Do Less – Earn More

Reverend Jahne Hope-Williams is the director of the Australasian Yoga Institute and Yoga First, which she founded in 1976. Yesterday morning, Rev Hope-Williams presented the keynote address at the Renal Society of Australasia National Conference in Perth, Western Australia.

The speech, entitled “Do less – earn more”, centred on the benefits that relaxation, action and focus can have for achieving positive outcomes.The address began with a lively fable, purportedly a favourite of Jung’s, that exposed a central tenet of Rev. Hope-Williams address: life is as easy as we make it. Rev. Hope-Williams said, “Life does not submit to our efforts, rather we tend to bend ourselves out of shape to comply with everyone’s expectations (including our own) . . . we can release ourselves from that effort.”With a few well-placed examples of cultural ideologies that have persisted over centuries, Rev. Hope-Williams addresses another point: that being busy is not the same as being successful, and stressing yourself does more harm than good. She draws upon her personal experience with yoga to make parallels between physical exercise and striving for a goal: “In fact in yoga as in life, when you are anxious to get into a full extension and you coerce your body, push and strain into position, your body often resists with painful and predictable results. Push too hard and you may not feel the result of the strain going into a pose, but you will certainly feel it, and do yourself a mischief coming out.”In closing, Rev. Hope-Williams reminds her audience that action needs to be taken to change lives. Success can be achieved if they simplify their lives by replacing unproductive activities with activities that they want to do and that will help them reach the goals they have set for themselves.The RSA conference continues until the 18th of August. The program includes topics ranging from renal care in regional areas, dialysis, water standardisation, new research and technology, psychology in renal care, catheters, and recent cases.