I was a business major for about a semester or two in college. I eventually graduated with and English degree but I learned some very valuable things in my short stint in the business world, mostly from one of my favorite professors, Norm Nemrow.
Norm was that guy who always had a wait list for his classes because he was engaging, fun, challenging, and innovative. Besides understanding business principles as the result of years of successful business practices, Norm was the kind of guy that brought out the best in you simply because you were around him. I think Norm's success and the success he wished to foster in others was the result of a simple formula.
One day, Norm was looking around the auditorium at hundreds of young business-y-types and said, "If you are here simply to learn how to make yourself rich then I would like to show you the door. And that goes for being a doctor or lawyer or anything else. If you seek after something just because you think you'll be liked or seem more import because of it, then welcome to the beginning of misery. Instead, find a career based on something you love to do, even if it's not the most lucrative profession because success revolves around this simple formula: Interest breeds excellence and excellence breeds opportunities."
And besides mastering the use of gerunds and recognizing dangling modifiers (English Major), this formula is perhaps the most important thing I learned from college. I suppose this is really what we are trying to learn in yoga, to learn to listen in part to our hearts and have the courage to organize our lives based on our real priorities. If you've ever been through a very challenging experience, gone through an injury or illness, had someone close to you die, even competed in a challenging race or something, you've probably had that experience where all the bullshit is burned away and what really matters in life is left gleaming like a seam of gold in the mountain. Yoga can offer the same clarity, but through a presence that is practiced over time rather than a quick slap in the face (though if you've ever been to Bikram your opinion might differ). It can also give us the courage to help us direct our lives in the way that is meant for us.
May we all gain the clarity to see what really matters in our lives so that we might employ this same formula for success: interest=excellence=opportunities. And may we have the courage to follow our dreams. I hope to see you in yoga class. It's truly an opportunity born from the passions of my dreams.