As I was placing more paper towels into the bathroom at the yoga studio the other day, I was reminded of a YouTube video I had seen that has always stayed with me. It’s a short presentation given by Joe Smith and it’s nothing fancy but it had traction. After washing your hands, shake them 12 times and use one sheet of a folded paper towel to dry. Why? Because we use way more paper towels than we actually need. See the Ted Talk by Joe Smith here!
By replacing the towels I was reminded to be conscious of their source…trees. Americans use tons of paper towels every year which means that we use tons of trees to make them. In the constant pursuit of living my yoga I feel it is beholden upon me to share easy changes with others when they cross my path. Being on a yoga journey means raising our awareness around many things: our bodies, our relationships to ourselves and others; and our relationship to this planet. We have incredible abundance in the United States and access to anything we can think of. By having so much to choose from we can so easily become disconnected from where it all originates. Over the recent holidays I was waiting in line to use the bathroom at the movie theater and watched as the hustling crowd of women darted out of the stalls, hastily washing their hands then grabbing a bunch of towels to dry and head out to catch their movie. I doubt that many people gave a thought to how much paper they were consuming just in that one visit.
I was deeply moved when I met Julia Butterfly Hill in 2013, where once again I was left with a deep impression of our connection to trees. Julia lived in Luna, a giant sequoia for over two years in an effort to stop logging in northern California. Her book The Legacy of Luna details her relationship with living in a wise elder and through her story telling reinforced how oblivious most of us are in our relationship with using paper and how we could make a shift to alter our individual impact. I started paying more attention following my interaction with Julia, so she too, had traction in her words.
Changing how we do things begins with becoming aware of how we do things. When I shared with my yoga teacher trainees about trying to use only one paper towel by shaking and folding, one by one they would emerge from their bathroom visit with the comment of “hey, that works!” So imagine the impact those 10 people going home that day and telling just one other person about shaking and folding could have in terms of a ripple effect. Something so simple that could have such impact.
It’s not just the 12 shakes that will make a difference. Imagine if we became more conscious of: turning off light switches, shutting off the water as we brushed our teeth, creating a compost bin, bringing our own bags with us for shopping and recycling goods. I know that if you’re someone who is reading this blog, it’s highly likely that you’re on a path of becoming more conscious. So can you take the next step in sharing it with someone else? Shake, fold…smile and pass it along!
