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Unemployed? Ready to make a career change? Seeking something more meaningful in life?
Before you go out and do something so-not-green in the search of happiness like racking up credit card debt, making an insane impulse buy (shiny red corvette, maybe?), or trying to escape it all with booze (OK, eco-bonus points if you’re at least drowning sorrows away in an organic or local spirits), there’s a healthier, eco-friendlier alternative.
Ashrams. And no, you don’t need to be a hippie to attend. According to the New York Times’ Fashion and Style section, almost always on the pulse of all things hip, the economic downturn has an influx of the unemployed and weary turning towards spiritual retreats where they can slow down, relax, practice yoga and meditation, bike, hike and more.
Ashrams Are Low-Impact and Low-Cost
For aspiring greenies, ashrams present just another option in how to live with less. Less stuff, less money, and less packaging waste—since all ashram meals are collectively cooked and eaten together with other ashram members. All the meals are typically vegetarian, too—another great way to reduce your personal carbon footprint.
This is all not to say it’s for free however—but it is affordable. The Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA offers a 28-day self-transformation program for $825 which includes daily 6am meditation, a full schedule of hatha yoga classes, breathing and relaxation exercises and four hours of light chores like helping in the kitchen or garden.
If a month long retreat proves impossible, you can give yourself a one-week vacation, exchanging a few hours a day of service-y chores to stay and partake in the ashram’s activities. Or you can even more slowly dip in your toes at Ananda Ashram in Monroe, NY which offers short weekend getaways.
Extended ashram guests be warned. As the article states,
Committing to an unpaid life baking bread and planting trees, however idyllic it might sound in the abstract, can also raise identity issues.
If you’re making an escape to an ashram to hide from the harsh realities of life, you might question your dishwashing, vegetable chopping, and garden weeding chores while you’re there. If you go keeping the bigger picture in mind, however, like how The Himalayan Institute is committed to providing humanitarian aid to communities in Africa and India, and how your contribution there does make a difference, you could find your time, participation and community service very fulfilling, worth while and potentially life-changing.
More on Yoga:
Buy Green: Yoga Mats
Green Your Yoga Retreat
How to Green Your Bikram Yoga
