Yamas for Ethical Business Growth

Businesses that adopt these ethical principles build a more loyal customer base & scale with integrity.

We’re often told that to succeed in business, we can’t be too soft or giving – we need to make bank & overcome our “playing small”. I personally find this very disturbing & untrue. While we can behave like Wall Street outlaws, I prefer creating value through love, sincerity, fairness, maturity & generosity.

When I was working in corporate 10+ years ago, I burned out because I was working on projects that were against my ethics & the work culture was very much one of taking until there was nothing left. Ironically, as an ecologist, that’s also what my clients wanted to do to our natural habitats. I couldn’t bear to use my talents to support their destruction & I became absolutely intolerant to exploitation in all forms. I quit, never to look back.

Now, I only function through spiritual values, like generosity, divine timing & intuition. It may seem unreliable, but I’ve found it’s quite the opposite. It provides me with solid ground when I’m unsure about how to move forward, when I doubt myself or when I adopt a new strategy in my business.

In the yoga tradition, Patañjali described 5 yamas, or self-restraints, to help us live in bliss, self-realization & oneness. These values explain what not to do & are meant to be practiced in our everyday lives, right now.

Leading a business is challenging in many ways, including how to make decisions around goals that might seem at odds, like making sales & being humble (no ego). The yamas not only help steer us toward ethical practices, it also creates tangible benefits to any business.

Applying the 5 Yamas to Business

Ahimsā – Non-violence (peace)

The rationale is that if we’re “all one”, harming another simultaneously harms ourselves, simply by virtue that carrying a violent action, thought or intention lowers our energetic frequency.

We’re drinking the poison we’re trying to impose on another. But here’s the plot twist: others are free to welcome our “attack” as a positive growth opportunity (see aparigraha below) – we can’t control their reactions.

In business, we’re violent when we’re being too critical of ourselves, feeling frustrated or angry, or even being aggressive in our marketing, cutting us off from more fulfilling relationships + opportunities. Whether we actually harm others or not, we definitely harm ourselves by embodying these thoughts + actions.

Satya – Not lying (sincerity)

Do you tend to exaggerate your claims, omit parts of a story to look better, or create content just to show up, without a clear intention behind it? If you do, you’re adding to the chaos of the world.

Your transactions will be deceptive & foster frustration + anger. You’ll miss out on opportunities for connection as you dismiss your less glamorous struggles. You’ll squander your energy & your attention with ‘junk’ content, just to please the developers of the algorithm. It’s bad karma & not worth it.

Before saying anything, come back to your intention to provide value & to be honest. This will build goodwill with your audience, customers & partners. If you don’t feel confident about a claim, scale it down – there’s nothing wrong with being more junior at something & embracing it. Every stage is beautiful & valuable to the right audience. There’s no point to rush & wish we were further along – we’ll get there as we gain experience & learn the lessons.

Asteya – Not stealing (fairness)

If you love a quote on social media, reshare it with attribution. Don’t make false claims (see satya above) to profit from duped customers. People who rip others off believe there’s no other way to get what they want, or that everyone else is doing it. They have such a scarce + negative perspective on life that they will abuse others – but they won’t get ahead. Harboring these feelings leads to depression & hopelessness (see ahiṃsā above).

If you want an abundant business overflowing with wealth & opportunity, you need to raise yourself to that level of consciousness. If you want life to be generous with you, you need to let go of your fear of never having enough. It’s gotta start with you so that you can receive it.

This means pricing your offers fairly, offering guarantees & making the best of what you have so that you can become legitimately more affluent.

Brahmacharya – Non-distraction (maturity)

While the original texts focused more on sexual restraint & chastity (the distraction of choice of Antiquity), we now have plenty of options for a quick serotonin rush or for defaulting to our reptilian brain when we’re feeling triggered.

Procrastinating, social media scrolling, or any behavior that helps us avoid a mature emotional + neurological regulation are all easier to do & immediately rewarding. We need to train ourselves against these too-easy quick wins or we’ll weaken our ability to focus on our intentions & we’ll end up feeling quite disempowered about our lives.

When our brain becomes addicted, it’s like sliding down a hill – so easy to let happen but much harder to come back to our starting point. The key to rebuilding our focus, productivity & fulfillment is to have a compelling “toward” goal, not just an “away” goal. You’ll be much more inspired + motivated to move beyond your resistance if you see yourself as the co-creator of your life + business.

As a business owner, you need to be very intentional about where you focus your energy because it’s all too easy to lose confidence + momentum if we’re not careful. Successful entrepreneurs nurture their mental toughness, their stamina, so that they can move beyond their challenges.

Aparigraha – Non-attachment (generosity)

Greek philosopher Heraclitus said that the only constant is change & I absolutely agree with him. Nature is in constant flux, we inexorably move toward our mortality, the Universe is constantly expanding (until it collapses). Life & death are inseparable companions.

Most of our relationships will not last for a lifetime, including our current audience, offers, subscribers or income. We all evolve & we can benefit from the next stages if we embrace them.

It’s hard because change is, by definition, the unknown. That’s where faith in a bright future & belief in our own abilities to adapt is crucial. It’ll happen anyway, nothing ever stays the same (even mountains!), so it’s arguably less effort to let go of the old & to expand into the new.

---

Living the yamas is always a work in progress but it’s so rewarding! Whenever I find new ways to be more loving, sincere, fair, mature & generous in my business, I’m always very proud + excited of making this world a better place. The sooner you begin, the faster you’ll see the results & experience the deep satisfaction of changing the world for the better.

When I was an ecologist, I couldn’t change the values of my clients or employer, but now I can fully implement them. The more I integrate the yamas into my business operations, the more I resonate with & attract similar clients + followers. I’m much more fulfilled by my day-to-day too, because my soul is nourished as I do my tasks, not just when I reach my goals.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to come closer to enlightenment?

Now I want to know:

What small change could you bring to integrate the yamas into your business?

Marie xo