By Dee Davis

Do you know that the soil has knowledge that you can tap into instantly? The soil is inside you, a part of you, just like your heart and lungs. Touch the soil with your hand and recognize that understanding and caring for the soil instills the greatest knowledge available to humanity.

The Sadguru is doing an international #SaveSoil campaign and is encouraging all people to change large-scale farming practices that don’t replenish the soil. Saving the soil prevents food shortages and the wars that may arise from food scarcity. 

People all over the world depend on healthy soil for food. And plants and animals depend on soil to live. Modern farming practices that include mono-cropping, using GMOs, and toxic pesticides have destroyed farmland and forests. Nature is out of balance. Agnihotra is an Ayurveda solution that regenerates soil, cleans the atmosphere from pathogenic bacteria, and purifies water. The Agnihotra ash balances the soil’s microbial content, restoring nutrients. It remediates problem soil, increases plant yield, and cuts harvest time. Agnihotra solves soil pollution and helps fight man-made climate change.

The old ways of caring for nature and knowledge beyond the five senses as part of the human experience have become lost on modern humans living in concrete jungles. At Shanti Villa Institute, we teach Agnihotra and Homa farming which are ways to take care of the planet and heal pollution. Homa farming is a traditional Ayurveda sustainable farming technique that nourishes the soil and heals the environment. 

George Washington Carver

The main campus location of Shanti Villa Institute is in Tuskegee, Alabama. Tuskegee has a history of embracing sustainable farming. George Washington Carver was a famous black botanist and regenerative farming advocate long before “sustainability,” and “regenerative” became buzzwords in the last few years.

Most people don’t know that George Washington Carver was spiritual. He often said that his inventions came from God. He would get up early before the sun was up to talk to the plants and listen to the message on how to tend the land and serve people. The soil, plants, and trees would communicate with him. The plants told him how to teach the poor black farmers how to farm to give back to the land. The plants told him all the inventions he came up with to help the farmers. 

“A piece of us dies and suffers when we destroy the soil and plants with pollution. The trees heighten clarity and intuition. Intuition and knowledge are taken away when many trees are chopped down. “

  • Carver was an unlimited broadcasting station with the knowledge of the plants and the soil
  • He knew that 4 a.m. was a powerful time to get lessons and messages from nature
  • Carver considered himself an artist who did good things from nature’s bounty

Can we not learn from Carver’s ways of connecting to nature? There are many ways to return to what we know is right for the environment and heal our minds, bodies, and spirits. 

Traditional Soil Healing Techniques 

  • Scientific studies confirm that walking barefoot on the ground (also called earthing or grounding) is healing. You can also sit or lay on the ground for an extending time.
  • There are indigenous healers like shamans who dig a shallow hole and bury someone who needs healing. They cover the entire body, except the face, so that the body can receive the healing energy of the soil. 
  • Many cultures ask plants for permission before picking herbs and plants for healing. 
  • Pouring water off of your right hand onto plants when you’re watering the garden nourishes the plants with your energy. 
  • Ghee placed in a clay or glass container buried in the earth for five years or more heals burns.  

The time has come for people to embrace the old ways of caring for the planet the way our ancestors did. Returning to the knowledge of the soil, farming in ways to be in concert with nature, and restoring our ecosystems will save the soil and bring health and peace to humanity.