Living a natural life is something many of us aspire to but others reject after being exposed to the same information—the abundance of media messages about climate change, the importance of sustainability, the emergence of green products on our shelves,
Published in Your Health Connection (YHC) magazine by Jan Tucker
Note: This was published in Jan’s monthly column in this magazine titled, Beyond Green Living
_________________________________
Living a natural life is something many of us aspire to but others reject after being exposed to the same information—the abundance of media messages about climate change, the importance of sustainability, the emergence of green products on our shelves, and all the things we know and need to know about how going against nature is damaging to our future existence.
We’ve all seen so much information on this subject that it can be hard to understand what natural living is. The good news is, it’s possible to keep things simple—and the purpose of this new column is to help you live a natural life simply—so you can enjoy it.
Where to Begin?
I brainstormed dozens of ideas related to natural living and since I am a yogi living a yoga lifestyle—the spiritual yoga rather than the physical yoga—my list is quite extensive. It is based on the yoga principles I hold dear (the first one being to simplify).
That said, the concepts I will introduce in this continuing column are not unique to yoga. During my spiritual journey, I have always placed a high value on the similarities in all the world’s religions and among all people.
In my mind, this is one of the first natural concepts. We all live on the same planet, sharing the same land and oceans with each other and with the plant and animal kingdoms. We have common needs, we share common problems, and to focus on anything but our common ground seems very unnatural. In fact, focusing on our differences has led to major world problems.
Creating a peaceful world where we live and work together in harmony, respecting all people, is a natural concept that results from this perspective on life. We don’t all have to agree, and we will never all achieve everything we want at the same time. But living naturally is about having compassion for and honoring all living beings. It’s about creating a better world where we can all improve our lives through each other’s mutual support. It’s about living based on truth. Isn’t that a great vision?
Other Key Concepts of Living Naturally
Our world is complex and so are our lives
Multiple responsibilities pull at us from all directions. We keep our own stress levels so high that our health is affected. At this point what do we do?—we keep going! That’s not the best answer.
Living naturally is about returning to the basics and simplifying—about slowing down to enjoy life more. It’s about going within to reflect on what is really important.
Realizing that needs and wants are two different things, and prioritizing needs, goes a long way toward settling us into a more natural lifestyle. We can do this. The key is to realize the need to do this before we create more harm.
We have lost our connection with nature
Specifically, we lost our connection with the natural world outside of our homes and offices. Some of us even live surrounded by buildings and asphalt. We’re lucky if a few trees line the sidewalks and luckier yet if we have a park or two. Connecting more closely with nature helps our soul to connect with its source.
If you’ve been indoors even for a short time and you go for a hike in the woods or on the beach—anywhere outdoors—you can feel your body and mind healing from the contact. You can feel your mind and your soul expanding and your body wanting to slow down to take it all in.
We need our contact with nature and we can take simple steps to get it. Developing an awareness of this will help make sure we strengthen our connection.
We can adopt practices to help us live more naturally
Regular exercise and meditation come to mind. Even a few minutes each day is a great start if we’ve been pushing too hard. We need quiet time to slow down and unwind, and at other times to process what we’ve experienced on the outside before we take in more.
Slowing down and practicing awareness can help us to determine how we want to relate to what we’re seeing and doing.
Exercise keeps us in better condition and if we combine it with a trip outdoors, the benefits multiply.
What about our health?
There are a multitude of ways to care for our health from a proactive, preventive stance rather than waiting until we have a symptom and taking steps to fix it. From the food we eat to the amount of sleep we get to our general outlook on life—there are many natural ways to achieve better health. YHC Magazine covers this topic so thoroughly.
Then there are the plethora of chemicals our bodies deal with in our environment—both inside and outside of our homes. This is known as our body burden.
But we have control over the products we choose to use, including personal care products and cosmetics; food; clothing and furniture; cooking utensils; household cleaners, solutions, and equipment; paints and pesticides; lawn and garden products; and even items for our pets. If we purchase these items consciously, we can replace most of the chemical-laden products with truly green natural ones and live a whole different kind of healthy natural life.
We can learn from the past
So much of returning to nature can be based on knowledge gained in the past. We have thousands of years of tested worldwide wisdom from which to draw. The development of technology is based on past discoveries and experience. Technology isn’t the only area where we can benefit from past knowledge. We can develop natural processes, products and remedies based on past knowledge, too.
As individuals and as nations we need to open our hearts and minds to this ancient wisdom, to the wisdom of generations both alive and long gone, in order to draw on their knowledge and practices rather than reinventing the wheel.
In many cases, the wheel has already been invented. It’s much wiser to learn from mistakes that have already been made and corrected than to make the same mistakes over when trying to recreate the wheel. Let’s look back and use the knowledge of our ancestors and our older generations to help us live more naturally. We can truly thrive if we make this a commitment.
Each month I will provide helpful information about how to create your own natural life—together we’ll improve the world.