Shanti Yoga, Integrated Financial Management to Open in Berkley

Shanti Yoga and Integrated Financial Management will open this weekend in Berkley with a common goal: to bring their clients peace of mind.

A family-friendly grand opening ceremony Saturday at 2769 Coolidge Highway will welcome the community to Shanti Yoga, which shares space with Integrated Financial Management, a consulting firm that applies yogic principles to money matters.

The unique business model is the brainchild of owner Rebecca Bayes of Sterling Heights, a financial consultant for the past 13 years whose own yoga practice inspired her to take a more holistic approach to personal finances.

"Once you become a regular yoga practitioner, things shift in your life in a really positive way," she said.

For Bayes, that meant leaving a job with Comerica in March 2010 to work as an independent broker dealer in Grosse Pointe. That gave her the freedom to start doing workshops that applied the principles of yoga to finances.

"It's yin and yang," she said. "The environment of financial services was very yang and yoga is my way of balancing that out."

As a consultant with Integrated Financial Management, Bayes will teach those principles to individuals and couples, as well as offer socially responsible investing advice. As a registered yoga teacher, she also will teach classes at Shanti Yoga, which will offer a variety of styles and classes for beginners, families and those looking for more of a physical challenge. Each Saturday, the studio – whose name means peace in Sanskrit – will hold a community donation class "with the intention of promoting harmony in the community through yoga."

The studio also will offer gong healing, in which practitioners rest on the floor and allow the instrument's vibrations to help them achieve a meditative state.

Carol Damoth, a licensed psychologist and certified natural health professional with Sacred Wave Gong Immersions in Royal Oak, will conduct some of the gong healing at Shanti Yoga as well as provide advice during Integrated Financial Management workshops (see attached PDF).

"We need to ask ourselves: 'How do we feel about money and what do we want in terms of our financial goals?' " Damoth said.

Many people have never really thought about the answer to that question and simply fall into patterns they learned from their families, she said.

"We have to acknowledge that we all come with a back story," Damoth said, warning that not doing so can be detrimental in the current financial climate.

For example, she said, when many people's parents grew up, buying a house was a sound investment. That belief was passed on to their children, but it doesn't necessarily hold true these days.

Our financial back stories can impact our relationships, too, Damoth said. So, she advises couples they cannot assume they share the same ingrained values about money.

"We can't say, 'Obviously it's important to put x amount into savings each month,' " Damoth said. "Well, no, it's not."

Damoth said she will be there Saturday for the grand opening celebration.

"I'm very excited for Rebecca's new space."

Shanti Yoga grand opening

• When: 2-6 p.m. Saturday
  
• Where: 2769 Coolidge Highway, Berkley
• Why go: The family-friendly event will feature a bounce house, face painting, vegan and vegetarian food in the air-conditioned studio, a raffle to win cranial sacral therapy, a Reiki session and/or a yoga class package. A family yoga demonstration will be held at 5 p.m.; space is limited, so email info@hantiyogami.com to sign up.
• Cost: Free
• What else: Call 586-722-7243, visit www.shantiyogami.com or follow the studio on Facebook for more information.