YOGA DAY BENEFIT - SUCCESS!!!

Namaste beautiful yogis,

Yoga For Life - Yoga Day Benefit for Breast Cancer was a wonderful success. I would consider the event a success even if one person showed up to support Breast Cancer research and a healthy yogic lifestyle. I am pleased to say that more than one person showed their support for the cause, the event and all together we raised $86 for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer benefit taking place this weekend - April 12 & 13.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning for yoga in the park. A cold front had blown in the day before and dropped the temp to a chilly 50 degrees and I wondered if anyone was going to be able to handle practicing the next morning. Usually, 50 deg. at anytime of year is not something to really give any thought to, but when practicing yoga in a park, outside and exposed to the elements while trying to convince other people to participate, 50 deg. can suddenly make all the difference. Thankfully the Universe was smiling upon us Saturday and the early morning’s chilly winds passed into a perfect afternoon.


We lightly touched based on some Jnana yoga discussions, bringing in elements of teachings I have had that seemed to tie into not only our reasons for attending that morning, but also the little bits of converstations that were passing around before our session. Some revisiting of the yamas; with rememberances of non-violence towards ourselves and others, truthfulness with the few of us who thought about skipping that morning and had to re-evalute our motives, non-stealing of our time and dedication, abstinence from our usual lazy, Saturday morning behaviour, and non-hording of our personal funds.

Our yoga session for the day, however, was largely dedicated to our individual practice of Karma yoga. As Swami Vivekananda says, "Helping others physically, by removing their physical needs, is indeed great; but the help is greater according as the need is greater and according as the help is far-reaching. If a man's wants can be removed for an hour, it is helping him indeed; if his wants can be removed for a year, it will be more help to him; but if his wants can be removed for ever, it is surely the greatest help that can be given him."

And, of course, we continued our steady practice of Hatha yoga. With the weather being slightly chilly at the beginning, we chose to go through a more thorough psycho-physical session to warm-up our muscles, joints, ligaments, organs, and all the rest. We followed that with a lovely hour of asanas; starting with a couple surya namaskars, facing east then west for each series.

With the consent from everyone, we followed then with some supported shoulder stands and inversions. There were a couple ladies who wished to not go into to full shoulder stands. I momentarily debated whether I should cancel the sequence because there wasn’t 100% inclusion. The grass we were practicing on was so cushiony and soft, I felt it was too perfect to pass up. Half of the students had already shown interest in supported shoulder stands before, I was just waiting for the right timing. This seemed as right a time as possible.

So instead, I showed the two ladies (and everyone else) the modifications for the series. As the class rolled back and lifted themselves onto their shoulders, everyone else wishing to do the modifications laid back into Viparita Karani. As we went from Sarvangasana to open V-legs, to Halasana, the modified poses went from Viparita Karani to open V-legs, to either knee-to-chest or back to Viparita Karani. When everyone rolled up into sitting possition with a smile on their faces, I guessed it was the right timing after all.

After our meditation time in Savasana pose, I took everyone through a little introductory practice of Trataka. Some of the students wore glasses, some didn’t. Just like the asanas, these eye practices benefit everyone. We took the last 10 minutes to touch base on some of the practices and philosophies of Trataka and I ended it with some resource info. Reminding them that I, too, am a student of the practice and to further their studies they would do best to find a seasoned practitioner.

I am so thrilled to have shared this time with all those lovely yogis and I hope to have many more classes with them in the future.

Namaste :)