December 12, 2007
In the West, Hatha Yoga (primarily the body postures and breathing) tends to dominate our idea of yoga. But many other methods and practices (sadhanas) can bring us to a state of yoga. Simple daily tasks like gardening and cooking can become sadhana if performed with awareness and without attachment to outcome. Art is well suited to sadhana.

Painting, writing, singing, and dancing can become sacred offerings. A useful way to turn creative endeavors into sadhana is to include them in your existing yoga practice. For example, after you finish asana, move into another form of practice. You may find that creative blocks vanish and that your art blossoms. Make sure that you frame the beginning and end of your practice with intentional focus using sound, silence or the mudras.

I have this theory that business can be a “Sadhana.” If everyone practiced business with spiritual intention, perhaps our world will be more balanced. This is my hypothesis.

Now it’s time to find data that backs up my hypothesis. My new angel, Hazel Henderson, has written a slew of books that advocate a more holistic view of business, where the bottom line is divided into people, planet and profit (rather than just profit). I’ve skimmed through a few - “Growing the Green Economy” and “The Politics of the Solar Age,” but it’s “The Power of Yin,” a transcription of a dialogue among Hazel, Barbara Marx Hubbard and Jean Houston, that supports my theory most directly, especially after my experience working in a male-dominated company that ignored people and planet in its mission to gain profit. I am sure there are men out there that care about the planet. Al Gore and the mattress guy are two of them. But I think they are in the minority. Things that are “holistic” tend to be female-oriented.

Seed investing as a team sport; Commercializing space?
Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, says Florida is hot

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in The Angel Journal. Kemila Velan reported live from the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds Conference in Rochester on Sept. 22, 2006. If you couldn’t make it to the Hyatt during these three riveting days of investing seminars and workshops, here are the highlights.

Day 1: Seed Investing As a Team Sport

I sit at a table with Lucy Holifield of the Atlanta Urban League, Edward Rolle of the Bahamas Entrepreneurial Venture Fund and Laura Mann of Empire State Development Corporation in New York. All of them are looking for ways to raise funds for their pet projects.
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Editor’s Note: This column was originally published on TheAngelJournal.com in September 2006.

I am an entrepreneur. I have a proprietary idea that is going to revolutionize the [FILL IN THE BLANK] market. I have fire in my belly and my home’s equity in my mouth. I have a team of experts working by my side 20 hours a day, and a business plan that can flex with market changes and unforeseen obstacles.
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One generation invests in the next to fulfill idealistic business models
The private sector continues to be a more reliable funding source than government grants
By Kemila Velan

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in The Angel Journal on June 30, 2006. We thought we’d highlight it today in order to show how prophetic it was…and ominous.

Baby Boomers are finding themselves with excess assets and deeper pockets than entire governments, while young entrepreneurs figure out how to write business plans that combine capitalism with social causes.
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Application Deadline: July 31

Since 1992, Investors’ Circle has grown from a small community of investors interested in exciting, early-stage social enterprises to a thriving network that has invested over $130 million in over 200 companies. Investors’ Circle members have been behind Zip Car, Guayaki, Niman Ranch, United Villages, TerraCycle, Evergreen Solar, Verdant Power, among others… and you could be the next! Click here…

For the third year, NWBC will be cooperating with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency on a series of workshops for minority and women-owned small businesses interested in participating in the global marketplace. The Expanding Horizons workshops will be held September 24, 2009 in Boston, MA and October 22, 2009 in St. Louis, MO.

The workshops will provide participants with an understanding of the programs and resources provided by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which is the U.S. government agency responsible for supporting private sector investment in developing countries. Speakers will include senior government officials from OPIC and other agencies, international bankers, and representatives from businesses investing overseas who will share their insights and experiences. Networking opportunities will be available and participants will be able to arrange one-on-one meetings with OPIC officials. For more information, visit www.trademeetings.com.

Judy Wicks, Mark Albion and Pierre Ferrari tackle the big issues of scaling a mission-driven business at the Investor’s Circle Spring 2009 Conference in San Francisco.

Investors can avoid doublespeak and rhetoric by shutting up and taking a look at President Obama’s crowdsourcing mass communication strategy via ethnic media.
by The Devil’s Advocate

SAN FRANCISCO - During a panel called “The Prospects for Social Enterprise” at the Spring Investor’s Circle Conference, David Crane, special advisor to Gov. Schwarzenegger for Jobs & Economic Growth, introduced himself to an audience of investors and entrepreneurs by talking about his history with the alternative energy movement.

“I graduated from college in 1975 during the oil crisis. And nothing has changed.”

Huh? What? Nothing? Hmm. I was born in 1975.  I grew up in Long Island and was taught to turn off the water while soaping, only flush when necessary, and to turn off the lights when I left a room. And Mr. Crane, you say that we’re less sustainable now than we were in 1975. I am at the point that this whole socially responsible investing/green movement is just more marketing spin and rhetoric to help some people continue making money while others continue to breathe bad air in places like Hunter’s Point.

And I don’t think I’m the only one. How are you going to deal with me? How can you change me?
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by Kemila Velan 2.0

SAN FRANCISCO - Are all ventures social ventures? “Yes,” said Jerry Engel,  professor at the University of California at Berkeley and general  partner at Monitor Venture Partners, who moderated a panel at the Spring Investor’s Circle Conference on April 21. He cited the definition  of socially responsible investing as, “investing in a manner that takes into account the impact of investments on wider society and the natural environment.”
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Alternative Energy Innovations Spring, April 21-22 at the Sofitel in Redwood City, CA, brings together leading VCs, corporate executives and start-up CEOs for in-depth insight and discussion into the key technologies and trends shaping the alternative energy market, deal flow and two days of networking opportunities. Read more…

“Us” is the blue-collar, democratic working average low and middle class American.

“Them” is the wealthy 1%.

They can’t help that they know nothing about common men. They went to the best schools. They have the best real estate. They eat the best food. They are wealthy, and that makes them “the enemy” in the working person’s mind, when really, the difference between them and us is not the amount of Benjamins stuffed in our respective wallets.

It’s our attitude toward life.

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