ABOUT
our founder
Martin Hausner has spent his entire career serving others. With care and compassion he guides and empowers people to experience a higher, wiser, more peaceful expression of self that not only uplifts their consciousness, but uplifts everyone they contact.
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As a teacher writer and coach Martin nurtures people with humour, enthusiasm and abundance of practical wisdom earned from almost a half of century of the study and practice of the sacred teachings of both the East and West. He transforms individuals and organization utilizing principles that are simple yet incredibly powerful.
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Martin has impacted the lives of tens of thousands people in more than 30 countries around the world. For almost 50 years he has helped people solve personal and spiritual challenges by drawing from his study and practice of ancient spiritual wisdom and modern psychology.
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With uncanny ability to help us see what’s holding us down, break out of old habits and be more in control of our lives Martin shows us how to think better, claim our inner happiness, and understand meaning and purpose on the deepest levels. He makes the project of self-realization simply, easy and blissful.
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Having has spoken at such companies such as Google, Cisco, Intel and Volvo, and in numerous non-profit and spiritual organizations and to audiences worldwide, Martin’s wisdom and insight into human nature has captured the attention and respect of CEOs, best-selling authors, and entrepreneurs.
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These clients all acknowledge Martin’s help has lead them to new found levels of self awareness and happiness. Many say that just by being in presence they feel more peaceful, calm and inspired.
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Martin is acknowledged as a unique and distinctive authority in the field of spiritual self development and is among a select group of corporate trainers who are showing how to use forgiveness as one of the most fundamental and effective methods for increasing cooperation and synergy within organizations. His forgiveness training is unique in that it incorporates modalities from the worlds of spirituality, yoga, psychology, philosophy, self-help, and various forgiveness models. Having studied the nature of resentment and forgiveness in depth, and having applied the same forgiveness processes he teaches in his own life, he is eminently qualified to not only help others overcome their own struggles with resentment, but to use forgiveness to help people transform other areas of their lives and make a real difference in their consciousness.
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At the forefront of a quickly growing movement of teachers that are helping people apply spirituality in every aspect of their lives and work, Martin find that results are more effective than traditional skill based training because when we uplift consciousness, everything improves. When people only receive tools or methods to achieve results, they will be externally equipped for a task but necessarily internally. However, when consciousness is raised, real shifts take place on the most fundamental levels. And this shows up in ways skills training alone doesn't.
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Sanga is a principle Martin naturally employs in his work of helping people and has long been used by the yogis. Sanga means association, and when you spend time with those in higher consciousness you begin to reflect their ways of being. In other words, in the world of personal transformation, the consciousness and heart of the teacher has more influence on the student than the knowledge he shares.
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Martin practices meditation daily for two hours and has been doing this for the last 47 years without missing a day. He also engages in various other daily spiritual practices that give him an energy, peace and brilliance that people immediately pick up on – and that changes them. People often remark that the feel so peaceful and different when they are around him. It is on this principle of living perfectly what you teach that Martin’s has built the success of his company Sattva.
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He also applies the principle of Sanga to organizational training. As he uplifts consciousness in a group, the group collective consciousness raises. As people reflect the higher nature of those around them, everyone benefits and grows. Not only that, Sanga is so powerful that aspects of a person’s conditioned nature that may have been disturbing to others and/or difficult for them to overcome, are normally healed by the power of the group’s new enlightened ways of being.
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Aside from the power of his presence, Martin has a special gift to break down complex concepts into simple principles and practices that make it easy for people to understand and apply his teachings. His background, style of presentation, and depth of knowledge about human nature makes his presentations thought provoking, stimulating and highly effective - and different.
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As a spiritual seeker of the 60’s, he had the opportunity to learn from many great teachers and put their teachings to the test by practicing various forms of meditation, austerities and spiritual service, living as a monk for a decade. The experience he gained living in the asrama really came to life when he applied the same wisdom and principles in the world when he married and raised a family.
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The challenge to live from your highest self rather than from conditioned instincts was something Martin grappled with for years after leaving the monastic setting in which he lived well protected from the world. It was in learning how to connect head and heart, living the wisdom he cultivated as a monk in his daily life that he formed the foundation of his teachings. He well understood that if we cannot live in integrity with our values and higher self in all circumstances, if we are not able to what live we know, then we are not fully embracing the gift of our spiritual nature, a nature that could solve every problem and heal every wound we face. He reasoned that if we can’t integrate the gifts of wisdom into our lives, we miss out on the vast wealth of knowledge the great traditions and thinkers of the world have gifted us.
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It is with the ambition to bring together the spiritual and material into a holistic and synergistic unit that enables, empowers and guides people to reflect their divine qualities in every word, thought and action that Martin developed the Sattva materials. He then applied these teachings and principles to people in all walks of life and in all situations, from helping teens rise above peer pressures to living more intentionally, from helping couples become more sensitive to one another’s feelings to becoming more supportive team members, from empowering people to forgive to living completely free of ego, from helping employees and leaders accept differences to becoming more than they ever thought possible, and to helping people understand the highest and most esoteric spiritual truths, Martin relates to where people are at and what they most need to understand at the moment.
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Through Martin’s work over the years in helping people become better, he noticed that when people improve in one or two areas, it is often at the cost of neglecting other areas of their lives. For example, some people who cultivate their intellect neglect to cultivate close relationships. People who are mentally powerful, focused and determined often are so engaged in work that they neglect their physical well being. Or we find spiritual people who are very devoted are sometimes emotionally dysfunctional. Understanding that if we only cultivate one or two aspects of our being, we can actually do harm to other parts of ourselves, Martin developed the technology he called Whole Beings Intelligence to address a person holistically rather than educating one or two aspects of the individual or only focusing on offering them skill sets. He saw that when a person grows equally in all areas of life: physical, emotional, mental, intellectual, and also on the level of ego, consciousness and spirit, they become more balanced and whole, and thus avoid succeeding in one area at the cost of failing in another.
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Martin is also an executive coach, a kind of guru to those in positions of influence. Martin’s guidance is not based on skills, but in ways of being: seeing and dealing with people with empathy and compassion. He helps leaders gain focus on what’s important, change debilitating behaviors and habits, and most importantly he helps them base their success on a firm spiritual foundation. He emphasizes the principle of Success Beyond Success, to not only contribute to this world but to work for something that outlasts our physical presence.
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About Martin's Teacher
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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami lived with the spirit of the compassion shining through his heart. Through his example he showed how to live as a true well wisher and friend of every living being. The genuine essence of all spiritual teachings can be understood by observing his qualities, hearing his words and reading his books.
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Dressed in light orange robes, with yellow clay markings on his forehead, and carrying the cloth-wrapped bamboo rods of a monk, he (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada – is known to his disciples as Srila Prabhupada.
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Years of study and a lifetime of spiritual practice allowed him to articulate the Vedic knowledge with scholarly authority and a deep personal wisdom. He knew his subject because he lived it, and realized it, and he passionately wanted others to understand and share in it.
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Srila Prabhupada’s sober demeanor and the urgency of his delivery were tempered by his natural humility and a childlike innocence. He had a genuine warmth and affection for his students, and a remarkable wit. He explained the deepest complex philosophical ideas through colorful analogies or stories or by using vivid examples from nature.
As he spoke, Srila Prabhupada seemed to be talking about something we already knew deep down, but of which we needed reminding. The effect was not of being converted to a set of beliefs, but of being gently woken up.
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He was a compassionate, saintly teacher, with a warm, generous, and friendly heart. As such, he seldom criticized individuals, but he did speak strongly when particular beliefs of political and intellectual leaders threatened the welfare of others. He felt completely justified in pointing out the inadequacies of prevailing worldviews when people were suffering.
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… he regarded much of what passed as religion to be social conventions with “watered down” versions of the religions’ original teachings. He was a critic of modern, overly mechanized urban living divorced from food production and called it a way of life in which “the blind lead the blind.” He called educational institutions devoid of morality and knowledge of the soul “slaughterhouses,” and human life lived without ultimate purpose “a life wasted.”
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But he spoke positively, at great length and in detail, on all subjects from the Vedas, the ancient wisdom preserved in the beautiful Sanskrit language. The teachings came from a time before all the diverse religions we now know made their appearance, yet they presented the essential truths that all the later prophets and teachers would speak.
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Srila Prabhupada presented a radical departure from a shortsighted way of life – a lifestyle based on quick fixes – and inspired countless thousands of people to take up daily practices of spirituality and meditation. He started farms, vegetarian restaurants, schools, temples, communities, and numerous other artistic and cultural projects. In the West he came to be regarded as an authentic voice from the East, and in India as a reformer, invigorating a tired tradition with fresh enthusiasm.
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He had met his own spiritual master in Calcutta in 1922 at the age of 26, and it was from him that he had received the sacred commission to teach in the English language. … he was doing what no other had done before him – making the teachings accessible to those who spoke the most common language on earth. To do this he traveled constantly, delivering the knowledge personally and guiding the lives of those who decided to follow it.
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The effects of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and the rapid worldwide expansion of his movement prompted the noted British historian Dr. A. L. Basham to remark, “Not since the time of the Roman Empire has someone brought an entire religion from east to west.”
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We live at a turning point in history, a time when many cultures of the world have set aside their traditional ways in favor of a more global culture. This means, in practice, a Western-originated postmodern consumerist capitalism. The problems with having this as an operating norm can already be seen everywhere. Material progress has come at a great price, and it’s a price our small, delicately balanced planet can no longer afford. Short-term happiness – pursued at the expense of others around us – is not happiness at all.
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To restore ourselves to balance with nature and the universe, we need to behave once again as if our spiritual aspirations were important – because they are. They are in fact the most important needs we have. There is a subtle, but very real, link between unrecognized spiritual hunger, rampant consumption, and social and economic imbalance. By addressing individual and collective spiritual needs, we can achieve a healthy balance.
(Veda: Secrets from the East” published by The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust)