The Shala Daily

In a recent piece for Cybernews, the tech world’s quiet revolution is chronicled: Europeans are moving away from Big Tech, seeking digital sovereignty and community-powered tools. It’s a story you might find familiar at our shala, where open source isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a shared practice.

As I tinker with WordPress and open source automations to keep our billing, newsletters, and even the lights running, I see this as an act of trust—in both the technology and our community. The real beauty? The cost savings become a sustainability benefit we all share. The tradeoff is imperfection, transparency, and, above all, agency.

🛠️ Autonomy: Showing Up in Community

Europe’s digital movement, like our own, pivots on autonomy. Whether it’s switching to Proton Mail or running your own WordPress blog, the shift involves taking ownership—not just of your data, but of the whole messy, beautiful process. Open source is less about perfection and more about participation, much like a Mysore room: you show up, work through the kinks, and trust in each practitioner’s agency to find their way.

This is the root of sangha—community as a practice, not just a noun. We support each other not by smoothing every road, but by holding space for imperfection and learning as a group. Each person’s autonomy expands the potential for the whole.

🔍 Satya: Open Source, Transparency, and Truth

Moving away from the walled gardens of Big Tech is an invitation to practice satya—truthfulness and integrity. Open source code is visible, adaptable, and inherently honest about its limitations. Just as in asana practice, where we notice what’s actually happening rather than what we wish was true, software built in the open asks us to engage honestly with both its strengths and rough edges.

Transparency—about bugs, about savings, about what’s still a work in progress—becomes a shared value. We learn together, celebrate small wins, and remain honest about what remains to be done.

🌱 Sustainability: Reclaiming the Commons

Europe’s shift is more than a reaction to geopolitics—it’s a move toward sustainability, economic and otherwise. When we build local, when we support open ecosystems, we’re choosing systems that regenerate rather than extract. Like permaculture, open source thrives on contributions from many hands, and the value circulates within the community.

This is systems thinking in action: each decision (to use open source, to share knowledge, to accept imperfection) is a thread in the web of a more resilient, collective future. Our shala’s approach to tech isn’t just thrifty—it’s a practice in itself, growing our capacity for interdependence and adaptive change.

💡 On the Mat, Off the Mat

What does this all mean for practice? It’s a reminder that yoga isn’t confined to postures—it’s in every act of building, sharing, tinkering, and trusting. Whether you’re learning a new pose or debugging a plugin, showing up with agency, honesty, and a willingness to learn together is its own form of liberation.

So go start that blog, experiment with a new tool, or ask someone in sangha for advice. Each experiment, each imperfect attempt, is a step toward collective autonomy. The wisdom is in the doing—together.

— MJH