Organic, From-Scratch Recipe

It's hard to start a business from scratch, especially if you're not merely selling a product but having to promote yourself as an experienced professional in your field. The hands-on experience, the human contact, the healing touch--these are our greatest marketing tools. To have a solid and steady base of clients, businesses in the field of yoga and massage ought to grow organically and spread by word of mouth. That means we can look to nature for inspiration: plant a seed in good soil, nurture it with sunlight and water, meditate over it, then watch it grow and reproduce. Of course, it doesn't have to be approached this way. I know of many businesses that have thrived from the...shall we call it...fiscal method: find a sponsor with copious amounts of revenue, secure a pristine storefront, promote shamelessly on billboards and magazines, and bask in the bounty. I suppose my bias is being exposed here, I definitely lean toward the organic approach. Is that only because I don't have any rich sponsors wanting to thrust their money into my pockets? Undeniably. So to be fair, I don't think it's inherently wrong to start a business the top-down way, but this post I'm writing is for the masses, for the people, for the rest of us that dare to dream bigger than our means.

I'm where you are, just getting started. I can't say that I've arrived at any place of legitimate "success" or "prominence" yet. But my husband and I, in our few years of entrepreneurship in yoga and massage, have had some hard knocks, some "ah-ha" moments and a lot of  lessons in patience. Here's a brief exploration, based on the organic method:

• What is the seed?

I spoke earlier of the organic husbandry approach to business, where the first step is to plant the seed in good soil. Have you ever stopped to consider what that "seed" actually is? A few thoughts to consider: make sure it's non-GMO and definitely Heirloom. Translation: it has to be YOURS, as unique as your DNA, your fingerprint, your smile. You can't settle for someone else's imitation seed, one that will only yield crops for one or two seasons before it gives out. Heirloom seeds keep producing indefinitely. I can't tell you what your seed is. It's taken us years to discover ours. I'll share it with you. Most days it sounds like this: "Make me an instrument of your Peace."  Other days it's more along the lines of: "Thank You". 

• Now to the good soil. 

This speaks to your community. This speaks to your family-life. This speaks to your mind-flora. What is mind-flora? I made up the concept based off of gut-flora, which is definitely a real thing. Gut flora is the community of microorganisms that live in our intestinal tracts. There are recent, ground-breaking studies that show how critical the health and vitality of these microorganisms is to our overall health. When that community thrives, so do we. So mind-flora then? Perhaps the microorganisms that live there are purely and simply our thoughts. Are your thoughts thriving? When they're thriving, so will your seed. Identifying and planting your seed is the natural and critical first step, but it will avail you nothing if you plant that beautiful, perfect seed in terrible soil. I know this from personal experience. Take the time to clear away the weeds (you discover your own breed of noxious weeds through meditation and reflection...what are your limiting beliefs and lies?) and to till in soil from some outside sources if you must (for me, that means mantras and affirmations combined with RET, tapping and restorative yoga). There. Now the setting feels good.

• Sunlight & Water

This can be as physical or as ethereal as you need it to be. For us, it's been both. It's been paying bills, designing webpages, and shampooing carpets. It's been soul-searching, tear-shedding, hair-pulling patience. It's everything required of you physically, mentally and spiritually. Give it all. Pour out the energies of your soul into this seed. But then, realize, step four is next.

• Watch it Grow

Beautiful surrender. You can no sooner will your business to grow than you can will a flower to bloom. But flowers, in their season, do bloom, all of their own accord. Your business and mine will too. This step is all about letting go and letting God. You've done all you've been asked to do. You planted, and tilled, and nourished, but ultimately, whether that seed grows or doesn't grow is entirely out of your hands. It's stunningly and magnificently out of your control. And thank God. I mean it. You should thank Him for that.

• Harvest

Does this need any explanation? It's the juicy, dripping, perfect orange just plucked from the tree. It's the plump, delicate raspberry exploding with flavor in your mouth. It's the firm, fresh, crisp ear of corn. This is how fruit ought to be consumed, when it's truly ripe. It's always in season. It's always abundant. It's always larger than life.

Here's to organic success, for yours and mine!

What Non-Attachment is not

After a lifetime of faithful and diligent practice in the art of Attachment, I have inadvertently discovered what Non-Attachment isn't. These examples come from first-hand, tried and true personal experimentation.

Non-Attachment IS NOT:

• Denial. This is when we see or experience something that makes us feel uncomfortable. Because we feel uncomfortable, we naturally look for a way to feel comfortable again. One option presents itself--deny the very existence of your current reality. Just refuse to accept what you're experiencing. Pretend it's not real. Done. Warning: one may begin to exhibit delusional behavior.

• Numbness/Emotionless. Charles Swindoll once wrote, "Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it". But what if we just simply choose to NOT react to life? What if we see and comprehend the current state of affairs but choose to shut down any and every emotional uprising that attempts to manifest itself? In our attempts to be even-keeled, monotone, passionless and neutral we ultimately achieve it. I like to imagine the electrocardiogram that records the electrical activity of the heart. It's the ups and downs, the peaks and valleys, that imbue us with life. To smooth out those upheavals is to flat-line. We die, if not literally, then at least metaphorically.

• Isolation. To let go of all desire and all expectation must inevitably require one to live completely and utterly alone. We must detach ourselves from all relationships and sever all ties. We must cloister ourselves and escape the perils of modern society. Right? In reality, non-attachment is first and foremost an inner discipline of the mind and heart. If we try to approach non-attachment from the outside in, we end up with this kind of skewed interpretation. When approached from the inside out, everything falls into its proper place and context. We begin to realize that we are all intimately and intricately connected. Living in isolation is a fantasy. When we lose ourselves, then we are truly found.

It is safe to conclude that if Non-Attachment is not denial, then surely it is ACCEPTANCE. If it is not numbness or emotionless, then it is COMPASSION. If it is not isolation, then it is INTERCONNECTEDNESS. But my conclusions are unreliable, not peer-reviewed and just entering the fist stages of clinical trial. Only real-life experimentation can tell you for certain.