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A Graywater Inspiration from Friends (and opening to grace/muscular energy)

ByElizabeth

When we are on our mats, being open to grace — the first Anusara alignment principle — includes being open to the teachings so that we can receive and act on them in a healing and loving way.  Adding to that muscular energy by lovingly embracing skin to muscle to bone in a conscious embrace, drawing into our center to recognize our inner spirit, and drawing from periphery to the focal point brings us into optimal balance.  This pulsation serves as a way off the mat to open, inspire, and engage us in progressively more intentional and uplifting ways of living.

Being open to inspiration from friends and about town, open to learning new ways to be kind to the earth and to ourselves, is a way of bring the principle of “opening to grace” off the mat.  Actually keeping the intention and acting on it has the attentive embrace of muscular energy, which draws us onto our inner light in a loving embrace so that we can better serve.

I was thinking about Anusara principles off the mat, yesterday when I went visit a friend in NW one of whose roommates fosters cats.  There is a community garden in the back and the house is warm and friendly.  In the bathtub were two buckets filled with water leftover from showers.  Instead of using fresh, potable water to flush the toilet, when it is time to flush (honoring the drought axiom about yellow mellowing, etc), the house residents fill the tank with the gray water from the shower.

Find it too complicated an idea to shower with a bucket in the bathtub with you?  You can still save water by filling your watering can or bucket when you run the water to warm up enough to get into the shower.  That will save a few gallons.  Not up to using the water to flush the toilet?  Use it to water houseplants or for cleaning floors, etc.  Or take it outside to water potted plants.

First step is opening and witnessing the possibilities and understanding where you are ready to expand.  The second step is to try to more consistently live your inspiration.  I know when I see people living with such intention I take better care to move in that direction, even if I am not ready to go as far.

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    Take Action

    Urge your representative to reject the Ryan budget and to support efforts to make at least $100 billion a year in cuts to the Pentagon budget, as recommended by the Sustainable Defense Task Force.

    Ask 5 friends to contact their representative too.

     

    Find Out More

    Who says we can and should cut Pentagon spending? The answer may surprise you.

    The Sustainable Defense Task Force outlined how nearly $1 trillion could be cut from the Pentagon budget over the next 10 years. Read the summary and share it with others in your community.

    Read the analysis of Rep. Ryan’s budget that was done by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

    Find out more about the Our Nation’s Checkbook campaign to shift money from the military budget to advance other priorities.

One Comment

  1. Yay, graywater reuse! And thanks for pointing out the spiritual side of graywater reuse! I have to say that I do find it a spiritual practice to reuse graywater.

    It should be noted that in certain watersheds, it’s actually illegal to use graywater in a way that keeps it out of your sewage system, because people downstream have the rights to all your wastewater once it has been passed through a wastewater treatment plant and returned to the watershed (this is mostly out West, e.g., Colorado River watershed). Obviously, if you use water for flushing, this is not a problem, because the graywater still winds up in the sewage treatment plant.

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