Founder's Letter
In November of 2008, I was reading Angelina Ballerina to my daughter. Despite having read the book a million times, I couldn't make the words on the page come out of my mouth. As it turns out, I likely experienced a mini-stroke as a result of really high cholesterol, a reaction to medication and/or from this teeny tiny hole in my heart. Whatever the cause, let's just say it was a wake-up call. Life is pretty fragile - so I want to do what I can to be healthy, be around for my kids, have fun and make a difference...
Since my "wake-up call," I have been studying and thinking more and more about the benefits of yoga. I have noticed a difference in my life and I know that yoga has something to do with it. I feel great now - physically and mentally. So I have been thinking to myself: who else might benefit from yoga? The obvious answer is everyone! But let's start with people who might really need it most. People in need a little extra strength - perhaps both physically and mentally. So I have been thinking.
Luckily I was sitting next to a friend during a somewhat long lunch meeting presentation. My mind started to wander a bit (ok, a lot). I was thinking about my friend, Cheryl, sitting next to me. She is the president of a social service agency (and I serve on her board). Just as I was thinking about how amazing her job is, it came to me in an instant:
I could teach yoga in Cheryl's domestic violence shelter and I could bring in mats (brightly colored mats because then the yoga session could visibly symbolize a vibrant new beginning) and then I could team up with Cheryl's social service agency and a film company and produce a video with tips on how to introduce yoga in the shelter environment (and the video could be fun and whimsical and uplifting) and then I could recruit my yoga teacher friends to volunteer their time to teach in shelters in their states (Illinois, Colorado, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, California) and then I could write grants and enlist corporate partners to get mats donated and funds to assist with expenses and then I could hire an intern to put together a database of yoga instructors and domestic violence shelters throughout the United States and then I could put this all together and launch the idea at a yoga conference and then and then and then and then...
Yes, that was a run-on sentence! That is how I got the idea for yogaG - one big run-on sentence of ideas in my head during a somewhat long lunch meeting presentation.
I am committed to this mission. I think that it can make a difference in lives. I am certainly not the best, most experienced or most knowledgeable yogi around. But I don't think that I need to be the best, most experience or most knowledgeable yogi around to make yogaG work. I love mobilizing people for the good. And this is good!
