Movement for Modern Life founder, Kat Farrants offers ways to simplify Christmas, starting by caring for our trees and burning coffee. Find out how.
Simplify Christmas
My intention for this Christmas, and going into next year is to simplify. When in doubt, do less. Many of us are looking at how we can make Christmas more sustainable. There have been some fabulous posts in our Facebook Movers group with your ideas.
I’m writing this on World Soil Day, when we recognise the very sad fact over 33% of our soils are already degraded and over 90% of our soils could be degraded by 2050. Desertification is rampaging through the planet. Our amazing teacher, Vidya Heisel set up a project, Danyadara, to reverse the desertification in her area, arid southern Spain, to show local farms what could be done. She talks about this in her beautiful podcast, do give it a listen if you haven’t yet! This is a time in which our actions really can have an impact if we make conscious decisions.
Planting and Preserving Trees
No more chopping trees for Christmas – our Christmas tree is rented! Do you have a local Christmas tree rental scheme? Or why not give the gift of trees? If you are looking for that perfect gift for someone who has a garden, why not gift them a tree to plant. This truly is the gift that will keep giving, especially if you gift fruit trees. Apple and pear trees will fit in many gardens. The Woodland Trust has this lovely guide of other British Trees to plant in your garden.
Fuel up with Coffee
I’ve been burning Coffee Logs. No more chopping trees or burning fossil fuel for fires – I’m using the recycled coffee grinds from some of London’s many coffee shops with the Coffee Logs company from Bio Beans.
Make inspiration your gift
Christmas crackers are out this year! Instead make some homemade surprises gifting the gift of inspiring poems inside perhaps for everyone to read. Who are your favourite poets? I love Mary Oliver and have shared one of my favourite poems of hers, introduced to me on retreat by our wonderful Mimi.
Keeping it Local
This is a great time of year to think carefully about who you are giving your hard-earned cash to. Are you being discerning when you spend every penny and supporting someone or something you really believe in. We’ve all heard about eating local, but how about supporting small, local businesses and community projects at this time of year? The books that I’m buying for my friends are coming from my local, independent book shop. They really do need the support more than amazon! It’s a great way of supporting your community and keeping the people doing great things in the world doing those things.
Happy, Healthy and Sustainable
And you may wonder how on earth all this relates to yoga. Well, yoga is all about living a life in union. Of connectedness. We connect our movement to our breath and our breath to stilling our busy minds. We start to make conscious movements, conscious, long, deep, slow breaths and conscious choices in how we can for ourselves and each other and the planet. There is no ‘business as usual’. We all now know that we can’t just carry on. Now is the perfect time for each of us to support each other to live a more conscious life, moving freely into a happy, healthy and sustainable life. If you’re looking for a calmer Christmas this year, why not try our Frazzle-Free Festivities course? We have 32 restorative and mindful flow classes to take you through the season.
WHEN I AM AMONG TREES by Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It’s simple,”
they say, “and you, too, have come
into the world to do this, to go easy,
to be filled with light, and to shine.”
About Kat Farrants:
Movement for Modern Life’s fabulous founder Kat Farrants lives her yoga and her own yoga practice informs how she develops MFML. Kat wrote this post using inspiration of how she can take the small steps to move into a happier, healthier and more sustainable life. Please do join her on this journey and explore with us your happiest, healthiest, most sustainable life.
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