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The spirit of giving is in motion at two city yoga studios.
With the focus on giving back to the community, Spirit in Motion Yoga is offering a “pay what you can” donation yoga class from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Saturday until Dec. 10 at Community of Christ Church, located at 425 11 St. S.
Now, after raising funds for the Lethbridge Interfaith Foodbank and Womanspace since its inception back in May, the charity initiative headed up by Spirit In Motion Yoga teacher Jane Senda is now shifting its focus to an international cause, supporting the Unicef Children’s Fund during October, November and December in relief efforts in the Horn of Africa.
Thanks to the generosity of local yoga enthusiasts and an anonymous donor, Spirit In Motion Yoga’s goal of raising $2,500 for the UNICEF cause is mere hundreds of dollars away from its objective as the fundraiser heads into December with roughly $2,100 raised.
“It’s been very good,” said Senda. “So far since October we’ve raised $1,028 and I have a private sponsor who has offered to match that dollar for dollar to the first $1,000.”
A teacher at Spirit In Motion Yoga, Senda approached owner Vickie MacArthur about offering a yoga class that would be affordable and benefit the community.
“I talked with Vickie and thought it would be fun to have a donation class because not that many Saturday classes have a drop-in so anybody can come regardless of how much it costs,” said Senda. “That’s a real key because yoga can be expensive and it shouldn’t be. It should be available for everybody. When I spoke to her about having a donations class that was a fundraiser she was very supportive. She’s the person that really made this possible.”
Wanting to promote yoga and give back to the community, Senda and MacArthur started regular Saturday morning classes at the Community of Christ Church with participants paying whatever they had in their pocket.
“It’s been great. Kudos to Jane because it was her idea,” said MacArthur. “She’s been one of our teachers and she said to me she’d like to start a yoga class where anyone can come out who isn’t dependant on money. They can donate money to people in our community and it’s really been Jane that has spearheaded it and teaching most of our classes.”
In May and June, Spirit In Motion raised almost $500 for the Lethbridge Interfaith Foodbank with its students feeding the mind, body and soul as well as the hungry in the community.
During July, August and September, Spirit In Motion chose to support Womanspace, raising enough money to pay one month’s rent — $650 — to allow the program to continue to serve women in need in Lethbridge.
“One hundred per cent of the money that comes in goes to a charity,” said Senda.
The Saturday sessions are an all-levels class that can be vigorous, said Senda.
“I like to see people stretch their limits and challenge their limits. You don’t go to yoga if you want to just lay around. People come to yoga to see what it’s about. I give a lot of options with every pose so they can work into and stay at whatever option is strongest for them. If they want to go into the full pose, there are some people who do and some people who just want to relax. They choose where they pause and where they deepen their poses.”
As they continue to target local charities to support through yoga, Spirit In Motion Yoga also seeks to promote the form of exercise.
“We’re just keeping on,” said Senda. “We get new people every week and often they’ll say ‘I want a faster class’ or ‘I want a slower class’ or ‘I want to learn about the basics’ and I direct them to different kinds of classes. I feel as though this class is almost a portal to the yoga community for people who just want to find out what’s going on. Then we direct them to other things. We’re just going with the flow, enjoying what’s happening and having as much fun as possible.”
Classes run until Dec. 17 and will resume in the new year.
Participation is not required to donate and all contributions are accepted.
Those interested are asked to arrive 15 minutes early for class to allow time to gather their props and settle into their mat.
For more information, call 403-320-6763 or visit www.spiritinmotionyoga.com.
Also in the spirit of giving back to the community, Yoga Rituals is hosting the Charity Challenge, a class taking place each Monday at 7 p.m. at the studio located at 618 3 Ave. S.
The price? Whatever the participant can afford with the money going back to a selected charity of the month.
“The idea of yoga is to give back,” said Ali Golbabai, a partner in Yoga Rituals. “In the past we’ve had people here to provide free workshops and try to raise money for different kinds of things.”
Yoga Rituals started the Charity Challenge back in July.
To date, they have supported Southern Alberta Art Gallery, CKXU-FM and the Humane Society.
“Every year they (SAAG) have their house visits,” said Golbabai. “It was a good opportunity for us to try and raise money that way, to bring in some people who were interested in the SAAG.”
In October, the Charity Challenge raised funds for the Lethbridge Food Bank, while November’s charity of choice is Making Connections.
In December, the Charity Challenge will give to a local family in need, while in January the
Lethbridge Family Circle Association will be the beneficiary.
In February, the Lethbridge Sport Council will be supported by the Charity Challenge.
Once the initiative started in July, Golbabai said there was no reason to stop it.
“We said we’ll do it right and schedule a class rather than doing a workshop. If we want to help, why don’t we help all the time?” he said. “If people want to feel charitable they can come and donate whatever they want.”
Golbabai said the Monday at 7 p.m. time generally caters to people’s schedules
“They have a couple of hours after work. We’ve tried to make in convenient.”
The Charity Challenge takes place in a heated room.
“Especially in the winter it feels really good. It’s not like ‘I’m going to pass out’ hot. But you feel nurtured and your body is comfortable,” said Golbabai. “We go through a few moves and do some breathing exercises. It’s a little vigorous, we want to pump the heart up. For a lot of people, they felt it was a good way to just come and try it out because there are no expectations.”
Extensive yoga experience isn’t necessary.
“You don’t have to have any background or yoga experience,” said Golbabai. “It’s an hour. Most classes are an hour-and-a-half, so we’re going to shorten it up a little bit and give it some flavour. We do a deep relaxation at the end of the class to let people settle in. We’ve seen people come in every Monday and it’s good because it’s a way for the charities to get the people they usually go for to get excited about doing something different.”
November’s beneficiary, Making Connections, has jumped on board with the Charity Challenge, said Golbabai.
“Their people are excited to show up and do something different that they never would have thought of before for the sake of the charity. So it’s neat to get other people excited. Just show up and sacrifice your body for our charity.”
November’s fundraiser is looking promising, said Golbabai.
“Making Connections has been doing well. We’ve made almost $300 in two weeks. That’s two classes in two hours. Hopefully we’ll break the $500 barrier for them.”
In the spirit of the holiday season, Yoga Rituals chose to help a family in need for the December fundraiser.
“We’re not sure how we’re going to select the family. We’ll ask people,” said Golbabai. “We have a pretty good student base to take suggestions. Or maybe we’ll buy some toys for kids. Right now we’re not sure how we’re going to select the family, but our spirit is in the right direction.”
On hand for the Nov. 21 session was Julietta Sorensen, a student at the University of Lethbridge.
“I try to go once a week,” said Sorensen. “I’m in university, it stresses the heck out of you and yoga is one of the few things that actually calms you down.”
As a triathlete, Sorensen said she leans towards the more physical sports.
“I’m not good at sitting still. So when you do yoga it lets you relax through physical movement and you really focus on separating the mental stress from the physical stress.”
Beyond February, Golbabai said the Charity Challenge will seek out other local groups to help.
“We don’t have anybody for March, April, May or June. If nobody wants to participate, we’ll raise money and give it to somebody. There are lots of people in need. There’s the soup kitchen or UNICEF (for example).”
Golbabai said the goal is to work with charities that are excited to get the word out.
“We only have so many outlets (such as) Facebook, posters or email. If the charity is excited that they can use this to pump up people to come and donate to them, that’s a good thing.”
In fact, that’s how the Lethbridge Sport Council got involved in the Charity Challenge.
“They had heard about this,” said Golbabai. “So some people do call us. It’s been seven months, hopefully it’ll be a ritual. It’s positive, people are excited. They know it’s not some kind of superficial show. It’s coming from the heart.”
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