Malin Christensson traveled from Sweden to the Kootenay Bay mountains four months ago. She came to the Ashram because she loves life, and wants to explore it in a meaningful way. Malin believes anything she brings to the Ashram's life and community begins first with her own well-being.

When she is truly content, Malin finds she has space to listen to others, and to participate in the community. At the same time, when she cares about her community and environment, she is also inwardly well. The Ashram's Divine Light Invocation practice connects Malin with the world around her:

“If identifying myself with something negative separates me from my highest potential, then identifying with something positive re-connects me. If I am not well, my relationship with all aspects of my outer world: people, nature, etc., will be affected. The Divine Light Invocation re-affirms my identification with my higher potential, and my potential to connect with my outer world."

Malin drafted her vision of a sustainable Ashram in May, 2006. She wanted to refresh how the Ashram relates both to its own environment, and to its Kootenay Bay neighbors. She began with the simplest of the Ashram's environmental concerns: garbage. Drawing from Swami Radha's reflective symbolism technique, Malin reflects on collecting Ashram garbage; “It’s really intimate collecting other people’s garbage – collecting what they throw away. Like garbage, I can transform the parts of myself I throw away, and I can transform that energy into something useful.”

Malin questions what the community considers unwanted and disposable. She wants to change what is called 'garbage' or how the garbage can be seen differently. “What in my life can be transformed, like the garbage? Behavioural patterns, negative thoughts… Instead of ‘throwing thoughts out’ or rejecting them – what would happen if I accepted them, decided to work with them?” Malin believes by accepting her emotional, spiritual, and physical environments, she transforms how she lives and therefore the kind of life she creates both for herself, and for others.

Malin brought her reflections to the Ashram's washroom garbage. She noticed 90% of the Ashram’s main building washroom garbage was paper towels. Malin looked at the paper towels and thought: “Why don’t we compost them?” The simple changeover to paper towel-only bins in Mandala House washrooms has virtually eliminated garbage production there, and improved the Ashram compost.

The Ashram sustainability project aims at immediate, small-scale projects, such as garbage reduction, and long term, far-reaching projects, such as energy-efficient buildings. Malin plans on proposing the sustainability project to the Ashram General Meeting in August.