterprise' or the family, but the demand to find balance is never far away.

All this personal experience is present for me against the very stark background of 2 great realities we face as a nation....the disgrace of our national approach to health care, made even more shameful by the lack of political will to engage the issues genuinely, and the havoc wreaked on our economy by a greater interest in greed than in balance, superimposed on a distain for service at so many levels.

Its against all of this that I write or don't write each day, that I work productively or minimally, or that I am available to serve with strength or not. I know that my personal practice has served me well in sustaining at so many levels.

It's no wonder that so many of us are struggling with our health, challenged in ways that have long since passed through the healthy challenge of life into the fatigue of chronic stress. Making a life against this backdrop can be daunting. I am grateful each day for the community of good people I share this jouney with, and the opportunity to do good work, work that is worthy of my time and effort in the multi-dimensional rewards it provides.

With Gratitude....

Rich

Choosing Our Work

2009-05-25T04:43:00.000-07:00

Some years ago I chose to be a yoga teacher/entrepreneur. I was already an entrepreneur, something I had learned from my dad, something I was 'swimming in' as I grew up. I love 'creating from nothing', and I am grateful that through Yoga Yoga I have had the opportunity to apply my skills to something that has brought me, and many others so much joy and satisfaction. I often am challenged (mostly internally) to explain the nature of my choices - a particular level of income, working with a particular group of people, and in a particular level of 'local', human-to-human sort of work.

This article, from the NYTimes, The Case for Working With Your Hands, by Matthew B. Crawford is a jewel to read with these questions in mind. Matt's writing is skilled and easy to follow, and he does an exceptional job making the case for choosing our work by considering the affect of that work on our overall life experience rather than simply the economic expectation of that choice.

In addition to the article in the times, you might also read this one by Michael Agger in Slate. He apparently has also had a preview copy of Matt's book to review.

Matt's book, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work, comes out shortly, and these articles provide some insight into the book and his thinking. This discussion in our culture about the nature of work tends to get trivialized too easily, and Matt clearly does not fall into that trap. He apparenly provides new thinking, in a broad way about the issues we all face in finding both sustainable economic return and gratification from our work.

He quotes the Princeton economist Alan Blinder about how the labor market of the next decades won't necessarily be divided between the highly educated and the less-educated:

"The critical divide in the future may instead be between those types of work that are easily deliverable through a wire (or via wireless connections) with little or no diminution in quality and those that are not."

As yoga teachers, we know that the personal human connection is vital, yet we struggle to make the economics work. What is not obvious as we do this is the wholistic, personal choices we must make ...deep spiritual choices about the nature of work, the relationship we will choose to have with money, our sense of safety in our society as we age (will we be able to care for ourselves, have medical care, etc?), what value can we place on personal gratification in our work, in the context of our beliefs and the information available to us?

This next quote eloquently expresses a critical point about this dynamic in a 'meta' way....I am grateful for his skill in illuminating this so clearly.

"We in the West have arranged our institutions to prevent the concentration of political power. … But we have failed utterly to prevent the concentration of economic power, or take account of how such concentration damages the conditions under which full human flourishing becomes possible (it is never guaranteed)."

I have chosen to teach yoga and be a yoga entrepreneur to do work I enjoy that provides a service to our world. I have chosen to grapple day after day with the issues that are critical to this choice....issues like enterprise scale, fairness in compensation, organization structure, sustainability. I am grateful to Matthew Crawford for apparently engaging with his life and his work in a way that clearly will help illuminate these issues for me and my life. I look forward to reading his book shortly.

Rich

Transparency, Trust & Satisfaction as we Work Together

2009-05-05T05:13:00.000-07:00

Each day, as the amazing group of folks working to manage, build, and sustain Yoga Yoga work through issue after issue, I keep coming back to the flow of money, the flow of energy, and how connected they all are. We struggle with doing what is right, with trying to figure out - in action in the world - what works for our organization (that means the staff, teachers, students, vendors, our community....all of us!)

I am constantly reminded how complex this all can be...how each of us relates to money, to work, to survival....and I work hard to stay grounded in my compassion as I engage all of this.....

One of the most useful things I can do is read John Bloom's writing. This month's newsletter from RSF is right here.

This month, John writes about Transparency & Trust.....he so eloquently scratches the surface of what has recently been revealed to our organization as at the heart of our relationships. Consider this...

In a way, there are three forms of trust that accompany financial transactions: trust in matter, or the observable; trust in others, their truth or integrity; and trust in spirit, or common intention. While transparency may on some levels feel like a right, as it is primarily treated in our current political debate on economics, it is also a vehicle for reaching trust in the three realms of matter, relationships, and common destiny. Thus the practice of transparency in finance, with full respect for the rights of privacy and safety, is an essential tool for transforming our economic future.

Trust is so vital to our safe, satisfying business transactions. Transparency is vital, and it requires work ...it is a practice!

Growth or Stability?

2009-04-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

For some time now, my productive time has been very focused on the contrasting needs of growing or remaining stable. It does seem that growth and stability are intricately related. One way to consider the relationship is that they are mutually exclusive, but I am questioning that belief. Right now I am more inclined to explore the possibility of establishing a stable rate of growth, and 'owning up to' the inelegant transition I am experiencing personally and professionally as I transition in one area away from an unstable rate of growth into a more stable growth rate.

Rich Goldstein (Raghurai)

Blogging and Working - Balance, and a few links

2009-02-15T04:27:00.000-08:00

Once again my enthusiasm for my work projects have slowed down my blogging efforts!

For the last month or so I have been 'caught up' in launching a new business endeavor - YogaSolve. YogaSolve is going to provide yoga instructors around the US with a greater capacity to become viable and to bring the benefits of yogic technology to our communities as they struggle to find a new balance for addressing health care on a societal level.

At Yoga Yoga we have started out the new year with a great team, great projects, and lots of folks doing yoga. Our new spa at 360 is finding its place with our students, and it is a great addition to our community here in Austin.

And speaking of Austin, here's a great article on the trends we might expect in the economy nationally as we move into the coming decade, post economic recovery plan. I am a believer that in order to be successful as a conscious entrepreneur it is vital to be skillful. Also it is vital to be informed. This sort of macro view can really help provide deep background for strategic thinking. Check out this map, too. It shows a great big, growing green circle for Austin!

Trends in Business - Transparency

2009-01-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

One of the 'hallmarks' of a conscious business is the shift towards greater transparency. When hierarchy is limited, and information flows freely at all levels of the organization, it is much more likely that the organization will be high-performing.

We (like many organizations) struggle with reviews within the company. Being a small organization, we don't have the sort of structure imposed on us that many larger companies do, yet, we are certainly at the size where people need feedback in their work. That feedback is critical for enhancing and continuously improving, both from the company's and the individual's perspective. Without adequate feedback, even if a team member wants to get better at what they do, they have a hard time figuring out what to work on.

Here's an example about how transparency can be enhanced through technology. I haven't tried it out myself, but the approach seems really interesting. Rypple. Watch the movie!

Yoga Yoga Opens At Seton Good Health Commons

2009-01-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

Starting January 5th Yoga Yoga is going to be providing yoga classes at Seton Williamson County Good Health Commons. Here's the write up in the Austin Business Journal, GoodHealth Commons partners with Yoga Yoga.

Social Capital.....The Trend Continues

2009-01-03T05:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a post about social enterprise from Lucy Bernholz of Blueprint Research.

The trends in the economy are genuinely strong towards social entrepreneurship, conscious capitalism, and the development of social enterprise.

In just a few short paragraphs Lucy provides a fabulous series of links and connections which is going to be useful for those familiar with these terms and newcomers to the social enterprise arena.

Enjoy

Rich

The Talmud, the Yogic Edge and Death

2008-12-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

In the workshop I teach called 'The Yogic Edge' I assert that 'business is the most spiritual of pursuits'. This morning, reading this post by teacherken, which references this article about the Madoff scandal I came upon this writing about the Talmud. I think it makes the point....

The Talmud teaches that when we die and account for our lives before our Creator, each of us will be asked four core questions that determine whether we have lived a worthy life.
Were you honest in business? The first question we are asked in heaven is not a ritual question, but an ethical one: How were you in the marketplace? In this age of financial scandal, an ancient voice rings true: Business integrity is of paramount importance.
Did you make time to study sacred texts regularly? Our own instincts for authenticity, integrity, and compassion need to be recharged and renewed by studying, regularly, the words of the greatest ethical minds.
Did you do your part to nurture the next generation? Raising children affords us the grace of loving somebody more than we love ourselves.
Did you do your part to make the world a better place? Home and hearth, our own health and happiness, are crucial. But they are not enough for a worthy life. The broken world beckons. At the end of our days, what can we say we did to fix it?
Even if we can answer each question "yes," the Talmud teaches that there is still one last element to a worthy life: yirat hashem, a sense of God's presence. What does this mean in 2008? That we wake up in the morning and realize: it is not about us. We are not the center of the universe. We are not even the center of our own universe. There is God. However much we wrestle with God, however much we argue with God, however much we doubt God, it is God to whom we turn in the depths, and it is God whose service gives our life meaning.

I've been taking the chance to slow down and reflect these last few days as the year comes to an end. These words remind me that the values I have come to embrace as I've engaged the marketplace, the values that I seek to live into as I engage the marketplace, these are values worth living into. While I am surrounded by the 'din' of 'money is all that matters', I am grateful to be one of many who is engaged with the deeper integrity of the marketplace, the integrity of community as important as oneself, in balance. Teacherken's diary is about death. As he notes, more and more of those we have shared this path with are now finding themselves at the end of this journey. For me, as one of those still in our bodies, I am present to the beauty, the importance and the significance of paying attention to how we live, how we might answer these 4 questions. For me, it is not that I will answer them before God, so much as I must live with the fruits of the answers each day.

Raghurai (Rich)

Money. Dehumanization, and the 'Healthcare' System

2008-12-23T16:31:00.000-08:00

As some who read this blog know, one of the writers I consider most enlightening is John Bloom, who writes 'Reimagine Money'. John posts infrequently, and I am always eager to read what he has to say. This last post is no exception. Here's how it concludes, in a way that I think we all must take to heart with regard to how we relate to all systems, and most definately as we relate to the 'healthcare' system.

Any invention of the mind (in this case money and debt) that is managed in order to dehumanize its users needs a new set of ethical practices that might take a cue from the ancient temples and the origins of money in Western civilization. There can be a quality of offering in and through every financial transaction. I can become more conscious of the intentions in my financial behavior, or more aware of the work and economic efforts of others to make the transactions possible at all. But first I, and others who have not already suffered enough, have to wake up to the pain and inequity that have grown within the system even as I have participated willingly, if not wisely, in it.

If you replace the references to finances and the financial system with the healthcare system you will see how clearly we have allowed ourselves to be blind and numb to the inequities we live with. Why should someone who is less fortunate than one of us suffer the consequences of no health insurance, and hence often less care, simply because our culture has chosen to capitalize the profit of delivering health care, but socialized so many of the costs. A chosen few profit, yet as a society we all bear the costs, both financial and energetic of allowing reactive care to prevail over prevention in virtually every circumstance in our healthcare system.

We have alot of work to do!

Back at it!

2008-12-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

As has been the case time and again as I've written this blog, I have been through a slow writing period. What's interesting to me, is that there seems to be a direct relationship between how busy I get at Yoga Yoga, and how little time I have to write. Of course, it really isn't that I don't have the time, its more that the kind of time that this sort of writing takes is just more than I can do when I am way full in my 'day job'!

Well, much has been happening!

We opened a new yoga center in over the course of 6 weeks, Yoga Yoga 360. Its seems like this was ages ago, but in fact it was only 7 weeks ago that we actually opened our doors!

We're also going to start classes in partnership with Seton/ Good Health Commons in Round Rock in January.

And our newest project, YogaSolve(tm) is going to roll out shortly.

For us at Yoga Yoga this time has been challenging and exciting. We've managed to get the new center open, and really not 'miss a beat' with our end of year plans, projects and actions. The team is fabulous, and I'm learning what it really can be to work with a group that has begun to 'find itself'....what a pleasure!

More to follow as we head into '09!
Raghurai

Wow!! That's Writing Worth Reading about Social Entreprenuership!

2008-10-29T04:17:00.000-07:00

Do you ever read something and think 'awesome!"? Sasha Dicther, who is the Director of Business Development of the Acumen Fund, inspired by Seth Godin's new book, Triibes, wrote this absolutely awesome manifesto. (You can read it in html on this post).

For a few years now, I have been moving my focus more and more towards how do we take all of the great work we have done at Yoga Yoga, and explore what is next? My thoughts often settle around the focus of social entrepreneurship, patient money and creating 'organic' social change directed towards making yoga even more accessible, and how to not lose the knowledge, technology and wisdom of the 'yoga' as it reaches a larger audience, something that is a concern as the yoga 'industry' is increasingly associated with 'stuff' and 'sweat' versus knowledge and a lifetime of patient practice.

Recently I found this page about the Acumen Fund's approach to lending, and was greatly impressed by the breadth as well as the depth of their thinking about how to bring funding into the world of social change.

As I explore various initiatives for bringing yoga into the mainstream of the marketplace, hoping to support the change that this practice brings to individual lives day in and day out, my primary focus is how to 'scale' without losing our heart. I am convinced that the creative use of capital is at the heart of this issue, and I am inspired to continue to explore this when I read work this thoughtful, cogent and persuasive!

I hope you take the time to read it. Especially now, in these economically confronting times, we can be well served by taking the time to question our current beliefts in capital, economics and what it means to foster genuine well being in our communities. I think money and capital can be part of the 'perscription' for community health, but it is time to reinvent the rules. I think Acumen can help, and other groups like Ashoka, and the RSF Social Finance are moving this entire concept more and more into the mainstream of our culture every day.

The Yogic Edge - Extended Version on December 6th

2008-10-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I presented the current version of 'The Yogic Edge', a workshop for yoga teachers and students to explore how to integrate their yoga practice and their professional experience in the marketplace. As part of the Southwest Yoga Conference, I had the chance work with a few folks from out of town and that was great. I met studio owners, yoga teachers new and old, and had the chance to continue to develop this body of material I have been working with.

The comments had a consistency to them. Folks wanted more details, more 'what to do'. Unfortunately, in just 2 hours, it is all I can do to get some of the basic concepts into the discussion, much less try to cover more specifics. Luckily though, in less than 2 months, on December 6th, I'll be doing a 5 hour version of 'The Yogic Edge' here at Yoga Yoga, and in that workshop I intend to get more specific, to give folks a more developed structure to work with when then get back home.

Please join us in Austin!

Raghurai

Integrative Medicine - Riding a Cultural Wave

2008-09-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

The last decade has seen a substantial shift in the awareness of all forms of 'alternative' approaches to health and wellness in our culture. For the first part of the decade I had been almost exclusively focused on growing Yoga Yoga and building a unique organization - focused on delivering classical yoga with respect for lineage, while making this yoga more accessible to a larger portion of society. Then, a few years ago the role we could play - in fact were already playing - in the context of health care became more apparent.

Students were (and always had) taken yoga for their own reasons along the spectrum of wellness. Some were healthy and wanted to expand their experience of being well into other dimensions of health (in mind or body or both), some were not well, but not yet of need of medical intervention and heard yoga might help, so they tried it and it worked. Others had already sought the intervention of a health care professional, who recommended yoga as an adjunct to the care they were providing, or who sought out yoga in order to complement the care of a more traditional provider. And occasionally individuals seek to use yoga in lieu of medical intervention as a purely personal choice.

Now, as society moved towards a 'perfect storm' which just might be a harbinger of change....

A health care system clearly failing from overwhelming cost and massively unacceptable results
Explosive growth in the use of 'alternative' approaches
Growing scientific evidence for the benefit of these alternative approaches

In the context of this 'storm' I've been exploring what this all means for yoga, how it is taught, how it is defined in our culture, and what the future might bring.

Recently I had the chance to attend a conference on the emerging field of Yoga Therapy, and participate in this ongoing discussion and exploration. Its an important area of growth for our profession, and I'm especially curious how it will emerge in the coming decade. In fact, in March of next year I will be presenting at the SYTAR conference on 'The Economics of Yoga Therapy'.

I'd encourage all of us to stay informed as this field evolves, matures and adapts to the needs of our communities, the knowledge of our professionals, and the development of structures that make it possible for yoga to reach ans serve more and more people.

Rich (Raghurai)

How Far Can We Scale Communication and Retain our Humanity?

2008-08-28T03:40:00.000-07:00

For years our organization has shrived to 'be human.' It almost sounds silly, how could we (over a hundred yoga teachers and committed practitioners) 'be' anything else? I believe the issue is 'scale', that subtle affect of going so far past the past the 'tipping point' in the paradigm structuring relationships that you aren't even aware that there was such a point.

Earlier in the week, as I heard a commentator saying that a particular event was ' staged' (and they meant it in a derogatory manner). I was struck by the absurdity (as well as the lack of intention to genuinely serve) in the comment. Of course, when we are talking to individuals, small groups or large groups we need to be thoughtful of what we say. I would call this bringing consciousness and awareness to a relationship. In a one to one I can relate consciously in a way that simply won't work in a much larger group. When on the stage in front of millions of people, it is probably a more responsible thing to be aware of what one is saying ahead of time, and VERY thoughtful about delivery, phrasing and pace. However, simply by virture of this consciousness brought to the interaction one cannot doubt the authenticity of the moment. It is up to us to us to decide, to 'be with' the moment if you will, to trust our perception. We humans can perceive other humans acting with integrity even in extreme situations, if we are willing to be conscious and aware.

Recently Seth Godin wrote this:

Organizations will work tirelessly to de-personalize every communication medium they encounter.

You can read the entire post here. I think what we have consciously done, and consciously do day by day is to violate this law. We strive to put our 'humanness' into each and every communication, piece of paper and conversation. Its hard. It may cost more. But it feeds us, and allows us to retain a level of humanity and satisfaction that drifts away in most organizations. And its simply because we insist on being human. We insist on being conscious. And we insist on being aware. And in the presence of that insistence is where we begin to communicate from. And then we trust our audience - one person or many - to listen with open hearts and hear the subtly from which we speak.

So far, its working out ok. I think you can scale communications just fine, as long as you are aware and as long as the conscious heart felt intention is there from the beginning, and steadfastly insisted on throughout.

Join Me at UT Informal Classes - October 7th

2008-08-08T02:57:00.000-07:00

Thsi should be fun. I'm going to teach a class at UT Informal Classes entitled "Socially Responsible Business Practices". Here's the course description in the catalog:

This class will cover both practical and philosophical aspects of the current business environment and practices which can be thought of as "socially responsible" business practices. Participants will learn how to bring these practices into their own work lives and businesses. The course will cover marketing to the "Lifestyles of Heath and Sustainability" market, and how to explore reworking your business strategy to incorporate this set of dynamic, successful business principles. This material is appropriate for business owners and employees at any stage of their career, if they want to learn these competitively superior business foundations of the emerging socially responsible economy. Rich Goldstein is the managing partner of one of Austin's premier yogic learning centers that supports and contributes to the unique and diverse culture of Austin. He practices combining strategic business management, marketing and operations with a deep respect for each individual's commitment to living with a more heart-centered work experience. Seating is limited. (2 meetings)

The class will meet on Oct. 7th and 14th, from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. My plan is to use examples from around the economy of success stories (and some not so successful stories) illustrating the power of this conceptual approach to business. In the second session we'll be developing action plans specific to your business or career. If you are reading this and here in Austin, come join us and help make these 2 nights interesting, exciting, challenging and fun.

Here's a link to the class in the course catalog. (Its in a frame, so you may need to click here to get to the home page of the catalog). The class is in the Business & Personal Finance Section.

'Framing' Consciousness & Business in the Cultural Dialogue

2008-07-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

I'm an advocate for business as a spiritual endeavor. Three decades of participation in the marketplace have allowed me to experience the unique 'edge' that business introduces into the path towards enlightenment, self realization and fulfillment. It has many aspects of a 'path'...challenge, connection to self, connection to others. By design it allows you to take your attention off of yourself, a key aspect of growth. I am confident that business engaged in consciously has a substantial role to play in both solving many of societies current wants and desires (energy, health care to name just two) WHILE moving individuals and entities towards more awareness and well being. It is just this dual affect which is so compelling about committing to bringing consciousness into one's work life.

(In fact, modern science is now documenting why this is the case, in new studies that prove the power of consciousness to manipulate DNA...more about this in a post later this month)

We can be participants in bringing a new contextual frame for business into our society. 'Frames' can be very powerful. Frames like 'conscious entrepreneurship', 'conscious capitalism' and 'socially responsible business' can begin to impact our culture, simply by virtue of their use. In fact, authors and historians acknowledge the importance of framing and it's capacity for directing action and focus towards either the individual or a societal focus. Framing creates the 'ground' on which we all get to stand as we engage our friends, families and co-workers in discussions about the choices we make about our work and its significance in our lives.

Here's another example of the challenge so many writers and publications have in 'framing' this conversation about conscious business. In 'Its Not Easy Picking a Path to Enlightenment' the NY Times' Andy Newman writes about Kripalu, a retreat center (once ashram) which hosts 30,000 guests each year. While its wonderful to have this great facility promoted, I'm left with the missed opportunity of 'short changing' the view into the business operations. Here's how Andy misses the opportunity to frame this more powerfully (my bold):

“We’re constantly re-examining,” said Kripalu’s president, Ila Sarley. “What are the needs? What are the needs of the market, and what are the needs of society?” In the end, everything comes down to what will bring bodies in the door. “What we’re looking at,” Ms. Sarley said, “is what will someone pay to take a vacation to do.”

You can see that this is NOT part of the quote. It is, in fact, the frame that the author brought to this. I would assert that for the Kripalu organization everything does NOT come down to bodies in the door. That is a completely reductionist view of the much more complex balancing of bodies in the door, meeting our mission, working with the psychologies of how to entice people at all levels of their personal paths, making sure the staff is enthusiastic about the offering, etc, etc. But, rather than point out this complexity of the 'edge' we must navigate as conscious business people, the Times chose the frame that is easy and obvious - it must all be about bodies in the door.!

It is NOT just about bodies in the door. This is one aspect of the challenge that a business faces. It is up to the owners and staff if that is all their business will be about, or if they will declare it to be more than than, and strive, in each and every conversation, choice, and decision to design a business that is conscious to its core.

Accessibility, Scope and Quality of Yoga in America

2008-05-29T04:32:00.000-07:00

There is an ongoing conversation about yoga in our society. This conversation happens in studios, among teachers, and most importantly between students, day in and day out. The conversation is about what is yoga, who should do it, why, and how to learn what one 'should' learn. While many of us are actively having this conversation, I think we all have to strive to keep the conversation deep, not trivialize it, and recognize the importance of honoring both the roots of our traditions and the realities of the western marketplace. Unless we succeed in honoring both realities, I am of the opinion that only the more superficial offerings will be widely available, we will find that yoga, like so many other aspects of our society will be 'MacDonald-ized'.

Here's an article in the NYTimes about yoga classes, finding advanced classes and the ramifications on a society-wide basis of the rapid growth of yoga in America. The author - Joelle Hann - does a nice job at the beginning of presenting the problem - lots of lower level classes, economic 'drivers' for this status quo - but then trivializes the state of the solution, and the issues around 'what is an advanced class'. My guess is that she just didn't have enough space to do the issues justice.

Its really quite important for us all as a community of yoga practitioners to be aware of this dynamic, and I applaud the Times and Joelle for fostering this conversation. If we are going to develop a more sophisticated body of yoga students and teachers it is vital that we be truthful about the state of our teachers, classes and programming.

As a studio, at Yoga Yoga we are always striving to balance the needs of the students with the economics of the business. When we have to, we choose to live with a lower return, and make the teaching available. In fact, we are excited about adding 4 new teaching rooms, which will let us add the sort of programming that Joelle refers to in the article - prime time advanced classes for small groups.

As yoga's role in our country continues to evolve, these conversations are ciritical. The International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) is doing a great job in fostering powerful conversations. John Kepner, the current executive director had arranged for this series, done through the Integrator Blog, about the future role of yoga therapy. This is a critical conversation about the role yoga may play in the future. How available & accessible will yoga therapy be?

These two 'threads', how advanced yoga is taught in studios and the evolution of yoga therapy are both aspects of this same conversation. How can we best involve ourselves in this conversation, and do we really have the time, energy and commitment to do the conversation justice?

Balancing Being Effective AND Trusting Our Intution

2008-04-26T05:34:00.000-07:00

It is the balance between intuition - something that is innately quite human - with effectiveness - getting done what you have chosen to focus on - that makes us successful. Especially if we define success as more than how much money we have in the bank. Success for you is more likely defined in 'richer' terms....balance, happiness, a sense of peace, contribution....you know...how YOU really think of success, deeply and with consciousness.

I've found, especially in working with yogis, yoginis and generally folks who have a deep intentionality to live a balanced, heart centered (and ofttimes spiritual) life, they allow the balance we learn on the mat to be ignored in our work lives.

Balance is just that - allowing for effectiveness AND including your heart. Remaining cognizant of your intuition even as you track your time.

I've often notices over the years that folks who are well intentioned caring beings, who want very much to accomplish regrettably resist the tools that work. Here's a great article by Melissa Raffoni about how to use your time effectively. Apparently she works only with CEOs, a group who value their time highly, so we might learn something what she has to say. She quotes some material from Warren Blank in The 108 Skills of Natural Born Leaders

1. Break your responsibilities into categories
The categories will vary depending on your job function, but they must be both strategic and tactical—identify not more than six.

2. Ask yourself what percentage of your time you should be spending in each category
Before you assign percentages, Blank advises that you ask yourself this question: “Given what I truly want to accomplish today as a leader, what will be the best use of my time?

She goes on to talk about managing your time and auditing your time. These are such important skills if we want to learn to be effective AS we learn to live a heart centered work life. Balance requires work.....on and off the mat! These practices are the basics. Use them.....your work life will be more successful, and a successful work life COMBINED with a deeply gratifying inner life is a wonderful design!

The Audacity for a Company to Care

2008-04-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I borrowed a word from Obama's book. Forgive me. As I began to write this, I wanted to engage about the nature of caring as a company, and the more I read, the more I was struck by how audacious it is for any company to attempt to care. A bit of history...

The company I work with (Yoga Yoga) was started with a commitment to bring more yoga into the world. Mehtab, Guru Karam and Kewal Kaur were looking to teach and to share. Making money was not primary, but it was important...they did have to pay the rent, and pay utilities, and eventually anyone who would wind up working at the company. In short, they were small enough to decide to care, rather than focus on making money. Their decision, and theirs alone.

However, as Yoga Yoga has grown, we now have different constraints, different needs, and different demands. Instead of 3 folks, other jobs, and no employees, we now have over 150 people who earn money from Yoga Yoga each month, and 4 landlords to pay rent to, and many many other bills. Now, we get to focus each day on 'can we care'? Can we make the decision to care on an equal (or sometimes senior) footing to 'is this profitable'?

Riane Eisler's newest book (she wrote the Chalice and the Blade) , The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics, altering the value we place, as a society, on caring work. Here's a quote:

An economics based on caring may seem unrealistic to some people. Actually, it’s much more realistic than the old economic models, which strangely ignore some of the most basic facts about human existence..

In some ways, Yoga Yoga is simply an experiment in economics...'is it possible, on a level scaled up from a one room studio, to offer a high quality experience of yoga - steeped in lineage, respectful of all, honoring of tradition, yet accessible to all levels of students - AND be economically viable?

I say it is audacious to try, but it makes our work teaching yoga to thousands of people each week a joy and an adventure. As a team, those of us who work at Yoga Yoga know that we can put caring above profit (as long as we are skillful enough to succeed), and that we are working with a group of folks who are committed to seeing if we can make this work. We are really a bunch of audacious yoga-economists!

Listening, Networking and Finding Deep Inner Peace: TED Talks & Social Networking

2008-04-04T03:09:00.000-07:00

Like many of us, I have enjoyed the gift of establishing a network of connections with a wide range of folks around the country, and around the world through the omnipresent infrastructure of the internet. For our parents, their input was limited by physical proximity...ours is not. Every day, most of us receive input from our own personalized information system. Many of my connections are biological - living folks sifting through their own structures, and sending items along, either directly or through their blogs or other constructs. I also use automated tools - blog readers, keyword searches, and other 'content sifters'. This sifted information influences my reality, and who I am, since who I am evolves in a 'dance' with the inputs available to me. I had a teacher once who said 'be careful who you listen to' for just this reason. In our new socially networked world, we now get to create 'who and what we listen to' in a powerful new way!

Recently I have been even more enamored and curious about social networking as it relates to our yoga studios, so I am paying more attention to my own input through these channels. This talk, Stroke of Insight: Jill Bolte Taylor on TED.com, was sent to me by at least 6 diverse players in my personal network. Folks who don't usually send material over (they are mostly not in that role, they are just too busy). How fascinating, if we want to promote something, to notice how promotable a talk is that so deeply touches our wants, desires, connections as human beings. If you have not yet watched the video, just go watch. It will be the most moving 18 minutes you've spent in a long time. Then, give some thought to 2 things:

1. Do you have a message that merits awareness and promotion? Without merit (in whatever context you choose to engage) you will not have the emerging social network opportunities available to you. These networks are ruthless in recognizing value (which is defined in the background, and ONLY in the context of the network!)

2. What are you doing to enhance your social network and your own, personalized information 'funnel'? Your 'edge' is a function of your connections. And your connections have to be growing and 'informed by' the ever changing flow of the market. You must be participating in the networks that are emerging if you want to benefit from them.

Which structures do you use to create your personal information 'funnel'? Blogs? Searches? Facebook friends? Share the most powerful ones in the comments.

Army Seeks Out the 'Yogic Edge'

2008-03-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

We are all living with the societal cost of our country's war on Iraq, and as yoga instructors from time to time - depending on our locations and proximity to military bases - we find families of military personnel and both active and retired military in our classes.

We also know that yoga is extraordinarily powerful in reducing stress throughout many systems in our bodies. Here's a post from the Mayo Clinic about yoga and stress).

Now, the military is seeking out help from all avenues (a good thing) to address the growing crisis our soldiers are facing - PTSD. More about PTSD here (Wikipedia), here (VA), and here (NIH).

The military is scrambling for new ways to treat the brain injuries and post-traumatic stress of troops returning home from war. And every kind of therapy -- no matter how far outside the accepted medical form -- is being considered. The Army just unveiled a $4 million program to investigate everything from "spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, [and] yoga" to "bioenergies such as Qi gong, Reiki, [and] distant healing" to mend the psyches of wounded troops.

While this is an extreme example, those of us who are actively involved with thousands and thousands of individuals and companies striving to solve their health concerns through yoga see, day after day how powerful this ancient technology is. Its great to see the entrenched military establishment seeking out help in this area. Some great work is already being done...if you haven't seen Richard Miller's iRest program, take the time to find out about it.

The government is looking for proposals:

But many of these treatments haven't been held up to much rigorous scientific scrutiny before. So the Army is looking to hand out $4 million in "seedling grants" to "conduc[t] rigorous clinical studies" into all sorts of "novel approaches." Projects "containing preliminary data" will be eligible for up to $1 million. But even "innovative but testable hypotheses without preliminary data" could get as much as $300,000. Proposals are due May 15.

Read the entire article on wired!

The "Bonsai" Organization

2008-03-25T03:02:00.000-07:00

Bigger isn't always better for business according to Drucker School of Business Professor, Charles Handy. Here's an interview with Handy from NPR's Marketplace. I like a number of things he says, including that

"if we are not careful, organizations can become the prisons for our souls"
This very much speaks to the challenge we have in building organizations that incorporate yogic values along with strong business acumen and skill. We attract people who want life entwineed with work, in a dynamic, nurturing way, and it is our challenge as managers and business people in this arena to solve this problem and feed people's souls, even as we accomplish powerful results for our organizations.

One other writer who has chronicled this area well is Bo Burlingham in his book, Small Giants, which is a MUST READ for folks wanting to be validated in their search for a poerful, more human work place.

Growing interest in yoga as health therapy

2008-01-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

Here's an article that in NY Newsday about yoga therapy.

The article does an adequate job talking about what yoga therapy is, but then towards the end of the article, here's a paragraph that I think is just 'off' in the way that yoga therapy is finding it's way into the marketplace (my bold):

As to where she's going, Page admits it'd be easier to make a living teaching downward-facing dog to dues-paying health club members instead of to patients in hospitals or clinics, or students at schools in low-income communities. Still, she believes in the "healing power of yoga" and is confident that eventually doctors will refer patients to a yoga therapist as routinely as they do a physical therapist today.

If we are not going to ensure that our yoga therapists are compensated more highly than yoga teachers in gyms, then how can we expect them to get trained at a high enough skill level to offer quality care?

Consumerism, Life, Choices

2007-12-29T18:49:00.000-08:00

This morning I spent hours talking with a friend, on topics far ranging. We spent some time talking about consumerism as it lives in our culture in America, and how we as Americans are actually somewhat unique in the world in our relationship to consumption and national economics.

I have found that as I wind up 2007 and begin to transition to 2008 I have been thinking alot about money, about my use of energy, and about the choices I have made and am making every day in the manner in which I conduct my business activities as a yogi, with a determination to be conscious and responsible, and meet my obligations and commitments from that place.

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself listening to this excellent podcast this afternoon, a conversation between Bill Moyers and Benjamin Barber, the author of Consumed. Bill Moyers is a genuine gift to our culture, and to the hope we retain for dialogue and intelligent discourse to contribute to our progress towards becoming better human beings.

I invite you to listen to the podcast, engage with the issues they discuss. We are in a unique position as yoga teachers and practitioners to engage with these cultural issues. We have, as a profession and an avocation, chosen to engage wholeheartedly with issues of significance around 'stuff and money', and with the nature of health and wellness. While we often engage personally, we are frequently challenged by our teachers to expand beyond our smaller worlds and engage with our communities. While this can be daunting on many levels, calling for us to look deeply inward and examine the real nature of our relationship with 'stuff and money', it is a worthwhile inquiry. And beyond the inquiry, if we can engage others in this dialogue, we can be supportive of our culture as we 'tangle' with detaching from this extreme consumerism we seem to have been born into.

Time, Balance and Focus - Sadhana and Blogging

2007-12-08T07:17:00.000-08:00

As I've written before, when I started this blog, I was told that when I stopped writing for awhile I had to 'pick it up again', and that over time I had the chance of getting more regular in my writing, through this practice of stopping and starting again.

In some ways, this reminds me of my starting to practice yoga and learning to incorporate meditation into my life.

I wanted to enjoy the benefits of meditation (sort of like wanting to blog), and some days I actually did meditate. But it was only after I finally began to genuinely practice sadhana that the full benefits of these practices were available. I had made a choice, and I began to live within that commitment. And I only made the choice when I was ready, and I became ready by learning what I could by observing my experience over time. I learned in a deep way that my time spent in practice was time of the highest value.

As for blogging, for months now I have been busier in many ways - certainly in new ways, and in ways that have required me to grow, expand, and shift who I am as a manager and business person. While I have 'wanted' to write, I have also needed to maintain my balance as best as possible in a very expansive time. I found I was simply not available to write...I couldn't bring the focus necessary to do justice to something I would express publicly, so I didn't write.

Today this has changed, and I am glad to be back writing. In many ways I am different, my business activities are changing, the team of extraordinary yogic business professionals I work with has changed and grown, and as we start to wind up 2007 and move into 2008 I am curious and inspired by the possibilities that are present.

Yogic Office Space?

2007-09-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

Today I began a conversation with the staff of our yoga centers to consider how we could furnish our new offices, and could we afford to bring everyone together into one offic, and leave ourselves with a place we'd all like to work. No sense in creating the physical basis for an effective team, but doing it in a space that was either too expensive for us to afford, or too 'deadening' to be a place we want to work.

This is a great conversation, and I think it is vital that we solve it, since so many of us live with the deadened daily experience of 'corporate' workspaces. We have to find a yogic, healthful alternative!

Values, Yoga and Lifestyle Change

2007-08-24T04:53:00.000-07:00

We are living in - you might say swimming in- a culture that has become so oriented around the physical, and around money as an exclusive measure of one's worth, that the conversation is rarely had. Our virtually exclusive acceptance of money as equivalent to self worth is inconsistent with a yogic understanding of life, and it is useful to break up this mindset. I especially enjoy finding examples of this 'breaking up' in action.

Since much of the practice of yoga is a 'freeing up' of this attachment, something we strive to do in the way we begin to relate to our physical body, as well as in the manner in which we start to use our mind to focus our attention.

I recently ran across these two guys - Graham and Graeme - talking about money and 'status'. Its a podcast that you can download for free. You can also read about it here.

Along the way towards making changes to bring the usefulness and power of a yogic perspective into your life you will likely begin to think through issues around money and status, so as to deconstruct this relationshio for yourself. I think you'll find this podcast useful.

Rich (Raghurai)

Non-Attachment - Are we making progress?

2007-08-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting post which seems to suggest a bit of 'push back' against that seemingly unstoppable consumerism in our culture. Its written by Andrea Learned, who writes about marketing to women, and this particular segment is at the Huffington Post. The post is entitled " Who Are the Joneses, Anyway, And Why Do We Keep Up With Them? Here's one of the key paragraphs:

Here's the thing from the business perspective: Society is at a consuming crossroads, but not every consumer is aware of it yet -- and businesses are really lagging behind. As more consumers do realize and change their buying habits toward a more sustainable lifestyle, brands have an opportunity to take the lead within their industries. They can be the first on their blocks to deliver and market around the idea that less, or smaller, can be more.

When I talk about the 'yogic edge' in our business lives, this is a great example. Here's a marketing concept that is very in tune with our values, with the yogic philosophy of letting go, not identifying with 'stuff'. Granted, it is just a step, but it is a step in the right direction, and it illuminates an approach that a creative business person could explore to stay true to their yogic values, and eminently competitive!

Rich (Raghurai)

Tom Peters, Yoga, and a Non-Linear World

2007-08-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

Tom Peters has long been a favorite of mine, even in my pre-yogi days. Today, his blog is very accessible, he utilizes a very transparent style, and lets you in on what he is doing, thinking, and who he is talking to.

I just read this post on "100 Ways to Succeed #95: NON-LINEARITY RULES."

The post is about having leadership teams 'be' non-linear, start to think non-linearly, and to understand that most things do not happen linearly.

I have no tidy "tip" here, but rather an extraordinary plea that you implicitly put "non-linear" thinking atop your and your leadership team's agenda—permanently. This may mean hiring poets and astrologers and putting homeless folks on your advisory board. It may mean sabbaticals or yoga, sabbaticals and yoga.

In fact, the Yogic Edge in business includes this perspective. As we learn yoga, we learn the art of being in the present moment, breathing with our experience. This is vital for 'dancing' with non-linear life. One learns to respond 'in the moment' most effectively by practice, and that practice can be done on a mat, in meditation, and through study.

One other thought. This post by Tom got me to thinking how important it is for managers to learn the deeper aspects of yoga, not just the physical asana practice. It is here, in the philosophical learning that managers will really prepare themselves for 'battle with the non-linear'!

Yoga in Health Care - What is Possible?

2007-06-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

Here's two different new articles about Health care - both provide some perspective on our society's choices. I wonder how limited the choices appear to our society at large, since yoga is so poorly offered as a real choice.

In this first article, we see a yoga instructor teaching yoga to Cancer patients. I'm impressed by the apparent intention of the instructor to provide a genuine experience. Here's a quote:

Dr. Maria Jorgensen, an oncologist with Memorial, said healing yoga is not about performing a variety of physical poses.

"It works at more profound levels than the body," she said. "It helps the patients learn techniques to put their minds at rest and not be caught in the emotion of the moment. We have a power of mind over our bodies that we tend to ignore."

Read the whole article, it is a fine example of a yoga instructor and a medical facility working together to serve.

The second article is about a new intervention which won an award at a Wharton business plan competition. The intervention is by NP Solutions, and is about injecting a hydrogel treatment into a disc that is degenerating, focusing on a 20-something marketplace. What caught my attention here is that our society is quite ready to fund this sort of research, but finding the money to fund research into a yogic resolution of this sort of level of chronic pain - even though it will likely cost less, and have other beneficial side effects (unlike the medical intervention) - is much more difficult, given the dynamics of the revenue and profit model associated with yoga practice versus medical intervention.

Here's a link to the article on the Wharton competition. Look for the section on NP Solutions, which starts this way:

NP Solutions: One of the largest potential markets in the world of biotechnology is treating lower back pain, since many people begin to suffer some form of degenerative disc disease in their late 20s, and the vast majority of sufferers are not disabled severely enough for highly invasive and risky treatments, such as spinal fusion.

As a society we have choices, and I believe we have a contribution to make by bringing a yogic perspective to solving these problems of allocating resources for health care.

The Urban Zen Initiative - Well-being Forum

2007-06-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

So much great work is going on to bring the East and the West together. Here's one I just heard about today, brought into existence by Donna Karan.

Donna Karan Launches Urban Zen's First Initiative--The Well-being Forum

April 26, 2007

NEW YORK -- "Imagine if Eastern Philosophy harmonized with Western medical practice and if we treated the patient with the same passion with which we treat the disease ... When my husband Stephan, and best friend Lynn Kohlman were stricken with cancer, so much was missing from their care. They needed the powerful science from Western medicine, but they also needed the healing that can only be accessed from the heart, spirit and alternative approaches. Out of my frustration with the care they received at even the best medical facilities, a commitment was born. My mission is to create a working environment where the worlds of conventional and alternative medical practices unite to create new ways of healing, health and well being, focused on the total human and medical needs of the patient." Donna Karan

Yoga in Advertising - Great Piece

2007-06-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is an interview from 2002, from On the Media, an NPR show. There is a text version

Here's an illustration of how yoga is being portrayed:

'when all is said and done, potential customers will flip a magazine page to find Andrea Brook assuming a dramatic asana [sp?] -- poised in the presence of M&K speakers.'

And here is some of the rationale:

STEVEN POWERS: What are the qualities that a person like Andrea or any talented yogi has? Balance -Power - Focus - Clarity.

We've lived for the last few years with this sort of imagery permiating our adveristing...for better or for worse. I do agree with the reporter, and the teacher portrayed in the piece....more awareness of yoga is good. Period.

Raghurai

Yoga Foundations

2007-06-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm very curious about this sort of foundation. A yoga center working to use the legal and tax system appropriately in order to be able to offer more service to their community.

The yoga center has decided to form a non-profit Show Me Yoga Education Foundation. According to SMYC Director Jan Harcourt, “forming the foundation will help us bring the health benefits of yoga to more teens as well as to seniors and others in our community, regardless of their ability to pay for classes.”

I'm on the hunt for more of these, I'm imagining that there are more?

Raghurai

Super Brain Yoga?

2007-05-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

Here's an article about a yogic exercise

Super brain yoga. It's the latest energy therapy that combines movement and breath with specific hand placement on certain parts of the body and leg movements. The exercise involves a person holding each ear lobe and breathing in a certain manner while squatting at the same time to activate the brain. Research has shown that there are points along the ear that correspond to different parts of the body, said Connie Williams, a super brain yoga instructor in Gulf Breeze.

I'm fascinated by articles like this. Years ago this would have been way too 'out there' to get into a paper like the Pensacola News Journal. But, today yoga is so popular, and putting any phrase together with yoga seems to bring in readership. Now, on to the next question...does it work?

This is the heart of the matter. How does a consumer choose what works and what doesn't when this sort of information is 'pouring' into the public awareness?

Changing How We Keep Score

2007-05-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

For some time, it has been apparent to me that we have to change the way we keep score if we are going to alter the corporate model for business to be more socially contributory. Too often, talking to business people, or the general public, the rote answer to why businesses can't consider more than the 'cash' bottom line, I hear them say, "that's our legal obligation to the shareholders'. All true, but it begs the point. Shareholders establish the parameters under which the corporate entity operates.

This new model -'B-corporations' sounds very promising to me. I love the idea of a legal structure that binds us as participants to a broader 'bottom line'. (The link is to an NPR podcast from Marketplace.)

As a yogically oriented business person, we MUST consider way more than the 'cash' bottom line. This structure suggests a possibility for a firm foundation for doing just that! I'm looking forward to watching where this goes.

Rich (Raghurai)

'Yoga' Apparel-Maker IPO - Communication Challenges and the Marketplace

2007-05-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

Once again we are seeing that the yoga 'industry' is framed in the public awareness through the high profile IPO of Lululemon. Lululemon is a maker of high end 'yoga clothing', based in Canada.

This quote from a second article is somewhat revealing of how the yoga market is viewed in the financial world. Note bold is mine:

David Howell, president of consultancy Associate Marketing International, said Lululemon has few limitations to mass-market potential beyond its prices. (Yoga pants cost $70 to $100.)

"They don't sell inexpensive items, so it limits their market a bit, but people do tend to reach a bit to buy there. There is a lot of status attached to what you wear in exercise class."

Here's another quote from this Financial Post article, from Luke Sklar, founder of Toronto-based market research firm Sklar Wilton & Associates. The focus speaks for itself.

"They are on the short list of great Canadian retail success stories. They deserve to be very successful. I think they do a fantastic job rooted in high-quality product with a great look. Luon (a proprietary stretch fabric developed by the retailer and contained in most of its athletic clothing) holds up, and women are convinced that it makes their butts look better."

As marketers and business people seeking to thrive in the marketplace, while remaining true to our yogic foundations, we constantly strive to communicate through the mindset that fosters this sort of emphasis.

2007-04-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

I'm Back!

Well, when a friend gave me some pointers about blogging he said that if I stopped, all I had to do was start again! So, I'm taking his advice. For the last 2 months we had a 'glitch' getting the blog moved over to theyogicedge.com, instead of the url being at blogger. However, it is now moved...yeah!!!! So please look back in from time to time, and lets see what we can see about the nature of the market that is the 'yoga industry' as it evolves.

Sat Nam to all....
Raghurai

2007-02-03T19:28:00.000-08:00

Food

As most of us who practice yoga have learned, food is critical to our health. What we eat and how we eat is at the heart of our personal practices.

When we work to explore the 'yogic edge' of our lives, we have to begin to look at all of our practices, how those practices are formed, and what will it take to re-examine them, to apply ancient wisdom and right action to our day to day lives.

This article by Michael Pollen, who's most recent book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” was chosen by the editors of The New York Times Book Review as one of the 10 best books of 2006, is a fabulous intro to the range of issues that we have to consider as we begin to bring our awareness to our food.

The yogic edge is about walking the razor's edge necessary to live in our society with a yogi's sensibilities. This article gives us a great perspective on the societal forces that are in the background of our relationship to food, forces that have moved this relationship from wholistic (consuming food) to nutritionalist (consuming and relating to food as a reductionist collection of nutrients).

Living as a yogi in applying this sort of sensibility - "eat more veges and fruit " , instead of "get more omega-3's, 6's and some oatbran" to our entire life experience.

So the yogi addresses stress by breathing, eating, meditating and balance in life, not through the latest advertised pill to 'reduce stress'!

2007-01-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

Yoga in Public Schools - The 'Edge' of Yoga?

Here's another NY Times article about yoga, this time its about YogaEd, one of the emerging programs for bringing yoga into the public schools. There are lots of arguments for this - the decreasing physical fitness of youth in our country, the ADD 'epidemic', and other problems which stem directly from the industrial age practice of putting children in chairs in a school room to learn material by rote.

The big issue raised, and it is an issue that will always be present as we bring yoga into the west, is an issue of secular versus spiritual versus religious context. YogaEd simply tries to remove any hinduism-like aspects of yoga, and teach the physical exercise, incorporating some meditative 'time in'. A workable approach to westernizing?

2007-01-22T09:27:00.000-08:00

SYTAR 2007 - The Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research

I've just returned from SYTAR last night. It was a momentous gathering. The event was originally planned for 200-250 people, and this weekend over 800 yoga teachers, self-identified yoga therapists, medical professionals, and other interested parties gathered to hear about research, to meet with colleagues, and to work together to build what some think will be a new profession - a Yoga Therapist.

I suspect that this endeavor will prove to be a notable milestone along the way, but the issues that were raised in the face of the challenge are substantial. From my viewpoint, I am not even sure it is a worthy objective, to seek to use the name 'therapist' a term so rooted in our floundering western medical system.

As yoga teachers we face many challenges in this attempt. Licensing, establishment of standards and consistency of delivery are only the tip of the iceberg here. The real substance of the issue is the spiritual dynamic of yoga, and how to preserve that dynamic while entering into a conversation oriented around an allopathic western paradigm.

To their credit, speaker after speaker emphasized the importance of not losing the 'yoga' from the 'therapy'. However, what was notably absent was the instructions for how to 'practice'. The agenda notably avoided legal issues, regulatory issues and pragmatic realtities such as 'when do we bump into HIPPA?'

While it is likely too early to address these issues substantively, it is for me a concern that they were not even mentioned in passing. I think the outset is a great time for bringing the pragmatic issues forward, so that the structures can be designed to address them. This didn't happen here.

I'm very much in support of the effort, and I'll write more about it over time.

2007-01-15T05:16:00.000-08:00

Research Study on Yoga to Support Sleep in Cancer Survivors

This study is a fairly large study, taking place at 24 locations, and intended to include 300 participants. The three-year study is being funded by the National Cancer Institute. The study called YOCAS (Yoga for Cancer Survivors) is a randomized controlled trial. The objective is to provide a standard for clinical care.

The yoga will include gentle Hatha yoga sessions twice each week for four weeks. Sessions are designed to "teach participants release and relaxation techniques to reduce mental activity and provide a physiologic basis for deep relaxation and transition to sleep."

Karen Mustian, the principal investigator on this study works out of the Center for Future Health, at the University of Rochester. This sounds like a excellent group, working to build the distinction they are calling Proactive Health Systems which "alerts individuals when their health status trends away from normal, and helps them return to health."

2007-01-08T08:32:00.000-08:00

Yoga Can Make You Healthy AND Happy....Western Science Strives to Understand Happiness

One of the 3 major styles of yoga that we teach at Yoga Yoga is Kundalini Yoga, as taught by Yogi Bhajan. Yogi Bhajan believed that 'happiness was our birthright', something he said over and over again.

As yoga teachers, one of the most important things we strive to give to our students is a sense of well-being and happiness. This sense is a natural outgrowth of practicing yoga.

Here's a fascinating article that provides some insight into the western scientific approach to understanding happiness. No small feat, or insignificant action, one point the article makes is the strong evidence that being happy increases your life expectancy dramatically!

So...do yoga, be happy, live longer....and be around to serve others...

2007-01-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

Keeping it Human

From my perspective, business (or enterprise) building is at it's heart a 'design problem'. In this case, how do we design our yoga centers so that they take advantage of the best techniques of business management and technology, while staying genuine places of human contact.

Signal vs. Noise, [a weblog by 37signals about entrepreneurship, design, experience, simplicity, constraints, pop culture, our products, products we like, and more] often has some really useful insights and information worth thinking about.

In this post, The power of rough edges, (one of their BEST posts from 2006) Matt from 37 Signals writes about web design techniques that allow for more authenticity and humanity. This soooooo vital! Its clear that we as a culture are not going to stop using technology, and we are going to continue to scale towards larger and larger enterprises. We NEED people to think about the issues that let us keep the humanity in....through design, through commitment and through skill. Here's one more great quote from this post:

The value of authentic
Authenticity is underrated. People forgive a multitude of sins in exchange for it. Sure, aim for perfection and professionalism when it’s called for. But don’t overlook the power that comes from being authentic, appropriate, and human.

We can't teach yoga if we don't 'stay human'. And 'staying human' while staying competitive and profitable seems to require an exquisite sense of designing 'for' human enterprise. These guys 'get it'.

2007-01-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

Can Yoga Play a Role In the National Health Care Dialogue?

One of my objectives in writing, and in working with the teachers and staff at Yoga Yoga on our initiative to develop what we are calling 'complementary care' programs, or 'personal self-care' programs, is to become an active participant in the national health care dialogue. I believe, as I think many yoga practitioners and teachers believe, that there is great opportunity to foster wellness and well-being through yoga, and through supporting individuals - one at a time - to practice yoga.

Here's a great quote from an article by a Dr. Welch (bold is my emphasis):

Perhaps someone should start monitoring a new health metric: the proportion of the population not requiring medical care. And the National Institutes of Health could propose a new goal for medical researchers: reduce the need for medical services, not increase it.

I think that by simply supporting a national conversation on wellness - something that yoga teachers and many other 'alternative' providers seem to be much more inclined to do than most any member of the 'healthcare' system - we CAN make a difference!

2007-01-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the New Year, and a Look at the Yoga Market courtesy of the NY Times

Those of us who work in the 'yoga industry' (funny even to put those words together!) are well aware of both the growth of the industry, and the 'frenzy' around this growth.

This article from the Times is a great 'window' into the mindset of what the general market (whatever that is) thinks of when they talk about 'the yoga market'.

The article begins by focusing on Yoga Journal's 11th Annual Estes Park Conference. Of course, bear in mind that this is the Yoga Journal sold by John Abbott to Active Interest Media in 2005, so this is now strictly a financial play...a company owned by shareholders as an investment vehicle, not a mission based organization.

After a quick mention about Shiva Rea leading a sort of yoga 'rave', we turn immediately to the 64 vendors and isles of clothing.

Then another one-liner about the "renowned" yoga teachers, followed by about 20 paragraphs focusing on shopping, fashion and more shopping.

We hear about Prana, bought by Liz Claiborne, Lulelemon, "a professed “yoga-inspired athletic apparel company” (owned by Advent International and Highland Capital Partners), who "last year hired a veteran Reebok exec as CEO", Prudential Financial's efforts to tie health into their marketing, Ford Motor's approach to reaching young women to sell cars, and a few jewelry designers selling into the market with "Price tags for ..(that) can be heaven-high".

Where's the yoga????

You can see in this article the real challenge of bringing yoga into the west. The only lens that this author - and really our culture - has for thinking about it's place in our world is materially based and economic. There is no context or 'listening' for the depth of what yoga offers.

What if the author worked to stress the real benefits of yoga in bringing health and happiness into our society? What about even looking at examples of the health care benefits, scientifically proven?

What about simply spending some time talking about the genuine contribution that thousands and thousands independent yoga teachers make day after day, quietly bringing more happiness, less stress, more health and a more positive outlook on life to the millions of yoga practitioners in communities far and wide.

Its harder work to communicate this difference, but it is actually the difference that is being made. The jewelry and the clothes do NOT bring the results. Its okay for the clothes and jewelry to be spoken about...but PLEASE....lets try to communicate that none of the results happen without practice. Yoga is simply one of those things that you cannot just 'buy' the result with.

2006-12-31T07:21:00.000-08:00

Getting people to do something much more difficult than taking their medicine or having surgery: altering their daily behavior, like their eating and exercise habits.

As we move into 2007, we are going to be introducing a range of programs that we are calling 'complementary care' programs (its a working name). These programs are all connected by their roots in traditional yogic science, but are also well grounded in traditional western medical evaluation and testing. Our community of teachers firmly believe in the capacity of yoga to make a difference in people's health, in their well-being, and in their experience of their lives. The evidence continues to mount, day after day, BUT, the question is always going to be the one that this NY Times article refers to - are people going to change, or do they just want to take a pill?

As a society, can we continue to afford to pay huge amounts for health care to treat disease that can be treated more gently, more effectively and even prevented by simple modifications and additions to our daily practices?

Yoga can make an enormous difference in people's health, especially in some of the most intractable (for western medicine) and chronic areas - low back pain, stress, things like carpal tunnel and other repetitive stress injuries. Already, we are making some progress. Physicians regularly advise patients undergoing cancer treatment to get support through a regular yoga practice, and many ob/gyns suggest pregnant moms do yoga (the breathing combined with the specific type of exercise is a great combination).

Clearly, yoga has a contribution to make, to well being, societal cost reduction and health. We intend to keep exploring this in 2007!

Rich (Raghurai)

2006-12-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

Work 'ethic'. An important aspect of our work lives to consider, especially if we intend to bring forth a life that has a balance that supports living and working more 'yogically'. Here's an article (you can listen or read) from Knowledge @ Wharton, Reluctant Vacationers: Why Americans Work More, Relax Less, than Europeans. Useful to hear some perspective on the many possible reasons for why the difference is so great between Americans and Europeans in attitude and practice regarding vacations. Here's a quote..

Europeans seem to place a higher value on leisure, while Americans tend to prefer earning and spending. As a result, Americans on average own bigger cars, bigger houses and more vacation homes, says Witold Rybczynski, a Wharton real estate professor.

In contrast, Europeans' self worth is often tied up not with whether they drive a Lexus or a Porsche but with their ability to enjoy a hefty holiday

Of course, we can get too attached to either time, or money!

For years we have strived to bring our benefits (of which vacations are only one aspect) up to a high standard, and to make them accessible to the entire organization. This is economically difficult, but I think worthwhile. It allows us to bring forth our values - in action - and allows us to 'engage' with the issues around balance in profit, viability and 'equity' among all team members.