My own journey into living more healthily and environmentally consciously

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh.

People regularly ask me if I have always been this conscious about health and well-being, and about the consequences of my actions on the environment. The answer is a definite NO when it comes to health, and a 'yes sort of' when it comes to the ecological side of things. There was never much consciousness around healthy eating or healthy living as I was growing up. Both my parents smoked when I was young and my mother still does; both drink; and both eat a pretty unhealthy diet. To be fair, my mum did try her best to get us to eat more vegetables and fruit when we were growing up, but vegetables for me were rabbit-food (I happily borrowed that phrase from my dad who would use it daily), and for nearly every meal I would substitute my portion vegetables with a second piece of meat. That lasted well into my years at university. As to healthcare, my parents blindly trusted (and still trust) their GP and the pharmaceutical industry and would insist on us taking antibiotics for a common cold. I remember having to plead for 3 years with both my parents and my GP to be allowed to see my first chiropractor for the migraines and scoliosis I was suffering from so badly! And I was already in my early twenties at that stage, but they would still not allow it. Both are still extremely reluctant about the path in life I have chosen a few years ago: that of teaching yoga, becoming a health and nutrition adviser, massage therapist, and counselor, after I initially had a very successful 10 year career in academia. On the other hand, both have always been very active when it comes to social justice (my mother was a social assistant, my father a union leader) and have always supported the Green Party. But while they do pay a lot of attention to their ecological footprints in certain ways, there is an incomprehensible lack of awareness and care in certain other ways, which absolutely baffles me.

My upbringing did plant some seeds of consciousness in the sense that I have only ever voted for the Green Party myself, I have always given dasvandh to different nature-protection organisations, and I never got a driver's license, for a large part because I don't want to pollute in that way so I consciously choose to use public transport, my bike, my own two feet, or drive together with someone.

 

One of the three bikes I have at home - I try to get other people to bike too when they visit

My own journey into more healthy and conscious living started nearly 10 years ago when I started practicing yoga, but at the start the changes were mostly around what I ate and drank. Those who knew me as a university student or pretty much up until my mid-twenties know I used to be quite the opposite of who I am know: I hardly cooked for myself, could eat the same food for weeks, drank loads of coffee, was still an avid meat eater; I used to drink alcohol, smoke, and use marijuana, although I started late with all of this (I was already 18+ and luckily didn't do any of it for more than a good few years). And because I have been suffering from migraines ever since I was 12, there was really not any time when I was not taking very heavy medication to help me deal with them, including a good few years when I was on anti-depressants and sleeping medication. On top of all of that I had hardly any awareness of all the chemicals body washes, shampoos, creams or household cleaning products. (I died my hair red since I was 14 and only switched to natural henna products in my mid-twenties, before I stopped using anything once I came into Sikhi; luckily enough I never used any make-up so my skin got saved from a lot of extra chemicals!)

The changes however started happening when I started practicing yoga. Without forcing myself in any way, the changes just happened automatically as I became more conscious of myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I stopped smoking marijuana and tobacco and I stopped drinking. After a while I became vegetarian, and pretty much vegan straightaway too. I stopped drinking coffee or black tea and stopped using nearly any pharmaceutical medicines, only using herbs and foods as medicine, as well as Ayurvedic or homeopathic medicines and holistic treatments such as acupuncture, shiatsu, osteopathy, cranio-osteopathy, and yoga. By this time I had started coming into Sikhi as well. A few years later I started eating gluten-free. My physical body became healthier and healthier, I started looking a lot younger than I am, my skin became incredibly healthy (and this is the same person who struggled with acne since the age of 12, had a face like a crater, was a bit over-weight and was incredibly ashamed and self-conscious about her appearance throughout puberty and adolescence, pretty much until her mid-twenties). My reasons for becoming vegan were both to do with my own health and with the impact on the planet -- by the grace of Sikhi and its philosophy, compassion/love for myself and for mother earth became inseparable as that Ek, that Oneness, pervades everything.

Consciousness in the products I used for skincare came quite naturally too. I gradually started replacing store-bought shower gels with natural organic body oils which I apply before I have my cold shower. The few skincare products I would ever use (like a day cream) would usually come from health stores that only sell products not tested on animals, but up until about a year ago I could just as easily go back to buying my products for Poundland for months on end again, sinking back into that state of non-awareness of the impact of these products on my body and on the planet. I definitely never ever thought I would one day start experimenting with making any products myself!

For my cleaning products I would likewise buy Ecover products for times, and then slip back into old habits of just picking them up from the poundstore. That was until last year, when I started eradicating (nearly) all chemicals in the house -- I invested in a terrific water filtering system, I started replacing any plastic containers or objects that come into contact with food with glass or stainless steel, and I started looking into making my own alternatives for all cleaning products (see other posts on this blog).

It's still an ongoing process and there are still quite a few things I want to replace but haven't found a good solution for, but I'm already quite happy with where it has got me. And I'm incredibly happy to have just married an Indian Sikh man who shares this environmental consciousness and who does his own research into how we can live with awareness for our own health, the health of the family we hope to raise if Guru Sahib does kirpa, and the well-being of this planet. He is particularly inspired by all forms of sustainable living and is researching alternative house-building options for us, which we are both incredibly excited about. There are so many amazing alternatives out there! I'm hoping he will start contributing to this blog on that area soon himself :)

So for anyone thinking that they are too old or too much set in their habits to make changes like these, I hope that sharing my own personal journey has helped in convincing you: it doesn't matter what your lifestyle is right now, you can always start making changes towards more health for yourself and the world around you!

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh