How To Save The World

Growing up, I always dreamt of helping the world in some big way. Helping others, love and compassion are some of my highest values. The only problem is that I was never quite sure of what to do to make the world a better place. Years went by and many causes that urgently needed solutions sparked my interest: growing inequality, poverty in third world countries, plastic and microplastics pollution, global warming, education, prevalent depression or anxiety in our society, unhealthy habits in our society, or more recently fears about our future with AI.

What should I do or focus on among all of these?

I still was never quite sure and I never got the great idea to help the world that I thought would come to me. You see, all of these issues are incredibly complex and not easy to solve with one grand idea. But I’m 100% sure that the collective humanity is more than capable of solving all of them. Hell, some of these are even 100% human made so of course we could solve them! There is just one problem, there are not enough incentives to do so

You see, when the incentives are there (ie, money to be made in process), humans have been capable of doing absurdly incredible things over the past 200 years. Rockets launching into space on daily basis, skycrappers taller than mountains, a virtual web connecting you to nearly all of humanity through something that fits in your pocket, now AI, and a interminable list of incredible achievements

All of these advancements had two main factors in common: 1) it was a very long and coordinated effort with tiny advances made by 1000s of people around the world, and 2) they brought tremendous economic growth and money with them (ok and war/power was involved as well in many). The reality is that our society moves for and by money. All aspects of our day to day lives, whether we realize it or not, are 100% dictated by the capitalist values of money, productivity, and growth. All that matters for governments and corporations is how strongly is our economy growing, how are our quarterly sales increasing, or how can we improve margins and reduce costs

And by the way, don’t get me wrong it’s not like I’m against capitalism. Capitalism has in fact brought to our modern society levels of comfort and standards of living that are absolutely amazing. And I work in the hedge fund industry, the highest expression of capitalism on earth. It would be a bit hypocrate of me to be against capitalism… Where I am getting at, is that as great as capitalism has been for our modern society prosperity, it can be improved

And in many areas of our lives, capitalism is causing more damage than good to our livelyhoods by now. Long term repercussions of plastic pollution or global warming are set aside as a secondary thought since the Year over Year economic and sales growth is the main consideration. Rising inequality steeming largely from modern monetary policy (this is a big discussion for those non-finance people) and tech concentrating insane amounts of power in the hands of few while the bottom many are rendered “obsolete”. Corporates having no care for consumers wellbeing and, on the contrary, focused on making them addicted to their unhealthy products (hello junk food and social media designed to keep us looking for those dopamine hits)

So when I think about these things, I realize that most of the problems (and the solutions) are just a choice. In one way or the other. The problem is will we collectively decide to make a change? The main overarching issue above all of these is that there is a lack of consciousness. A lack of consciousness about the solution (or even the problem). I fundamentally do not think that there are “powerful people” conspiring against humanity and causing these issues intentionally. It is all just an accumulation of billions of tiny actions and choices by millions of humans that end up causing these issues

For example, there is not one “Big Bad Oil” group of people causing contamination and global warming. Sure there are some big oil companies drilling and refining oil. But they are just 100,000s of people doing their job. And they are just fulfilling a demand of our society. We realistically cannot stop all oil extraction and consumption overnight because our economy would completely collapse. What we can do is to have mature conversations about the trade-offs and take collective decisions that slowly decrease our consumption of fossil fuels. Same with plastics and every other issue

The question then is how can we increase our level of collective consciousness such that more of us care and are willing to sacrifice part of their lives to improve these issues? That’s a tough one… But then, during my year of self-reflection that I took off work, I realized the solution was standing right on my face the whole time: Yoga (of course there are other paths but I find yoga the most useful/accesible for most of the population)

I believe that a lack of consciousness is a lack of connection. A lack of connection with ourselves, with our bodies, with our emotions, with other people, with nature. Why do we eat junk food and endlessly consume dumb social media? Because we are disconnected from the present moment and we do these things unconsciously. Why do governments and big corporations (which in the end are really just groups of 100,000 of people they are not some abstract evil organizations…) do not take more actions towards solving the big issues facing society? Because we are immersed in this capitalist society where the #1 priority is ALWAYS money

Why is money the only priority? Well, I’ll go out on a limb here, but I believe it steems from a lack of connection with ourselves at an individual and collective level. We think that money and power are the main goal in life because we are not trully connected to ourselves, to our feelings and to our values. If all of us were 100% in touch with ourselves, with our souls, and with our highest values, I can guarantee that people would stop treating money as the #1 priority. Because money on itself should always be a means and not an end as we treat today (as the highest value of our society). Again, do not misinterpret me, money IS important for those living in poverty and those struggling to make ends meet in our society. Here I’m talking about the middle/upper class in developed countries that have all basic needs met. But that continues to strive for more and more as if hoarding more money was the main objective of life. Losing out on life in the way in many cases…

So the overarching issue here is a very deep and fundamental lack of connection. And this why yoga is so important

Because yoga has the power to attract the attention of most people with the more superficial benefits like being healthier, reducing stress, getting more flexible and stronger, help with your back pain, etc

And more important than that, yoga can help us finally connect. It is the only movement practice that at it’s very core is focused on connection. From your very first class (if the teacher is good), you will be told that the main goal is not to achieve x pose, that the main goal is to connect with your breath, to meditate in the pose, to FEEL your body for once, to notice what is going on in your mind and in your emotions

Yoga FORCES you to stop and go inside of you for once in your life. No phone, no emails, no social media. Only you, your mat, your body, your thoughts, your emotions, and your soul (ok and the yoga teacher telling you what to do). Finally one place outside of our continous hussle and urgency culture! Ok yoga is a bit of a trojan horse because you actually feel good with yourself, achiving something since we feel uncomfortable not hussling, as you are doing something useful because it is healthy for you. And it forces you to finally be by yourself!

Because of course we are disconnected! We live our lives as it if was a F1 race! You are born, straight into school sports and/or music while already being bombarded on TV/Social Media with ads telling you how inferior you are if you don’t have the latest iphone. Then you go into university. The market is tough so you have to 100% focus on your studies (and on going out and being popular of course otherwise you’re a loser) or you will be left behind. Then you get into the Corporate world. Always competing to get the next raise and see if you are keeping up with your old colleagues. Don’t forget, social media keeps continuously telling you how inferior you are for not having the Ferrari and the whole collection of LVMH shoes and bags! So you keep working endless hours to try to make it to 7th spot in your friend’s group race! In the meantime, you have to take care of your family, your friends, your dog who is the only one that understands you, your annual trips to escape this madness from time to time (and show how cool you are), etc

Out of my whole group of acquantiances, I’m not exagerating when I say that 95% of them do not spend more than 2 hours a week “not-doing”. Our little free time is occupied cooking or eating out or watching Netflix or watching video games. Hell, even our commutes nowadays are filled with Podcast so we are not falling behind!

But there comes yoga to the rescue! Because there are plenty of other ways to connect with yourself. It could be walks in nature, meditation, introspective practices like conscious journaling, even dance or some other movement practices done with a clear focus on connecting with one self. This has been talked about ad-infinitum in our history of philosophy, being with one self is not rocket science really…

But a walk in nature? Who has time for that?! But, if you tell me let’s go do exercise that will make you fitter, help with your back pain, reduce your crazy stress, AND EVEN TEACH YOU HOW TO HANDSTAND! Now we're talking. That’s useful for my immediate needs and keeps me doing, sign me in!

This is why I choose to teach yoga. Because I think it has the incredible potential to change the world and make it a better place. One person and one breath at a time. We have the collective power to do anything we set our minds to. So let’s start by connecting with ourselves, with our feelings and soul, with others and with nature. Let’s find out what do we REALLY need, what do others and our nature needs. And let’s get to it together and consciously

Come to Yoga to balance in your hands, end with balance in your soul.