Yoga studio is 'point of change'

SANDPOINT — The body politic has devolved into an embarrassing spectacle where grown men and women now insult one another with schoolyard taunts and squabble like toddlers over pretty much everything.

As leaders, from the top down, we are failing our children and grandchildren. Thankfully, they have realized just how inept and ineffective most of their elected officials have become and now seem poised to take matters into their own hands.

Before giving upcoming generations too much credit in advance, it’s difficult to avoid pointing out their debt of political laziness up to this point.

One election after another goes by with the much-ballyhooed power of the collective “youth vote” starting to look like the punch line to a bad joke as young people abdicate that power by not showing up at the polls. Something feels different going into 2020, however, and the catalyst is climate change.

That phrase, for many elders, evokes a defensive reaction, if not a complete meltdown. But while we vacillate and prevaricate, a movement has started around this issue. Organizers – decidedly liberal and definitely progressive – call it the Sunrise Movement.

“It’s a worldwide movement,” said Peter Mico, owner of Downtown Yoga in Sandpoint. “It’s a youth movement – a green movement.”

Starting this summer, Mico’s studio will join a matrix of other sites around the nation and globe to, in effect, do an end-run around the intransigence of politicians and start a nuts-and-bolts dialog about how to haul Mother Earth back from the brink. The format will be an ongoing series of town halls, with expert speakers live-streamed in real time to people gathered in classrooms, living rooms churches – and yoga studios.

“It’s a network of town halls around the world,” said Mico. “But these town halls are for the environment.”

The Sunrise Movement unapologetically backs the precepts of the Green New Deal and plans to keep that legislative agenda front and center when Democrats meet in Detroit this July. The idea, one gathers from reading through the organization’s web site, is not to budge from the expectation that elected officials get to work immediately on battling climate change, as opposed to simply talking it to death.

“They’ll ask for our votes,” one page on the site reads. “We’ll ask them to give a damn about our lives.”

The refreshingly no-nonsense tone of the Sunrise Movement’s language reminded Mico of his time as a younger man who had dreams of saving the planet.

“I remember the ‘60s in Berkeley,” he said. “I had an old ’41 Ford truck and I collected glass to recycle.

“Back then, we actually did some stuff,” he continued. “Now, we’re all so placated and all the people who were leading communes are corporate CEOs.”

According to the Sunrise Movement, the issue transcends politics to the point where terms such as Democrat and Republican are rendered pitifully mute. Put another way, the young people behind this global movement no longer trust either party to get the job done.

“We are not looking to the right or left – we look forward,” the site states. “Together, we will change this country and this world, sure as the sun rises each morning.”

Still, understandably, the organizers view progressive Democrats as their best bet going forward. Their goal is to aggressively elect as many progressive candidates as they can find who will sign onto the environmental agenda.

“We’re building an army of young people to make climate change an urgent priority across America, end the corrupting influence of fossil fuel executives on our politics, and elect leaders who stand up for the health and wellbeing of all people,” one page on the web site reads.

Beyond the hippie aesthetic that appealed to Mico is the fact that he already is involved in a smaller, but similar movement. As the operator of Blue Earth Yoga – an institute for yoga, health, and longevity – he and a team of yoga instructors now lead retreats to “blue zone” locations in places such as Greece, Costa Rica and Mexico. Along with the premise that these locales, with their simple lifestyles, unsullied food supplies and pristine environments, promote good health and long life, there is the underlying conviction that taking care of the Earth is the first step toward taking care of humanity itself.

“Because we are part of the whole Blue Earth Yoga ‘realm,’ Downtown Yoga is already tied into the concept of being a ‘point of change,’” he said. “If you look around the world, some countries are already working really hard to make a difference (about climate change). This is a way to tap into those ideas. Because of these interactive town halls and the live streaming that connects them, people can come and hear expert speakers in a yoga studio in Sandpoint that you’d normally only hear if you traveled to a big city.”

Mico called the material coming out of the town halls “approachable ideas” that carry with them the power to weave generations together through activism – a straight-forward, apolitical little word that means playing a part in getting things done.

“I think the biggest message coming out of the Sunrise Movement is: Don’t give up,” Mico said. “There are things we can do to make a difference. And what a wonderful thing to do – to make a difference for our grandchildren.”

To learn more about interactive town halls and the Sunrise Movement, visit: sunrisemovement.org

For information on Blue Earth Yoga, visit: blueearthyoga.com.