Creating a business from scratch is hard enough as it is, but doing so while simultaneously teaching yourself a complex skill like woodworking? That kind of challenge would send anyone in search of a serious serenity fix. For furniture designer Chris Herbert, who crafts sleek side tables, minimalist kitchen islands, and sturdy, wood and steel meditation altars for his shop Herb’s Furniture Company, it was yoga to the rescue. “Yoga was a big part of what helped me get through the beginning stages of learning how to woodwork and launch a business,” he says. “When I first started my company, I was practicing about five times a week. I saw a tremendous improvement in my stress levels and how I was able to juggle things.” Aside from having a powerful impact on his outlook, Chris’s yoga practice also provided a steady stream of early furniture requests for meditation altars, which have remained a mainstay of his flat-packed furniture business to this day.
