Although not an athletic sport, gardening can still be intense, prolonged, and repetitive physical activity. What better way to combine exercise, being outdoors (and getting your daily dose of Vitamin D), and creating something beautiful, delicious, or both? On the other hand, it is vitally important to be in good shape and condition, and to use good body mechanics and pacing, to avoid gardening injuries.
Most people recognize yoga as a great tool on a physical level for improving flexibility and strength. A brief yoga practice, before gardening, will warm up the joints, loosen muscles, and reinforce core strength and stability. Yoga also fosters self-awareness of body mechanics, posture, and breath; that in turn helps us pace ourselves, listen to our bodies’ early warning signals, and recognize sooner when we are overdoing and need to stop, stretch, change activities, or rest. Many yoga stretches can be adapted to serve as quick stretch breaks out in the garden. After gardening, “cool down” relaxing yoga postures can prevent or at least minimize stiffness and soreness, just in case we overdid it!
Yoga also has ties to gardening on a spiritual level. Yoga means Union with all beings and with that which is sacred and divine. That is one of the deepest reasons we garden, and benefits we derive from it- that connection to nature and the earth, and the cycles of birth, growth, reproduction, death, decay and regeneration.
The primary moral principle of yoga is nonviolence. Nonviolence towards ourselves in the garden takes many forms including pacing, varying our tasks, finding ways to minimize effort, and having realistic goals of how much to accomplish in a garden session. We can reduce stress on our bodies by designing our gardens to be as ergonomic and user friendly as possible. Using proper body mechanics during lifting, twisting, bending and reaching is crucial, applying time honored principles of using your legs to save your back, keeping arms close in to the body when lifting, using legs as a fulcrum, and keeping your back straight. Alternating sides when possible during repetitive activities helps keep your body in balance.
Nonviolence should also extend to the other forms of life that share our garden, and towards the earth itself. That is why sustainable and organic principles and methods are best whenever possible—not just to protect your own health, but that of the birds, bees, butterflies, beneficial insects, and the soil and water that nourishes your plants, and on a broader scale, that of our entire communities and future generations to come.
