Community yoga is a great concept: people coming to yoga class and money being directed to charity. What is community? How does one decide where the line is drawn? I like the definition of community taken from biology: a community is a group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment.  All too often, we shrink our idea of community to our immediate surroundings, but we are also a part of a larger community that populates the entire world. Does that seem overwhelming to you? Yup, it sure can. But then again, the more we see ourselves as part of a greater whole, the more we act with consideration of how our choices, actions and lives effect the whole. If I know that my choice of taking a class will benefit not only me but a child or woman in another part of the world, won't that energy ripple into the world, create positive change and come right back to me as positive energy? That, my friends, is Karma. Karma is the universal principle that actions have consequences. We all know that when we do something from the heart, it immediately feels good. Like putting that $5 or $10 donation in the basket, or helping an elderly person reach a can from a high shelf in a supermarket, or allowing a person to go before you in line at the cash register because they seem to be more in a rush than you are. The feeling is immediate, we can exhale, we can let go of our tension. 
    Our class tonight will do so much to help others. Here are some projects you will be participating in creating by your donation:
1) Project Rehabilitation- Building a Sanlaap Shelter for 25 rescued girls from the redlight districts; provide food, shelter, medication, education and vocationsl skills training in a small rural town outside of Kolkata, India. Sustainable materials, clean running water. Physical building and one year running costs.
2) Made by Survivors Employment Center Expansion- train and employ 60 survivors of sex slavery as artisans in Kolkata and Mumbai and create a new center to empower and train women to make a living, education and job training for survivors and their children. Funding for next several years.
3) Mother Miracle School in Rishikesh which serves the slums of the poorest population and community (there's that word again!) A school to house computer training, women's empowerment program, electrician skills, English classes as well as other educational classes.
    Some idea of how your community can grow just by coming to class and/or making a donation, coming to Yogawoman Benefit Movie Screening this Fri, April 20 @ 7:15pm. Tell your friends! Tell everyone you know! Share it on Facebook! Pick up the telephone!
We are ALL ONE! Celebrate! There is much to be thankful for!
See you tonight!



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    Please help end sex trafficking and make a tax deductible donation. Remember to list my name " Jill Gutowski" as the participant you are donating in the name of. Thank you so much!

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    Jill Gutowski has been a practitioner of hatha yoga, meditation and holistic healing for over 18 years.  She teaches in the Princeton, NJ area.

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