Aloha yogis,

I wanted to drop you a quick hello, share some positive news, and say mahalo!

I hope you find that week x (I have lost count) of quarantine is going well for you! I am so happy to share with you that with the donations from my Sunday morning zoom yoga class, I was able to donate $500 to Aloha United Way.

Aloha United Way is a nonprofit organization that has launched a COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund. The donation will help assist in the overwhelming requests for rent and utility assistance, housing, food, healthcare, and more. It will also help answer calls for help and provide referrals to resources, ensuring that our community is taken care of in terms of support for critical human services during these challenging times.

It is incredible that we can come together during a crisis and help raise money. I don't take my position as a yoga instructor for granted. I know that with the help of my students and community, we hold a lot of power to improve the world around us. We hold this potential for good on a daily, moment to moment basis, where smiling to a stranger might radically improve their day, or expressing gratitude to a bank teller, might remind them of the value they to bring to the community. My thinking is that when we feel better, we do better. And yoga makes us feel better! 

And right now, we are doing better! In this case, with COVID-19 and the emergent need for help, worldwide, we galvanized around one specific cause. I have seen this ability of the yoga community to rally around a cause many times; I have taught fundraising classes for breast cancer before and "Downdogs for Diabetes" and many others, and each time I am left amazed and inspired.

Where simply by downdog-ing and chaturanga-ing, we made a tangible difference. It is not the ethereal ripple effect of your yoga practice. No, trust that, we can see the impact here.

Mahalo, to each of you who took the time to show up on your yoga mat. Thank you for practicing and sharing your energy with me and everyone else in class - virtually! Teaching online, has been a really special experience so far. I have seen so many of my students, many of you have moved off island, others have never lived on island, and we even have international yogis joining class! Some of you I haven't seen in 11 years! And yet, here you all are, practicing online with me! It warms my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I am committed to continuing to donate 50% of all proceeds from my Sunday yoga class to COVID-19 community needs. 

Join me for the Sunday Yoga Flow, every week, from 8-9:15am via the same link as every other week. If you haven't joined yet, email me at [email protected] for the link and password if you plan to attend class this Sunday. Let's keep this going!!

I hope to see you Sunday on the mat!

Big love,