by guest author Jenifer Parker, business owner of Healium, Wellington Consistency Makes It Happen Once you have all of these elements coming together -- a specific, defined goal; clarity around the values on which the business is formed; and a commitment to that goal as a business -- then the only thing that prevents a person from becoming successful is a lack of consistency. I have a friend who set up a yoga studio, hiring other teachers and running a beautiful little business. Things … [Read more...]
The Yoga of Business: Goals, Clarity, Values & Commitment, Part 3
by guest author Jenifer Parker, business owner of Healium, Wellington Committing to Your Goal Of course, a lot of people have goals, even specific ones with well-laid plans and a great deal of clarity around their purpose, that still don't succeed. Why is this? A lot of people look at goals as rather personal endeavors that are easy-come, easy-go -- like New Year's resolutions. They don't affect anyone but you, right? So, you don't get the goal, it doesn't really matter. You can … [Read more...]
The Yoga of Business: Goals, Clarity, Values & Commitment, Part 2
by guest author Jenifer Parker, business owner of Healium, Wellington Clarity Drives the Process As we have all experienced, sometimes goals do not come to fruition even when they are specific. They can be ridiculously detailed and give a clear way to success, but still fail spectacularly. And sometimes -- as many of us have experienced in the yoga world -- these businesses succeed financially, while undermining the very values that we claim to hold and espouse as yoga … [Read more...]
How to answer: what exactly is the energy body?
by guest author Elissa Jordan It started with a story about a mouse in a toaster. Our second weekend in Nelson, as part of the Advanced Yoga Teacher Training with Jenifer Parker of Wellington’s Healium, focused on the energy body. Looking back over my notes from the weekend I see the conversation ebb and flow as only appropriate for a weekend focusing on energy. The movement of stories rode one energetic wave after the next - starting with that mouse in a toaster, and moving to a … [Read more...]
The Yoga of Business: Goals, Clarity, Values & Commitment, Part 1
by guest author Jenifer Parker, business owner of Healium, Wellington In recent weeks, numerous blogs around the web have brought up issues around yoga and business. For many, the common perspective is that yoga and business don't mix, and that going into business with yoga not only denigrates yoga but makes it impossible to be a "true" teacher of yoga. My perspective, however, is that by running any yoga teaching as a business, you better embody the principles of yoga in practice, or … [Read more...]
Economically, yoga doesn’t make any sense at all
We've all heard about those wonderful yoga studios delivering fantastic yoga to the community, but struggling to pay their overheads, let alone make any profits. On the flipside of the coin are the corporate yoga studios and centres paying yoga teachers as little as possible in order to maximise profits for the business owners. Somewhere in the middle are the yoga teachers that schlep themselves all over town teaching in community halls, gyms, offices and other studios, with low overheads … [Read more...]
Why I wouldn’t offer donation-style yoga classes again
Back when I first started this website, I was teaching Prana Flow Yoga classes where students paid whatever they thought the class was worth. This was an interesting experiment which generated a series of articles on how much a yoga class is worth. Recently I received an email from a teacher in Namibia who'd found these articles via Google and was excited about doing the same thing with her yoga classes. I've been thinking of switching to a donation based class and... I want the students … [Read more...]
The benefits and pitfalls of conscious community
by Aly Titchener Living in an intentional community in the city Given the discussions I often hear around me, and the positive reception from Jennifer’s recent article about family friendly spiritual communities, it seems like there are many people wanting to be involved at some level in a spiritually motivated community. Not only being a part of such a community group, there appears to be a growing swell of people wanting to live within a conscious and intentional community. I’ve … [Read more...]
A podcast interview with Brandon Bays of ‘The Journey’
Alrighty then Lunchboxers... I've just spent a rainy Sunday afternoon up-schooling myself on the ins and outs of editing a .mov file and converting it to a M4a and MP3 file all so you can enjoy a live interview between Moi & Brandon Bays. Brandon Bays who some of you may ask? Brandon Bays. She who, upon discovering she had a basketball - yes, basketball! - sized tumour in her belly, asked the doctor if she could be allowed to 'walk her talk' and apply all her mind-body healing know-how … [Read more...]
Is your yoga fashion destroying the planet?
by guest author Elissa Jordan in honour of Blog Action Day 2010 | Water Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. Everything you do in this life carries with it a weight. The food you eat, the transportation you choose, how well you remember to turn off the lights and even what's in your wardrobe. These are the … [Read more...]