Beyond Yoga and the Compassionate Stranger

This is not a shameless plug (although it might seem that way). I had an inspiring breakfast a few days ago with Ning Harper, yoga teacher extraordinaire, inspirer-of-life and owner of Beyond Yoga.

Ning's new studio is set to be a place for the yoga community to come together, instead of being segregated across the city into little micro-communities. When I heard about this, I told her about The Compassionate Stranger project and brainstorming ensued. I hope to expand this project city-wide and eventually, world-wide and help foster the kind of community that we would all like to live in. One that is positive, kind and compassionate.

This is what I wrote the February newsletter for Sanguine Yoga to help encourage positivity, kindness and compassion. We never know how something so small can make the world of a difference in somebody's else's life.

Kindness, Compassion and Positivity

On our mats, we wish namaste to those practicing around us. They may be our friends, family and loved ones but more often than not, they are strangers. When we say namaste to one another, we recognize and acknowledge one another and help transcend an environment of self-interest and individualism and create community. This practice of acknowledgement is important on our mats, but is just as important off of our mats. Our lives off of our mats can be fast-paced, stressful and it's easy to forget the simple and important things in life.

The next time we step off our mats, we should remember the practice of namaste and extend it to others in and out of our lives. A simple hello, a smile, or a gesture of kindness to a stranger or otherwise is all it takes to help build a stronger, kinder, and more positive community.

I'm in the process of designing The Compassionate Stranger cards that can be distributed and placed everywhere, anywhere and anytime to help encourage people to just smile at the next stranger that they see.

Until then, keep smiling my lovelies!

Better beginnings

Better beginnings for this project. Lots of big changes have occurred in my life lately and I want to start this project up again with a fresh start that involves as many people as possible. When the project started, it was initially just my ex-partner and I but in the end, a project like this doesn't make sense involving only 2 people spearheading it. If we hope for it to grow into a social movement, then we have to include as many people as possible. Life is nothing without the friends and family that make everything so much more enjoyable. Without them, where would we be? More importantly, can we begin to make strangers our friends?

Tomorrow I will be volunteering at the Good Life Community Bike Shop and will try to spread the message and see where it takes me.

Signing off,

Renee