By Laura Olinger
When Jess and I began to envision Approach to Asana, we worked through the lens of yoga instructors. We felt that we, as educators, could offer a yoga practice as a way to enhance climbing performance and make it a sustainable, life-long pursuit. Along the way, we began to build a community of yogi-climbers around us, and we realized that we had the opportunity, if not the responsibility, to also educate this community on stewardship of the outdoors, particularly those places in which we loved to recreate.
We feel that the connection between the practice of yoga and outdoor stewardship lies in the yogic ethic of ahimsa, which is commonly defined as “non-violence” or “non-harming.”
Ahimsa is a physical, mental and emotional practice. When yogis most often talk about ahimsa, we talk about it as an individual mindfulness practice. But we began to see ahimsa as something that is a practice for both individuals and communities, and we looked for ways to incorporate it into our educational practices.
Ahimsa and LNT
Leave No Trace guidelines ensure that we are minimizing our impact in outdoor spaces. These include packing out what you pack in, properly disposing of waste, and avoiding damaging land and waterways. We encourage you to read more about LNT and become familiar with the 7 principles on Leave No Trace’s website. These principles are, in general, easy to teach and easy to put into practice. They should, in theory, help protect our natural resources in a way that preserves them for everyone to enjoy.
Ahimsa and BLM
The Black Lives Matter movement, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, has made me consider ahimsa from a new perspective. It is not enough to protect our outdoor spaces if we can’t ensure the health and safety of those seeking to enjoy it. As a part of my personal yoga practice, I have asked myself, “How can I support the non-harming of Black people (individuals and communities) in America?” As a yoga instructor and as an educator in the outdoor community, I have asked, “What is my role in ensuring that BIPOC individuals feel welcome and safe in these spaces?”
Below are a few resources that I have found helpful in my efforts to support BLM through ahimsa:
Intersectional Environmentalism
I, we, ask ourselves these questions knowing that ahimsa is a daily practice. I, we, are committed to continuing to educate ourselves so that we can be better advocates and allies in our communities. As yoga teachers, we like to say that we are climbing the mountain without a top; there is always more to learn and we will always be students ourselves.
Photo by Maria Ellen Photography