An Evolving Poly- Eco- Yoga Humanifesto, from Pegasus at the Balance
Ninth Deep Breath
Yogis of the world unite and take your yoga off the mat and into the wider world!!
Finally, here’s the toothpaste recipe:
Mix baking soda with enough organic coconut oil to make a stiff paste. Add drops of peppermint, or spearmint, or wintergreen, or clove oil to taste.
It is definitely “baking soda-ey” but the essential oil takes the edge off. I learned from a yoga teacher in Panama that some folks have an internal body chemistry that will not allow them to use toothpaste made with baking soda comfortably. So another recipe is possible using prickly ash bark (adding coconut oil and essential oil as above). It’s possible that a person could have a very unique body chemistry and very sensitive taste buds. Such a person is going to have to do her/his/their own research to find something that works. It can be fun to do this, actually, if you have the time.
Truth to tell, though, I’m dispirited today. A conversation with an artist of my children’s age (50-ish) has me convinced that their generation may not be on board with avoiding single use plastics and/or making this kind of stuff oneself. Clearly it takes time, which people in the midst of their careers do not have. It also takes a period of weaning off the toothpaste and mouthwash-buying habits and getting used to new tastes and textures.
To be completely honest, it’s taken me more than a year to feel as though I’ve taken these challenges in stride. Finally I even have travel sizes of toothpaste and mouthwash that I can take along when I’m out of town. This was a big step, for I found that I was really adrift without the homemade stuff at hand. I was then vulnerable to using hotel/motel sample sized things in awful plastic minitubes, etc.
My younger friend’s point was that people just won’t take the time to do this. Little plastic containers everywhere are not such a big problem, etc. etc. Again I think of the hummingbird and the forest fire. We could do what we can do, or just ignore the problem and hope it will go away.
…to be continued, please weigh in.
