First of all yoga is no acrobatics like standing on the head or getting yourself folded into a moving box. Yoga is not magic, yoga is not lying on a bed of nail, piercing yourself with needles.
Yoga is not a religious cult nor a ceremonial rite.
Yoga is nothing more then a way of living with the ultimate purpose to calm down the mind, having the piano in your head playing a bit slower. What most of us picked up from yoga in the West is one part of yoga which is the physical part. And so it became for many just gymnastics . There is more.
For me yoga is a way how I deal with what happens in the world around me and how I react to that. In a way which is good for others and good for me. Let me share with you a few yoga principles and how to apply that in the corporate world.
Yoga starts with being good for yourself and doing good to others. The do’s and dont’s. They call that the 10 commandments or 5 Yama’s and 5 Niyama’s. Yama’s are about moral codes, a guide to right living. The basics.
The first Yama is called Ahimsa or non-violence. This is about non-harming others and also yourself in thought, word and deed. That explains why many yogi’s are vegetarian. This is not black and white.
I know at least 50 shades of grey.
Ahimsa in thought is more important in the world of business. This is about having negative feelings and thoughts about what others do and say to you and how you think about yourself. Negative thoughts like jealousy, judgement, anger, resentment and irritation play a big role in well being. You can do everything right, but if your thoughts are still harmful, you are not feeling as good as you could.
Remember that thoughts, lead to words, lead to actions, lead to habits, lead to behaviour, lead to character. I have met very negative, bitter and nasty people in the corporate world. They were not born like this. Imagine how they come home from a day work and need to change back into the pleasant partner or parent. After a long time of negative thoughts this becomes impossible.
Most important lesson of today: Choose your battles. In the world of business you cannot take everything you disagree with as an opportunity to discuss and go to battle. Specially not the ones you have no control over. A waste of time is to spent energy on something you cannot change. Spinning wheels. The corporate world is not nice. Get used to it. Stop discussing everything and accept that you something do things you disagree with. Bad luck. SUMO ( which I explain later )
At the BASTA Academy we will talk about this further. See you.
BASTA!
Fons