Practice with a Purpose

Back in December I became inspired by an amazing student of mine. Long story short, she inspired me to start giving more to those in need. I feel incredibly grateful for the fact that I make a living teaching yoga. At only 26 I have my dream job. There is definitely nothing awful about that! Since I was so inspired by this one student, for Christmas I made donations to various charities in my family members' names as a part of their gifts. My family and I are very lucky to have the things we have in our lives, and I thought it was important to give back to those who aren't as lucky. Not only did I want to give to others for Christmas, but I was hoping to inspire my family to give to others too. 

As the last few months have passed I started to brainstorm ways to inspire more people to donate, volunteer, and give back. I came up with a yoga challenge for my students. I have dubbed it Practice with a Purpose. The rules are simple: For every student that takes 25 yoga classes in the month of March, I will donate $10 to a local charity, Second Harvest Heartland. If a student signs up for the challenge but does not complete 25 classes in March, they donate $10 to the charity. I have 40 students signed up for the challenge. They are all so excited to attempt the yoga challenge, but they're also inspired to give back to others. 

When I first started to announced the challenge in my classes, smiles beamed across my students' faces. Some students have even been emotional while talking to me about the charity challenge. So many of my students feel lucky to have found yoga (I am also added to this group) and know what yoga has done in their lives. They now feel compelled to give to others since yoga has given so much to them. That right there is inspiration. It's all about Karma. Pass it on.