The Exponential Potential

We plan. We schedule class. We eat nutritious food. We sleep. We arrange for child care. We dress, and drive to location. We practice. Then we resume our everyday life.

The effort in our yoga practice is a lot more than what we do on the mat—it’s all the things we do to get us onto that mat. What do we get from such an investment of effort?

One study found that in addition to helping the practitioner live comfortably in his body and handle life happily, his practice positively affects three of his closest relationships. A high school teacher positively influences her co-worker in the next room, her husband, and her fourteen year old daughter. A stockbroker’s consistent practice benefits his secretary’s, his wife’s, and his best friend’s well-being. A new Mum’s yoga class spreads calm over her baby, her Mum-in-law, and her teenage niece.

Imagine, these three people also take up yoga, they’ll in turn positively affect three of their closest relationships. There is a multiplier effect.

Whoa! Isn’t this return of investment exponential? The exponential potential?

When I practice for me, I also do it for several other people.

When you practice, whom do you bless?

Comments, questions, requests?