It’s tax season, and for some of us, this isn’t a big deal.  And for others, it’s a yearly purgatory. I’ve noticed some of my friends on Facebook posting in their status that they’re in “tax hell.”  Growing up in my family, tax time was full of tension as the business owners in my family struggled with accountants.  

 

This year, as I am personally working on my relationship with money management, tax time reminds me that we can use the valuable lessons we learn from yoga in this realm of our life as well.  Yoga Journal has this article about how the ethical principles of yoga, called the yamas and the niyamas, can help us create a healthy relationship with money.   Some of the yamas and niyamas mentioned include non-stealing, non-hoarding, truthfulness, moderation, and self-study.   

 

In the article, a financial advisor who uses yoga in his work says that money “can become a bell of awakening in your yoga practice just by watching how you react to it. Where am I holding tension in my body as I do this transaction, pay bills, watch my portfolio increasing or decreasing? All of these are just opportunities to be conscious.”

 

We all have our pitfalls.   We all have that yoga posture that makes us groan and protest when it comes up in class.   On the flip side, we all have parts of life (and parts of yoga) that are easy for us.  I find myself turning to yoga more and more to help me through those more difficult parts of my life.  

 

Thinking about this has inspired me to get one of the books mentioned in the Yoga Journal article out of the library. When I decided to work for myself and teach full-time 4 years ago, I read several books that really helped me gain perspective about creating a financially abundant practice.   

 

This year, I feel the fruits of that sustained yoga practice working in my financial life.   I am not in “tax hell,” though I have been in previous years.   I didn’t even complain too much about the project 🙂