Toilet Talk

Chances are, if you are reading this, you are human. And if you are human, you are familiar with your human by-products also known as pee and poo. If this subject is taboo for you and the thought of your own feces (OMG: what a strong word!) makes you gag with disgust, this is probably not the blog post for you. But wait! Before you leave, send the link to your poo-loving friend... we all have one! Alas, this is your warning: poo talk ahead.

On our very last days preparing for Guatemala, Dustin and I had a final skype call with Hayley (the owner and visionary behind The Yoga Forest) and as soon as her face appeared on the screen, I asked, with a little too much enthusiasm, "do you use toilet paper?!".  Ah, so eloquent am I. Hayley laughed and it's this kind of questions that has prompted me to write "Toilet Talk". As Americans, compost toilets aren't even in our vocabulary much less connected to our living spaces, so here is a little of what you can expect...

From a permaculture perspective, the ethics state to create no waste: no organic matter should leave the property (think of the brush created by cutting back trees that many people put into bags and leave on the sidewalk for the city to pick up... that's good stuff! Cut it up and use it as firewood or break it down to create mulch for your garden beds: it's a great source of carbon for the soil). This organic matter also includes human waste. It takes about 3 years for poo to break down when it can then be put back in the gardens and used as compost for plants. Human urine is very high in nitrogen and nitrogen is extremely helpful in soil for plant growth. This brings me to one of our most beloved Yoga Forest rules: pee on a tree, not in the greens! 

What's really fun about all of this is, as a manager, it is my responsibility to make all of our guests and interns aware of these rules. That means that one of my first conversations (if not THE first conversation) goes a little something like this: 

"Here are the Forest, we use compost toilets and there are two toilets here on property. The closest bathroom to the cafe is up the stairs and to the left. There are two toilets in that bathroom. One if for urine only: no toilet paper or poo goes in that toilet. The second toilet is for poo and all toilet paper. If you do poo, please add a heaping scoop of sawdust once you've done your deed. This scoop of sawdust helps to alkalize the poo because it is very acidic. Please do not put any inorganic material in either toilet: tampons, plastic, etc. Each toilet is labeled as to its use so you will not get confused. 

The closest toilet to your cabana is straight up the stairs from the mango tree. This toilet is multi-use and can take it all (I usually add an enthusiastic fist pump here). But again, please add a scoop of sawdust after you've finished and do not add any inorganic material". 

Poop talk with strangers, life is good. 

Now, the inorganic toilet material is a completely different blog post that I doubt I have the courage to write (you're welcome). But I will tell you this, I'm about 58-42 with the application of the pee on a tree rule and those numbers steeply increase at night. It is directly because of this that all of my yoga students have been practicing a hearty squat during each class. Dustin has a theory that squatting can extend your lifespan and I'm going to have to agree with him: it's a very natural movement that saves your lower back  and stacks your joints which causes no harm. Watch a baby interact and play, they squat right down, diaper butt to heals. 

In many ways, our travels to Colorado via Cheley Colorado Camps was a really great dry-run to our adventures here in Guate. At our campsite in Colorado, they literally dug a hole in the ground and put a toilet seat on top, encasing this toilet seat with four wooden walls. When that space became full and overpowering in stink, they would cover it up and  dig another hole, moving our rough outhouse to another location. The Yoga Forest works in a slight variation to that of Cheley; there is a large bucket that waste falls into and it is emptied into a space where that waste has time to decompose before putting back into the gardens. 

I am definitely not suggesting to forego our potty practices in lieu of a hole in the ground with a toilet seat on top. I'm merely educating, bringing light to the fact that indeed, there is a different way to deal with human waste (and put it to good use!) aside from pooping in clean water. Below I've included a few photos of our all-natural, 100% ethical and organic compost toilet systems. 

the bathroom nearest to the cafe

far left: sawdust, poo on the left, pee on the right

the view of the lago from the bathroom

the bathroom nearest to the cabanas

the toilet that TAKES IT ALL!

second bathroom view of the lago

bathroom words of wisdom

If you haven't quite had enough toilet talk, I invite you to check out urine therapy or urotherapy, an alternative medicinal practice that has people drinking and rubbing their own urine on their skin. It's an ancient Indian practice that goes by the name of Shivambu Shastra and claims to raise the kundalini energy up to the third eye. Urine is considered prana, life force energy, much like the air we breath, food and blood. 

TO BE CLEAR: using the compost toilets has been a very easy transition and I don't ever see myself engaging in Shivambu Shastra, that was just food for thought. Drink it in. 

One Love!