Money, wealth, and abundance are complicated concepts for the yogi who wants to extend the philosophy of yoga into her everyday life.
In the name of living our yoga, we spend more money on organic items, buy fair-trade and goods made in the USA, and we donate our old yoga mats to those who are less fortunate. But, if we’re really being honest with ourselves, these are all things that we reap benefits from ourselves, too. We feel like we’ve done our good deed for the day by helping the environment or supporting fair wages for others, and we’ve helped ourselves become healthier, boosted our images as conscious yogis, and cleaned out our closets at the same time. Everybody wins, right?
At the same time, I don’t think twice about spending $18 on one yoga class. My dog eats better than many of the children living in low-income homes in Downtown Oakland (yes, right down the street from where I’m sitting right now). And if I stop buying overpriced organic and fair trade products, I wouldn’t have to hurt the environment driving to Whole Foods AND I could afford to donate a lot more than a yoga mat to people in Haiti.
With each purchase and donation, we make a choice prioritizing which lives are most worthy of saving. People or the environment? People or animals? Local or Third-World children?
Could my commitment to being a “conscious consumer” be less helpful to the world, than I’ve been led to believe? If my intentions are really to make the world as a whole a better place as a whole (as opposed to my own narrow view of the world) would my spending habits change? Is my yoga practice really inspiring those choices, or am I allowing myself to be led by the big businesses yoga machine that boosts its bottom line by taking advantage of my efforts to live consciously?
It seems there are no right answers, but I think these are important questions to ask. What do you think?
See also:
Fashion Forward, Yoga Backward
Erica you have been reading my mind? I have really been thinking a lot about this lately.
Is it more important to go to extremes to buy "conscious" items that are at the limits of my budget and travel way out of my way for them than to simply live consciously with what is easily accessible? I think not.
Since you mentioned it, I know many who drive 45 minutes to the closest Whole Foods when there a several "natural" markets within a few minutes and all of the big groceries now have good natural and organic sections. Is buying the most eco-friendly clothing items made in America good when it stresses my budget not necessarily the fashion look I desire? Quite frankly it is starting to feel non-yogic.
I have decided that keeping things simple is best: buying food as locally as possible, buying only what we love and need, recycling & donating what we are done with, and doing it within a small footprint. We have to stop over thinking and analyzing every aspect of our lives. It takes away from being present.
Meredith,
That's been my theory, too. Buy what you need as locally as possible. We can't fix all the world's problems, but we can be mindful about the way we live in the world. 🙂
Thanks for commenting. It's nice to know someone is reading!
Erica
I believe that anything that makes the people living in the world better, ultimately makes the world better.
The small stuff like driving distance to Whole Foods isn't important, its how we treat each other that is.
@Frenzy36
That's a great philosophy. It's so easy to get carried away and lose sight of what's really important!
Once you start down the local vs organic vs carbon footprint vs etc etc road, it starts to feel like any choice is compromised because you aren't going "whole hog." So, yeah, I like the idea of moderation in all things. Do what you can, because it's better than nothing.
A girl could go crazy trying to keep up with all of it.