This is an addendum to our newsletter last week. Our yoga community had a heartwarming response to the bushfires over summer which we wanted to share and applaud.
Click through on these pictures to explore what was done and why.
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POSITIVE CHANGE THROUGH YOGA
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Stories of Bushfire support
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ASMY Sydney
'ASMY Sydney is a Yoga and Meditation studio offering affordable tuition to our local community. The devastating fire season this summer impacted all of us, with many of our students knowing people in the worst affected areas.
It was a an easy decision to hold a fundraiser to offer our support and thoughts to those affected. We had a well attended night of Kirtan which was filled with compassion and empathy, resulting in a wonderful donation the the NSW RFS.’ Bryan Hayow
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Yoga with Jo
'After the fires I felt I had to do something to give back so I put on a few early morning “donation only”Iyengar yoga classes at Avalon Yoga co op. The money went to Wollemi Wildlife food fund to help feed the animals in the Colo area. The animals that had been through such a traumatic experience now needed help to survive. A lovely friend and yoga student Gail Sadler has asked if I would help this charity so it felt right within my heart. I really enjoyed teaching the classes and letting my yogi’s know they are not only doing iyengar yoga for themselves but also for the animals.
It’s nice to give back!!'
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Brahma Kumaris Sydney
'I headed along to this wonderful event to find peace in the middle of all the mayhem and to give thanks for still narrowly still having a house, a brother and a sister-in-law after the fires swept through and narrowly missed our corner of the world. There is a real peace in the Brahma Kumaris meditation practice, in the haven they have created and in the coming together in community.' Vate
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Brightening our inner skies
https://www.facebook.com/brighteningourinnerskies/
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B Yoga
Heidi decided to hold this event as fires raged throughout NSW. She called the event and that night a catastrophic fire hit Euroa necessitating evacuations. As the Daily Mail reported : “Hills of 'lava': Incredible photos reveal a hillside glowing in the dark after raging fire threatened to flatten the rural town below (Euroa) - sending panicked locals fleeing for their lives”. 140 people arrived for the ‘All you can eat pasta’.Byoga raised $16,138 which was distributed via the Euroa Urban Fire Brigade to 16 small branches throughout the district
https://www.byoga.com.au/fire-fundraiser
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Go Slow
" I believe we have a collective responsibility to assist those less fortunate than ourselves and I donate a percentage of my part time wage to NGO's I believe in every year. Donating extra funds to the work Wildlife Victoria are doing for wildlife affected by these catastrophic fires felt like the right thing to do" Nicole
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Mantra Room
‘Seeing what was happening all over our beautiful country, we knew we had to do what we could to help. An event fully run volunteers, those who make The Mantra Room Gold Coast possible were passionate about holding a fundraiser as a way of helping the firefighters who have selflessly sacrificed and keep fighting bravely for the benefit of others. It was a full house as 150 locals came together for a powerful night of kirtan, meditation, yoga wisdom & community to raise much needed funds for bushfire relief, altogether raising $3450.65! Thank you to all who came out, for giving what you could - it really shows the power of love.’ Janina
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Om Sweet Om
https://www.omsweetomyoga.com.au/bushfire-support-campaign
Chantal opened her doors with this offer “An offering to come hOMe, after living with heightened stress from the devastating bushfires that have so greatly impacted our community here on the NSW South Coast. FREE classes will be offered each Monday 6:00pm, Wednesday 5:30pm & Saturday 4:00pm through out the remainder of January.” in addition to fund raising. Halted tourism and the after effects of the fires have meant low attendance ...so all this against a backdrop of financial strain. Wow.
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Samadhi Tribe Mogo
I am very grateful and feel blessed to say Samadhi Tribe Yoga is still standing, although 7 other shops and at least 25 houses were lost to these awful fires that surrounded us and took away our neighborhood.
I would like to take this space to say how sorry I am to all the people who have suffered unimaginable loss. That so many business and homes were destroyed by this fire. Not just in Mogo but all of our surrounding coastal villages both North and South of Mogo, I offer my sincere condolences.
Come in for some healing yoga and meditation
In this practice I will assist you to find comfort and peace... post-disaster.
Karen
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“We all have our own unique way of giving back - whether that looks like giving money, time or skills. The important thing is to take action. It starts with one person and ripples out, until we create waves and tidal waves of positive change. My way was to gather barefoot, activist yogis together to sensitively honour the losses and celebrate the human spirit that has been displayed - generosity, compassion, courage, kindness; and ultimately love.
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West End School
“In West End we ran a Bushfire Kirtan which ASMY ran across the nation at all their centres to raise money for the NSW Bushfire Service. We also shared the yoga wisdom on karma yoga and universal brotherhood. https://www.facebook.com/asmy.westend/..
In addition we ran a Self Care Sunday for Bush Fire Volunteers to support the volunteer workers of The Rescue Collective . We had 30 people enrol and 15 happy people on the day There were tears “
Amit
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Yoga and Health Collective
The trauma of the fires affected everybody. From our own space of trauma we wanted to find a useful response. Our massage therapist Paul Opefield instigated this generous offer. The offer is ongoing but we are fully booked til end of February! Yolande
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Yoga Australia
In light of the horrific bushfires and conditions Australian's have had to face, we knew we wanted to help. With access to such a large yoga community we thought the best way we could show support was to use our channels and resources to share these events and expand the reach of the studio's giving up their time and donating the proceeds. After our callout, we were inundated with requests to promote free charity classes and events in aid of the victims. It's been incredibly heartwarming to witness how generous empathetic our community is. Kate Beath
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Yoga for All
On the morning of our Ceremony for Change it was pouring with rain yet our dedicated team turned up to celebrate all the planet provides for us on a very wet and dark Saturday morning.
We gathered under the shelter of the train sheds at Newcastle’s foreshore to call in the 4 directions, sing songs of devotion to our Mama and to move our bodies in a way that welcomed in all of the elements.
It was a very special morning and together we decided to offer our support to Buy a Bale - supporting Aussie farmers in the drought. We sent 20 bales of hay in total and thank everyone who participated in our ceremony of celebration. We think Mother Nature was listening when we prayed for rain and believe she chose to rain that morning to let us know she heard us x Lyssa
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Rainy Day Yoga
It was so lovely to practice “Walking in the Rain” meditation today & sitting using all of our senses to experience the beautiful rain ... the earth... ourselves
thanks for joining me .We practice from 9.30-10.40am
This is a donation based class - everyone is welcome- pay what you feel/ can afford. Donations go to Wildlife Victoria ❤️ for their efforts in helping wildlife affected by the fires.
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Husky Yoga Studio (HYS) started their campaign to support the RFS the first week of December by throwing out a challenge to other business in the Jervis Bay area to raise funds after owners Mary & Chris came close to loosing their own home at Bawley Point. HYS donated 20% of all their takings that week. On the 1st of January HYS offered a class to their students suffering anxiety due to the bush fires. Payment was by donation to the RFS. On the weekend of 4th January with near catastrophic conditions HYS opened its doors for 48 hours for those evacuating and needing a safe space.In total HYS raised over $800 for the RFS.
https://www.huskyyogastudio.com.au/
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At the time of sending out this email our website is under construction,
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