How Your Yoga Practice Is Killing The Planet

How Your Yoga Practice Is Killing The Planet

 Yoga rejuvenates our body and soul. Ever wondered what it does to our environment? Well, it adds to plastic pollution, which refuses to decompose and ends up polluting our lands and ocean beds. However harsh and unbelievable it may sound, this is the truth. By now, you must be scratching your head in confusion trying to link yoga with plastic wastes, right? We will show you how both are related.

 WHAT HAS YOGA TO DO WITH PLASTIC POLLUTION?

Be it your yoga mat, polyester workout clothes or plastic bottles that quench your thirst, every such thing used in yoga ultimately leads to plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is a collection of plastic waste in the environment in the form of marine litter, soil litter, and micro-plastic dispersal. 

 WHY YOGA SHOULD BE RID OF PLASTIC

Commercially made since the 1950’s, the plastic story is a real success. All its benefits like the ease of shaping and cost-effectiveness make it even more popular. However, being dumped in nature mostly as household waste, plastic leaches harmful chemicals, which can be easily ingested by animals and other organisms. Some of these molecules ingested are potentially dangerous and magnify up the food chain indirectly to other animals and eventually humans.   

 Washing synthetic clothing such as fleece jackets, track pants etc. poses a great threat to our environment today. It releases micro-plastic upon washing, which ultimately ends up polluting our lands and water bodies. Microfibers attract other chemical pollutants and then get leached onto an organism’s tissue and then to fish and lastly to humans via the food chain.

 Birth defects, cancer, weak immune systems and many other health problems in humans these days are a direct cause of such plastic exposure. Many cities have banned plastic use completely. While these things do aid in stopping the plastic waste from collecting further, it is not enough to bring a real change to our environment. 

We work out for our longevity and good health. Using plastic products as workout gear is compromising on that good health. Plastic pollution is the biggest challenge that mother earth faces today. The best gift we could give to ourselves and our planet would be to stop or reduce plastic use. Reuse of plastic is largely recommended and disposing it in recycle bins makes us more responsible towards ourselves, the society and the environment.

3 WAYS ON HOW YOGA SHOULD BE RID OF PLASTIC

We have discussed the problems enough. Time to concentrate on the solutions. Here we present 3 tips to ban plastic while doing yoga.

 1.Choose Your Yoga Mat Wisely

Yoga mats are mostly made of un-compostable materials like plasticizers, foaming agents or toxic PVC. Consider investing in a biodegradable and chemical-free mat instead. Settle for mats made of natural materials like cotton, grass, jute or cork.

2.Say No to Polyester Clothing

Say no to synthetic clothing that you otherwise prefer for your yoga sessions, especially since these are sweat-repellent and easily stretchable. Microfiber pollution can only be curbed this way until the clothing brands come out with some other fixes. Go for free-flowing, natural, and breathable cotton clothing. Clothes made out of organic cotton are the best since they are fertilizer and pesticide free.

3.Get Rid of Plastic Bottles

While quenching your thirst during and after a fruitful yoga session is absolutely necessary, ban using plastic bottles for this purpose. Use stainless steel, glass or copper bottles for drinking water. Copper bottles are immensely beneficial to your health.

 So next time you purchase a brand-new workout gear wrapped in plastic, you know what to do!