Permaculture

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a simple and elegant approach to living on the planet. It respects all life and seeks effective, healthy ways to live in harmony with our surroundings and with each other. In these days of environmental and resource stress, permaculture offers us enjoyable, meaningful, and powerful solutions. 

In keeping with its decentralized nature, there is not one specifically agreed upon definition of permaculture. HERE, however, are some rather elegant descriptions that shed insight on the philosophy behind the movement.

Why Permaculture?

As practitioners of the internal martial and healing arts, why should we concern ourselves with all this?

The answer I believe is a matter of scale. If the objective of our practice is to cultivate our true nature and higher potential, we eventually realize that we simply must give clear and penetrating attention to the world around us as well. 

In so doing, important questions arise such as: How can I most harmoniously interact with nature and society? What is the best way to acquire heathy food, water, shelter, and energy? What sort of work genuinely contributes to life rather than exploits it? Are the social structures I rely on such as money, government, education, etc. truly life affirming or do they contribute to imbalance and suffering? In light of all this, what is my role in creating healthier systems that can be of benefit to everyone?

These are questions that are directly relevant to the practice of self cultivation as they effect the ground upon which we practice. Indeed, as serious practitioners I believe we have a responsibility to directly address the issues that effect us and our loved ones.

The study and application of permaculture offers us many powerful tools to create more balanced, healthy, and effective living systems. In many ways, permaculture is an outward expression of the very same natural principles we apply in our personal training.

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