Giving Back with Yoga

I've been wanting to do more to give back to my community, but frankly was a little stumped on how. Travis and I both donate to some really amazing organizations, but I wanted to donate time and my talents to help as well. When I hit up Wanderlust this past summer, I attended a talk by the amazing Nicole Cardoza, founder of Yoga Foster. She pointed out that you didn't have to always aim for the biggest, most world changing actions, but that you just needed to get started!

Not only was that a good reminder about volunteering/giving back in general, but I fell in love with the mission of her organization in particular: helping give teachers the resources and training to bring yoga to schools, and giving kids more tools to manage and understand their emotions. 

Addison - a friend and fellow teacher, as well as a phenomenal musician - was game to join me in supporting this organization, and so two Friday's ago we came together for an amazing donation based yoga class hosted by our home studio. I taught 30 minutest of hatha, followed by 30 minutes of restorative, while Addison provided beautiful live music; donating our time and talents to raise money and collect mats for this worthwhile cause.

The class itself was so wonderful - the energy was amazing, we had a great turnout, and I can't explain how good it all felt. We collected 25 mats and almost $300 by the end of class, and we're still collecting through the end of the month.

This whole experience has wet my palate, and I cannot wait to use yoga to give back even more in the year ahead.