The Yoga Class That Keeps Giving
I have been wanting to announce partnering up with One Tree Planted for months. It’s been on one of my many to-do lists and it kept getting pushed back. I have done my research into a few companies but I just kept coming back to One Tree Planted. They were Awarded 2019 winner of the 1% for the Planet – People for the Planet Award in the Nonprofit Changemaker category.
As you all know my love for the planet is SO IMPORTANT and I have wanted to include this into the business since last year.
We have decided that giving back to the community is one of our most important business value we to showcase not just to people but also the planet as we believe People + Planet are ONE!
For every one dollar yoga class contribution, one tree will be planted.
To keep the business accountable at the end of each month, I will be sharing the certificate of a donation from ONE TREE PLANTED.
Currently, the trees planted are allocated to the 1 million trees reforestation project in Australia, which will support restoration after the 2019-2020 forest fires burned over 18 million hectares (46 million acres). Seedlings will be grown in local nurseries and planted in National Parks. To find out more click here.
As a business, we are also allowed to select the region which we want the trees to be planted that we would like to support. Obviously we keen on supporting restoration in Australia after the fires. We will also keep you posted on where we choose to plant trees if we decide to change location in the future.
I am personally very excited about taking this step in my business. I have personally planted trees in Australia during my first year working in Australia as part of my Working Holiday Visa to do 6 months of farm work so that I could apply for my 2nd Year Working Holiday Visa. I will state now that it was the hardest work I have ever done in my life.
I cried daily as my body was so exhausted planting in the fields all day. I lost so much weight and slept in a tent for 4 weeks not eating a lot of food. I met so many amazing people. But it was physically the hardest work I’d ever been paid to do which wasn’t a lot of money. I believe it cost 10 cents per tree planted and I could only manage to plant maybe 2400 trees a day. You do the math!
As I was not in it for the money, I took my time to make sure I planted each tree correctly. If you planted one wrong tree the crew Tree Checkers would make you re-do the whole row again. There is a special technique for planting these trees holding the pole shovel while smashing it into the ground dropping the tree down the pole then lifting it up as you step forward to close the hole. And you just on marching along doing the same thing row by row. I would watch many of my fellow planters pass me daily.
After my first day, my work boots cut my heels badly after walking what felt like 10km. But we knew we were planting trees to help offset omissions so I kept on planting. I was more or less just doing TIME so that I could get another visa. It felt a bit harsh to have to do such hard labour to stay another year but not a lot of Australia wanted to do the work. It was mostly foreigners that were Planters doing it for the same reason I was. Some of them made $10,000 in 6 weeks which for them made the hard work worthwhile.
But after a few weeks and phone calls crying, I left early and went back to Melbourne to figure something else out. Even a farm girl like me found it too hard to bear. There were nights that the wind was so bad that our Tents would be blown so we had to move them into a big barn shed to protect them as much as possible. Working so hard every day and then sleeping on a concrete floor every night just started to break my spirit. I wasn’t eating enough food so my energy was low as well. No matter how much I tried to find the positives in hanging out with new friends, it just wasn’t working out for me.
I loved that I experienced such hard labour for hardly any pay. But it is something I don’t ever want to do again. I have so much admiration for my friends who continued on this path of planting trees. Someone needs to do this hard work which is why I am so proud to be able to support One Tree Planted who are employing more people to do this labour of love.
Walking away from this job early I felt bad but knew it was the right thing to do for myself. I don’t like quitting but sometimes you need to put aside your ego and do what’s right for your spirit and health. It has always left a lasting mark on my soul…which is why I wanted to connect my business to a non-profit that I believe is committing to long-lasting change in this world.