Coloring Our Practice With A Green Hue Helps Us Become More Intimate With Our Environment
Earth from Space
Our beautiful world seems a bit rough around the edges these days, from pollution, crowding and despair. We may feel helpless in the face of the bad news regarding climate change, species extinctions, chemical poisoning and economic crises. Green Yoga is Yoga practiced with an ecological mindset, providing philosophical guidelines and ways to approach our daily practice as well as lifestyle options to help us overcome feelings of hopelessness and affirm steps necessary for building sustainability. We learn to transform our view from that of ourselves as an individual to seeing our part in the larger cosmos.
Performing asana (posture) with an eye on our larger role in the universe can provide a creative way to reshape and expand our intentions. When lifting our head, shoulders and torso into the cobra pose, we are rising from the ground toward the sky, giving us an opportunity to recognize our body as the middle point between Earth and Heaven. When we place the palms together in a gesture of Namaste, we humbly acknowledge the existence and fundamental importance of others. When we move from side to side, we fill the space that surrounds us. Folding forward, we greet the sun and the elements. Moving backward, we develop trust. Lying on the Earth, we surrender. As we stand and reach, we boldly proclaim our faith in our ability to make a difference.
Observing animals brings us to a place of relationship with other forms of consciousness, allows us to feel kinship. As we imitate our animal companions with our own bodies, we experience a deeper invitation of the lessons we learn from them. From dogs, we learn loyalty. From cats, we learn independence. From turtles and tortoises, we learn to retreat when appropriate. From birds, we learn to sing out and express our needs.
Acknowledging the movement of the Sun and Moon helps us to understand the motions of our own bodies. The rising of the Moon as the Sun sets, and the setting of the Moon at sunrise points to a beautiful and mysterious symmetry that connects us with the cosmic rhythm (rta) celebrated in the Vedas, the poetic sacred texts of India. Performance of surya namaskar (sun salutations), where we move forward, reach up, step back, lay our bodies upon the Earth, and feel the center point of our heart, encapsulates the best sensibilities of Green Yoga.
Through stillness and silence, we appreciate the power of a well-formed tree, the beauty of the pounding surf and the gift of a hike in the mountains…we consciously smell the rich loam in the farmer’s field, taste sparkling waters, see the radiance of dawn, feel the touch of wind and breath and hear the joyous sounds that fill the space of the world. We need to connect with nature to feel fully alive and through breathing deeply, moving gracefully speaking carefully, we learn to expand our awareness. This expansion of consciousness allows us to take actions to bring kindness and sanity to our overly busy world.
Simply becoming more aware of our place in our larger environment can help us overcome our own self-obsession and open the scope of our perspective. This encourages us each to think twice before succumbing to the endless parade of enticements placed before us by commercials and billboards. Green Yoga advises creating a mental checklist before taking action in the marketplace, including: Will this product harm my body? Can it be reused? What is its lifespan? Will it be recycled? Will this product extend and enhance my life and/or the life of the planet?
Training in Green Yoga, developed and taught by the Green Yoga Council, takes many forms of mindfulness. Green Yoga encourages us to practice outdoors, walk mindfully and think carefully about our ecological imprint. Through our devotion to the planet, we can cultivate harmonious relationships with food, animals, other people and our place within the give and take of economic realities. At the same time, we can learn to celebrate the simple, priceless beauties of the Cosmic Mother, known in India by many names: Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Ganga and simply Ma. A yogi, entranced with nature, will seek to be peaceful, honest and pure, sharing with others an appreciation for the abundance of life and spirit, taking the actions necessary to protect our planet.
