What does mind/body wellness have to do with environmental concern? What is the glue that holds the broad Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability umbrella together? What do the practices of yoga and meditation have to do with environmental awareness? Systems thinking shows the folly of disembodied mind, disconnected individuals and deracinated culture, while providing glue that cements together the disparate LOHAS threads. 

First off, what is, systems thinking? Systems thinking goes beyond linear thinking and a mechanical view of the world that does not recognize connecting linkages. Linear thinking reflects a simple cause/effect relationship, for example measuring the independent variable’s effect upon the dependent variable. A system is an ecology of relationships all interacting with unpredictable results. Systems thinking describes emergence; which means the collective properties of the whole are not found in the parts. There is no discrete cause and effect between two isolated variables. Everything is connected within the ecological system. Whole systems are driven by the logic that when you remove particular parts, the system falls apart and you lose explanatory power.

Recognition of three systems; the mind/body system, the self/society system and the culture/nature system shows how systems thinking forms the foundation of the Lohas philosophy. It reinforces the importance of yoga and meditation for harmonizing body and mind, the importance of social relationships in forming our individual identity and the importance of nature in the formation of culture.

Beyond the fact that nature is a prerequisite for our survival, humanity has spiritual needs to connect with the environment on a deeper level. Throughout history and throughout the world, we see the human urge to connect to something greater than themselves is universal. Rather than projecting our religious impulse skyward, now, we see the need to project that impulse to the world around us. Our connection to nature is not just a biological fact; it is a spiritual principal that colors the world with meaning. Life has meaning because we are connected to the world around us. The meaning lies in that connection and with the environmental peril we face, the meaning requires political engagement along with spiritual and social engagement because facing the environmental crisis will require policy change, policy choices and collective action on unprecedented levels. Facing this environmental crisis could provide an engine for spiritual renewal. Sustainability could become the new religion, a religion rooted in scientific fact and a religion formed in response to environmental challenges.

Three systems, body-mind system, the self-society system and the culture-nature system move our consciousness outward from our mind, to our self, to our community and finally to the natural system. This forward movement in consciousness will hopefully spur on evolutionary adaptation that will increase human nature’s capacity to deal with the growing environmental crisis. The LOHAS market is a tool for moving this evolutionary adaptation forward.

John Rooks did an amazing job presenting a compelling argument on a civic approach to branding that drives behavior change. It was one of the most favorite sessions of last year's LOHAS Forum for me. Check out all the old commercials and movie clips playing behind him. Not many people new it but he had a VJ behind the screen  following his talk and splicing the clips together in real time. Very edgy and very cool! I can't wait to see what John has up his sleeve for the 2012 LOHAS Forum.

John Rooks: Sustainable Economy- LOHAS 2011 from The SOAP Group on Vimeo.

Ask businesses why they don’t tout green achievements more often, and their answer will likely be fear of greenwash.

Before you let such fears deter you from making investments in sustainable technology or promoting your green achievements, consider how difficult it is for any advertiser to gain consumer trust.

Consumers have always been skeptical of advertising. Take the food industry, for example. Food brands have long been under government scrutiny for their advertising claims. Today, companies are getting smeared for overpromising health benefits, leaving consumers confused about what’s actually true. But we don’t call that “food wash.”

As I write in my book, The New Rules of Green Marketing, skepticism is so rampant in all industries that consumers trust each other more than they trust brands, ads and media messages in general. That’s one reason social media is soaring right now.

Skepticism is par for the course. Besides, a little skepticism is good – it keeps us on our toes. The now “Wild West” green marketplace will mature. But as is the case for many established industries, the potential to screw up will always be there.

So, proceed with caution. But for the sake of the planet and your business, do proceed. The following strategies will help you avoid greenwash and gain competitive advantage in the process:

1. Walk your talk.

Thwart the most discriminating of critics by visibly making progress toward measurable goals. Being proactive in responding to the public’s concerns and expectations starts with a visible and committed CEO. That’s because CEOs can create an emotional link between the company and its customers. Empower your employees, too. Educate them on environmental issues and the specifics of their company’s processes so they can fuel authentic communications about your company’s green initiatives.

2. Be transparent.

Provide access to details about your products and corporate practices, and continuously report on your progress. In the future, disclosure of environmental impacts may be required by law. Get a jump on competitors and regulators—and score some points with consumers—by voluntarily disclosing as much as possible. During this process, don’t hide bad news. Acknowledge your weaknesses and explain how you’re proactively trying to improve.

3. Don’t mislead.

Be specific, prominent and comprehensive so as not to confuse. Consumers may claim to know what commonly used terms such as “recyclable” and “biodegradable” mean, but they can be easily mistaken—creating risk for unsuspecting sustainable marketers.

The best advice for green marketers is to adopt specific standards for disclosure of green initiatives and to follow the FTC Green Guides or other appropriate government guidelines. If possible, consult with lawyers who specifically address green claims.

4. Enlist the support of third parties.

Let stakeholders in on the steps you’re taking, and educate the public on how they can help. You can also align positively with third parties that perform independent life-cycle inventories, certify claims and award eco-seals. Certifying your product under appropriate eco-labels lends credibility to environmental messages. When choosing eco-labels, be sure to choose wisely based on how relevant the label is to your brand image. If your product has multiple eco-labels, make sure the standards for each do not conflict with one another.

5. Promote responsible consumption.

It’s one thing to design a product to be greener, but you can’t minimize impact throughout the total product life cycle unless consumers eventually use and dispose of your product more responsibly. Enlisting consumer support for responsible consumption is a sure-fire way to build credibility and reduce risk. Products can be designed to make it easier for consumers to minimize resource use. In turn, people will appreciate your efforts to make responsible consumption more manageable.

******

Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).

Download a free chapter and get more information here.

After reviewing the numerous trend articles out there and considering my own perspectives I have put together some that I think are relevant to LOHAS. Here are a few that I feel are relevant for the coming year:

1. Whiskey is for Drinking, Water Is for Fighting Over
The famous Mark Twain quote will become more prevalent in society as new realities of its scarify will become better known to an ever growing global thirst.  Everyone will talk about it but few will do anything. Sadly, it may only start to take off if humanitarian crises hit.  A focus on water use is an admission that climate change is our new reality and it's time to start managing its effects. The material risks associated with increased droughts and flooding will be among the most poignant effects of climate change. You may already be talking about this with the lack of snowfall around the country during the early part of this year.

2. Capitalism as We Know is Changing and it Should
Since the Industrial Age, businesses have built their wealth off of the extraction of natural resources. Unless businesses start to value and protect these resources, this cycle will have a devastating impact on the lives of our children and grandchildren.  Richard Branson echoes this sentiment and also believes it cannot survive in its current model. This can also cause possible ecoflation that was identified in 2008.  Many people are beginning to realize that business as usual is no longer an option. What is an option is to reinvent capitalism to truly be a force for good in the world. Certification groups such as FairTrade and Benefit Corporation are working to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.  The current changing economic scene provides unique opportunity for innovation and success in unconventional settings. The sky is the limit as new ways to do better business are taking root everyday.

3. Blurring the Differences Between “For-Profits” and “Non-Profits”
There has been a surge of entrepreneurs providing innovative business solutions with the purpose of “doing good”.   In these tumultuous times where unemployment is high many are turning their backs on the job fairs and putting their efforts into creating new businesses that fill needs such as TaskRabbit, and Viatask.   Non-profits will incorporate more for-profit business models into their programs. There is a strong growth in social entrepreneurialism globally and this will increase with the emergence of new solutions for world issues. Groups like the Social Venture Network, Sansori and Unreasonable Institute will increase to provide resources for start ups. Social enterprises will encompass the very definition of business and 2012 will be an important year.

4. Gamificating Your life
Expect and increase in the game addiction methods to make a world a better place this next year. Game and point system rewards programs such as My Recycle Bank , My Energy and Greenopolis will see newcomers such as Ecobonus that rewards points to green and organic shoppers. More smart apps will be provided for LOHAS shoppers and energy efficiencies for homes and automobiles. 

5. Evidence Based Sustainability
Proof of sustainability will be emphasized more than ever as businesses will seek cost effective measure to reduce bills and be a good environmental citizen. Purchasing departments will be requiring vendors to document how they address sustainability issues within their own businesses will become more commonplace. As facilities and businesses increasingly operate in a more sustainable manner, they will turn to "dashboard" systems to help measure, manage and report progress.

6. We'll All Want to Plug in to Plug-in Hybrids
Hybrids are not new but the latest improvements in technology will allow them to be more affordable to the average consumer. If electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt are the trail-blazers, plug-in hybrids could be the game-changer the auto industry has been looking for. The prospect of a car than can travel distances of up to 40 miles using electric power before switching to a gas engine for longer journeys promises to overcome the biggest objection to electric cars: the fear the battery will run out mid-journey.  Design also looks exciting. We only need to look into BMW i8 roadster concept and visualize where this might take the car industry in near future. The high profile Vauxhall Ampera and Toyota Plug-in hybrid will create a lot of buzz this year and assuming the cars offer reasonable performance they could quickly become the default option for green-minded motorists and cost-conscious fleet operators

7. More Fun with Sharing Stuff
Sharing will not only be a part of social media but of reality. Considerations of downscaling due to financial, lifestyle reasons or social pressures will increase in sharing the excesses of the past decade as we become more conscious of what we have that we don’t use that others can borrow. Rent Stuff, Loanables andRent Stuff Easy allow you to do exactly what they say to others online.  A while back Sharable listed eight ways to share your stuff. That's about few of those thousands of ways of giving your stuff (or money) away for charity. Couchsurfing connects travelers with people who offer their homes as an economical place to stay. Rising oil costs will put pressure on transportation and the demand for shared and public transportation. Transportation share programs such as Zipcar, Bixi or Bcycle will increase. In four years the number of registered users have gone up from less than one million to more than four million. By Carpooling shared trips have gone up from less than three million to almost eight million.
 
8. Responsible Profitability Attracts Attention
Responsibility has been strongly associated with greater profitability, equity and asset returns, and shareholder value creation. But that’s no longer good enough. Today, the bar is being raised; success is itself changing. Companies are beginning to be judged against a whole new set of criteria by customers, governments, communities, employees, and investors. They’re already saying, so you made a profit. Yawn. Did you actually have an impact? Did what you do have a positive, lasting consequence that was meaningful in human terms? Several studies have provided evidence suggesting that betterness yields greater equity returns, asset returns, and profitability. This not only makes sense for those who are mission oriented but also for risk management.  One recent study found Firms that score strongly in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) find that their cost of equity capital financing is consistently lower than firms with weaker CSR track records. Responsibility fuels outperformance because it is risk management: better insurance against adverse future events.

9. Emphasis on Corporate Culture
Successful startup companies such as Method, Zappos and New Belgium Brewery are all preachers of their unique culture developed around their workplace. They preach not to chase the profits but to chase the dream. Engaging employees as a collective of ideas and not compartmentalization is a new form of corporate structure. It is not just about the fun office parties and surroundings but understanding the larger mission of the company and empowering employees. Creative agencies and culture builders have seen the need to train and educate companies on these emerging traits that are attractive for the young new work force.

10. Natural Disasters Will Continue
Expect your homeowners insurance rate to rise in 2012 as weather related damages cost $70 billion in U.S. economic losses in 2011.  All the indicators on climate risk are pointing the wrong way.  The financial and human cost of extreme weather and climate-related disasters is on an unmistakably upward trend. Meanwhile, our energy infrastructure remains as risky as ever with the Fukushima disaster following the BP oil spill in highlighting how fragile our energy supplies really are. It is a safe bet that 2012 will again be marred by a large-scale environmental tragedy of one form or another. Meanwhile, sensible businesses and policymakers will start taking climate adaptation more seriously.

References for these trends are:
Ecopreneurist.com
Taombo.com
Greenbiz.com
Huffington Post
PR Newswire

Are there any missing? Let me know what others trends you forsee for 2012 and LOHAS.

I find color fascinating. The light frequencies we experience as color define our world in wondrous ways. Visualize an azure ocean, a verdant forest or crimson sunset, these are all examples of color environments, which positively influence our emotions and restore our health.

As an interior designer I know the power color has in defining a space and ‘creating a mood’. We have all experienced that instant chill when entering a ‘cold room’, which had nothing to do with its temperature. Conversely, we automatically feel more relaxed and engaged in a warm hued environment, think of a dining room painted a luscious burnt umber (dark red orange) - All around YUM (even without any food)! 

I am currently mesmerized by the blue winter hues and their accompanying reflections in snow, so dreamlike and otherworldly. This is the time of year we ‘go inside’ physically and figuratively. It is a wonderful time to do what the earth does, retreat deep within and cultivate inner renewal (hence, the perfect time for resolutions).

It is also during these short days many of us experience the ‘winter blues’. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is now recognized as a common disorder, affecting some people severely. There are ways, other than jetting off to a tropical island (which I also recommend), to make these cold days more bearable.

Light therapy, using ‘light boxes’ is a proven treatment for S.A.D. There is even a beautifully designed one in production.

 Many studies show that most of the US population lack Vitamin D, known as the sunlight vitamin. This nutrient is needed at proper levels for almost every tissue in the body, including the brain, heart, muscles and immune system. Supplements are an easy way to get the correct amount., and feel better.  

Light a fire. Few things trigger passionate, primordial feelings in human beings the way fire does. We symbolically honor the return of the light and new beginnings with candles and fireplaces in our homes. Easy and romantic!

Another great way to lighten up, both figuratively and literally, is to do more Yoga! I incorporate a few extra Sun Salutations in the winter, which creates body heat and expresses reverence for the life-giving solar energy. It is impossible to feel cold with an open (warm) heart, which is what yoga is all about. The gesture/salutation NAMASTE means ‘I bow to the light in you, which is also in me’, ~ a beautiful truth that we are all one when we live from the heart. 

It maybe hard to believe, with this being the coldest month of the year, but sunlight is growing stronger day by day. The more we connect and honor the natural rhythms of the seasons the more we increase the light within us.

 Let this winter be an extraordinary time to listen to your heart-fire, and tend your own sacred light. Remember, everything begins at home.  

Warm Home Blessings, ~ Cheryl - VITAL DESIGN 

"The 'less is more' trend continues to resonate with consumers," confirmed Steve French, managing partner at NMI. "Marketers can maintain current and attract new consumers by using less packaging and 'greener' packaging materials. Specifically, 'renewable' and 'plant-based' materials are rated most environmentally-friendly among consumers." Based on these results, he and his team suggested businesses to incorporate new environmental materials where applicable and promote any use of post-consumer recycled packaging. However, while consumers favor eco-friendly options, companies should be careful not to adopt environmentally friendly packaging at the expense of the product or its experience, according to NMI. NMI will be providing more details on thier annual consumer studies at the annual LOHAS Forum June 12-14th in Boulder. The premiere event focusing on the LOHAS market.

Our economy is slowly but surely heeding the signal that carbon is the new watchword. During the past few years, a steady stream of so-called “biobased” products have been making their way to retail shelves — compostable dinnerware made from corn, plant-based laundry detergents, and bamboo flooring among them. Coke and Pepsi are now competing to be first to market with a soft drink bottle derived entirely from sugarcane or other plant materials.

The emerging biobased economy even has its own label — USDA Certified Biobased, pictured here. It’s part of a federal BioPreferred program designed to help grow “green” jobs, stimulate the rural economy, promote energy independence and prompt a shift to renewable resources from petroleum, helping to manage the carbon cycle.

Launched in February 2011, the label needs a little introduction since the term “biobased”, although familiar sounding, represents more than meets the eye. We advised the USDA on strategic marketing considerations related to the launch of the USDA Certified Biobased label. Here’s a primer — and why you need to be thinking about forming your own biobased strategy during 2012.

What is “Biobased”?
Ask a consumer what “biobased” means and they might respond with somewhat erroneous definitions such as “natural” “biodegradable” or “renewable”.  Consult Webster and you’ll come up short. But the USDA (and federal law) defines it quite specifically as “commercial or industrial products, other than food or feed, that are composed in whole, or in significant part, of biological products or renewable agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and aquatic materials), or forestry materials” — hence the label depicting the soil, sea and the sun.

More important than this definition are the program’s intention — to expand the market for alternatives to petroleum-based products by promoting new uses for agricultural commodities such as bioplastics, biofibers and biobased chemicals. It thus excludes products such as office paper, cotton t-shirts and wooden furniture introduced before 1972. (See BioPreferred.gov for more details.)

Both finished consumer and commercial products as well as intermediate products (e.g., platform chemicals, fibers, etc.) are currently eligible to earn the USDA Certified Biobased label. Standards for “complex” products (consisting of many components, such as automobiles) are being developed. Among the many products that have already earned the label are: Procter & Gamble’s Gillette ProGuide Fusion razor package; Papermate mechanical pencils made from Mirel biodegradable plastic, the Greenware line of cold cups made from NatureWorks’ plant-based Ingeo polymer; and intermediates such as Lenzing’s TENCEL lyocell fiber made from eucalyptus and DuPont’s Sorona polymer. Seventh Generation is so bullish about the label that they have certified over 60 of their household cleaning and personal care products — virtually their entire product line-up.

Why Pursue a Biobased Strategy
The credibility and broadscale awareness of the brand USDA positions labeled products to stand out to consumers. In an age where consumers actively seek environmentally preferable biobased products with comparable price and performance, having the USDA certified biobased label increases shelf appeal. And marketing benefits don’t stop there. The federal government, by law and executive order, now gives purchasing preference to over sixty categories of biobased products. Biobased alternatives can also help businesses to manage volatile petroleum-driven costs and ensure sustainable supplies.

Measurement, Transparency and Product Performance
Not every product made with plants or other renewable resources can qualify for the USDA Certified Biobased label. That’s because the USDA has set strict minimums for biobased content in a wide range of “designated” products. For instance, a lip balm may only need 11% biobased content to qualify, while a disposable food container needs 72%. Any product category for which a target has not yet been established must achieve minimum biobased content levels of 25%. Although this 25% bar may at first glance seem low, keep in mind that minimums are based upon the highest levels of biobased content possible without compromising performance, and to encourage participation in a market now ramping up.

Biobased content is measured using a radiocarbon dating test standard, ASTM D6866. This test measures total carbon content and distinguishes the amount of “new” organic from fossil or petroleum-based carbon. This enables the “new” organic (biobased) carbon to be expressed as a percent of the total carbon. To foster transparency, encourage a level playing field and promote continuous improvement, the USDA Certified Biobased label requires disclosure of the percentage of biobased content for the product and/or package.

Caution Advised When Making Environmental Claims
Marketers may realize advantages if they can substantiate a product’s biobased content in support of environmental marketing claims such as “natural”, “biodegradable”, “renewable” or even “non-toxic”. However, none of these environmental attributes are automatic because of a product’s certified biobased content. Whether a claimed environmental attribute can be supported depends upon the amount of biobased content, as well as how the product was processed and transported, and other life cycle considerations.

Keep in mind too, that much consumer confusion surrounds the biodegradability and recyclability of bioplastics. For instance, some resins may not be biodegradable but can be recycled (like Coke’s bioplastic PET PlantBottle, recyclable with petroleum-based PET).  In addition, some traditional petroleum-based plastics are compostable in industrial (municipal) facilities, but not in backyard composters. And no plastic, biobased or otherwise, is designed to readily biodegrade in landfills.

The revised proposed FTC Green Guides, anticipated in 2012, will likely include specific guidance for biobased marketing and related claims. (We’ll discuss this in more depth in future posts.)

What’s Your Biobased Strategy?
According to Kate Lewis, Deputy Manager of the USDA BioPreferred program, since its introduction in February 2011, over 500 products have been certified to use the USDA Certified Biobased label and over 400 applications are in the pipeline.  She reports that her group is “looking forward to working with proactive brand owners to capitalize upon their certification and really drive this new bio-industrial revolution forward.” Now entering the market, these labelers will enjoy first-mover advantage as well as the opportunity to educate their consumers and other stakeholders about the benefit biobased content brings to their products.

Whether one leads or follows, it’s clear biobased products figure prominently in our future. We predict that all products will ultimately be judged by their carbon content and their potential to effect global climate change. So, credible biobased products are and will continue to be a critical component of a long-range strategy. Short-term motivations for developing a biobased strategy, while company and brand specific, can include minimizing cost, enhancing image, reputation and consumer perception, and avoiding potential regulatory risks. So key questions for every brand owner, product manager and CEO in 2012 are What’s your biobased strategy? Do you have a team in place to bring biobased innovation into your brand and product portfolio?

Jacquelyn Ottman and Mark Eisen wrote this article. They are colleagues at New York-based J. Ottman Consulting, Inc. They advised USDA BioPreferred on the launch of the USDA Certified Biobased label during 2011 and are now advising labelers on how to market their participation in the program. Ms. Ottman is the author of The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011). Mr. Eisen is the former environmental marketing director at The Home Depot.

Copyright © 2012 J. Ottman Consulting, Inc.

Everyone lauds eco-labels being put forth by such sustainability leaders as Timberland, HP and Levi’s for transparency and commitment, but are they really all that useful to consumers? Likely not.  These labels may be informative and project credibility, but I believe their usefulness can—and must—be taken up a notch.
 
An eco-label’s greatest value is not its ability to simply convey environmental stewardship; rather, an eco-label’s worth lies in how clearly it relates green qualities to what I call “consumer-useful” information. Labels with consumer-useful information put the practical, valuable aspects of a product’s environmental attributes front and center. Such labels allow consumers to quantify savings or other sources of added value over the course of a product’s entire lifecycle.
 
I believe almost every eco-label up until this point has fallen short of this goal —except for the new EPA fuel-economy label, that is. In terms of consumer relevance, the EPA Fuel Economy label sets the bar for a future of eco-labels that motivate rather than simply educate.
 
Yes, this EPA label can be applauded for its highly thorough information on greenhouse gas and smog ratings, but its real value lies in its ability to show consumers at the point of sale how much money they can save by buying a greener car. Thus, this label’s most consumer-useful information is the data on estimated annual fuel costs and the fuel savings projected over five years of the car’s ownership.
 
However ironic it may seem for a green label, this latter information will likely shift more car sales than the environmental data that’s provided due to its practicality (It’s OK to sneak green past consumers, folks.)
 
It’s the planets, babies and daisies thing all over again.
If our eco-labels only boast of “planet-saving” attributes, their allure will be short-lived and their impact will be limited. In a marketplace proliferated by vague, repetitive green claims, it is no longer enough to merely explain benefits to the planet.
 
Green marketing means enhancing product quality across the board. That translates into additional product benefits and helping consumers interact with their environment in new ways. Saving money, bettering one’s health, or lengthening a product’s lifespan are all consumer-useful attributes that eco-labels must depict explicitly. Only in doing so will our eco-labels engender stronger motivation to change consumption habits—the goal all along.
 
So, what can other green communicators learn from this?
Live and learn. In my book, The New Rules of Green Marketing, I commend the following companies’ eco-labels, but the EPA’s new fuel-economy label introduced in May of this year shows me these companies could do even better.
 
In the book I congratulate Timberland’s Green Index as a watershed mark in transparency, but I now believe it could include more consumer-useful information. Looking at the Green Index with a consumer useful lens make me want to see estimates on how long the boots will last (durability) and whether or not Timberland provides a repair/rebuild service akin to Allen Edmonds, the fancy men’s shoe maker. Consumers must be able to quantify benefits and relate green qualities to personal benefits.
 
HP’s EcoHighlights label sports a number of laudable environmental accolades their printers have earned, but at the end of the day, consumers might be more interested in how that eco-information translates into relevant benefits such as ease of double-sided printing, life expectancy and costs per printed page.
 
I initially fell in love with the “Levi’s Care Instructions for Our Planet” label and heartily congratulate Levi’s for including it on their jeans. However, I now believe that consumers would be more apt to follow the instructions (and the planet would be better served) if the primary benefit was making one’s jeans look good longer.
 
Think—and Work—Holistically
 Ensuring consumer-useful eco-data will take a de-siloing of sustainability and marketing responsibilities. Only when consumer, environmental and technical advocates roll up their sleeves at one table will relevant communications be developed.

This editorial was originally published on CSRwire's Talkback blog.

As an investment advisor, I (Jim) am often asked to sit on nonprofit boards. I have grown uncomfortable with the term not-for-profit to describe these organizations, which often embrace business principles in their operations. For example, DC Greenworks generates income from government contracts and fees for green roof installations.

In 2002 I (Alicia) had difficulty finding graduate courses that blended business and social values. At a 2009 Net Impact conference, I was overwhelmed by the presence of over 2,000 MBA students interested in the common good.  When a conference attendee told me his girlfriend had complained of being assigned my father’s book When Corporations Rule the World, a tome on pitfalls of global corporations, yet again as part of her MBA program, I knew the world was changing.

A new sector is being born that blurs the lines between for-profit and not-for-profit worlds.  Business used to be about jobs and profit. Civil society organizations were the avenues to give back beyond job creation and products.  

Today an increasing number of businesses are building healthy communities, living wages and sustainable products into their corporate DNA. And more civil society organizations are embracing business values.

The Private Sector Has a Broader Mission

476 companies with $2.27 billion in annual revenue are certified now as B corporations, a designation given to businesses that meet environmental, governance and social criteria by the not-for-profit B Lab.

Certification has been followed by a tidal wave of state legislation giving such businesses legal jurisdiction.  Maryland, Vermont, New Jersey, California, Hawaii, New York and Virginia are front runners. In 2012 Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and DC will likely follow.

This legislation is significant. It supersedes a body of law legally interpreted to mean corporations must consider shareholder value before taking into account other stakeholders—including communities, employees and the planet.

Jim, who played a major role in passing two of these laws, co-founded a company that will become a B corporation called Blue Ridge Produce. The company aggregates locally grown food for sale to grocery stores and institutional buyers in the Washington DC area.  With the common good built into its corporate DNA, Blue Ridge Produce aims to maintain a healthy farming community in the region and will:

• provide secure markets for local farmer
• reduce the carbon footprint by keeping food closer to home
• convert conventional growers to organic producers

 Business networking organizations like the Social Venture Network (SVN), B Lab, Social Enterprise Alliance, Investors’ Circle and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) are further helping the trend become a global movement.

While the Nonprofit Sector is Adopting Business Principles

Change is also happening within civil society organizations, motivated in part by technology entrepreneurs grounding their philanthropy in business values. The Skoll Foundation funded by eBay mogul Jeffrey Skoll provides grantees funding to develop engines of growth.  Called resource engines, some grantees are using funds to build business principles into their non-profit structures.

Created in 2009, the civil society organization Practice Greenhealth receives over half of its annual budget from membership dues paid by health providers like Kaiser Permanent in exchange for services aimed at greening their hospitals. Founder Gary Cohen built this resource engine after talking to entrepreneurs at the Skoll World Forum.

Language Is Powerful

Nothing captures an emerging trend like a name.

A name can in fact determine whether an idea or product popularizes or stays relegated to a small group of believers.  Just look at the dolphin fish. Only when restaurants began using its Hawaiian name Mahi-Mahi did this fish, which has no relation to the dolphin, begin to gain popularity in the United States.  After all, who wants to eat Flipper with an apricot glaze?  

Social enterprise, mission-driven business and for benefit corporations are a few of the descriptors for organizations blending business principles with common good aims.

We believe the movement can better communicate the power and purpose of this emerging field.

A New Operating System: The Common Good Enterprise

In our search for better lexicon, Jim came across a neglected phrase we would like to bring center stage: “the common good enterprise.” Here’s our definition:

A for-profit or not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to promote the well-being of people and/or the planet.  The organization generates at least a percentage of its revenue through the sale of goods and services (adapted from Kevin Lynch; Advertising on Higher Ground).

Why “common good enterprise”?

Its power is its clarity.

Common comes from the word “commons,” which describes a relationship to the community as a whole. Common good intuitively includes a regard for the planet, respect for individuals’ human rights, and support of communities.

The word “enterprise” is also self-explanatory—and speaks to revenue generated from the sale of goods and services.

 Common good enterprise is clearer than other terms such as its more popular sibling “social enterprise.”  Does “social enterprise” exclusively describe businesses? Or non-profits? Does “social” include the planet? Only leaps of the imagination can make the connection.

Conclusion

The labels we use for this new field matter.  Easy to grasp language provides a framework to help the public co-create this emerging sector.

Clear terms can translate into financial benefit. Why not pass legislation providing government procurement advantages to common good enterprises—whether companies or civil society organizations?  Could such language catalyze new capital pools?

It’s time to embrace “common good enterprise”—a term for organizations using business principles in support of the common good that will help mainstream the movement and make opportunities this field opens up a reality. 

Jim Epstein

Jim is the founder and Chairman of EFO Capital Management Inc., a family investment firm based in Washington D.C.  Jim is the developer of Belmont Bay, a mixed-use, pedestrian friendly community on the Occoquan River near Woodbridge, Virginia and is finalizing plans for a village development at the north end of Culpeper County, Virginia. Early in 2011 he founded Blue Ridge Produce, a local food aggregation operation that sources food from Virginia and the eastern seaboard for sale to grocery stores and wholesale and institution buyers in the Washington Metropolitan area.  Jim is a member of the Congress of New Urbanism and Social Venture Network.  His wide- ranging interests have led him to serve as Chairman of Dance Place and DC Greenworks, as a Board member at Trickles Foundation, and as an Emeritus member at Pathfinder International. 

Alicia Epstein Korten  Be Your Brand

"Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast" Peter Drucker

An award winning author, keynote speaker and culture consultant for ReNual, Alicia has led corporate culture transformation initiatives that have set offices on fire with new ideas, engaged employees, produced loyal, happy customers and increased profits.  Clients include Levis, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Mary’s Gone Crackers, Longfellow Sports Club, the Ford Foundation and the United Nations.  Her latest book Change Philanthropy is the winner of an Axiom Business Book Award gold medal.  She is a contributing author to Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over:  How Organizations Use Stories to Drive Results, an affiliate of the Social Ventures Network, a Fulbright Scholar and a graduate of Brown University. 3 facts about her: she motorcycled across Bali, lived on a garbage dump in the Philippines for a week and recently fulfilled her life long dream of swimming with dolphins.

Contact Alicia for a complimentary consultation: (703) 875 – 9139 or email her
Follow on Twitter: Search “Alicia Korten” or try @beyorbrand (may change as we are rebranding)
Renual YouTube Videos
Sign up for ReNual’s culture-zine at: www.renual.com

I recently attended a conference where the keynote speaker was successful entrepreneur Tony Hsieh, CEO of the successful online apparel shop Zappos.com. In 1999, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined us as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped us grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazines annual Best Companies to Work For list. In November 2009, Zappos.com, Inc. was acquired by Amazon.com in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing. I was very interested to know what makes Zappos so unique.

Tony shared with the audience that he views things differently than most. He perceives Zappos as not a shoe company but rather a service company that happens to sell shoes. One of the key things I heard Tony say was that they take funds that are typically set aside for advertising and apply it to customer service. In 2008 over $1 billion of sales was done with repeating customers and word of mouth. What was it that makes people come back to buy things at Zappos? Tony stated it was because they consider customer service as the number one priority. This is nothing new to sales and marketing.  I think we have all heard this before but what Zappos does differently is apply it to their corporate culture. Instead of viewing customer service as what the customer receives they view it as to what the customer experiences. Because Zappos is an online store their phone service is vital for success. They have their number in big numbers on every page of their website so people can easily find it and call. They recognize that the customer service must be good. But the people who call don’t often result in a sale and this is not the focus of the call center. Instead Zappos uses the call center as a branding opportunity. Yes sales do happen through the call center but that is not the call center’s primary focus. This is a very different way of looking at a call service center. They also provide overnight shipping anywhere in the U.S. They recognize this is expensive but it adds to the customer experience and out paces competitors. Zappos considers the extra costs as a marketing cost rather than an additional expense.

You would think the mantra in the company is all about customer service. It is a strong component of what Zappos is all about but the larger priority is creating a strong corporate culture and they work on maintaining, nurturing and protecting it. Zappos human resources department has an interview on culture for new employees to see if they are a good fit. Once they are accepted by Zappos the new hires go through a 5 week training course and once the training is complete they are given a choice to either join the company or be given $3,000 on the spot to leave. This process weeds out those who are focusing on the paycheck and not committed to the Zappos culture. Internal annual performance reviews value 50% based on culture and growth within the company. They want employees to contribute to the success of the Zappos culture with recommendations and initiatives.  All new hire training covers history of the Zappos culture and experience in their call center.  Customer service is not just a department but part of the whole company. All have to answer calls and understand the skills it takes which include executives, accountants, IT and other non-customer service related departments. When customers get the perfect fit of all of these it equals happiness. If customers get what they want and have a tremendous experience they feel happy. Therefore Zappos believes they are delivering happiness.

Zappos created 10 core values for their company. Tony stressed that it is important to not make these values meaningless. They must be committable core values. At Zappos they are used for hiring and firing people.

Here are Zappos 10 Core Values:
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

This results in every employee living the brand alignment of value and in doing this it equates to long term sustainable growth. Zappos is now educating other companies on culture with online tools and seminars. Recently a refrigerator company has gone through the training and have seen their sales increase.

Another ingredient for success is to focus on a higher purpose beyond profit. It is important to think bigger than money and focus on what motivates you? Create that vision and chase the vision not the dollar. Perhaps it is being a good parent or good citizen. Tony stated in his talk, “Don’t chase the paper, chase the dream.”

He also pointed out the difference between motivation and inspiration. Motivation can be used to a point and makes up a large part of how leaders relate to their teams. But there also needs to be elements of inspiration that tap into the deeper and stronger soul energies of a person.

With today’s technology and digital aspects of sales there is a difference with high touch compared to high tech. High tech provides broader and faster access to customers and is a good tool. But it is only a tool. High touch provides an emotional connection with people to ensure their experience with a company is top notch. Zappos focuses on the high touch because it believes it makes customers happier. An example of a company that does this well is Cirque de Soleil. They are not in the circus business they are into the experience and emotions business.

Zappos is currently creating a new community building imitative in Las Vegas where they are based. Rather than go the Nike and Google campus model Zappos will integrate their main headquarters into the existing local community and use existing buildings. They plan to build residential businesses and use existing areas to build other business opportunities around Zappos with the Zappos mission. They offer daily tours of their headquarters to anyone interested. They will pick you up from the airport and share their story with anyone willing to listen.

Tony said according to happiness research we are really bad at predicting what will make us happy. For example most think that winning the lottery will provide happiness. But studies have shown that many winners are not happier than they were before. In fact in some instances it has caused more problems than benefits.

Why is happiness so mysterious to attain? It is because our current society messaging values perceived control and progress which are to demonstrate accomplishment which we are told will make us happy. Instead we should focus on connectedness and meaning which give us a sense of community, well being and contentment.

There are three types of happiness:  1. The Rock Star lifestyle with riches and fame where everyone loves you and what you do. This is very rare.  2.  Flow which is when someone is in synch with their challenges. Athletes talk about this when they are in the zone. This is not as rare but more sporadic and based on the correct circumstances. 3. A clear understanding of meaning and higher purpose. This is something that can be called upon from an individual at all times and anywhere. This is much more long lasting and sustaining.  

But people always aim for rock star.  We should reverse our efforts – meaning, flow, rock star. Once we do this happiness will ultimately follow.

Ironically, the holiday season is usually the most stressful. Imagine you are trying to squeeze some toothpaste out of a tube but you have forgotten to take the top off. What happens? Deb actually did this in one of her most unaware moments and the toothpaste soon found another way out through the bottom of the tube and got all over her. It forces a hole in the side or wherever is the weakest point.

Now imagine that the tube of toothpaste is you, under pressure and beginning to experience psychological or emotional stress. But you don't take your lid off, as it were, by recognizing what is happening and making time to relax or deal with your inner conflicts.

So what happens to the mental or emotional stress building up inside? In her book, Your Body Speaks Your Mind, Deb shows how eventually it has to find a way out and if it can't come out through the top, as it were, by being expressed and resolved, it will come out somewhere else, whether through your digestion, nerves, immune system, behavior, or sleep patterns. Repressed or ignored stress can manifest as depression, addiction, or anxiety; projected outwards it can become hostility, aggression, prejudice or fear.

We have built into our physiology a fight-or-flight response that enables us to respond to danger if, for instance, we are on the front line of a battle or facing a large bear. The battle may be with your teenage son and bears tend to come in a variety shapes and sizes. Seemingly unimportant events can even cause a stress reaction, as the brain is unable to tell the difference between real and imagined threats: if you focus on your concern about what might happen it plays as much havoc with your hormones and chemical balance as it does in a real situation. 

Recent studies show--as if we didn’t know--that job dissatisfaction, moving house, divorce, and financial difficulties are at the top of the list of known stressors. But we all respond differently to circumstances: a divorce may be a big stressor for one but it may be a welcome relief to another. The difference lies in our response, for although we may have little or no control over the circumstances we are dealing with, we do have control over our reaction to them.

 In other words, the cause of stress is not as much the external circumstances, such as having too many demands and not enough time to fill them, as it is our perception of the circumstances as being overwhelming; and our perception of our ability to cope, as when you feel stretched beyond what you perceive yourself to be capable of.

What you believe will color your every thought, word and action. As cell biologist Bruce Lipton says in his book, The Biology of Belief, "Our responses to environmental stimuli are indeed controlled by perceptions, but not all of our learned perceptions are accurate. Not all snakes are dangerous! Yes, perception "controls" biology, but… these perceptions can be true or false. Therefore, we would be more accurate to refer to these controlling perceptions as beliefs. Beliefs control biology!"

 In other words, believing that it is your work, family or lifestyle that is causing you stress and that if you could only change these in some way then you would be fine, is seeing the situation from the wrong perspective. It is the belief that something out there is causing you stress that is causing the stress. And, although changing the circumstances certainly may help, invariably, no matter what you do, it is a change within your belief system and perception of yourself that will make the biggest difference.

Try It Yourself         

If you find yourself feeling stressed, take ten minutes to breathe more deeply. Most people who are tense breathe short, shallow breaths into the upper part of their chest. If you take slower breaths and deepen your breathing into your belly, the stress will dissolve. 

Then find an affirmation that works for you to shift perceptions and belief patterns and to reinforce your strengths, such as: “My mind is at ease and I am capable of doing everything,” or “With every breath I am more relaxed and flowing through my day with ease.”

******

Deb is the author of the award-winning YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND, Decoding the Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Messages That Underlie Illness.

 Also see our award-winning book: BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You and the World, forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, with contributors Jack Kabat-Zinn, Byrone Katie, Jane Fonda, Marianne Williamson, and many others.

 If there is one book you read about meditation Be The Change should be the one. Hear about some of the cool people who are doing it and why you should do it too. -- Sharon Gannon, founder Jivamukti Yoga.

 Our 3 meditation CD's: Metta—Loving kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi–Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra–Inner Conscious Relaxation, are available at: www.EdandDebShapiro.com

You hear a lot of talk about the “sin of the hidden trade-offs.” when talking green marketing strategy.  I’ve got news for you, folks. Greening—like life itself—is all about the trade-offs! No product is 100% “green.” So, considering that all products use energy and create waste, green is a relative term. One product is green-er for someone at some time in some place.

Green is Relative
For instance, cloth diapers might not cause any trees to be chopped down, but they do use a lot of hot water. Disposable diapers don’t use water but they do clog landfills and with a lot of hazardous waste at that.

So, what is the greener (est?) solution for any one consumer? The answer is usually: “It depends.” For example— and I’m likely oversimplifying here—cloth diapers might be better in NY where we have lots of water and no landfill. But they might be environmental disasters in the Southwest, where diverting water from other regions might be even more environmentally hazardous than digging a hole in the ground and burying them.

Identify the Trade-Offs
Regional, climatic and other differences cannot be underestimated. I’ve been told that if you live in NY like I do, it may actually be better for the environment to buy conventional strawberries grown in New Jersey rather than shipping in USDA Organic strawberries from California.

Consumers dropped the noisy Sun Chips bag like a hot potato; for the vast majority of them, composting was likely irrelevant or misunderstood. I think the Frito-Lay folks would have been better off if they had introduced their corn-based bags regionally in cities like Seattle and San Francisco that have access to municipal collection of compostables.

Consumers intuitively understand these trade-offs. Who said “life is one big trade-off?”. So, let’s empower them with the information they need to choose among the various products, materials, technologies, and designs that serve their needs better, and greener.

LOHAS has opened its doors for registration, speaker submissions, scholarship applicants, exhibitor reservations and sponsorship for 2012. This LOHAS Forum will be quite different from other LOHAS events of the past.

Early Bird 2 for 1 Special Rate
Registration is now open and we are offering a kick-ass special for the first 25 who register. The first 25 registrants receive a 2 for 1 price on the full priced attendee or nonprofit choices. This does not apply to single day registration. This is going to be a very different LOHAS Forum from years past you won’t want to miss! Read on for details on some of the changes. Register here.

New Location(s)
We have consistently observed that over half of the business attendees who participate in the LOHAS event are from out of town and many are Boulder newbies. Being what Boulder is it has an international LOHAS appeal as being the cradle of where LOHAS was originated. The progressive city has been recognized for many features including its healthy lifestyle, as being a natural and organic food hub, home of Colorado University and as an entrepreneurial mecca. In the past attendees have had to make an effort to go out and experience Boulder in between conference events. Not this year! We have decided to bring Boulder into the LOHAS experience by holding our events at various historic locations that are all in the down town area and within easy walking distance from each other.

Our morning keynote sessions will be held at the Boulder Theater. Opened in 1906 it is classic in design, with prime sound and an impressive tradition of the best in entertainment. Lunches will be served at nearby, locally owned restaurants along Pearl Street mall that serve organic meals and/or are sustainably focused. 

Our exhibit hall and infamous gift room area will be located at the Rembrant Yard which is the original location of the New Hope Media offices. New Hope runs the massive Natural Food and Products Expos. They have since moved to another location nearby and the Rembrant is now a beautiful art gallery used for wedding receptions and meetings.

Two doors down from the Rembrant Yard is the Shambala Center that is a part of an international community of urban meditation and rural retreat centers founded by the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. The temple on the top floor is amazing. We will hold morning meditations here for those interested in starting off their LOHAS Forum days in a calm collected way.  We will also hold afternoon breakout sessions here that focus on personal development and spirituality as they relate to business.

The Boulderado Hotel is our hotel that we will direct people to reserve rooms and will be where the opening reception is held. The hotel has become a National Register Landmark and is a member of the National Trust's Historic Hotels of America.  It has a Victorian elegance that will embrace you from the moment you step foot into the lobby. Check out the stained glass ceiling and cantilevered cherry wood staircase. We will also have our speaker/sponsor lunch here at Q’s and afternoon breakout sessions. For St. Julien diehards we also have a room block reserved for you but it will be off the beaten path a bit. Room reservation details for these hotels and others nearby can be found on our travel/hotel page.

All of these locations are within a block of each other and gives attendees a chance to see some different aspects of Boulder than we have provided in the past. Plus you get some Colorado fresh air intake between sessions!

Taking Home Some Meat (Vegans Too)
Not only will LOHAS have a change in location but our program will have some exciting new aspects. We will have several 2 hour workshops that allow participants to dive deep into subject matter. These workshops are very hands on and will provide tangible take away with regards to LOHAS. Check our program page for regular updates.

We are also excited to have some great keynote speakers lined up for the LOHAS Forum. These include Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and book author Chip Conley. Chip has written a new book on Emotional Equations and has applied mathematical relations to emotions (ex. Joy = Love – Fear). Chip spoke at LOHAS 3 years ago on his book Peak; How to get your Mojo From Maslow and was voted by attendees as the most favorite speaker. We also have Barbra Marx Hubbard who has been a pioneer in conscious evolution. Buckminster Fuller has called Barbara Marx Hubbard “the best informed human now alive regarding futurism and the foresights it has produced.” She will be talking about the post 2012 society.  John Francis, otherwise known as the planet walker, will share his story on how he walked across the U.S and South America during a 17 year vow of silence. I have no idea how he could do this as my wife says I can’t seem to shut up for 5 minutes.

For corporate attendees who are reading this – don’t worry. LOHAS is not all touchy-feely (although you may get asked for a hug from someone). We also will focus on how to engage stronger corporate responsibility and communications with the LOHAS market. Toyota, one of our sponsors, will be discussing the latest technologies in the auto industry. Several strategic green marketing agencies will be presenting their latest data on consumer studies.  Google’s Gopi Kallalyi will be speaking on improving performances of teams to maximize revenues. I was introduced to him through the Jolly Good Fellow of Google who I met earlier this year.  Jane Iredale, founder of Iredale Cosmetics will share what it is like to be a woman CEO and how she deals with tough business decisions. Presidio Graduate School will be discussing the future of our upper education’s relevancy.

Call for Presenters
Our program will be developing and evolving over the next few months. For those interested in submitting a speaker for a breakout session or workshop you may do so on our website.

Sponsorship Opportunities
We have a variety of sponsor options including gift room placement, exhibiting and larger sponsor presence. For details download our sponsor materials or contact ted.ning@lohas.com.

Student Scholarships
This special program is for students who are studying classes with emphasis on LOHAS and who have plans to enter a LOHAS industry. If accepted the total registration fee will covered. Apply here. We will select winners in early May.

As you can see we have a lot going on and a lot to be excited about. To keep up on LOHAS Forum 2012 progress sign up for our weekly newsletter or come back to our blog to check things out. We are very excited about this year and hope to see you there!

Have you ever thought of applying logics of mathematics to the irrationalities of emotion? That is what Chip Conley has done in his latest book Emotional Equations. Chip is fonder of Joie de Vive boutique hotels which is the After experiencing some intense setbacks in his life including collapsing at during a presentation and flat lining for 30 seconds, Chip decided to take a step back and re-evaluate the direction of his life. He realized that he was a workaholic, denying his true self. He took his own research tour that included Bhutan to examine their national happiness index and presented his findings to his hotel staff.  Using brilliantly simple math that illuminates universal emotional truths, Emotional Equations crystallizes some of life’s toughest challenges into manageable facets that readers can see clearly—and bits they can control. Math is all about relations but no one takes the mathematical format and applies it to emotions. Making mathematics out of emotions may seem a counterintuitive idea, but it’s an inspiring and incredibly effective one in Chip Conley’s hands. Conley, dynamic author of the bestselling Peak, began using what he came to call “Emotional Equations” (like Joy = Love – Fear) to help him focus on the variables in life that he could deal with, rather than ruminating on the unchangeable constants he couldn’t, like the bad economy, death, and taxes. With his wit and personal story Conely explains various emotional equations and how they work and how to apply them to everyday life. The book is very inspiring and is a great way to reexamine some of the reasons why we may feel stuck and how we can reconnect with the inspired self if we adjust our emotional equations accurately. Chip will be presenting his thoughts on Emotional Equations at the upcoming 2012 LOHAS Forum in June.

Here is a clip of when he presented 3 years ago at LOHAS.

Ed is a passionate and expert skier. When you sit for meditation and your mind drifts you can just bring it back to your practice and continue. But if you are skiing down a steep mountain and you lose concentration you could hit a tree. Ed teaches this, calling it inner skiing, where our perception is on the edge and we're in tune both within and without. It is a dynamic and relaxing freedom – meditation in action.
To anyone first coming to meditation they can be met with a plethora of advice and techniques that is enough to baffle and confuse. Where to go? What to do? Which is best? How to start? How to chose between mindfulness, TM, mantra recitation, kundalini, vipassana, insight, witness, breath awareness, shamata, visualization, MBSR, metta, and more?
Part of the difficulty is that the word meditation means both the experience and the technique. This is important because the experience is spontaneous, natural, arising from within, while the technique is simply the learnt method that helps you have the experience. And it makes little difference which technique you use. When you drive to Rome you need a car but once you get there you don't. The techniques are designed to help you calm the mind, to bring your attention inward, focused in just this present moment, so that the experience of meditation arises naturally.
We clarify this difference in our book, Be The Change, How Meditation Can Transform You and The World, as it is so easy to get caught up in the technique – mine is better than yours – and forget that it is only a way to something, it is not the something itself. We talked with over 100 meditation teachers and practitioners who all stressed that the experience is far more important than the technique used because what you are really doing is opening yourself to an inner stillness that grows each time you come to sit quietly with yourself. In other words, just shut up, sit still, and see what happens!
The experience of meditation is one of being completely and utterly present. That may sound so simple but it is rare – notice how your normal state of mind is distracted by issues from the past or dealing with issues in the future – anywhere but just right here! When we are fully present all those demanding thoughts begin to drop away, are seen as being far less important, even the anger, resentment, hurt and other negative emotions lose their power. Being fully present we experience the totality of our being and the richness found in stillness and silence.
So, when looking for a meditation technique, it may be worth trying them all. Each one will offer a slightly different take on the same thing, and we each need to find that one that suits us best. As one of Deb's teachers said, there are as many forms of meditation as there are people who practice it.
Just watching the flow of the breath as it enters and leaves very naturally internalizes our attention and is more than enough for many people (mindfulness, breath awareness, shamata --see below). Others have the same affinity to repeating a mantra or sound as the repetition induces greater peace (TM, mantra meditation). We can also purposefully foster positive states of being, such as cultivating greater peace, kindness, and forgiveness, through the repetition of simple phrases or visualization.
However, meditation can appear very boring, especially to beginners. Just sitting and watching our mind can seem so absurd, especially when we are invariably confronted with an endlessly chattering mind: the dramas, fears and neurosis seem to have a picnic, pushing anything meaningful out of the way. It's not that this chatter is new, just that we are now more aware of it, like an endless parade of senseless scenarios. When we were teaching meditation in England Ed was explaining how the mind can create havoc, and how some of the most inane thoughts can arise like: “I want to kill my mother!” The woman he was talking with blurted out, “How did you know?”
Practice
All you have to do is sit comfortably and watch your breathing. Just breathe naturally, in and out, no forced, short or long breathing. Simply watch each movement of breath. If this is hard, then you can also silently repeat, "breathing in, breathing out" with each breath.
Thoughts will come and go. You will probably find yourself getting distracted. The mind is very good at finding reasons not to be still, like a monkey bitten by a scorpion leaping from branch to branch it leaps from or drama to drama. When it does, just come back to watching your breath. The monkey will eventually get quiet and be still.
Make friends with meditation by not pushing yourself. Start with sitting for just 10 minutes a day until you naturally find yourself wanting and doing longer. That way you won't resent it. Sit upright – a bent or slouchy back will bring your energy down.
And as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Which means that meditation is accumulative – you may not experience anything the first time you do it, but keep at it and you will. And though it may appear as if nothing is happening, in the midst of it all you may have a breakthrough, a moment of insight, and that one moment can change your life.
******
See our award-winning book: BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You and the World, forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, with contributors Jack Kornfield, Jane Fonda, Father Thomas Keating, Marianne Williamson, Ram Dass, and many others.

Our 3 meditation CD's: Metta—Loving kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi–Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra–Inner Conscious Relaxation, are available at: www.EdandDebShapiro.com

 The recent snowstorm caught me by surprise. I was just gearing up for Halloween festivities (also my Birthday) and was unprepared for the power outage, bitter cold and dangerous ice everywhere - it certainly was not like any hallows eve I remember! All I wanted to do was to stay home (which is not like me), and keep warm. I must be getting OLD. Hey, it happens to all of us, birthdays are the time to remember what matters most…and this year what mattered was to be HOME, warm, with my man, snuggled in bed. I put thick flannel sheets on our bed, switched to a heavier down comforter, and put a soft blue grey blanket at the foot of the bed to pull up if we needed even more warmth. All of my bedding is organic, fair trade and luxurious - which is no longer hard to find. I love the look and feel of well-made bed. The amount of time most women take doing their nails/hair/ makeup/wardrobe is the time I spend on ‘home stuff’, but that’s my thing. I believe we escape the assaults of life by creating sanctuary in our homes, and become more balanced and centered from the outside, in. From this nurtured, fortified healthy place we can then take on the injustices of life, which are many. 

 I contemplate Naomi Klein’s brilliant Occupy-Wall-Street speech from the comfort of my cozy bed (via laptop- no to TV in the Bedroom). Her words “Being horizontal and deeply democratic is wonderful” make me feel less guilty about not being more involved in this important movement. But I am in spirit! Her words of love and non-violence resonate with all that I believe. From my sumptuous loft filled environs I doze off with even loftier ideals of making the world a better place. 

The next morning Andy walks sleepily into our sunny kitchen scratching his rumpled hair, smiles and says ‘You give good bed’. I smile back and think, we all have our battles to wage, small and large, and we all need to do our part - knowing, everything begins at HOME (with a good night’s sleep)..  

 “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” ~Gandh

Warm Home Blessings, ~ Cheryl Terrace