Giving Back With Yoga

Nine years ago, when I was pregnant with my youngest, I did Yoga for Pregnant Women and kept at it until my eighth month.

Before that, I have been consistently doing Ashtanga Yoga for at least once a week.  Yoga helped me relax, heal my persistent upper and lower back pain, and made me see the world in a better perspective.

Seriously.  Yoga elevates your mind…

This practice made me try something new, do poses I never imagined I can do, it made me believe in myself in ways you can never imagine.

Fast forward to today. 

I am a frazzled, forty-something, super-busy mom, 20 pounds heavier, whose only exercise is mixing the soup.

(Kidding. I do run 3K on the treadmill whenever I can, which amounts to once a week? )

I do strive to do some circuit training, but the super tough workout only makes me end up with sore muscles which makes me do excuses not to do the super.tough.workout the next day!

I think I should go back to my Yoga and cultivate a regular practice.

Speaking of Yoga, did you know that leading yoga, fitness and wellness company Gaiam is partnering with the Give Back Yoga Foundation?  Give Back Yoga Foundation is a non-profit organization with the mission to make yoga available to everyone, including at-risk youth and veterans with PTSD!

Gaiam’s philosophy of providing “Yoga for Everyone”  go hand in hand with Give Back Yoga Foundation’s aim to share the “transformational power of yoga with the world, one person at a time.”

With their special partnership, Gaiam is making a special financial contribution to Light the Way for Heroes™.

Light the Way for Heroes™ is one of the many social campaigns of the Give Back Yoga Foundation designed to help veterans calm their mind through yoga and meditation, strengthening connections with loved ones and improving the quality of life.  This initiative aims to provide the proper tools to veterans so they can practice and use yoga as a means of “navigating life after war.”  Gaiam and give Back Yoga aims to empower veterans to use yoga as a means of living a peaceful, productive life.

You can also do your share in supporting Gaiam’s cause by donating $2 to the Light the Way for Heroes™ with every purchase you make on Gaiam.com.  Your and other customer’s donations through Gaiam.com will go a long way into helping provide war veterans with therapeutic yoga toolkits, which offer resources including practice guides, meditation audio and Gaiam yoga mats that can help veterans experience how a personal yoga practice supports a calm and steady body and mind. One hundred percent of the donations collected are passed along to Give Back Yoga.