Practising Yoga and Challenging the Climate Crisis
28th October 2024
In this blog we feature a small section from an article written by Helen Clay for the September issue of Yoga Magazine – Issue 257
Yoga has a valuable contribution to make in addressing climate change, the defining issue of our time, by inspiring us to shift away from unsustainable practices towards inclusive, green growth, conscious consumption, and more sustainable lifestyles.
So said Amina Mohamed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, during the UN’s 2019 International Day of Yoga themed on ‘climate action’. I found her statement challenging. As a long- term yoga practitioner, I love nature and was concerned about the climate crisis, yet I had not made meaningful connections between yoga and climate action.
The climate crisis is here and now!
Today the world is experiencing unprecedented heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and flooding; widespread eco-destruction, loss of habitats, species, and biodiversity; ocean acidification, polluted air and water, depleted soils and global pandemics. People in the global South, who have contributed least to global warming, suffer disproportionately, losing lives, homes, and livelihoods. A new phenomenon of eco-anxiety and climate grief across the globe causes many to wonder what world we are leaving to future generations.
This web of challenges offers us an opportunity to do things differently. Action is required at all levels, from government, communities, and individuals. What can emerge from this climate emergency, and what part can yoga play? Approaching this, let us think about yoga’s past and present.
Yoga developed in ancient India in response to the big questions of life: ‘Who am I? What is the meaning of life? What is the root cause of suffering, and what is the source of lasting peace and contentment? Travelling outside of India, yoga did so largely in the universally accessible form of physical practice. Now, with global popularity, it has absorbed other cultural influences and become somewhat distanced from the Indian roots and religio- philosophical that inform its deeper meanings.
Increasingly commercialised and marketed as a physical therapy and wellness commodity, today’s yoga often focuses on physical practice for individual health and well-being at the expense of the broader subject. In this narrowed form, it is not obvious what yoga can contribute to addressing climate change – how can standing on your head contribute to making the world a better place now and for future generations? But might there be resources within yoga’s traditions, currently under-used, which could help us with this? ……..
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