May what we buy reflect what we believe
That is a very hard statement to say. Actually, it took me some time to decide to write about it, as we, as practitioners, eternal students from the yoga path, learn from this beautiful practice about austerity, renunciation, non accumulation and non-attachment, but the truth is that we live in this world were we are lead to consume and posses more things than what we need, and that is an understatement.
At some point I have stopped fighting against the fact that society has a lot of influence on me, and that I am also an active part of this consumerist world: I buy cloths that I don't need, I collect things that have no meaning in my awakening process, I buy food I don't need, I waste, I accumulate and some times I dare to complain. Slowly I have changing some of these patterns but I am still very influenced by false needs and desires.
The big problem of consumerism is the way things are produced, which is a result of our desire for having things and accumulating them. Based on accepting that, I have done a process of clarifying my mind in order to be a little more consequent with my believes.
Today I'm sharing 2 ethical decisions + 2 beautiful brands I have found that support my principles:
1) The least amount of plastic and non organic garbage:
How many times have you ordered a coffee and receive a plastic cup? or a paper cup with a plastic top? How many times have you bought plastic bottles of water? Haw many times you forget your shopping bags and you receive plastic ones so you can take groceries or any other article back home?
I have started paying attention to the amount of plastic used for packing in the food I buy. Sometimes they come triple packed. Isn't it insane? I decided I don't buy it. If I'm on the street and I forgot my bamboo coffee cup, I order it to drink in a non-discardable cup or I don't drink it. I don't use straws. I don't buy plastic water bottles, unless it is an extreme circumstance. And of course, I reuse as much as possible and recycle every plastic that arrives to my house.
In the search of finding a cup which was produced with sustainable practices and which could be used to avoid plastic, I found this beautiful brand: "BambooCup". They are not only sustainable but beautifully designed! If you are in Costa Rica, you can find them in "Librería Internacional", or from anywhere in the world you can buy them on Amazon.
2) Sustainable & ethically produced clothing:
Do we know how our cloths have been produced? Do we know how the employees in the factories where our cloths were ensembled were treated? How many hours and under which conditions they had to work? I didn't know neither, and I'm still learning to do the homework, to research and actually take responsibility for what I put on my body. I have decided to no longer buy from brands that exploit their workers in order to produce and earn more. And also I have decided to buy as much as possible, from brands that have sustainable practices. This is how I found: "Teeki". Teeki is a brand from California that designs, produces and manufactures clothes suitable for Yoga Asana practice, made from recycled plastic bottles mixed with organic cotton. They even share their process (check out Teeki manufacturing process here) step by step which makes it even more trustable. As if this was not enough, their designs are gorgeous, and they fit wonderfully, they are my favorites from what I have tried till today. You can use this link to get a 10% discount on your purchases: https://mbsy.co/teeki/39135891
I'll be sharing more brands and principles I have been reflecting on and refining my consumerism decisions based on them. Even if these type of topics might seem mundane to some, some awareness is required to be put into them, we barely reflect on these topics, and like it or not, we are part of the consumerist world. Remember, we are also responsible for the way things are produced.
If you have an affinity for some incredible sustainable brands that you think I may also enjoy please write me at: contact@luanafarayoga.com
#teeki #ecosustainablebrands #BambooCup #responsibleshopping #lifestyle