Sustainable Living One Yoga Mat at a Time

Sustainable and mindful living is a choice. We got in a conversation with founder of Inspwriter, Taruna and decoded her secrets towards mindfulness.

For everyone looking for a great sustainable swap for their traditional yoga mat, this the place you should be.

Here are a few excerpts from our conversation: What is Inspwriter and how did this journey begin?

Over the last few years so much has shifted around us and within us with an intense pull for purposeful living. And this extraordinary crisis also gave us unprecedented opportunities to connect with like-minded people, the ones who support sustainable living. And we are truly overwhelmed to be a part of this change. An initiative by the team of inspwriter of minimising the use of rubber and plastic by bringing organic hand-quilted cotton yoga mats. My name is Taruna, I am the co-founder of inspwriter It's been nearly 2 years for us to have started this venture of organic hand-quilted cotton yoga mats.

Inspwriter is the brainchild of me and one of my friend. We are based in Jaipur. We started this platform around 4 years back as a storytelling community out of our common passion and love for writing short stories and poems. We did events and short films as well around detox from social media addiction and how art can help people heal from anxiety, depression and mental health issues.

Here's a link of our short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1flp3ZyPwz8 Both of us were inclined towards a sustainable product line. And being a yogi myself, wanted to initiate something for a healthy lifestyle. So this product line started quite vaguely. The moment I joined a yoga center I was really surprised with the kind of yoga mats that people were using and I made up my mind that I am not gonna use something of this kind which is of course not healthy for the environment as well as for the skin and the yoga practice. So,I come from a background of manufacturing house of cotton women apparels (family business), so I kinda had a little knowledge about cotton and it's benefits. Within 2-3 days I happened to get a personalised mat designed for my own practice ,and the moment I first time took it to my yoga center, it turned out that the mat was a solution for a lot more ppl like me, or who were struggling with back conditions, knee conditions or infact who wanted to use cotton mats. That's how our product line of cotton yoga mats came into the picture. 2.How do you practice what you preach? One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. Practising what we preach only comes when our heart is ready to carry it. After all, the deepest truths of life are beautifully simple. So, it's simple. Every single choice, from the toothbrush that I use (which is natural bamboo based and not plastic based) to practicing face yoga daily instead of relying and applying cosmetics. From using bicycle to go for normal nearby market work or just go walking instead of burning petrol to using cotton bags and eating homemade and organic food. I would say it's not just about the yoga mat that we preach, but of course this initiative has a broader perspective to have a holistic approach towards life, to live a conscious and sustainable living. I have learnt a lot in this journey, and I would say every day, with every single choice I am learning.

3.How can one start living more mindfully?

I strongly believe true yoga happens off the mat.

You can’t recognise mindful living without being conscious yourself, and connected to your own self.

Right from your breath to the way you eat, sleep, even communicate to others and most importantly the self talks that happen in our mind.

For me, journaling has really been a strong foundation to live more mindfully.

I maintain a mood journal and gratitude journal. And they have really helped me to connect with my thoughts, feelings and emotions.

And of course these beautiful practices like yoga and meditation also play a strong role in bringing us back to ourselves.

Only when you are completely aware of who you are, can you begin to live more mindfully.

For example knowing the difference between responding and reacting.

Often time or I would say most of the times we react to situations, but we must always respond and that only comes with practice.

5.Any new products you plan to introduce? We are planning to merge art, literature and yoga together and use this passion to introduce an entire range of quirky yoga essentials.

6. Meet Taruna, the soul behind Inspwriter: On the journey to myself, I have been so many stories! Yogini| Entrepreneur| Writer| Artist| Digital Media Strategist A firm believer of sustainable living. I strongly believe that age is just a number, and turning older is not merely an addition of a number, rather it’s a journey of becoming the best version of YOU. Passion: Yoga, Reading, Writing I strive to help people who are dealing with mental health issues like anxiety, depression, panic attacks by sharing my practice of yoga with them. The yoga sessions that we conduct are designed to harmonize their inner faculties with the practice of yoga, meditation and art therapy/ Hobby: Painting. Colors have always been my companion in the journey of accepting myself. They have guided me to learn to love all that I am and all that I am not, to accept all the different shades of my personality with dignity and embrace all my flaws. Qualifications: Yogini| MA. English Literature For more such stories, keep reading our blogs and connect with us if you have a similar story to share.