Jason Bander
Jason is currently the General Manager and proprietor of Lifethyme Natural Market in Greenwich Village, New York. He’s held this position since 2006 when he transitioned out of a career in finance and trading. Turning a career into a hobby and a hobby into a career would be an appropriate summary.
Having grown up in and around New York City, his formative years were spent on farms in the deep rural countryside of northern Vermont during the ‘70’s; on the campus and surroundings of Harvard University in Cambridge, MA during the ‘80’s and in the suburbs of Boston until he moved south to attend college. After graduating the University of Florida in 1993, he moved back to New York to be a part of Wall St of the ‘90’s. He saw an opportunity to immerse himself in the money-driven science of finance and the inner workings of his economics curriculum.
The challenge was how to balance this new, fast paced, urban set, highly interactive, money/ego-centric, career driven path with the tranquil, outdoors, nature rich, meditative background of life to date?
Starting each day with a process of making a healthy meal, and completing each day with the same became a seminal exercise in re-centering from the day's rigors. How to achieve balance in life? With so many things one wants to do and nurture interests beyond work, where do we begin? Today this practice has motivated Jason to explore a relationship with the Himalayan Institute using Lifethyme as a vehicle to illuminate the effort. Uniting the intrinsic benefits of Lifethyme Market with the Himalayan Institute’s mission and the teachings of Luke Ketterhagen seems to be a most beneficial experience and one he wishes to share.