On the 21st of June is World Yoga Day. We especially love to draw attention to yoga on this day and celebrate this day together with you. How nice that the longest day of the year also falls on this holiday – Midsummer. Also known as Midsommar, solar equinox, or Litha. Today we want to direct our energies to the togetherness of yoga and sustainability. For us, these two principles go hand in hand and are very important to consider together. With hejhej we are revolutionising the yoga world in a sustainable way – join us on this journey. We provide you with sustainability tips that you can easily integrate into your everyday life.
For us, yoga is first and foremost a source of strength. We draw strength from our yoga routine. Yoga is more than “just” asanas, just flexibility and fancy yoga pictures on Instagram. We made a video about this on World Yoga Day 2021 to highlight this issue again. See yourself: I am a yogi!
For us, the whole yoga philosophy is so super important. We are always learning and love to dive deeper into the traditional yoga philosophy. For us, yoga is also above all about reflecting on oneself and healing oneself. To feel at home in one’s own body. An important part that often comes too short for us is mindfulness towards others – yes, this is also part of the yoga philosophy. Mindfulness on and off your yoga mat. This is precisely where we need to start.
Mindfulness outside the yoga mat
We use yoga to strengthen ourselves (body & mind), to draw strength and then move on. To make a difference. To change something. Let the power flow into deeds, activism and actions. That also gives us a lot back.
From yoga and meditation, we gather strength within, to be followed by action and actionism.
We want to encourage you to get active outside the yoga mat! Yoga and sustainability go hand in hand. Stay mindful on and next to your yoga mat. Take your mindfulness with you into your life.
Full Week of Sustainability Tips – Body, Mind & Earth
Here we give you a few very important tips and inputs that help us to become active on a regular basis in our everyday life. Because everyone makes a difference and every step counts. Focus on what you like to do, on the area you want to be active in. In which you are perhaps already active. You don’t have to do everything – we just have to start. We can give you the following tips for sustainability:
Tips Sustainability No. 1: Mindfulness exercise in nature
Take a walk in nature. Observe the beauty that surrounds you, the magic of mother nature, of life. Walk slowly, observe your surroundings, and breathe deeply. How are you? Does this exercise slow you down and regulate your nervous system? What are you seeing, hearing, and smelling? Give mother nature a breather, too. How about picking up a few pieces of trash, when you sight them in natural surroundings?
Sustainability tips No. 2: Appreciation of food
Our second tip to get active and protect our fragile planet is to shop packaging-free. Have you been shopping at a plastic-free supermarket before? The special thing about this store concept is that it saves packaging and thus natural resources and, in the second step, waste. Bring recyclable containers such as washed-out jars, cotton bags, or lunch boxes from home, you can then carry your shopping home in them.
It doesn’t matter if you have tried it before or not. We want to motivate you to do at least one plastic-free food purchase this week. Hopefully, you are inspired then and will continue to shop plastic-free more often – because every purchase counts. Most of the products in an unpacked shop are organic, vegan, fair and, if possible, local.
Unpacked shopping doesn’t have to be extremely expensive either. Of course, there are also very special or expensive products there, just as there are in any other supermarket. But there are also many standard products that are completely affordable. For example, every Tuesday is student day here in Nuremberg at Freivon, where students and trainees get a 10% discount on their entire purchase. We also believe that we should spend a little more money on high-quality food. One should rather ask how it can be possible for discounters to offer such incredibly low prices? Someone somewhere in the supply chain will pay the price – mostly people and the environment. Maybe you’ll buy fewer clothes and invest in high-quality, plastic-free food instead? The current times are, due to the buying behavior of people, especially hard for many unpacked stores in Germany, so support your local store so that we all continue to have the opportunity to go shopping there.
Tips Sustainability No. 3: Car-free week
How do you get to class? Are there easy and short routes that you can take by bike or on foot instead of by car? Our teammate Pia also loves to go to yoga class on her inline skates for a change. When was the last time you did that? Every distance counts.
Advantages of a week without a car:
You won’t get stuck in traffic.
You easily find a great parking spot.
Save money – gas prices are so high.
Explore and see your city from new perspectives, and try different routes. Movement is so healthy, your body and mind will thank you later Reduce your carbon emissions, and our planet will thank you.
Reduce your carbon footprint, our planet will thank you.
The best companion for your route by bike, inline skates or on foot is the closed-loop hejhej-bag. It protects your hejhej-mat optimally and makes it very easy to carry.
