Peace Begins With Me {Freebie}

The last month has been full of changes and little miracles.  I accepted a job at a small school outside of Santa Fe and will be partner teaching with project based learning in a multi-age classroom!  I am so excited for this new adventure and feel very blessed for the opportunity!  My husband has been living in Santa Fe since September studying to become a Doctor of Oriental Medicine.  So he came home to Utah and we packed up my classroom (not a small task!) and home and we drove all of our stuff down to Santa Fe!      


As June was approaching I was searching for some kind of learning opportunity for myself.  Something that I could use to better myself, my family and my community.  For the last six years I have dedicated the month of June as a time for spiritual growth and have gone into the mountains of New Mexico with 2,000 yogi friends from around the world for a Yogic immersion.  This year I decided I wanted to do something a little bit different...




 I truly believe that.....

and was looking for another way to contribute to the healing of the people and planet. During my free time much of my energy during the last eight years has gone to living and breathing Kundalini Yoga in search of an inner peace/healing and spiritual experience.  I certainly did find that in my practice and am eternally grateful for the dedication and commitment I found through the process.     

Lately though the intellectual side of me has been leaning toward learning about sustainable practices.  I have been interested in sustainable living for a long time because I believe that a strong force in the disharmony of the world is in part because of the unsustainable culture that most, including myself, have bought into.  

I've wanted to learn ways that I can decrease my negative environmental impact on the planet and the passion for this knowledge lead me to a little/big intentional community known as the Lama Foundation.  

I spent two weeks at the Lama Foundation learning about Permaculture ethics, principles and practices and becoming certified in Permaculture Design.

What is permaculture?

Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how to build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities and much more.  

This was the classroom at Lama that I shared with 25 other souls from around the country.

     Our teacher was Scott Pittman.  A very knowledgeable man who has been practicing and teaching Permaculture Design for many years.  I found out about the course through The Permaculture Institute.  His wife Arina has a beautiful and informative blog on sustainable living: lotsoflifeinoneplace.blogspot.com 

Each day began with a meditation practice in the prayer room.  At Lama they call this "The Sit'.  You are welcome to use any type of meditation practice that you know or you can just sit.  I chose to do the meditation for a Calm Mind and Strong Nerves that I have been practicing for a few months now.  They have a very beautiful space dedicated to the sit.  We also used this room for a special global meditation during the Venus Transit.    

The water for the shower at Lama is heated with a solar water heater and the grey water feeds a greenhouse.  There is bamboo and other plants growing in planters surrounding the shower.  It is a lot like showering in a jungle!

  

The residents at Lama were so hospitable and loving.  A big thank you to everyone at Lama for making my stay so spectacular!  

I learned SOOOOOO much during the Permaculture Design Course!  I am so inspired to integrate Permaculture ethics and practices into my life and teaching style and to be able to share this with you, through this blog, because together we really can make a change for a better future for all living creatures on this sacred Earth.

I have made some posters to use in my new classroom of the ethics of permaculture which are:  

* Care for the Earth.

* Care for the People.

* Care for the Future.

{Click on the picture to snag your FREE copy}

Leave me some love if you download the posters, and let me know what you intend to do and are already doing to leave this world a better place!