Most of us want to live on a happy green planet. But often we act in ways that undermine our opportunity to enjoy life on this planet.

Some say that yoga teaches us to be better observers to notice the effect of our breath. With luck this may translates the planet into the ability to notice things that we didn’t think about before, like the effect of our mood on a friend or of our consumer habits on the planet.

Adi Carter used the power of observation to notice how much trash I was creating—and to create less by being mindful of what I consumed. Inspired by the actions of four fellow AcroYoga teachers, she challenged herself to collect her own trash. For three months, she  carried everything with her that I she normally throw away or recycle. Her rubbish would travel with her everywhere she went. It would function as a visual aid to educate people about sustainability issues in a fundraiser for the Cambodian Children’s Fund. Called the Mindfulness Challenge, with proceeds going to help Cambodian children living in extreme poverty in rubbish dumps. She had to think ahead about everything she bought and ate cooking meals the night before, packing them in reusable stainless steel containers.

Apparently the average Brit generates four pounds of rubbish a day. By being mindful, Adi created a fraction of that. In three months, she had less than 10 pounds of rubbish and half of that was junk mail, it fit a large shoulder bag. Adi enthused “The trash tour was a brilliant learning experience. It’s easy for trash to be out sight, out of mind’ once we throw it away. But when we are faced with the aftermath our consumption every day, we can’t help but notice how our actions affect the planet. noticed the effects on myself, too. Buying foods without packaging, like produce and bulk grains, meant that I was eating fresh foods, rich in prana (life force) and nutrients. By planning and cooking my own meals, I felt healthier and happier.”

How can you help?

To get foods minus the packaging.

shop at farmers’ markets (for fresh produce) and stores with bulk bins (for staples like flour, cereal, beans, and grains).

Bring your own plastic and canvas bags.

Call catalog companies and ask to be taken off their mailing lists.

Pay your bills electronically instead of using paper.

Avoid single-use paper products, Substitute hand towels for paper towels, hankies for tissues, cloth napkins for paper.

Carry your own stain- less steel or glass water bottle. Carry your food in stainless steel containers.

Six simple acts that can lead to a happier, healthier life.

Health, harmony, endorphin-rich happiness—there are as many reasons for practicing yoga as there are styles to choose from. But ultimately, you practice yoga because it helps you live your daily life. As a practice in self-awareness, yoga is an infinitely rich guide to how you spend the hours you’re not on the mat. But it’s not always easy to access the heightened awareness you find during yoga. One way to find that connection is to become more aware of how the small choices you make every day affect you, your community, and the world around you. Maybe next year you’d like to take better care of your body, help others, or reduce your impact on the planet. Whatever your intention, when you make positive changes grounded in self-awareness, you can connect with who you are and why you do what you do. Here are seven small acts that can help you understand yourself, connect with the world around you, and live your yoga.

Shift Your Perspective

To radically shift your outlook, break out of your regular routine. Go a different way to work, try a new food, it’s always a good place to start. Then notice how one seemingly simple change affects the way everything else appears to you. “The opening verse of the Dharmapada—an anthology of quotes attributed to the Buddha—says, ‘We create the world with our thoughts and our perceptions.’ This means that the only thing we know about this world we are living in is how we perceive it.”

Waste Not

Commit to a single day free of disposable products. And don’t be discouraged if achieving a waste-free day proves harder than you think. Just becoming aware of what you’re discarding is likely to usher in other changes that will eventually have an even greater effect on the environment.

Restore Health and Happiness

As an antidote to striving for success in all that you do (including asana), devote one practice a week to poses that quiet, nourish, and center. Begin your restorative practice by sitting quietly for a few moments and connecting with your breath.

Experience Silence

Spend some time in silence. Practicing silence can also be a way of conserving prana, or “life force.” See if you can appreciate all the noises: the sounds of birds, wind in the trees, the movements of other people, even traffic. You might find the respite from speech to be deeply restful.

Be a Creator

Creating something with your hands can be an active meditation, an opportunity to take a break from conscious thought and allow yourself to freely engage with your creative side. Make an Offering

Make an offering

Commit to one selfless act each week. You’ll be surprised at how even a simple act like offering your seat on a crowded bus can foster a sense of connection and a respect for the welfare of others. All yoga begins with karma yoga, which is action done as a service to others.

Does yoga help arthritis? Virginia seems to think so.

“As I grew older I thought I’d be crippled one day too,” says the 66-year-old yoga teacher. So, a decade ago, when the first signs of osteoarthritis appeared she braced herself for the worst. But the worst never came. Since then, the condition has spread to her wrists, right knee, and left ankle, but it’s hardly slowed her down. She still hikes, bikes, and swims every chance she gets. She jokes about how her doctor shakes his head in disbelief at her flexibility and activity level. “My doctor thinks I deal with the pain incredibly well” she says with a laugh, “but really it’s the yoga.”

Osteoarthritis, the cause of which isn’t entirely understood, affects a staggering number of people. People with osteoarthritis who practice yoga find that it soothes physical and emotional symptoms, says Sharon Kolasinski, a rheumatologist from Philadelphia. “Yoga not only safely exercises the muscles, ligaments, and bones in and around the joints, but also triggers a relaxation response that can help reduce pain and improve functioning.”

Virginia started practicing yoga 20 years ago as a way to meet people and stay in shape. In 2006 she completed a hatha yoga teacher training course. And today, in addition to teaching regular classes, she teaches workshops for people with osteoarthritis. She credits yoga for helping her day to day “I don’t know if I would be mobile right now if it weren’t for yoga,” she says.

Only a few small studies about yoga and osteoarthritis have been done, but what research does exist shows the benefits. Marian Garfinkel, a senior intermediate Iyengar teacher led one of the best-designed studies to date. She recruited seven women with osteoarthritis of the knee, none of whom had practiced yoga before. For 90 minutes, twice a week, she led the group through a sequence she designed to increase their range of motion in the knee. Using props, such as chairs, blankets, blocks, and straps, the women practiced Warrior Pose II, Bound Angle Pose and Staff Pose as well as many other poses.

The results published in 2005 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, were inspiring. After just eight weeks of yoga, the women reported a 46 percent drop in pain and a massive 39 percent reduction in stiffness. “”Before the study, one of the women was scared of getting on the floor—afraid that if she got down, she’d never get back up.”

It’s about that time again, that we consider which Asana of the Week is right for the pages of the Yoga Wellbeing. Salamba Sarvangasana (Supported Shoulderstand) is this weeks top pick, we have even included the counter pose. Seen as the leaves are soon going to be changing a rusty colour and we are going to be reaching for those extra layers before going into savasana the relaxation pose. We thought an asana that helps to relieve chest colds and sore throats would be a bright idea.

Wellbeing benefits –

• It stimulates the thyroid gland
• Helps swollen sinuses, chest colds, sore throat
• Improves eye sight and memory
• Tones the entire body and gives a youthful glow

Be careful if –

• You have a slipped cervical vertebrae
• Have high blood pressure
• Heart disease
• You have just started to visit Aunt Flow (ahem menstruation, I am still not sure about that word)

The Asana -

• Lay down on your back. Raise legs, keeping seat on the floor, legs bent.
• Raise legs and pelvis so that it is perpendicular to the floor and pelvis is slightly pushed forward and higher than shoulder.
• Keep palms on the seat to support yourself in the pose, upper arms on the floor, elbows and shoulder blades moving inwards towards each other.
• Now that you are in the pose, relax and feel the stretch.
• Keep awareness on the breath (breathe normally) and on the stretch.
• When you are ready to let go of the pose, exhale and lower the body one vertebrae at a time.
• Bring the body completely down.
• Relax.
• Prepare for counter pose.

The counter pose – Matsyasana (Fish pose)

For every forward bend, there is one backward bend to balance off the body’s energies.

Wellbeing benefits –

• It activates the pituitary and pineal glands
• Improves eyesight
• Improves rheumatoid arthritis of the back and lethargy
• Tones the entire body and gives a youthful glow

Be careful if –

• You have pinched nerves of the cervical vertebrae
• You have heart disease
• You have a hernia
• Have high blood pressure

The Asana -

• Bend backwards, put elbows on the floor, palms on the pelvis, crown of the head on the ground.
• Stay in the pose for a few seconds, keep your awareness on your breath.
• Keep palms on the seat to support yourself in the pose, upper arms on the floor, elbows and shoulder blades moving inwards towards each other.
• When you are ready to let go, come back to padmasana by pushing your body up with the help of your elbows first and then palms.
• Relax.
• Lie down in the relaxation pose savasana and stay here for a couple of breaths.

Feeling the inner peace and overall Wellbeing that this combined practice has created.