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Exercises In the previous chapter we developed a tool to determine our Ayurvedic Archetype. Now that we have determined our dominant traits we can design certain exercises to bring us back into balance. The following exercises have been developed to address the needs of each of the three basic financial archetypes. All archetypes can benefit from these basic exercises: (1) Daily Thanksgiving: The ancient Indian sages practiced their Yoga in the morning. So as you rise to greet a new day, face the sun and put your hands together in a prayerful attitude and give thanks to the sun for its energy and life giving properties. Begin to think about what is working in your life and what you have to be grateful for. Thank the people in your life and honor your own achievements and growth. Most Religious traditions express gratitude for each day of living. This helps us to focus on what we have not what we lack. This may protect you from making business decisions that are based on a lack of self-love. (2) Enough is Enough: A positive daily affirmation such as speaking the words “Enough is Enough” upon rising each day can be very healing. See if you can identify excesses in your life while you speak these words. Then practice this exercise when your daily thanksgiving has worn off and you are ready to buy that expensive pair of shoes you will only wear once. (3) Exercises to Heal Love’s Scars: Our financial behavior cannot be rational and productive if we are carrying excess baggage filled with hurt and anger. One way to overcome the negative effect of this past hurt is an exercise in forgiveness. Write a letter addressed to these individuals with whom you have unresolved issues of anger and hurt. Explain in the letter why you are still angry, your grievances and then end the letter by forgiving them. Do not send the letters; instead, release them into the trash in one cleansing forgiving moment and then let it go. Once you let go of the anger you’ll begin to heal; you will begin to prosper. The following additional exercises are subdivided by archetype: Miser: (Annie) (1) Focus on circulating wealth by donating time or money to a charity. (2) Identify something in your life that would help in your transformation to a more giving person. Spending the money on education, training, a spiritual retreat or even a day at the spa would be well worth it. Balance: (Oscar) (1) Teach others to live a balanced life. (2) Be more patient with others who are either circulating wealth to freely or holding on to rigidly. Spendthrift: (Manny) (1) Layout all of your credit cards on a flat surface. Identify one card that is useful and destroy all the others. Do not request a higher credit limit for this one card. This will help you begin to get control of your escalating debt. (2) Identify sources that drain you of thought, action, and money allocations. Ask yourself if any of these sources cause frivolous expenditures or human and/or ecological suffering. If so, re-prioritize your allocations to include more time and money being devoted to charity and opportunities for reciprocal love. Volunteer to work with under privileged children. By volunteering for a charitable organization that has direct benefits to others, you will become the biggest beneficiary of your generosity. Teach your family that you no longer feel a need to buy their love. Teach them to respect and love themselves by respecting and loving you. Gold digger (Manny’s Wife and Children) (1) Dilute materialistic notions in your life by doing some housecleaning. Clean out your closet and donate unneeded items to a charitable organization. Do the same with other materialistic items that do not have sentimental value or fulfill some primary or secondary need. This exercise will help you to start to gain an understanding of the nature of your material possessions and your relationship to the provider of those possessions. (2) Write down the qualities of the person who is providing for your needs. What are his or her dreams, wishes, longings, and passions (the determination, “this person loves to provide for me” is not acceptable). After you have determined a few of his/her wishes, do something for this person that would shift your focus from what’s in it for me to how can I serve this person, how can I show my appreciation for their love in a way that would be meaningful to him/her. For all of the Archetypes, I have created a 10-step program, which can help us all to overcome our addiction to our possessions. 1) You must admit that your often powerless over the desire to acquire things and it has caused your life to be unmanageable or it is preventing you from pursuing your Dharma. 2) You are willing to acknowledge that spirit or God can help you transcend this attachment. 3) In deep inner healing work you came to understand the nature of your problem and admitted it to another person. 4) You were ready to transmute this karmic attachment so you could pursue your bliss. 5) You work each day at the end of your meditation on overcoming your karmic attachments. 6) You make a list of individuals that you have Karmic debts outstanding and are willing to make amends to them. 7) You made the amends and successfully transmuted Karma. 8) Continue to take daily inventory and create no new Karma. 9) Continue to meditate daily 10) Further transmute Karma by taking the message of healing to others. *Karma: Means past actions *Dharma: Life’s purpose In this chapter we have provided some exercises to begin to take control of our dysfunctional spending/hoarding financial behavior. In the next chapter we will talk about some money saving ideas for the Manny’s of the world. © 2010, Bruce Eric Van Horn If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health. - Hippocrates
Author, CPA, MBA and
yoga instructor Bruce Van Horn founded Yoga for Business,
Inc., a company devoted to organizational and individual
wellness. He presents a daily Yoga Workout routine that
provides a complete physical, mental and spiritual workout.
He is the author of Yoga
for Prostate Health and
Yoga
for Men, designed for all
levels of experience with yoga.. He has renamed (Asanas)
positions in Yoga using terms from business to help you
identify with the movement and focus your attention. He is
the Chair of the Advisory Board for the Center for
Complimentary Medicine at the Cancer Institute of New
Jersey. Bruce also leads a volunteer yoga program designed
for cancer patients and healthcare workers at Beth Israel
Medical Center. He lives outside New York with his wife
Michelle who is a Reiki Master. Bruce has two daughters who
have asked that he refrain from headstands at the town pool.
His website is www.yogaforbusiness.com
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