A meditative state is probably the best position to consider the present state of United States economy. Green MBA's have been growing in buzz and influence, but how about the idea of yoga at business schools? On the face of things these two concepts seem incommensurable - one otherworldly and the other veering towards the materialistic. Business schools are not known for providing a nurturing environment for the temperament of the yogi. The stresses of the business world, however, lend themselves nicely to the tonic nature of yoga. Business Week today notes the growing popularity of yoga at, of all places, some of the most competitive and hard-edged business schools: the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, MIT's Sloan School of Management, Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Management. From Business Week:

"Like many other practitioners of yoga, (Second year MIT grad student Matthew) McGarvey says the discipline helps him achieve inner focus. He began practicing yoga while starting a social enterprise in Tibet as a way to find relief from his work-related stress. In business school, McGarvey says yoga helped him stay centered. 'I found that during my first semester I was having to reexamine a lot of my life goals and priorities,' he says. 'Having a yoga practice helped sort through the white noise.'

".. Several MBAs have enrolled in the course, Barry says, which serves as a respite from the otherwise-busy life of MBA students. 'They tend to be extremely self-driven and highly competitive,' Barry says. 'To have an hour [that's] not about self-improvement prevents burnout to get through the hectic part of the semester'"

Interestingly enough, Indian MBA programs are quite familiar with the dicipline, where recruiting companies regard a yoga certificate as a plus point. As Professor J.M. Subramanya of the SDM Institute for Management Development told The India Tribune in January, "Companies see the yoga certificate as something positive about the candidate." More Business Week here.

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