Madeleine Henry: Breath In, Cash Out
/Madeleine Henry worked at Goldman Sachs and in investment management in New York City. She graduated from Yale in 2014 where she wrote comedy for The Yale Record, America’s oldest college humor magazine. Now working on her second novel, she shares more information about her life, writing, and yoga practice on @MadeleineHenryYoga. Breathe In, Cash Out is her debut.
Here are some of the big topics we talked about…
Self-taught yogini and fiction author compares the worlds of finance and yoga - productivity through speeding up or slowing down and being peaceful
Yoga for Madeleine is a practice of bringing her energy into her body when she becomes aware that it’s too high and goal-oriented. Literally a transition from head to body
Physical practice as a way to connect to her inner voice of calmness
Attaining goals by releasing desire and relaxing to receive what you want
She talks about her visceral, nonverbal, intuitive, by-feel learning approach
It took a certain amount of solitude for her know that she should leave Wall Street
She approaches novel writing as a daily practice
Non-results before you get anywhere! Love the process for a long term transformation
In Madeleine’s Voice
“Self-care has a bad rap as being indulgent, selfish, or lazy, and I think that getting rid of those labels is freeing. Feel better about going after yoga or whatever makes you feel like your best so you can give your best self to people.”
“Being fascinated with yoga was a mix of being intrigued with peace and calm, and wanting to do advanced poses, so I explored it further.”
“I am constantly coming back to the mat and my physical practice to help myself.”
“In yoga we try to live more from the heart chakra, which is in tune with intuition, listening to your inner voice, and connecting to your body.”
“There’s this idea that the closer you get to who you’re meant to be, the more relaxed you become. I am most myself when I am at peace.”
“If you’re too embedded in a pack or tribe, your inner voice is the group’s inner voice and you’re just going to be with them. When I was in investing, I was in a smaller office and there was a fair amount of solitude. A certain amount of alone time is important in hearing your inner voice.”
“I feel like the writing is an input that heats up my existence and the yoga is an input that would cool it down. It’s about keeping the balance.”
“There’s a certain amount of writing without kinetic energy or life in it that I have to get through before these people and situations start to feel real to me.”