Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. 
~ Mahatma Gandhi

What if your business was also your yoga?  Or at least,what if you were yogic while being in business?

What if we all lifted each other up? Rather than the old ideas of competition and lack,  what if we practiced what we preached and what if abundance for all really is possible?  Is there a way to be business minded and still be ethical, mindful and heart centered?

And are you alone in thinking about these issues? No, no you are not:  As a matter of fact these questions and thoughts and frustrations are what led me to work with Laura Brown of the Flagstaff Yoga Festival as she creates and Launches a revolutionary way to connect and do business in new and exciting ways.

Currently we work against each other far too often..See my post about Yoga studio vs. yoga studio to get a clear picture of that debacle. But what if it wasn’t like that?

The question becomes:  is there some way we can connect and create a collaborative collective that really does mean we can ” lift as we climb” .

Laura really believes so,and so do I… if you are at all curious about how we see the State of the Yoga world and how we believe it can change watch our video here.  

Currently I have yoga teachers making money by helping me fill my workshops…yes you read that correctly.. What – they are helping ME fill MY workshops at other studios? YES and they are making money off it…it’s a win win win…for all involved.  Sounds good doesn’t it?

We are looking at world where yoga teachers support each other. The fact is yoga community there are “non” mindful businesses already working in collaborative ways — how is it that yogis are still competing?

Hey all we are in business and we should be successful AND we want to be yogic; so ponder this:

What if you had the time and resources to help those in need? How does your poverty or struggle serve anyone?

I wish I could find the quote I saw on a Wayne Dyer video a few years ago – I’m paraphrasing but it went something like:

You can never be sick enough to make someone else healthy

You can never be sad enough to make someone else happy

and you can never be poor enough to make someone else wealthy

His point being we are of the most service when we are prosperous, healthy and happy – it is only in being these things are selves that we can help others.

I believe it is time to stop faulting people for being yoga capitalists, to stop competing AGAINST each other and create a whole new world of prosperity and joy… I for one am a little past the idea of the starving yoga teacher; I’m no longer convinced it serves anyone and certainly doesn’t make me a better yogini.

What if how you did business was the change you wanted to see in the world? Think about it – what if how you did business lifted us all up and created a world without borders?

Can you leverage your business to make your life more prosperous AND the world a better place? I believe the answer is yes, I believe that we can all be successful to whatever degree we wish, I believe that you can feed yourself physically as well as spiritually, I believe that it is almost incumbent on the yoga/mindful community to practice business in a mindful cooperative way because we should be the leaders in doing things differently…and I’m not alone in these beliefs.

It is also my belief that it is a false presumption that only those that live in poverty or give things away for free our mindful or spiritual.

Again, I’m not the only one….these blogs attest to the fact that as a community we struggle with these questions daily

From the dirty B word: Business to the idea of Capitalist Yoga to those struggling to work within the world of studio yoga:

Successful, ethical yoga studio owners versus crackpots.

We have questions of whether it should be a business? We wonder if we can get rich doing and if we even should…and it doesn’t help when you read things like:

You might be a hooker (or a yoga teacher) if… ~ 

Throw in our own self doubts, horrible competition, feeling like we are working in a vacuum, and the fact that so many are still working in the old paradigm of scarcity and it isn’t a whole lot of fun being in the business of yoga (or other service/mindful professions) and face it; part of the reason for getting into was to actually enjoy what we do…but why do we have to sacrifice monetary compensation? Why can’t we have both?

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this subject—and I invite you if you are curious about these ideas and a new way of doing business to join us in October at the Successful Spirit Summit.

What you do matters and what you have done to get where you are has value—so let’s share it with the world.