Yoga clothes are synonymous with freedom of movement, flow, and comfort. We want something that lets our skin breath, our bodies bend, and our limbs stretch. We need to know that where we go in our practice, our clothes will go also, rather than hinder us.

This basic function is what many of us once thought of, first, when purchasing Yoga-wear; however, the budding consciousness of where things come from, creates an added element to what we put on our bodies.

In today's world, the facts of sweatshops, child labor, people working for 12 hours a day to go home with pennies, and an environment on the brink of destruction from unsustainable farming and shipping of textiles, means we all must approach the idea of free-movement a little differently. Perhaps nothing has been as much of an eye-opener as the recent (2010), massive Haitian earthquake.

Once a sustainable and robust farming nation with public-owned energy plants, Haiti was reduced to a third world country in the 1990's, when it lost price protections to the global market and was forced to privatize many of its shared public resources. Its crippled farmers had no choice but to migrate en masse to Port Au Prince, where, under the leadership of their own, money-hungry government and the United States, their capable hands were turned out of the dirt and into tailors for the wasteful, fashion-of-the week cultures of the wealthy.

It was in these very textile factories where thousands of Haitians died years later, when the Earthquake struck. Most of them spent 12 to 16 hours a day there, working for a minimum wage far below any we can now imagine. The factories were built so quickly, and kept in such poor condition, most of them literally imploded during the shaking , with the people inside.

I ask you, what kind of life and death is this for a human being? And what kinds of human beings contribute to it? Certainly, as consumers, we have a duty to think about our choices and consume goods carefully and consciously. As yogis, too, we have a duty to realize that the suffering of others is, in actuality, our own suffering, and we can no longer be a part of it.

While we cannot force corporations overseas to change their practices, we do have an amazing power over how things are made, and at whose expense. In a global, capitalist economy, we each have a very effective method of supporting the business practices we want: we vote with our dollar, and, where we put our money, there our hearts are also.

This means that every time we buy something built unsustainably or created in a sweatshop, we vote for that practice. When, instead, we choose to buy less and buy sustainable, or to reuse and recycle old clothing, we create a demand for better, more ethical business practices. By choosing sustainable materials, like organic cotton and bamboo, from companies who care about their workers and the environment, we actually begin to change the world.

Imagine what it would be like if a corporation knew it couldn't sell anything if it didn't produce it ethically and sustainably. Wouldn't that be a wonderful world, indeed? In fact, doesn't it make you feel like dancing?

That is what I call moving freely, flow, comfort and true Yoga: the idea of love, compassion, and consciousness in everything we do, everywhere we go, and everything we put on our bodies and purchase with our dollars.

Freedom of movement is choice, and each one of us has a choice regarding which business practices we will support and which we will peacefully work to destroy.

It matters what you wear. Support compassion and sustainability. Namaste.