Most of us who have been practicing Yoga for a while were taught that Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra was one of the reliable guides on this path. Patanjali gave us the now famed eight limbs of practice: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samdhi. Of these eight, he gave Yama special attention.
Letter
from the Editor
The Sutra calls Yama the “Maha-vrata”, or the “great vow”. So for a long time now, yogis and yoginis have all been encouraged, regardless of the time, place, or circumstance, that we must not harm, that our actions are honest, generous, prudent and so on. This is, of course, a practical and profound teaching. By being taught foundations, we have been taught to take care of first things first. Given that Yama is the foundation for Yoga, it is by extension a foundation for all of life, and this would include, of course, our business plans and transactions.
Yama has been translated variously as control, restraint, or discipline, and is often equated with a strong moral stance. But I learned a long time ago from a teacher named Richard Miller that the syllables making up the word Yama point to something subtler than “control” and “discipline”. “Ya” comes from a verb root that means, “to be in action”. “Ma” designates the nurturing, maternal principle of the Universe. From this, it is very difficult to obtain “control”, or even “discipline”. Richard translated it as “moving with”. So whatever the business of yoga is, as something founded on the great vow, it must concern itself first with an attitude of “moving with.” To me, this has always meant that the business of yoga proceeds with a felt awareness of relationship.
Can we make the transactions involved in the business of yoga as if we were nurturing one another, moving together in a relationship that we understand to be the context of everything?
I think this is a provocative question. As a studio owner for many years my husband and I tried to conduct ourselves with the great vow as our business model. We remembered that we were always already in relationship, and took the attitude that we all grow faster in collaboration. Interestingly enough, we prospered.
I know that this is not the conceptual basis for most business’s strategy. But then again, yoga is not a “strategy”. It is an invitation to be open, sensitive, honest, focused and generous. These are the tendencies of beings that are thriving, not merely surviving.
It is our wish at Ozark Mountain Yoga Magazine that we all grow in support of one another, affirming that the world is big and abundant enough for us all to thrive.
In Relationship, Holly
"The Business of Yoga"