You might not think cutting edge science has much in common with the practice of yoga, but at Galesville Memorial Hall on Sunday those attending Eco-Yoga Day found plenty of similarities. South county's Renaissance Yoga organized the event in honor of Earth Day with the help of others in the community, including representatives from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). The afternoon program featured a guest speaker, heirloom seed planting and, of course, yoga poses.

Each year organizers choose a theme and this year it was "Bio-mimicry." SERC's Karen McDonald, director of public programs and an environmental educator, led a demonstration and discussion on this emerging field of science.

Bio-mimicry is a combination of science and engineering that is based on a fairly simple idea. McDonald said that it is based on the premise that the way in which we are currently living is not sustainable—and we can look to nature to find solutions that are more in balance with the planet.

“It’s basically humans looking at the best designs in nature to try and solve our modern problems,” she said.

As guest speaker, McDonald discussed some of the most exciting projects currently underway in the field of bio-mimicry today. For example, shark and dolphin skins have an incredible ability to deter barnacle and bacterial growth. Scientists are currently looking at what they can learn from these animals about creating anti-bacterial surfaces or coatings for boat hulls.

Another exciting development addresses a very common problem throughout the world—how to heat and cool our homes. Whether it is a scorching hot summer day or a bitterly cold winter night, we require tons of energy to maintain our homes at a constant temperature. Interestingly enough, termite mounds must also maintain very precise temperature and humidity levels. They figured out a way to do it a long time ago—without power plants and HVAC systems.

"They're [scientists] studying the thick walls of termite mounds to figure out how to build buildings that stay at a constant temperature all year round,” McDonald said.

“It’s about constructing and solving our problems using nature as a guide,” McDonald said. “Essentially there is no problem in the world that has not already been solved by best practice in nature.”

McDonald also lead a demonstration where participants used prisms and bubbles to make rainbows. Nature creates all the colors of the rainbow without the need for harmful chemicals.  Butterfly wings use the prism function to create their vibrant colors rather than chemical pigments.  Some scientists are looking at these butterfly wing structures to create dyes for paints and other products that are free of harmful chemicals.

“The central principle is that nature has, through trial and error, already figured out the solutions to all the problems that we face,” she said. “And it’s like what the yogis do, they study the animals and plants and figure out the best poses to fit our bodies to find balance.”

Satyam Kumar, Renaissance Yoga instructor, has organized Eco-Yoga day each year and said this years theme fits well with yoga which he considers to be a form of bio-mimicry as well.

“Yoga itself is a theory based on nature,” he said. “It’s [Yoga] mimicking animals, mimicking trees and you apply that to the human structure to solve human problems,” he said.

The principle of yoga has lasted for centuries and is based on an idea of applying the balance that exists in nature to our own minds and bodies Kumar said.

“All of yoga is just a mirror image of naturally occurring phenomenon that already happens,” he said. “And bio-mimicry is just an extension of that and applying it to other aspects of human endeavor.”

For more information of Bio-mimicry visit the Biomimicry Institute website. 

Renaissance Yoga holds regular classes and seminars, for more information visit their website as well.