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  • Viveka and the Carbon Fund

    ByElizabeth

    Viveka means discrimination.  Being able to recognize the meaning of what we do and what are the potential consequences of our actions is an important aspect of our yoga practice and our lives.  Living discriminately does not mean that we reject what is pleasurable.  Rather, it means that we recognize the consequences to ourselves and other beings when we partake of the fruits of the earth and the labors of others or choose one activity over another.  We think about whether it makes sense and then, once having decided, we fully engage and enjoy and don’t beat ourselves up after the fact.  If we think we made the wrong decision, we choose differently the next time.

    How does viveka relate to the Carbon Fund?  The Carbon Fund’s motto is “reduce what you can, offset what you can’t.”  I replace “can’t” in this phrase with “choose not to,” as what we think we must have (in this society generally) does not necessarily correlate with what we actually need to survive.  Otherwise, all we’re doing is throwing a little money as a superficial balm without thinking through with discrimination.

    When I think about what I can reduce, and what I choose not to in terms of my carbon footprint and my overall lifestyle, I am struck by the irony that my biggest carbon footprint after heating and cooling my house is plane trips to John Friend yoga trainings.  It would be disingenuous to think that I can’t not go to Santa Fe next week.  I do not think, however, it makes sense to shrink our lives to the point that we are not engaged in society and that we do not relish the opportunities we have, just to feel good about diminishing our impact on the environment.

    Studying and practicing Anusara yoga all around the country, getting to know the wider kula and establishing a greater sense of connection while deepening my knowledge and experience of the practice continues to be wonderful and joyous for me.  So I choose to go, and I anticipate having a great time next weekand bringing back great things to share with all of you.  And I’ve gone to Carbon Fund’s website and offset my trip and then some.  And I think about other ways to reduce what I can.

    E

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    Eating Local, Annamaya Kosha, and “Human Landscape Dance”

    ByElizabeth

    When my friend Mac asked if I would let my readers know that his dance group Human Landscape Dance will be performing at Dance Place on Saturday and Sunday, July 9th and 10th, I agreed without hesitation.  As I was contemplating what to write, I found myself thinking about the koshas–the energetic sheaths of the body.  The yogis claim that the individual has five koshas.  The outermost, the annamaya kosha, is the “food body.”  “Food” in this context encompasses everything that comes into our body through all of our senses–touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell.  I thought about what it might mean to “eat local” if eating meant everything that we encounter with our senses.

    I am not a locavore (I too thoroughly enjoy avocado, coconut and, in winter, citrus), but I do try to emphasize local food as the mainstay of my diet.  I do it mostly for energetic reasons.  I want fresh food to have been picked as recently as possible and not to have grown weary from travel.  I want as few hands as possible to have touched the food I buy, and those hands to be those of a person who is happy with farming and is paid a living wage by the sale of the produce.  When your food growers, transporters, and preparers live nearby you are getting to know your neighbors and community, and not just getting food from a faceless corporate entity.  Over the years, you get to know each other a bit and learn what friends you have in common.  More threads are woven into the fabric of your community.

    Just as knowing the person who grows and sells you food means you can be more certain that it was raised and offered for sale with nourishment intended at every stage, so too having the art and entertainment we bring into our senses be created within our community creates a network of connection and support that we do not get when we only consume commercially prepared entertainment (though I cheerfully buy music from my favorite “stars,” go to the movies, and enjoy trips to Lincoln Center,and London’s West End, etc., just as I get avocados and citrus along with the greens from my garden and the fruits from the local farmers’ market).

    I feel blessed to be able to connect with Mac as a neighbor (Mac, his wife Jennifer Mueller, who is a student of mine and fellow yoga teacher on the Hill, and their delightful daughter live several blocks from me) and others who are performing next Saturday as fellow dancers at the Sunday Contact Improv Jam.  My dancing and personal explorations are raised up by the company of the wonderful dancers and friends who share that space, including those who will be performing next weekend.

    Why wouldn’t I want to both support my friends and learn more about them by going to Dance Place to receive the dance offering they are so lovingly preparing for all of us?  Such is the nature of feeding mindfully the annamaya kosha to help lead us to the opening and nurturing of our innermost spirit, finding and creating more bliss in ourselves and in the very essence of our community.

    FYI.  I’m looking for company to carpool or walk together to and from the Brookland Metro (for safety on the way home).  Perhaps Sunday CI Jam, dinner on the Hill, and the Sunday night show?

    Photo courtesy of Human Landscape Dance.

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