Interconnection: Where Yoga and Climate Action Meet

When I tell my yoga students that I studied sustainability science, or tell my classmates that I am a yoga teacher, no one is ever surprised. It seems very plausible that a hippy-dippy yoga teacher would be interested in the planet. And it seems very plausible that a hippy-dippy climate activist would practice yoga. But somehow, we understand the connection between these two things only in terms of who they attract, rather than the potential impact they have on each other.

Question: Which came first – the chicken or the egg? The yogi or the climate activist?

I made my family get a compost bin when I was ten, six years before I ever stepped on a yoga mat. But I studied yoga before I studied sustainability. I cried when I was nine years old, watching the elephant get lost on David Attenborough’s “Planet Earth”, but I ate meat until a year after I became a yoga teacher. Am I a yogi because I love the planet? Do I love the planet because I am a yogi? Who knows. Chicken and egg, baby. Chicken and egg.

Regardless of my own pathway towards yoga and sustainability, my point is that there exists “yoga and sustainability”. A highly influential, powerful pair. A practice and a lifestyle that go so beautifully hand in hand. During my Master’s, I had the privilege of studying a module called “Inner Transformations” with the incomparable Dr Christine Wamsler. Christine is pioneering a new field in sustainability science which seeks to understand and bring awareness to the power of consciousness practices in encouraging sustainable transformations. We spent the course of this module journaling, practicing meditation, reading the science behind these practices to understand why they are important for fostering sustainability from the inside-out.

This short blog cannot offer you the wealth of knowledge that Christine shared with me and my classmates, but I can point you in the direction of her research should you be interested in understanding more of the science behind these practices.

What I would like to emphasise is the focus of yogic philosophy on interconnection. The word we end our practice with, Namaste, roughly means “the light in me honours the light in you”. It is a word that explains that you and I, you and every being, share this same light, this same life force. If we can truly work to understand the power and depth behind this one word, and this philosophy in our yoga practice, I think we will all more easily find our own inner transformations towards sustainability. Because, how can’t we strive to save our planet, to help all beings thrive, when we truly value and understand the connection between us all.

My favourite Sanskrit mantra sums up everything I would like to live by:

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words and actions of my life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.