Yoga of Sustainability (Healing Power of Synchronicity)

This article is inspired by Mark Whitwell’s book Yoga of Heart: “The Healing Power of Intimate Relationships.”

Mark Whitwell’s book outlines T. Krishnamacharya’s Hatha Yoga philosophy on masculine and feminine forces. It is believed that all life is made up of masculine, giving, and feminine, receiving, forces. This philosophy emphasizes the importance of masculine surrender to the feminine in order to achieve balance in our intrinsic polarities. This article is an attempt to start looking at environmental sustainability from this perspective.

The foundation of how we treat the environment is dependent on our ability to fully understand that we came from somewhere separate from ourselves. There is a force that gave and a force that received for the system of life to be present. No matter your religious affiliation, the forces of giving and receiving are present in and around all of us.

These polar forces, when balanced, work in union to produce systems where life can survive and thrive. Giving and receiving forces are always moving together. However, which side the pendulum swings in favor of is entirely dependent on the behaviors within the system. In the case of human longevity, the system is entirely dependent on what human behaviors are most present and to which side of the spectrum, giving or receiving, those behaviors favor. When we are not aware of both these compounding forces, we fixate our attention on one over the other. This is Hatha Yoga and the teachings of T. Krishnamacharya.

As a society, we are currently experiencing a fixation on giving. I know what you’re thinking. The term “giving” is usually associated with philanthropists or volunteer work done during the holidays. It’s a feel-good term we’ve manufactured to liberate ourselves from the wrongdoing we participate in most of the time. In the context of sustainability, giving has the opposite meaning. Here, giving is synonymous with taking or conquering. In order to give to humans, we’ve had to take from the environment.

The predominant behaviors that brought us to the present moment of climate crisis, mass-deforestation, air and water pollution and natural resource depletion are neoliberalism, excessive economic growth, capitalism, concentrated power structures, over-extraction, lack of mindfulness in waste management, monoculture, factory farming and using non-renewable energy. To name a few. I would classify these behaviors as being born from a place of the giving force.

Restoring our environment happens by incorporating sustainable agriculture, sustainable design, renewable energy, polyculture, farm animal husbandry, renewable energy, recycling, composting, commensalism, localized systems of governance, wellbeing economy, and de-growth, into our current system of human development. I classify these behaviors as being born from a place of receiving. The term receiving in this context is synonymous with nurturing, renewing and sustainability.

In the words of Mark Whitwell, “Human contentment, wellness, wisdom and realization are in the power of mutuality between the polar opposites. It is in the acknowledgment, participation and surrender to the fact that one pole does not exist without the other. This is the realization of the heart or whole.” 

Sustainability cannot be achieved without confronting the need to first remove systems of injustice and rehabilitate land and spaces we’ve already destroyed. At some point the giving forces that have driven our species development must surrender to the receiving forces trying to bring balance. “Please understand what yoga actually is. It is strength receiving. It is to absorb the nurturing force of Life, the male surrender to the feminine. This union serves the union of heaven and Earth. It is the very form of Life by which spirit takes form and it is freely available.”

This article is titled Yoga of Sustainability, not Yoga’s application to Sustainability, because sustainability is not separate from the human experience. It is the human experience. Sustainability is felt when all opposites merge and become balanced in their dependence on one another. We’re far from that. But I have no choice but to trust, believe and fight in order to strike a balance.