How to Register for YogaAid

We have just a few weeks until the Sunday, November 15th YogaAid Challenge. We encourage everyone to register for the event, join our Byron Bay team and begin fundraising for this worthwhile event.

1. Register:
Make sure you are registered for the event
Go to www.yogaaid.com.au
Click on Register
You can view the participants by going to the Challengers page and choosing Byron Bay from the drop-down menu.

2. Bring 5 to 10 people to the event - spread the word, and get participants registered and fundraising.

3. Be inspired by reading the story of last years event below:

Unity in diversity:  Saluting the Sun for Charity

Ana Davis looks at the snowballing success of a unique charity event which offers a wonderful opportunity for yoga practitioners to give back to the community: a living embodiment of seva or karma yoga.

In the dawn light of an unseasonably cool October morning, fifty figures flow slowly and meditatively, in the silent, age-old dance of surya namaskar, ‘salute to the sun’.  As the sun rises from behind the lighthouse, the group gracefully bows and arches in unison, painting lyrical silhouettes against the blue, grey ocean.

Located at Australia’s most easterly point, this Byron Bay group was, geographically speaking, the first of about 1, 000 other yogis from across Australia, who came together on 22nd October last year, to greet the sun.   Their challenge was to perform 108 salutations to the sun, to raise money for children’s charities.  Now into its third year, the Yoga Aid event represents a powerful demonstration of taking yoga beyond the walls of a yoga studio and out into the community.

For many groups around the country it was the coldest October morning in recent memory, but that did not dampen the yogic spirit.

In Bathurst, despite the bracing 1 degree temperature, twenty brave yogis managed to complete their 108 salutes before the onset of rain.    At Umina, on the central coast, an intrepid group gathered in the pre-dawn and performed their salutes in the surf club, looking out onto Barrenjoey lighthouse.  “It was fabulous to watch the waves breaking on the beach as the day dawned,” said organizer, Ms Helen McNair “We enjoyed  our 108 salutes and the energy we created carried us through relatively effortlessly!”

Sydney was struck by the coldest morning in 30 years, so the salutes were more ‘figurative’ than literal.  “We all huddled under the stage marquee trying to escape the wind and torrential rain, and did 108 Oms with the sun shining in all our hearts,” says Caroline Marshall from Yoga Aid.

Despite the inclement weather, the feedback from Broome to Port Douglas, Melbourne to the Gold Coast, was that the event was a success, inspiring people to help make this event bigger and better in years to come.
 
Yoga Aid started in October 2007, originally as a vehicle to help promote the Yoga Expo., with  300  participants saluting the sun in Sydney’s Botanical Gardens.

“Everyone said this is a great idea and it’s taken on a life of its own”, says the event  co- founder  Clive Mayhew.

Since then, events have been held across Australia, and internationally in Japan, Hong Kong, India, UK and the U.S.  So far, Yoga Aid has involved 2, 500 yogis who’ve raised a grand total of $450, 000 for various charities.

Clive and his wife and co-founder, Eriko Kinoshita, are no shrinking violets when it comes to plans to grow this event.  In 2009,  they intend to continue to expand Yoga Aid into India, Hong Kong, US and Italy.  By 2012, they have the big vision of running one event every month, somewhere in the world.

To support their vision, Clive and Eriko created the not-for-profit Yoga Aid Foundation which they personally fund from their own pocket to carry out charity work across the globe.  The Foundation sponsors orphanages in India and Tibet, a refugee children’s football program to help them assimilate into the Australian society, as well as an innovative project in America called Yoga Hope, providing yoga classes to homeless women.  The foundation seeks to contribute towards other yoga-related, humanitarian projects.

Clive and Eriko created the Yoga Aid event as a way to unite the yoga community in the common goal of fundraising for charity.    Clive uses the Melbourne event as an example, in which 200 people enjoyed a sample of 12 different teachers from across the city, accompanied by the beautiful music of Sacred Earth.

“All the different forms of yoga came together, with each teacher leading their 9 salutes in a different way,” enthuses Clive.  He sees it as a way of breaking down the perceived barriers between the different styles of yoga. “It doesn’t really matter which way you do it, just do yoga!”, he says.

This desire for union, which is really what yoga is all about, also extends cross-culturally with the recent introduction of Yoga Aid to countries like Japan.

The event in Japan drew 300 participants and, according to Clive, was very ‘meditative’.  “We haven’t experienced that anywhere else, such a different energy,” he recalls.  “It’s a joy to experience how people do yoga differently, how different cultures see yoga”.

“In Japan charities do not receive as much money as they do in Australia, they don’t give a lot,” explained Clive.  “We raised the awareness in the yoga community of giving back.  I believe the yoga community is a wonderful place to start to introduce the concept of giving”.

Clive explains that Yoga Aid works on a ‘network model’ that honours the concept of seva, or service yoga.  The yogi or yogini registers as a participant in the event and then recruits family, friends and colleagues to sponsor her.  Yogis choose which children’s charity they wish to encourage their sponsors to donate their money towards, and in this way the money goes directly to the charity.

“Those who are raising money are the ones who have committed the most– ie. their effort, not just money,” explains Clive.   Because this model encourages people to give their time as a way of raising money from others, it is an egalitarian model that means anyone can contribute toward their community, even if they don’t have the spare cash!

“This network model gets people to connect and connect,” continues Clive.  “It’s one of those models that works over time.  It just gets bigger and bigger and hopefully it grows on that basis.  Hopefully we protect and keep the experience to be a great experience for everyone!”

Ana Davis is a writer and yoga teacher at Byron Yoga Centre.  She can be contacted at ana@byronyoga.com

Yoga Aid Stats

$$290,000 raised in 2008 with 2100 attending at 27 venues in 6 countries

$450, 000 raised so far  with 2700 people attending

Events held in:

    •    2007 Australia (22 venues)
    •    2008 India (March)
    •    2008 Hong Kong (June)
    •    2008 Australia (October, 16 venues)
    •    Sydney
    •    Melbourne
    •    Perth
    •    Gold Coast
    •    Byron Bay
    •    Mosman
    •    Bathurst
    •    Port Macquarie
    •    Terrigal
    •    Woy Woy
    •    Broome
    •    Fremantle
    •    Lavers Hill
    •    Mt Waterley
    •    Port Douglas
    •    2008 Japan – Yokohama (November)
    •    2008 UK – London (November)
       
Charity partners:

    •    Australia
    •    Barnados
    •    Save the Children
    •    Nelune Foundation
    •    MS Society
    •    Football United
    •    India
    •    Indian Heritage Research Foundation(IHRF)
    •    4OneWorld (African charity)
    •    Hong Kong
    •    IHRF
    •    4OneWorld
    •    Make a Wish
    •    Japan
    •    IHRF
    •    4OneWorld
    •    Guest House (Japanese charity assisting families of children with terminal disease)
    •    USA
    •    Foundation for Women
    •    Silver Age Yoga Community Outreach
    •    Friends of St Jude Charitable foundation
    •    Care for Children

First published in the Australian Yoga Life Magazine