A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be part of another seasonal, community event. Our local Busan community really came together for the Autumn Equinox with organizers working together from the cycle, yoga, and food communities, all for the local foreign involved environmental group – BCA, Busan Climate Action.

An already active community member and activist, Sunny, has been organizing Critical Mass rides in Busan to bring awareness to cycle safety on the road. I know first hand how dangerous it is to cycle here as a commuting cyclist due to inconsistent cycle paths and drivers who don’t always accept or appreciate me being on “their road.” It’s true that Busan has great cycle paths along rivers and the coast, but the city is lacking in areas of the inner city and less touristy neighborhoods. Critical Mass brings together other concerned cyclists whom ride the streets of a certain route, as a big community, to feel safe from drivers and to make those drivers aware that they share the road (whether they like it or not) with bicycles. Critical Mass is held most third Sundays of the months, so it worked out perfectly to combine the yoga equinox event with the cycle ride.

The route ended early in Gwangan so that I could lead an hour-long yoga class. Many regular students joined the cyclists and we practiced a root chakra class, to ground ourselves in the changing times of the seasons. After the yoga class there was some playtime of acro and then we made our way towards a rooftop restaurant for a vegan-family-style dinner.

Donations from the events went towards the upcoming BCA Film Festival. This is the second film festival held by the group and will be on November 6 & 7th at the Busan Community Media Center. The film festival aspires to make the community aware of the dangers of our changing climate, causes of global warming, and changes that can be made to decrease an individuals carbon footprint.

I had a wonderful time being apart of another seasonal event and look forward to participating  again in winter when that comes around. How have you been recognizing the changing of the seasons?