Practice Lightly on the Earth
The Green Yoga Association is here at the Estes Park conference to offer support and gentle reminders to the yoga
community on ways to green our yoga practice. Green Yoga
Advisory Board member Jessica Brainard is spreading the
word at their outreach booth with information about
Earth-friendly alternatives to toxic PVC yoga mats, an
invitation to join the Green Studio Program, and other
resources to reconnect yoga practitioners to the
ecological roots of yoga.
The term “Green Yoga� indicates our conscious intention to
honor and care for the Earth as an essential part of our
yoga practice. Illuminating the green basis of yoga helps
us to deepen into the ultimate meaning of yoga as union.
By embracing the yama of ahimsa, yogis have long known
that all life is interconnected, and that we must treat
all beings and elements of nature with love and respect.
The work of the Green Yoga Association is to awaken this
great teaching in our lives.
Many of the fine teachers Yoga Journal has convened for
this conference elegantly weave the concept of ahimsa into
their teachings. In this morning’s Jivamukti Yoga session
with David Life and Shannon Gannon, David asked us to
reflect on liberation from suffering as the ultimate goal
of our yoga practice and to align our daily actions—from
the foods we eat to the yoga mats under our feet—to
embrace the practice of non-violence.
