I have the privilege of teaching Yoga here in New Town. The past year has been tough for a lot of people. Many of us know someone who is struggling because of a job loss or a loss of his or her home. In spite of all the panic, here in New Town, is a tiny community that continues to give with abundance.
In the summer of 2009 I offered yoga classes in exchange for class fees that contributed to an organization, Alternatives with Education. This is a small group of women that go into local prisons. They teach meditation and yoga. They also help women get their GED's in preparation for life outside of prison, www.awe-stl.org. I mention this group because New Town's yoga community raised $400.00 for this mission.
In the fall of 2009 I offered yoga classes again in exchange this time for can and dry goods, turkeys, and baskets. These items went to the New Hope Food Pantry on Highway 94, www.newhopeoutreach.net
Again this silent community stepped up. I delivered 256 dry or can goods and 5 turkeys and two baskets.
Just shortly after that I offered my front porch for a place to bring used clothing and other items to give to Women another Chance. I had 15 bags of clothes, shoes etc. on the porch waiting for a mid-December pick-up. How cool is that!!!!!
Tomorrow my sister leaves for Haiti, I asked the Yoga students to consider making a donation to help her fund her airplane ticket. She is with a group that is going to work with the orphan situation. www.criout.com I placed a brown purse/bag on my front door knob and for several days this bag kept filling up, night after night I would reach in and another check and plenty of cash began to appear. This tiny Yoga Community raised $600 dollars for this cause.
Please click here to see my sister's thank you note to New Town's yoga community.
Generosity is a natural response of an open heart. Yoga and deep breathing opens the heart.
The point is not how much we give or what we give, the smallest gesture of giving opens us up to experience freedom of the heart and loosens the habit to cling.
These men and women here in your neighborhood truly have opened their hearts. I have been touched beyond words.
NAMASTE
Mary Francis Hoffman PHD, REACE, RSME
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