Ep. 59: Intentional Living and What Yoga Can Teach Us About Enoughness with Aarti Inamdar

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (00:00.332)
What can yoga teach us about sustainability? A lot more than I realized. Once we start looking beyond the physical practice, yoga asks some of the same questions that I come back to again and again on my own sustainability journey. Like why do we always want more? How do we recognize when we have enough? And what changes when we stop seeing ourselves as separate from the natural world? Welcome to Sustainable in the Suburbs, a podcast for the eco-curious who want to live a greener life and are looking for a place to start.

I’m your host, Sarah Robertson Barnes, a soccer mom with a station wagon and a passion for sustainable living. Each week, I’ll bring you practical tips and honest conversations to help you waste less, save money, and make small, doable shifts that actually fit your real life. Because sustainable living doesn’t have to be perfect to matter, and you don’t have to do it all to make a difference.

Hello and welcome back to Sustainable in the Suburbs, the podcast where we start where we are, use what we have, and live a little greener, one small shift at a time. My name is Sarah, and I’m so glad to be sharing this conversation with you today. Just a quick reminder before we get started that Sustainable in the Suburbs is a bi-weekly show with new episodes coming out every other Tuesday. So make sure you’re following the show wherever you’re listening today so you don’t miss any new episodes.

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Sustainable living is often presented as something we do, the habits we adopt, the products that we choose to buy, and the waste that we are attempting to reduce or recycle or reuse. But what if sustainability is less about the things we buy and more about how we relate to what we already have, to our food, the things we consume, other living beings, and the natural world? So many of the ideas at the heart of sustainable living, like

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (02:17.762)
Consuming less, taking only what we need, avoiding harm, living within our financial limits, the planetary limits, recognizing our connection to nature, these aren’t new ideas at all. They’ve existed within traditional ways of living for millennia. And they’re also deeply rooted in the philosophy of yoga. And I think that’s especially interesting because here in the West, we tend to think of yoga as primarily a physical practice, but yoga is much

Bigger than what happens on the mat. At its roots, it’s a practice built around ideas like simplicity and non-harm, non-attachment, and living in greater harmony with ourselves and other living beings, the whole world around us. So, what might those teachings have to offer in a culture where we’re constantly being encouraged to consume more, want more, accumulate more, do more, and what might they teach us about recognizing

When we already have enough. That’s exactly what I’m exploring today with my guest, Aarti Inamdar, who also happens to be my own yoga teacher. Aarti is a student and teacher of classical Hatha Yoga, trained by her elders and lineage teachers, and has been a steward of these traditions for nearly 20 years. Through her online studio, retreats, corporate wellness work, and one-on-one coaching, she teaches asana.

Pranayama, meditation, and yoga philosophy. Today we’re talking about the intersection of yoga and sustainability from some of the traditional ways of living that Aarti grew up with and experienced through her family and travels in India to what yoga philosophy can teach us about consumption, enoughness, our relationship with other people, living beings around us, and our place within the natural world. Here’s my conversation with Aarti.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (04:15.79)
Hi, Aarti. Welcome to Sustainable in the Suburbs. It is so nice to see you again.

Aarti Inamdar (04:20.821)
It is so so nice to see you as well and thank you so much for having me.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (04:26.67)
I am looking forward to our fall sessions. and I’m gonna leave that in the show notes for everybody so that they can get to know you too. But so I know you as my yoga teacher, but for folks who don’t know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the work that you do?

Aarti Inamdar (04:43.182)
Sounds great. My name is Aarti. I am a student of yoga, lifelong student of yoga, and a 20-year teacher of yoga as well. I teach classical Hatha Yoga, which is a it’s a traditional way of understanding the wholeness of what yoga is beyond just the poses that we normally see in this world, particularly in modern yoga spaces.

I love teaching Hatha Yoga. I love practicing it. I love talking about it. It’s absolutely my life calling. It brings me so much joy. And I’m I’m so very, very grateful that you invited me to be here and talk to you all about yoga and how we can incorporate this beautiful practice into our lives.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (05:33.056)
One of the most special moments that I’ve had on my mat was, and I didn’t know this, but we are actually from the same hometown. And when you came home and we had a a session in at Fairy Lake Park and it started gently raining at the end. Do you remember? It was like two or three years ago. And I’m just so I’m getting all misty about it now. because it was really like a transcendent experience for me and feeling, yeah, like I was

Connected with the earth, so

Aarti Inamdar (06:05.092)
That’s so beautiful.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (06:06.978)
So how did yoga become such a big part of your life? And can you tell me a little bit about the traditions that have shaped your own practice?

Aarti Inamdar (06:14.798)
Sure. I was born into a family that practiced yoga and taught yoga, not as a class per se, in our family, but I grew up observing it. I grew up observing my grandmother doing the traditions, I grew up observing my father doing the traditions. I I I was fortunate to be raised in a family that wanted to know more about these cultural ways.

And our vacations were to pilgrimage sites in India. And then later on when we would travel back travel around the world, our vacations were to holy sites, pilgrimage sites, yoga ashrams. And when I was about ten, my father took us to a yoga ashram for a vacation because it was on a beach and we were we wanted to go to a beach and so it was a yoga ashram on the beach. And I walked into that place and something

something happened. I can’t explain it. it was like, this is where I’m meant to be. This is what I’m meant to know. This is what I’m meant to do. And everything became very pronounced and very special. And I I was young, maybe thirteen, ten, thirteen, something like that. I was sitting in the satsang and absorbing everything that was happening. And I wasn’t doing a whole lot of yoga asana, wasn’t really understanding how to meditate.

I was mostly just running around with my siblings. But I knew there was something special there, something sacred. And about fifteen, twenty years later, that’s where I would end up going, not fifteen, twenty years, something a decade later. that’s where I would end up going for deeper training and my y my yoga teachers training. And that’s where I would end up being a staff member. And that’s where I ended up immersing myself in the study. And that’s when I realized this is my calling.

And that’s where I met my husband. That’s where I I brought my babies. That’s everything sort of like happened from this from this place, from this moment. I know everyone doesn’t have that kind of experience. It it was it was just it felt to me as sacred. And that’s what the practice is. It’s sacred. It’s a sacred special practice. And since then it’s been my absolute good fortune.

Aarti Inamdar (08:37.639)
And privilege to be able to share it as much as I can with as many people as I can reach. That’s

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (08:45.166)
Such a connection to a special place. That’s incredible. And one of the things you talk about a lot in class is the idea that yoga is about harmony. So not just with ourselves, but with our community and with nature. And I’ve never heard a teacher say that before. So can you talk a little bit more about what that means?

Aarti Inamdar (09:06.574)
Sure. it’s such a good question. yoga, the goal of our practice in many ways is dissolving the things that keep us separate from each other and the dissolving the things that keep us separate from nature. There is no separation in yogic traditions, so they say, so they teach us. There is no difference between you and me on our essence level.

There’s no difference between me and the rest of nature on an essence nature. And it’s our conditioning, it’s our karmas, it’s our embodiment that teaches us that, hey, you’re over here and I’m over here. And I’m brown and you’re white. And here’s a tree and here’s a cow. And here’s the earth and I’m separate from all of that.

But the traditions teach us that actually there is a sameness and there’s a flow and there’s a connectivity between all of existence. And our great joy and privilege is to examine that connection and to lean into that connection and to discover what that connection is actually all about. The way yoga has

changed a little bit in modern times, not just in the West, in the East as well, is that it’s become a kind of a wellness modality. How can we be well? And wellness is a it’s a funny kind of thing because it seems like it’s all about good principles, eating well, being healthy, being, you know, feeling good. But it it leans into this idea that you’re broken and that you need to be fixed.

And here, join my plan. I will fix you. Right? And and we feel that way because deep down we do feel in many, in many cases, that wait, I am broken. I’m not complete. My body doesn’t look like this. I don’t have this car. I don’t have this house. I don’t have this life. I don’t have this diamond. I don’t have this whatever. I don’t have this particular type of food or accent or whatever it is. So we feel like we’re lacking. We don’t have something.

Aarti Inamdar (11:24.372)
And the industry tells us, I will give you that if you buy this thing. The world tells us I will give you that if you buy this thing. And yoga says, Nope.

You are already whole. Your essence nature is Satchitananda, existence, knowledge, and bliss. You are completely, utterly, and truly fully whole. And your purpose is to see that wholeness, to drop the veils that

hide that beautiful essence and to see it that you are actually a luminous being and so are all of the people in your world and so is all of nature. So the practice is not telling you that you are a broken being in need of fixing. The practice is telling you you are already whole. Let’s explore.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (12:18.606)
I think the closest place that I bump up against that feeling is when I am outside, when I’m like, quote, in nature. So when I go walk in the woods, for example. And it takes a little bit of time, but eventually I do start to feel that peace because this idea that we’re not separate from nature is obviously something that comes up a lot in sustainability as well. So

We talk about our relationship with nature, even though that language can make it sound like nature is a place where we go. Yes. Rather than something that we’re actually part of. And I just said that myself when I go to nature, from here where I am in the suburbs to the trails, for example, even though my backyard is nature. so how does yoga help us understand our place within the natural world?

Aarti Inamdar (13:09.262)
Through stillness. Through stillness, I would say. I think yoga helps us understand that place and that space through stillness by seeing that there is no separation. You are separated by the walls of your home, we think, but actually you’re not. You’re in nature. You’re in a shelter that’s in nature. You’re part of that. There is no, there is no difference between where you are and who you are.

There’s a really famous, beautiful it wasn’t actually famous, quote by one of the gurus in my lineage tradition who said, I’m eating this tomato. This tomato is nourishing me, but soon I will be nourishment for that tomato.

Right. And it w it it was like people were like, dang that’s dark. But it’s not

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (14:01.806)
Perfect for me specifically. Yes.

Aarti Inamdar (14:05.558)
Right? It’s yeah it’s not death is a recycling of the parts that have always existed. We are made of the same constituents as everything. We’re not different from it. We are part of it. We are it. It is us. And we are we we need to stop thinking of ways to extract f from nature or from the environment or from Mother Earth.

And be in harmony with nature. Like, how can we, how do we even go for a hike? I love hiking. And when I go for a hike with my friends, we we sometimes stop and think: let’s not try to conquer this mountain. How can we walk in harmony with the mountain? Let’s put our hands on her. Let’s feel nature. Let’s feel the earth. Let’s go together. Let’s be

One way to borrow a phrase, as we walk, so we can learn something. And then you’ll find your pace will slow down. You start to observe different things. And then they say nature comes to you. And then that those amazing things happen. And you start to have an experience of connection, of being, of knowing rather than doing. So how yoga teaches it is fully in the knowing space. And how do we access that knowing space?

We drop the idea that we have to achieve something, we drop the idea that we have to be something, and we start to slow down. Yoga is about slowing down. To advance in yoga is actually to do less, which most people don’t know. Yoga is not really about how flexible can you be, how fit can you be, how able-bodied are you, what shapes can you make? What abilities do you have? That’s sort of what we see in the pictures, but that’s not what yoga teaches us.

raja yoga, especially the yoga that I’m studying, teaches us that as we sort of move deeper into the practice, we slow down, we withdraw, we go within. And that’s where the opening is. We let go a little bit, they call it dispassion. We become a little dispassionate towards the things that we think are gonna make us happy to all the bright shiny lights.

Aarti Inamdar (16:29.996)
And we try to retreat a little bit. And through that retreat comes the deepest connection. When we go outward, we might have a temporary gratification. It feels good to put a thing in a cart. Yes, it does. It feels good to have a taste sensation. It feels good to enjoy this world with our senses, but all of those consumptions, because it’s all considered food.

Food for the eyes, food for the ears, food for the nose, food for the taste buds, food for the touch. All of that is temporary. It’s not necessarily lasting. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t exist in this world, but we try as much as possible not to become too needy for those things. And we do that through these practices. We learn to yogis learn to turn a little bit away from the senses as a start, as a method. Since we’re talking so

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (17:29.082)
Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (17:29.26)
broadly as a method when we’re practicing yoga asana in a studio, what’s happening? You’re maybe lying on the floor, so you’re sort of connected to the earth, and you are maybe in a darkish space that’s not with too many lights and stimulation. You’re not necessarily playing lots of music. There’s not strong sense. There’s not a lot of input. That’s

Teaching you how to withdraw. That’s the practice of pratyahara. Pratyhara is sensory withdrawal, where we say, okay, the external is not necessarily going to give me the answers that I’m seeking. The internal space might. So let me come to that an internal space by just closing off some of those sensory inputs, not because they’re bad, but because we’re seeking something different.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (18:24.758)
Because it’s so loud. There’s it’s just so it’s just colors and sounds and ads firing at us at all times. It’s very difficult to disengage from that. But the disengagement is what is the most important for understanding why we consume. And I think this is where some of the teachings of yoga become really interesting from a sustainability perspective. Cause I hadn’t made that connection before I became your student because

So much mainstream sustainability still centers on consuming better rather than talking about why we want things in the first place. Yes. Or how we recognize when we have enough. And you’ve mentioned to me that there are three yoga principles in particular that are connected to sustainability. So can you walk us through those and what they mean?

Aarti Inamdar (19:16.615)
Sure. And before I do that, I’d love what you said. I’d love what you said. How do we know when we have enough? You’ll never have enough. There’s never enough. There’s no endpoint. It’s very, very hard to see that and have the courage to look at it. But yoga yogis of your have taught us that there will never ever be enough. That doesn’t mean we don’t have desires. It’s okay to have desires.

But we want to gradually refine our desires towards something that we want to be as a whole. So it’s okay. So we’re not saying, I’m not saying, okay, well, don’t eat any food, don’t go outside, don’t have a phone, don’t go to the mall, don’t buy anything. That’s impossible. But we’re it yoga is about a gradual refinement of the mind over time. This is all about the mind. It’s not even really about our bodies. Those are all beautiful side effects, but it’s really about our minds. So yes, there are things.

Principles that can help us along the way. The three that came forward to me when I think about sustainability are ahimsa, which means nonviolence, and pratihara, sensory withdrawal, which I mentioned, and abari graha, which means not coveting or not wanting too much. So where do these come from?

I’m talking about Raja Yoga. So for your listeners who are curious where this knowledge system is is rooted, it’s in Raja Yoga, which informs Hatta Yoga. So most of us who are practicing yoga here in the West are practicing Hatha Yoga. You might know it as Hatha Yoga or Hata Yoga. all yoga in the West is Hatha Yoga, all of it. There is no such thing as really styles of yoga. But anyway, Hatha Yoga is

is drawing quite often on the principles of Raja Yoga, and Raja Yoga has an eight limb system. Yama and Niyama, these are kind of ethics and observances. Asana, postures, that’s what we’re doing. Pranayama, breathing exercises, pratyahara, sensory withdrawal. And then come the sort of deeper practices, dharana dhyana samadhi, concentration, meditation, and then samadhi is a

Aarti Inamdar (21:41.482)
awakening or union state or Satchitananda state, knowledge state, the pure knowledge state. So i within that system there are a lot of beautiful ethics that can help us to make these choices when we’re not certain how to move and walk in a good way. One of them, the foundational premise, is Ahimsa. And ahimsa means

non-harming or non-injury. So this one’s pretty straightforward. All right. For you and I, we can understand that, okay, how can I make a choice today that is causing the least amount of harm? Notice they’re not saying be perfect.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (22:32.142)
Yes. Also not possible. Yeah. Yes.

Aarti Inamdar (22:36.502)
Right. we’re not this is not perfectionism. Perfectionism is rooted in s other stuff. This is not perfectionism. This is effort. It’s that gradual refinement that we’re talking about. So we’re not trying to be perfect. Being a vegetarian, I heard my whole life. Well, do you wear leather shoes? You know, so we’re not trying to be I’m not trying to be perfect. I’m trying to reduce my harmful impact.

And maybe interrupt some harmful impacts where I can. We all come from different ways. We have different parents. We have different conditioning. We have different environments. We have different lawmakers. We’re allowed to do certain things within the confines of our existence. So you choose something.

And make a good choice and reduce your harm in your actions, in your speech, and in your thought. Actions don’t come from nowhere. They come from your speech. Speech doesn’t come from nowhere, it comes from your thoughts. So this is where yoga is this beautiful and challenging practice where we are being asked to examine our thoughts and our words.

And our actions around ahimsa, in put since we’re talking about ahimsa, so you and I and anyone who’s listening can reflect. Okay, so if I want to make a sustainable choice, that is an act of non-harming. And I’m gonna root into that and I’m gonna choose something that aligns me with the yogic principle of ahimsa in relation to sustainability, whatever that might be. Maybe I’m not gonna buy another water bottle.

Or maybe another tote or whatever it is. That is my mental choice because before you buy the thing, you talk about the thing. Before you talk about the thing, you’re thinking, I need that thing to be happy.

Aarti Inamdar (24:38.658)
So the yoga examines how can we practice through the mind in order to impact our choices and we can choose a non-harming choice, not to be perfect, but to have an impact or a non-impact in this case.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (24:56.492)
I think about that in terms of you mentioned being vegetarian. So I’ve been vegetarian for thirty years as well. I’ve heard it all. you know, but I push but I I see this a lot. It’s like, you know, you can’t be an environmentalist unless you’re vegan, like a lot of that finger waving. And I don’t believe that. you know, because that’s just like you said, we all come from different parenting and different traditions and we live in different places and and all of those kinds of things, but it does demand perfection. And I think it’s really off putting.

Aarti Inamdar (25:03.97)
I

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (25:25.676)
Because I don’t believe that shame is a learning tool. So I just approach it and like, hey, if you want to do Meatless Monday, that’s amazing because you are thinking about it and that will ultimately lead you to make more less harmful choices going forward. And that’s enough.

Aarti Inamdar (25:44.246)
Yes, that’s you’re so right. You’re a hundred percent right. It’s a practice, it’s definitely a practice, and it’s hard, and we’re all gonna stumble and it’s difficult. my child has decided to be vegan and is realizing that that’s really difficult and I’m supporting the journey. I agree with you. shame is not a learning tool at all. And we all are all walking around with so much shame.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (25:48.34)
It is

Aarti Inamdar (26:13.954)
what we need more of is softness and understanding and support and listening. And that’s something that comes up a lot in my classes, maybe not in the group classes, but definitely in the one-on-one space. Like, if you want to make this change, how can we make this change in a way that makes you feel good about it, that is sustainable for you, that makes you feel alive? I’m feeling called to

Tell a very short story. Yeah. when I was in India a long time ago with my family, and we were at this tourist site, and there was a man who was wearing a full suit, and we were at this place in Delhi called Red Fort. It’s very dusty. It’s made out of like this red rock and it’s crumbly and it’s like r rig rough earth. And we were walking around and he was kind of following behind us, and every once in a while he would crouch down.

And stop and pause, crouch down. And then he’d get up and then he’d walk slowly again and then he’d crouch. And we were what is this guy doing? Why is he following us? You know, and like I got activated because I thought, my babies. And I just didn’t know what he was doing. I thought he was following us. So I decided to just go back and sort of see what he was doing. And I I walked up to him and he was crouched at the time, and he had his hand in a little bag, a little small little pouch.

I s and I watched him and he reached into that pouch and he took something out and then between his thumb and forefinger he’d make a little powdered line on the ground and then he’d sit there and watch and and observe it was sugar. And he was feeding the ants. And one by one the ants would come from everywhere and they would like just go just ravage the sugar and take it and it was gone.

And then he’d walk a little bit further and he’d do it again. And that was his practice. I asked him, What are you doing? Like, why are you feeding the ants? And he said the ants need to eat too.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (28:23.84)
Mm. I didn’t think I was gonna get emotional about ants today.

Aarti Inamdar (28:29.646)
That was his sadhana. That was his yoga. He does it every day on his way to work. That’s why he was wearing his suit.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (28:37.592)
Hm. Every day.

Aarti Inamdar (28:39.508)
Every day. That’s part of his his karma yoga. It was his karma yoga. That was his service to nature. And he did it without any expectation. He wasn’t like jumping up and down with joy. He was just, this is what I’m doing. The ants need to eat. And it was on his way, and that was how he served nature and how he served his community. Your relations are not just humans, your relations are every living being. And he was serving.

His relatives, he was serving nature and

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (29:15.893)
Practicing reciprocity. Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (29:18.848)
Exactly. Wow. Yeah.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (29:22.198)
Ooh.

Aarti Inamdar (29:24.174)
So ahimsa can show up in any way you want it to. To your point about shame, it’s not I’m vegetarian, vegan ish, vegetarian ish, like I’m struggling with to making the full transition. but I don’t feel any shame about about it because it that’s not helping anyone.

There’s no point. So you do what you want. Show up the way you want, show up in the method you want. Our traditions teach us that there are many, many ways and that the diversity of approaches is what is the is beautiful. Not everyone should be feeding ants.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (30:03.126)
Right. We’re all on our own path toward a similar destination, but everyone’s journey is going to be their own. Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (30:11.81)
Hundred percent.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (30:13.858)
Oof

Aarti Inamdar (30:15.2)
Yeah.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (30:16.99)
I’m gonna be thinking about that for a while. I yeah, I mean, how do how do these teachings show up in your own life, especially when it comes to, you know, we live in a a culture of convenience that is just constantly pressuring us to want and acquire things?

Aarti Inamdar (30:33.992)
that’s a great question. It is quite often feels like swimming upstream. You can’t go anywhere without feeling kind of an onslaught of

Sensory gratification and desire gratification, how how I deal with it. I’m I’m lucky. I have a partner who is aligned. And so together we remind each other. But the main way I think that it shows up for me and the way I can sustain it is truly through practice. It

We can’t keep it as something to think about for the future. It’s something we have to do now in small, small ways. So that’s why I teach my the primary thing that I teach is sadhana. You’ve probably heard me say it a million times in class. Sadhana means regular practice. That doesn’t mean you have to do two hours a day. It doesn’t mean you have to do, you know, anything in particular, but it does mean let’s dedicate some amount of our mental space to awareness.

Maybe it’s one minute a day. Maybe I wake up in the morning and I journal something or I express my gratitude or I acknowledge the divine within me or within others or within this world. Or maybe I do a little breathing exercises, or maybe I sit for five minutes of meditation, or maybe I do a little movement on the mat. Or maybe I take a class once a week. Maybe I go feed the ants in that intentional way.

Whatever it is, whatever your sadhana should be is for you, it should be regular. It should be consistent, not something I will do some way. So the unshaming piece is what is the bare minimum I can do without feeling overwhelmed? That’s the million dollar question. That’s what I teach people. What is the bare minimum for you? If it’s waking up and pressing your feet on the earth and feeling that connection with Mother Earth.

Aarti Inamdar (32:40.082)
And taking a breath with her, breathing together, that’s your sadhana. It sets you up for your whole day. Nobody’s asking for a whole big thing because that is actually where people feel the stress is like I can’t do another thing. It’s too much. And I agree, it’s too much. I feel it too. I’ve gone on and off with my practice over the years, and then the body changes, we get injured, we struggle with abilities, we health issues.

Caring for old parents, caring for young children, moving, whatever it is, things happen, practice changes. So that means we have to adapt. And through that continuous effort to do the bare minimum, we are plugging into a deeper awareness. It’s not about how much time you do it for. It’s about are you doing it regularly?

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (33:35.914)
Mm-hmm. And right now my regular thing is taking the coffee outside in the morning and listening to birds. Just who can I hear today? And then and that’s it. Like that’s that’s the headspace that I have. But the effect that that even just has on your nervous system just but it also gives me that slight connection with who is the wildlife that’s in my neighborhood.

You know, like I’m not again, I’m not separate from it because I live in a subdivision. I’m just trying to find that connection where I can and when I can. So I didn’t realize that was part of it. Because I’m still very stuck on being on the mat. Yes. Right. So I appreciate that reminder. Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (34:20.63)
Yes. So now when you do it tomorrow, thinking about just inviting that conversation with yourself. So you’re doing it in an active way. I’ve got my beverage, I’m outside, I feel the warmth between my hands. I’m enjoying the sensation of that beverage going down my throat. I notice it in my chest. At some point I lose it. What is the place where I lose it? What part of my anatomy?

Does it start to blend into my being? And I’m hearing sounds, I’m connecting with this kind of sound, I’m connecting with that kind of sound.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (34:53.045)
Mm.

Aarti Inamdar (35:03.542)
And now maybe I’ll just take a couple of deep breaths and be in this space with my relatives and connect with the ground that I’m sitting on. Maybe it’s a chair, maybe it’s the floor, and I’ll just be with whatever is present for the next two minutes in silence.

and experience whatever it is that I’m gonna experience with no expectations, with no desired outcome, just being with what is for a moment.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (35:38.626)
way that that changes my whole morning and the way my thoughts, like w just going back to what you were saying before, your thoughts, your your speech, your deeds, it it helps me just to calm my thoughts because there’s just there’s so much about modern life that we’re currently experiencing that just that’s just pushing us all the time toward, you know, like more convenience and more consumption and more stimulation and always

You know, next, next, next, next. React, react, react. And I just I more and more I’m just seeing people longing for a simpler, slower analog life. Like, what do you think we’re responding to when we feel that pull? Like I’m just thinking about the concept of enoughness in in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s work. And I’m wondering what that that looks like in yoga.

Aarti Inamdar (36:32.678)
Enoughness is baked into the essence of the practice. That is what the practice teaches, that you are born worthy. That you are worthy and you are already whole. And it is hard for people to unplug and be analog, I think, because we’re the ways that we’re looking to unplug are in alignment with the very system that’s asking us for more.

So we’re doing more things to relax. We’re putting more things into place so we can feel good. We’re buying clothes that are yoga clothes so that we can practice. We’re going on a spa vacation so that we can relax. No dissing spa vacations. I love them myself. But we’re seeking things outward to achieve a thing that you cannot achieve outside of yourself.

The call to be enough can only be achieved by turning within. Every major tradition teaches this. This is not me speaking. And none of these words are mine, actually. I’m I want to just be really clear the in honoring the lineage that I was trained in, that nothing that I’m saying are my beliefs. They’re they these have been tested lovingly over generations by millions of people.

Great teachers in a variety of traditions. And they’re all telling us that if we want to feel that enoughness, if we want to experience what is the truth that we are worthy, and the truth that we are in fact whole and not broken, we cannot seek the outside to teach us that. The things will lead to other things.

Desires will just give you more desires. You can’t go that way if you are in fact seeking peace. So in the case of you wanting to enjoy your coffee in the morning outside, you’re doing it in such a beautiful way. A way that might not work would be, well, I need a special kind of cushion to sit on if I’m gonna do this. And I need a certain kind of mug. It has to be the right kind of mug. And I need to do it at this exact time and the

Aarti Inamdar (38:56.236)
Climate has to be just about right and everything has to be a certain way. And I have to buy and purchase these things in order to have the experience.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (39:04.908)
I have to have the app open to make sure I’m doing it right. That’s that’s something I had to be like, No, no, Sarah, turn off the Merlin. Yeah. You don’t need the bird ID open because it that was also a distraction, right? Was who can I hear? And I’m looking at the screen. I know the bird calls. I know them. And if I don’t, then I can be curious about who I’m hearing with it. But I I had to leave my phone inside because I was still distracting Yeah. I was still distracting myself. I was still being digital when I’m trying to

Connect. Yeah. And that’s something I it took me a while to realize that. Like, I actually don’t need to be, you know, seeing who’s in my neighborhood today on on an app. Yeah. That took me a a little while to realize. But that’s powerful. Yeah. Like that was part of me needing it to be perfect, right? Was okay, I’m gonna open the app, I’m gonna see who this is. I’m gonna see, I don’t I don’t need that.

Aarti Inamdar (40:00.842)
It becomes a mind thing and an intellect thing which has value, but what you were seeking was a heart thing.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (40:07.789)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Aarti Inamdar (40:10.424)
Can I understand the birds calls or can I feel into the birds calls?

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (40:15.724)
Yeah. It took me a while to disengage from my scientist brain, right? Was who am I observing? What what are the calls that they’re making? Are they alarm calls? Are they this? Are they that? And instead of just letting it be. And so that was part of I don’t know, going like just examining my conditioning more. and I you know, folks will say like it’s not that deep, but it also is.

Aarti Inamdar (40:21.183)
What

Aarti Inamdar (40:38.068)
It totally is that deep. It totally is that I love it so much. Yeah. I love that because you’re you’re tapping into that part of that awakening process where you’re dismantling some of your conditioning, you’re dismantling some of your desires, you’re dismantling some of your needs, and you’re tapping into something that’s a little bit deeper and a little bit more meaningful and a little bit more real for you. You’re in that moment.

You’re seeking connection. And you’re achieving connection, if that’s the right word. You’re you’re tuning, you’re tuning in rather than being above as the knowledge holder. You’re instead reaching out to the inhabitants that surround you and saying, let’s connect.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (41:27.746)
Yeah. And that finding that connection is how I’m the older I get, realizing that that’s how I’m disconnecting from these other things that just demand so much of our time and our attention and our money and Yes. Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (41:43.148)
They do. They do. And they that’s their job. So the senses aren’t bad. The point of our senses is to give us options. I always think about a mall. when I go into a mall, I get I can’t do it anymore. I mean, maybe people also don’t do that stuff so much anymore, but I can’t go into shopping spaces because my senses get pulled in all directions with all the lights, the sounds, the smells, the taste, that just the stimulation is so it’s so big.

But there is a purpose. The purpose is for my senses to gather that information, take in all those different types of food, because it’s all nourishment in some way. At least in our tradition, we call it nourishment for the eyes, nourishment, whether it’s good or bad. We’re not assigning anything to it, but we’re taking it all in, and then our mind will say, Okay, what do I need? What am I gonna choose? Not what do I need, what am I gonna choose? So what what yoga says is let’s just

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (42:37.454)
Choose.

Aarti Inamdar (42:42.346)
interrupt that that’s pratyahara so that’s one of those three things that how yoga can teach us let’s interrupt that a little bit and just not allow for for five minutes our senses to pull us out and instead let’s turn inward and see what’s available there.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (43:03.24)
it’s a tall order going into those. Going out to the outside and yeah. It really is. It is. So I just want to go way back to the beginning when you talked about your travels as a child because you’ve shared some of your family history and your experiences, visiting different sacred sites and traveling in India. And so many of the practices that you’ve described on those trips to me would be called like sustainable now. But

that’s not like how you think about them. They’re just part of everyday life. So you know, you talked about things like eating with your hands and, you know, wrapping things in banana leaves and smaller fridges, local markets, all of those. Like Yeah. What did those ways of living give us that that we’ve lost in our hustle culture?

Aarti Inamdar (43:53.678)
Yeah, that’s such a good question. India just India’s evolving and is changing and is shifting. So I don’t know if I can speak about how India is today. But when I grew up, sustainability is just living. It’s not it’s just a stan it’s you just don’t waste. I mean you don’t you don’t throw stuff out. Nobody has a c a cupboard full of Tupperware. You just

You walk to the market where there’s the bhajivali or the lady who has a basket full of vegetables. You pick up the vegetables that you’re gonna prepare. You prepare the food. Everybody eats the food. If there’s a little bit left over, actually let me walk you through the process. You you you pick up your food, you bring the food home, you are intentional about what you’re gonna make. You prepare the meal.

And then the first thing while you’re preparing the meal, you s share mantras over the food because we are honoring the gifts of Lakshmi Devi, the goddess of abundance. Abundance in our tradition is not stuff. Abundance in our tradition is nature. Fruits from the earth, wind vayu, sun surya.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (45:09.579)
Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (45:21.89)
That is abundance because what would happen if we didn’t have air for two minutes? What would happen if the sun stops shining? What would happen? So we understand that abundance is that is abundance. And we’re calling in abundance when we cook and prepare our food because that’s a gift. That’s a gift from the land. So you call in.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (45:35.692)
That’s

Aarti Inamdar (45:50.23)
Lakshmi Devi, you give thanks, you you offer your love and respect, prepare your food with care, and then then you give it back to the earth. So before you take any food, you take a little bit of that rice and you you offer it to the divine, and then you take a little bit more of that rice and you put it outside for the birds or for whomever lives with you in your in your space. And

Give it back to nature and then you still don’t eat. Then you give it to the people that you’re having a meal with or sharing a meal with. And then you take the food. And then when you take the food, you offer your gratitude, and then you consume the food with awareness about where it’s going, how it’s digesting, how it’s assimilating in your body, how your body feels. Is your digestive fire stoked? Is there

Are you connecting with this particular food? Is it working for your constitution? and that’s how you you you take a meal. Now, I’m not saying everybody in India does it this way, but that is what our tradition teaches us to do is to have a relationship with what we are consuming. in some awareness.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (47:12.69)
At every stage, right? Like I we I just don’t we just don’t have that here. It’s just we grab it from the grocery store, we chuck in the fridge, we throw it in the microwave. And then if we threw if we’re gonna throw it out later, like we just don’t think about any of those things. And I’ve said this on the show so many times. I just I remember being a little kid and hearing David Suzuki on the radio saying, kids need to know that food doesn’t come from the

Aarti Inamdar (47:37.358)
Grocery store.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (47:39.702)
I think that’s like my villain origin story. Is is that has stuck with me for forty years. Is just, you know, water doesn’t come from the tab, food doesn’t come from the grocery store. And when we are lacking that level of awareness, we no longer value the the food that we are purchasing or preparing or throwing away.

Aarti Inamdar (48:01.25)
Very well said. Very well said. That’s a you’re a hundred percent right. That’s absolutely

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (48:06.412)
A huge food waste problem in We do in you know, in Canada and the US. It’s it’s one of the major drivers of greenhouse gas emissions. And I think a hu not I think the reason for that is we’re not connected to how our food grows. Mm. Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (48:23.662)
We’re not connected to the food that we’re eating while we’re eating it. Right.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (48:28.182)
‘Cause in front of the TV or with the phone’s for and I’m just as guilty of this as and eating in the car or on the way to soccer practice. Like all of these demands that our modern life makes on us keeps us disconnected from that.

Aarti Inamdar (48:39.69)
Yes. When we eat with our hands, which gets shamed quite a lot here in the West. quite a lot. But when we eat with our hands, we’re connecting to all of creation. We’re aligning all our senses with the food that we’re taking in. We’re being really present in the moment. We’re combining the foods in certain ways. When we eat off of the banana leaf, you

after you’re done, it just goes back to the earth. There’s no there’s no waste there. There’s no when you go on the trains, if you ever do go to India, like you stop off. Every train station has its own kind of specialty. And you get chai at a train station, it’s in a earthen cup. So then you drink the chai and you just throw it because it’s going back to the ground.

Now India has a lot. I’m not I don’t like to present these traditions or these ways as if that’s a utopian kind of space and that’s sort of what we should all be like. There’s obviously a lot of problems. but there’s so much we can learn about our traditional ways that are important to recognize and understand and and lean into and and realize that just this is where Indians sometimes are like, well, if it’s in the West, it’s better.

You know, we have to undo that kind of thinking quite a lot. Quite a lot. Yeah.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (50:09.486)
Even here I’ll say, like, you know, like what would your nana do? You know, my grandmother never purchased paper towels. Like she could not they they personally offended her because that’s not how she grew up, you know, like just the concept of waste is so new, but we just accept it as an inevitability. And that’s wild to me.

Aarti Inamdar (50:34.19)
Concept of waste. wow, that’s really powerful.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (50:37.098)
Yeah, just like we live in it’s just it’s just so linear, right? Like we it’s make, take, wait, take, take, make, waste. And it’s just considered normal. And I I really I think a lot about how we got there. Because I think inside of us we know that that’s not normal, that it’s not the way that we should be living, but but we are and so and it’s like it’s inevitable and we can’t see a way out of it. But it it’s this is so new.

We n we knew a time before this.

Aarti Inamdar (51:07.96)
So reconnecting, what I’m hearing is you saying, how do we reconnect to a a a way of walking and being that is more rooted in who we actually are as a people, as a culture.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (51:21.644)
Yeah. As as humans, as part of part of the earth that we live on, I think that’s part of our dis-ease with how we’re we’re living right now is we fundamentally know on a on a cellular level, on a soul level, like this is not the way. Mm-hmm. Does that make sense? Like even if we can’t articulate it, even if it you’re a person who’s like, Well, I don’t really care about that. I think that you do. Somehow it’s

Aarti Inamdar (51:43.01)
Makes perfect.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (51:52.128)
Even if it’s not it hasn’t quite surfaced yet. There’s just something off. I think we

Aarti Inamdar (51:58.168)
So why do you think we aren’t able to see that, even though we know that deep down?

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (52:05.548)
I think it’s just because it’s the next, it’s the next notification, it’s the next thing. I gotta return this email. I gotta get some food into me. I gotta go pick up my get like it’s just it’s always we always have fourteen more things to do that we can’t sit with the thought long enough. And that’s why it’s important to be still, to start to have these thoughts come to the surface and think about like, well, what can I do about this? What can I let go of? What can I remove? What pressure? What do I not have to I don’t actually have to buy that thing.

I actually don’t have to go to this event. I can say no to this thing, whatever it is. I think that we’re just we’re just on this like treadmill to nowhere and it isn’t serving us.

Aarti Inamdar (52:45.038)
Yeah. That’s so powerful. You’re pointing to like f these fear based responses where we are scared of losing something. We’re scared of being left behind or we’re scared of at least that’s what I’m getting, like scared of something. It’s like we’re driven by fear and angst and worry. And it’s like a it just continues a self, what’s that phrase I’m looking for? That see

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (53:12.502)
So

Aarti Inamdar (53:14.158)
Yeah, like more fear will give you more fear, will give you more worry, will give you more attention. And then if we just pause. So there’s another principle in yoga, another ethical idea called Svadhyaya, which means self-study, self-reflection. Like stepping off the treadmill for a second and saying, Well, hang on a second. Like what am I getting from this? Do I really need the next iPhone? Like what

is it gonna do for me? What is going to be? Yeah. And to and this is where the courage piece comes in. You know, yoga and self-reflection and you’re you you yourself, Sarah, you’re very brave because you’re willing to ask yourself hard questions. And that is what yoga is in many ways. It’s a path for the brave.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (53:46.966)
Yeah, yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (54:08.906)
If we’re willing to ask even one question, that means we’re brave enough to do this and ask more questions. We’re brave enough to make these changes. We’re worthy enough to make these changes. We can do these things. Yoga is not necessarily a feel-good system. It’s a system that will challenge you. That’s not a bad thing. It’s not a it’s a good thing. It’s a very good thing because we have goals for ourselves.

We want to be somewhere. We want to know something. We want to grow. We want to evolve. We want to gradually refine. I believe like you that deep down we know. So if we want to access that knowing, we have to do a little bit of practice.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (54:53.752)
Yeah. I never thought about it as courage. Yeah. Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (54:56.846)
Absolutely. It is courage. It is absolutely bravery. It’s much easier to flow down the river, or in this case, the turbulent sort of wild ride. It’s much easier to just go with the flow and waste the stuff and buy the extra double, triple apply, whatever, and the shiny new thing. It’s much easier to go and do those things. It’s much harder to stop and say, why?

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (55:24.12)
Mm-hmm.

Aarti Inamdar (55:25.154)
Because then you’re challenging your mind, and and that’s hard.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (55:28.47)
It’s yeah, it’s a lot easier to fall into just what I’m seeing with like the release of the UN Climate Report recently and all of these different things is it’s so much easier to fall into doomerism and you know, like we’re cooked and just be like, Well, everything’s over, so I’m not even going to try. And that’s just not we’re not cooked. It’s only if we stop trying. And yeah, now that I’m thinking about it, that does take a lot of courage to be like, you know what, I’m just gonna keep trying. I’m not I’m not giving up.

I’m not giving up. People still ask, like, why do you still do this? Cause I can’t not do it.

Aarti Inamdar (56:02.252)
You can’t not you have hope.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (56:04.748)
Yes. as much discomfort as that brings me, but being uncomfortable with it is the point and challenging yes. You know, challenging the folks around me, whether it’s, you know, people who are listening or my own family, to just don’t don’t give up. Mm. Yeah.

Aarti Inamdar (56:24.952)
Don’t it has a ripple effect. It does have a ripple effect. Even if it’s not like everybody is is paying attention to you or everyone’s hearing what you’re saying or everyone’s making the changes. It does these traditions teach us that whatever internal shift you make radiates out. Thoughts have a physicality to it. Thoughts go out and impact the world. They impact other people.

Then then those thoughts impact the world and the sphere that they’re in. It impacts the grass, it impacts nature, it impacts everybody. There is an effect with your thought. There’s a book by Swami Shonanda called Thought Power. And I read that many, many years ago, and it stayed with me because he describes thoughts as like almost like beings, like whatever you’re putting out there is absolutely affecting others because it’s determining your.

Dharma, it’s determining your choices, it’s infecting every living being because your choices come from your thoughts. And that which you put out there gets reflected back to you. So there’s a beautiful knowing that comes with that level of bravery too. Like I’m gonna go out there and do my very best because it’s my dharma to do so, because it’s my choice to do so, and I’m not gonna be.

affected by those who say there’s no point because I know there’s a point. I know there’s a purpose here. This is why I’m here.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (57:56.972)
Yeah. Gotta feed the ants.

Aarti Inamdar (58:00.35)
Gotta feed the ants.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (58:02.83)
too. Yeah. Marty, thank you so much for this. I I have loved having the chance to talk to you about all of this outside of class or outside of the DMs.

Aarti Inamdar (58:13.646)
Me too. Thank you so much for giving me the space to share.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (58:17.998)
Any anytime I could listen to you all day. So so where where can people find you and and learn more about your classes and the other work that you do?

Aarti Inamdar (58:29.196)
Yeah. Most of my work can be found at Aartiyoga.com. Aarti is with two A’s. And I run classes like yoga, asana and pranayama classes a few times a year, courses on how to grow sadhana in your life. And I mostly work one on one coaching folks on how to create a life that they feel

is connected.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (59:01.742)
Yeah. And the fall class is like open now and I’m I’m gonna be in it and I think everybody should be too. It’s an it’s a really

I don’t know how to say it. I need the refreshment. too. Because again, like you like you were saying, you know, sometimes you get out of practice and I do find myself adrift a bit and bringing it back to a centering place is gonna help me remember that we are not cooked.

Aarti Inamdar (59:16.014)
Mm.

Aarti Inamdar (59:33.802)
We are not cooked. Yes, you’re right. And yes, yes to I’m so excited to have you in the classes and I’m glad that you are acknowledging that it’s okay to step away and forget and then have a home space to come back. That is what it is. You come back whenever you feel it’s time.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (59:52.022)
Yeah. I’m not sure how we got connected, but I’m so grateful that we somehow did. So thank you so much. Thank you again for being here.

Aarti Inamdar (01:00:00.024)
mom, thank you so much for having me. It’s been an absolute joy.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (01:00:05.87)
So before we wrap up, I just want to thank Aarti again for joining me today. I really appreciated having the chance to have this conversation with her. And I hope it’s given you a different way of thinking about sustainability, not as something that we do, but as something that can shape the way we relate to what we have and the world around us. So your one small shift for the week is to simply notice where you feel connected to yourself or another living being or just the

The world around you, what would it feel like to flow with this nature and life itself rather than trying to gain mastery over it? So maybe think about my example with my coffee and the birds, something similar that you can do just to connect. Maybe that means slowing down enough to notice what’s happening in your own backyard, my birds, or paying close attention to the food you eat, simply recognizing the other beings that you share your neighborhood with.

It’s not really prescriptive. It’s just paying attention to the relationship you already have with the world around you. Because again, sustainability is so much more than reducing waste and consuming less. It’s also about recognizing that we are part of this world and understanding that we have enough and then thinking about how we want to live within that. So if you’ve enjoyed today’s conversation, I’d love it if you followed or subscribed to the show.

Leave a rating and a review and share this episode with someone who might enjoy it too. You can also find more practical sustainability ideas at sustainable in the suburbs dot com slash blog. Thank you so much for listening today. Until next time, start where you are, use what you have, and live a little greener.

Thanks for tuning in to Sustainable in the Suburbs. Every small step adds up, and I’m so glad we’re doing this together. If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. You can find me at sustainableinthesuburbs.com or at Sarah Robertson Barnes on all the things. Until next time, start where you are, use what you have, and live a little greener. This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (01:02:23.276)
For more information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co or email Mike at mike at cardinalstudio.co. You can also find the details in the show notes.