Artilce by Sushmita Jha, TOI based on an interaction with Shri Subodh Tiwari, Secretary General, IYA
How can yoga help manage personal finances? The two seem to have nothing in common. But scratch the surface and you can find plenty of correlation. Yoga can help us hone our focus, align our priorities, and reduce the stress often associated with money management. In fact, yoga has now been widely accepted as part of holistic wellness for working professionals. ‘Corporate yoga’ has been in vogue for more than a decade now and still going strong, thanks to its many tangible benefits. To understand the connection, we must first understand the objective of managing personal wealth. It is highly subjective. For some people it might be simply a means of ensuring self-sufficiency while for some it may be a race for maximum wealth.
Relieving stress
The biggest benefit of yoga is undoubtedly its ability to reduce stress. Studies have shown that an overwhelming 82% of Indians suffer from stress related to health, work, and financial concerns. Chronic or long-term stress has been associated with variety of non-communicable diseases. Research shows that yoga can help reduce stress and improve performance. Pranayama teaches you to control your breathing, and calms your mind. The primary focus of Yoga is stability at the physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual levels.
Improving focus
Whatever our financial goal, we need the ability to focus on our long-term objectives and the work at hand. Research shows that yoga alters the neural pathways in our brain, improving our concentration. A yoga session in the morning can help improve focus, especially in people who are prone to anxiety. Yoga stresses on self-awareness which is key in honing attention on the task at hand.
Improving performance
Other than improving one’s focus, yoga boosts our overall mental prowess. Even a single yoga session can improve speed and accuracy on memory-based tasks. In other words, one can understand and remember new tasks and concepts with better accuracy. If we combine it with the ability to improve focus, there is a holistic improvement in performance. Managing one’s finances often means remaining alert and honing one’s expertise in new ideas. This is where yoga’s ability to boost our mental functioning can be critical.
Finding balance
Successful management of our personal wealth often requires us to find equilibrium between different priorities, such as aligning short-term goals with long-term objectives or managing expenses against income. With its emphasis on finding balance and synthesis, yoga can help us in this approach of aligning our different goals. Yoga teaches us patience and the need to keep our eye on the long-term effects, which are the key foundation of a good financial plan.
Overall health and flexibility
A financial plan is of little use if our overall health is not up to the mark. Can we really enjoy our wealth if we are suffering from mental and physical ill health? Not only does it impair our ability to enjoy our wealth, it also reduces our lifespan or the time when we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labour. Yoga helps in boosting our overall health, whether it is mental or physical, ensuring that we find an optimal balance between work and good health.