Happy International Yoga Day!
‘Yoga’ is an Indian ancient tradition which helps a person to look within and connect with a soul.
Our body is sacred so it helps to maintain it healthy with the help of Asanas. In Hath yoga, there are 54 types of different asanas which we can do.
Whereas, Pranayama helps to route much needed oxygen to whole body and activates our chakras. This makes us calm and focused.
But, doing a few asanas and pranayama doesn’t help! We must be consistent.
Now, the whole world understands the power of yoga and follows it!
Specially, in these times of COVID-19, where stress levels, uncertainty about future and negativity is on the rise,where our health and well being is at stake; Yoga helps us to maintain calm, focus on what is possible and hope for a better tomorrow!
I personally practice ‘Ashtanga Yoga’ everyday and it certainly helps! It helps me in my personal life and in professional life as well.
Being a ‘financial planner’ its really important to understand finance and client’s behavioral patterns. I, as a planner, blend it in right manner and then provide solutions.
I practice ‘Ashtanga Yoga’ and in the above process, it helps me to think in a better manner while making financial plans for my clients.
Today, I will explain, how you should follow these 8 yoga (principles) of Ashtanga yoga and understand your own personal finance in a better way…
- Yama:
‘Yama’ is the first yoga. It means, ‘keeping our body and mind away from all inauspicious and unwanted thoughts and doings’.
Like this, when it comes to your personal finance and investments, you must keep yourself away from all thoughts and actions like unnecessary portfolio churning, following friend’s/colleagues’ portfolio strategy blindly, investing without understanding about product.
- Niyama:
In ashtanga yoga, there are ‘5 Niyamas’ which one should follow.
First is ‘Shaucha’ means purifying our body and soul,
second is ‘Santosh’ means being content with what we possess and be thankful about it’,
Third is ‘Tapa’ means ‘overcoming every hurdle and odds which come in the path and achieve our goal anyhow’.
Forth is, ‘Swadhyaya’. This means, ‘self-study’. Studying and understanding own self, what we are doing and why. It also means, to study our granthas, vedas and Upa-nishadas deeply.
Fifth is, ‘Eshwar -pranidhan’. ‘This means we need to do all things right and devote it to almighty.
Like above ‘Niyamas’; in our personal finance too, we need to follow some niyamas like follow.
Like ‘Shaucha’; We should keep our portfolio and other personal finance elements clean from unsuitable items.
Like ‘Santosh’; We should not be greedy and run behind returns unnecessarily.
Like ‘Tapa’; We should stick to our strategy and overcome hurdles, like bad market performance, negative returns in portfolio and stay invested to achieve our goals.
Like ‘Swadhyaya’, we should always self-study first before investing, read and understand books ad material which are related to personal finance and learn from it.
Like, ‘Eshwar-pranidhan’, we can devote our personal finance journey to fulfill our goals and dreams.
- Asanas:
‘Asanas’ help our body to be fit and healthy. There are 54 types of asanas in ‘hatha yoga’. They help to prevent many ailments, keep body and mind healthy. They are different exercises and forms which everyone can do and are suitable for every body type.
Like different asanas, our investments and cash flows need different suitable changes. When you invest, you should not be idle with your portfolio, goal-based investments and insurance. As your personal life goes under changes, likewise your financial life. Please make reviews and take suitable actions for your investments and portfolio.
Let your personal finance elements exercise and move in a right direction with suitable changes in right directions.
- Pranayama:
These are specific forms and techniques about inhaling and exhaling. ‘Prana vayu’ means oxygen which needs to be circulated in the body when we inhale and exhale. When we practice ‘Pranayama’, we inhale and exhale in a right manner which helps to circulate oxygen to every body part and emit carbonyloxies i.e. ‘Aapan Vayu’. This further helps to create energy in our body.
Like pranayama, we should ‘inhale’ all right and suitable strategies, investment instruments, insurance policies and discipline to our personal finance. ‘Exhale’, all wrong investments strategies, instruments and insurance policies from our personal finance elements.
- Pratyahara:
It means ‘practicing to gain control on the body and mind to look within’. To understand in depth about life, its purpose and meaning.
Like Pratyahara, you must gain control on all your personal finance elements. You must know why you are investing, what are your goals to achieve, do you know basics about it, how will you review your investments, insurance and cash flows, what are your asset allocation and rebalancing strategies?
You must introspect, look withing and gain control. So, you will not fall pray to any mis selling and wrong decisions.
- Dharana:
When you practice ‘pratyahara’, you introspect deeply and then you are able to concentrate and focus more with mind. Dharana, gives your mind stability which leads you to focus on the right thing.
Like this, in our personal finance too, you must practice ‘dharana’. Here, you should focus on achieving your true goals with right investments, protect financial wellbeing your loved ones and your health with right insurance policies, maintain right cash flows throughout. This when you do with focus and concentration, you achieve right results.
- Dhyana:
Practicing ‘Dhyana’ means ‘to be able to connect, devote and surrender fully to almighty’. We achieve Dhyana when we rightly practice dharana, and other yogas.
Dhyana means to concentrate fully with devotion to the super energy.
Like Dhyana, in personal finance too, we must devote ourselves to its very purpose. Here, we should find our core purpose behind earning money, what we want to achieve from it, how we will achieve it and when. Dhyana gives us insight and so we need to use for our own finances.
- Samadhi:
‘Samadhi’ means to feel ourselves ‘uniform’ with brahma and super energy. In this state, we feel ourselves very small and feel the giant presence of brahma. Samadhi is the ultimate state for any yogi.
Like Samadhi, for our personal finance we must find the core value for us and be uniform with it. If we stick to that value which money brings to our life, we will feel other things small. Being rich may not make us happy but being able to achieve our goals and fulfill our responsibilities will surely make us content.
‘Ashtanga Yoga’ is a way of life. It teaches all good things and try to keep us away from the bad. Money can accomplish many things but if we know what to do, when and how to do with money, our cash flows, investments and insurance, then we can understand ‘real value’ of money.
Many people give undue importance to money, but with due understanding of its value to us, we make right use of it!
So, practice yoga for your good health and inculcate its principles for your personal finance for good and meaningful wealth creation!
Awesome