YOGA FOR LIFE - YOGA DAY BENEFIT

.... FOR BREAST CANCER



On Saturday, April 5, 2008, a Yoga For Life-Yoga Day Benefit will be held at Sherrill Park, downtown between North and South-bound Shoreline Blvd & Kinney St. Starting at 9:00am I will lead a 90 minute, open yoga session. This is a public event for everyone to join; beginners and advanced alike. Some mats and blankets will be provided, but supplies are limited.

Donations of any size will be asked for which will go to the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer the following Saturday. Tax deductible donations can be made by check or credit card. Forms will be supplied for the donations as well as informative hand-outs on early detection of breast cancer and treatment centers.

I will be walking the full distance of a marathon (26.2 miles) for the event in Houston. I walk in honor of all who have had to live with the pain and suffering from this terrible disease. I walk for my sisters, my nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, my grandmother, my mother and my daughter.

Along with helping hundreds of thousands of people who have been afflicted by this disease, you will also be helping yourself along a healthier and happier path of life by enjoying the benefits of a good, solid yoga practice.

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If you would like to donate to the Yoga For Life team now, you can navigate over to the donation page and click on the pink "Support Me" button. All information is kept confidential and tax-deductible donation receipts are available from the Avon Foundation.

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Yoga For Life - Yoga Day Benefit

for breast cancer

April 5, 2008

Starting at 9:00am

Sherrill Park

Open donations

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WALK LIKE AN EGYP......

A couple of weeks ago I came across an event for Breast Cancer research. Avon is hosting a walking marathon (26.3 miles + 13.1 miles) to raise funds for cancer research. One walk in each state. Houston will be hosting it for Texas, in April.

I know, there are fundraisers and charity events going on pretty much every weekend in one place or another. And the larger the city, the more frequent the events. For this one, however, I chose to throw my name into the pot. My first reason, as shallow as it was, brought me the motivation I sorely needed to get off my keester and move. Sure, I move daily through my yoga practices and classes, but as anybody knows, holding Virabadrasana II for 3 minutes does not give the same benefits as walking 10 miles in the morning. So my initial motivation actually had very little if nothing to do with curing cancer and more to do with body image - internally and externally.

After I got to sharing the info with my friends and family I came to fully acknowledge the fact that the people developing cancer need as much help as they can get. There's no guarantee that before I die, I won't have already lost a family member to the ravages of cancer or cancer related illnesses. If there is something I can do to help prevent that, by golly I'm going to do it.

This thought process brings me to this morning. Steeped in my "walking" training. Irene, a fellow cool chic and one I hope to call friend someday, joined me for the first time. We haven't talked much, but this morning offered us a chance to get to know one another better. Come to find out, our scheduled morning walk was getting rained out (more like drizzled out) and we were both feeling bad for the other for not creating a better situation. HA. As if we had some ability to control the weather and the mind-set of the other. It was one of the sweetest gestures thrown my way and I dearly appreciated it. So on that note, we took a walk in the rain. 4 miles, 1 hour. Neither of us had any decent rain gear to speak of, but the rain was warm and soft, as if it was already June.

Even though I walk nearly everyday getting ready for this event, Irene and I had been planning this Wednesday walk for a week. And wouldn't you know it, the very second we stopped stretching and stepped onto the pavement, it started to rain. Right there on our parade. All we could do was invoke our yoginis from within and roll with the punches. Be present, be flexible.

Rather than fight the drizzle and rain, complain about the unfortunate circumstances, we invited it and embraced the time we had to share with one another. Plus, it sure did make tea time more enjoyable afterwards; green tea and mint spiked with honey, mmmmm :)