bARTer

I was down a rabbit hole on Amazon last night, which started with me looking up the book "Twelve by Twelve"- an account of a man who lived in tiny cabin in the woods. I ordered it from the library, but I'm number 22 in line, so I may not get to read it for awhile. That book led to "Possum Living" which was written in 1978 by an 18 year-old woman who lived off the grid with her father in rural PA. I spent about an hour reading what I could on Amazon. Then I ended up looking at a slew of other books about simple living, including a new John Robbins book about how to deal with living in new economic circumstances. The preview function in Amazon can be an incredible time suck, but it is a useful tool in determining whether to buy a book.

After the Amazon research, I realized I had two credits at Audible that I still needed to use. In the new releases I found the book "What's Mine is Yours" which I remember hearing about on NPR recently. It looks at the rise of social media and the explosion of sharing, bartering, co-owning and freecycling. It immediately got me to thinking: how could I work out a barter system for yoga? I know that many people love yoga, but cannot afford to spend $12-17 for each class. I was one of those people. I took community ed yoga in order to have a regular class at an affordable price, but it was taught on a carpeted floor of an elementary school hallway-- a far cry from the gleaming hardwood floors, surround sound and showers of places like Core Power. "You get what you pay for" is what came to mind.

There has to be a way to give people a satisfying yoga experience without the expense. I think barter may be a solution. Almost everyone has something they can offer, even if they aren't aware of it. I am going to ponder this a bit more and try to figure out a way to work out a system for providing yoga without emptying pocketbooks.

Namaste,
Kate