Earth Yoga Challenge: Decrease Tree-Products

I'm hoping these themes will not only focus on ways to help the environment, but will help us reconnect as yogis and people with our everyday lives. A simpler life.

This first theme will definitely result in a de-cluttering and reconnection that we can use part of our yoga practice to help forge new habits and routines.

EYCC: Decrease dependence on Unnecessary Tree Products

In order to reconnect with our lives and planet, it's not enough to simply replace our non-eco 'stuff' with more barriers created by their eco-version. Instead, in order to connect we need to try removing what gets in the way. For many reasons, these barriers have been perceived as conveniences, but pile too many and instead we can barely see over the mound of 'convenience'.

Looking at our kitchen, I realized that Andrew and I accumulate a lot of paper products. For us, this is mostly box board like pizza boxes, Kraft Dinner boxes (yes we eat KD, LOVE it), beer boxes...  Yes, we compost them, but that's not the point. It's waste and trees and extremely unlikely the paper used for these boxes were post-consumer or required minimal energy. I also wonder about the state of the fertilizer produced from box board covered in toxic inks...

 The shameful pile of box board waiting to be composted. I'm embarrassed to show it... but in order of fairness I am sucking it up.

I announced to Andrew that I'd really like to try to decrease our use of boxboard packaged products.

While problem solving as to how this would look, practically instead of just committing to a vague 'We'll try to avoid food packaged in boxes' (in my experience not a successful strategy), what resulted in a list of activities that involved eating less processed and frozen meals.

Lisa and Andrew's EYCC for Feb 2011:

• Make our own pizza including the dough (make enough dough to freeze for convenience)
• Make home made mac and cheese
• Andrew will make and freeze his own taquitos and samosas for convenient food ready meals
• Granola and cereal stuffs will be bought bulk or be homemade (depending on time)

As you can see, not a whole ton of things to complete, but just enough that we *hopefully* won't be buying lots of pre-made frozen food and become one step closer to freezing our own meals. This also allows us to eat healthier and save money. Wee!

Say you're just starting out on the Earth Yoga adventure, what would be a really fantastic place to start? The best thing we ever did was cut out paper towel from our vocabulary. Holy Goddess, but did I ever depend on paper towel. Looking back, I can't believe how wasteful it was and how difficult I 'thought' it was going to be, functioning without it. Seriously though, do you need to mop up your mess, clean the bathroom, or eat your piece of toast on paper made from our disappearing forests? Here are some different options that might work for you this month:

General

• Cut out paper towel (post coming this week on some tips and support)
• Avoid ridiculously over packaged items (like toothpaste that is also packaged in a paper box)
• Switch to post consumer recycled toilet paper.
• Go to cloth wiping (hmmm, not quite there yet myself, but definitely interesting- post to come)
• Print on both sides of the paper at work. (my reports are always always double sided now)

Yoga specific:

• Stop printing receipts for classes unless specifically asked.
• Use an online method to tabulate class passes (it could be as simple as an excel spreadsheet)
• Send out electronic newsletters instead of posters and flyers. 
• Use towels instead of paper towel in your studio bathroom.
• Switch to post consumer recycled TP and tissues.
• Go paperless as a studio.
• Spend some time outside near trees- meditate on their presence and our co-dependence. 

So- what will it be? Choose one, two or three different things to commit to Change this month and post it in your comment below- wherever you're at in your Earth Yoga state will be perfect.

Please leave any other ideas or suggestions that I haven't thought of here, on twitter using the hashtag #earthyogachallenge or write a post and link it back (using a link in the comment below for others to find it :) ).

Blessings!


article and photograph copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Earth Yoga Challenge for Change: True Yoga Connection

Yesterday as I cruised along the harbour on the HRM ferry, checking out the sunset and mentally preparing for my 20 minute walk home, I listened to an segment on how an 86 year old man in B.C. wants to save Mary Lake. This man, Bob, visits this rare piece of protected forest, tweets about the lake (BobMcMinn) regularly and has spearheaded a campaign to raise enough money to purchase Mary Lake and keep this precious part of our world protected (they are far from their goal and still need help!).

Spending so much time surrounded by nature, this man 'gets' it. He understands the necessary connection we all must feel, that our survival depends upon, with our planet. Our children (and I would argue adults) have been theorized to be suffering from 'nature deficiency disorder' (Richard Louv, 2005), and spend significantly less time exploring nature. A variety of reasons, ranging from 80% of our populations living in urban centres, fear of 'stranger danger' and allowing children unsupervised outdoor time to a drop of 25% in children's unstructured play opportunities (think organized sports instead of fort building).

As a yogini, this disconnect is doubly important as the entire *point* of yoga is connection. As I don't perceive my body as being separate from my surroundings, the air I physically embody, the food I eat and beauty I see, I can't begin to assume that connection should only occur between my mind and body. Connection is meant to continue with myself, my surroundings and ultimately the Divine.

What does this mean practically? It's all well and good to sit here theorizing about how yoga should focus more on ecological-type connections, but how as yogi(ni)s (and non-yogi(ni)s :) ) can we bring this into practice? Lets face it, visualizing the earth and air we breathe in a square box studio surrounded by concrete and honking horns isn't really connection.

It is time for a change, a bit more of a self-commitment. We commit to going to work, to practicing asana, to washing the dishes. We can commit to Connection.

Earth Yoga Challenge for Change
(*although I despise the word challenge, this really is a bit of a call out to you my readers... so the name is staying... and I like alliteration lol).

How does the EYCC work?

We read about ways we can change our habits, bring ourselves closer to valuing our planet and it's resources as something sacred and essential for human life. But do we ever implement these changes? Habits often require more commitment, conscious practice in order to break. Therefore, simply reading and thinking 'hm, that is a good idea' isn't enough for Change.

What we'll do, in a supportive and practical way, is commit to a change (or a few) bi-monthly that we feel appropriate. It will become part of our yoga practice in a concrete way and every instance of moving towards change will remind us of how we're coming closer to connecting with ourselves.

Each week I'll post a theme on change, every Sunday with a range of options and ideas. We'll check in together to see how we're doing via twitter (#earthyogachallenge) that week, commenting on the themed post or writing our own blog posts and linking back to the theme here at EcoYogini. So many of you have fabulous insight and ideas on how you've made certain changes in your lives and I know I learn so much from your comments and suggestions. It makes it easier to take those steps.

First theme will be tomorrow- What say you my EcoYogi(ni) readers (and non-yoga readers) are you too hip to be cool, or are you ready to full embody your practice? :)

article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Peanut... Peanut Butter... and JELLY

Ok, I have always loved loved loved Peanut Butter. In our house, Kraft Peanut Butter (I think until recently was a very Canadian thing) was THE PB to have. Yep I was a PB and jam sandwich kinda child. Did you know that George Washington Carver was not in fact the first to invent Peanut Butter? Nope the Aztecs invented this yummy paste hundreds of years ago. (wiki).

I just assumed that's all there was in Peanut Butter... peanuts. It took a guy in Montréal to plant a little seed of 'maybe I should be rethinking my choice in peanut butter'. A little bit on the health-obsessed side, he only ever ate 100% natural peanut butter. Why does that matter?

Ingredients in mainstream 'peanut butter' (taken from Jif, since Kraft doesn't appear to post their ingredients online):

• Roasted Peanuts
• Sugar
• Molasses
• Hydrogenated vegetable oils (rapeseed or soybean)
• mono and diglycerides
• salt

I would say a bit more than just peanuts eh? The hydrogenated oils are used in order to make sure the peanut oils don't separate in the jar. Hydrogenated oils are high in trans fatty acids. I'm also not really a fan of something with the second ingredient being refined sugar (for the health aspects as well as the fact the sugar is cultivated using slave labour and ridiculously terrible environmental practices). And really, molasses??

Another aspect to consider is the packaging- most PB comes in plastic. And I really really hate cleaning them out. Ick.

So- 100% natural peanut butter it was. Honestly? The first few jars were an adjustment. I was used to the sweet sugary peanut butter taste. I had to get used to stirring my PB with a butter knife upon opening. It took a few jars to figure out that the better I stirred it that very first time, the less likely it was going to get all weird and hard at the very bottom of the jar. Eventually, though I started to really enjoy the flavour of actual peanuts. And now 'mainstream' PB just tastes weirdly sweet.

Moving to Nova Scotia resulted in experimenting with several different brands of natural peanut butter before finding one that tasted the best. That brand? Naturally Nutty. It's made in Kentville Nova Scotia (about an hour and a half from Halifax) and is certified organic. Packaged in a beautiful glass jar it contains *only* certified organic peanuts. WOO!

Of course you could make your own 'nut butter' as a few colleagues of mine in Vernon BC used to do. From what I can gather, you need a food processor (we don't have one), it's best to shell them yourself and skins on is better than skins off. (check out this post for a straightforward how-to). I say very very cool!

Nothing better than natural peanut butter on homemade bread :)

Blessings!

article and photograph copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

A Conversation about Stuff- Guest Post!

Although yoga teaches non-attachment, I am much more of a fan of conscious purchasing. I think sometimes (especially in the yoga world) we get caught up in the extremes: fastings, ayurvedic cleansings, 30 days of yoga challenges... and no more buying anything. At all. Our culture appears to be caught up in "binges" and I truly don't see it as a healthy way of change. Which is why I adore Halifax's Love, Me Boutique on Birmingham. Not only is the store filled with Canadian handmade pretties, but Chara- the owner- is a fabulous and fun person. I am very excited to have her guest post today with her thoughts on "stuff". 

Conversations About Stuff

I have been thinking and talking a lot lately about stuff. Sometimes even just saying the word makes me feel like I am back at the table after Thanksgiving supper saying “I am stuffed.” I am happy to have taken part in such a glorious meal but I know I probably indulged just a second helping too much.

For the most part, I don’t buy a lot for me or my family. And for the most part, our home is filled with meaningful things. But after my daughter’s meltdown in Frenchy’s over wanting something from the stuffed animal bin, I felt in caught in a corner. We are on the heels of Christmas and birthdays and she still wants more! Like most parents, I want to treat her here and there, but the girl has stuff in every nook and cranny of her room (and the living room…) She’s five. She values every stick-on jewel from every craft project as well as every piece of paper with a cat or dog on it, every book even though she’s out grown them, every pair of pants she doesn’t wear. So even though I thought I might lose it, I realized that I need to talk more about STUFF.

How does one go about teaching our children about the stuff we bring into our lives? I began with this: “we should only buy stuff we need or really love and treasure”. My other bit of wisdom I tried to bestow? “For everything we bring into the house, we should let something go free to someone else who could use it”. These are pretty hard concepts to grasp when you are five. (And perhaps even at 35? 45? 55?) And so I managed to try and put into perspective: If we fill and fill and fill our house with stuff, you would never have room to play with those things, or room to move around, or room to dance. And if we fill and fill and fill our house with stuff, we would have to pile this stuff and eventually our favorite things might get buried and lost.

And then there is the other side of the coin. Lately I have heard a few people who have decided to put a halt on buying anything other than essentials (food, rent..) for one year. I think this is an interesting and perhaps even noble experiment but is a bit like fasting for days to cleanse your body instead of slowly and consciously removing the things you no longer want to be ingesting. Don’t we really just need to reprogram our brains? Don’t we really just need to wake up and smell the gasoline, plastics, and formaldehyde and make a conscious choice about what we buy? Obviously as a proprietor of a retail shop selling handmade, I would support buying handmade. But if I seem like too biased a source, check out Scoutie Girl’s article 3 Reasons to Pay More for Your Stuff or community made list of 101 Reasons to Shop Handmade via Poppytalk.

Recently in the shop, I had a great discussion with a customer about stuff. Our conversation began with her remarking on a 50’s style metal doll carrier I have in the shop merchandised with some amazing creatures.  “I used to have one just like it!” She went on to say that most of her childhood things are at the family home alongside all the family heirlooms. But instead of being in boxes, those items are used or passed down in the family for use. “I grew up knowing the value of items, especially those that were handmade. We didn’t have lots of stuff, so we treasured the things we did have.”

I began to mentally catalogue items I treasure: my granny’s tea set, my granny’s sofa & chair (which is over 65 years old), a necklace my husband bought for me at an artisan market in London, UK (our last trip b.k. – before kids) and a necklace I bought myself in an artisan made shop in Chicago on our honeymoon, two quilts made by my great grandmother-in-law, my “Mister Rodgers” sweater handknit by a great Aunt, a treasure catch-all with peek-a-boo doors made by my husband for me for our first ‘solo’ Christmas. Apart from their beautiful design, sumptuous colour, delightful texture, or practical functionality, all of these things have one commonality – they all have a story. I can’t not look at either of those two necklaces and not think of my sweetheart or the places we have been together nor can I use my tea set without thinking of my grandmother. All the things I love and treasure have a story and a history (even if that story is how we found it on the side of the road and thought it was too cool to leave behind).

With this reminder of treasures and stories and history, I will work on bestowing these values to my children. I will talk more about the things I have around the house and why I have them and love them. I will share the stories about these items. I will also let her watch me when I clean out cupboards and closets and allow her to be part of that purging process - of my things. Baby steps.  

Thank you so much Chara for a fabulous post! Check out her blog: Love,Me Boutique and if you're in Halifax, her shop is a must stop! :)

Grieving the loss of savasana

"Close your eyes, relax your body and allow yourself to absorb the practice" **WEEEEEEEEEEEE** "Let your muscles go, allow your shoulders to melt into the floor" *don't let your shoulder round, relax leg-RELAX*  "Allow your top body to breathe in your practice, melting your bottom half into the floor"  *SQEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, head up, head up!*

No, I haven't gone bonkers, this is my internal cacophony during my savasana. Yep, the "wee" is the closest I can get to describing my tinnitus (accouphène for the fellow Frenchies :) ). Combine the constant squealing reminder of my hearing loss with an internal struggle to relax while in seated position and you get some of the above. Oh, and the actual bits from the yoga instructor.

Since my last post, where I wrote about how savasana or corpse pose, was actually one of the most painful asanas for my body, I decided that instead of forcing my body to like savasana, I would simply adjust my expectations of what 'savasana' looks like for me.

The goal of savasana is to allow your body and mind to fully absorb your practice. I always loved the feeling of spiritual connection I received while I allowed my body to *feel* the energy of Life. Fouffy? Yep, but weirdly during savasana it was less work to feel the energy that surrounds us all.

So, for a long time I was attached to this easier practice that brought me closer to the Goddess. I had to actually grieve the loss of savasana.

Now I am practicing seated meditation as my 'savasana'. It's much more difficult as when I'm seated I have to find that precious balance of relaxation without complete rounding and losing posture integrity.

 (Me trying to find meditation during my 'hotel' yoga practice out in Cape Breton last night)

I started at home during Friend Yoga. I could wiggle and be a bit antsier than I would in a class, finding a better position. A few weeks ago I had the courage to request that I practice savasana seated (I trust her, so it was a lot easier) and it took some time to try to work through feeling weird that I was sitting while everyone was lying down. And I wasn't the teacher.  (Like, maybe they're thinking 'who the heck does she think SHE is? that weirdo meditating pompous yogi'.... yep, letting go of magical made up judgments).

(cool sun on the drive home tonight, winter ethereal sun fuzzy from precipitation in the distance)

Fast forward a few more classes and I'm really starting to find a comfort zone and actually experiencing a glimpse of what I used to experience during pain-free savasana. Half lotus helps my center of gravity be such that I can relax my lower back, my legs and my arms in slight increments without falling forward on my face.

Slowly but surely I am moving towards acceptance of my body and what yoga means for me. One seated savasana at a time. You?

 (windmills out near Port Hawkesbury Cape Breton with a beautiful, pink-lavender winter sunset)

(Crazy glowing sunset ball of fire in CB last night. I was the weirdo stopped on the highway, tourist pictures in the middle of January!)

article and photograph copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Smooth Yoga Legs and Shaving Cream

One of the things I'm self conscious about during a yoga class is having hairy legs. Or prickly legs. I get that it's totally a western, cultural thing- which is annoying but I just really don't like hairy legs. And I can't stand the thought of the teacher coming along unaware that they'll be adjusting my furry legs whilst in shoulderstand. ICK.

Anyhoo, that being said I was never "that girl" who shaved her legs every single day. I just didn't have the patience or commitment. I still don't. (I know there are women out there who shave their legs every day, I had friends who did.... which still amazes me). But I did really like the fancy schmancy shaving cream stuff. The thought of shaving my legs without some perfumed mess of chemical goop was mind boggling. I mean, my legs would erupt in bumpy, cut up monstrosities if I did that right?

I had a moment in BC when I realized just how ridiculous the whole process was. Shaving cream has a whole crap load of weird chemicals, stuff to make it smell good (perfume which can have formaldehyde), stuff to make it foam, stuff to make it seep into your skin and blood stream (moisturizers) allowing the other foaming, perfuming agents to just march right in. That and the packaging, no way to ever recycle.

So, still believing I needed something specific for shaving my legs, I bought "method" shaving cream. Still has chemicals, still packaged in a non recyclable container. I then moved to this special "shaving" bar of soap made by Birch Bark soap (which I adored).

Then I ran out. And being a little lazy, I was forced to use whatever I had in the shower. Body wash, regular body soap, conditioner, shampoo. And you know what? They all worked just fine.

We've all been duped into thinking that in order to shave our legs we need some special shaving lotion/cream. An marketing creation, making us think we need a product so we'll buy it. It's a complete, weird, cultural crock.

Never again will I buy a cream/soap/lotion specific for shaving my legs. A moisturizing locally made bar of soap will do just find. No packaging, no scary ingredients. Perfect for the lazy eco-yogi(ni)!

Now off we go to watch our wonderful Yoga Instructor Helen Fong give a talk on Meditation! :)

Blessings!

article copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Voice Therapy for Yoga Instructors

As with every 5:45pm yoga class, the trip to the studio through rush hour traffic (ok every class at Halifax Yoga off the rotary) is harrowing, filled with fist shaking, swearing and high anxiety levels. However, Krista's flow class is totally worth it and my drive home is very zen (I would say that it is all yoga, but then rush hour is over...).

As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I tend to silently analyze people's speech, especially when it's in a different "speaking" environment, like presentations, radio announcers and... yoga instructors. It's automatic and usually not a huge deal for me to just let it go, a river of analysis quietly bubbling in the background (hanging out with the whine of my tinnitus- think you can't get a hearing loss in your twenties from playing in a band?? think again).

I just have a hard time ignoring painful sounding vocal fold abuse. Yep, abusing those precious instruments that allow us to voice our thoughts and ideas in the most rich and beautifully emotive tones. Quick little anatomy-physiology lesson (very quick I promise):

Vocal folds aren't actually "chords". They are these pretty little muscle and ligaments (and shiny membranes). Actually making sound is uber complex requiring appropriate breath, pressure, muscle and ligament timing and about a zillion bones, cartilage and organs (um lungs, brain).

Did ya know that the primary purpose of our vocal folds aren't to make sound, but to protect our airways? Or that our larynx actually moves down in infancy to allow for speech. That's why babies can swallow and breathe at the same time... and one of the reasons why more complex speech sounds (other than cooing) occur at a certain time-frame in an infant's  development.

Anyhoo, point is- vocal folds are precious and special. We shouldn't be messing with them.

One of the things a Speech-Language Pathologist is qualified to do is treat voice disorders. Sure this could be because someone had cancer and half their larynx removed due to smoking.... but it is also often due to just plain ol' abuse. Paediatric and adults.

Very common clients? Teachers... of any sort.

Yoga teachers are a prime example of how taking care of your voice may not even factor into the regular preparation and career care that goes into becoming and remaining an excellent yoga instructor. Most instructors use their voice to teach and although breath (pranayama) is a huge portion of yoga, I hear a lot of not so great habits during class.

Yoga instructors, even more so than lecturing teachers, alter their voice in order to instruct. It's not your "chatting" voice, it's your yoga voice. Don't believe me? Record yourself and have a listen. You most certainly don't prolong your vowels, change the intonation of your syllables, add extra "breathiness" to your phrases or lower your register when chatting about the weather. (or at least I hope not, awkward).

These changes to the typical way we talk mean that our muscles that support phonation (making our vocal folds vibrate) have to work differently and harder, increasing tension in our muscles and ligaments. Our vocal folds can move awkwardly or come together more forcefully causing friction and even polyps and nodules (little ugly bumps and blisters) to form there. Soreness of voice, neck and shoulder tension even headaches and voice loss can result.

That's why, all you yoga instructors out there, need to really take care of your voice.

Here are some little tricks to keep in mind to keep your yogic communication instrument healthy and mucous-y:

• Hydrate! Drink LOTS of water while teaching. Before teaching, after teaching, during teaching. Drink a whole Klean Kanteen-full over that 60-90 minute class. I can't stress this enough. Not only will you be hydrating your throat and vocal folds, but you'll be speaking less. Consider that you don't have to fill the class with your voice all the time. Take some space.
• That water? Not cold s'il vous plait. Lukewarm or room temp is best. Shocking to the muscles otherwise.
• Don't clear your throat. It's so hard on your poor little vocal folds. Trust me, they don't like it. Instead, take a sip of water or a few deep breaths.
• Record yourself teaching and ask a trusted, non judge-y friend to take a listen. Decide if your voice is: a)lower, b) breathy c)harsher d) different tonally. 
• No whispering. Or added breathiness. When we whisper (or add a Marilyn Monroe type voice) we're seriously tensing our muscles, including our vocal folds.
• Support all your phrases with a nice strong "belly" breathing. Give yourself time to take adequate breath before speaking. It's not a race on filling in the anatomy of each asana.
• Warm up and rest your vocal folds prior and post classes. Some easy "up the scale, down the scale" humming before and little to no speaking after. They need to recover- you worked them out!
• Ohm carefully, with adequate breath and in a register that isn't too deep. If your normal voice isn't Crash Test Dummies sounding, why would your Ohm be that way too? 

Reasons when referring yourself to see a Speech-Language Pathologist may be helpful:

• Your losing your voice
• Your voice sounds scratchy and has phonation breaks (like going through puberty for a guy)
• Your voice has changed recently
• It hurts to talk, or your voice hurts after class

You could combine any of these with headaches or tense head, neck, shoulders. Or, if you just are concerned about your voice.

This message has been brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood SLP-Yogini :)

Blessings!

article copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Hand washing vs Dishwasher

When Andrew and I moved in together after one month of dating we decided on "chores". I am a neat freak and was determined that we would have roommate rules with regards to cleaning. We've mostly stuck with them four and a half years later (thank goodness). One of Andrew's chores is washing the dishes. (I hate washing the dishes).

Sadly, we haven't had the luxury of a dishwasher in the four places we've lived in the past four years. We always had dishes on the counter- either waiting to be washed, waiting to be put away or both. After our wedding we were gifted with some money at Sears.... and a dishwasher shopping we went.

We considered apartment sized washers, but they were more expensive, wouldn't hold half of our larger bowls and cooking stuffs and appeared cheaply made. So a large, hook up to the sink dishwasher it is. And we LOVE it.

The plus side? A dishwasher is better for the environment than hand washing the dishes.

According to a study at University of Bonn, dishwashers use half the energy, one sixth the water and less soap than washing dishes by hand. New energy star dishwashers use 25% less energy than basic models (our dishwasher is an energy star).

This study tested 113 hand-washers in seven European countries (for variation in handwashing styles) vs modern machines. The average person used 103 litres of water, 2.5 kWh of energy and 79 minutes' time. The machines used 15 litres of water, a bit over 1 kWh of energy for a full load. (Ecoholic, 2006, Ecoholic Home 2009). WOOT!

Features to keep in mind if you too find yourself in a fortunate monetary moment:

• Make sure you have an air dry button (or just open the door the moment it's done!)
• Energy Star... all the way. It assures that the dishwasher uses 41% less energy and less water.
• Read the EnerGuide papers in the washers when looking. We did- and based our choice on the one that used less energy.
• Run full loads and scrape instead of double washing. I mean, if your brand new dishwasher can't handle washing your dishes..... ahem.

Okidoki, we got the basics covered- what about detergent. I was SO happy with our dishwashing liquid, and I really really hate the little pre-wrapped tab dealys. From what I had read on Crunchy Chicken that the best out there was truly Ecover. Which sucks because I'm not a huge fan of the company. Thank goodness for Adria Vasil of Ecoholic and her new book- Ecoholic Home. I adore this book, as it actually RATES products....

Bio-Vert, a Canadian company, was the hands down winner- against Ecover, Attitude, Seventh Gen and Nature Clean (woo!). I adore Bio-Vert, awesome clean products, their dish liquid and laundry detergent are fabulous too. Made in Quebec, mixed sources Forest Stewardship Certified packaging. The sad part is the pre-wrapped tabs, which they say are recyclable... but with no number on the package and restricted to recycling #1 and #2 plastics in HRM it's annoying.




My solution? If the dishes aren't that dirty we cut the tablet in half (which is most of the time). And you know what? I don't notice a difference. The dishes are spotless and perfect every time. The cheapest place to buy Bio-Vert in HRM is, weirdly enough, at Zellers in Bayers Lake. Yep, big box store... but money is money.

We adore our new dishwasher and although Andrew still has dishes to wash (like the bamboo stuff) the minimal amount means less water, less soap and money saved.


Blessings!


article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Black and White or Shades of Grey: Our decisions for our planet

Over the past two years, since my renewed sense of tree hugging and eco-yoga connection I've tried to make the best choices possible while being realistic.

As being green is becoming the new trend, every company and their oil spewing organizations are marketing their product as "environmentally friendly". Although it's great that how we spend our money can really send a clear message, choices are becoming less clear and more muddied. No black and white delineation here.

For example my struggle to find a fantastic, chemical free shampoo. Nothing I've tried that would meet my rigid "clean" standards (i.e. no synthetic, weird chemicals- recyclable container) have sucked. I mean, sucked bum. Seriously. And I've tried dozens. Do you know what happens to the disgustingly terrible shampoo? I try to use it as body wash, or shaving stuff... but it's SO wasteful. I got to the point after six months of really really bad hair that I was done. I need to look professional for my job, it's important. And I like having nice hair. Friends and co-workers actually commented on the difference when I changed back to icky shampoo. Including people who had no idea of my struggles.

I wondered if I should just go the middle road and buy some Aveda. They have wonderful environmental company type practices after all and have been at least trying to decrease chemicals from their shampoos.... But I really really really hate how smug and misleading they are. I really don't like being manipulated and misled. If I buy their shampoo I am sending the message that I support their "middle of the road". A purchase doesn't come with an explanation. (missed my rants on Aveda? Check out here and here for some fun!).

Is sorta eco better than not at all?

What about green initiatives that are funded by oil guzzling organizations? Like "Evergreen" a "..national charity that makes cities more livable" with a vision of: "... a sustainably society where individuals live in harmony with and contribute meaningfully to their local environment..."
According to their website, funding comes from various sources including:

• Shell Canada (oil company)
• Honda Canada
• Walmart
• Unilever (owners of a whole slew of chemical laden beauty products including Axe)
• Toyota

It's great that these companies who are also responsible for creating and supporting products that harm our environment are taking the initiative to support something good for a change.... but does it justify?

I believe it's trying the best choices with what information we have. I truly don't believe that by making a less-chemical line (like Clorox did with GreenWorks) justifies continuing to crap on our planet. But I find I'm often faced with more and more conflicting decisions.

Like how I entered the Lush store prior to Yulemas in order to find a less offensive cologne for Andrew. I ended up purchasing their "guerilla perfume" product called... get this... "Breath of a God" (very clever marketing). It smells awesome, won't give Andrew a migraine and has *mostly* essential oils and alcohol. Ingredient list:

DRF Alcohol, Perfume, Cedarwood Oil (Cupressus funebris), Rose Oil (Rosa damascena), Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), Vetivert Oil (Vetiveria zizanoides), Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Grapefruit Oil (Citrus paradisi), Neroli Oil (Citrus Aurantium amara), Black Pepper Oil (Piper nigrum), Sandalwood Oil (Santalum austro-caledonicum vieill), Cade Oil (Juniperus oxycedrus), *Benzyl Salicylate, *Citral, *Coumarin, *Eugenol, *Geraniol, *Citronellol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool
*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Honestly, I don't like the "perfume" ingredient in there- usually that masks some pretty nasty stuff and the *occurs naturally in essential oils can also be pretty darn irritating.... but have you smelled the regular alternatives? Sigh. I made a decision and Andrew loves the result. What can I say?

What do you think? Should we really just go with a stick to our tree hugging staffs, no middle road... or do we find a balance encouraging awareness and knowledge?

article and photograph copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

A slight break for my favourite photos

(my boots, all ready to be worn outside our cottage at Oceanstone)

Slight break from environment and yoga to share some more wedding-y stuff....

(really shows how the sun came out *only* for the 20 minutes of the ceremony, rain and cloud before and after)

Like a magical fairy path

Our rings, my band and opal engagement and Andrew's band

A fun shed dealy! Andrew looks so calm and cool

Love... :)

Our professional photos have come in and here are my favourites! Our photographer was amazing and if you're in the HRM area (and I think beyond, she travels) Heather Crosby Gionet is worth every single penny. :)