We yogis often talk about Seva, or service, and the Yoga Community. When we think of our yogic community, we envision something larger than ourselves as individuals. We are a unified body of individuals, spectacularly unique, yet collectively in this life together, bound by more commonality than difference. The yogic ideal is that all people in our community can benefit from and enjoy yoga in some form or fashion. While true in our heart, in reality we often exclude a large portion of our geographic community from our Yoga Community on economic grounds.
Many of the people who could benefit the most from access to yoga simply can not afford it. Recent research has shown that the unemployed and the underemployed can greatly benefit from yoga. A regular practice can help relieve stress, improve concentration and put practitioners in a better frame of mind when searching for a job. Many studios, including Dancing Dogs Yoga, are offering Community Yoga to bridge the financial gap and help the community heal.
Community Yoga. Donation-based Yoga. Recession Yoga. Pay What You Can Yoga. Call it what you want… just help me get the word out to the people who need it. Community Yoga is a new twist on service that allows the yoga studio to serve the community by making yoga affordable. The practitioner pays based on their ability to pay. The goal is for people to be able to afford to come to Yoga class, on a somewhat regular basis. Dancing Dogs Yoga holds a regularly scheduled Community Yoga class every Saturday morning at 9am. In truth, if your situation requires it, any class can be arranged.
Like many other studios around the country, we also offer work-trade arrangements to the unemployed and under-employed to help supplement a healthy yoga habit. We can make arrangements with anyone to make yoga affordable and accessible.
Whether you are financially sound or not, yoga should be accessible and affordable. I am working to make that happen. It doesn’t do any good for us to talk about the health benefits and stress management that yoga can bring to those in financial difficulty if they can not afford to come to class. With Community Yoga, we hope to put our theory into practice. If you need financial help to attend yoga classes regularly, contact me and I will make it happen. Your situation will be held in complete confidentiality.
May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may they be able to afford to practice yoga.
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti.
To find out more about Community Yoga, contact Shelley at shelley@dancingdogsyoga.com
