Transition Pasadena
  • Home
  • Our Projects
  • News
  • Get Involved!
  • Calendar of Events

Yoga, Weeding and the Gift of Bread: How My Neighborhood Is Applying Transition Principles in Everyday Life

5/29/2018

1 Comment

 

PictureMinds and hearts and actions are shifting: Establishing the post office garden in 2016. (Photos by TP and Therese Brummel)
My neighbors don’t really know that they are moving toward a Transition mindset.

On my block every Monday morning, nine people email back and forth to arrange yoga carpools. The yoga class is less than three miles away in a park. The carpool serves as a time to connect with neighbors, swap borrowed party plates and silverware, recipes and theatre reviews.

Rogue Yoga is a result of a yoga teacher wanting to give back to her community. She opened the class in 2011 for a five dollar donation and frequently reminded us that if we could not afford it we should still come. After five years she moved away. The new yoga teacher continues the tradition of the low donation. As we leave the class feeling limber, relaxed, alert and strong we comment to each other how lucky we are to enjoy the mountain view, changing clouds and busy hummingbirds while we practice yoga. There is a sense of connection to and gratitude for the beauty that surrounds the class.

On Fridays, two of us carpool to an early morning group meditation. Inner Transition, or a shift in consciousness, is an important part of being aware that every choice we make each day has impact on climate change: choosing the option that nurtures nature reduces fuel consumption or moves toward zero waste. The debate ensues on whether in order to lead a more Transition-based life, a raised awareness must come first or whether engagement in easy, resilience-building fun like yoga, gardening and sharing things comes first. It seems that both must develop together.

On Saturday mornings, six of us sometimes meet up at the neighborhood post office, weeding and pruning together in the garden that the larger neighborhood helped to establish. We share seeds and small plants that are crowding our gardens. The garden has been a delightful example of the theory of the broken window effect, where one broken window can quickly devolve to a second and then a dozen. But if the first broken window, or weedy plot of land in this case, is repaired promptly, the domino effect does not happen, the community is raised up. Disorder is abated by repair. Now that the post office has a beautiful array of native flowers, ground cover and trees, the trash on the property is reduced. The auto parts store across the street has tidied up its yard which was littered with trash and weeds. The bakery across the other street has built a counter with high stools so that coffee and nosh customers can gaze out to the lively bright yellows and purples and pungent blues and grays in the garden. In gratitude, the bakery donates loaves of leftover bread to Repair Café for the volunteers’ breakfast before repairs begin.

All these things embody the concepts of Transition. Abundance is shared. Waste is reduced. Relationships and community are nurtured. And by living more locally we are reducing our carbon footprint and helping climate change.

The Transition movement is based on Permaculture principles, which are the principles that have long been observed in Mother Nature herself. Nature takes care of people, shares in a reciprocal way, it nurtures relationships and leaves no waste. It is inherently sustainable and resilient. My neighbors may not see themselves as engaged with Transition Principles, but their minds and hearts and actions are shifting. The Transition movement gets the credit from my perspective, but as one of my dear mentors, Martha Fitzgerald liked to say, “A lot can be accomplished if you don’t mind who gets the credit.” 

​—Therese Brummel

1 Comment
Susan Campisi
6/27/2018 12:09:47 pm

Lovely article. I can attest to the beauty of the garden as I admire it every time I drop in to Seed Bakery for bread. I appreciate being reminded of the power of Inner Transition. One of these days I would like to join Rogue Yoga...

“A lot can be accomplished if you don’t mind who gets the credit.” So true!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe To Our Blog

    Want to stay current with news from us on a (almost) weekly basis? Click here to subscribe to our blog feed!

    Transition Network News


    Other Resilience News



    Our Previous Posts

    July 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    June 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011


•  Home
•  Latest News  /  Event Photos
•  Throop Learning Garden  /  History  /  Garden Photos
•  Repair Café Pasadena  /  Photo Gallery
•  Get Involved  /  Contact Us

Creative Commons License
Content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Picture
Site design: Qrys Cunningham
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, club125.greenbelt, Luigi Mengato, Images_of_Money, KJGarbutt, Will Merydith, Sayjack, skampy, El Coleccionista de Instantes, audreyjm529