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july 2016yogajournal.com.auPHOTO: PIXDELUXE;CHRISTOPHER BADZIOCH/ISTOCKPHOTO.COMfootprint, how to use fewer resources, share
produce and create a more equal world for
all. Ross Inness-McLeish, an ecology and
religious studies student, was one of those
who took part because the idea of voluntary
simplicity resonated with him.
As part of the project, Ross helped
fashion an earthship, a building made with
recycled industrial waste, old car tyres, and
earth and concrete render, and other
environmental buildings including a tiny
house which used recycled wood collected
from skips around Melbourne. “The whole
of idea of simplification and slowing is a
real discipline; it’s a constant contemplation
and question,” Ross says. “This project was
a real deepening of that enquiry. What do I
value and how do I want to try and live that
and what are the challenges?
“A common idea is that simplicity
means deprivation, and if it’s going to be
seen in that way, it’s never going to be
attractive. It’s about empowerment; if I can
choose to slow things down then I’m not
caught on a treadmill and I’m moving
through life at my own pace.”
Ross says, “The rate of change is so huge
and so many people are living in dire
situations with no choice. I think the
question is, ‘How do I want to respond?’
We’ve got limited time in this life and we
have to decide how we want to spend it.
“To me, simplification comes back
to a sense of spirituality ... a sense of
relationships to life. To care for the
products you have, to craft them with love,
not to waste food, to share the excess you
have ... it’s about respect and love and the
more we can step into that the richer our
lives become as individuals and the more
responsible we are as a society.”
Ross is passionate about reducing
busyness in our lives and creating space and
time for activities that make us feel good
and enhance our wellbeing, like starting a
veggie patch, practicing yoga, and
appreciating nature, music and food.
Yoga teacher Claire Lovelace (Dancing
Warrior Yoga, Sydney) shares the same
zest for prioritising time out. She says our
modern, busy lives are often driven by fear:
fears of being unfulfilled at work, of being
lonely, or of keeping up with appearances.
We fear being considered lazy, we fear what
other people think, and we fear we are not
good enough. We are conditioned to believe
that being busy is good.
“If we’re not ever slowing down, we’re
not ever giving ourselves the chance to
examine why we might be feeling unfulfilled,
frustrated or depressed. We’re just constantly
plugging all those emotions with morestuff, whether that’s more time on social
media, more activities or alcohol. “Living
simply has taught me to be happy with my
own company and be okay with who I am.”
Channelling the wisdom of all-time
guru of simplicity, I think of Mahatma
Gandhi and reflect on his practice of
Karma yoga, or the yoga of action which
incorporates an acceptance that each one
of our actions has consequences. In our
hurried, over-committed world, it’s easy
to fall into poor habits, not giving a thought
to the effects of our behaviour.
Milkwood director, Nick Ritar – a man
south of Sydney with a purpose-built
vocation to help us “live like it matters” –says everything we do has consequences and
our choices matter, even when they appear so
routine we don’t know we’re making them.
Milkwood – a project and business
dedicated to teaching skills and knowledge
for creating ethical, sustainable and more
simple ways of living – provides courses on
permaculture, fermenting, mushroom
cultivation and natural building. Nick says
permaculture is often described as a
revolution disguised as gardening. “It’s not
really about the vegetables. At its core, it’s
ethics and principles and design thinking.
This can be applied anywhere, from a
balcony to a community-scale project or
business development or as a policy
framework for local council.”
Nick wants to nourish our sense of
community and he has an abundance of
good ideas for establishing rich and thriving
lives, including literally knocking down
fences between neighbours and installing
gates for easier access. He says we could
share so much ... lawnmowers, lemon treesand compost heaps. “By breaking down
some of those barriers which are really
artificial, we can get to know each other
better, maybe share an occasional meal. It
doesn’t take much to regain the important
parts of community and reduce our impact.”
Nick has voluntarily chosen frugality, a
lifestyle which sets limits on desires and
therefore makes it easier to be truly joyful.
He and his wife use a grain mill, bake their
own bread, make their own yoghurt and
kefir, roll their own oats, collect honey from
their bees, dry, stew or preserve fruit and
avoid supermarkets. He truly lives what he
believes, preparing wholesome meals with
locally grown ingredients, buying in bulk,
reducing his bills, slowing down, and
spending more time with his family.
“I want to go so far beyond
sustainability into a world full of those things
that make us happy. The reality is the things
that make us really, really happy aren’t the
things we can buy; they’re community and
family and creativity ... and they’re love. And
if we spend more time doing those things we
get a lot happier, a lot more satisfied, and
there’s a lot less stress in our lives.”
This is a liberalising, beautiful,
perception of the future. Nick’s advice is
visionary, constructive, humanising and
dignified. I can grasp what he means and I
can picture a world blooming with backyard
connections, freshly made bread, communal
yoga classes, and more space and time for
friendships to flourish and veggies to grow.
My grandfather (a baker) would have
understood perfectly. If he was here now,
he’d be proud of the pumpkins I grow and
he’d worry if he thought my life was a
whirlwind of busyness. He would say, “Take
it easy, kid” ... and he might ask if I’m
planning another van adventure. In the
meantime, I would love to sit with him in the
calm of an early evening. We would breathe
in the simplicity and familiarity of just being
together on his balcony, and breathe out
the restlessness and the unimportant.
He would crack a joke and fiddle with his
slingshot. His wisdom, and that of his
generation, shines a light on how we
can unearth simple pleasures and access
the roots of true happiness. And one
thing I know I have learnt for sure, no
matter how uncomplicated, environmentally
dedicated, or frugal I manage to make my
life, I will never,ever, tuck into goanna
for dinner.
More information: http://www.martindorey.com;
http://www.milkwood.net; http://www.dancingwarrioryoga;
simplicitycollectivecom/a-simpler-way-crisis-as-
opportunity-documentary; thetravelleur.com;
http://www.wellawareness.com.au