Most of what, as owner of YogaTax, I write about is the technical aspect of accounts and tax, as, after all that’s my job, and we are a firm of accountants.
However as a Yoga Teacher there is another side for me, the empathy with those who struggle with tax. That’s part of the reason I started the YogaTax brand, to be able to support those in the yoga world – and practitioners of other mind body therapies – with tax.
At one level that support is transactional – filing a return, advising in vat, answering a question.
However at another level there is a energetic support – as myself and my staff team work in this world and understand it, I want to lean in and offer support to those who struggle.
Did you know phobia of brown envelopes is a thing? I didn’t until about 15 years ago when a client of mine burst in to tears explaining why they, a seemingly well educated and literate person, struggled so much with financial and tax paperwork, even down to ignoring plaintive emails from me, “I can’t help you if you won’t help me, please send me your tax papers so I can get this sorted” when the HMRC Bailiffs were at the door – I learned then that there was a deeper more visceral, and in this case unhealthy, relationship that some people have with tax.
Another time a big strong client of mine, a bear of a man, broke down in my office. Testicular cancer, his wife leaving him, and then a tax enquiry – it was the last straw.
Over this last weekend I’ve been on a yoga training around wisdom and inner practices, and the Buddhist practice of Tonglen – giving and receiving – was introduced. Described (Wikipedia) as “one visualizes taking in the suffering of oneself and of others on the in-breath, and on the out-breath giving recognition, compassion, and succor to all sentient beings”. This resonated with me on a number of levels – most of which I won’t go into here – but one of them was the offering which I can bring, through YogaTax, to those for whom tax, finances and paperwork is a struggle.
So this is my simple promise to those reading this, we are here to be compassionate and empathetic. Yes, we have a job to do, and yes we try and do this as briskly and efficiently as we can, and yes for some of that we charge a fee, but there is a human side to YogaTax, people who care and seek to cultivate compassion and empathy. If communication from us, from HMRC, the tax process in general, is becoming a source of worry and dis-ease for you, then please feel free to say and ask for help. Genuinely, we are here for that.
Namaste.
