Gifts That Give Back #8

For over 30 years Mercy Corp has been helping millions of individuals, families, and communities turn crisis into opportunities for sustainable, positive change. They have over 30 programs through which they work from economic development and agriculture to education and youth empowerment. They work globally, including communities right here in the United States.
There are so many ways through which you can give to this organization...through feeding a child, outfitting a classroom, buying a goat for a family, vaccinations, buying a soccer ball, and so much more. The one I am most partial to naturally, is giving the gift of yoga to youth in need.

While food, water, and medicine are crucial...knowing the power of yoga, giving them tools they can use in the present moment and for the rest of their lives is also crucial. Yoga classes can help young people recover from trauma and violence by increasing their confidence, focus, and sense of well being physically and mentally. The video below shows a class in Columbia where Mercy Corps incorporates yoga into its youth programs where decades of conflict have uprooted millions of people from the countryside to the urban neighborhoods.

Make the Best of It

We all make mistakes, but sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest accomplishments. Wrong turns may take us to wonderful places maybe we never thought we would go. Adding an incorrect ingredient to a recipe may create a new culinary experience. An uncomfortable situation may allow us to handle things we never thought we could. The wrong brush stroke on a painting may create the next artistic masterpiece.

I incorporate a lot of art into my Alluem Kids classes because I believe it to be a needed expression for the developing child. Many times I have seen a child get very upset when they misspell a word or color outside the lines. I often remind them that they can make no mistake when creating a piece of art, and while I appreciate a good spelling bee, there are no grades in yoga - so don't stress over the little things.

In reading the book Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg, the Alluem Kids were reminded that "a smudge and a smear can make magic appear" so "when you think you made a mistake, think of it as an opportunity to make something beautiful!" You can find beauty in everything if you take the time to look! We began by ripping up paper (aiding in mental development) and then letting the imagination run wild! The goal: Create a mess and then make the best of it!!! Making pictures, scenes, designs, whatever we could think of! So much fun! At one point one of my 6 yr old students walked up to me and said, "Miss Karen, I kinda messed up over here...ehhh, I'll just make the best of it!" Namaste, little guy, namaste.

Summer Solstice

Happy First Day of Summer!!!! This morning when I woke up, I put my yoga pants and tank on underneath my work clothes. My plan: take the 5:57am bus and get to Times Square by 7am for class on the street with Douglas Stewart (ISHTA Yoga) and a couple hundred other yogis! What a great experience! After every vinyasa as we brought our hands to hearts center he asked, "Where are you? What is this?" And at first I giggled, because I was thinking, "Dude, we're in Times Square! Hellooo!? There's no getting around that!" I was distracted by the fact that there are way too many digital billboards that everytime I focused on one for balance, it would change to a new picture. I was distracted by the numerous (I think I counted 7) professional photographers snapping hundreds of pictures. I was distracted by the largest audience I've ever seen at a yoga class - tons of faces surrounding the perimeter - tourists looking on, people headed to work. I was distracted by the fact that I was literally on my mat in the gutter of Broadway between a pot hole and a puddle. I was definitely getting challenge on focusing! After maybe the 4th time he asked us, "Where are you? What is this?" I was able to go deeper and listen to what he was really asking.

Where are you?

Am I lost in the noise and the rush of the world around me? Am I able to shut out the things that don't matter - the things that really serve no purpose to my well being right now? Am I able to focus on the here and the now of where I actually am and what I am doing in this moment?

What is this?

THIS is what I want to be doing ALL the time. This flow of the practice is how I want to be handle the flow of life - easing up when it gets to be too much, pushing further when I know I can. This life giving practice is what I want to bring to other people, to children. THIS is what life is all about.

After I got to that point I was able to move slower, open up, and look past the buildings towards the endless blue skies. I was grateful for the distractions. It was such a great eye opener that I didn't shut my eyes in savasana this time. I simply looked up past it all and knew that everything would be okay, even amongst all that distracts.

To view the event page and more great pictures, click here: Times Square Alliance And thanks to Friendship Cottage Cheese for the swag bag!