“Sustainability” is a buzz word that gets used in myriad and sometimes incoherent ways. I understand sustainability as a way of cultivating balanced and meaningful relationships that continue over time. This generally includes ecologically responsible behavior that supports longterm practice and prosperity. Sustainability is not really an option but a necessity at this point on our planet! When a business (or a whole society for that matter) is not thriving, it’s all the more reason to focus on sustainable development. Aquamarine Yoga wants to thrive as a sustainable business. Sustainability integrates mindful economic, social, and environmental behavior. It takes into account the holistic well-being of a business in all its relations. As such, it can be challenging to initiate, map, and measure!

I doubt that I would have been able to grasp this text if not for the supportive context of my very thought-provoking and encouraging teacher, Dr. Kuldip Dhiman, and my fellow classmates at the Hindu University of America. For 22 weeks, we met online to read, recite, and discuss each verse in both Sanskrit and English. Our class consisted of students across India and the USA. We were challenged in our thinking and encouraged to question our own thoughts.

Reflecting on ethics as essential to meditation can help us to discern dharma in our minds in order to re-establish it in our lives and thereby experience the complete path of Ashtanga Yoga.

Reduce, reuse, recycle… if you can’t refuse!

Reusable Bottle Bags are for shifting the culture around how we think, don’t think, and can re-think about single-use plastics.

When attaining enlightenment under the bodhi tree, the Buddha touched the Earth in bhumisparsha mudra showing that nature is the ground of liberated awareness. The environment, the heart of nature, is essential to our yoga practice and all yogic attainments.

Just as a posture (asana) in yoga practice requires a certain alignment in order for it to be held with steadiness (sthira) and ease (sukham), the goals of Sustainable Development need a certain alignment in order to be achieved. This alignment can be summarized by the triple bottom line of People, Planet, and Profit.

Sāṁkhya (also written as “Sankhya”) philosophy is the foundation of Ashtānga Yoga as expounded in the Yoga Sūtra of Patanjali, its principles are discussed throughout the Bhagavad Gītā, and it provides the theoretical foundation of Āyurveda. So, especially for yoga practitioners and wellness professionals, Sāṁkhya is worth looking further into!

It was as if Sahasrabuddhe’s voice, and the gentle play of the tabla accompanying her, were describing for me what the plants themselves were feeling in that moment. How she held the notes and how she let them go, how the tabla underlined the rhythmic pulse of all that was occurring; the raga landed in my ears the way the water and sunlight seemed to land on the plants: transient but intentional, and most of all, nourishing…