Giving back through yoga

What do you gain from yoga? Is it all about growing that flexible body? Maybe being part of an awesome community? Maybe its learning to love your body again post surgery or injury? Or maybe it’s all about the mental clarity that your time on your mat brings? As a teacher I am hoping that I’m bringing all of this to my students and more. This to me is what being a teacher is really about. It’s giving the energy and love that I’ve had passed to me to others and sending them off into the world full of that love.

But what do you do when it is inaccessible for the people who often need yoga most? It’s hard fact of yoga life that having a practice is often only open to those with disposable income, it’s an expensive hobby to have before we even add in the copious amounts of leggings, mats and props there are around. Of course there is a large part of yoga which is practised off of the mat and part of this is the idea of karma yoga or the practice of ‘seva’, selfless service to others. This can be harder to practice in our busy day to day lives, particularly when you’re busy working and trying desperately to fit everything into the day. So how do we as yoga teachers get around this? We obviously still need to be making a certain amount from our classes if we are using yoga as our main form of income, so how do we encourage the least well off and most vulnerable members of our communities to find the practice of yoga?

This is where I am super proud to have begun working with Yoga Quota. This amazing charity is active across the whole of the UK and for every 50 people that walk through their home studio door in Oxford they donate one free class to one of their charity partnerships all aimed at delivering classes to those in need. This is such an amazing initiative that really helps the western yoga world become a little more inclusive and as a teacher there is nothing better than sharing this gift of yoga with as many people as possible.

So I urge you, if you are a teacher to sign up to become one of their badge holders and volunteer to teach some of these classes and if you are from a charity contact them and see if they can help you deliver the energy of yoga to your audience. And if you’re a yoga student, lucky enough to have yoga accessible to you physically and financially maybe drop them a donation or if you’re in the Oxford area visit the studio and become one of those 50 people helping to create a class for someone else