| I'd like to introduce you to Alicia's wonderful piano music. I listen to it while I'm typing away in the office. I love the soothing melody. Just click below to order or sample the sounds!
Also below you'll see the cover of Micheal Lee's new book "Turn Stress into Bliss". Michael is the founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. Look for more information on his book in the next issue of Mindful Marketing.
Megan
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| Mindful Marketing
Rich Living for the Holistic Entrepreneur. |
May 2005 |
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Truth resides in many clichés, including the overused phrase "we are all connected." What does that mean from a practical perspective? I experienced that connection at the Pittsburgh airport. Striking up a conversation with the stranger next to me who wore a bright, tropical shirt and an even brighter smile, he said he was just returning from a yoga retreat in the Caribbean. Later, when I boarded the plane, I pulled out my Yoga International magazine and recognized Chaya~Sharon Heller, a favorite yoga teacher of mine at Kripalu. On this trip back from Atlanta, yoga was indeed connecting me with others. Marketing is connection in action. And from that practical action comes pure magic. In this issue you'll find out how Chaya got on the cover of YI (a perfect story of magical connection in action), how Jennifer Nadeau from Jai Yoga uses everyday circumstances to create good karma (and good marketing), and how to use the computer to expand your business through virtual connections. One last story of magical connections. Running an evening workshop on my book Infinity in a Box, Using Yoga to Live With Ease, I had the honor to meet fellow yoga teacher, writer and pianist extraordinaire Alicia Bessette. What started out as a chance encounter ended up as a working relationship. Alicia is now the associate editor for Mindful Marketing, and you'll have a chance to make a connection with her in this issue. Let the magic begin. In yoga,
Megan
Megan McDonough, Business Yogini |
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 Serendipi-tea
How Chaya landed on the cover of YI
The March cover of Yoga International shows a beatific yogini balancing in a perfect V: Paripurna Navasana, or Full Boat Pose.Meet Chaya, a yoga teacher from Lenox, Massachusetts. The serendipitous story of how she wound up on the cover of an international magazine involves tea, a dress shop, and a chance connection.Last summer Jeannette Robinson, a model scout for YI, was vacationing in Western Massachusetts. Shopping in Lenox, she wandered into a dress shop to check out the merchandise and ended up chatting with the sales person about her professional search for cover models. The sales person referred Jeannette to her close friend, a model and yoga teacher: Chaya.Chaya had recently done a cover shoot for a book on Kripalu Yoga, and she agreed enthusiastically to meet with Jeannette and follow up with the YI cover shoot.That chance meeting in a dress shop set many things into motion for Chaya. Not only did her personal yoga practice gain new momentum, but her tea business benefitted from her new-found fame.Chaya is the maker of Chaya Herb Tea. Local shops sold YI together with Chaya Herb Tea, and sales were strong enough that some retailers continue to stock both products.As a direct result of the publicity, more students seek out Chaya's yoga classes and private yoga and massage sessions. She has gone from teaching one workshop a month at Kripalu to about three a month, including a four-day workshop, Holistic Lifestyle and Adaptive Yoga for People with Multiple Sclerosis, which she will lead in September. Chaya's story is a great example of how chance connections can turn into practical profit.
Lesson? Don't give up. Keep taking action. Increase the odds that your big chance connection will arrive - probably when you least expect it.
Click here to learn more about Chaya |
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 Karma Ka-Ching
Coupons and connections
Karma can be a difficult concept to grasp. How the cycle of good deeds and bad deeds come full circle, and how and the effects of one's actions determine one's destiny, can be dizzying to contemplate. But a yoga teacher in Brunswick, Maine, is making the concept of karma plain and simple: Do something nice, and get a free yoga class! Jennifer Nadeau, owner of Jai Yoga, awards Karma Coupons to do-gooders in her community. The coupons are good for a free yoga class at Jai Yoga. Karma Coupons educate the public about Karma Yoga, which holds that serving your community is serving the Self. In addition, Karma Coupons bring new clients to Nadeau's classes every week. "Folks are so touched when they receive a Karma Coupon," she says. "We feel great giving them out. Onlookers are inspired. It generates much good will in our community. Karma coupons give us a kind of visibility, you could even say advertising, that cannot be bought. It is good Karma for all of us." With her Karma Coupons, Nadeau has been able to connect to her community and market her business in a mindful way.
Here's some homework. Watch your actions and see how many times this week you connect with your community. How can you double that connection next week?
To visit Jai Yoga online, click here. |
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 Meet Alicia
Mindful Marketing's new associate editor
I'm Alicia Bessette, a new addition to Mindful Marketing. By way of introduction, I'll discuss two passions of mine, yoga and writing, in the light of connections, both practical and magical. Yoga, of course, is the ultimate connection, yoking practitioners to their true nature. Teaching yoga is a practical way to connect to my neighbors. There are magical teaching connections, too, as when students and I share the sound of Om at the end of a class, and the vibrations that fill our ears and reverberate in our hearts become one and the same. Too, the act of writing involves innate connections: connecting hand to pen, eyes to paper, mind to mind.
As associate editor of Mindful Marketing, I'll relish the opportunity to connect these two passions of mine. Yoga and writing - practices that have survived the ages, practices that take us on a journey of connection to ourselves, and to one another.
Alicia's website |
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 The Biofeedback Connection
Journey to the Wild Divine Computer Game
It can be tough for students to experience the physical effects brought about by even minor changes in the breath. Imagine if you could show your students how to build stairways with the breath. Or open doors with meditation. Or juggle balls with laughter. It's possible. Journey to the Wild Divine is an "inner-active" computer game that uses biofeedback to enhance personal growth and well-being. This biofeedback game can give you and your students a tangible indicator as to how your yoga practice is connected to your body's rhythm. The game can also earn you money. To become an affiliate (at no cost), link to the Wild Divine site either through email or on your website, and when a someone clicks through and buys, you get a check for twenty dollars. There's no shipping, no inventory, and just a little work linking your students to a service they may find valuable. Journey to the Wild Divine makes evident just how powerful yoga and meditation can be, and what you can accomplish with simple intention.
For more information on Journey to the Wild Divine, click here. |
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