New Life for Old Mats
BY LISA BERMAN
I’m fortunate to have been practicing yoga for almost 13 years. My journey has included exploring many forms of yoga, taking teacher training and expanding my knowledge through attending a wide array of yoga workshops.
Along the way, my yoga mats have been like supportive and loyal friends to me. Delving into a dedicated yoga practice on them, I have grown in strength, confidence and commitment from the steady mastery of asana to feeling a personal transformation in my spiritual soul as I chant, meditate, practice pranayama and kriyas.
I have laughed, cried and prayed on my mats. And, as each have shown the signs of wear, I have carefully put aside my “sacred friends” until I could find an honorable way to recycle them.
Now, I have done just that. The yoga mat company, JadeYoga, has set up a program called 3R, “to reduce the number of mats going to landfills, reuse yoga mats by giving to those who might otherwise not be able to afford them, and recycle any mats that cannot be reused.”
The one drop-off location in Michigan is a local studio, Divine Power Yoga in South Lyon, which is collecting used mats for the Africa Yoga Project. Its mission is “to bring all that yoga has to offer to diverse communities of East Africa, while at the same time providing opportunities for members of the global yoga community to participate and contribute.”
This is a meaningful way to reuse my “retired” yoga mats. I like to believe the powerful and positive energy that has helped me evolve and grow on my yogic path lives on in my mats.
Now a new group of people can place their feet on those mats as they begin their own journey of transformation through yoga.
Perhaps this is an opportunity that you would like to be a part of as well.
Namaste
Lisa Berman’s passions are her family, her dog, yoga, art, friends, cooking and nature. It’s all One, as she’s steadily learning. On any given day, she is trying to be the best energy vibration for her soul’s journey! Her website is www.healingsculpture.com.