“To trust in the force that moves the universe is faith,” Marianne Williamson writes in A Return To Love. “Faith isn’t blind, it’s visionary.”

I believe this. I live this. And I am ever drawn to others who get it because it turns the notion of “blind faith” on its head.

Rich Tola falls in the category of those who get it.

“It is visionary,” he said. “And it takes courage. Whatever it’s supposed to be, it’ll come. It sounds like mumbo jumbo, but it’s not.”

Last December I wrote a Game Plan column about Tola -- a product of a Wharton and Kellogg education -- moving from the Wall Street scene to the Hollywood hills to pursue acting and yoga. And because he sees what has been put in front of him and has faith in his vision, he is now entrenched in forming a meaningful foundation called The Boulevard Zen Foundation.

It is, according to its Web site, “a nonprofit organization that provides yoga classes and lifestyle education to women and children in domestic violence shelters.” The idea is to pay excellent yoga teachers at the top of the scale, make it a free service at the shelters, and really build a company that will expand nationally and internationally.

“The money is coming from me right now,” Tola said. “Basically I took a sabbatical from my life to create the foundation. I want to put the company in a position to grow if a million dollars walks in the door.”

That door would be the new and sleek Sunset Vine Tower, Hollywood’s tallest tower with sweeping views of the city, the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Tola moved in there this year with an eye on the opportunities all around its central location. He and his development coordinators and teachers are fine tuning their program locally so that expansion can happen smoothly. They have already expanded to San Diego.

“We need to eventually hire an executive director,” Tola said. “The goal is to create my affordable lifestyle company to fund the foundation. I don’t see myself running the foundation. We do want to change the world. Be in every state. The demand is there.”

A philanthropic endeavor wasn’t exactly at the top of Tola’s priority list when he headed west to pursue his dream. Certainly his passion for yoga had put him on a path that held the greater good in high esteem, as his training and discipline in that have changed the course of his life. But not in a million years did he envision that taking clothes to donate to a domestic violence shelter would lead to a mission that would occupy the bulk of his time and energy in 2010.

“The real estate broker that I was, all it was about was to get hired and not get fired, to get the fee,” Tola said. “I can’t do that anymore. I’m doing something that’s bigger than me.”

After writing, directing and starring in a fictional documentary called Boulevard Zen through his production company Two Strike Hitter last December, Tola suddenly felt a directive to devote “more time, more energy, more money” to the foundation once the idea hit him. Because he has a “strong energy” that often is challenging for the women at the shelter to handle because abusers have a strong energy, Tola has females teaching them while he teaches the children there.

“I saw how it impacts the kids,” he said. “Those boys ask for me every week. When is Mr. Rich coming back? I treat them like young men. They respect that. Yoga equals respect.”

He lives his credo: Strong body, clear mind. It comes through in the free web series he is doing, which is designed to give snippets of yoga to those interested in learning or incorporating it into their daily lives. Some of the videos are straight up, while others are cleverly named to reflect what’s happening in the news, i.e., prison yoga dedicated to Lindsay Lohan.

“If you do go to a class after doing the videos, you won’t be a beginner,” Tola said of his strong Vinyasa style and focus on body mechanics.

All the while I am talking to this teacher of more than 15,000 students, I cannot help but think this is an example I would readily use when explaining to my life coaching clients how they must create their lives. Sometimes things present themselves and our job is to see their potential. Often that requires a transition plan. Other times it can be spurred by something abrupt like a layoff. Either way, patience and perseverance are key.

“The clearer we are with ourselves, the clearer we are with others,” Tola said.

This native of Trenton, N.J. is clear that in the corporate sense he wants to be the Martha Stewart of yoga and that he wants it to fund his philanthropic vision.

“I have to get the plane off the ground,” Tola said. “We definitely are flying. But we need to refuel while we’re in the air. I can’t do that.”

Hear that, potential benefactors?

“I want this company to be around longer than my life,” Tola said.

You can’t help but have faith it will be.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.