When I discussed this subject recently with some of my students, they came up with the most wonderful suggestions for incorporating this philosophy into their daily lives. One said that she practised Ahimsa when she carefully trapped a house spider and set it free in the garden (instead of squishing it!) Another said that she tried not to say anything hurtful or condescending to her children. A third believed that by not eating meat she was avoiding doing harm to animals.
My students came up with lots of creative suggestions for incorporating Ahimsa into their daily lives. But we often overlook one of the most important ways in which we can avoid doing harm to other people. Our lifestyle choices.
It’s not always comfortable to think about it, but every decision we make has a consequence. Whatever your opinion on the climate change debate, the truth is that the lifestyle habits of developed countries have a dramatic impact on the poorest people in the world.
Yoga is the process of cultivating mindfulness, of being aware of our every action, thought and behaviour. This starts on the sticky mat with attention to alignment, breath and mind-chatter. But what we do on the mat is simply a way of practising these vital life skills so that we can take them with us when we get off the mat and go into the world. Is it really practising yoga to agonize over our alignment in Trikonasana, then fail to apply the same degree of attention to our consumer choices?
If we do not cultivate mindfulness in all areas of our lives, we are not incorporating the teachings of yoga into our daily lives and our practise on the mat loses it’s meaning. The concept of Ahimsa is important in helping us observe our behaviours and develop a keener understanding of what ‘mindfulness’ really means. How mindful are we of how we impact other people and the environment through our lifestyle choices? Here are a few areas in which we can practise cultivating mindfulness in practical and useful ways.
Food choices: On average, Australians waste 136kg of food per person per year. When we chuck food scraps or ‘out of date’ items in the bin, it’s goes into landfill and gives off methane, which is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than what comes out of your car exhaust. But it’s not just the food you see in the bin that is wasted. It’s also the massive amount of resources that went into producing, storing, processing and transporting it. Aside from the environmental implications, it’s also sobering to discover that over 2 million Australians a year rely on food relief.
Assessing whether we really need all the food we buy is a good starting point when tackling this subject. Then exploring ways to recycle any food waste that we do inadvertently create. My daughter’s school has a thriving veggie garden and all our household scraps make their way into the class compost bin where the worms (aided by the children!) turn leftover banana skins, apple cores and the green bits of the carrots into food for the strawberries, root vegetables and herbs that grow in the school grounds. There are lots of affordable, compact and easy to use back yard (and balcony) composting systems available these days.
Clothes: There are some well known clothing brands that actively discourage trade unionism in developing countries to avoid paying award wages to their workers. If we’re practising Ahimsa, we might want to consider the provenance of our clothing next time we grab a fashion bargain. It just doesn’t seem right to do yoga in a pair of pants that were manufactured at the expense of a struggling family in neighbouring Indonesia.
Water: Practising Ahimsa can help us be mindful of how our water use impacts future generations of Australians. It’s not just a question of using the economy setting on the dishwasher or watering the garden after 4pm. Did you know it takes 50, 000 litres of water to produce 1kg of beef (to put this into perspective, it takes just 500 litres to grow 1kg of potatoes)? Now, I’m not a vegetarian, but that figure made me question how much meat we really need. It isn’t immediately obvious, but it dawned on me that cutting down on meat consumption could be seen as practising Ahimsa on lots of levels – environmental, humanitarian and personal health.
Stuff: There’s a lot of ‘stuff’ that we neither want nor need, yet a lot of resources go into making it. I became keenly aware of this at Christmas as I considered gifts for my family. Whether it was the gift itself, the packaging, wrapping or the resources that went into all three, I realised that my gift buying decisions had a tangible impact on the environment. Using recycled wrapping, making our own cards from recycled resources and buying gifts that everyone really wanted were some of the ways we tackled this issue. I’m sure you can think of plenty more.
There are many, many ways in which practising yoga can have a direct and positive effect on the world we live in. Cultivating mindfulness and practising Ahimsa when we make consumer decisions are important steps in learning to live sustainably.
Sources and Resources
http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/index.aspx
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