Yoga for Financial Health

Updated on 24 Apr, 2024

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We have recently celebrated International Yoga Day on 21st June. The social media was filled with pictures of individuals doing yoga. Yoga is no game where you can conquer in a couple of days. Yoga requires patience and practice. It relaxes our mind and body. Being a finance enthusiast, it made me wonder if I can actually learn something from it. I think there are many similarities between yoga and investing.

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Discipline

One thing yoga teaches us is discipline and patience. Reaching a state of calmness or a posture in yoga takes time and discipline. One needs to practice with patience and perseverance to master their mind and be calm. One cannot mediate once and feel calm. It doesn’t work that way. Come what may, yoga has to be practiced regularly with discipline to derive full benefits from it.

Same goes for investing. Investing once and forgetting about it or not investing regularly or not being patient enough with your investments is wrong. When investing in equities one needs to give enough time for the investment to grow. If investing in mutual funds through SIP, then do not stop them in between. Staying invested and continuing the investment even during a volatile period is important. SIP and long term investing is the best combination for wealth creation.

Balance

Yoga improves balance in one’s body. While practicing yoga, we will have to stay in a posture for a while. One will find themselves with a good balance over their body due to yoga. Having good balance on the body will reduce the risk of us falling or slipping.

It is important to have a balanced portfolio while investing too. Having a balanced portfolio will help attain financial safety in the long-run. A balanced portfolio is a diversified one. It includes multiple asset classes and reduces the risk of investment. One should have a diversified portfolio of assets. Talk to a financial advisor to have a balanced portfolio that best suits your requirements and improves your financial health.

Flexibility

Yoga improves the flexibility of the body. By moving and stretching in different postures the flexibility of the body improves.

While investing, one has to make sure that they have flexibility with the asset class they choose. Choosing investments like mutual fund SIP or recurring deposits are good. They offer to invest in affordable installments which can be automated. And SIPs can also be withdrawn easily at the click of a mouse. Choose assets classes that fit into your goals and improve your financial flexibility.

Patience

Yoga teaches patience. Practicing a yoga asan might take time and once you have perfectly done the yoga asan you will need to take your own time to get out of it. For example, you are trying to do a headstand and once done you cannot just jump up from that posture. You will have to get your body down slowly.

While investing one requires patience. Just because the market has fallen that day doesn’t mean you will give a knee-jerk reaction and pull all your money out. That might lead you into a loss. The market movements are short-term and are temporary most of the time. Take your time in understanding how your portfolio is reacting to different market movements. If you are still in loss after a bullish phase then consider rebalancing your portfolio. Be patient with your investments and do not take any rash decisions in the fear of losing money.

Self Confidence

Yoga doesn’t just show physical benefits like weight reduction but also provides mental benefits like calming the mind. It builds our self-confidence. We start to like ourselves more and become more aware of our body and our surroundings.

Investing can help build confidence too. Not only on ourselves but on investing too. While investing we prepare for the future. We want to fulfill our future needs with the money we are investing now. As and when we reach closer to our goal we feel confident about the decisions we took in the past and also feel confident about facing the future. The boost in self-confidence we get when we fulfill our goals with the investments we have done in the past is immense. In turn, we also feel confident about investing.

Practice Yoga for Financial Health

Yoga isn’t just about physical and mental calmness. It is also about financial health. Practice yoga while investing too and see the benefits reap in the form of returns and good financial health.

Stay fit, Stay healthy and Stay wealthy.